The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-12-10 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

--
The fishing has been greatly interfered with on the
North-East Coast of Scotland in consequence of a
strong westerly gale. The Broughty Ferry Fleet was
caught near Bell Rock by a gale, and, while hauling
nets on the smacklAnn Craig, David Knight was struck
by a sail, and washed overboard and drowned.
William Johnson, a Great 'Northern engine-driver,
was knocked down and run over by an engine at Peter.
borough the other day. He now lies in a precarious
condition. His right leg was crushed below the knee,
his thighs were fractured, the fingers of his left hand
out off, and his ribs crushed.

At Nesvmarket-on.Fergus, before Meyers. Eaton ano
Seagrave' resident magistrates, five men, named
Richard Allen, Michael Barry, William Allen, William
Jones, and John Beechinor, were sentenced each to one
month's imprisonment, under the Crimes Act, for
attending a prohibited meeting of the Irish National
League at Newm.rket on Nov. 13.
An alarming fire occurred early on Saturday morning
at the Albion Gas Works of the West Bromwich Cor-
poration, through a leakage of gas in the meter house.
The gas is conveyed into the meter at the gas works
through a 16-inch main' and it is supposed that a
subsidence in the ground caused this pipe to crack.
An explosion occurred, and the meter house became
enveloped in flamed. Before they were subdued, the
Interior of the building was destroyed, and the manu-
facture of gas rendered impossible for some time.
Although no cases of small-pox or other epidemic
disease have been known at Eastbourne, the Local
Government Board have called upon the guardians to
explain the delay in certain vaccination prosecutions.
The reply of the board of guardians is as follows :
The causes of the arrears in the vaccination
eases was the opposition to compulsory vacci-
nation by the working classes, due to the
spread of anti-vaccination opinions by means of
leaflets; illness among infants; and the removal of
families from one part to another. In many cases
children were said to be too delicate to be vaccinated;
but in some oases no medical certificates had been sent
in by the parents. The returns showed 184 cases of
children not yet vaccinated. Two years since East-
bourne was the scene of vaccination prosecutions, when
a census of the residents declared against compulsory
vaccination by a majority of all classes.
'Lord Wolseley visited Hythe, on Saturday, with a
staff of officers to witness field firing on the School of
Musketry range, and some experiments with the
Maxim gun.
At the Royal Court of Guernsey on Saturday after-
noon, Thomas, son of Adam Walton, of Preston, a
private in the Border Regiment, stationed in the
island, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment,
every alternate day at hard labour, and the remainder
in solitary confinement on bread and water, for assault-
ing a girl named Alice Walsh on the Bth ult.
The Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture and the
Midland Farmers' Club on Saturday afternoon unani.
monsly passed a resolution approving of the Govern-
ment's action in instituting an inquiry into the
practicability of agricultural and dairy schools, sup-
ported by grants from the national exchequer; and
affirming that such aid would greatly benefit the agri-
cultural interest of the country. The Chamber also
passed a resolution to the effect that a reform in our
fiscal system was necessary.

It was stated at Canterbury on Saturday that the
example of Earl Sydney and Mr. Charles Whitehead
In withdrawing from one of the Kent Chambers of
Agriculture, in consequence of the advocacy of Protec-
tion by the majority of the members, will shortly be
followed by other influential county gentlemen, who
regard the Fair Trade cry as Protection in disguise.
Meanwhile the Fair Trade Leaguers ere exceedingly
busy in the towns and villages of Kent and Sussex.
Branches, or " lodges "as they are called, have been
established in scores of country places, and arrange-
ments have just been completed for meetings to be
held in 25 towns and villages in East Kent and the
Weald, these being intended specially for the
labourers. Fair Trade literature is being circulated all
over the two counties. Up to the present time there
have been no public meetings on the other side of the
question, the Fair Traders having it entirely their own
way.
A demonstration in favour ot free speech took place
on Sunday afternoon on Glasgow-green near Nelson's
Column. Numerous banners were displayed, including
some bearing the words, "Remember Trafalgar.
square." There were four platforms, but the gathering
round each was much smaller than was anticipated. A.
strong force of polies, was at hand, and the proceed-
ings passed off quietly. Mr. Cunninghame Graham
was to have been the principal speaker, but he was
unable to attend, owing to the illness of his wife. Mr.
John Burns, of London, said he was ashamed of the
apathy of the Scotch workmen. He believed, however,
that they would now stand shoulder to shoulder
with their brethren in London in favour of free
speech. He feared that Mr. Ounninghame Graham
and himself would get six months' imprisonment; but
he (Mr. Burns was quite pleased at the prospect, as it
would be six months' holiday.
The relations between masters and men at North-
ampton are more strained than ever, and on Saturday
all the members of the Manufacturers' Association
closed their factories to rivetters and finishers, the men
refusing to accept the statement of wages offered by
the employers, but agreeing to work on the old terms.
There will thus be a lock out at about 70 of the leading
factories. The town is in a state of considerable
excitement, and the borough police force is strongly
reinforced. Over one hundred soldiers also arrived on
Saturday, and were marched by back streets to the
barracks. Appeals are being made for support for the
non-unionist men during the lock out, and on Sunday
morning a large meeting of the unemployed was held
in the market square.
Two passengers in a tramcar, which was on Satur-
day night travelling to a village on the outskirts of
Bradford, Yorks, found the conductor lying on the
platform at the back in an insensible condition. When
be recovered consciousness, he stated that he had
been knocked down by a blow from behind, and his
cash bag had been taken from him. The empty cash
bag was found on Sunday morning on the other side of
a wall which skirts that road. Several highway rob.
beries in this sparsely populated locality have been re-
ported recently.
Representatives from all the county cricket clubs
met at Lord's Grounds in London on Tuesday after-
noon, to arrange the fixtures for the season of 1888,
which, owing to the visit of another Australian team,
will be of more than usual interest.
At the Preston Sheriff's Court on Tuesday, Elizabeth
Bragg, domestic servant, Preston, brought an action
against Robert Watson for breach of promise of
marriage. He promised marriage to the plaintiff, whom
he induced to leave her situation, and come to live at
his parents', At his request she again took a situation
as servant. He told her he had put up " askings "at
Hulme, Manchester, and had got a house ready. She
lent him various sums of money. It transpired that
all the time he had been engaged to another young
woman, whom he ultimately married. The plaintiff,
when in service, bought a large number of articles for
the house; hut these she afterwards sold. Last
Whitsuntide the defendant said he would come over to
see her, but he did not come. She went to Manchester,
and fcund he had been married in May last. The
defendant, an organ builder, was now living at
'Kendal. The jury found for the plaintiff, £25
'damages. _ _ _ -

The Postmaster General, speaking at a Unionist
meeting at Whitehaven cn Tuesday night, and sup-
porting a restitution approving of the conduct of
iGovernment witg regard to Ireland, said the Conserva-
tives had relieved Irish tenants from the injurious
:legislation of the Gladstone Government. The Crimes
Act had been passed to promote freedom of speech
;and freedom of action in Ireland, and if the Govern-
ment had not taken that step they would have been as
, bad as the scoundrels who were at the head of the
:National League.
An inquest was held at Owles Bar, near Sheffield, on
Tuesday, relative to the death of Charles Bodkin, a
medical botanist, who disappeared in February last
year. His skeleton was found on the Moors, near
Froggatt Edge. A son was only now able to identify
him by the clothes in which the skeleton was enve-
' loped. A verdict that the deceased was overcome by
(the inclemency of the weather and died from exposure
, was returned.
' The agricultural labour market in Yorkshire continues
much depressed, and it is many years since there was
such a large number of yearly servants disengaged.
The country market places are crowded each market
day with men and youths seeking situations, but the
supply is greatly in excess of the demand. Many of
these farm hands will be idle, it is said, until about
February.
At Leeds, on Tuesday, Joseph Longbottom, 41, the
manager of the Leeds Union Loan Society, was re-
manded for a week, on a charge of embezzling ..,2,767,
the moneys of the society. It is stated that defalca-
tions will be alleged against the prisoner to the extent
of E 80.20.

A new lifeboat, the gift of Mr. E.Homan, of Finchley
and Lyme Regis, was on Tuesday launched nt
Weymouth. The donor has not only defrayed the cost
of the boat and its equipment, but has endowed it with
a sum of £2OOO.
The Registrar General reports that in London the
death-rate per thousand from all causes, which had
been 23 0 in the previous week, declined last week to
21 l. There were 53 deaths from scarlet fever, the
same number as in the previous week.
Between the Ist April last and the 3rd Instant the
Exchequer receipts were £52,495,957, as compared with
£53,044,315 in the corresponding period of the last
financial year; and the expenditure 254,682,187, as
against £56,873,288. On Saturday last the Treasury
balances amounted to £2,854,877, and on the corre-
sponding date last year to £1,738,279.
Sir Henry Wolff, the newly-appointed Minister at
Teheran, does not leave for Persia till April.
The Admiralty announced that all hope of the safety
of H.M.S. Wasp having been now abandoned,ediroec
tions have been given that the books .
sidered as closed on Dec. 6, IBS7. The
due up to that date will be paid to the representatives
of the officers and men:
Active preparations are
being made by the Liverpool
Conservatives for the forthcoming visit
Lady Salisbury on January 11. balanceare tobof cp4n.
y
Forwood, M.P., an will b d b e signed y
the chairman o • f every Conservative Club and Associa.
tion in Liverpoo, .
1 St Helens, Birkenhead, the parlia-
mentary
divisions of South-West Lancashire, and the
. of
i Lord and
Lady address will be
presented by Mr. d d
Wirral Divis • ion of Cheshire. The demand for tickets
for admission to the meeting at which the address wiu!
be presented is unprecedented,
Mr. Wilson Noble, M.P., has received an intimation
from Mr. Goschen that he has fixed January 23 for his'
visit to the Unionists of Hastings and St. LeOnards,
and a joint committee of Liberals and Conservatives;
will make the necessary arrangements for the mallet
meeting at the concert-hall, at which a leading locol
Liberal will be asked to preside.
the Conservative can4is
ecil sen
life a
A contradiction has been given to the report that
date for the Spen Valley Division of Yorkshire. No
ktaf
eorlre.
cEt
gallantryil
ol ins
hhaass y bienet
savingnmade.The Board of Trade has awarded greiy. ,br 0 qva. r0f2131.:
at sea fo William Henry
the master of
f f
December, that v vessel,
/Amßullock, second mate, and William Foss, carpenter, of
the barque Athelstan, of Liverpool, in recognition of
the gallantry displayed by them in rescuing the eon of
h
the ship's boat while in the harbour of aral, Chili,
on e
h m
8:12e fell
into the water from
6.

An adjourned County Conference was held on
Saturday. at Barnsley, in connection with the York.
shire Miners' Association. Mr. Pickard, MX, was
present, and it was decided to demand a 10 per cent.
advance on the present rate of wages. It was likewise
suggested that a Board of Conciliation ehould be
established for the district, which would regulate the
payment of wages. Most of those present were m
favour of restricting the output. A deputation WWI
appointed to wait upon the colliery owners in the
district.
The Richmond Vestry has replied to the Council of
the Royal Agricultural Society that it does not see ite
way to guarantee the usual local contribution of
£2OOO towards the expenses of the society upholding
the Jubilee Show in 1889, a site for which had been
granted in the Old Deer Park by the Crown Ruth°.
rities. The expenditure incurred by the inhabitants
during the Jubilee rejoicings is mentioned as one of the
reasons for not taking the steps proposed. A con-
ference has been held, however, between the Windsor
authorities and the secretary, along with other repre-
sentatives of the society. In view also of the expendi-
ture at Jubilee times the Windsor authorities have
requested that the guarantee of £2OOO as a local con-
tribution towards the expenses of the Society's Show
should not be asked till March next, instead of
February, as proposed. The Commissioners of Woods
and Forests have granted a site in the Great Park.
Windsor, for the show, and two fields have been secured
on Crown lands in the vicinity of Windsor.
The excitement about the election cf the Mayor of
Athens which has prevailed during the last fortnight,
culminated on Sunday night, when the Opposition
candidate, M. Philemon, was found to have been
elected by a very large majority.
An apparatus has been recently invented for examin-
ing the throat and larnyx, which was tested with great
success in the last medical congress at Vienna. It
enables the throat and surrounding organs to be
examined by electric light, which is directed through
the patient's mouth. The inventor is a well-known
Vienna manufacturer of medical instruments.
The Countess Grosvenor gave birth to a son at,
Saighton Towers, near Chester, on Monday. Ider
lady-
ship and child are doing well.
Sir Patrick Colquhoun, Q.C., has been elected Trea-,
surer of the Inner Temple for the ensuing year, in
succession to Mr. Justice Stephen.
Mr. Villiers Francis Dent, of Buckland, Lymington,
has been selected as the Conservative candidate for
the New Forest Division of Hampshire.
Colonel E. T. Bainbridge has been appointed to
command the 21st Regimental District, vice Colonel W.
Allan.

The 4th and sth Dragoon Guards are to be converted
Into medium cavalry.
The Sub-Commission elected by the members of the
Conference on Sugar Bounties met on Monday for the
first time at the Foreign Office. The Sub-Committee
considered in detail the present tariffs on sugar whicisi
by commercial treaty, have become internationally'
established. Various technical points in connection'
with these tariffs were discussed, and after a foue
hours' sitting the Sub-Commission separated ;Wheat
having agreed upon a report to present to the Contin-
ence.
On Monday afternoon a prize fight took place in a
field off Old Box.lane, between Wrexham and Gros.
ford, the principals being an Irishman named Patrick
Neary and John Judson. Neary and Judson fought
10 rounds in one hour, at the end of which time Neary
was knocked out, being very nearly killed.
An action was before the Queen's Bench Division on
Monday, the object of which was to make a committee
formed for the vindication of the rights of the cornrn
moners over Beddington-corner, at Mitcham, liable for
the bill of costs, amounting to about three thousand
pounds. The plaintiffs were Messrs. Rooke, a firm of
solicitors, and the principal defendants were Mr.
Bidder, Q.C., and Mr. Csar Czarnikow. The former
had already paid two thousand pounds upon Mir,
matter, and the substantial question submitted to the,
jury was whether Mr. Czarnikow was equally hat+,
with him for the payment of this claim. Tbe jury
found in the affirmative, holding that the whole of the
committte were liable, and the Lord Chief Justice gave
judgment for the plaintiff.
Both Berlin and Vienna were much excited on
Monday by the reports concerning Russian military
movements on the Western frontiers. The taste
having been made known, the authorities have issued
the necessary orders to prevent any surprise.
The Nottingham Town Council on Monday resolved
to invite the Royal Agricultural Society to hold its
Second Annual Stallion Show in the town next
February, and £4OO was voted towards the expense of
temporarily covering a portion of the cattle market for
the Show, as required by the society. The Government
Commission appointed to encourage the breed of
horses has decided to work in conjunction with the
Royal Agricultural Society in connection with the
next Stallion Exhibition, which is, therefore, likely to
be the mcst important of the kind ever held in the
country.
A correspondent states that Liverpool is in danger
of a water famine. During the past fortnight the
stock of water at the Rivington reservoirs has de.
creased 180,000,000 gallons, a circumstance said to be
unprecedented for the months of November and
December. The district supplied by the Liverpool
Corporation, including the city and a number of
surrounding villlges, is to be placed on short
allowance. The cause of the great reduction in storage
supply is the unprecedentedly dry summer aud
autumn.

_
The Essex County Grammar School at Felstead has
jnst had to be closed on account of a serious outbreak
of scarlet fever. Ten or a dozen pupils have been
attacked, and one servant has been removed to the
union infirmary at Dunmow. The sanitary arrange.
merits are considered as perfect as modern appliary:es
can render them, and it is generally believed the in-
fection must have been imported by some of the
scholars returning from a visit home.
In accordance with Admiralty instructions her
Majesty's ship Victory (Nelson's old flag-ship), which
was lately found to have sprung a leak, and was sinking
at her moorings in Portsmouth Harbour, was towed
alongside the dockyard there on Monday, and at high
tide was removed to the ship basin, prior to being
received into dock,where her timbers will be thoroughly
overhauled.
Major-Ueneral J. Davis will, it is understood, succeed
General Dormer in command of the Dublin District, on
tho latter officer going to Egypt next month.
With reference to the memorial to the late Mr.
Grierson we are informed that it having been ascer-
tained that one of the greatest objects of his solicitude
was the education and welfare of the young, and
provision for the widows and orphans of the railway
servants, it is proposed that the memorial shall take
that shape, and that all persons connected with railways
shall be invited to contribute.
A despatch has been received from Holland stating
that Sir E. Monson, British Minister at Copenhagen,
will shortly be transferred to the Hague.
News arrived on Saturday from the frontier of the
assassination of the famous All Pasha at Gusinje. Ile
fell a victim to an act of private vengeance.
Sir Henry Parkes, the Premier of New South
Wales, in reply to the
.protest
.forwarded by Mr.
Gullies, the Victorian Prime
_Minister, on behalf of
Queensland and South Australia, against the proposal
change the name of New South Wales to
states that it s impossible for a colony
t.oAustraila,,,
i
with a century of hononrable record to take a brand
new name, and it is, therefore, comps-led to resume
the title of "Australia."
A on Monday afternoon, Arthur Wise,
chart edterSmagstieeTr; of Gornal, was fined 225. for permitting
the manufacture of explosives on his premises. It was
shown that the defendant had been in the employ
Lord Dudley, and for 40 years had been in the habit
of filling straws with gunpowder for blasting in
collieries. An explosion occurred in the defendant's
house, and his wife was
.fatally injured through a.
- spark from the fire falling into the gunpowder.
The prompt measures of isolation which have so of ten
stamped out smallpox at Leicester have again proved
entirely successful, no other case having occurred.
Investigations show that four vaccinated persons first
contracted the disease, and the fifth was a child un•
vaccinated on account of ill-health. All are going on
most favourably, with a prospect of speedy recovery.
The disease widely prevails in the neighbouring towns