The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-24 00:00:00

WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE PINS?

What becomes of all the pins? It is now as much
as forty years since tho daily supply of pins from the
English factories was twenty millions, and ever since
that time the daily average has been steadily in-
creasing, till it now stands at fifty mil Lions every day.
Notwithstanding all this enormous supply, one can
hardly be in the company of man, woman, or child
for a day without being asked, "Have you such a
thing as spin about you r Of our daily 50,000,000 pins,
Birmingham produces 37,000,000, leaving 13,000,010 as
the production of London, Stroud, and Dublin, where
pins are also made. The weight of wire consumed
annually in the pin manufacture of England is about
1,275 i tons, or 2,857,120 lbs., one-eighth of which is
iron wire, used in manufacturing mourning and hair
pins. The braes wire consumed amounts to 2,500,000 lbs.,
which, at lid, per lb, in money value, reaches the sum
of £114,583. The iron wire consumed is 344 800 lbs.,
its
sovunaltus are e t7,ltBh3e 6ws.ag6eBl,,,paapnedr,taondbeorandadmeed:ltt
ornamental et nh ese
ve!
lopes, boxes, wear and tear af machinery, manufac-
turers' profits and the like, bringing the whole amount
to not less than 2200,000. Leisure Efour.

A Ninv HEATING APPARATIIES.—A New York horse
c
patent process. Under each seat, and
p
7;7 has. undertaken to heat its car this
wnbt
e wire netting, are run terracotta Pipes,
t
at the beginning of each trip with hot salt
At each end of the car is placed a cylinder,
opening etecerc. ailedt ormeb
opening upon the platform, into which, every trip,
will be placed a large red.hot iron slug heated in a
furnace at the station. Most of the cars have already
been furnished with this heating apparatus.

PROFESSOR NORDENSKJOLD'S RETURN

VOYAGE. '
The COpeilhagen Correspondent of the Pull Mail Gazette
writes :—Although the letters of Lieutenant Howgaard pos-
sesses Very great interest, their length—nearly a dozen
columns in the Dagblad—obliges me, considering the
limited space at my command, to give only the very shortest
outline:—

During the day of the 18th of October, the Vega
sailed through the Harima Nada, anchoring at night
close to the island of Hiroeicea. The next day Imbari
was passed; then Iyo and Suwo Nada; and on the
20th the anchor was dropped at Shimunoaeki, where in
1185 a great naval battle was fought between the
Daimio Yoshitsune, whose fleet counted 700 ships,
and the Mikado Antoku, who only had 500 ships, and
who was beaten and finally drowned. Hardly any-
thing remains now of the fortifications, which in 1863,
were silenced by the allied English, French, Dutch,
and American squadrons.
Next the town of Nagasaki was visited, where the
explorers were most hospitably treated, and where
Professor Nordenskjold secured some fine specimens of
petrified aeimals and plants.
On the 2nd of November Hong Kong was reached,
and finally Canton, The town is supposed to con-
tain 1,000,000 people, not including some 100,000 who
always live on board their barges in the riv -sr. A visit
was paid to the Human Temples, which contain three
enormous gilt statues of Buddha, surrounded by
eighteen of his apostles, a statue of the goddess Soon..
Yam, who hears the prayers offered up to heaven,
and a number of sacred pigs and poultry. Visits were
also paid to the so-called flower barges, floating
music. hall, which appear to have been very
numerous, as well as to the gardens on the south side
of the river, where the plants were cut to resemble all
sorts of animals, Europeans in dress coats and
chimney-pots, dragons, &c. The temple dedicated to
the 500 spirits, and containing 500 idols, and the place
of execution, where annually at least a couple of
thousand people are beheaded (during one year, at the
time of the rebellion, more than 50,000 people were
executed), as well as the prisons were also visited.
The explorers were invited to a banquet by some
Mandarins, at which one hundred different dishes were
served, among which may be mentioned, as gastro-
nomic curiosities, chickens served with stewed fins of
sharks, hashed chicken with Indian swallows' nests,
fried snails, stewed frogs, and boiled seed of lilies,
Lieutenant Howgaard etates, however, that the dinner
was excellent and the wines good. Finally, a visit
was paid to the Temple of Horrors, where ten scenes
from hell are carved out in wood, the figures being of
natural size. The Chinese believe that if a person is
cruelly tortured in life he escapes torture in hell, and
consequently, out of pure humanity, great criminals
are tortured to death. Thus a woman convicted of
adultery was, only a fortnight before the visit was
paid to the the temple, tortured in the foll,)wing
manner :—She was tied to a wooden cross, then
the eyebrows were cut off with a sword, next the
breasts, then the arms, and finally she was despatched
with a stab in the heart.

On the morning of the Bth of November the inhabi•
tents of Hong Kong presented Professor Nordensidold
with a most nattering address, and in the evening the
Governor, Mr. Pope Henneesy, gave a splendid and
most successful banquet in honour of the members of
the expedition, On the 9th the Vega left Hong Kong,
shaping her course to the island of Borneo; aid on
the 15th it became necessary to get up steam, to the
great disgust of every body on board, the heat, even at
night, never falling below 30 deg. Celsius. On the
17th of November the Vega steamed along the west
coast of Lubnan, in sight of the " Bruni Blaff " and
the island of Moan; while the mountains of Borneo,
and foremost among them the celebrated peak
Kid i Balu (the Chinese Widow), 13 7001 t, above
the surface of the sea, formed the background. On
the same day, Port Victoria was reached, and here
the anchor was dropped. Several excursions were made
on shore, principally to the coal mines, distant some
eight miles, which were reached by riding on the email
native ponies through a rather stiff country. When
the island of Labuan was acquired by Great Britain in
1846 great hopes were centred in these coal mines, and
as late as the year 1864 about 15,600 tons of coal were
produced ; bnt ever since the production has gradually
decreased, and the mines are now deserted, some of the
pits, although 6001 t. deep, being nearly filled with
water,

On the 21st of November the Vega again proceeded
on her return voyage; and as nearly all the engineers
and stokers were on the sick list, two Chinese stokers
were engaged, but after three days' stay on board even
these had to cease work on account of illness. For.
tanately the monsoon became favourable, and Signs.
pore was reached on the 28th of November.