The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-10-15 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,.

In New York, on Wednesday in last week, the
thermometer fell fifty degrees.
It is reported that Persia has requested from Russia
officers to drill her army on the Russian model.

Autumn styles in Paris and London are at variance.
While Paris is lengthening the waists of dresses, London is
declaring short waists fashionable, and is reviving the short
corsages of 1812.

It is stated in a Paris paper that Mr. Gladstone has
decided on having an interview with the French Minister of
Commerce respecting the Treaty negotiations.

-
A largo fire broke out in Exeter on Sunday. Dur-
ing the progress of the conflagration one man fell into the
burning ruins, and two others were buried by the sudden
collapse of the front wall of three houses. Two of the men
were taken out and conveyed to the Guildhall, where they
recovered oonsciousness. The third man, when rescued was
severely burned,
The French Government have just accorded to the
railways a further extension of time for the introduction of
the block syetem, with an intimation that no further grace
will be granted. In three months from this date every line
on which the traffic shall attain a minimum of rive trains an
hour will be compelled to adopt the system.
At a conference of guardians of the poor in the
North Midland District, held at Derby, Mr. T. W. Evans,
M.P., who presided, urged that while guardians ahould re-
gard poverty as a misfortune and not as A crime, they should
also remember that some of the people who paid rates were
not much better off than these for whom they paid them.
Mr. A. Pell, 3.1. P., read a paper in which he insisted that the
area of contributions to the cost of indoor maintenance
should be a national one, and that the charge of all
paupers, as of all prisoners, Amnia be borne by the Gov.
ment.
"By the sudden death of Baron Haymerle, Minister
of Foreign Affairs for Austria and linngary, the diplomatic
world of Europe suffers a severe loss. The deceased states-
man was the second Plenipotentiary of Austria at the Berlin
Congress, and for the lase two years he has directed the
Foreign Affairs of his country as the successor of Count
Andrassy, his former chief. His sudden anti premature
death—he was only fifty-three years of age—leaves a gap in
the ranks of Austrian statesmen which will not be readily
tilled, and removes from the stage one of the leading aetora
in the great International drama of 1878 •"---ateatler Thr
Times.—The Vien.na correspondent ef .Tie Times says •
d Nothing can equal- the first abock caused la the sudden
death of Baron gamer's,. The public at large knew
nothing eyep about his being ailing, not a word having been
mentioned in any of the papers, so that it was only
known to a comparatively small number of people ;.bnt
even to his family the shock came quite unexpectedly, :re
that the Baroness and her son and daughter, who, at the
request of the Baron, had gone for a ()rive in the Prater,
though at once recalled, found him already a corpse. Ace,rd-
ing to the official Inspection, atrophy of the heart has been
found to be tho cause of death.
In London last week 2,468 births and 1,362 deatha
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 74, and the deaths 78 below the average numbers
In the corresponding week of the last ten years. The annual
death.rate from all causes, which had been equal to 17 4 and
160 per 1,000 in the two preceding weeks, rose to 18 6.

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regents Park, London, during the past week include
a tennant's squirrel from Ceylon, presented by Mrs.
S. A. Cottrell; a common marmoset from South-Ent
Brazil, presented by Mr. T. N. Palmer; A ebactna
baboon from South Africa, presented by Mr. W. 11.
L. Long • a Leucoryx antelope from North Africa, presented
by Mr. john M. Cook; two leopards from Ceylon, presented
by Mr. Eustace L Burnside; a green lizard from Jersey, pre-
sented by Mr. James Thorn ; a tarantula spider from Cali,
fornia' presented by Mrs. John Leochman ; five Robben
Island snakes from South Africa, presented by Rev. G. H. R.
,Fisk,,C. M. Z. S.; two greater white-csested cockatoos from
Moluccas; two common cormorants, 13114,th:deposited ; two
blossom-headed parrakeets, from India a nose-horned
viper, a crocodile, from West Africa, pureha,wl —Nature.

1 depre,

It is stated that while the express train, conveying
the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Louise, and the
Marquis of Hartington from Ballater, on Monday, was near
Dinnet Station, a tire of one of the engine wheels broke, and
another engine had to be procured.

Under the head of "Conscience Money," the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer acknowledges the receipt of the first
halves of notes for £lOO for income-tax from " A. B. C."

In the year ending the 31st of March, the fees paid
to the House of Lords on the " introduction of Peers" were
£192 18s. There were no fees in the year before.

In France a fatal railway accident has happened on
the Western Line. A passenger train from Paris was run
into at the Confian Junction by a goods train. Two persons
were killed, and several were wounded.

Grain shipments from America to Europe for last
week included 192,500 quarters wheat, of which 167,500
were for the United Kingdom, and 25,000 for the Continent.
Of 152,500 quarters maize exported 102,500 were forwarded
to this country, and 50,000 to the Continent, 45,000 bags of
flour being added for England.

The Russian papers state that the approaching
census of St. Petersburg will be preceded by a systematic
enumeration of the houses as well as of each separate tene-
ment in the „city and suburbs. In 1869 -the inhabitants
amounted to 900,000 souls.
In the United States in many localities damaged
crops are reported. Virginia and North Carolina report that
serious injury has been done to the tobacco. South Oarolina
advices say that the late cotton has been destroyed.
A New York telegram says that the visible
supply of wheat on Oct. 7 was 19,500,000 bushels; ditto,
Indian corn, 27;100,000 bushels. Export clearances of wheat
for Europe during the past week, 1,300,000 bushels; export
clearances of Indian corn for Europe during the past week,
980,000 bushels.

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 170,000 bales, and since Ist September,
1881, 622,000 bales. Exports to Great Britain, 69,000 bales, and
to the Continent and Channel, 12,000 bales; total since let
September, 1881, 304,000 bales. Stock at all ports, 446,000
bales.

The Queen invested his Royal Highness the Duke
of Cambridge with the Order of the Thistle, at Balmoral
the 17th ultimo,

It is stated that among the bequests of the late
Dean of Westminster is one of a piece of silver plate to his
friend the Bishop of Natal.

Lavender is being cultivated in Southern India with
fair success, and as the dried flowers are worth about
£6O per ton in England, the industry is likely to prove highly
profitable.
. . .

- Two Acts were passed in the recent Parliamentary
Session on the Army - one to regulate the forces, and the
other to consolidate the law. The first Act contains 55
sections, and the other as many as 174 sections.

From an official return just published of the cost of
lighting the streets of Paris, it appears that not only gas
and the electric light are employed for the purpose, but
mineral oil in certain quarters. The total cost, exclusive of
the charge for the electric light, which of course is corn•
paratively little used, is 4,265,000 francs, this being an increase
of 148,000 francs as compared with last year.

The Printers' Register says :—" The King of the
Sandwich Islands, who has lately paid us a visit, is the only
king, we believe, who is at present the responsible editor of
a newspaper. His paper is the Hawaiian Gazette."

The other day the habit us of the Paris Morgue were
greatly puzzled by a curious india-rubber leg that lay ex-
posed for recognition on one of the slabs, it appears that
the body of an elegantly dressed woman, apparently aged
about fifty, had been found in the Seine, above the bridge of
Saint Cloud, but the body was so decomposed that it could
not be kept. It was remarked, however, that the left leg,
amputated at the thigh, had been replaced by an
ingeniously constructed India-rubber leg, which was ex-
hibited in the hope that it might lead to the recognition of
its proprietor.
The commission of the Sussex and Kent winter
assize, at which Lefroy will be tried, will be opened at Maid-
stone by Lord Chiaf Justice Coleridge on the 31st inst.
Lefroy's trial will probably be taken on the 2nd or 3rd of
November.

The whaler Polynia, from Davis Straits for Dundee,
passed Peterhead on Wednesday. She is the only successful
vessel of the Dundee fleet, she having got no tuns of oil,
while the average catch is only 40 tuns. The captain reports
that the autumn fishing has been a failure. Greenland seal
fishing in the spring was also a failure

It is announced that the petroleum springs recently
discovered at Hanover yield lubricatory and not lamp oil.

An International Conference on the North Sea
Fisheries has just been opened at the Hague. Besides Hol-
land, England, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, mad
Norway are represented.
From the returns of the• census taken in Prussia on
the Ist December last, it appears that there are in that
country 17,645,462 Protestants, 9,205,136 Ronsan Catholics,
363,790 Jews, and 64,524 persons of other denominations.
On Sunday night a fire broke out in the military
hospital at Fort Pitt, Chatham, and had it not been for the
prong measures adopted, great damage might have resulted.
Theft!' a occurred in a building known as the Tower, which
was occupied by a soldier and his family, who had a narrow
escape. After some difficulty the fire was extinguished, but
not until considerable damage had been done._

-
The Moscow journals publish some striking statistics
of the number of fires in their city during the ten years 1870
to 1879. During this period there were 2.492 fires, occasion-
ing loss,s estimated at 28,652,910 roubles—an average of
2,865,201 roubles per annum. This is equal to five roubles a
year, or nearly sixteen shillings sterling, per head of the
entire population..
It is understood that the Postmaster-General has
decided that the existing distinction between telegraph and
postage stamps shall be abolished. New stamps, from £5
downwards in value, available for postal, telegraphic, and
receipt purposes, are to be issued, and arrangements are
being made to carry out this plan, which, it is expected,
will come into operation early next year.

• An inquiry has been held at the London Hospital
touching the death of Charles Towe, aged 21, a labourer,
lately residing at Brentwood, who died on Monday last.
The decear.ed was engaged in chaff cutting at a farm on the
20th ult., and in attempting to alter the strap of the fly-wheel
which worked the chaff-mtting machine his foot slipped
and he fell and was struck by the fly-wheel. He was ad-
mitted to the London Hospital on the sth inst., when he
was suffering from a large scalp wound and a lacerated face,
his ears being nearly torn away. Death resulted on Monday
from tetanus, or lockjaw. A verdict of "Accidental death"
was returned.

It is said to be the intention of those in authority to
raise the tax at present levied on dogs from 7s. 6d. to £l.

Japan is looking well to her silkworms. A com-
parative exhibition of silkworms' eggs, cocoons, tobacco-
leaves, indigo, paper, and flax will be open for thirty days,
beginning on the Ist of October, at Matsumoto.

Speaking at the opening of a new branch of St.
Lawrence's Schools, Kirkdale, on Saturday, Colonel Black-
borne, M.P., said education without religion was a delusion
and a snare. He approved of the voluntary system of educa-
tion, which he said was highly appreciated by Englishmen in
general, and by Lancashire men in particular.

A novel umbrella has appeared in New York. It is
made to fasten to the shoulders, so as to leave the wearer's
hands free, and is smaller and of a somewhat different shape
from the ordinary kind. The wires used to raise and lower
the umbrella come down over the head and rest on the
shoulders, while, when not needed, the umbrella hangs down
the back, and " occasions no inconvenience."

At the concluding sitting of the Social Science Con-
gress in Dublin, on Saturday, Viscount Powerscourt gave an
address on Art, especially comparing its culture and appre-
ciation in France and in our own eountry. ' He attributed
the greater love of and acquaintance with painting among
the French artisans, as contrasting with the English, to more
facilities in France for visiting museums and galleries, and
especially on Sundays. He trusted there would soon be a
more liberal spirit in England. Votes of thanks brought to
a conclusion a Congress which is said to have been the most
successful for years.

Williams College, at which the late President
Garfield was educated, is said to have greatly profited by
that fact, being now crowded with students.

A despatch from Sioux City, lowa, published at
Torontb repoits that the engine of the train conveying the
Marquis of Lorne and suite went off the rails and was upset
on the night of the 6th inst., owing to a number of cattle on
the line. Three of the carriages left the rails, but nobody
theatrain sustained any injury.

A telegram from Cagliari, in Sardinia, states that a
terrible inundation devastated the commune of Settirno San
Pietro. Fifty-four houses were destroyed, and three children
and a young man perished. The losses in cattle and grain
are said to be enormous.
Intelligence received at Madrid states that serious
inundations have taken place in the Province of 3lurcia.
About two hundred agriculturists are isolated through the
floods.
A solid gold state chair is being made in Calcutta
for an Indian Maharajah. Tt will be worth £13,000.

Field mice have become a perfect plague in Alsact
this summer, sad the farmers are vigorously exterminating
the pests. In three country districts alone, within the last
three weeks. 132,000 of the destructive little rodents have
been put out of the way, their weight amounting to three
tens. _ _

----P-ilblie Works.—Penny novels.—Pcanch Lodges.—
Birds' nests.—Home Growth. —Adding a story.—An all-round
suck-cess.—Oranges.—A well-known Watch-word.—Tick.—
koonshfne.
_ _ .

--
It is stated that the proposed Land Bill for Scot-
land, which has been entrusted to 'Professor Hunter,
barrister, for preparation, has now been completed, and will
be submitted to a large meeting of farmers, to be held at
Aberdeen, for discussion and approval. Tha bill, in prin-
ciple, is based in the main on that put forth by the United
Kingdom Farmers' Alliance, the chief variation being the
omission of those clauses relating to tithe rent and similar
charges applicable to English law, whilst there are on the
other hand certain clauses inserted to provide for other con-
tingencies of Scotch law.

A well-attended meeting of Deeside and other
fatrner iild ou Monday evening in Tanana, at wrucn
the present agricultural situation was considered. The
agitation in progress was fully approved of, and resolutions
were passed in favour of a revaluation of the. land and a
thorough revision of the Scotch Land Laws.
The Paris Globe hears that Mr. Gladstone will be
in Paris on the 24th inst., on the occasion of the zesumption
of the commercial treaty negotiations. It has -been reieg-
nised, the Globe says, that 'Mr. Gladstone's presence has
become necessary to secure the successful issue of the nego-
tiations.

Lily growers are complaining that during the past
season there has been most discouraging prevalence of
" spot" and other forms of disease. Litium auratum has
been much attacked, and Laium canzlidum, which flourishes
untended and unniauured in a thousand cottage gardens, has
often been one of the greatest disappointments of the care-
ful grower.
A Milwaukee man, who owns a very fine skye
terrier, put down a saucer of milk for it on a step a few days
ago, and returning soon after was surprised to find the terrier
and two rats nearly as large as the dog all lapping up the
milk in the most contented manner. The dog was wagging
his tail, and seemed to be enjoying the presence of his guests
very much. —Detroit Free Press.

Professional services are valuable sometimes. For
forty-two days the four surgeons attendant on President Gar-
field—Bliss,'Harnes, Woodward, and Reyburn—charged the
Government 4200, dollars, or 100 dollars each per day. Dr.
Aguew's ,bill tor the sumo number of dais for " consulta-
tions, operations, and visits," was.
V,600 dollars, and Dr.
Hamilton, for 4' visits and consoltationft," rendered a hill for
a similar amount; the nledical mei..!a services amounted to
81,600 dollm s (£17,520.), Court Journal. • . . •

• • A correspondent who was prefenteat the recent per,
formance of Mr.' Bitrnand's comedy of The Colonel beft,re
the Queen and Royal family 'at Abergebile writes (says the
Daily News:—The Prince of Wales took much liitere,t in
all the arrangements. Air. . Edger Bruce paean ed land-
tore in Edinburgh exprtsE-ly for the ceathetie scene, unit the
Prince and Princess Wadi; invited him to ti any article he
pleased from the drawing- room at Abergeldie for the tier-
Pose of giving completeriess to Airs. Blythe's boudoiT in the
second act, which became quite a model in its way of sober,
tasteful furnishing and 'decoration, without taint of 'l:esthetic'
absurdities. The Prince and the Earl of Fife were among
the audience in Highland costume'. A programme, specially
printed in honour of the occasion on pink satin bordered
'with lace) and a very choice bouquet of white flowers,
mounted with white crape, were presented to the Queen."
. •
Sir Massey Lopes, M.P., in addressing d
that
they
ctohn-
stituents at Plympton, near Plynr,v4ll;
had to deplore the contiuned depre-sion in agriculture ea a
national disaster. There was no doubt that theiereat factor
In the deprersion was the cycle of bad seasons, end he. was
one of those who considered the climate more to hlatne and
snore likely to improve their prospects than any alteration of
the land system. Doubtless the foreign competition Akita
smother ingredient, but he did not intend to delude tharm
Into believing that he thrtught" they were ever again llkeif td
have a duty on c:irn or the necessaries of life e
' • so strong,
did Le feel it that he could never support such a proposi"
With the teeming populations of this country it would be
wrong of those interested in the land to attempt to artificially
influence the prices of food. He had been taken to task for
deprecating at ,the meeSOL-O,IAI
Commerce the rethoval of the shitlinAte sstftiCiCi
duty on corn,tut he
felt strongly 'that the shilling ought to have been cloven in
relief of local burdens,

Archery is the favourite autumn amusement among
French fashionables this year, and a speeial ground for tffe
sport is being prepared in the Bois de Boulogne.

The Senators of the Aberdeen University resolved
on Saturday to confer the degree of LL.D. upon the Earl of
Rosebery, the retiring Lord Rector, and to recommend the
University Court to fix Nov. 12 as the date of the rectorial
election,

The University of Sydney, which recently opened
its classes and degrees to women, has received a donation
of £5,000 for the endowment of additional scholarships for
poor students. The donor connects his gift with the open-
ing of the university to women, but the scholarships will be
tenable by either men or girls.
Dr. Schandorff's safety lamp for collieries is
attracting attention. The lamp can only be opened with
the help of a strong magnet.

Advices from Marseilles state that on the 4th of
October a fearful explosion suddenly occurred on board the
Arnionia, Italian brigantine, which sailed from Barcelona
on 28th September for Marseilles, with petroleum. The
master, mate, and steersman were blown overboard; other
five hands went down with the wretkatze. The three sur-
vivors hung on to a fragment of the foremast, and were
picked. up, the. following dr-by the Ch,atellier, steamer,

which lauded them at Marseilles,

The young Czar is described as a man of sincere
piety and a regular attendant at church. He is particularly
fond of the chants, and maintains at his own expense two
splendid choirs at the chapel at reterhoff.
In consideration of the recent trying seasons, the
Duke of Sutherland has remitted, in the case of his sheep-
farming tenants in Sutherlandshire, no less than fifty per
cent. of the current year's rents.

The Agent-General for Queensland ha q received ad-
vice of the safe arrival at Townsville, on the 4th inst., of the
ship Sir William Wallace.

As many as 110 Acts of Parliament were repealed
In the late Session by the Statute Law Revision Act, from
the reign of Henry HI. to last year.

Early on Wednesday morning a vessel was observed
sunk off the Mersey. The Formby lifeboat put off imme-
diately to the rescue. Two sailors were at first seen clinging
to the rigging, but before the lifeboat could reach them they
were compelled to relinquish their hold. Nobody was saved,
nor could the name of the vessel be ascertained. Her masts
only were visible above water.
The Postmaster-Geteral is said to have decided
that the existing distinction between telegraph and postage
stamps shall be abolished.

On Monday night rod fishing on the Tay closed for
the season. Since the withdrawal of nets larger takes have
been obtained than for years past. Some exceptionally
heavy baskets are reported. Mr. Watson Lyell on Thursday
killed six fish weighing 107 lbs. and Mr. Millais, R.A., and
Mr. Murray killed twelve fish weighing 19:01bs. The upper
and lower waters are still swarming with fish.

At a meeting of the executive of the Wesleyan
Methodist Thanksgiving Fund Just held, it was announced
that the sum total promised to the fund amounts to
£302,626 19s. Bd. Of this sum £252,783 3s. have been id
Into the hands of the general treasurers, leaving an out-
standing balance of £49,738 6s. 11d.

Friday in last week was the last day of the Church
Congress for the present year, and the principal subject con-
sidered was the revised version of the New Testament, a
question treated of by Professor Plumptre. He was of opinion
that in time people would become so accustomed to the new
version that they would resent any change upon it, just as it
was assumed they resented change now.

An eiktric exhibition is to be held at the Crystat
Palace in December. All the existing systems of electrin
lighting will be represented, as the short winter days will
afford a most favourable opportunity for their display, while,
in addition, it is intended to form a collection of electrical
anparatus in gen.ral.

During last week a large number of steamers arrived
at Liverpool conveying live stock and fresh meat from the
United States and Canada, and consequently the arrivals of
live stock showed a large increase, but of fresh meat about
the same as on the preceding week. The totals were 1,900
cattle, 4,356 sheep, 5,082 quarters of beef, and 014 carcases
of mutton.
While a mixed train was proceeding southwards
from Inverness on Friday in last week it ran off the rails at
Muir of Ord. The engine was embedded in an embankment.
Fortunately the carriages kept an upright position, and the
passengers were unhurt. The line was torn up, and was
blocked till late at night. Among the passengers going south
who were detained were the Duke of Westminster and the
Duke of Portland.

Should there be a substantial surplus for Mr. Glad-
stone to dispose of in his next Budget he will be hard pressed
by many of his own supporters as well as by Conservatives to
redeem the promise made in his electoral manifesto when he
appealed to the country at the time Lord Beaconsfield was
called to power, to abolish the income tax in its entirety.
He stands pledged to that course before any other financial
reforms, and it is hardly possible that he can escape from
being energetically called upon to carry out those engage-
ments.
An eyless lobster, similar to the specimen found at
a great depth some years since by the Challenger, has been
dredged up in the Mediterranean by an Italian Government
vessel on its yearly scientific expedition round the coast, and
which this season has explored down to an enormous depth.
Living crawfish and various shells have also been found, and
the discovery is all the more valuable as Dr. Carpenter had
concluded from careful observations that no submarine
forms existed in the greater depths of the Mediterranean.

Presentations were made on Monday to the Hon..
George Ormsby Gore (eldest son of Lord Harlech) and Lady
Margaret Ethel Ormsby Gore by the inhabitants of ()smeary,
upon the occasion of their marriage. The gifts consisted of
aa illuminated address, presented to Mr. Ormsby Gore, and
a diamond star to his bride. The ceremony was performed
in the entrance hall of Brogynton, in the presence of most of
the subscribers, and of Lord and Lady Harlech and the mem-
bers of their family.

Yale College has adopted the revised version of the
New Testament. The Theological faculty have unanimously
declared that they believe the new version to be better than
any other English translation.

Jonathan is no more inquisitive, and no more taken
back than the inquiring Englishman who had been betrayed
into the nresumption of asking a gentleman with whom he
was travelling if he was a single man.—" No, I am not, air."
—" Oh, I beg you pardon. A married man? "—"No, sir, I
am not."—" Pray excuse me. I perceive you are a widower."
—"No, I am not a widower."—The inquisitor was non-
plussed. Not a single man, nor a married man, nor a
widower.—" Pray, what may you be, if I may be so bold as
to ask ?"—" It is none of your business; but if you are very
anxious to know, I am a divorced man, sir !"—" Editor's
Drawer," in Harper's Magazine.

The railway bridge over the canal at Leeds, on the
London and North-Western Railway, was on Tuesday after-
noon the scene of an accident similar to those which have
happened within the past fortnight. As the 1.40 p.m. train
from Leeds to Manchester was passing over the bridge, five
carriages at the rear left the rails and caused a block Rir four
bolus. None of the carriages was overturned, but st.v.ral
passengers were shaken.

- -
The guns and carriages that belonged to the ir-csted
ship Doterel have arrived at the Royal krsenal, Woolwich,
in the War Department steamship Earl de Grey and Ripon,
and will be landed and conveyed to the workshops to
undergo examination and repairs. They do not appear on
cursory examination to have been damaged by the force of
the explosion and immersion in the sea.
The Lords of the Treasury, on the recommendation
of the Secretary of State for War, have granted the funds
necessary to enable the War Office to proceed with the work
of searching the records' to ascertain what honours are due
to the new Territorial Regiments, on account of the ser-
vices rendered by their representatives in those campaigns
of the last century which Mr. Childers lately announced his
Intention of taking steps to commemorate.
At a .Liberal gathering at Paisley on Monday
evening the principal speaker was Lord Reay, who said that
the agricultural interest was so important a factor in the
prosperity of the nation that when it antlered all members
of the body politic felt the shock. He should like to see the
ownership of farms combined with their occupation.
Farmers wanted a reduction of rent, security for improve-
ments, and a greater amount of freedom in cropping.

- - - -
Mr. Fraser Mackintosh, M.P., speaking at Inverness
on Tuesday night, said that next year he intended to propose
resolution to extend to the Scottish Highland crofters or
smaller tenants a better security of tenure than they at
present enjoyed.

The British Temperance League will hold its ilex
conference at Preston, in July, 1882. The Preston Temper-
ance Society, founded by Mr. Joseph Livesey, the father of
teetotalism, will celebrate its jubilee the same week.

At the half-yearly meeting of the Durham County
Franchise Association, the secretary read a letter from Mr
Gladstone stating that he was afraid he could give no pro-
mise to make the extension of the suffrage one of the
measures for next Session. Mr. Storey, M.P., speaking at
the samemeeting, said he did not expect that Mr. Gladstone
would promise, but if the mind of the country was made up
the Premier had no objeetion to the principle of the
measure.
The r+turns received up to Tuesday afternoon at the
County offices, Preston, showed that there are 216 farms in
Lancashire affected with foot-and-month disease and pleuro-
pneumerlla. Disease is rapidly spreading.
With;regard to the question of whether the United
States Congress will vote a sum of money for Mrs. Garfield,
it is pointed out that in the similar case of the widow of
President Lincoln an Act was passed granting to Mrs.
Lincoln the amount of the President's *alary for one year.
This stood at that time at 25,000 dollars, although the value
of the office has since been increased to 50,000 dollars. In
1866 it was enacted that all letters and packets to and from
Mrs Lin!coln should be carried free of postage during her
natural life, and finally in 1870 a pension was conferred
upon het of 3,000 dollar, per annum.—Mrs. Garfield's fund
now reaches 340,000 dols. The subscription will close on
, Saturday.