The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-10-09 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

It having been proved at the trial of the ringleaders
in last Sunday's disturbances at Naples that they were
instigated by the members of the Clerical Club of
Leo XIII., that institution has been closed by order of
the Prefect.
An itinerant newsvendor named Edwards was com-
mitted for trial on Saturday, from the Southwark
Police•court, on a charge of obtaining money by seg.
ing newspapers which did not coutain the news he
cried out The magistrate remarked that this offence
was becoming too common.
The French Budget Committee on Saturday approved
the priEciple of the imposition of an income tax. The
committee assigned various sources of revenue,
amounting in tue aggregate to 51,000,000 francs, to
meet the deficit on the Budget, which is estimated
at 104,000,000 francs. The remaining deficiency of
53,000,009 francs the committee proposes to make up
from the income tax. Mr. Wilson was elected Reporter-
General.

Mr. Thomas Knipe, of Belaghy, connty Armagh,
tenant farmer, has been appointed one of the Commis.
sioners to inquire into the working of the Land Act,
in the room of Mr. George Fottrell, Crown solicitor,
Dublin, who declined to act.
Dr. Junker, the African traveller as to whose fate
considerable anxiety had been felt, has reached Meals's,
on the southern show of Lake Victoria Nyanza, in
safety.
The Court-martial on the leaders of the Revolu-
tionary outbreak in Spain was held on 'Saturday, and
several of the prisoners, ircluding Brigadier-General
Villacampa, were sentenced to death.
The Peztmaster-General has replied to the telegraph
clerks of the London Central Telegraph Office, in
answer to their petition for a better scale of pay. He
sees no reason for disturbing the classification of 1881,
by which the staff of the Central Station received con-
siderable benefit.

The Committee appointed by the Prince of Wales to
inquire into the complaints made respecting the
arrangements for the representation of Australian
wines at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition have made
a report to the effect that the arrargements have more
than fulfilled the assurance conveyed in the original
circular of the Royal Commission, and that they are
calculated to meet the reasonable expectations of the
interests concerned.

Bishop Hedley on Saturday laid the foundation-stone
of a new Roman Catholic church which is being built
at a cost of £lO,OOO at Greenhill. Wales.

It is reported that the engagement of Prince Albert
Victor of Wales to the Princess Alexandra of Saxe
Anhalt will be announced shortly. The Princess
Alexandra Therera Marie is the youngest daughter of
• he reigning Duke Frederick of Anhalt, and was born
on the 4th April, 1868. She has three brothers, all
officers in the Anhalt Infantry Regiment, and one
sister, the Princess Elizabeth, who is married to the
Hereditary Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
The Council of Ministers in Madrid have approved a
decree of the Minister of the Colonies, by which, in
virtue of Jae authorisation granted by the Cortes the
few remaining negro slaves in Cuba will be declared
free immediately, without being compelled to undergo
a few years' apprenticeship under their old masters.
A return just issued shows that the present esti-
mated gross capital value of real property amounts to
£3,778,437,000, on which taxation to the amount of
£8,441,452 was paid. The estimated gross capital value
of realised personal property was £5,623,821,000, on
which taxation to the amount of £9,716,101 was
levied. _ _ _

Sir Cha:les Warren has largely withdrawn during the
last few days the special protection long accordtd to
the public buildings of the metropolis in fear of
dynamite outrages while at the same time providing
for their ample protection. In this way he has liberated
1000 policemen, who are henceforth to be employed in
watching saspected persons.
The passengers who disembarked from the White
Star steamer Republic at Queenstown on Saturday,
state that on the third day after leaving New York a
steerage passenger named Williams, a Welshman, was
missed. It is feared that be committed suicide by
jumping overboard during the night, as he was ob-
served to be very unsettle- d in his mind.
The story that a Stourbridge carpenter, named
Wilkinson bad been bequeathed a valuable estate and
money by Mr. Willis, a Newcastle gentleman, whose
life he saved some years ago, is unfortunately for Wil-
kinson, untrue. He had a letter to that effect, but it
was a despicable hoax.
The Queen and Crown Princess of Holland have had
a narrow escape. One of the chandeliers in the
entrance hall of the Chateau of Loesdyk, where the
Royal Family were staying, fell from the ceiling, and
was broken into fragments close to them.
Reports to hand state that there have been shocks
of earthquake in various parts of Switzerland, especially
the Canton of Grisons, where the shocks have been
accompanied by subterranean rumblings.
Gunner David McKenzie, No. 4 Battery Ist Brigade
%offish Division Royal Artillery, shot himself dead at
Shotley, when on sentry duty. Shotley is a point at the
mouths of the rivers Stour and Orwell, which meet in
Harwich harbour, and consequently a very dull place.
McKenzie has lately been pronounced medically unfit
for service in India. He had previously served in the
72nd Highlanders; but had not re-engaged soon enough
for his back service to count. He had the Afghan and
Egyptian medals, and Khedive's star.
Replying to the Rev. Jacob Primmer, who, as Presi-
sident of the Townhill Contervative Association, Dun-
fermline, protested against the selection of a Roman
Catholic for the office of Home Secretary, Lord Salis-
bury states that the appointment of Mr. Matthews
involves no shadow of injury or danger to the Protes-
tant interests. - -

An extraordinary crop of potatoes has just been
gathered at Nuneaton. They are of the White Elephant
variety, and are unprecedentedly large. One potato
was found to weigh 31b. 30z., another 2Ub., and a large
number over 21b. each. Sixty of the potatoes weigh
about 100 lb.

_
At Alidt‘lesex Sessions on Tuesday Mr. Commis-
sioner Kerr sentenced James Peppercorn to 18 months'
imprisonment with hard labour on his conviction upon
charges of having obtained sums of money by false
pretences from persons out of employment.
Mr. Commissioner Kerr, at Middlesex Sessions on
Tuesday, required George Evans, charged with having
kept a cock which crowed to the annoyance of the
neighbourhood, to enter into his own recognisance of
£5O to come up for judgment if called upon.
At the Westminster Police-court on Tuesday, Mr.
Henry Bryant, a cab proprietor, was fined £5 for an
assault on the Hon. E. A. Pelham, notice of appeal
teing given. The parties had carried on an hackney
carriage business, and it was stated that the complain-
ant was a licensed cabdriver.

The receipts into the Exchequer from 'April 1 to
September 30 were £37,648,299, against £37,111,822 in
the corresponding period of last year. The expenditure
was £42,590,476, against £45,272,539. The balance in
the Bank of England last Saturday was £952,035; in
the Bank of Ireland, £623,562.
A telegram from Winnipeg, published at St. Paul,
announces that Mr. Sutherland, President of the
Hudson Bay Railway Company, has stated that
arrangements have been completed in England for the
construction of the line. It is hoped that 50 miles of
the line will be finished this season.

Mr. Parnell has made arrangements to spend the
winter in the South of France. His mother and sister
wig accompany him, and they will set out in a week or
ten days, spending some time in Paris on their way.
They will not return until the opening of Parliament,
and if time allows they will visit Rome.
The Right Rev. Dr. Pearson, who has been Bishop
of Newcastle, Australia, since 1880, has accepted the
offer of the living at Blackburn, made to him by the
Bishop of Manchester, whom he will also assist in his
diocesan work.

Several men were charged on Tuesday at Hammer-
smith Police-court, at the instance of the Thames Con-
servancy, with obstructing the match betrreen Teenier
and Perkins at the International Sculling Race. The
bcs,A occupied by the defendants pulled across that
which Perkins rowed, and some delay was caused.
The magistrate said that only the coxswain, under the
circumstances' could be proceeded against. This
person, John Smith, said he placed the boat in the
position complained of, as he was anxious to see the
race. Mr. Bennett said it was a suspicious case, but
he would fine the defendant only .k 3 and costs.
Speaking at Birmingham on Tuesday evening, the
Marquis or Lorne referred to imperial Federation, and
maintained that its groundwork was mutual defence.
Here we had a common interest.
A disturbance between English and French fisher-
men took place at Ramsgate on Monday night. It was
provoked by news brought into port by a Rye boat, to
the effect that a Boulogne boat had on the previous
night wilfully damaged their nets. The harbour
authorities succeeded in quelling the disturbance.
By desire of Queen Christina, the Spanish Council of
Ministers has commuted the death sentence missed
upon General Villacampa and several soldiers to penal
servitude.

A sham fight was carried out on Tuesday, in the
presence of the Duke of Cambridge, by the troops in
garrison at Portbmouth. The operations were of a
very spirited character, and several casualties, though
note or them serious, occurred..

_
Sir Saul Samuel, K.C.M.G., the Agent-General, has
received a return from the Government of New South
Wales, stating that the estimated population on the
30th of June last was 1,003,867.

intelligence received from Melbourne states that a
volcanic eruption, accompanied by earthquake shocks,
I:As occurred on the Wand of Niapu, in the Tonga
group All the villages were destroyed, but there was
HO bibs ot life. -
--

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
reading of the barometer last week was 29.79 in. The
tneau temperature of the air was 58 5 deg. Rain tell
On tour days of the week to the aggregate amount of
045 of an inch. The duration of registered bright
stuibioeie the week was 21-1 hours, against 274 hours
Ett Glyndeplace, Lewes.

SATURDAY, OCT. 9, 1886.

Mount Pablaf, 300 miles south of Kodiak, in Alaska
is in eruption.
It is believed that the Government have under con-
sideration a scheme for the abolition of Crown
Solicitorships in Ireland.
The Oriental Congress in Vienna was closed on
Saturday by the Archduke Renier. A letter was read
from the Mhaister of Public Instructiofi congratulating
the delegates upon the success of their work. Tbe
President announced that it had been decided to hold
the next Congress at Stockholm in 1888.
A bicyclist named Packman, who neglected to light
the lamp of his machine one moonlight night recently,
was on Saturday fined 10s. and costs by the Dartford
Justices. Mr. Fooks, Q.C., one of the magistrates,
considered the penalty too heavy, and declined to take
any part in the case.
The Rev. Dr. Croskerry died on Sunday at London-
derry. Commencing life as a newspaper reporter, be
wrote many theological works, and nine years ago suc.
ceeded to the office in the harness of which be died,
the Professorship of Theology at tho Magee Presby-
terian College.
The Admiralty have issued instructions for the fol-
lowing ships, serving on foreign stations, to return
home to be put out of commission. The Albatrosq
and Pegasus, from the China Station; the Miranda,
from the Australian Station: and the Fantome, from
the West Indies.

A few days ago Madame Gamier, living in tho Rue
de Rivoli, Paris, committed suicide upon hearing that
her husband had been arrested upon a charge of
swindling. The husband's sister, who lived with her
father, who is completely paralysed, upon hearing if
her brother's arrest and her sister in-law's suicide, wr,4
so upset that she jumped in despair from the fourth
floor into the street and was dashed to pieces. Her
father, before whose eyes this tragedy was enacted, ha cl
been removed to a hospital and has completely lost his
reason.

The death is announced of Colonel Duncca Mac-
pherson, of Cluny, the chief of a Highland clan. The
deceased, who only succeeded to the estate on the
death of his father last year, was born in 1833. Frl
was colonel in the 42nd Highlanders, fought at the
relief of Lucknow, in Ashanti, and at Tel-el-Kebir.
Colonel Macpherson, in 1867, married Ellen, daughter
of Major-General Harris, of the Bengal Army. Having
died without issue he is succeeded by his brother,
Colonel Ewen MacPherson.
Mr. Bright fished the Murthly Water on the Tay, on
Friday and Saturday, and landed four salmon of 161 b.,
201 b., 201 b., and 241 b. During the two days Mr.
Bright was the guest of Sir J.E. Millais, at Birnam
Hall. _ _

_
The Commander.in.Ch'ef, in an order issued on
Monday, has awarded about 1:260 in prizes for skill at
arms to a number of non. commissloned officers and
men of the Royal Artillery. The best records made ate
by Sergeant W. Murphy,. D Battery 3rd Field
Brigade, 164 points; Corporal T. Reilly, 3rd Battery
Eastern Divisicn 163; and Sergeant G. Barlow, 3"
Battery, 3rd Field Brigade, and Corporal T. Cronin,
3rd Battery Eastern Division, each 160.
A new lifeboat, the gift of an anonymous contributor,
under the initial " D," has recently been forwarded by
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to Dornoch
Firth, where no lifeboat station Dad ever previously
been founded _ _ _

_
The Duke of Cambridge arrived at Portsmouth on
Monday on his annual tour of inspection, and after a
parade on Southsea-common be proceeded to St.
Michael and All Angels Church, and laid the memorial
stone of the new chancel.

A Commission of Inquiry, consisting of fifteen mem-
bers, with Sir Charles Aitcheson as President, has been
appointed to inquire into the best means of providing
for the more extended employment of nAtives in the
Civil Service of the Government of India. The Com-
mission includes officials and non-officials, both native
European.
Lord Randolph Churchill has gone to Berlin.
Addresses were presented to the Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland, on Monday, by the Dublin Chamber ot Com-
merce and the Belfast Corporation. In replying, b:s
Excellency said it was the desire of the Governm, nt
to assert the supremacy of the' law throughout the
land.

A serious riot has occurred in the 'Agra district be-
tween the Hindoos and Mohammedans. The troops
charged the latter with the bayonet, and several people
were seriously injured.
Mr. Moritz Fischer, who a fortnight ago received in-.
juries to his head while looking out of a carriage on the
Metropolitan Railway, died at St. George's Hospital
on Monday.
An alarming explosion of gas took place at the
Bridge House Hotel, London-bridge, on Monday. A
carman named Albert Hardy, who had driven up to the
back of the hotel, was struck on the head by a coping
stone which the explosion had dislodged, and was re-
moved, seriously injured, to Guy's Hospital, where he
died shortly afterwards.
At Middlesex Sessions, L:ndon, on Monday, John
Kellwig and Julius Rig,art were sent to prison for four
months with hard labour, for a savage assault on
Morris Tobolski, a baker. The prisoners were con-
nected with a society whose object is to do away with
Sunday baking, and the assault took place in connection
with Sunday baking on the prosecutor's premises.
A master blacksmith, named Thomas Smith, com-
mitted suicide at Thurmaston, Leicestepshire, on Mon.
day morning in the most deliberate manner. Deceased
got up, walked straight to his shop, where he took a
halter, went to a store-room, and a few minutes after-
wards was found hanging and quite dead. He had had
a slight differrn ce with some friends. This is the tenth
suicide in the district within a short period.
Mr. Berisaude has been charged at the New York
police-court with threatening his wife, Miss Violet
Cameron, and in default of finding bail for 1000 dcls.
was committed to prison. He was, however, after-
wards released, the required bail being forthcoming.
The French fishing season off Newfoundland ie raid
to have been a disastrous one, and the fishermen declare
that they will never go to those waters again.
An agrarian murder was committed near Castlebar
on Sunday night. The house of a man named Moran,
living near Newport, was attacked, and a shot fired
through the window killed the tenant.

An extraordinary accident is reported from the
Vale of Llangollen. The Government is laying a
new telegraph wire from London to Dublin along the
Holyhead-road. The operatives are at present etuaged
in fixing the telegraph poles between Llangollen and
Berwyn, where they have had to contend with lime-
stone rock, which had to be blasted in order to insert
the poles. At one of these blasts a stone weighing
10lb, was hurled through the air over the railway, the
river the canal, and the road, a distance of 400 yards,
and fell upon the roof of the entrance lodge to Sir
Theodore Martin's residence, breaking through the
ceiling and smashing a large earthenware mug to
atoms. The lodge-keeper was washing at the time of
the blasting, and narrowly escaped death.
From a Parliamentary return of the amount of
deposits in Naval Savings Banks it appears that the
number of accounts opened on the 31st March, 1884,
was 14,527, and between Ist April, 1884, and 31st
March, 1885, 7817. The balance due to depositors was
£163,265, and the total amount invested £169,732.
The Rev. William Hepworth Thompson, D.D., Master
of Trinity, died at Trinity College Lode, Cambridge,
on Friday evening. Dr. Thompson, who was born in
1810, graduated at Trinity College in 1832, coming out
fourth in classics, second chancellor's medallist, and
senior optime. He was successively fellow and tutor
of his college, regius professor of Greek and Canon of
Ely and Master of Trinity, and was appointed vice-
chancellor in 1867.

A report which was current in New York on Saturday
that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had purchased
the Inman steamship line has been authoritatively con-
tradicted.

An extensive strike occurro d on Saturday in the
Neaving branches of the cotton trade at Nelson, near
Burnley. The operators engaged in the production of
sateen cloths claimed an advance of wages, RO as to
pine() them on a level with their co-workers at Preston,
A.,,hton, and other Lancashire towns, where it is alleged,
better wages are paid. The employers, however, re-
fused to accode to their demand, and all the weavers
of the sateen goods in Nelson-street, struck work on
Saturday. They number about a thousand.