The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-09-10 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

_BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

It is stated that the Shah of Persia is preparing to
pay a third visit to Europe early next year. Ms Majesty
intends to spend some time in all the great capitals.

A lad Of nine years of age, named James Smith,
has died in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary from injuries
sustained on Monday by falling over the rocks in the Queen's
Park, there known as "Samson's Ribs.s
A supplement to the Dublin Gazette of Monday
night contains the list of all the prisoners detained in prison
_under the Protection Act, with a statement of the grounds
of arrest in each case. The total number now in custody is
one hundred and seventy-five.

Mount Vesuvius has been again in lively eruption,
sending streams of lava down the northern slopes of the
mountain.

It is a strange fact that fishing on the English coast
this year has been seriously interfered with by vast numbers
of seals. Great efforts are being made to drive off these
depredators.
- -

Two shocks of earthquake, each lasting from four
to five seconds, were felt on Friday in last week, at Spalato,
in Dalmatia_ ThA narthauske, which was accompanied by
a subterranean rumbling, passed from tne soutn-weet
the north-east. It also made itself felt in the neighboar-
ing islands of Brazza and Mascarsa, and in the town of
Sebenico.

A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on September 2 was 18,400,000 bushels; ditto,
Indian corn, 19:600,000 bushels Export clearances of wheat
for Europe during the past week, 2,950,000 bushels; export
clearances of Indian corn for Europe during the past week,
8603000 bushels.

The telegraph system in Japan' which dates from
1871, comprised at the beginning of last year 3,929 miles of
line, with 9,345 miles of wire. The total number of telegrams
during the year was 1,272,756, of which about 96 per cent.
were in Japanese, while international messages numbered
22,695.
Eva, "How curiously Miss Miniver sings! Just as
if she had something in her mouth !" Fred. " Yes—a
false(set)to, p'raps ! "—Moonshine.
In London, on Monday morning, a youth 'fell from
one of the platforms of the Broad-street station while a train
was shunting, and, being caught by the buffers, was dread-
fully crushed. He was at once taken to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, but was not expected to recover.
,The officers of the 11th Hussars have forwarded,
through General Sir James Brind, a donation of £5 Is. to the
fund for establishing coffee taverns in camps and garrisons.

Intelligence from all parts of the United States and
Canada reports the existence of excessive drought, culmi-
nating in serious forest fires, NNIJULin many cases lead to the
destruction of farms. Great oTr're has been occasioned in
Canada in this respect.

The imports of live stock and dead meat from the
United States and Canada showed an increase last week, as
compared with the previous week, the totals being 1,797
head of live cattle, 3,53 S sheep, 514917 quarters of beef, and
710 carcases of Mutton.

An eagle was recently shot at Nakkoo, in the island
of Lapland, measuring Sift. between the tips of the .wings.
Around its neck was suspended a little tin box inclosing a
slip of paper, on which was written in Danish, "Caught and
set free again in 1792, by N. and C. Anderson, Boetod, in
Falster, Denmark." This eagle must, therefore, have worn
this neck ornament for eighty-eight years.
News has been received in Paris that Mr. H. M.
Stanley is lying dangerously ill half-way between Stanley
Pool and the mouth of the Congo. He has, it is stated, so
kttle faith in his own recovery that he has made his will.
It being in contemplation to reduce the Royal
Marine forces by 590 officers, non-commissioned officers, and
men. the standard height for recruits for the infantry branch
of the corps has been raised from St t, 61n. to Sit. 7in., and
volunteering for the artillery has been entirely suspended
until further orders. All promotions to the rank of sergeant
has been suspended

A Reuter-'s telegram from Washington says that the
United States Government has received a dispatch from the
superintendent of the San Carlos Agency, Arizona, in
reference to the reported massacre by the Apache Indians.
It states that only two officers and tell private.; were killed
on the American side, while the Indians suffered heavy
loss. • The reports of the slaughter of General Carr, seven
officers, and one hundred and tan privates bre declared to
be false.

The inventory of the personal estate of the late Earl
of Seafleld, who died intestate, has been delivered to the
Sheriff of Banffshire. It is sworn under £160,000.

Last week therer were 22 British and foreign wrecks,
of which 15 were Bitish ( se h iii. a steamer), reported,
making a total of 1,127 for the present year, or an increase of
221, as compared with the corresponding period of last year.
The approximate value of property lost was £4,500,000, in
eluding British £3,500,000. About 240 lives were lost.

- •
The City Press states that a gentleman has inti-
mated his willingness to give the munificent sum of £lO,OOO
towards the completion of the fund fer Paddington-park.
This will make the total amount already given £32,100.

Mr. Crudginton, of the Baptist Missionary Society,
who recently made the journey to Stanley Pool, on the
Congo, Africa, sailed on Saturday from Liverpool, accom-
panied by Mr. Herbert Dixon, one of the five new mission-
aries whom the society purpose sending immediately to
labour with those already at San Salvador, Congo country.
The Provost, magistrates, and Town Council of
Greenock have presented the Earl of Shaftesbury with an
illuminated address as a mark of their appreciation for the
services his lordship had rendered to his country. The ad-
dress was printed on vellum and enclosed in a silver.
mounted casket, which bore a suitable inscription.

Dr. Lyon Playfair arrived in New York from Eng-
land on Saturday

Under the - head of " Conscience Money" the
Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in The Times the
receipt of the first halves of notes amounting to £35, sent
anonymously for income-tax.
- - -

While at work on Monday making a new road on
the east side of Mr. Benett stanford's park at Brighton, some
labourers in the employ of Mr. John Blaker, of Fulking
Farm, Edburton, unearthed the skeleton of a man which
they found intact about two feet under the surface of the
ground. The police authorities were communicated with,
but no explanation can be given of the circumstance, nor
can any idea as to how long the skeleton has been in the
position in which it was found be obtained. No suspicion
of foul play is entertained.
Mr. Dixon Hartland, ALP., has returned to London
from Switzerland, where he met with a severe accident. The
diligence in which be was travelling through one of the
Alpine passes was upset, and Mr. Hartland sustained a frac.-
ture of the left collar bone and other injuries.

Mr. Jefferson Davis, the ex-President of the South-
ern States, arrived in Liverpool on Sunday morning by anew
steamer, the Barnard Hall, from New Orleans. He is not
in good health, and after a short stay at the "Adelphi ''
Hotel left for London by the first Midland express at 13.30.
A reporter sought an interview with him, which Mr. Davis
declined.

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 47,090 bales, and since Ist September, 1880,
5,849,000 bales. Exports to Great Britain, 29,000 bales, and
to the Continent and Channel, 6,000 bales; total since Ist
September, 1880, 4,547,500 bales. Stock at all ports, 224,000
bales.
By a public document, just issued, it appears that
In the year ended March 31 last the stamp duty on patent
medicine amounted to as much as £139,782 18s. 101 d.

Dinner parties in Washington just now must be
rather slow, as it has gone out of fashion to invite ladies to
them, the dinners being composed solely of masculine
guests. In revenge the ladies have set up "high teas,'
rom which gentlemen are not excluded.
The corner stone of a new Reform Club at Heywood,
South• East Lancashire, was laid on Saturday, and in speak-
ing on the occasion Mr. Agnew, M.P. said that "Fair Trade'
was Protection under another name, and that in many in-
stances it meant snore profit to the employer and less wages
and increased poverty in the cottage.

A bottle-nosed whale, in length 23 feet and with a
girth of 12 feet, has been caught ab Spoke, a few miles above
Liverpool, in the Mersey. The whale had been left behind
by the tide, but it struggled hard to resist capture

On Tuesday three men who were engaged in clear-
ing out a drain at the Pennywell Rodd Tannery, Bristol, were
found by a labourer working on the top to have succumbed
to the effects of the foul air. They were lying in the bottom
ch,, rr.i. juuiveu into Lite
hole and lifted the three men out, although he, too. was
nearly overcome by the fumes. One of the men, John
Lew,orthy, aged 54, was found to be dead. The other two
are stated by the doctor to be out of danger.

The Orient mail steamer Cazco:which arrived at
Plymouth on Tuesday front Australia, had on board the
carcases of 4,000 sheep and 100 cattle, preserved by the new
refrigerating process. This ittstalmont, weighing 150 tons,
has been despatched by way of experiment, and has proved
entirely successful. On the arrival of the cargo at Plymouth
the success of the experiment was telegraphed to the
agricultural authorities in Australia.
Accompanied by Colonel Teesdale, the Prince of
Wales on Tuesday visited the scare of the recent lire in
Cheapslde, London, and was shown no er the ruins by Coh•nel
liawman, the City Police Cotunniesloon r. Groat pitcaution
had to be taktn in showing hi; Royal Highness into the
dideront burnt buitdieg4, as 711,115 of the outer walls had
become sever,iy craclitd through the intense heat to which
they were exposed tithing the progress of the tire ; and as
many large pieces of stone coping were continually falling
from the lofty side and front walls of Messrs. Foster's
premises, it was deemed requiste for his Royal lii.hness not
to get too near these dangerous parts It is officially certified
that the total loss sustained by the fire is nearly k"500,000.

Dr. Palmieri, of the Vatican Secret Archives,
writes from Perugia :—" I have just a few days ago dis-
covered here in Perugia some letters of the seventeenth
century which have reference to the oath that was enforced
on the Catholics by James and Charles, and some other
letters relating to the paintings collected by Lord Arundel
for the king. They are written by English Benedictine
monks, partly in Italian and partly in English."—Atheractim.
Lady Bective who has recently taken so active an
Interest in the home wool industry, intends visiting Bradford
in a few days for the purpose of inspecting the principal
woollen factories. Her ladyship will be entertained at lun-
cheon by the Mayor of Bradford, at the Town Hall. She
will be the guest of Mr. W. Foster, High Sheriff of Lancashire,
at his seat, Harrowius, near Bradford.
The Volunteer movement is spreading in Italy.
Menotti Garibaldi has written a letter encouraging the
volunteers, and, while he declares that they respect the
laws, he adds that their sole object is the national defence. i
St. Giles's annual pleasure fair, one of the largest of
the few now remaining, commenced on Monday in
one of the principal streets of Oxford, and lyag visited
by several thousands of people. The number of shows was
greater than usual, but the old wild beast and theatrical
exhibitions were absent. Great efforts have been made by a,
section of the tradesmen and others to put a stop to the fair,
but so far as the attendance of visitors is concerned, the
annual gathering appears to be as popular as ever.
In London last week 2,358 births and 1,190 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the.;
births were 150 and the deaths so many as 290 below the.
average numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years.—The annual death-rate from all causes, •which. had
,stdul.y,declifle4maihtafivEt :.g.resteol.4%;7,99lrfinfAv24l:2 to
18•:3, further fell last week to 162, a lower rate -than has
prevailed in any week of the past ten years. The 1,190 death
Included 22 from small pox, 4.from measles, 401roin scarlet
fever, eight from diphtheria, 18 from whoopitig—co4;l4. one
from cerebro-spinal fever, 13 from enteric fevek, 67 from,
diarrhcea, four from dysentery, and one fro lu simpe-
, cholera.

It appears that in the year ended March 31, the
gross revenue derived from "penny stamps" was £886,067
195., and net £877,299 16s.
According to an official document just issued, the
stamp duty of 31 on each pack of "playing cards" amounted
in the last financial year to the net sum of £14,652 15s. 9d.

The experients with the 100-ton gun have been
completed at W
00i,eh Arsenal, with results which were
pronounced most satlsnf It was calculated that the
shot fired would have penetred a ship with three feet of
arniour at a mile distant. The cqges were fired by elez-
tricity, and the idiot buried itself into Pe sand bank te the
depth of sixty feet.

• The immortal swim across the Bosphorus from
Sestos to Abydos accomplished by Leander and Byron has
been eclipsed by that of Lord Clandeboye, the eldest son .of
Lord Dufferin, who is reported to have swum across from
Therapia to Beicos, a much longer passage, in little over an
hour.

Partridges are so plentiful in Bohemia this year,
that they are selling for one shilling a brace in the market,
and can be had roasted on toast for ninepeuce a piece even
in Vienna at popular restaurants. Pheasants are not worth
more than four shillings a brace in waggon loads.

"both great Political Parties just now are anxiously
watching tO Ps which way the Fair Trade winds blow."—
Punch.
- - - - -

Under an Act passed on the day of the prorogation, a
correct register of veterinary surgbons is to be kept, and
provision made as to their profession. The object, as
stated in the preamble, is to enable persons requiring the aid
of a veterinary surgeon to distinguish between qualified and
unqualified practitioners.
On Sunday the German Empress attended Divine
service for the first time since her illness, and afterwards took
a short drive in a close carriage.
The national anniversary of Sedan was celebrated
In the 2nd with the usual enthusiasm throughout Germany.
A fatal accident occurred in the shell foundry of
the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich on Monday morning. A young
man named Thomas Turner, in the employ of Mr. Ske-
vington, contractor, was engaged upon the roof of the
building, when he inadvertently stepped upon a skylight
and fell through on the floor beneath, a depth of 50 feet. He
fell upon his back and died soon afterwards.
On Tuesday, as a Birmingham auctioneer, was con-
ducting a sale at Garrison-lane Birmingham, and was say-
ing "Going, going, gone ! " previous to knocking down
some article, the floor gave way, and precipitated a number
of persons, including several brokers and women, some
with children in their armg, into the cellar beneath. Several
of the people were hurt.
The Commissioners of Inland Revenue have sug-
gested to the Postmaster General the desirability of attain-
ing greater dissimilarity in the colour and design of our
postage stamps, the present series being considered by them
not sufficiently distinct from each other for the purposes of
circulation and distribution.

The dedication of a memorial window to the late
Earl of Beaconsfield, which has just been placed in St.
Michael's Churcn, Jaughenden, by the executors of the late
Earl, took place on Sunday, the Rev. coorge Congreve
preaching both sermons. The inscription reads as follows :
In affectionate remembrance of the Right Hon. Benjamin
Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G., this window was erecced
by ,his devoted friends, Lord Rowton, Sir Nathaniel de
Rothschild, Bart., and Sir Philip Rose, Bart., 1881."

It has been finally decided that, on the occasion of
Mr. Gladstone's visit to Leeds on Oct. 7 and 8, a grand ban-
quet shall be given on the first day, and that a great demons-
tration shall be held on the second. Admission to the
former will be by tickets, the prices of which will range from
one to five guineas. The banquet and meeting will be held
in the Coloured Cloth Hall-yard, which, when covered and
fitted up with galleries, will accommodate 40,000 people. The
cost of fittings is estimated at £B,OOO.
Mr. Fender, M.P. for the Wick Burghs, in addres-
ing a meeting of his constituents at Wick said that in the
session just closed few laws had been added to the statute-book,
yet the session was one of most memorable in the Parliamen-
tary history of this country. It was made conspicuous by
the passing of that great measure, the Irish Land Act,
and by the eloquence and determination of Mr. Gladstone.
- - -

A telegram from Naples states that on Monday
the Italian Treasury paid the sum of 500,000 lire due to the
ex-Bing of Naples, as the sole heir to the dowry of his
mother, Queen Maria Christina.
- -

-
Afropos of the f nthcorning erection of a monument
to Sauvage a Boulogne-m.3ler, Nature mentions that a
rival claim to the invention of the screw propeller has been
set up on behalf of a person named Dallery, who took out a
patent so long ago as 1813 for certain contrivances, including a
screw propeller aid a tubular boiler. M.. de Lemeps is of
opinion that although Dallery might have conceived the idea
of the screw, yet 4t is to Sauvage that the credit is due of
having been thc first to apply it to practical purposes.
"Drowned, at sea, by the foundering of the Union
Royal Mail Steamship Teuton, James Rose-Innes, 31.8.
C.M., the third and fondly-loved son of George Rose-Innes,
Esq., of Ardfour, Banffshire, and No. 17, Norfolk-street,
Strand, London, aged 20."—Obituary of The Times Sept. 6.
A musical festival of an uncommon character was
inaugurated on Tuesday at Brighton, being a competition
among the members of musical societies from France, Bel-
gium, and Switzerland. The instrumentalists and vocalists,
numbering between 1,500 and 1,600 were most hospitably
received. At the close of the festival the Mayor of Brighton
opened a subscription in at of the sufferers by the accident
on the Paris and Lyons i.iway. The sum of £5O was col-
lected in the room. 41,

A St. Petereburg telegram, dated Sept. 6, says that
according to intelligence from Baku, the Krassilnikoff
petroleum spring has been on fire for five days, and it is
feared that the whole spring will be exhausted unless the
einl,avours now being made to quench the dames by means
of steam should prove successful.

A fine art exhibition was opened on Monday in the
new inthinarY, Bolton, by Lord Bradford. The collection
consists of about 1,000 paintings, etchings, engravings, sculp-
ture, Sx. The infirmary. for the benefit of which the exhibi-
tion is held, has cost -€.20,000, exclusive of fittings, and will
contain 70 beds. The exhibition will remain open two
months.

-----------
The August report of the United States Agricu:-
tural Bureau shows a falling off in the area of wheat culti-
vation in Tennessee, lowa, California, Wisconsin, and to a
slight extent in•Niinnesota. The most plausible explanation
of the fact yet offered is that at the present price it does not
pay to grow wheat in these States; and if that should prove
correct it is, so far as it goes, good news for the British
farmer.

The forest fires in Ontario continue to be very de-
structive, owing to the drought. In a number of places on
Monday, including city of Toronto, the sun was com-
pletely obscured by the smoke, causing darkness and neces-
sitating the lighting of lamps.
Lorenzo Lelmonico, the famous New York re-
staurateur, died ou Saturday, aged 71. For 50 years he has
been celebrated as the chief of New York's greatesit. re-
staurant. Delmonico was a native of Switzerland.
-- •

It is proposed to place a memorial in Reading to
the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 66th
Berkshire Regiment who fell during the campaign in
Afghanistan last year.
The Directors of the Western of France Railway
have issued an order compelling all their season-ticket hol-
ders to send in their photographs, in order that they may
be more easily recognised by the officials. The measure has
given great dissatisfaction to travellers by this line.

A meeting of about three hundred farmers in the
eastern division of Aberdeenshire was held at Ellon on Mon-
day th discuss the agricultural situation. A committee was
appointed,to consider the question of rent reduction, and of
compensation for tenants' improvements. A good deal of
discussion ensued as to the propriety of agitating for a Land
Bill similar to that Just passed for Ireland, but ti definite
conclusion was postponed until another and larger meeting,
to be held soon.

It is quite a mistake to suppose that a peasant pro-
prietary means comfort and contentment, if not affluence.
At all events, it does not me.an so in Germany, where, at th.e
present moment, great distreis prevails amongst the small
proprietors of land. In Bavaria alone, no less than 3,739
farms, representing 30,059 bectares of ground, were publicly
sold last year, and cf these nearly a thousand were not farmed
during the year on account of the difficulties arising from
the public sale. Bad seasons and foreign competition are
alleged as the cause. The number of independent owners of
land is steadily diminishing, and those who still remain ap-
pear to be considerably embarrassed in their condition.
-

A somewhat novel Court sat at Chester Castle on
Saturday relative to the property of Hannah Wright,
Peplos-street, Bishopsfields, Chester, who has died without
a will or devising her property. Under the circumstances
the Crown claimed the property, amounting, it Is calcu-
lated, to more than one thousand pounds, and appointed
Commissioners to enquire into the matter. A special jury
was accordingly empanelled, and witness having been called
as required by law, the Court ordered the property to revert
to the Crown
A Geneva telegram says that the recent heavy rains
have caused serious inundations in many parts of Switzer-
land. The country roundlßeme has been under water. The
roads in the Simmenthal, and in the Cantons of Soleure,
Basle, and St. Gall are impracticable. On several of the linos
of railway communication is interrupted.

During the excavations in Strada Campagna, at
Naples, a marble tomb has been brought to light, the bust
of a female, and a Hermes column. The bust represents a
young woman, the hair arranged in a net, resting on the
neck. To judge by the arrangement of the hair and the
rather slovenly execution the bust seems to belong to the
end of the second cr beginning of the third century, about
the time of Caracalla. The Hermes presents a head of
robust form, with short hair, cut in a circle on the forehead,
evidently belonging to the same period.

"Germany has celebrated the eleventh anniversary
of the battle of Sedan. There was jutt qualm about it.
Au imperceptible minority had whispered that a decade of
anniversaries was enough, and that it was better not to keep
the sore open. The universal reply to this has been that
Germany has no need to think about. France at all in the
matter ; she is thinking about herself only; she is saved
and united; the aspirations of ages have been fulfilled, and
she has aright to keep her own birthday. This is all very
well, but, unfortunately the reasoutalr t '11;
16141..ty nis ueignuoura.
self are not !,1^
Leauer in vie Times.