The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-04 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A Parliamentary return has been issued stating the
number of cases of glanders and farcy that had been re-
ported in the metropolis from January 1, 1879, to April 30,
1880. The number of cases of glanders was 1,088, and of
'grey 662.
Mr. L. A. Groth writes to the Daily Telegraph that
in the year 1879 he established the system of savings stamps
in Denmark, and has since formed an association for the
same purpose in Sweden.

At the Cheshire county licensing sessions on
Saturday, the superintendent of police reported that
drunkenness had increased during the year.

Isabel Thora, Lublin has just successfully passed
the Oxford local examination, held at the University of
London. It is said that she is the first English girl, entirely
educated on the Kinder-garten system, who has passed.

The Australasian Sketchel., which arrived by the last
mail, gives, besides a graphic description of the inci-
dents connected with the capture of the notorious bush-
rangers, a series of engravings illustrative of the extraor-
dinary adventure.

The aggregate production of anthracite and bitu-
minous coal in Pennsylvania to July 31 this year, amounted
to 16,407,302 tons, as compared with 14,440,334 tons in the
corresponding period of 1879, showing a decrease of 1,967,563
tons this year.
Some highly interesting mural paintings of a date
prior to tke Reformation have been discovered in the church
of Muttenz, Canton Basel. This church is one of the oldest
in Switzerland, having been built, according to the best
authorities; early in the 10th century.
The Church of England Temperance Association is
about to establish an institution for the reception of male
inebriates.
A terrific thunderstorm passed over the Sheffield
district early on Monday morning. The rain was very heavy,
and great damage has been done to the crops. At Went-
worth, Earl Fitzwilliam's seat, three buffaloes and six stags
were killed by lightning while grazing in the park.
An estimate has just been made by the Minister of
Public Works of the cost of repairs of damage done during
the last winter by floods and overflows, and particularly in
the case of the Seine at Paris and the Loire at Saumur. All
the repairs have now come to a conclusion, and have
' amounted to the enormous sum of 2,318,870 f.

There were 12 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the
_past week, making a total of 890 for the present
year, or a decrease of 185 as compared with the correspond-
ing period of last year. The approximate value of property
lost was £20,000, including British £310,000.

A rival to. Dr. Tanner has appeared in Naples,
where a certain Signor Goldschmidt, who is described as
"a singing master, a marvellous swimmer, and a vegetarian
of some years' standing," has betted that he will fast not
forty but fifty consecutive days, from all save water.
The Berlin Correspondent of the Daily News tele-
graphs that Prince Bismarck had a long interview on Sunday
afternoon with Prince Charles of Roumania, and discussed
with him the advisability of making the Principality of Rou-
mania a Kingdom. Germany, it is said, regards the idea
with favour.

A telegram received in Liverpool on Monday an-
nounced that the crew of the Liverpool barque Westwater,
which was burnt at sea on the Ist of August, had been
rescued by the barque Antonio Vivent, which was on her
homeward voyage to Swansea This removes the anxiety
which has been felt as to the fate of the crew since the news
of the loss of the vessel was received.

A popular novelty in scarf-pins across the Channel.
the Parisian tells us, is the " epingle vieux Saxe." It is
simply an irregular fragment of China set in gold. The col-
lector who has broken a priceless cup or saucer now has the
pieces mounted as scarf-pins and distributed among his
friends.

From shipping statistics just published it appears
that the tonnage of the vessels which entered the ports of
France during the past half of the present year amounted to
8,766,431, of which 5,862,970 tons belonged to foreign ships
and 2,903,461 tons to French ships. The total shows an
increase of 1,173,156 tons over the corresponding period of
1878, and 327,623 tons over that of 1879.
The ladies have done well in the First B.A. and
B.Sc. examinations of London University. In French two
of them stand alone in the first class, none of their male
rivals having got beyond the second. In German there is a
lady in the first class; while one has obtained honours in
Latin, two in English, and two in Mathematics. A student
from .Newnham has taken honours in botany and chemistry.

The Graphic says that matrimonial agents are cer-
tainly energetic personages in Berlin, where it appears
that so soon as an announcement is made that a man has
lost his wife, he is plied with circulars offering him a choice
selection of eligible spinsters to replace his lost spouse.
One widower recently received a list of twelve ladies, some
of whom were recommended as especially fitted to take care
of his motherless children, and one possessed a dowry of
of over ,k 4,090.
There is a likelihood of the industrial dwellings
system receiving a trial in Liverpooj. The Corporation
recently swept away some objectionable buildings in a
part of the cfty known as Nash-grove, and litve Health Corn-
inittee have recommended that the Council should seek the
approval of the Local Government Board for the erection
by the Council of a number of artisans' dwellings. The
estimated cost of the scheme is £115,000.

A Conservative demonstration, promoted by work-
ing men of Bolton and neighbourhood, took place in the
grounds of Worsley Hall on Saturday. About 10,000 persons
were present. A resolution was adopted, expressing un-
altered confidence in the Earl of Beaconsfield, Sir Stafford
Northcote, and the whole of the late Ministry as the repre-
sentatives of a policy best calculated to promote the well-
being of the country.
The last sensation in men's walking-sticks consists
of a smooth, polished cane, surmounted by a handle in the
shape of a ball, in either ivory or silver (says the Court
Journal). The ball unscrews, or comes out after the
fashion of a sword cane, and discloses within a receptacle
for cigarettes.
It is announced that five Prussian officers of the
general staff have accepted the invitation of the Sultan
"to enter his service for the purbose of attempting reforms
in the Turkish army."
The whaler Arctic, Captain Adams, arrived at
Dundee, on Thursday in last week, from the Davis Straits
whale fishery. She brought 12 whales and 600 white whales,
which, it is expected, will yield 180 tuns of oil. Captain
Adams reports that the season was one of the finest he has
ever experienced, and that the catches of the Dundee ves-
sels far exceed what they have been for several years past.
The 12 vessels, including the Arctic., have caught 105
whales, equal to 978 tuns of oil, the value of which is esti-
nutted at over £30,000.

Mrs. Pr'or, wife of a baker at Coggesball, Essex,
while about her household duties a few days ago, was stung
by a wasp in the neck, where she was already suffering from
soreness. Distressing symptoms at once showed themselves,
and death occurred in a few minutes from shock to the
system. It is believed that Mrs. Prior was a sufferer from
heart disease.

A letter from Honolulu, dated July 3, states on the
authority of official documents that during the two years
ended in May last 863 adult South Sea islanders of both sexes
and 269 children had arrived as immigrants, at a cost to the
Government of 90 dole. a head. During the same period 405
adult immigrants from Madeira and the Azores had arrived,
bringing with them 305 children. The cost of this immigra-
tion amounted to 160 dole. a head.

The increase in the railway dividends this year has
led the men in the goods department of the London and
North-Western Railway to petition for an increase of
wages. The men state that when trade was slack a reduc-
tion was enforced, and argue that it has sufficiently im-
proved to enable them with justice to ask the board of
directors to restore certain conditions of service agreed to
in 1872.
The papyrus manuscript recently discovered in the
cave of a herrnit near Jerusalem, and said to be the work
of St. Peter, has been submitted to a committee sent out by
the Biblical Society Of London, and they have come to the.
conclusion that the papyrus is in reality the work of the
great Apostle. They have offered 500,000 francs to the heirs
of the hermit for the document, but the offer was refused.
The arrivals of live stock and fresh meat at Liver-
pool last week from the United States and Canada were of
live stock larger than for many weeks back, and as regards
fresh meat there was a slight increase on the preceding
week, ,the total being 2,862 cattle, 2,479 sheep, 947 pigs,
and 3,835 quarters of-beef, 235 carcasses of mutton, and 120
dead pigs.
- -

Mr. R. A. Proctor, the eminent scientific writer, is
at the present time lecturing on astronomy in Australia.
He has everywhere been most successful.
Casualties in Switzerland this season are unusually
numerous. Another sad case is just reported from Thun.
The other afternoon Friulein "Voig,t, alady from Rotterdam,
Professor Adolf Held, of Berlin. Herr Dustmann, of Vienna,
and Fraulein Schmidlin, daughter of the manager of the
Hotel Bellevue at Thun, went out for a sail, unaccompanied
by a boatman (says the Geneva Correspondent of The Times).
As they neared Schadait, where the Aar flows from the lake,
the boat was caught in a current and capsized. Herr Dust-
mann and FrSulein Schmidlin were with great difficulty
rescued, but the others were drowned. Frau Held, who was
walking on the bank of the lake at the time, witnessed her
husband's death.
They are going ahead in the States. The Railtvav
Age of Chicago publishes a summary of the railway projects
reported to that paper during the last six months. The
list is probably imperfect, but it nevertheless shows 287 pro-
jected roads, covering a contemplated mileage of over 20,000
miles. Work has been begun or completed on 177 of these
lines, 1,790 miles of track have been laid, and the mileage of
the roads now in course of construction is about 8,000
miles. That is a pretty good record for six months. The
Western States, of course' project the greater part of the
new roads, but the longest and most important roads in the
list run through such well settled States as Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois.
The principles of trade-unionists have taken root in
the far-away Empire of Japan, and the success of the first
agitation will encourage the labourers. There has recently
been a considerable rise in the price of rice, and the actual
producers, thinking they ought to share in the good fortune
of the landholders, combined, and demanded an increase of
wages to the extent of about 20 per sent., which was
granted. Labour is very cheap in the Eastern countries,
and food is cheap too, but Japanese fans will no longer, we
suppose, be sold at a penny in the streets of London, ninety
days sail from the seat of their manufacture. Echo.
A new plan has been patented in the United
States for moving cars on elevated railroads by means of
skates or runners sliding along a smooth rail. It is claimed
that'this invention will avoid the jarring and vibration
which are so destructive to both the fixed and rolling stock
where wheels are used. The skates are each provided
with a chamber for containing a lubricant and are fitted
withswearing slips which can be readily removed and re-
placed when they are worn out. The inventor asserts that
a train may be moved on the plain track with less power
than is now acquired to move cars provided with wheels.
At a banquet offered to General Greich at Liban,
the Russian Finanoe 31inisber, in the course of a speech.
nade the following remarks: "I do not consider that a State
'can be regarded as poor which, under the administration of
my predecessor and friend, Reutern, constructed 20,000 versts
of railroad, which waged a war that cost more than a
milliard, and, the following year, established the balance
between expenditure and revenue, which within two years
has negotiated more than 700,000,000 roubles, in view of
wishing to pay its debts."
The Maidstone Journal says that the immigration of
sop-pickers into that district during the past few days has
been one of the largest ever known. The South-Eastern
Railway Company commenced their cheap train service on
Friday in last week, and since that time have run a great
munber of special. trains, Upwards of 10,000 pickers were
booked on Sunday.
The decrees relating to the closing of educational
establishments conducted by the Jesuits have been applied
at Boulogne without leading to any disturbance. As is
generally known, a large school, with chapel, a theatre, and
a gymnasium, was erected by the Order on the high ground
overlooking Boulogne, a short distance from Napoleon's
Column, as soon as the transfer of the previous Metz College
from the inconvenient house in the old Boulogne Bishop's
Palace in the upper town was decided upon. There, at the
Ecole Libre Notre Dame, opened in September, 1878, some
500 boys have received their education under the head-
mastership of the former rector of the Meta College, Father
Couplet, and his successor, Father Zuns.
• The recent storms in France seem to have been as
Widespread as they were destructive. At Lyons their effect
was marked by hundreds of broken trees and thousands of
broken windows. A circus was turned inside out, and the
roof of the elephant's house in a menagerie is described as
having been blown away like a feather." A theatre and
the museum of anatomy were partially destroyed, At Rim,
in Puy-de-Dome, the sitting of the assize court had to be
sUspontied on account of the darkness. At Theirs hail fell
for twenty minutes, and at the neighbouring village of
Barhariu three houses were set on tire by lightning. From
Rochfort, from Meules in Calvados, from Douai, comes news
of a similar character. The district most severely visited of
all, however, soema to have been that including the central
departments of Haute-Marne, Yonne, Nievre, and Loire.
Here several instance.% of lass of life have been recorded
beside houses damaged by lightning and by inundation.

It is estimated that, notwithstanding the heavy
drain of troops for foreign service, there are available at
home in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
no less a force than 60,000 of -all arms.
The suspension in the rise of the Nile causes some
little anxiety. The cotton crops areconsidered to be safe,
but more water is required for cereal sowing in *Upper
Egypt.
The Magnet of Monday says the harvest as a whole
is a decided success, and, if the fine weather continues for
two or three weeks longer, will be well gathered.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to confer
the honour of knighthood on the following gentlemen :
Mr. Rupert Kettle, in consideration of his services in con-
nexion with the establishment of boards of arbitration be-
tween employers and employed; Mr. L. S.. Jackson, on his
retirement from an Indian Judgeship; Dr. Edward B.
Sinclair, M.D., in recognition of the public service he has
rendered by training soldiers' wives as nurses.

Frank J- efford, aged seventeen, was drowned while
bathing in the harbour at Britiport_on Sunday afternoon.

The Report of the Commissioners of the Polio
for the year 1879 shows that in December last, the Metro-
politan police numbered 10,711, which was an increase of 234
over the previous year. The number of felonies committed
during the year was 21,891 for which 11,431 persons were
arrested. The loss by thefts was £101,708, of which £22,460
was recovered. The Director of Criminial Investigations
reports that photography and engraving have been extensively
used in the tracing of criminals, with very satisfactory
results.

A Calcutta Correspondent of a native paper says
that lately there have sprung up a number of good Bengal lady
writers, the most accomplished being Mrs. Surnamoyi
Ghoshal, a daughter of Baboo Debendra Nath Tagore. This
lady is the author of two handy novels and a melodrama.
She seems to be well-read in English works of imagination
and a careful student of English and Sanskrit poets.

Mr. E. Burton Barber has had the honour of pa nt-
ing several pictures of horses and dogs belonging to her
Majesty, as well as the chargers of the late Emperor
Napoleon and of the Prince imperial, which the Queen
prbsented to the Empress Eugenie.

- His Majesty King Henry the Fifth of France is at
present holding his Court on foreign soil—at Champery, on
the Lake of Geneva. Thither the faithful Legitimists of
social rank and wealth have swarmed from all parts of
France.
- - -

The last drummer of the first French Republic has
just died at the age of 89. He was a drummer-boy and
child of the regiment when but ten years old. This veteran,
Chaunoux by name, lived at the military centre of Vincennes
till the end of his days, so that from his cradle to his grave
he was always amongst soldiers.
-

Mr. Elijah Walton, the well-known painter of land-
scape and mountain scenery, died on the 25th inst. at his
residence on Bromsgrove Lickey, near • Birmingham. Mr.
Walton, who was only forty-seven years old, was ana rt
student at eight years of age, won a prize medal for a work
in oil at ten, and exhibited his first work at the Royal
Academy at the age of fourteen.

A bahoon ascent was made from the Crystal Palace
on Monday in the presence of a large number of the mem-
bers of the Balloon Society. The balloon started punctual!)
at five o'clock, and descended at 6.30 at Cranleigh, a distance
of about thirty miles from Sydenham.
On his marriage the Crown Prince of Austria will
receive from the aristocracy of Vienna a present of a magni-
ficent album, each leaf of which will contain drawings and
water colour copies of the most celebrated and best known
paintings. Up to the present 150,000 florins have been sub-
scribed towards the purchase of this present.
There were 2,497 births and 1,488 deaths registered
In London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births exceeded by 70, whereas the deaths were 6 below,
the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of the last
ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which had
been equal to 24.2, 23.8, and 21.3 in the three preceding
weeks, was again 21.3. During the past eight weeks of the
current quarter the metropolitan death-rate has averaged 22
per 1,000, against 24.1 and 18.1 in the corresponding periods
of 1878 and 1879.

The Archbishop of Canterbury held his triennial
visitation of the clergy of the deaneries of Croydon and
East and West Dartford, at the parish church, Croydon, on
Tuesday. Referring to the Burials Bill, he said he was con-
fident that the majority of the clergy would desire to be fair
and generous, and to secure whatever good the measure was
capable of affording. As a promoter of the Public Worship
Regulation Act, he did not think that it had failed, con-
sidering the object with which it was passed. He believed
the majority of Churchmen were fixed and ashamed of such
disputes as had arisen, and that, while desiring a well-
ordered and attractive ritual, they were staunch in their
dislike of semi-Popish innovations, and being deeply attached
to the forms of the Church, were thankful that these were
quietly enforced.

The chamois are reappearing in the Canton of
Berne, thanks to the care of the authorities in prohibiting
the shooting of large game. A few years since, it was a
very rare event to meet with a chamois in the Oberland,
and now, we hear from the Swiss papers, that small parties
of from twelve to fifteen may be seen in the neighbourhood
of the Wengern Alp.

-
The death is recorded of a very liberal supporter of
Halifax charities, Mr. Joshua Appleyard, of .re-hall,
Halifax. He was one of the first councillors and aldermen
of the borough, a borough magistrate, and a magistrate for
the West Riding. He was also chairman of the Halifax"
Joint-Stock Banking Company, and a director of the Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire Railway Company. Mr. Appleyard was
donor of £lO,OOO to the Crossley Orphan Home, and of £5,000
to the Halifax parish church restoration; he also gave
munificent donations to the Halifax Infirmary and Halifax
Tradesmen's Benevolent Institution.

A grand demonstration of Sunday School children
numbering over 8,000, from ,the various Nonconformist
schools in Wolverhampton, was'held on Monday, in celebra-
tion of the centenary. There was a large display of hand-
somely embroidered flags and banners, and, after singing
suitable hymns, the different schools moved off to some
fields outside the town, and there enjoyed a good after-
noon's recreation, followed by a plentiful distribution of
plum cake and tea.

The electric railway, respecting which we recently
heard so much at Berlin, is now to be brought to a test in the
United States, where eight miles of the iron road are set
apart on the Camden and Amboy Railway, New Jersey, for
the proposed experiments. If the railway should prove a
success, it will probably be adopted for the elevated lines in
the New York streets, where at presentithe locomotives cause
a great deal of annoYance from the smoke and cinders
which they emit, as well as from their noise. The electric
engine is exceedingly quiet in its action, and the electricity
which supplies the motive power is generated at fixed
stations, and is communicated to the el2ctric locomotive by
the lihe of rails itself.
Advices from Kingstown, Jamaio.;., of the 19th inst.,
report that thousands of persons haw /cell rendered home-
less by the disastrous hurricane which occurred there the
psevious night. The crops, fruit trees, anti farm produce
have for the greater part been destroyed, and colossal
trees uprooted. Some churches have been demolished, and
the barracks in Kingston destroyed. Three wharves were
swept away, and eight large auci 32 small vessels were
wrecked in the harbour.

Horses are just now amazingly cheap in London.
The principal horse dealers cannot recollect any time when
the price of these animals was so low. And not only is this
so, but large numbers of carriages are also being sold cheap.
The fact is that a large number of people who have kept
carriages find that they ought not to have done so, and the
sales are somewhat forced upon the market in consequence
at very low prices.—Court Journal.
The soldiers' barracks at Fort Mojave, Arizona,
have been destroyed by a great storm. Three persons were
killed, and several others injured.
The Queen, accompanied by the Princess Beatrice,
drove out on Saturday and visited several of the cottagers on
the Royal estate. The Rev. Mr. Campbell, parish minister of
Crathie, conducted Divine service in the Castle on Sunday
forenoon, in the presence of Her Majesty and the Court.
Crathie Church was crowded, but none of the Royal Family
attended. The Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to
arrive at Abergeldie next week.
"We are threatened with a dearth of lions. The
news would be thought rather comforting than otherwise
were it not for the necessity of furnishing that amusement
to the rising generation which the contemplation of the
noble beast in a state of captivity always affords. From
Algeria corn 's a dismal wail concerning the gradual dis-
appearance of every "king of the forest" from that pro-
vince where nothing will soon be left but the lower and re-
publican races of animals, which, as in the human race, in-
crease and multiply exceedingly. But as every misfortune
which happens to one brings luck to somebody else, the in-
creasing demand for lionsfor exhibition at fairs and zoo-
logical gardens has encouraged a Frenchman to establish a
regular breeding stud of lions at Bona, where lions will be
bred and trained for the market. Is not this a sign of the
strange times we live in? "—Court Journal.
The French Government has granted permission to
the managers of the State Railways to make use of steam
carriages on lines where the traffic is very small. All the
servants required for a carriage or train would be two—a
driver and a guard. The innovation for the time being is
only to be made by way of experiment, and only to be
applied to passenger traffic.