The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-12-05 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

SATURDAY, DEC. 5, 1874.
Relk,s

Ancient

An exhibition of "Pictorial _
iverpooi " has been opened in that town.
It is suggested that railway tickets should have the
zee printed upon them.
Iron tnanufacturers.at Sheffield are making a strong
fort to skeet foreign competition by reducing the cost of
/reduction.
A three-story house of concrete is now in process of
building at Dundee, two feet of concrete being added each
day. The experiment of cheap building is being watched with
great interest.
Nana Sahib has been taken to Cawripore, and it is
stated that the question of .ortaln identification ia first to he
established by unimpeachable witnesses before any farther
proceedings eau be taken.
According to the new military survey of the
EllbSittn Empire, the monarchy extends ovor 400,227 gee-
graphical square miles, or one-sixth of the inhabited globe.
According to the last official eetimates, the popula-
tion of Berlin- on October 1, 18'4, amuuntqd to Pakirdit,,iflk.
habitants, without including foreigners.
Paper manufactured from the refuse of the sugar-
cane is reported min Gukkiltdoupe The paper is said to he
of excellent 41ua11ty, thick, tine grained, and with a particu-
larly smooth surface.
1 A car is now in use on one of the French railroads
to which the Bessemer steamer system has been applied.
The car is hung on elastic springs, and the motion ghliet
travelling is said to be almost imperceptible.
The existence of Christmas cards dates back -more
than 10e cars ago. They cannot, however, claim the same
antiquity as valentines, the first known kit which were
written by. Charles Duke of Orleans, taken &Awing at

Agbicourt in 1415.
The gold medal which was lately struck in France
in honour of John Brown, the hero of Harper 's terry has
been forwarded to the faintly k,f that famous abolitionist.
Special services were held in a large number of the
metropolitan churchts on Nronday (St. Andrew's Day), In
accordance with notices issued by the Archbishop of Can-
terbury, in connection with the Intercession for Foreign
. .

Siissions.
Scarlet fever was not so fatal in London last week
It had been during the previous seven days
The "American Health Association" has been hold-
tii4 its annual session in Philadelphia, and it. proceedings
attract much attention. Essays upon medical subjects, read
by prominent physicians, constitute the proceedings.
There have been in Paris 19,520 marriages during
the year. fwo of these were between nephews and aunts,
and 28 between uncles and nieces (this Is allowed in PIMLICO :
103 widowers have married their deceased wife's sister.
There was a gathering in Hyde-park on Sunday
afternoon, the object of which was to ask the Government
for the release of the Fenian convicta still in penal Pervitude,
and to solicit the aid of the Irish residents in the metro-
polis for the support of the wives and families ot. the

- r -
prisoners. -
The Council of the Birmingham Cattle Show met
on Saturday, and resolved to invite the Royal Agricultural
Society to hold in that town the next meeting, for which it
hes not yet made auy engagement.
A very severe earthquake shock has been felt
throughout Chili. Great alarm prevailed at V alparaim and
Santiago, arid hundreds of families sat up during the re-
mainder of the night in order to he prepared for any fresh
shock that might occur.
Dr. 13oyd, preaching, on Sunday, on behalf of the
hosp.tals at Exeter, calculated that the loss to the work.
people engaged in the woollen manufactures, the cotton
trade, and the bricklaying trade alone by Idiellouday,"
amounted to £7,300,000 per annum.
The list of deaths in The Times of Tuesday (the Ist)
shows the effects of the late severe weather upon aged per-
sons. The list includes twenty-six persons seventy years of
age and upwards. Seven of these were aged eighty and up-
wards, one was ninety, one ninety-ore, and one, Mrs. Jane
Brown Made; of Cathkin Rouse, Lanarkshire was 100 years
of age.
The American papers publish long accounts of the
ascent by a party, including three AMerican ladies, of Mount
Popocatapetl, in Mexico. The summit of the mountain is
10,009 feet above the level of the sea The party canjped
out three nights, two on the upward and one on tire return
journey. A ball uati given in honour of the ladies at the
village of Amena-Meca at the foot of the mountain.
According to the revenue returns the Exchequer
receipts between the Ist of April and Saturday last amounted
to £45,771,0413, an increase of £194 upon the sum hi the
corresponding period of last year. The expenditure has
been 4.40,696,913, and the balance in the Bank of England on
Sstt]rday last exceeded two millions and three-quarters
•.

At the elope of the year 1873 the population of
Victoria was estimated at 790,492 of New South Wales.
500.276 ; South Australia, 198,24 ; Queensland, 146,860;
Tasmania, 104,217 ; Western Australia, 25,781 ; making a
total of 1,625,692 for the Australian Colonies. Adding
310,437 for New Zealand, we have 2,136,129, the population
of the Australian Colonies. In 1861 they had but 1,266,432 w
all
Since the recent explosion on the Regent'e Canal the
attention of the authorities has been directed to the Ming:era
arising from the use of benzoline in the various dockyards.
An order has accordingly been received at Chatham directing
that in future the employment of bentonite is to be discon-
tinued, and petroleum used lofts place, for the preservation
of flags and busting.
In Kensington gardens, London, near the bridge
over the Serpentine, is a horse-chestnut troe nearly bare of
leaves, but with several clusters of flowers in f ell bloom
cropping up among its naked branches. It is no uncommon
thing to see a second outbreak of apple and labor DIM blos-
soms ig autumn, but a horse-chestnut tree in flower in
November is probably pistol ten seen —Gardener'e Magazine.
Mr. Justice Denman' in addressing the grand jury
at Leeds Amines, referred to the prevalence of crimes of vio-
lence, and expressed himself in favour of longer ti m. of
imprisonment rather than the alternative of flogging for
such offences.
--• • •

In London, on Monday evening, a number of cattle
wera being driven through Clerkenwell, when a bull became
enraged in Tysoc-street.
d attache,!name of Wood, were so seriously injured that they had
little girl, named I'eabody,
to be taken to a surgery. A police-constable ran to the
and
edui, pedestrians.ot the
asaiatance of the people
ni a t
o were being attacked, and wail
knocked down by the animal. lie was junked up insensible,
and conveyed to the K ing•-eross-roail police-station. His
A correspondent gives the following method of
diluyrfieors.weuiree
titinaf seo. serious a nature that he will be unfit for
purifyieg water A small teaspoonful of Poe dined alum
in a pailful of water (four guile.). und stirred round at the
time, will pereipitate miry impurity anal throw it down to the
bottom, and make it equal to spring water."
It is stated that the hurricane which recently passed
over Jamacia did more homage than any which has visited
the bland for more than forty years. liege forest trees were
torn up, and much growing produce destroyed. Many houses
were blown down, and roads washed away.
The Manx Legislature has thrown out a Lill which
proposed to so change the existing law as to permit intoxi-
cating drinks to be sold at railway refreshment rooms on
Sundays, within limited hours, to bond fide travellers... The
bill had caused great excitement throughout the island, and
petitions signed by shunt 7,000 persona were presented
against lb
A telegram from New York announces the arrival
of the King of !Jewell at San Francisco. and his reception
there with royal and military honours. His Majesty was to
leave for Washington on a visit to the Presideut
"A sanguine financial writer says that he reckons
the Chancellor of the Exchequer will have a surplus fa four
millions when he makea his statement if the flourish-lug con-
dition of the country's exchequer goes on at its present rate,
Let the world begin, therefore, to any what it wants of Sir
Stafford emir, Journal
Lean Stanley preached on Sunday afternoon at a
special mission service r. Westminster Abbey on the subject
of Christian fraternity, and in doing so urged all engaged in
the teaching of the Gospel to treat those they taught, and
their fellow labourers WO at home and abroad as brothers.
In the evening the Rev. Dr. ('air,!, Principal of (Bedew
University, delivered an address on nitainolls.
Agricultural prospects (says the Magnet) continue on
the whole decidedly favourable. Autumn sowing is oh-
usually advanced, and so far everything augura well for
future results. From the Continent the accounts au'e egad
about all that could he desired
Private letters from America announce that the
proprietors of the Great Eastern are en imaged in discussing
most extraordinary prop ml The great ship, le is said, is
to be anchored in Philadelphia Harbour deem( the Cen-
tennial Exhibition, and to be made a great floating hotel,
where 5,000 persyns can be comfortably accananotiated.
Nature.
As Mr. N. flamer, tipstaff to Lord Chief Baron Kelly,
was proceeding to his usual duties on Monday he was taken
suddenly 111, and on arriving at the Court of Exchequer he
was conveyed to Westminster Hospital, where he died-three
hours after his admission. The cause of death was up coy.
Ile was about 70 years of age, and had huld the Olt tel
tips! all to the Court of Exchequer for many years.
The Paris Figaro says that the magnificent red
velvet mantle of the Empress of Russia is lined with 228
sable skins, each worth £l5, the whole being valued at
nearly £.l 000. The Emperor has a cloak if blue folskin
worth £l,eoo, and some time since made a present to the
Ilarchiunese of Caux eta mantle worth 7,0,00 W. (42,000).
An avalanche fell, a few days ago, at Queiff4
village of Outrechalee (Savyland boded a dwelling-
with all the oecumuita under fifty feet of snow. After
mass timl been cleared away two women were found deod,
one lacing the sister of the proprietor, anal the other his
wife. holding her latest born child lifeless In her aerial. A
boy of ten years old was lying dead between his aunt anal
mother,
It was resolved in Glasgow on Monday to establish
an hospital for inenrable, in Glasgow and another in Edina
burgh, the one being for the west and the other for the east
of Scotland, each to be managed lay a local committee, who
are, however, to co-operate for the establishment of a na-
tional association for fouudi ng local hospitals for incurables
in other districts of Scotland. From the subscriptions
already obtained, and the tone of the meeting, there wil
apparently be plenty of funds. The Lord Provost presided,
and the speakers were Dr. Cameron, M.P., Sir James
Watson, Sir Peter Coats, and Mr. John Burns,
The Golden-lane (London) Mission to Costermongers,
of e hid i the Earl of Shaltsbury Is president, hes amougst its
branches a each and burial club. A costermonger, who we.
a member of this club, on Sunday received a public funeral
so far as his Mau were concerned. The cortege consisted of
• four-horse hearse, three mourning coaches, eta,' several
other vehieles. At the head of the procession was borne the
costermongere banner of blue and crimson, decorated with
allegorical palatine, and there were several-other banners
with appropriate devices. About aoo eosternmegers marched
in processioe, headed by the manager anal hon. FCC of the
society. The members of the society wore scarves. A band
payed time Dead March in "Saul." The body was Interred in
the Ilford Cemetery, and a funeral monition sins afterwards
delivered by 51r umlaut in the Geldenaane, Mission Hall.
A telescope of innuendo proportions has been far
some time p.t in course of manufacture at the Paris Obser-
vatory, It was commenced In 11585 by M. Leon Foueamilt,
bet the death of that Event, mid the events of 1170 and 17.71
interrupted the work Tie power of the new itadrunment
will exceed those of the Camel aridge and Herschell telescope',
hitherto the largest known its length will .19 feet, and' its
diameter 0 feet ti inches, while the dimensions of Hersdhell
were only 40 feet by 6 feet. The min-or will hoof glass, Out
the surface will be faced with gold or silver the production
of sueh a refleetor is a n 'irk of time awl patience, and. M.
Wolf is as yet unable to ilx the day when it will be taunt-
nated
The Electoral Eefoini A -aomietiou ennanittee hai
vanish, d their li,iollll for declining to adopt the resohm-
Goes passed at the noisy enderence and public meeting
held in Inaden on the 17th ult. The committee say that,
Minuets their supporters were in a minority, they eannot
recognise the autherity of as hostile majority, wbo,e iesolu-
Dons were based upon a misunderstanding sate the terms
upon which the conference was invited, amh which was
obtained fay the support of several nevem. eh.. were 11”-
wed wittaoamt helmi anened et all

The Director of the Royal Gallery Uffizi, at
Florence, has just publithed a curious a ork on Michael
Angelo, founded on hew documents. This work is published
I on the occasion of the 400th anuiveriary of the great artist,
Which will be on the 10th March next. A number of docu-
ments, formerly in the possession of the ilinmailistti family.
have been placed at the disposal of the publisher. These
Monsist of 700 letters in Michael Augelo's nen hand, iting,
1,400 others from the mat celebrat. d artists of hit time,
and others coming from Popes, Princes, or private pertoot.
and payola relating to all the contracts in connection sills
his paintinga. liaarina small ek.trini. I r.,in Ic. awn hand
Mr. George M w, Benthall H,ll, Broseley, makes
the following suggestion in the Gard-ners Chronicle :—The
absence of fresh vegetal+ s (green food) in high latitudes
&wins long voyages has ofk n been the cause of scurvy and
scor, utic diseases. Nloy l suggest a very simple remedy!
A few hundredweight of mustard and cress seed would afford
the means of providing the Polar expedition with an unfail-
ing crop of ,roen salad Green mustard, an effective. anti-
scorbutic, maid be raised on board ship without a particle of
sou by thinly twinkling the teed on a piece of wet flannel of
on the aldlICO of a layer of moist iabei,