The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-22 00:00:00

QRIFFITIP S VALUATION.

The Times has published the following letter :

Sir,—Not being an Irish landowner, I have no
interest in writing the following letter beyond the wish
to make better known the methods by which the valu-
ation of Ireland of 1852, carried out under the super-
vision of my father, tile late Sir Richard Griffith, and
upon which he spent many years of his useful life,
was. arrived at. The valuation was insole by experi-
enced men on the value of the soil itself, quite inde-
pendent of the rent paid for it, but taking into con-
sideration the market facilities of the district, and
based on the scale of the then prices for farm produce,
and deducting the taxes, which were then high. The
scales of prices, omitting the prices of corn, which
itTtve not so much altered', are approximately the fol-
lowing :—ln 1852, butter, 655. 4d. per cwt., against
100 s. in 1880; beef, 355. 6d., against 655. ; mutton,
415., against 725.; pork, 325., against 489. That the
valuation based on these prices and the returns sent in
by the land surveyors was at the time it was made
considered a just and equitable one is proved by
the abnormally few appeals that were made against
it in the courts held in each district for that
purpose. My father always spoke of the valua-
tion as being near the rent of the great landed
proprietors, but from 25 to 30 per cent, under
the rents of the small landowners; and purchasers in
the Encumbered Estates Court used to add about that
percentage to it when they wished to test whether the
rents of the property exposed for sale were fair og not.
It would seem, therefore, that, considering the pre-
sent prices of produce as compared with th:se of
1852, and that this valuation was then admittedly
very moderate, it is surely unreasonable to ask Irish
landlords in 1881 to take the valuation of 1852 as a
fair rent, in the face of the greatly increased values of
-farm pzoduceL and the wonderfully increased facilities
for its sale. G. WALDIE-GRIFFITH.
Hendersyde-park, Kelso, Scotland

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

Mr. Duncan M'Laren, the senior member for the
City of Edinburgh, has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. It
is understood that his son, the Lord Advocate, will be a can-
didate for the vacant seat.

Lord Beaconsfield's Hughenden tenantry have
been informed that his lordship will remit twenty per
cent..on the Nfichaelakas:yents at the audit at the end of
this month.

• Owing to the spread of foot and mouth disease the
whole of the Isle of Wight has been declared an infected
area.

In consequence of an intimation received from
London the -armoury of the let Gloucestershire Artillery
Volunteers at Bristol is now being watched every night to
prevent any outrage similar to that perpetrated at Salford.
A Brussels paper says that the ex-Empress Eugjnie
is compiling a History of the Life and Death of the Prince
Imperial" • and Her Majesty also proposes to publish
" Notes by !Napoleon III."

A telegram from Cairo to a German paper an-
nounces the unearthing* near Saggarah, to the north of
the site of Memphis, of two pyramids of the sixth dynasty,
the inner walls covered with several thousand inscriptions.
While .proceeding from Cardiff, Peterstone, on
Saturday night, a woman named Thomas lost her way in the
snow and fell into a dry ditch, where she was found after
two nights almost frozen to death.

Blind-dog's-buff would be a novel pame for chil-
dreres parties. In China the Lira Stock Journal tells us,
boys tie a bag over a dog's head and bid him hunt out one
of their numbers. This the animal quickly does by follow-
ing the scent of the one selected.

The Pope has received an offer of a considerable
sum of money to enable his Holiness to carry out "reforms,"
to rest Ste the prestige and influence of the Roman Catholic
Church, the only condition Wing secrecy as to the identity
of the benefactors. _ _ _

-- --
A Bill to limit the cost which may be incurred and
facilitate the redemption of lands by tenants in Ireland in
certain cases of ejectment • and a Bill to amend the law
relating to the admission of barristers in Ireland, were issued
on Monday.
It is stated that the trustees under the will of the
late Mr. E. Harris, of Preston, purpose founding in that
town an orphan home and a science and art school. They
will expend on the first-named institution a sum of £IOO,OOC,
and on the other £50,000.

Intelligence received in New York stateg that forty
Indians have attacked a stage coach in New Mexico. The
bodies of the driver and four of the passengers—three men
and one woman—have been found mutilated and burnt.
Troops have been sent in pursuit of the perpetrators of the
outrage.

Sir William Harcourt has been suffering from a
cold, and was on Monday night unable to be in his place in
the House. The right hon. gentleman, however, transacted
business during the day at the Home Office.

A man's deeds live after him. So do his mortgages.
—Sporting Times.
Mr. Gladstone went down to the House of Commons
on Monday evening in a brougham, accompanied by Miss
Gladstone, contrary to his usual practice of walking over
from Downing-street. On his entering the House the right
hen. gentleman was congratulated on his recovery by
several members of both sides of the House.

Three Government Bills have already passed
through all the.ir stages in the House of Lords and await
consideration in the Commons, viz., Burial and Registration
Acts (Doubts Removal) Bill, Judicial Committee Bill, and
Augmentation of Benefices Act Amendment Bill.

Mr. Fawcett, in his recent address at Manchester,
in referring to the parcels post, observed that the negotia-
tions wili the railway companies were in a forward state.—
The Civilian hears that difficulties as to the adoption of any
scheme for carrying parcels have been suggested by some of
the officials of the Circulation Department of the General
Post Office, it being alleged that there is absolutely no
room at St. Martin's-le-Grand for the proposed new branch
of business .

-- -----
A guard of the Royal Artillery is ordered to be
placed over the Government magazines in the marshes ad-
joining the Roy al Arsenal at Woolwich, the authorities
having received information which, in their opinion, renders
this precaution necessary. The guard has taken possession
of the lobby well known to Volunteers, as it is from thence
that ammunition is drawn before entering the practice
range, and sentries are posted along the river bank for some
distance to watch and protect the magazines.

The Right Hon. Lord Cantoys died at Stonor
Park, Henley-on-Thames, on Tuesday. The noble lord, who
was the third Baron, was restored to his ancestral honours
In 1839, and was the Lord in Waiting to the Queen on foul'
separate occasions. He was born in October, 1797, and was
thus in his 84th year. He is succeeded by his grandson,
Francis Robert, who was born in 1856. The present peer's
father, the Hon. Francis Stoner, died in London on the 10th
inst.
It is recorded in the "minutes of proceedings" in
the House of Lords on Monday night, that " prayers were
read by.the Lord Chancellor, no bishop being present."

Mr. Mundella was present on Monday at the open-
ing of an Industrial School which has been erected by the
Leicester School Board. He said a committee, of which he
is a member, is now considering the whole question of
Truant, Industrial and Reformatory Schools, with a view to
prepare a new code for them. That committee was furnished
with abundant information in the responses to the Home
Secretary's Circular, and in reports from our representa-
tives abroad; and he fully believed that there would be a
satisfactory issue to their deliberations.
A serious collision occurred at Ilayton Quarry Sta-
tion, near Liverpool, on Sunday evening between an empty
cattle train and the passenger train which leaves Liverpool
at half-past six. Some twenty passengers were more or less
serbusly injured. Two of the carriages were overturned,
and considerable time elapseil before the sufferers could be
released. The exact cause of the accident was not known,
but was supposed to be owing to the points being affected
by the frost.

John Chinaman is coming into fashion as a lackey
In some of the monster shops of Paris. fie is docile, sober,
can stand fatigue, and will work for small wage.

The Board of Trade returns for 1880 are of a very
favourable character. The total value for the year amounts
to—imports, £409,990,056, against £362,127,741 in 1879;
exports, £222,810,526, against £191,531,758 in 1879. These
figures prove that trade during the past year had substantially
Improved. The half-yearly reports from several large firms
in the engineering trade just issued state that, although
'Prices are low, it is satisfactory to note that the manufac-
turers are busier than they have been for years, and that
thew is every prospect of increased sales and better prices.
A New York telegram says that the mining town
of Alta, Utah, has been nearly destroyed by avalanches. Ten
persons are reported to have perished.

The President-elect of the United States has been
so pestered by office-seekers and interviewers that he is now
rejoicing in the deep snow-drifts which surround his home
at Mentor, and prevent inquisitive people from gazing in at
his windows. At one time General Garfield used to put any
newspaper articles about himself in a scrap-book, but Ile has
found them so plentiful and minute of late that he dis-
likes even to open his daily packet of newspapers. General
Garfield generally fetches his letters himself from the post-
office, carrying the heavy bag tied to the pommel of his
saddle. He is a fine horseman, but dresses like a farmer.

According to a new scheme prepared by the French
War Office, the annual pay of the officers of the French
army will be as follows :—Marshal of France, £1,120;
general of Division, £760: general of 'brigade, £420; colonel,
£320; captain, £160; lieutenant, £93 to £110; sub-lieu-
tenants, £6O to £9O.

I here was a severe earthquake shock in Thurgau
in Switzerland on Thursday night, in last week, accompanied
by underground noises sufficiently loud to awake people
from their sleep.
The luxury of the stage now prevalent is reacting
very unfavourably on the Paris theatres. Managers spend
such enormous sums on the mountings and costumes of
their pieces that they have been obliged to raise the pliccs
of their seats, thus shutting out all but rich theatre-goers.
Accordingly Parisians with small means have in a great
measure given up the theatre, except on rare occasions, and
flock to the cafifs-cancerts.

At a meeting of those engaged in the liquor trade
held at Exeter, a resolution was passed that in the opinion
of the meeting the section of the Inland Revenue Act of last
session, by means of which the license duties were greatly
increased and extended, is unjust and extensive in its opera-
tions, and that steps should be taken to secure a reducti,,n
of the excessive duties. R was also urged that members of
Parliament should be induced to resist any attempt to un-
settle the trade by measures such as local option and Sunday
closing.

As a result of the colliers' dispute the condition of
affairs in Bolion has approached a panic. The scarcity of
coal has been felt by all classes, several mills and fdundries
having been stopped for want of fuel. Stocks at pit banks
have been reduced, and attempts have been made to bring
in supplies from Yorkshire and Wales. The commonest kind
of coals fetch high prices:
_

- -
Christmas greetings from the New to the Old Colin-
trx were so numerous this year that the steamers leaving the
Milted States on the Wednesday week before Christmas car-
ried the largest foreign mail ever sent out in one day.
"About Virenty-five years ago . the British Govern-
ment sent a circular to the different boroughs in England,
asking for information upon a number of statistical ques-
tions. Among these was the following:--" Is there any
unusual custom prevalent in your borough?" To this a
borough in the south-eastern part of England replied,
" Yes ; the authorities sup together twice a year, and pay
for it themselves."—Sporting Times.

•
One of the main features of the new Ballot Bill in-
troduced by Sir Charles fluke, will be relieving candidates
from all official expenses of. an election. It will be found
that all charges, except the cost of meeting will in future
be charged to the ratepayers of the constituencies.

The polling for 'Wigan on Tuesday ended in the
return of Mr. F. S. Powell, the Conservative candidate, in
succession to Lord Lindsay, also a Conservative, who has
been called to the peerage as Earl of Crawford and Balcarres.
. . . .

It is stated in a telegram from Valparaiso that the
Chilian army operating against Litna consists of 22,500
infantry, HO cavalry, and 2,400 artillery, together with 80
pieces Of artillery and 10 Galling guns. A telegram from
Buenos Ayres states that the Chi Han forces number 30,000
men, and that the defenders of the city are 40,000 strong.
A paper on Mr. Leigh Smith's Arctic discoveries
was read on M outlay eveMng„ by Captain Markham, at the
Royal Geographical Society. It is stated that the Arctic
Expedition, undertaken by Mr. Leigh Smith, during the
summer of last year, has met with unparalleled F3IIC6CSS, and
that the discovery of a navigable route to Franz Josef Land,
and ot the coast trending westward, and then northward,
will probably open a new era in Polar discovery. The ex-
ploring steam vessel, the Eli-a, 360 tons burden, wa3.built
for ice navigation, and was manned by twenty-five persons.
Mr. Leigh Smith's discoveries in 1880 will form a fresh start-
ing point for future Polar discovery, and they open a new
chapter in the history of Arctic exploration.

The Secretary of the Bristol Liberal Operatives
Association have received the following reply to a: resolu-
tion of confidence in the Government :—" Glad-
stone desires me to request that you will he so good as to
.thank the executive committee of the Bristol Operatives
Liberal Association for the resolutions they have passed ex-
pressing their confidence it: her Majesty's Government, of
which you sent him a copy in your letter yesterday. Ile
quite agrees with the opinion of the association that the
state of lawlessness in Ireland hiss retarded the removal
of grievances in that country.—Yours obediently, Hoiza.cli
SEYmour.."

The Rev. Humphry Lloyd, D. D., Provost of Trinity
College, Dublin. died on 111ondav, after a short illness, at
the College. The deceased gentleman was in his 82nd year,
and had been Provost for the last 13 years. He was a well-
known scientist, and had written several works on optics
and mathematics. The vacant office, which is at the dis-
posal of the Government, is worth over £4,000 a year. •

Several of the large mining employers in Lancashire
have iptimated their willingness to abide by the provisions
of the Employers' Liability Act, and have offered to let the
men start work. The men, however, say that they will not
return to work unless all the masters give way, and in addi-
tion to this the men asE..ert their determination to stand out
fur an increase of wages.

•
The last of the bodies of the 101 men killed at the
Pen-y-Graig explosion was discovered, under a huge fall
about 100 yards from the upcast, on Sunday morning, and
on Monday morning the explerers succeeded in bringing it
to bank. The man's name is David Williams, and he leaves
a widow and four children.
- -

On Sunday forenoon the Free West Church, Stir-
ling, was totally destroyed by tire. The flames broke Out
just as the congregation was assembling for forenoon ser-
vice, and in an hour the whole edifice was consumed. It is
believed the lire originated in the heating apparatus, which
had been thrown out of order by the intense frost on Satur-
day.—An explosion arising from the sense cause took place
in the south parish church, Greenock. The water in the
tubes of the heating
_apparatus had frozen, and when them
stove was lit the stea began to generate, and some of the
pipes burst, blowing out the front of the boiler. A girl
named Edmonton, daughter of the beadle, was severely in-
jured, and'considerable damage was done to the church pro-
perty.

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 131,000 bales, since let September 3,684,000
bales. Shipments to England, 64,000 bales; and to the,
Continent and Channel, 37,000 bales •, total since Ist Septem-
ber, ~213,000 bales. Stock at all ports, 920,000 bales.
At his New Year's Reception, held o 0 the 13th inst.
Sir Robert Biddulph slated that it was the desire pf the
Government that a census should be taken this year in
Cyprus, as in °the rparts of her Majesty's dominions, and he
asked the Notables to assist him in this matter.
At the approaching National Exhibition at Milan
the Italian Typographical Association intends to exhibit a
complete collection of Italian periodicals, divided according
to form, material, and contents, and also of all periodicals
published in the Italian language in foreign countries, with
an account of the machines, paper, and ink employed in their
production.
One of the officials in the Probate Office has amused
himself by taking notes, from time to time, of the different
ways in which the word " cushions " was spelt in the old
wills that have come under his notice. ipllfs list of various
spellings has now reached the number of 235, andhis probably
not yet complete. Q seems as favourite an initial as e, and
in the northern and eastern dialects the qu, naturally
becomes tr.
Since 1870 the quantity of fermented liquor manu-
factured and consumed in the United States has more than
doubled. In 1370 the amount of liquor returned for taxa-
tion was 6,5V,000 barrels of 74 gallons each, while for the
last fiscal year there were 13,347,000 barrels, or nearly
414,000.000 gallons. This, with an assumed population of
50,000,600, would give a consumption of 84 gallons of fer-
mented liquor to every man, woman, and child in the
country.
The Municipality of Zurich have refused permission
for the placing of telephone wires on the public buildings of
the city on the ground that their tenuity renders them at-
tractors of lightning and therefore dangerous.
We (Athenceum) hear that the amount realised by
the sales of works of Art at the Autumn Art Exhibition in
Liverpool is between £ll,OOO and £12,000.

Mdlle. Sarah Bernhardt's first week in Chicago
produced 2,469 dots. for six performances. Her sixty-three
American performances, down to Saturday, have produced
226,119 dols. gross receipts.
The Australian papers give the result of a match
which had created much interest in the various colonies.
Riflemen from four colonies competed at Williamstown
Butts. Victoria headed the list with 2,782 points, New
South Wales following with 2,650, South Australia with
2,640, and Tasmania bringiug up the rear with 2,603.

Last Saturday a young man in the employ of an
upholsterer of Brentford, met with his death in a singular
manner. Another workman was in the act of striking.
nail with a screwdriver, when the implement flew out ofpiii
hand and the point of it penetrated the deceased's skull
to the brain, death resulting in the course of a few
minutes.
Speaking last Saturday at the general meeting of the
board of directors of the Victoria National Association, of
which he is patron, the Crown Prince of Germany expressed his
views with regard to the anti-Semitic movement, and said
that he could not conceive how men standing upon an Us-
tellectual eminence could lend themselves to the support o.
a movement which must be condemned alike for its ten
dencies and aims.

Speculators in the far west of America, are calcu-
lating upon a rush of competition from Ireland for the
allotments of virgin soil preparing for immigrant agricul-
tural labourers.
" Corney.,--Disappointment has turned to joy. Let
the miser be assured of his gold. Have written."—" B. F.
to Y. W.—Hope you received mine, posted Nov. 19th, and
understood it. Please write to me direct, when, and if
necessary, as I fear you won't use former place, though still
open. Examine closely first page I send. Will intimate if I
leave home. Am well, trust you are. Shall be glad to hear
ere very long."—Advertisements in The Times.
The Convention of the National Land and Industrial
League of the United States, sitting at Buffalo, which has
been formed to aid the Irish Land League and to secure the
favourable verdict of the American people for the objects at
which it aims, resolved at its meeting the other day to form
an organization entitled the National Land League of the
United States. After some confusion caused by the contend-
ing factions, the Convention adjourned. It will next meet
at Washington.
At the time of the Crimean war heavy quantities of
shells and other projectiles were made in South Staffordshire
to the order of the British Government. During the past
twenty-five years nothing has been date in this line. Now,
however, an order which will take several weeks to execute
has reached a leading maker of best coal blast pigs in South
Staffordshire for the supply of iron, which it is understood is
to be converted into chilled shells te be used in South Africa.
Professional beggars in New York carry double.
sided placards. On one side may be read, "Blind since
1852,' and when the beggar gets tired of being blind he turns
over the card, and the pitying are informed that he has been
paralysed for a 3-ear.
Owing to the miners' dispute in Lancashire more
orders have been received by the coal owners in the South
Yorkshire and Sheffield districts than they can readily
execute. On Saturday evening eight train loads of coal,
between two and three thousand tons weight, left Sheffield
for the Lancashire district, by the Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway.
Tuesday, the 13th, being the anniversary of the
baptism of the Saviour, the usual ceremony known as the
"Blessing of the Waters" took place in.a temporary chapel
in front of the Winter Palace, Petersburg, where the regi-
mental standards were sprinkled and consecrated, the cere-
mony lasting a quarter of an hour. It was curtailed by
reason of the intense cold-10 degrees below zero, Fahren-
heit. Nevertheless thousands assembled on the quay, and
remained bareheaded during the proceedings.
That the Russian soldiers can be animated by Inme-
thing more than solid bravery, is shown by the interesting
fact which General Scobeleff recently mentioned, that 26 men
of the Iver Regiment of Dragoons, selected for the much-
coveted St. George's Cross, offered to foreko these that the
gratuities secured thereby might be devoted to their wounded
comrades.

The screw steamer Hispania, which recently arrived
at Liverpool, brought among her freight three splendid
Bengal tigers and one tigress. The animals, which are
about half-grown, were brought over from India in impro-
vised dens, or strongly iron-bound boxes. During the voyage
the feeding of the animals was no small matter, as a couple
of hundred fowls and forty-nine sheep did not prove suffi-
cient to meet the requirements of the dainty strangers.

An inquest has been held at Portsmouth dockyard
on the lh,dy of 'William Burden, aged twenty-two, a ship-
wright, whose body was found in ten feet of water in the
boat-pond with several pounds of old iron in the pockets of
the clothes. The deceased had passed an examination for
the Excise, but although he had received notification of his
appointment he had become much dewessed, and his father
received a post-card on which was written :—" Dear Father—
I have been conscious for some time of a gradually failing
mind. God forgive me for the rash act lam about to do.—
From your unhappy son, WILLIAM.- The jury returned a
verdict that the deceased was in an unsound state of in-
tellect when he committed suicide.

The strike of colliers in the Ashton-under-Lyne
and Oldham dishicts has come to an end. On Monday
morning the men unanimously decided to reject the com-
promise offered by the employers, but since then an inter-
view has taken place between the representatives of the
masters and the men. The result is an understanding that
the day men shall resume work. It is understood that the
masters have conceded the men's demands in their entirety.
The decision has given great satisfaction throughout the
district, where great distress has been caused by the long
continuance of the strike.
Mr. J. Murray Graham, of Murray's Hall, Perth-
shire, died suddenly on Tuesday. He was upwards of
seventy years of age. Two or three years ago he published a
review of English literature, which was favourably noticed,
and he was also the author of a "Life of Lord Stair." He
was a direct descendent of Lord Lynedoch, and upon his
lordship's death inherited part of his property.
An inquest was held on Monday at Burrington,
near Ludlow, before Mr. Moore, district coroner, on the
body of James Wild, aged 70, who was found frozen to
death in a barn. Dr. Cartwright gave it as his opinion that
the deceased's death was caused by exposure to the cold, and
the jury returned a verdict accordingly.

Last week 2,486 births and 1,604 deaths were regis-
tered in London. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 103, and the deaths 161 below, the average num-
bers in the corresponding week of the last ten years. The
annual death-rate from all causes, which had been equal to
23-5 and 213 per 1,000 in the two preceding weeks, rose
again to 22•6

An accident occurred at Accrington Station on the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway on Monday afternoon.
A luggage train was being shunted into a siding, when one
of the waggons broke loose, the remaining part of the train
ran down a steep incline and dashed into other luggage
waggons in the siding, The buffers were smashed and much
damage was done to rolling stock. The accident is said to
have been caused by the frost.
An inquest has been hela in London, at the Middle-
sex Hospital on the body of Thomas Dpnaldson, 51, a link-
man, who was killed by being run oVEr by a private cab,
Lord Duppiin and a friend were leaving the residence of the
Bail of Fife, Cavendish-square, on Christmas 'night, when
deceased came up to turn the handle of thd cabdoor fastener.
Lord Dupplin told him to stand back, and he went round to
the other side, where Lord Dupplin's friend was getting in.
Before he reached there, however, the door was closed from
the inside, and the horse started at the sound. Deceased
fell under the fore-wheels, and was injured. A verdict of
accidental death was returned.