The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-14 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

stuluse.,

William Wallis, another Waterloo veteran, hag been
awarded a gratuity of £2 by the Commander-in-Chief.
The Empress of Russia haa returned to St Pete,.
I nog. The capital was gaily decorated with flags on the
occasion.
The Revisers of the New Testament Company met
so Tuesday in the Jerusalem Chamber for their twenty-fifth
senile°, and sat for seven hours. The Company revised the
greater part of the 11th chapter of St. John.
Le Figaro of Wednesday attributes to M. Thiers the
following The efforts of the Right against the Republic
resemble those of an infant who attempts to upset (derailler)
• railway train with a pin."
The joint occupation of San Juan Island ceased
November 22, In accordance with the awidd of the Emperor
William. Heredter the United States will occupy it ex-
clusively.
Alexander 11. ha, given a fresh proof of his friend-
ship for hie klusman. Wilhelm 1,, by proposing his health at
a banquet of the Knights of Si. George, as not merely one of
the oldest, but as the oldest member of that celebrated
Order.
A number of skilled shipwrighta at Chatham Dock-
yard have given notice to leave, having been offered employ-
ment by private ship-building firms in Loudon and elsewhere
at greatly increased wages.
Intelligence has been received at South Shields of
the loss of the brig Hope, of North Shields. She was driven
ashore during a terrific gale near SteA Rock, Freshwater Bay,
Isle of Wight, and broke up immediately, all the crew having
perished.
Through the efforts of the Danish Consul in New
York over 2.000 dots, has been collected (and remitted by
cable) for the benefit of the sufferers by the recent inunda-
tions on the coast of Denmark.
On Tuesday the Don Guillermo arrived at Liverpool,
bringing ten survivors of the crew of the Indian Queen,
which left Quebec on the 10th November for Liverpool, and
encountered fearful weather in the Atlantic.
Private Bryant, 62nd Foot, has been declared the
best shot in the army for the year 1871-72, and has been
awarded the prize of £lO and a silver medal. Private Smith
held the same honourable position the previous year.
It is in contemplation to hold an examination for
direct commissions in the army in May next. This will be
the first examination under the new system of open oompeti-
lion for first appointments in the Cavalry and Infantry of
the Line.
The Birmingham gas stokers have passed a resolu-
tion condemning the hasty step taken by the London stokers,
but determining to support them in case the masters should
refuse to accede to thew demands or submit the dispute to
arbitration.
A mass meeting was held in Sheffield on Tuesday
night to protest against the Kest African slave trade. Re-
solutions were adopted condemning the traffic, and urging
elovemment to interfere with those foreign Powers who
sanction it, with • view to secure its abolition.
Her Majesty the Queen has sent a gift of £5 to the
youth Hughes, who was recently tossed by the bull, " Prince
Leopold," at the Flemish Farm, Windsor Great Pork.
Hughes. who was taken to the Windsor Royal Infirmary, is
going on favourably.
A public Grammar School is about to be established
at tureen, in accordance with the requirements of a will
made by a local merchant named Watts, who died 20 years
ago, leaving • sum of money, the interest of which (now
amounting to £4,000) was to be applied for the above Objeet.
Mr. Gladstone has written a second letter to the
Rev. Dr. Potter, of Sheffield, stating that his contradiction
of the report that he was a Roman Catholic applies equally
to his conduct in reference to Roman Catholicism. Dr. Potter
says be will communicate with his ffilormant.
In reply to a memorial the Endowed Schools Com-
missioners have stated that they propose heneeforth In all
schemes which give the head-master the power of diemiesing
auletantmasters to make such dismissal subject to an appmd
to the governors.
A meeting of Americans resident in London was
held at the Laugh= Hotel on Saturday evening when, upon
the motion of Mr. lingh M'Culloch, resolution were adopted,
lamenting the death of Mr. Horace Greeley, extolling the
purity of hie private Wei and referring to his services to his
country and to humanity.
From April let to the 7th inst. the Exchequer re-
ceipts amounted to £46,417,147 an increase of nearly two
millions and a half as comared with the corresponding
period of last year. The expenditure has been £413.457,680.
On Saturdey last the balance in the Bank of England ex
ceede d live millions and a half sterling.
Suspension and impeachment have been enacted by
the Legislature of Louisiana ageing the Governor of the
State. A negro of the questionable name of Pinchbeck has
been elevated into the vacant place ; and things appear to
look so awkward for the public peace of the State that this
seemingly somewhat arbitrary Legislature has been com-
pelled to entreat that the President would protect its mem-
bers' against domestic violence."
In the dispute between the Roman Catholic clergy
and the National School teachsre at Dublin, Lord Harlington,
it is understood, is determined not to yield to the demands
of the hierarchy, and the matter will probably be settled by
the board paying the teachers through their own officers, and
adopting the rule ;that no teacher shall be dismissed
without three months' notice, and by the act of the board.
Sir George Balfour, KC. 8., was on Monday re-
turned, without opposition, for Kincardineshire, in succes-
sion to the late Mr. Dyee Nicol. This was the first election
which hes taken place in Scotland under the Ballot. Sir
George Balfour, who is now 83 years of age, began his
military career as far back as 1825, when he became •
lieutenant in the Royal Madras Artillery.
Mr. Justice Keating, in the Court of Common Pleas,
heard a somewhat curious case involving "consequential
damage..." A young woman sued her mistress, the keeper
of a refreshment-room in London, for compensation on
account of injuriee sustained by the fall of • skylight which
had for noise time been represented as in an insecure con-
dition ; and, after hearing evidence on both sidee, the jury
decided in favour of the plaintiff, with damage. LIZ.
The grievances of jurymen were on Monday the
subject of a meinnriel to Mr. Justice Grove from a number
of merchants and gentlemen of thy City of Loudon. His lord-
ehip was sitting at Guildhall, and the hardship involved In the
present mode of summoning jurors wee forcibly brought be-
fore him. The judge said he had no power to remedy that
which wee complained of, but he hoped the matter bronght
before him would be dealt with in one of the proposed law
reforms.
Mr. Gladstone, in reference to a complaint that Go•
somnolent messengers accepted private engagements In the
capacity of waiters, write; to say that unless the persons
complaining are prepared to prove that the Government see.
vale to accept private engagements during the hours which
they are expected from the nature of their employment, to
devote to the public service, he does not see that her Ma-
jesty' Government can interfere in the matter.
Last week the mean temperature at the Royal Ob.
servatory, Greenwich, was 41 deg., and slightly below the
average for the corresponding week in fifty years. Rain
fell on each day in the week, except Wednesday, amounting
in the aggregate to 111 inches. Tie raln-fall of the 342 days
of this year, on 182 of which rain was measured at Green-
wich amounted to 27 Inches; the average annual fall in the
past ten years has been 24 inches.
Shortly after six o'clock on Monday night a boiler
explosion occurred at Messrs Croefielde seep works, Bask
Quay, Warrington, by which the lives of three men are
placed in jeopardy. It appears that the boiler, whiek wee
situate in the silicate yard, exploded with great force, and
was lifted nearly 100 yards from the spot. The escape of the
steam severely scalded two workmen, named Wright and
Norman, who were at once taken to the Dispensary, where
they lie in • dangerous condition.
As Mr. Angus Gregorson was riding home to his
residence, taiman-vilia, on Wednesday, he woe thrown from
his horse, about two miles from Lochelphead, on the Oben-
road, and received an injury on the back of the head which
proved fatal. Three gentlemen who were driving in a dog-
cart found him lying on the road bleeding profusely, and
conveyed him with all speed to the residence of kin medical
attendant, Dr. Hunter ; but his aid was of no avail. Mr.
Gregorson, who has lefts widow end family, was well known
throughout the Western Highlands and also in Australia.
Many of the London gas-stokers are very anxious to
return to the work they so ill-advisedly deserted. They are
naturally dissatisfied with the result of their movement, and
are very dejected at the prospect before them. Some of the
men are said to have made overtures to the foremen pro-
posing to disassociate themselves from the union and return
to their work; but they were informed that such overtures
could not for the present, be entertained, and that the men
could only be re-engaged on the specific agreement of a
week's notice to be given on either aide.
On Tuesday the Committee recently formed in the
City for raising a fund towards the relief of the sufferers by
the inundatians in Italy held another meeting at the Man-
sion House, London. Baron Heath, the Radom Consul.
Genera! in London, stated that the subscriptions up to this
time amounted in all to £2,673 odd, to which wants be added
about £l3O which had been promised, but not yet received.
An appeal, written by a member of the committee for sub-
scriptions, and describing the deplorable results of the floods
was real, and ordered to be put forthwith into general
circulation. After the transaction of other business in con-
nection with the fund, the meeting was adjourned.
Before the Norton Bench on Saturday the North-
Eastern Railway Company charged Joseph Beal with leaving
a train while in motion at Pillington, on the fith of No-
vember, on the York and Scarborough Railway. Defendant
pleaded " Guilty, " It appeared that after leaving Pilling-
ton Station, Beal would get out, and Mr. Ashford, of Scar-
borough, tried fruitlessly to prevent his doing so. The de-
fendant did jump out, and witnels gave information at the
next station. Ben were sei.t back to search the line with
lamps, but they found nothing till they got to the Inn at
Pilliugton Station, where they found Beal, who said he had
put his shoulder out. Ile was described as being "worse
for driuk," but not "drunk." The chairman said he might
have killed himself by his freak, and he fined him 4.1, of
which 30e. were costs.
Lord George Hamilton, M.P., on Tuesday presided
at • conference of Metropolitan Poor Law guardian., which
had been convened with • view of eliciting an expression of
opinion on the question of local taxation. In the course of
• long discussion, in which Mr. W. H. Smith, M.P., and
others took part, it was pointed out that it was neither just
nor expedient that charges for objects of a strictly national
character should be thrown upon the local rates. A resolo•
tion embodying this view was adopted, and the Government
were urged to place the following cheeses upon the Consoli-
dated Feud : Administration of justice, maintenance of
lunatics, construction of lunatic atylums, the erection and
maintenance of prisons, houses of detention, and reforms-
tulles, and Parliamentary registration.
The Strike Committee of the London gee stokers
broke up on Tuesday night. In compliance with the request
of a large number of the men, the manager of the Imperial
Company's Oss Works at Hackney permitted most of the old
hanos to return to their employment. It is intimated that
the managers of some of the other companies will ale) take
on many of the old heeds, with the exesoptiou of those who
took a prominent part in the strike. It is stated that the
managers have no debire to prevent ,r interfere with any
legitimate union or combination which the men may form to
protect their istereste, but they will require that all men re-
entering their employment shall sign an agreement for a
week's notice to be given before leaving. A huge number of
the men expressed themselves es exceedingly grateful for
them concil'atory and favourable terms, and have promised
never again to be so misled. Marry of them state that when
they came out they were in entire ignorance of what they
came out for, and they came out because they were told by
the Union committee, and they must do as their other
mates did, or they would all be marked men.

An agreement has been come to by the dairymen and
odllumdlorm of Brklaion to Was Oho piles of wilt from 44.
So dd. a quart. . .

Mr. W. E. Forster, M.P., has presented an exhibition
to the Bradford Grammar School, tenable for two years, muot
pp?. to,compelltlon by pupils from the elementary schools

IE7 the borough.
The Board of Trade account show that in the month
of November there were exported from the United Kingdom
251,949 1001 01 iron and steel, of the value of £3,189,433. The
quantity is lees by 14.995 tons than In November, 1871, but
the value shows an Increase amounting to £880214.

The retnrne of Liverpool emigration made tip to the
and of last month show an increase of 2.222 pertone in the
number who emigrated during the nicuth over the number
who emigrated in the previous November. The eleven
mouths of this year compared with eleven morithe of last
'

i7e-er-;1,7o; an increase OTL"--1,91.5 in the number of emigrants.
. .

•
The fint report of the Brighton Wes Lien Exploration
has been issued. It states that several obstacles hmve been
met with, but the Dories is row proceeding at a lepth of
ninety six feet in a bed of hard blue limesthne. The com-
mittee will be recommended to reduce the diameter of the

During November our exports amounted to
£22.471,938, being about three and a quarter millions sterl-
ing above those for the same month in last year ; tut it may
be assumed the increase arises rather from the augmented
value of special commodities tl.an from any addition to the
quantities actually sent abroad.
" Truflies appear to be very abundant this year. The
Department of the Drome has produced £72,0,0 worth : the
Lot roo,ovo : Dordogne, £60,000 ; Aveyrou. 8.24.000 ;
£16,800 and Charente, 420.000. The entire
produce in France is estimated at from £720,000 to £000.000."
—The Gorden.

The present unseasonable mildness of the weather has
produced • spring-like aspect in Kent, and near Keaton com-
mon acres of penmen and snowdrops are in blouom, and
the banki covered with violet.. the fume lain full bloom, and
lest week a nest of young thrushes wan teasel' out of a holly
tree near Holwood Park.
. . _ .

The Constitutional (This in Prussia is virtually at an
end, the Upper House of the Prussian Diet having passed all the
clauses of the Districts Administration bill without amend-
ment. The party of lier Von Stahl made a stand on the 4th
clause, to which they preposed an amendment, but were
beaten by 114 votes against ts 7, whereupon the party retired
from the contest.
- - -

The Chicago Inter-Ocean states that Aldermen
Batcham, who has been on a visit to his lumbermen in
Michigan, 12 miles from 31•111stee, says his men report that
many deer are found dead in the wood., having died from
epizooty. No deer is shot two, When one is found dead,
the skin is removed to be made Into leather.
At Brighton the first public illumination of the
Aquarium, last Saturday evening, was very successful. The
attendance was extremely good, and the lighting everything
that could be wished, whether for giving effect fo the archi-
tecture of the building or rendering visible the oontents of
the tanks, every movement in which was distinctly observ-
able.
On Monday afternoon the Lord Mayor of London
undyed U. following communication through the direct
Spanish cable just laid by the Jodie (tubber, Gotta Percha,
and Telegraph Works Company between Bilbao and the
Lizard :—"The Almada of Bilbao, in the name of the
Ay untamlento, sends respectful greetings to Senor the Alcalde
of London on the successful completion of the means of
telegraphic communication between the two ports?
; The celestish of San Francisco have a way of pre-
! paring a great feast for themselves. Three times • year they
spread a Royal banquet beside the graves of their departed
friends, and after • little while turn to and eat it themselves.
On a recent occasion of this kind forty expreu waggons were
employed in transporting hogs, chickens, rice, and liquor to
the cemetery, andkiver one hundred waggons were in the pro-
ceentull
As an attempted solution of the labour difficulty, a
prospectus hag been issued of a Co-operative Mining Society
for the counties of Northumberland and Durham. It is pro-
posed that 10 per cent shall be allowed to capital, then are.
nerve fund is to be formed, and the remainder of the profits
to be divided equally between labour and capital The
capital into be raised in Lb .hues.
" It has been reported that a horse epidemic, similar
to the New York ephippic, has broken out in Devonshire.
We have, however, received no evidence that can trace the
rumour to anything more than the presence of a malignant
farm of influenza in • local stable. Though the cry may be
Wolf' at present, the example lately set before us in
America shows that we should be prepared for such a cats,-
trophe."—Land and Water.
The Anneal Show of the Smithfield Club wan opened
at the agricultural Hall on Monday. Her Majesty and the
Prince of Wales were amongst the exhibitors of stock. The
total number of entries wu 426. The Irish cattle were tour and
the Welsh two in number. The crou or mixed bred cattle
numbered 20, and there were 10 animals In the extra stock
dame The sheep classes contained 106 entries, and there
were 69 entries of the various breeds of pigs.
An inquest has been held at Sheffield on the body of
• journeyman tailor named B.:wards. On Friday night, be-
fore going to bed, he ate • large quantity of mussels. (Carly
the following morning he awoke in great pain, and died be-
fore a medical man could be in attendance. A post-mortem
examination showed that the primary cause of death nu
Mums of the heart, but that death had been accelerated by
eattng the mussels The surgeon who made the examination
expreued the opinion that the man would have been now
alive if he had not eaten the mussels.
The Swiss Times says : —The weather in Switzerland
continuo, unusually mild for the season of the year. Sines
the 22nd of November the thermometer in Geneva has flowed
from 49 to 69 degrees Fahrenheit, and in some parts of Swit-
zerland the weather appears to be even milder than here.
Thus in the cantons of Thurgau and Saint Gall the violet,
rose. Jasmine, and cherry may now be seen in full bloom.
At S'chwarzenegg in the canton Bern ripe raspberries were
gathered on the SOth Mt., and on the 28th a magnificent
purple rose was plucked at ScheMenberg, in the canton
A rather serions accident has occurred to Mr. Wil-
liams, chemist, at his shop, 114, St. Plifliploroad, Sheffield.
Towards dusk he struck a match, in order to look for some
article, and unfortunately one of the sparks fell upon a small
barrel containing about two pounds of gunpowder, a portion
of which exploded to his face, burning his hair very severely.
A cry of Fire!' was raised, and • neighbour rushed into
the shop, and threw the contents of a watezbucket upon
Mr. Williams, whose clothes had been ignited by the explo-
sion. The shop was immediately shut up, and medical attend-
ance was procured for the sufferer.
.• ^

The Roman Catholic Churches belonging to the Go-
vernment in Posen, as well as throughout the province o
Posen, have been closed on account of a special service hay
leg been solemnized in which the Roman Catholic Church in
the province of Posen was placed under the special protec-
tion of the "most sweet heart of Jesus" Besides this,
several clergymen and teachers have been summoned and
examined ty the authoritiea on the subject of an exciting
pastoral letter recently issued by Arbhbishop Ledochowski,
and read by them in the churches and schools.
"The time has arrived when an increase should be
made in the rate of pay of the officers of the army. On ap-
pointment no officer should be given leas then 7s. per diem,
the sum rising to 10a, in the case of lieutenants, 15s for
captains, with Is Bd. per diem for every live years' service,
the other grades being allowed • proportionate advance. Mr.
Cardwell should bear in mind that every reduction he orders
in the number of officers has the effect of throwing extra ex-
pense upon those who remain. The suggestion to reduce
expenses is absurd whilst the present high rate of
prices of meat, coal, &c., continues. In fact, it is the
general cry of messmen that it is next to impossible to do an
that Is required of them at the present rate."—Court
Jounia
- - -

The Eighth Parliament of Queen Victoriilwas four
years old ou Tuesday last, having been summoned to meet
on the 10th December, 1886. Since It assembled at West,
minister, 84 peers and SO members of the House of Commons
have died, and of the latter number 30 were Liberals. The
oldest peer removed by death was the Eal of Onslow, who
was 93; the youngest was the Ea.' of Aberdeen, who was
drowned at the age 01 20 The oldeet member of the House
of Commons was Colonel dykes, the representative of the city
of Aberdeen, who was St ; the youngest was Captain Spelt.,
who died when only SS, and within • few weeks ol Ms elec-
tion for Renfrewshire. Of the 107 members who have been
returned to the present Parliament, includiog the re-elections
on the formation of Mr. Glulstone's Government, 84 are
lAberals, 46 are Conservatives, and 7 are Home Rulers.
There are now two vacant seats, viz., Forfarshire and the
Orkneys.
"The cksing months of the year 1572 will long be
remembered in many a bereaved household and in many a
devastated district. We do not know that history has ever re-
corded snobs continued series of hurricanes, rain-floods, and
Inundations as woul.i seem to have prevailed pretty nearly
throughout Europe during the past three GlOllOll. AIInOSS
, constant rain has swollen the great rivers, until the accu-
mulating waters have burst through svh,tever frail embank-
ments had been erected by human provision, and turned
Into lakes immense districts of land from which the ham.
Mtanu had to flee at risk of their lives. Gales have swept
down on distant coasts, milting the industries of the
small populations living on the produce of the era; and hum.
rimuies have causht In mid-oceati the great fleet of reseal.
carry Maths world's merchandise from port to port, wreaking
such havoc as is not fully made known yet."—Leader in Daily