The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-21 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

DRITISH AND FUREIGN.

London was visited by a dark fog about noon on
Monday. In most places It waa incessary to light the gas.
An Expensive Wife makes a Pensive Husband.
Punch.
Her Majesty has graciously signified her intention
to confer the honour of knighthood on Major Palliser, C li,
for his distinguished services in connection with artillery.
Old Jorume never lost a friend. For the beat of
all possible reasons, his enemies say—he never made one.—
Punch.
A deputation from Rochester has urged Mr. Card-
well to remove the torpedoes from the Medway, on the
grounds that they are dangerous to the shipping, and destruc.
Gee to the fisheries.
The military bands at Chatham were this year al-
lowed to play on the 14th tut This Is the first time they
have been permitted to do so on that day since the death of
the Prince Consort in 1001.
The Grelot, a comic paper, shown M. Thiers in a
potation tendue, manceavriug with the greatest 55n7froi4 and
j ,Ility on a tichtrope, and auisting himself with a balancing
pole weighted at the ends with "Right" and "loft."
"On the 13th and 14th (4 October no less than 115
criminals were beheaded at the execution ground at Matow.
Of these some 46 were kidnanpers, who were all strangled
first and then decapitated."—North China licrald.
In the case of the woman who woo lately found dead
under simpielous circumstances in a tunnel near the Charing-
cross station of the Metropolitan District Railway, the jury
on Monday returned an open verdict.
One of the most furious and destructive gales that
has been known for years passed over Chorley on Tuesday
morning. The wind was from the south-west, and was ac.
companied by scow and rain.
The Berlin Geographical Society has opened sub-
scriptions for the contemplated Congo expedition. Or.
Guist eld, the glacier explorer, whole to head the enterprise,
has himself given nearly £l,OOO, and there is every prospect
of the requisite sum being iorthcoming.
The report of the United States Commissioners of
Indian Affairs states that, exclusive of those In Alaska, there
are 300,000 Indians within the limits of the United States, of
which number 97,000 are civilised, 129,000 semi-civilised, and
73,000 wholly uncivilised. The report is chiefly devoted to a
general review of the Indian policy of the Government.
The customary metropolitan market for the sal
fat stock for Christmas consumption was held on Monday.
The number of beasts on sale wu 7,560, including 1,360 from
Scotland, 1,230 from Ireland, 1,000 from Norfolk and Suffolk,
3,070 from the Midland and Home Counties, and 400 fron•
the Western Counties.
Down to Saturday last, it appears from the Trea-
sury return, the receipts of revenue into the Exchequer had
exceeded by three milions and three-quarters sterling the
amount in the same period—eight and a half months—of the
preceding financial year. The payments, however, in the
same period, show an increase of rather mere than a million
; and a half.
- • • ••

Baltimore oysters are now sent to London by tha
ship-load. During the past winter a British stea,ship mace
two trips from the Chesapeake to that city loaded excl.s.
Moly with Baltimore oysters and as great was the success
attendleg the experiment, that three large vessels are now
on the way to toot port under charter to take oysters to
London.
A missionary who bad laboured long and smcces3-
f oily In the Fiji Islands, having to build a canoe for mission
purposes, and landing the exploit one of very considerable
difficulty, is said to have celebrated its accomplishment by
thefollowing pithy but peculiar entry on the circuit books :
"Canoe tint-hod, paid for, andlaunched ; praise the Lord ; the
carpenters have done nobly—so have I."
Another fall of chalk took place at Dover on Tues-
day morning between the Shakespeare and the Abbota's
Cita Tunnels, several hundreds of tons having fallen on the
very spot where the mass of rock descended last Friday. No
loss of life or property was occasioned, but the state of the
whole of the cliff in this part gives rise to anxiety.
The French papers report a murder committed a
few days back in the penitentiary of Riom (Puy-de.DOme) A
man named lionneau, under sentence of imprisonment for
ten years, stabbed in the breast Benoit, a }allele inmate,
and repeated the blow until charmed by the other convicts
employed In the workshops. Great animosity had previously
existed between the two men, and the prisoner, when
secured, did not express any regret at his crime. He also
refused to say how he had obtained ',omission of the knife
used.
The city of Dresden is rapidly progressing in a
prosperous course, and likely to become the most extrava-
gant capital of Europe, leaving Vienna and London " ne-
w here." Houses, villas etagee, that Is, hats in "Auld
Heckle," called slices of palaces In Rome, "good dry lodg-
ings" in the land of potatoes, population, punch, and soon
to vanish poverty, have increased quadruple in Min ; from
the humble parterre to :be lofty sky-parlour, an enormous
advance is demanded and enforced.
Portsmouth was the healthiest of the large towns
in Great Britain last week, the death-rate being only 15 per
1,0(.0_ The other towns stood in the following order :—Lon-
don, 19 ; Nottingham, 22; Bristol and Wolverhampton, 23;
Liverpool and Sunderland, 2i ; Leeds and Birmingham, 25;
gheffield, 21 : Bradford and Salford, 27; Newcastle, 28;
iiillt, 20; Oldham 32; Leicester, 31 ; Norwich, 32; and
Manchester, 34. In the metropolis 2,225 deaths and 1,199
births were registered.
The convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church
for the riocese of Slassachusettes assembled at Boston on.
the 4th init. to elect a bishop In the place of the late Dr.
Stanton Eastburn. The High Church .party put forth the
Rev. Dr. Berjamin J. Haight as their candidate, and his op-
ponent was the Rev. Dr. Alexander H. Vinton, both New
York clergymen. Four ballots were taken; In the ant
throe of which Dr. Vinton received the most votes, but not
sufficient to secure his election; the anal ballot resulted as
follows :—Dr. Holgta, 431 Dr. Vinton, N.

--
On Monday the members of the dapanme Enkbamy
left England for France.
The Emperor of Germany has been invited to visit
Si. Petereburg hi May.
The Marquis of Huntly has granted liberty to his
tenants to .hot and mare hares and rabbits on their arable
land.
-

The statement that the Governing Body of Win-
chester echo°, had arrived at the deciaion that 'Wading "
was to be maintained is authoritatively contradicted.
At Durham assizes on Saturday, Michael Ford was
sentenced to penal servitude for life for firing • pistol at •
policeman.
The Royal Humane Society has just received dona;
Cons of LW 10e. from "U. K ," sea thank-offering from one
who narrowly escaped drowning, and £5 from William it.
Gurdon.

-
Professor Huxley has been elected Lord Rector of
Aberdeen University. The voting is by nations, but the total
majority for Huxley WU 54.
Her Majesty the Queen hue sent a handsome dona-
tion to the fund for endowing another hundred parishes, as
proposed by the Endowment Committee of the Church of
Scotland.
The Prince of Wales, as President of the Societyjof :
Arts, has presented to Mr. Henry Bessemer the Albert Gold
Medal, for his eniineist services in developing the inanities, I
turn of steel.
The Daily News aays there is no foundation for the
rumour of an intended general strike of railway servants,
although various memorials for an increase of pay have been
signed.
Mr. lioutledge, rope manufacturer, proprietor of ex
tensive salmon fisheries, went to Loriston Loch on Saturday
afternoon, accompanied by Meson and his foreman, inspect
the ice. The ice gave way and all three were submerged,
Mr. Routledge being drowned.
At Stockton, on Saturday night, a man named
Ruth i rford, being jealous of his sweetheart, stabbed her in
the back of the head with a clasp-knife. She was reamed by
the psmen-by and the man was secured. As examination
showed that her thumb was nearly cut off In the struggle.
No danger to life is apprehended.
The resolution of the miners throughout Fifeshire
to work only four days a week in consequence of a reduc-
tion of Is. per day on their wages was to have come Into
operation on Monday. but the men have decided to work six
days a week, but to resist any further reduction of pay.
The price of coal has fallen la per ion throughout the hale.
shire district.
The newest American idea is for a great journal like
the !Jerald to keep a poet laureate, the same as it keeps a
ditGOverer. At the recent dinner to Mr. Stanley we hear—
The literary pleasures of tho evening continued to a late
hour, speeches being made by lie. Wallis, Douglas, Levine,
and others, and a poem was recited by the Ilarald'e poet
laureate."
There was a meeting at the Mansiomhouse. London,
on Monday, of the Committee appointed to work out the
Idea of establishing simultaneous annual collections in the
metropolitan places of worship in aid of the various hos-
pitals. At the request of the Committee the Lord Mayor
undertpok to communicate with the principal clerical and
lay representatives of all denominationa, and to ask their co-
operation.
The breach between the miners and their employers
In the Lanarkshire coal and iron districts on account of the
reduction of wages appears tube widening, and a universal
strike in the trade is threatened. The furnacee at the earl:t-
hroe and other works are being blown out, and on both sides
there appears to be a determination not to give way.
With reference to the reports regarding the measures
that are being taken hi New York by the directors of the
Erie Railway Company to recover a sum of over two millions
sterling, of which Mr. Jay Gould is accused of having robbed
the line, it is rumoured that he has already proposed to com-
promise the matter. The sum mentioned as having been
offered is six hundred thousand pounds.
A newspaper correßpondent mentions that Mr. Dis-
raeli was not the successor to the late Mr. W. Lewis's seat
for Maidstone in 1838, but his colleague in the representation
of that borough, having been returned along with him at
the general election of the previous year. The gentleman
to who.) seat ?dr. Disraeli succeeded was the late Mr. A. W.
Roberts.
It is stated by the Spencr Gazette that Prince Bis-
marck has no Intention of leaving the Prussian Ministry, as
reported, with the view of devoting himself exclusively to
the service of the German Empire. lie proposes, it instated,
to resign his poet as President of the Ministry, but will re-
tain the direction of Foreigu Affairs and his seat in the
Cabinet.
-

A master mariner, named Chisholm, was tied $
Liverpool Assizes on Saturday one charge of shooting attwo
of his crew on board the British ship Beseie 11., with intent
to murder them. It was contended for the defence that
the prisoner at the time was suffering from acute mania,
and witnesses were called to prove this. The jury returned
a verellet of guilty of wounding with intent lode grevious
bodily harm, and on Monday the prisoner was sentenced to'
five years' penal servitude.
The workmen in Germany are as fond of going out
en strike as they are in England, and the inconvenience
arising from the proceeding has come to such a pass that the
German Reichstag is going to have • law presented to it for
discussion, by which it will be determined that workmen
will not be allowed to strike until they have finished the
work on which they are actually employed. The penalty for
breaking this law will be 15 days' imprisonment.
A party of young men, fourteen in all, engaged re-
cently in a squirrel hunt, in the neighbourhood of Olivet,
Eaton County, Mich. The party divided, and were captained
respectively by M. 11. Avery and Dr. C. If. Mead ; the losing
party to stand a game supper at the Olivet House. The fol-
lowing is the result of the hunt : Captain Avery's party, 605;
Captain Mead's party, 504. The Mead party paid the supper,
which, it is needless to say, was enjoyed with the gusto pecu-
liar to true squirrel sportsmen.
In London, on Monday night, at the Charing-croon
Hotel, a mom r auly.attended meeting of the officers of the
Government Prisons of Pentonville, Brixton, and Millbatik,
was held, other convict establishments throughout the
country being also represented. The object of the meeting
was to promote the movement which has already been wit
afloat for a reduction of the hours of duty, a reasonable in-
crease in the scale of wages, and an adoption of weekly pay-
meets. Eventually a resolution was passed adjourning the
meeting for a month, then to reasumbe in the event of no
favourable alteration being made in the meantime.
In addition to the lose of life which took place on
the night when the Royal Adelaide was lost, one more must
now be added. This, we regret to say, is one of the Wyke
Coastguard men, named Albert Drayton, who made himself
very conspicuous on the night of the 24th of November In
saving life and property. The brave fellow was foremost In
all danger, and he exerted himself so much that he became
over-bested. lie afterwards remained in his wet clothes on
duty on the beach, the result of which was that a chill en-
sued from the effect of which he died on Sunday, leaving a
young wife and family to lament his loss.
On signal guns being fired from the Gull Light Ship
on Saturday morning, the Ramsgate life-boat Bradford pro-
ceeded out and found the barque Jenny Lind, of Finland,
310 tons, master, and bound from Hull to Genoa, sunk on the
south-east spit if the sands. Five of the crew, who were
laehed in the mizen rigging, were saved—two by the life-
boat, and three by a Deal lugger. There was also one man
lashed to the bowsprit shroud., who was found to be dead,
hut was afterwards landed. The remainder of the crew, five
in number, were untortunately drowned.
Sir 11. Collier, on Saturday, delivered the judgment
of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the litiga-
tion between a Mr. Laugtaton and the Bishop of Soder and
Man. The appellant, a practising barrister in the isle of
Man, brought an action for libel against the Bishop on
account of certain statements which the latter had made in
a charge to his clergy, and in one of the courts of first in-
stance in the island obtained £.400 damages, The verdict
was, however, set aside by a higher court, and Mr. Laughtou
then appealed to her Majesty in Council. Their lordships,
dismissed the appeal, on the ground that the charge and its
publicatiou were both privileged.
The Regent, schooner, of Montrose, regarding the
safety of which • good deal of anxiety existed, has arrived
safe in the Tyne. She left Dublin more than two months
ago, with a cargo of salt for the Wear. She was unable to
reach that port, and was blown acrou the sea to the coast of
Norway, where she was knocking shoot for three weeks un-
able to get Into any harbour. During the late gale she suf-
fered severely, but managed again to reach this coast, but
was unable to get into Sundalmd, and she took shelter on
Sunday 1,1 this harbour, after having been out to sea for 69
days. The crew are all safe, but terribly exhausted.
A newspaper correspondent at Bombay gives an ac-
count of the great Durbar held there by Lord Northbrook
on the 20th alt. It was the lirld ceremonial of the kind ever
held in Bombay by a Viceroy of India. and was distinguished
by even more magnificence of dress than was exhibited at
the Investiture of the Star of India which hail taken place a
short time Wore. At the conclusion of the proceedings
Lord Northbrook made a speech, in which he expressed
satisfaction at the reception he had met with, and the loyalty
to the Queen which had been displayed by so many of her
Majesty. Indian subjects.
A meeting of the Staffordshire Chamber of Agricub
tore was held on Saturday, at the " Swan " Betel, Stafford—
Mr. T. Neville (the president) occupying the chair. A letter
was read from the Earl of Dartmouth, stating that he
"should like it to be known that he strongly dissented from
many of the opinions he had seen frequently, and he cond
dered n eklethly, copreued on the subject of game preserth,
tion, end he felt surprised at the rentakable want of know-
ledge shown by many of those who spoke and wrote on this
matter." The chamber afterwards unanimously decided to
request the Earl of Dartmouth to accept the office of presi-
dent for the ensuing year.
Among the incidents of the late London gas strike
was one which ill well worth recording. One of the first
persons whom the gas companies made aware of the coming
difficulty last week was the Postmaster General. Orders wets
immediately issued from the Post Office for 2,500 camiledicks
and something like a ton of candles. As a precaution against
the increased danger arising from the the of candle, as com-
pared with goo, the floors of the Post Office were covered
with sand, and buckets filled with water were placed under
the sortieg tables. A large staff of men and boys were em-
ployed as snuffers. These preparations had the effect of very
considerably lessening the inconvenience arising out of the
strike.
At Manchester, on Monday, the Bishop of Man-
chester prodded at • .public meeting, held in aid of the
funds of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal
It.evoient Society, and male an eloquent appeal on behalf
of the institution. In the course of his speech he said that
competiti,n in commerce had become so keen that very often
cargoes were put Auto unseaworthy vessels. Our rout, too,
he was ashamed to say, N‘as infamously ill-lighted, as com-
pared with the coast of France Locking at a map which was
drawn by a hrother of hie eha had been building lighthouses
in the Rat, he saw that the radius of light from the French
lighthouses covered the whole coed of France; whereas
there were lane spaces on our own coast to which no light
from any lighthouse ever reached.
During the week ending Saturday last, 5,155 births
and 3,200 deaths were registered in London and twenty other
large cities and towns of the United Kingdom. The mor-
tality from all causes in these towns was at the rate of 23
deaths annually to every 1 000 persons estimated to bellying.
In the metropolis 2,225 births and 1,199 deaths were regis-
tered, the former having been 90, and the latter 523 below
the average Five persons died from small pox, 11 from I
measles, 17 from scarlet fever, three from diptheria, is from
whooping cough, 28 from different forms of fever, and 13
from diairloca thus to the seven principal diseases of the
cymotic class 115 deaths were referred, against 107 and 103
in the two preceding weeks. Diseases of the respiratory •
organs and phthisis caused 414 deaths, and 39 persons died
from different forms of violence.
The excessive frequency of crime in Italy has to a
terrible e xtent familiarized the Italian mind with it. No-
thing can be more thocking than the coolness and concise-
ness with which the Italian Press deals with the most atro-
cious deeds of blood. "Yesterday, at One o'clock p.m.," we
are told by the RAMRIIRIfOrtni of December?, " • startling
scene occurred in Via M ortella A hackney coachmas,
Osvaldo Scandi, and a butcher, Ettore Gabelli, met in the
street. Thee stared at one another for • moment: not one
word was spoken • but the next moment two blades were
seen gleaming in the air, and the two men fell dead, almost
one upon the other. Tuey were both young, ab ,ut 20, one
moment's rage had done for both of them. laihapry men"
Paragraphs of this description fill the columns of the Italian
journals almost daily. In many instances the squeamish
regard of the editor for these "unhappy men" is so great
as to suppress their names, or to designate them only by
initials.
The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Derby on
Tuesday. Oaring the previous night there had been a tre-
mendous fall of rain, and In pasting through Leicestershire
the country presented the aspect of a vast inland sea. The
journey was, however, ufely accomplished, and the Royal
party were received at Derby by the Duke of Devonohire,
the Marquis of Hartington, Sir Robert Peel, the Bishop of
Lichfield, itc. They then entered a carriage drawn by four
bays, and passed through the streets of the town, which
were admirably decorated, to the Market-place, where
loyal addresses were presented by the Mayor, the Grand
Master of the Provincial Freemasons, and others. From
thence they were conducted to the Drill Hall, where the
lirlnce presented the prizes to the pupils of the Derby
Grammar School and the Princess the Qaeth's prizes There
was a great influx of people from the adjoining districts,
and the streets along the whole route were thronged with
enthusiastic and loyal spectators. In the evering the Royal
party left tor Cbstoworth, on a visit to the Duke Of Devon-
thire.

Henry Stanley, iif Livingstone fame, is fv.w
'utailley Africanus."
- - -

c1I&l

Nnmeroos seals are making their appearance at the
mouth of Holy Loch and in Lochlong.
- •

A steamer named the Sorrento Was wrecked on the
Goodwfo Sands on Tuesday morning The crew v., re, how.
over, rescued by the itamsgste. Deal, and Weimer lifeboats.

. •
The news of the intended marriage of Prinee4l Thyra
of Denmark with the Prince Royal of lianover la officially
denied.

Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by their
Rcyal Highneues Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice, 1.10
Windsor on Puesday morning, by special Iran, for Gosport.

en rove fur Osborne.

It is stated that the young llarquis Ainardo, nephew
of the late Count de Cayour, and sou of Count Ceske° de
. .

Cavour, the only remaining male branch of the faintly, la
seriously attacked with slow consumption.
• •

At Wigan, two boys about eleven years of age hard
been charged with setting tire to the cotton mill of Mersa.
Woods. The magistrates ordered the plist.llol LO be
whipped and discharged.
A marriage bill has just pawsed the Prussian Lan&
rag, in which the ages of the contracting parties are legally
tined. The bridegroom must be eighteen and the bride four-
teen years of age. An attempt was made to alter the ages to
twenty-one and sixteen respectively, but It failed.
Mahomed All Bey, an Arab surgeon, has just re-
ceived a fee of s'A,OOO sterling, and been raised by the Vice-
rug to the rank of a Pasha, for curing the mother of the
Khedive of • severe malady which had seriously affected bee