The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-18 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

A desire is largely Inanifocled on both sides of the
House of Commons that the Indian Budget should be
taken this session at an earlier period than in past
years, so as to admit of its adequate discussion: and
we believe that the Government are willing to facilitate
this by laying the usual papers before Parliament at the
earliest opportunity. The financial year in India ter-
minates on March 31, and about six weeks are required
for the transmission and reprinting of the necessa,7
documents. It is practicable, however, if the other
business before the House permits, to take the Budget
early in June.
The Russian authorities in the Trans-Caspian terri-
tory recently sent some emissaries t‘i Herat for the pur-
pose of examining the new fortifications erected at that
place under the guidance of English officers. They
report that their importance has been exaggerated, and
that the ramparts and earthworks do not possess any
great defensive value.
A meeting of the friends of the late Sir R. Montgo-
mery was held last week, when it was resolved that
subscriptions (limited to a maximum of £5 55.) should
be invited for the purpose of placing a memorial tablet
in the Cathedral at Lahore, and, if funds permit,
another memorial—in a form to be determined here-
after—in London. A committee, with Mr. Thornton
as hon. secretary, was appainted to carry the resolutions
into effect.

The only news received last week from Sikkim was
that the Rajah had moved to Gunstook, some dis-
tance to the south of his capital, and had asked Mr.
Paul, Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling, to meet him
there.

The Municipal Judge of the Central District of
Madrid has condemned two Protestant Professors to six
days' imprisonment and 25 francs fine and costs for
having refused to take their hats off when asked to do
so by a Catholic priest who was carrying the Host in
one of the streets of the capital.
In the course of a quarrel on Saturday night, at
Greenock, a labourer, named Thomas Butler, drew a
knife, and stabbed Alexander Bain, a private in the
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, in the right side,
the blade penetrating through the soldiers' tunic,
overcoat, and inner clothing. Butler, who afterwards
stabbed a seaman named John Andrew in the hand,
was arrested. _ _ .

The Rev. F. Staunton, of Staunton Hall, Notts, left
London by. the Great Northern express on Saturday.
Upon the arrival of the train at Grantham he was
found to be seriously ill, and was removed from the
carriage to the George Hotel, where a doctor was called
in. The rev, gentleman, however, expired almost im-
mediately.
An adequate public subscription having been made
for the object of erecting a statue of the late Mr. W. E.
Forster, M.P., in the newly-formed Forster-square,
Bradford, a sub-committee of local gentlemen has been
appointed and charged with the duty of selecting an
artist for the production of the intended memorial.
The Union Steamship Company's steamer Tartar,
which left Capetown at 5 p.m. on the 25th ult. and
Madeira at 9 p.m. on the Bth inst., arrived at Plymouth
4.42 p.m. on Monday. This passage is the fastest yet
made between Capetown and Plymouth, the total time
being 17 days 23 hours 37 minutes, and the net steam-
ing time, after deducting stoppages, being 17 days 17
hours 7 minutes.
The Registrar-General reports that the death-rate in
London last week declined to 22.4 per 1000. During
the first six weeks of the current quarter the rate
averaged 23.1 per 1000.
Between the Ist April and the 11th instant the
Exchequer receipts were £74,632,642, as compared with
£75,436,826 in the corresponding period of the last
financial year; and the expenditure £73,803,139, as
against £76,627,361. On Saturday last the Treasury
balances amounted to £5,825,972, and on the same date
last year to £3,983,333.
The annual general meeting of the Royal Horticul-
tural Society was held on Tuesday at the Royal Albert
Hall, in London, and after a resolution had been carried
declining to accept the resignation of those members
of the council who were willing to serve again, Sir
Trevor Lawrence, M.P., president, in proposing the
adoption of the report, stated what the council pro-
posed to do in the future. After some discussion, and
the continuance of the committee to assist the council,
the report of the council and committee were formally
adopted.
George Alfred Poyzer, a schoolmaster, was, at the
Leeds Assizes on Tuesday, sentenced to five years'
penal servitude for having forged receipts upon the
Yorkshire Penny Savings Bank. The prisoner, who
was the actuary of the branch bank at All Saints'
Church, Sheffield, had forged the names of a number
of depositors, by which means he had defrauded the
bank to the extent of £4OO. Poyzer fainted on hearing
the sentence. _

The new lifeboat, Sunlight, No. 2, presented by a
Lancashire manufacturing firm to the National Life-
boat Institution, was launched at Brighton on Tuesday,
in the presence of a large concourse of persons. The
boat, headed by the Coastguard and Naval Artillery
Volunteers, was previously drawn through the streets
of the town, and before the launch took place prayers
were said by the Vicar of Brighton, and a hymn was
sung.
The Local Government Board has sanctioned the
borrowing by the Acton Local Board of £21,100 for
the purchase and laying out of 25 acres on the
Uxbridge-road, in Acton-vale, for a public receration
ground for the parish. The parish of Brentford has
decided by a poll in favour of acquiring a field in the
vicinity of the town as a public park.
An intimation,3vas received at Durham on Tuesday
b from the Home ecretary that George Beaseley, who
was sentenced 16 years ago to penal servitude for life,
had been released and granted a free pardon. Beaseley
was convicted in 1872, and sentenced to death, together
with Hugh Slane, John Hoyes, and John Rice, for the
murder of William Waine, at Spennymoor, by Mr.
Justice Denman. Subsequently Rice, a lad of 18, was
reprieved on account of his youth, and Beaseley by
reason of the insufficiency of the evidence against him.
A few friends have been persistent in their efforts to
prove that Beaseley was convicted of a crime com-
mitted by another man, and at length the convict, who
was 27 when he was sentenced, has received a free
pardon.
An accident occurred on Tuesday morning in
Charlton-terrace, opposite the Agricultural Hall,
Islington, which caused considerable alarm in the
neighbourhood. Some houses which had been con-
demned were in course of rebuilding by Messrs. Studds,
'of Stoke Newington. On Tuesday morning one of the
old roofs collapsed, when four workmen were buried in
the ruins. All the men were taken to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, but only one, named Dorrington, was de-
tained.
The Bishop of Llandaff in a speech published on
Tuesday refers to the legal proceedings recently taken
against him by Lord Abergavenny to compel him to
institute the Rev. It. W. Gosse into the living of Goytie.
The Bishop says that if the decision of Mr. Baron
Huddleston goes against him he will appeal from one
tribunal to another until he upsets the decision. He is
determined that he will not institute Mr. Gosse, as
the latter does not understand Welsh, and should he
(the Bishop) be beatea in the final Court he will resign
. -
his bishopric.
Miss Holmes, daughter of a miller, of Denby Dale,
brought an action on Tuesday at the Manchester
Assizes, for breach of promise against a gentleman
named Holmes, a dyer, of the same place. Affectionate
letters passed between them, and the defendant, writing
about some misunderstanding, said, "At present I am
in possession of a lowly, penitent, and obedient heart,
and I sincerely hope I may continue to be so till the
end." The defendant, who pleaded infancy, was
ordered to pay £125 damages.
A Madrid correspondent forwards details in connec-
tion with the reported intrigues in Spain, in which the,
names of the ex-Queen Isabella and the Duke de Mont-
pensier have been mentioned. It appears that the
duke was on his way to Spain to take part in a family
council at Seville, to discuss the prospects of a Bourbon
restoration after the overthrow of the Queen Regent,
when he was requested by the Spanish Ambassador in
Paris not to proceed to Spain.
The quarterly Conference of the Midland Union of
Conservative Associations was held at Hereford on

Tuesday, undeir the Presidency of Sir James Sawyer.
The principal subject discussed was that of Imperial
Federation, which. was introduced by Mr. Rankin,

M.P., and to which the Conference 'appeared to be
favourable, although no resolution was passed. Derby
was selected as the place for the next meeting. A
ladies' auxiliary Council met, under the Presidency of
Lady Sawyer. Mrs. Douglas read a paper affirming
that the political status of women would be lowered by
the extension of the franchise. Mrs. Hallett, of Bath,
spoke in opposition. Mrs. Wilson Lloyd, of Wednes-
bury, gave an address on the objects of the Primrose
League.
Walter Taylor was convicted at the Middlesex Sessions
on Tuesday of defrauding several ladies and gentlemen
at the West-end of London, by collecting money from
them for the delivery of bogus parcels. He was sen-
tenced to two months' imprisonment.
Major-General Edward Mitchell, residing at Pad-
dington, appeared at the Marylebone Police-court on
Tuesday, to answer eight summonses charging him with
travelling on the Metropolitan Railway without having
paid his fare. He was fined 40s. with. two guineas
costs, in one case, and is. with 2s. costs. m each of the
others.
Three Italians were brought up at the Westminster
Police-court on Tuesday, charged with sending out
children to beg. A gentleman from the Italian Consu-
late explained the evils which were associated with
the system of importing Neapolitan children for the
purpose of begging, and the magistrate sentenced each
of the prisoners to three weeks' imprisonment.
The Kennel' Club opened their 30th exhibition of
dogs on Tuesday at the Agricultural Hall, Islington.
The animals exhibited number 1543.
In the Queen's Bench Division on Tuesokiy Mr.
Justice Manisty and a common jury were engaged in
trying the action of Buckland v. Coker Dear, in which
plaintiff sued to recover £ll9 6s. 6d., the amount of two
bills, £6 ss. interest, and £lO for some dealing in
harness. Defendant set up a counter-claim for rent of
certain premises, for which plaintiff admitted that a
draft agreement had been drawn up to enable defendant
to make a claim for qompensation. The jury found
that this agreement was a sham, and gave a verdict for
plaintiff, amounting, with interest, to £l4l Bs. 10d.
At the Middlesex Sessions on Tuesday Arthur Gough
was tried on a charge of assaulting Police-constable
Ernest Craig in Trafalgar-square, and was found guilty,
but recommended to mercy. Sentence was postponed,
defendant being liberated on bail.
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach has accepted the office of
President of the Board of Trade in succession to Lord
Stanley of Preston. The right hon. baronet will re-
enter the Cabinet.

Tuesday night's London Gazette contains an Order
in Council creating a new metropolitan police-court for
the Dalston district.

Further correspondence between the Brighton and
the South-Eastern Railway Companies has been pub-
lished. The board of the South-Eastern Company had
invited the Brighton Company to resume the inter-
rupted peace negotiations, whereupon the board of the
latter adopted a resolution in which, while reiterating
their desire to live at peace, and their determination to
avoid hostile action unless it be forced upon them, they
insist that any renewal of the negotiation must be pre-
ceded by a clear definition of the bases on which it is
to proceed, and the elimination of all extraneous issues.

A race for the championship of England and £2OO a
side was rowed on Monday on the Thames, from
Putney to Mortlake, between George Bubear, the
champion, and Wallace Ross, the Canadian sculler.
Ross won easily.
The action in the Probate and Divorce Division of
Robinson and Leveson v. Robinson and Wraith regard-
ing probate of the will of the late Miss Mary Rudsdell
was resumed on Monday morning, and an arrangement
was entered into that a verdict for the plaintiffs should
be taken, each party paying their own costs.
Mr. H. L. Ellington, who has been several times
examined on the charge, again appeared on Monday at
the London Mansion House, charged with having con-
spired with another person to defraud his partner, Mr.
J. T. Aldred. After a long cross-examination of Mr.
Aldred by Mr. Besley, who defended, the Lord Mayor
said the prosecution had failed to make out their case,
and dismissed the summons. The prosecutor was
bound over under the Vexatious Indictments Act.
The funeral of Archdeacon Evans, late Archdeacon
of Bangor, and said to be the oldest beneficed clergy-
man in Wales, took place on Monday at Bodedern, and
was largely attended by the diocesan clergy.
At the Croydon Police-court on Monday, William
Miller, potman at the Earl of Eldon, Brighton-road,
was charged on remand with stealing a bottle of
whisky and a bottle of port from the cellar. The
magistrates convicted prisoner, and instead of sending
him to gaol ordered him to pay a fine of 20s. and 14s.
costs. Mr. Edridge, prisoner's solicitor, produced the
money. Prisoner: I wish it not to be paid. Mr.
Edridge : Don't be a fool. Prisoner: I wish it not to
be paid. The Chairman: If you're unjustly accused
we're very sorry for you. Prisoner: I am. The
Chairman: You may be a very innocent man, but un-
fortunately all the evidence is dead against you. The
fine is paid, and you'd better go away in a proper
spirit, and make up your mind to do better for the
future. Prisoner reluctantly left the dock and the
court.
The Hastings County-court judge (Mr. Martineau)
had before him on Monday a case in which a Mr.
Chandler, of London and Hastings, was the plaintiff,
and the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway
the defendants. The claim was for £lO for damage
done to some pictures after they had been delivered at
the Hastings Station, and before they were taken to
the plaintiff's place of business. The point involved
was as to whether the defendant company was respon-
sible for the pictures after delivery at the Hastings
Station. Mr. G. G. Gray, LL.D., appeared for the
plaintiff, and Mr. Lopes (barrister) for the company.
His Honour adjourned his judgment to the next court.
Before commencing the hearing Judge Martineau
offered, he being a shareholder in the company, to
withdraw from the adjudication of the case.
At the Sunderland Police-court, on Monday, George
Douglas, who hailed from New South Wales, was
charged with obtaining lodgings by false pretences.
The prisoner's practice was to stay a few days at a
house, and then leave without paying. At one house
he represented that he was agent for a New Zealand
meat company. He was committed to prison for three
months' hard labour.
On Monday morning, Filley House, Wem, the resi-
dence of Mr. Dugdale, J.P., was broken into, and
silver and plated articles taken to the value of con-
siderably over £lOO. Luckily, the bulk of the silver
was not found. Entry was effected through a window
adjoining the hall door, a piece of glass being cut out
triangularly, and a piece also taken out of the shutter
inside, this being the exact manner that an entrance
was effected at Tilstock Vicarage on Saturday morn-

ing.
When the Boulogne steamer was leaving Folkestone
on Sunday morning it was observed that a man on deck
threw something into the water. At low tide the same
night a search was made, and a large dynamite cart-
ridge, the fase of which was defective, was found. It
was taken to Scotland-yard.
The bonus promised by Messrs. Bass, the brewers,
to their employes was distributed on Saturday and Mon-
day, the total amount being about twelve thousand
pounds.
A meeting has been held in London to consider the
form which should be taken by the proposed memorial
to the late Rev. A. H. Mackonochie. The chair was
taken by Earl Beauchamp. The first resolution was
moved by Sir Walter Phillimore, to the effect that a
permanent memorial should be erected to Mr. Mackono-
chie, and that public subscriptions should be solicited;
this was seconded by the Rev. Prebendary Eyton, and
adopted. Canon Carter moved that the memorial
should take the form of a chapel, to be erected as a part
of St. Alban's Church: the Rev. A. H. Stanton
seconded the resolution, which was also adopted.

Intelligence received at Ottawa from Victoria,
British Columbia, states that in the Legislative As-
sembly on Friday of last week, Mr. Humphrey charged
the Hon. R. Dunsmuir, the Premier, with treason
against Queen Victoria, on the ground that he was
aiming at the annexation of Vancouver Island to the
United States, and moved for the appointment of a
Royal Com ission to investigate the matter. The
Premier denied the charge.
The Princess Christian addressed a general meeting
of the British Nurses' Association, held in St. George's
Hall, London, on Monday afternoon, and said the first
object of the association was to obtain for the calling
of nursing the recognised position and legal constitution
of a profession, and the importance to the general
public of a guarantee of their proper education could
not be over-estimated.
At the Bow-street Police-court on Monday, the Rev.
Niblock Stuart, of Denmark-hill, was fined £5 for
mutilating books at the British Museum, and ordered
to pay 2s. 6d., the amount of the actual damage. Mr.
Bond, the chief librarian, informed the magistrate
that he---htid had an interview with the defendant,
who thought that, through overwork, he was hardly
responsible for his actions.
With regard to the church wrecking outrage at
Castlecaldwell, where the Bible and some fittings were
destroyed, arrangements have been made for the pre-
sentation of a new Bible by the Rev. Dr. Kane, on
behalf of the Orangemen of Belfast. The Bible will be
first used in Divine service at Christchurch on Sunday,
the 26th inst. and subsequently Dr. Kane and a deputa-
tion from Belfast will attend at Castlecaldwell Church
to make the formal presentation, when Dr. Kane will
deliver a sermon.

A great robbery of opium was effected at the latter
end of last week at the Victoria Docks. Few par-
ticulars have leaked out, but it is known that the opium
was landed from the Tenasserim, from Rangoon, and
was valued at several hundreds of pounds. It is sup-
posed that the thieves secreted themselves in the Dock
Company's warehouse all night, and made their escape
with the booty when the doors were opened in the
morning.
Mr. Justice Day, in charging the Grand Jury at the
West Riding Winter Assizes on Monday, spoke of the
contemplated changes in the circuit arrangements. Ho
said he thought these changes would be most beneficial,
except as regarded Lancashire and Yorkshire, in which
counties it was proposed to continue the four circuits
a year. He considered that three circuits, as at
present, would be abundant, and hoped that no excep-
tion would be made.

The Swansea Harbour trustees, at their monthly
meeting on Monday, confirmed the recommendations
of the executive committee to appoint Mr. J. Dixon, of
Clifton, general superintendent and harbour master,
at a salary of £BOO a year. Mr. Dixon was 11 years in
the accountant's department of the North-Eastern
Railway Company, two years assistant to the super-
intendent of the Coal Shipping Docks on the Tyne,
and has since held appointments at King's Lynn, Avon-
mouth, and Sharpness Docks.
Alexander Gordon, a labourer, aged 58, committed
suicide on Monday, at Aberdeen, by leaping from a
staircase window in Union-court, Union-street, and
falling a distance of 30 feet. His skull was fractured,
and his legs and arms were broken. He expired in the
Royal Infirmary an hour after the occurrence. The
deceased man had been in bad health for some time.
On Monday afternoon the Barnsley magistrates com-
mitted for trial two desperate burglars named John
Hardman and William Smith, both of Sheffield, for
breaking into the dwelling of John Greenwood, grocer,
Broomhill, Wombwell, on Sunday evening, January 22.
Both prisoners are noted characters, Hardman, aged
48, having been sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment.
His convictions, 10 in number, date from 1849 to 1886.
In the latter year his license was revoked under the
Prevention of Crimes Act, at the Manchester City
Sessions. The prisoner, in 1852 and 1874, was sen-
tenced to seven years' penal servitude each time, at
Bradford Sessions. He was also sentenced to five
years' imprisonment at the Newcastle Assizes. Smith
has been only twice imprisoned, 12 months each time.
Evidence showed that the police authorities having re-
ceived information secreted themselves in Greenwood's
house. The burglars entered. A desperate fight
ensued, in which the burglars were seriously injured.
A shocking tragedy is reported from Fermanagh.
Acting on information received, the police proceeded to
a place three miles from Newtownbutler, and there
found the body of a farmer named Carey on the road-
side with his head and face battered almost beyond
recognition. One eye was completely knocked out. It
appears that Carey was last seen alive leaving Newton-
butler Market under the influence of drink. Another
farmer, who accompanied him, has been arrested and
lodged in Enniskillen Gaol.
At a Crimes Act Court at Derry on Monday, seven
Nationalists were sentenced to three months' imprison-
ment each for alleged rioting on the occasion of the
arrival of Father 111‘Fadden in the City from Armagh.
Appeals were lodged in all cases, and the defendants
were liberated. Seven other cases were dismissed, and
the Court is now engaged hearing charges of obstruct-
ing and assaulting the police on the same occasion.
A man named Patrick Campbell, a stucco plasterer,
was seen to fall from his seat during Divine service at
St. Augustinia's Church, Drogheda, on Sunday night,
and when lifted up he was found to be dying. The
service was suspended, and the man carried into the
vestry, where the officiating clergyman, Father Doyle,
attended him and administered the last rites. Camp-
bell expired a few minutes afterwards. The cause of
death is supposed to be heart disease.
A meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
was held on Monday afternoon, to consider the pro-
visions of the Merchandise Marks Act relative to the
stamping of dimensions upon goods. The general feel-
ing was that the Act would, on the whole, be of great
benefit, if properly carried out; but it was pointed out
that some of the provisions would bear somewhat hardly
upon some merchants.
At Penarth Police-court on Monday afternoon
Charles Isgar, manager of the Central Club, Penarth,
was fined £2O, with the option of one month's imprison-
ment, for selling beer without a license. The defendant
kept a bogus club, and a police inspector said a hundred
people were drinking there the previous night.
News has been received from the Afghan Boundary
Commission that the final protocol has been signed, and
that Capta.in Yate has arrived at Tiflis on his homeward
journey.
A member oi the Home Rule party in Croatia,
Deputy Turkali, who has been four months in prison
awaiting trial on a charge of sedition' is now certified
to be insane, and has been transferred to an asylum.
A meeting of the friends of the late Sir R. Mont-
gomery has been held, when it was resolved that sub-
scriptions (limited to a maximum of £5 55.) should be
invited for the purpose of placing a memorial tablet in
the Cathedral at Lahore, and, if funds permit, anot het
memorial—in a form to• be determined hereafter—in
London. A committee, with Mr. Thornton as hon.
secretary, was appointed to ovvsy the sesolutions hit°
effect.

The agent fOr Earl Cattenham has informed the
tenantry on his lordship's Sussex estates that he has
been instructed to increase the rebate of rent from 10
per cent., as allowed for several years past, to 15 per
cent.
Bills offering a reward for information concerning
the circumstances under which the late Mr. Archibald
M'Neill came by his death, have at length been pla-
carded and circulated about Boulogne. The reward
offered on behalf of his family is a sum of 5000 francs
(£200)) to anyone giving the Commissioner of Police,
or Mr. Lambert, solicitor, of Boulogne positive evi-
dence about what took plaee there on the evening of
December 20th or the night of the 20-21st. A litho-
graphic portrait is introduced in the bills.
During the storm of Saturday night a sentry on dutY
at Tignor Powder Magazine was drowned under rather
peculiar circumstances. The sentry, whose name was
Patrick Flynn, belonged to the Connaught Rangers,
and was posted on the sea wall side of the magazine,
with instructions to communicate with his comrade
every half hour. Being a stormy and dark night, the
men wore, in addition to their overcoats, thick guard
coats, and were provided with loaded rifles. He spoke
to his comrade at half-past eleven, and ten minutes
later he was seen by the captain of the guard; but when
it came to his turn to be relieved at midnight he was
missing. The entire guard was turned out, but it was
not until the tide was receding on Sunday morning that
Flynn's rifle was found on the mud below the sea wall,
and subsequently his body. It is believed that in the
intense darkness of the night he walked into the sea,
and, on account of the extra clothing he was wearing,
he was unable to swim. His cries were heard by 3
boatman, who made search, but could not save him.
Mr. IV. Yarde Buller was, on Saturday, at Torquay
County-court, defendant in an action for assault. -Ac"
companied by his wife and a dog he entered a furrier's
shop, and the tradesman, Mr. Herbert, ordered the
animal to be removed. Mrs. Buller took the dog out-
side, and her husband asked the tradesman to show him'
some boas. Mr. Herbert refused, and told him to leave
the shop, which he declined to do, and a constable waS
called to eject him. The policeman would not intel.
fore, and the plaintiff, placing his hand on the defen'
dant's shoulders, again asked him to retire. Before
doing so, the defendant knocked the plaintiff down
with a violent blow between the eyes, which affected
the system so much that the plaintiff, 73 years of age,
was under the doctor's care for six weeks. For the
defence it was stated that the plaintiff was most inso-
lent, and it was only when he attacked Mr. Buller by
pushing him insolently towards the door that the plain-
tiff was struck. The jury awarded the plaintiff £4O
damages.
A case disposed of by the Portsmouth magistrates on
Saturday strengthens the belief entertained in some
quarters that the men in the boat which went alongside
the Crocodile (the Quartermaster of which was recently
drowned) did so to receive contraband.goods from the
trooper. Charles Fleux, leading stoker, and .Alfred
Drew and Thomas Dean, able seamen, of the troopshiP
Malabar, were charged on remand with smuggling
nearly 80 pounds of cigars and tobacco, the single value
and duty on which amounted to £56 88. 10d. TWO
water-policemen, who were in the harbour, saw the
defendants in a boat go alongside the Malabar and
remain a few seconds. On being pursued they threw
overboard two bags which one constable had seen
lowered from the trooper, and they were afterwards
captured. The magistrates inflicted a penalty of
£56 Bs. 10d., and the costs, £2 is., to be divided between
the three defendants.
Tilstock Vicarage, near I'Thitchurch, was broken into
between three and four on Saturday morning. Mrs.
Lee, the vicar's wife, hearing a noise, woke her has-
- who, armed with a revolver, went downstairs,
and seeing two men running away, fired twice, with-
out, however, touching the thieves. The greater part
of the valuable plate was packed up ready to be taken
away, and doubtless in a minute or two it would have
been gone. It is said that a quantity of money has
been stolen, but the full facts are at present not ascer-
tainable.
The theatre at Burton-on-Trent on Saturday night
was the scene of a very painful and startling accident.
The piece produced was "Maria Martin," and Mr.
Harry Lorraine, son of the tragedian of that name,
was, under the assumed name of Ernest Bright, play-
ing William Corder. The piece had proceeded to the
barn scene in the first act, where a struggle takes place
between Corder and Maria Martin. Lorraine raised
his pistol and pulled the trigger. The cap snapped,
but the pistol hung fire, and Lorraine lowered it to his
left hand to raise the trigger again, when the charge
exploded, and shattered his hand, blowing his first
finger across the stage. Great excitement ensued,
and several persons fainted. The curtain was lowered,
and a doctor sent for. The accident caused such sen-
sation that it was impossible to proceed with the per-
formance.
In the absence of Lord Brownlow (the Lord Lieu-
tenant of Lincolnshire), the Earl of Winchilsea, on
Saturday, unveiled a memorial to the late Bishop
Wordsworth, which has been erected in the retro-choir
of Lincoln Cathedral at the cost of about £2OOO. The
memorial, which bears a suitable Latin inscription, is
most elab Rately carved, the general idea being taken
from the cmnopies of the Burghesh tombs, now exist-
ing only in fragments. The cenotaph consists of an
altar tom b, the sides of which are ornamented with
niches containing statues of the Twelve Apostles. On
the tomb is a recumbent effigy of Bishop Wordsworth,
vested in an embroidered cope and wearing the mitre
with the pastoral staff.
Mr. Ja.nes Davis having again failed to appear at
Bow-street Police-ooart on Saturday, in answer to the
summon. ,:s charging him with libelling the Earl of
Durham, a warrant was issued for his apprehension.
It is stated that the labours of the Fisheries Com-
mission have been practically concluded, the points
so long uf.der discussion having been settled by mutual
concessions.
The Queen of Sweden was visited at her hotel in
London on Saturday by the Duchess of Albany. Miss
Muncie has gone on a visit to the Dowager Countess
of Cairns, at Bournemouth.
A remarkable incident happened at Canterbury on
Saturday evening, by which considerable alarm and
inconvenience was caused. At about the hour of eight
o'clock, when business was at its height, and the
streets thronged with persons, the gas supply of the
entire town was suddenly turned off and the town
enveloped in darkness. It would seem that the occur-
rence was due to the mistake of an employe at the
Gas Works, who, acting under the impression that he
was turning on an additional supply of gas, did the
reverse. The mistake was, of course, immediatclY
discovered and rectified, and every means adopted 11Y
the engineer of the company to prevent any serious
result happening.
In reply to the representations of the London
Chamber of Commerce with respect to the administra-
tion of the Merchandise Marks Act, the Board of
Customs have addressed a letter to the secretary of
that body stating that there is no intention to insist
that trade indications on labels attached to foreign
goods shall be given in a foreign language, but only
that where the indications are expressed in English
the labels shall also bear other words tending to show
the foreign origin of the importations.
The Right Rev. W. IV. How, D.D., Bishop Suffragan
of Bedford, has been appointed to the bishopric ef
Wakeaeld.