The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-25 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

!ton,
,D.ughter of L9ill
will bo 'brated

The marriage of Mr. Charles A. Eger,
and the Hon. Mabelle Brassey, eldest da;
Brassey, of Normanhurst, SUSSQ;
about the second week in April.
Major-General Lyttleton-Annesley will this week
take over the command of the North British District.
His aide-de-camp will be Captain Lord E. B. Talbot,
11th Hussars.
Lord Lonsdale goes to America until the end of the
year.
Dr. Jellett, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, died
on Suncl-y night.
Mr. O. W. Childs will decline nomination for the
America's Presidency.
Monday was the 10th anniversary of Pope Leo's
accession to the Pontifical chair.

of L,
cele.

The members of the North Islington Liberal
Association have secured Sir G. Trevelyan as presi-
dent.
The Archbishop of Canterbury on Saturday, in open-
ing Oxford Hall, Bethnal.green' expressed his satisfac-
tion that the work carried on at Oxford House—out of
which the new hall has grown—had a religious basis.
In referring to efforts made for the social elevation of
the working classes, his grace said that the two great
evils of Bethnal-green were drunkenness and early,
reckless marriages.
The Lord Mayor of London distributed, on Saturday,
at the Guildhall, the certificates of merit gained by the
successful students of the volunteer ambulance classes.
Mr. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen, M.P., has informed
his constituents at Sheerness that he has received from
the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty an
assurance that there is sufficient work in the forth-

oming programme to give employment to the full
Lumber of men at Sheerness Dockyard.

The Cunard line Cephalonia, which arrived at
Queenstown on Sunday, from Boston, reports that the
steamship Bremen, 1060 tons, was for five days in con-
siderable peril by being amongst the drifting logs of
the great raft which was recently broken up off the
American coast. The Bremen's rudder became dis-
abled, and her propeller was injured. She succeeded
in reaching Bermuda.
The Preston Corporation have decided on taking
most important action in connection with the works for
the improvement of the channel of the River Ribble. A.
special committee report that they have ap-
pointed Mr. James Abernethy, C.E., as river
engineer, in deference to the wishes of the
Ratepayers' Association. He is required to report upon
the scheme authorised by the Ribble Navigation and
Preston Dock Act, 1883, and as proposed to be amended
by the bill now being promoted in Parliament, to
examine the river and estuary, and report whether the
works now proposed are sufficient to ensure the con-
templated improved navigable channel being prac-
ticable, needful, and capable of being permanently
maintained. This, Mr. Abernethy thinks, will not cost
more than £lOOO, and in all probability considerably
Less.

The receipts on account of Revenue from the Ist of
April, 1887, when there was a balance of £5,950,107.
to Feb. 18, 1888, were £77,340,162, against £78,475,86;
in the corresponding period of the preceding financia'
year, which began with a balance of £5,625,944. The
act expenditure was £74,832,195, against £77,686,06t
to the same date in the previous year. The 'Treasury
balances on Feb. 18, 1888, amounted to £7,504.436, and
at the same date in 1887 to £5,907,771.
A meeting of tbe Baptist Union Council was held at
the Baptist Mission House, Holborn, on Tuesday, tc
consider Mr. Spurgeon's message to the council in
reply to the deputation recently appointed to visit him.
After considerable discussion, a long amendment.
moved by Dr. Clifford, as to the doctrinal beriefts of the
Union was adopted by 35 votes to five, the Rev. J. A.
Spurgeon being one of the minority.
Reports from Washington reveal the unmistakeable
purpose of the Republican Senators to prevent the
ratification of the Fishery Treaty. They vigorously
opposed the motion to make the text public, and are
now giving out that it is much less favourable to
`America than was reported. The Senate has since re-
moved the injunction to preserve secrecy concerning the
terms of the treaty.
in the Brussels Chamber on Tuesday the Minister for
'Foreign Affairs, in answer to a question, said there was
'tot the slightest truth in the report that Belgium had
joined the Triple Alliance.
lAn action to recover damages for the loss of a re-
trojever dog, which was thought by one of the witnesses
t have been more intelligent than many mon,was tried
ir4he Queen's Bench Division on Tuesday, the plaintiff
being a hotel keeper at Southend, and the defendant a
brickmaker in the same neighbourhood. It was said
that the dog was run over by one of the defendant's
carts, and so injured that it died. After a great deal
of evidence had been taken, however, a verdict was
given for the defendant.
• n the Probate Division on Tuesday Mr. Justice Butt
granted an application, subject to a formal affidavit,
tor letters of administration to the estate of Lieutenant
Adamson, who was the commander of the gunboat Wasp,
which is supposed to have been lost in the China seas
last autumn with all hands.

re

Two men were charged before Mr. d'Eyncourt al
Westminster on Tuesday with being suspected persons,
attempting to pick pockets, and with loitering at Hyde.
park-corner for a felonious purpose. An objection was
raised that, as the prisoners had not been seen in the
neighbourhood before, they could not be convicted of
"frequenting," the word which is used in the statute,
and which, according to the judges, is to be interpreted
literally. Mr. d'Eyncourt regretted that he was bound
by,the judges' ruling, and said that though he had but
little doubt about the intention of the prisoners, he
must discharge them.
A lire broke out on Monday night at the drapery
establishment of Robert Clucas, Market-place, Douglas.
The fire brigade turned out, but their services were of
little avail, as the flames had got too firm a hold of
the building. Considerable alarm was experienced at
the fire spreading to adjoining houses tenanted by four
families, and who were all in bed. One man, named
M'Quiggin, had time only to snatch his two children
out of the bedroom, which had just commenced to
burn, and fight his way through the flames downstairs
to the street. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson, living on the
storey below, had to rush into the street in their night-
clothes to save their lives. The other tenants were got
out without much difficulty, but all their furniture was
destroyed.
It is probable that the handsome Free Library at
Swansea, which was erected at a cost of £20,000, and
was recently opened by Mr. Gladstone, will be closed
from want of funds. It has been found that, after pay-
ing the annual contributions towards the repayment of
borrowed capital, only £3OO a year is available for ex-
penditure on the institution. Thus the committee on
Tuesday recommended the closing of the Library
unless the Corporation came to the rescue, and
removed from the former, by means of the penny rate,
the burden of paying
.for the building. The meeting
was adjourned.

An inquest was held on Tuesday at Macclesfield as to
the death of Samuel Stubbs, aged 50. He left a pub-
lic-house to walk home, a distance of four miles, during
a heavy snowstorm on the 14th inst. In attempting to
scale a fence he caught his foot between the top rail
and a wire and was suspended with his head in a ditch
four feet deep in snow. He hung there for eighteen
hours, during which time he tore away the brushwood,
turf, and a large part of the ditch bank. He was then
accidentally discovered, but he subsequently succumbed
to the effects of the exposure. A verdict to that effect
was returned.

At the Greenock Sheriff's Court, on Tuesday,
Thomas Jackson, master of the Glasgow steamer Elsa,
was convicted, under the Merchant Shipping Act, of
leaving eight of his crew at New York, without a cer-
tificate endorsed or agreement with the crew, shipping
four seamen to serve on board, without the sanction of
the British Consul, and leaving three of his crew at
Havre. The defendant was fined. £1.5 and £l. 1.1.5. 6d.
expenses, with the alternative of thirty days' im-
prisonment.

- At the annual meeting of the Glasgow shipowners,
the chairman, Mr. Alexander Allan;said the slight spurt
towards the end of last year had gone off, and earnings
had become most unremunerative. When the ships
now being built were ready the shipping trade would be
further depressed. There was no inducement to go in
for further tonnage. Inquiries for ships were not
numerous. He believed that before the end of the year
there would be a collapse in shipbuiiding.
Some shocking revelations were made at the Liver-
pool Assizes on 'Tuesday. A sailor, named Gordon, was
sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude for attempted
wife murder. The attack was horribly brutal, and Mr.
Justice Grantham said immediate steps should betaken
to punish the publicans who poisuned the prisoner with
drink, and made unholy profits out of this horrid
traffic. Children were dying of starvation, and these
brutal crimes were committed. The rich publicans
I were responsible.
The Manchester Stipendiary on Tuesday had before
him George Gregson Brierley, charged with embezzle-
ment. The prisoner, who was superintendent of a
Sunday School, was employed as a cashier, and was
arrested a short time ago on a charge of embezzling
nearly £3OOO. He said it was nearer £4OOO, and offered
to give all the assistance in his power. A remand was
granted while the books are being examined.
The body of an elderly gentleman was on Monday
night found in a first-class carriage of the up train at
I Swindon with a bullet wound in his temple, and a six-
chambered revolver by his side. The body was identified
later as that of Mr. Thomas Marden, Marlborough-
buildings, Bath, aged 63. and late of the Indian Civil
Service. It is stated that he had been in a despondent
state.
' David Pilmore, alias Charles Wilman, was, at the
Leeds Assizes, on Tuesday, sentenced to death for the
murder of Edward George Copley, gamekeeper, in a
poaching affray at Badsworth, near Pontefract. The
prisoner at first escaped, and joined the army, but sub-
sequently confessed that he committed the murder,
in company with another man, who has since dis-
appeared.
A meeting was held at Manchester on Tuesday, the
Mayor in the chair, to consider the best means of re-
storing Manchester Cathedral. A resolution was
carried to the effect that a public appeal be made to
the citizens for £20,000, and that the effort should be
made at once. Lord Egerton announced a contribu-
tion of £5OO, and other liberal offers were made at the
meeting:. .

The Birmingham stipendiary on Tuesday committed
a young man, named Frank D. List, of Handsworth,
to the Quarter Sessions, on a charge of passing
several gilded Jubilee sixpences as half-sovereign& The
prisoner was identified as having tendered a number
of the spurious pieces at various shops in the town
during the last few weeks.
An action was brought at Liverpool on Tuesday,
before Mr. Lewis Williams, assessor, and a sheriff's
Jury, in which Rose Duxbury, a widow, claimed, on
behalf of herself and her son, aged 15, to recover
damages for the loss of her husband, who was killed by
the defendant, Wm. L. Byrne, a butcher, at Birken-
head. The deceased, it was stated, was for 10 years
in the same employ as the defendant, he being a carter.
In June the two men were at a public-house, and after
leaving they quarrelled, and Byrne knocked Duxbury
down. The latter became insensible, and died soon
afterwards, and Byrne was subsequently convicted of
manslaughter, and paid the widow £5O as compensa-
tion. The jury now awarded the plaintiff an addi-
tional £lOO, nd directed that ao should go to the
widow and £2O to the son.

I The Government (says the London Standard) have
ender consideration a modification of the arrangements
for the discharge of the duties now performed by the
Judge Advocate-General. In order to facilitate this,
Mr. Marriott some time ago proffered his resignation,
but no decision has yet been collie to by the Prime
Minister with regard,to its acceptance.
Sir H. Holland, Sechtary of State for the Colonies,
will, it is understood, take the title of Baron Knuts-
ford on his elevation to the peerage.
Mr. Cuninghame Graham signalised his reappearance
in the House of Commons on Monday by addressing to
the Home Secretary, without notice, a question with
regard to meetings in Trafalgar-square, which was
couched in such unparliamentary language as to call for
the interposition of the Speaker.
It is stated that a small Abyssinian corps has arrived
to reinforce Ras Alula's army. The object of the visit
of King Menelek of Shea to the Sultanate of Dowe is to
reinforce a chief of Shoa named Mangascia against the
Wollo Gallas, who are in revolt.
President Cleveland has sent the Fisheries Treaty to
the Senate, recommending that it should be published,
but the Senate have not decided to do so.

The Earl of Onslow has accepted the office of Parlia-
mentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, vacated by
the transference of Baron Henry de Worms to the office
of Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. Lord
Onslow has undertaken the charge of the Railway and
Fisheries Departments at the Boaril of Trade.
Sir Michael Hicks Beach, President of the Board of
Trade, has appointed as his private secretary Sir
Thomas Bloinefield, Bart., who acted in the same
capacity to the late president, Lord Stanley of Preston.
Baron H. De Worms has appointed Mr. G. V. Fiddes
to be his private secretary, and Mr. W. T. Lawrance to
be his unpaid private secretary.
The case of "Mutter v. the Eastern and Midlands
, Railway came before Mr. Justice Chitty on an applica-
tion to restrain defendants till the trial of the action
from refusing plaintiff, a stockholder, the inspection
of the registers of the company, and leave to take
copies of the names and addresses of other holders. It
was urged, in defence, that the plaintiff was really
acting in the interest of the Great Eastern Railway.
Mr. Justice Chitty saidylaintiff was entitled to inspect
the register, and granted the injunction with costs.
Mr. Gladstone has written to acknowledge the
receipt of a memorial signed by 75 resident graduates
of Oxford University to express their approval of his
Irish policy. He adds: "I rejoice to find in the list
so much of the University of the future, and so many
names distinguished in the cultivation of history—a
field which I venture to say we have made and are
making almost entirely our own, in a spirit broadly
conservative, and not without valuable aid from the
earlier and dispassionate labours of one or two dis-
tinguished men now opposed to us."
At a meeting of the Victoria Institute, in London,
held on Monday evening, Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen
gave a sketch of the historical events connected with
the founding of Babylon, and then announeed that be
had lately come across four remarkable inscribed
Babylonian tablets. These he produced, and proceeded
to translate. They were found to throw fresh light on
the events of those days. During the discussion
reference was made to a statement in a Boston news-
paper that an American expedtion was about to start
for the East to—as it was expressed—" dig up" Sep-
harvaim, the earliest mentioned city in Scripture,
which had been discovered by Mr. Rassam, and an
opinion was expressed that where the city had been dis-
covered by an Englishman, it would only be right that
the historical records it contained which must be of
immense value, should be brought to light by a cautious
exploring party.
Mr. William De Chair Baker, the founder of the
Canterbury Cricket Week, died on Monday night at
his residence in that city. Mr. Baker played for Kent
in many of the Kent and England matches fifty years
ago, and has been the manager of the Canterbury Week
since 1849. Last August he was presented with a testi-
monial in recognition of his services to county cricket.
The deceased was about 70 years of age.
A meeting of the executive board of the Fife and
Clackmannan Miners' Association was held on Monday
in Dunfermline, to receive the vote of the men on the
question of the strike, and to decide what course to
pursue. Mr. James Innes presided. The delegates re-
ported that meetings had been held at all the collieries
to consider the offer of the employers to open the pits
to the men on a re-engagement, but that there was a
largo majority of the men in favour of ignoring the
offer, the state of feeling being very strong. As the
result of a long discussion the board unanimously decided
to continue the strike to the expiry of the time originally
agreed upon. The masters have intimated that in the
event of the men forming such a resolution they will
adopt the strongest measures in their power. The
masters will meet to decide upon the particular line of
action to be adopted.
With reference to the report that a witness named
Mick Sullivan' after giving evidence at the Cork
Assizes against Moonlighters, had died from the want
of the necessaries of life, he having been boycotted, a
Killarney correspondent reports: "Last winter Sulli-
van witnessed a Moonlighting party, and was reluctantly
compelled to identify one named Murphy, who was sen-
tenced to a term of imprisonment. Since that time
Sullivan lost his work as a car-driver, and had been
boycotted to such an extent that he was unable to
obtain necessaries, and it is stated that even his funeral
was boycotted. The doctors attributed death to heart
disease and privation. The deceased leaves a widow
and six children, all of whom are in a terrible state of
misery."
The Corporation of Beaumaris have given notice to
the military authorities that in consequence of com-
plaints addressed to them by the inhabitants of the
town and neighbourhood, the heavy gun and carbine
practice at the Gallows Point Battery must be discon-
tinued and the range closed. The range has been in
use for some 26 years, and it is feared that if the reso-
lution of the Town Council is carried out the existence
of the batteries belonging to the Ist Cheshire and Car-
narvon Artillery Volunteer Corps will be seriously en-
dangered, as it is practically impossible to obtain
another range suitable for gun practice in the neigh-
bourhood. The services of these batteries of Artillery
would thus be lost to the country.
The employes of the Ocean Colliery Company, South
Wales, numbering between five and six thousand
hands, decided at a mass meeting on Monday to join
the Rhondda Valley Steam Coal Miners' Association.
Mr. Abraham, M.P., attended the meeting. Several
important resolutions were adopted, and the Secretary
was directed to send to the General Manager of the
Ocean Colliery Company a resolution calling upon the
management to carry out tale timbering clauses of the
Mines Regulation Act. It was also resolved to support
the views of the workmen's representative on the
South Wales Sliding-scale Committee, that colliers
should not be called upon to stow away rubbish, but
simply to give it "one throw." _
A coroner's inquest was held on Monday at Carlisle,
on the body of a farmer, Mr. Reginald Park. He had
arranged to go to Carlisle market, on Saturday, to
engage a housekeeper. An hour before the time fixed
for his departure the servant found him dead in the
kitchen, with his head nearly blown off by the discharge
of a double-barrelled gun lying by his side. He had
been most cheerful, he was well off, and had no reason
for taking his own life. The jury concluded that in,
taking the gun down from the ceiling it had acciden-
tally gone off and killed him, and a verdict of "Acci-
dental death" was returned.
A dreadful accident, resulting in the death of a man
named John W. Moore, occurred at the Crewe Works
of the London and North-Western Railway Company
on Monday afternoon. He was engaged in the boiler
shop, riveting a large boiler, when a railway waggon
was shunted against it, and the boiler fell with its whole
weight upon him. When the boiler was lifted the
poor man was found literally cut into halves, both legs
being severed from the body. His condition was, of
course, hopeless, and he died soon after his removal to
the company's hospital.
The first meeting of the Crofter Commission in Ross-
shire was held on Monday in Dingwall. The Commis-
sioners were occupied with 12 cases on the southern
side of Benwyvis on the Tulloch estate, which, owing
to the bankruptcy, has passed into the hands of trustees.
The evidence shows that the trustees offered a reduction
of rent, that the crofters have to labour elsewhere to
be able to pay their rents, and that they suffer from
game and from the high position of their holdings.
At Cockermouth, on Monday, Messrs. Sealby,
grocers, were fined £7 for selling, without license, a
bottle of cowslip wine as a temperance drink which
contained 28.9 per cent. of spirit, or a greater quantity
of alcohol than was found in good sherry. It was
stated on behalf of the Commissioners of Inland
Revenue that the custom was very prevalent of selling
such drinks as non-intoxicating by people who did not
hold wine licenses.
On the occasion of the Duchess of Bedford present-
ing the prizes to the Queen's Westminster Rifle
Volunteers on Saturday, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer observed that the regiment was one of which
the citizens might well be proud, and indeed the
country felt a pride in the whole volunteer service.
At the County Magistrate's Court, Liverpool, on
Saturday, the Manchester Ship Canal Company were
summoned by the Garston Board of Health for having
allowed an excessive quantity of smoke to be emitted
from the funnel of their steamer Brackley, in the
Mersey, off Otterspool, on the 25th and 26th ult. Sir
T. E. Moss, of Otterspool, said on the two days in
question he observed an unnecessary quantity of smoke
coming from the steamer's funnel. Mr. Garnet, who
appeared for the Board, said this steamer had been
giving them a good deal of trouble lately, and a similar
charge had been preferred against her some time ago.
A man who represented the defendants said they were
doing all they could to stop the nuisance, and he did
not know how it occurred. A fine of 40s. was imposed
on each of the two informations.

An inquest was held at Festiniog on Saturday on the
bodies of four men who were killed on Thursday in
shaft No. 1 of the Festiniog Welsh Slate Quarry,
belonging to Messrs. Oakeley ,and Co. The evidence
was of a formal character, and the inquiry stands
adjourned till March 8, in order to allow of a full
investigation of the causes which led to the fall of the
bridge. When the bridge fell in on which the loaded
trucks were standing three man—Jones, Edwards, and
Hughes—were killed instantaneously, but Lloyd and
Parry were recovered alive. Dr. Jones, Festiniog, was
speedily on the spot, but the injured men succumbed
shortly afterwards. John Roberts, who was with the
party, saved his life by clinging to the guide rails along
the bridge. He was still suspended when the rescuing
party arrived.
A daring robbery was committed on Saturday at
Mystele, the seat of Colonel R. P. Laurie, M.P., near
Canterbury. Carriers were engaged in packing furni-
ture in vans for removal to that gentleman's town
residence, and while this was going on a man attired
as a carpenter, with a tool basket on his back, entered
the house and stole a registered letter addressed to
Miss Laurie, which had not been opened, £5 belonging
to the cook, and a quantity of articles of considerable
value, which were placed on a table in one of the
rooms ready to be packed. Having filled his basket,
the thief, who, it appears, was regarded by the carriers
outside as a mechanic having some business on the
premises, quietly walked away, and nothing further has
been seen or heard of him.
Mr. James Morris, an independent gentleman, who
lived in Church-street, Warrington, travelled by the
8.7 train on Monday morning on the Cheshire lines
from Warrington, on his way to Manchester, to consult
his n.,edical adviser. On arriving at Glazebrook Station
he was found dead in the railway carriage.
• f.

SATURDAY, FEB. 25, 1888.

A picked crew of the Toronto Rowing Club
enter the lists at Henley. The regatta takes place in
July.
Mr. John Bright is now pretty well. The right hon.
gentleman will shortly come to London to fulfil his
Parliamentary duties.
Lord Hartington has so far recovered from his in.
disposition that he was able to take a drive on Sunday
afternoon in a closed carriage.
The East London Evangelisation Society is now
carrying on mission work at about a dozen of the
common lodging-houses in Westminster.
Folkestone will celebrate the silver wedding of the
Prince and Princess of Wales by giving a tea to a thou-
sand poor children.
A bill to consolidate the law relating to mortmain,
and to the disposition of land for charitable uses,
has been presented to the House of Lords by the Lord
Chancellor.
General Willoughby—who has loomed large in th.
public eye in connection with Madagascar—is no longer
under arrest in that country. He was released nearlY
a fortnight ago.
A French Syndicate of engineers now at Tientsin,
have engaged to close the great breach in the Hoang-ho,
and have also tendered to keep the river under control
for 30 years for a sum of thirty million taels.
The Labourers' Act was applied to Youghal ;
cottages were built for the labourers, and the necessary
accommodation made. And now they have refused to
pay rent, and have adopted the Plan of Campaign.
Burglars entered the residence of Mrs. Laliborti, at
Lanoraie, Quebec, the other night, and demanded
money, which she refused to give. One of the burglars
struck her on the head, fractnring her skull and killing
her.
Miss J. Stickford, a Louisiana lady, fills the varied
ofUces of ticket agent, telegraph operator, shipping
clerk, express agent and train despatcher, at Prud-
homme Station on the Texas Pacific Railway, a little
above Alexandria.
The petrified body of a man was recently dis-
covered in a gulch near Dayton, Ore., by a farmer.
The body was leaning against a small bluff, and when
the clothing was removed had all the appearance of a
statue carved from grey stone.
'James Jones, of Peneong, near Newcastle-Emlyn•
was over 70 years of age. Taking his gun the other
morning, he succeeded in discharging the contents
into his mouth. The charge came out at the back of
the neck. The old man died instantaneously.
Sir William Edmonstone—(all who sat in the 1874-
80 Parliament will recall "The Admiral")—is dead.
In these six years he represented Stirlingshire.
Canon Ellison, the founder of the Church of Eng-
land Temperance Society, pronounces against com-
pensating publicans, who may be deprived of their
licenses under the provisions of the coming Local
Government Bill, at the expense of the ratepayers.
Mr. Balfour is to be comforted by a banquet over
which Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett will probably preside. It
will take place at St. James's Hall on April 11, and
will be under the auspices of the " National Union of
Conservatives and Constitutional Associations."
"No measure dealing with railway traffic can be con-
sidered satisfactory which does not prohibit preferential
rates in favour of foreign imports." To this declara-
tion. Lord Jersey will crave the assent of his brother
peers when the Government's Railway and Canal Traffic
Bill comes on for second reading.
The Attorney-General's bill, dealing with our criminal
procedure, is 'understood to be drawn with these two
defined intentions :—To enable a person charged with a
criminal offence to make a statement on oath at his own
trial, and to enable the husband or wife of such person
to give evidence for the defence.
On Saturday morning Vienna witnessed the heaviest
snowfall of the winter. The flakes are described 1,5
having been as thick as hazel nuts; The Municipality
of the city now spends £5OOO a day in clearing the snow
from the streets and carting it away.
Two of the journalistic Bombastes of Vienna have
fought a duel. The combatants thirsted for each other's
blood. Sir Lucius O'Trigger-like, they determined to
begin to fire at fifteen paces, and then to advance on
each other, both being allowed three shots. But it WaS
all right; one wasn't touched, and the other received a
slight contusion. That contusion, of course, satisfied
honour.

"The standard of public morals, with respect to
income-tax returns, is so low, that men who would not
stoop to cheat another in private life will not scruple to
make a false return." Mr. Justice Stephen confessed,
at Haverfordwest, that this is very sad; but he also
confessed that an act of this kind does not necessitate
that in respect to other transactions the offender must
not be believed on oath.
Five local bodies are unenriably distinguished by
debt in excess of the assets per head of the population;
thus Halifax has a debt per head of £l6 4s. cid., and
assets £l5 us. 6d.; Portsmouth has a debt per head of
£4 135., assets £4 Bs. 6d. • Reading a debt of £ll Os. 5d.,
and assets ET us. 2d. ; Rotherham a debt of Ei 55.,
assets El 2s. Bd.; Wolverhampton a debt of a 9s. 4d.,t
assets £7 Os. sd. per head respectively.
"Love's young dream" has taken a somewhat vioten
character with a good-looking seamstress,who appeared
in the Cardiff Police-court on Saturday. She actually
pulled John Tucker's beard, and blocked off his bat.
"But, your worships," she excls!t/led to the magis-
trates, "why did he get me to fall in love with hum?
His landlady is weeping for him now, and I'm breaking
my heart over him. When he was ill I watched biro
lika a child, and comforted him. I told him that this
world was but short, and asked him to prepare to meet
his Saviour." The magistratea, of course, could not
commit her after this. They discharged her without
even a caution.
It is officially announced at Cettinje (says a Reuter 'S
telegram) that the Princesses Militza and Anastasia, the •
two eldest daughters of Prince Nicholas, will shortly
proceed to St. Petersburg, by special invitation of the
Czar and Czarina.
The Queen has been pleased to confer a peerage
upon Sir Henry Holland, Colonial Secretary. Sir
Henry, upon his promotion to the Upper House, will
continue to hold the office of Colonial Secretary, and
will retain his seat in the Cabinet. Consequent upon
Sir Henry Holland's elevation to the Upper House,
Baron Henry Do Worms will become Under Secretary
for the Colonies and the representative of the Depart-
ment in the House of Commons.
An explosion took place on Saturday at the Albert
Paper Mills, New Mills, Derbyshire. The building
became a complete wreck, but there was no loss of life..
By an action which was before Mr. Justice Hawkins
(p Saturday, it was sought, by the liquidator of the
; Electric Accumulator Company (Limited) to
make M. Simon Philippart, a former director, liable for -
over £70,000 for calls on shares. The defendant denied e
his liability, and alleged that he held tho shares fq
trustee for a Belgian Company, which assisted in pro- ;
moting the Faure Company, and that the shares were
forfeited upon the ground that neither he nor the Bel- •
gian company should be held liable for further calls.
His lordship reserved judgment.
In the Queen's Bench Division on Saturday an action
was tried, in which a Mrs. Casey- sought to recover
damages -from the Guardians of St. George-in-the-East
for the loss of her husband, who, whilst insane, jumped
out of the workhouse window. Mr. Baron Huddleston
ruled that there was no evidence of negligence, and
by his direction the jury /sound a verdict for the defen-
dants.