The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-06-08 00:00:00

Nistellancous I{ntrlligelTte,

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL,

WAR AND BF:VOLT:7ION. --The Corr/Tice de
France states that some results 'relating to Paris from
the recent census have become known. The diminu-
tion of the reehlent population 4,f the capital within
the last six years is estimated at 400,C00. The number
of vacant apartments exceeds 40,000. Rents have
fallen in a proportion which ranges from one-eighth to
one-fourth, arid for the superior apartments of 4,000 f.
and upwards the decline is equal to one third. The
depreciation in the value of land and house property is
estimated at 20 per cent.
A PERFECT PARADISE.—OIIr friend Borrowby,
who is always le-s or mire out at elbows, is deeply in-
terested in a new wok on " The Great Loan Livid,"
and has seri. ois thoughts of emigrating to so desirable
a country, if he can raise the meats—Pooch.
EDINBURGH ANNUITY TAX —A Parliamentary
return states that since the Annuity fax Abolition Act
was passed in 1060 arrears amounting to £5,010 have
been recovered, and £Ol6 for expenses. The retrain
gives the following account of the application of the
money :—The collectors got £1,005, the law agents,
£2,600, the accountant £275, and only £1,450 found its
way to the city clergy. After writing about £B,OOO,
in consequence of debtors pleading poverty or from
other causes, there still remain £1,927 arrears unre
covered ; there is also £l2O due to the law agent since
he last made out his bill.
ITHE LATE DUKE OF BEDFORD.--" 011 e who
knows, but will not be known," sends the following to
The Times :
Raving read with interest your notice of the late Duke of
Bedford. may I leT to sad a few words as to the many good
works by which he deserves to be remembered in Bedtord
shire I The Duke t.ook a One and coal iaereat ill the ealueA
tion f the poor, building and supporting schools of the best
tyve, and lib rally assisting those already existing. He con-
tinued the erection of ,ott.mes, let at the lowest rents, and
contrasting in all directions wit the miserable yet more
highly-rented tenements of small proprietors. Ile was •
munificent restorer of churches, and assisted liberally lu the
erection and the repair .4 pirsonages, while requests for
help hi all descriptions of charitable efforts were always
liberally niet by him. In days when the estimate of a pro-
minent nobleman depends greatly on his public usefulness,
works .1 this kind may well receive a thankful recognition.
GENERAL DLUSERET SPEAKING HIS MIND.—
The New York Sun says that General Cluseret has
broken the sties ce which he has maintained ever since
the fall of the Commune, to reply to accusations of
venality put forth against him by Admiral Saisset.
'these accusations he declares to be purely caluninious.
"I leave to those," says Cluseret, "who have known
and who know my profmind contempt for riches, who
have known and know the poverty in which I live and
find pleasure, the care of answering for me. When a
man sacrifices to his convictions his career, fortune.
country, liberty, life, even his affections—in a word, all
that attaches man to this world—it is not with money
that he can be paid. The heart alone inspires such de-
votion ; the heart alone can pay it."
A SMART "Huss ! "—A letter written from
Francisco in December says, "I went to see a great
trotting feat, when a little chestnut mare trotted
twenty miles in 19i minutes—they say it is a thing
that only four horsc a had ever done before she trotted
I the last mile in less time than the first ;the driver hail

-- - -
ASPARAGUS AS A MEDICAL AGENT.— The
Gardener's Magazine says :
A medical correspondent, on whose statement we can most
implicitly rely (observes the York Courant) informs us that
the advantages of this plant are not sufficiently estimated by
those who suffer from rheumatism and gout. Slight cases
of rhematism are cured in slew days by feeding on this de-
licious esculent and more chronic cases are much relieved,
especially if the patient carefully avoids all scale, whether
in food or beverage. The Jerusalem artichoke had also a
similar effect in relieving rhematbir The heads may be
eaten in the usual way, but tea made from the leaves of the
stalks, and drunk hree or bed. times a day, is a vellum re.
medy, though not equally agree& de.
ATIEMPT TO SOLVE A DIFFICULTY.—At the
, Cardiff police-court on Saturday, a youth named John
Cody, about eighteen years of age, was charged
with having wilfully set tire to All Saints' Church,
Cardiff. This is the church in respeet of the sale
of which to the Malan Catholics a debate Wax held
in the House of Commons the other day, the bill
authorizing the sale being rejected by a small ma-
jority. It is said that the prisoner is a Roman
Catholic. A paper containing an acco-nt of the rejec-
tion of All Saint's Church Bill was discovered upon

111; when apprehended. From the evidence it 'ap-
peared that about half-past 10 on Ft iday night a police.
mm discovered the prisoner within the church railings,
a crowd of young men, numbering 15 or 16, being out-
side. The officer gave chase to the prisoner and
captured bin while trying to climb on to the vestty.
In his pocket were a candle and matches, in addition
to the paper above referred to. On examining the
church it was found that an attempt had been made to
set tire to the door by inserting alighted candle in the
keyhole. The prisoner was remanded. At the vari-
ous Catholic chapels of Cardiff on Sunday the act of
the prisoner was strongly reprobated, anti a large
meeting f Catholics was held on Sunday evening,
when resolutions condemnatory of it were unanimously
passed.
SWEETMFAIR FOR SCROOLS.—Some little while
ago schoolboys were very generally affecvd with a
mania for uollezting used postage-stamps. Should the
American notion of flavouring the adhesive matter of
postage-stamps be adopted by our own Postmaster.
General, that mania will recur, with redoubled
violence, among those unfastidious little wretches.—
Punch.

-
AIBBING IN EDINBTIRGH.—On Sunday even-
ing three ladies from America left the Royal Hotel.
Edinburgh, about eight o'clock, to see Holyrood
Palace. They went on foot without escort, and re
turned by the Canongate and High-street. Here thcir
hesitation as to the route, their fashionable attire, and
the lateness of the hour, it being nearly nine o'clock,
attracted the notice of some idlers who followed them
up the street. At the North Bridge the listeners to a
street preacher joined the crowd, making ups consider-
able mob. No noise was made or violence offered, and
two policemen escmted the ladies till a cab could be
procured; the ladies were then driven to their hotel,
but the crowd hung about for some time. On Monday
the two senior magistrates, after causing a strict in-
vestigation to be made, called at the hotel and found
that two of the ladies had left town, but that they
were satisfied the mob bad been attracted by their un-
usual appearance in the locality at so late an hour, and
that no Insult was intended

THE VACCINATION AcTs. —ln London, on
Monday night, a pubbc meeting was held at St.
George's-hall, Langham-place, under the auspices of
the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League, "to expose
the fallacies of vaccination, its failures and dangers,
and to petition Parliament for the repeal of the Com-
pulsory Vaccination Acts under which parents are
repeatedly sent to prison." The chair was occupiedby
Mr. Bath (a member of the Common Council). Dr.
Pearse moved the following resolution
"That the experience of 70 years, and the evidence before
a Parliamentary Committee, have proved that vaccination is
a delusion ; that the operation itself has not unfrequently
teen attended with death, and that with the virus has been
introduced into the system the most loathsome and
hereditary diseases."
_ .

Dr. Sexton seconded the resolution, and it was carried.
The next resolution was to the effect that the Com-
pulsory Vaccination Acts, under which men and women
are fined and imprisoned, are inconsistent with the
constitution of England, and in the opinion of the
meeting ought to be repealed.
A PAINFUL ImeasssioN.—The feelings of a
boy, going to school for the first time, who reads that
a Master is wanted for " Blackrod Grammar School,"
and finds that the advertisement refers to the Academy
of which be is about to become a pupil, may be
imagined but cannot be described. —Punch.
" INCIDENTS " IN THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY.—

- --
In spite of the gaiety of Paris, the dullness of Ver-
sailles, and the dryness inherent in the subject of the
Army Bill which is being debated there, the attention
of the public for the last few days has been more than
usually centred on the Provisional seat of the Pro-
visional Government, and the members of the Assembly
have contrived to impart an unusual interest and piqu-
ancy to their debates (writes the Paris correspondent of
The Tisaea). In the first place, we have had a set les of
in and "Mcidehts " are always animated

episodes. There was the "incident Changarnier-Den-
fert," which has happily terminated without blood-
shed; and there were also the "incident Gambetta-du-
Temple" and the "incident Paris-Dufaure." The
former arose out of a speech in whitffi General du
Temple, who commanded under Chanzy in the battles
near Beaugency, accused the advocates of war .1 out-
ranee of never exposing themselves, but of thinking it
safer, instead of leading armies, to push them on from
behind, and he especially instanced a visit which
Gambetta paid to the army when it was fighting before
Marchenoir, and the care with which he avoided pro.
ceeffing to the front. In answer G arnbetta roared out
that the General was only fit for a lunatic asylum. I
am afraid the young Dictator has not of late la-en in-
spiring confidence among his followers. I know one
who, after hearing his volcanic eruption in answer to
Rouher, has determined to abandon him as being an
unsafe guide, and there can be no doubt that frenzy
fits on the part of a Parliamentary leader are apt to
produce a discouraging rd demoralising effect on his
party. . . The "incident Paria.Dufaure" was
n 1161114 in its way. A certain M. Andrieux, the Pro.
cureur of the Republic at Lyons, is charged with
having said during trial at that place, "I am accused
of being a Socialist. Well, I am a Socialist. I sin
amused of being a Materialist Well, I ass a Material-
ist, and I said so at the Congress of Naples." M.
Paris wanted to know what the Minister of Justice
intended to do with this unbelieving officer of the law, be-
carve, he said, "there can be no morality without God."
"Yes, there can," from the Left; "No, no," from the
Right; " Oui, our," from the Left, with indignant
Protestations against the unwarrantable assertion,
which M. Paris repeated, that morality and the Deity
were inseparable. M. Dufaure declined to enter upon
this part of the question, which had produced the
usualseriesof "agitations," "protestations,' "remenrs,"
and "ntourem.ena prolonges," and simply said that he
could give no answer till he knew whether M. An.
drieux had ever said what was reported of him (and
which, it is said. ha

The Levant Times sap that Serkis Bey, the Sultan's
architect, he been roised to the rank of bale, a high grade
held by very few Christian fune..ionaries.

Mr. Spurgeon, it is said, is quite willing, if asked, to
stand for Lambeth, and to go to for Parliamentary We, like
hilalL

The brushmakers of Sheffield have, through their
union, demanded a considerable increase of pay, shich the
employers have granted without opposition.

Mr. Y. Macdonald, of the firm of Young and
Maccloneld, millowners, Dundee, was hided on Monday by
his gun unexpectedly going old. Ile had been out shooting
wild fowlucarhia residence on the beach.

"The Prince of Wales backed the Duke of Hamil-
tou's horse for the Fret ich Derby. Ilia bet for SOO louts was
with
.the Duke d'Atunfle, and now enridles the Duke by that

sum .'—Court Journal.

The Etonians, on Tuesday celebrated, in the cus-
tomary manner, the birthday oi George In. The delivery
. ,

of 6,"ech,s in the Upper SChool wa;followed by the prj-
cession of boats, and the festivities closed with a display of
fireworks.

The returns of the emigration officers show that dur-
ing the past month no fewerthan 3 ',Odd persons Nailed from
the Menvy to various parts of the world, but chiefly to the
United States. This is an b.erease of 4,754 as compared with
the same month last year.

Advices from Munich state that the Emperot
Napo!eon, on the recommendation of his medical advisers,
proposes to pass the month of July at Kr,mkenhiel. in
Bavaria, should the Bavarian Government rot raise any ob-
jection. An application is rein ,rted to have already been
made to King Louis upon the subject. _

- -
On Monday night the experiment of &playing a
light on the clock tower of the New Palace at Westminster
was tried for the Mat time. It was purely experimental,
and so far appeared to be successful. From the Athenteum
Club it appeared likes hybrid between a comet and a moon.
A dealer in old books in London occasions a good
deal of amusement to those who inspect his stock by the
curios la`mls which he attaches to different works. What,
for lustauce, would Dr. Johnson say to the following ?
• lundun, and how to see hit ;" and another labelled " Laves
of they Polyts—price 'art a crown."

.._„
The steamer Northumberland, belonging to Messrs.
Money wiginm and Sons, which left Melbourne on the 28th
March, for England, via the Cspe of Good Hope, arrived off
St. Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight, on the let inst., after a
splendid passage of 84 days. She brings 89,500 ounces of
gold.
Statistics have been compiled from which it appears
SW during the first four mouths of 1b72 the amount of money
sought to be raised for new loans, bal,kg, and industrial
undertakings brought out in England, America, and on the
continent was about £180,000,000.
St. V ncent, Cape Veld Islands, cannot be a very
captivating lace, I the description given of it by a traveller
be true. He says it is "a great brown eindor, without
vegetation, without society, w ithoot comfort, containing no.
thing but a lot of sharks and nigger., under the special
protection et 01 Nick."
To express his dissatisfaction at the denouement of a
play which had been acted in a Russian mine-owners private
theatre, where the heroine in his opinion had been married
to the wrong poison, the mine owner stopped the perform-
ance. sent for the village priest, and forced the hero and
heroine tube actually joined together in matrimony'
- - - .....

. -
A drumming match between Major William Nevem,
of Chicago, 111., and Mr J. W. Watts, en Drum Major of the
11th U.S. Infantry, for Biel' S. Championship and 5 Odollare,
came oil at Burlington Ball, Chicago, three weeks since,
before au audience of about WO. Major Sevens van declared
the victor by Si toll points.

Eight mills closed on Saturday in Belfast; they em-
ployed 12,000 workers, and contained 183,000 spindles. There
ha gross total of 470,000 spindles In Belfast. About 11 mills,
representing about 200,000 spindles, will close dull, g the
Premut week should lio arrangement between the null-
owners and the workei 6 be come to, and then fully tab.-thirds
of all the mills in Belfast will he closed. In the week follow-
ing there will be only live mills employed out of a total of
Some further particulars of the fearful cyclone at
Madras are published in the Indian papers, which show that
the first reports were by 1,0 means exaggerated. Thirteen
European mid six Dative sailors lost their lives. At %Wore,
about 80 miles from Madras, much damage was also done by
floods, as already announced by telegraph. The total loss of
life had not been ascertained but the Madras Atheassula
says it was not so great as at first reported.
Sir Francis Goldsmid has sent Mrs. William Grey
the munificent donation of £lOO for the National Union for
Improving the Education of Women. Mrs Grey wished to
make over some portiou of this sum to her Camden-town
Schools Fund, to which Lady Goldsmid had at the same
time seat £2.5 ; but Sir Francis refused, on the ground that,
given in one sitm, it might induce others to Subscribe the
same amount.

--- -----
Last week the mortality in London and 20 other
large towns was at the rate of 21 deaths annually to every
1,000 persons estimated to be living. In the metropolis
2,234 births and 1,936 deaths were registered, the former
having been 9 and the latter 72 below the average. Thirty-
seven persons died from small-pox, 59 from measles, 18 from
scarlet fever, 10 from diphtheria, 72 from whooping-cough.
28 from different forma of fever (of which 3 wire certified as
typhus, 13 as enteric or typhoid, and 12 as simple continued
fever), and 15 from diarrloca. Small-pox showed a decline.
while the mortality from measles, diphtheria, fever, and
diarrhma showed an increase.
On last Saturday afternoon an incident occurred in
Hyde Park which caused no little excitement and anxiety.
Ills Royal highness the Duke of Edinburgh was riding in the
Row, when his horse became fractious, and at length suc-
ceeded in throwing the duke. His Royal highness, how-
ever, was quite uninjured, and almost immediately re-
minuted his horse, which had broken away from him, and
resumed his ride.
Orders of Her Majesty in Council are published in
the Gazette of the 3151 of May, 1872, sanctioning by-laws for
the compulsory attendance of children at school, made with
the approval of the Education Department, under the 74th
section of the Elemeatary Education Act, 1870, by the School
Bards of Ashchurch (Gloucester), Llarirwst (Denbighshire),
Ilanslope (Buckinghamshire) Norwich. Dolgelly, illerioneth-
shire), Potter Heigham ,Norfolk), and Llaullyiin (Carnaryone
hire).

The Committee of the Persiars Famine Fund met
at the Mansion-hmse. London, on Tuesday aLernoon, when
It was announced that the total subscriptions amounted to
£18,500, of which ..15,600 had been tramanitted to the
sufferers. To this the available balanct was now added. Tele-
grams received from Persia state that there is a prospect of a
good harvest, -ind the Committee hope to close their labours
about the end of July.

A numerously attended meeting of the Christian
Knowledge Society was held in London, on Tuesday after
noon to consider the expediency of granting £5.000 for the
benefit of the Irish Church. The "previous question" WAR,
however, strongly supported on the ground that there wan
a reason for delay in the uncertainty 0 specting some of the
doctrines of the Irish Church, and after a long and animated
discumion, the proposition was shelved by a majority of 90
to 643.

The Duke of Edingburgh arrived in Kingstown
harbour on Tuesday morning. on hoard the steamer Galatea,
and was welcomed by the Lord Lieutenant. The Town Com-
missioners lif Kingstewn presented an address, in reply to
which his It. iyal Highness expressed his appreciation of the
manner in which he hail been received. A special train con-
veyed the party to Westland row Station, where the Lord
Mayor a-at Corporation of Dublin were in waiting, after
which the Duke proceeded to the Viceregal Lodgm
We regret to learn by a telegram from Trieste that
Mr. Charles Lever died there suddenly on Saturday afternoon
from disease of the heart Mr. Lever was 63 years of age,
having been born in 1809. Ile was, as is well known, an
Irishman by birth, though educated at Cambridge and
Gottingen. He was appointed by Lord Derby Vice. Consul at
Spezzia in 1858, and was transferred to Trieste in 1867.
Any person may take gold of not less than standard
fineness to the Mint, arid the Mint is bound to return for it
an equivalent in coin. Practically, however, the Bank of
England is the only "importer "of gold bullion, because the
owners of ingots can readily realise their value by selling
there to the bank, under the Bank Chatter Act of 1844, at
£.3 17s. 94. per ounce. The Mint authorities allow three-
half pence an ounce more than this, but then the delay in
coining, and the payment in sovereigns instead of in totes,
are sufficient usually to counterbalance the small advantage.
However, the Bulk of England makes a profit of about £3,000
in each million by this three-halfpence per °mice.
At H. Try, a few nights hack, a strange accident
took place during the performance at the theatre id the
opera La Juice. The horse ridden by the actor representing
the Emperor Sigismund, frightened by the music, shied and
threw its rider, without, however, causing him any serious
injury. The utmost confusion reigned upon the stage, the
sup-rs" rushing away in all directions, and even seeking
shelter in the boxes, while the musicians of the orchestra
sought safety in precipitate flight. Happily, no harm was
done, tee unruly animal was soon calmed, and the per-
formance continued without further incident.
Among the names of the gentlemen who passed the
recent examinations in Hindu and Sichomedan law and the
laws in force in British India, held by tire Council of Legal
Education in Lincoln's trio-hall for admission to the Bar, waa
that of Mohammed Wubiduddin, a prince of the Mysore
family. one of the most powerful and influential Mahernedan
families in India. Ile is stated to be the grandson of the
famous Tippoo Sultan.
A Committee of the French Assembly was elected on
Taesday to examine the Budget for next year. The Com-
mittee numbers 30 members, 23 of whom are Free Traders
and the rest Protectionists. M. Roulier, who was elected,
spoke against the taxation of raw materials, and H. Jule.
Favre, in expressing the same view, maintained that sun
taxation would be unproductive, and would alienate France
from foreign Powers.
The wheats are looking pretty well in Norfolk. On
some of the cold undraimil clays they look, perhaps, a little
sickly, but, upon the whole, the mpect of affairs Is by no
means unfavourable. On the warm lands the later sown
barleys are looking well and are of good colour, but on the
heavy soils and cold hinds the barley crop is weak and patchy.
The hay and root crops will be generally good this year in
Norfolk.
The Guardians of St. liarylebone have agreed to
continue the use of Australian meat in the workhouse. The
master, Mr. Douglas, had reported to the house committee
that the meat was good and its use economical, arid he re-
ci.mmended that it should be continued, even though many
of the inmates were prejudiced against it. Mr Northall
Laurie, a guardian, arid, as a Middlesex magietrate, chair-
man of the Ilanwell Lunatic Asylum, Informed the Guardians
at their last meeting that this meat was largely used at that
establishment and gr. Edmund Boulnols, the chairman of
the parish schools at Southall, stated that it was in use
there

A number of the tenants on the Tiehborne estates in
Hampshire have sent us (The Times' a letter, in which they
express a desire that there should be no misundentandiug
as to ik hat has occurred between them and the Claimant.
They say they "were Ilelighted to receive Sir Roger lids.
borne at Alresford on the 14th of May last," and that they
were “proud and happy to find he had responded to their
invitation to come among them again." They add that they
"were present on that inemorable OCCI9i.m to welcome him
hack after his unjust, unfair, Hall cruel incarceration of 52
days in Newgate gaol." [Then follows the [MMUS of the
tenants.]

On Saturday afternoon a demonstration of the
Trade Societies of Manchester was held in favour of the
repeal of the Criminal Law Amendment Act and the Nine •
Hoer. Bill. A procession, eoinprising 7,00, delegates from
different parts of the country, passed through the principal
streets, and in the evening held a mass meeting in the Great !
Hall, at the Pomona Gardens. There resolutions were passed
protesting against the need causes of the Criminal Law
Aniudnient Act, asi plicii g tie working classes in a worse
position affe,ting their liberties than did the old combination
Laws, pledging the working clauses not to rest satisfied until
the obnoxious clauses of that Act shall have lum uncondi-
tionally repealed, sympathising with the on, rworked children
and wr men in futori,a, and pledging the operative dames to
support Mr. Al undellals St hours Bill.
There wa.s sold at an auction in Patio last week a
worn yellow pie -e of coarse paper repreunting a paid bill,
signed " Molitre." The poet-comedian bad been with his
company to Saint Gernmin for the purpose of giving a few
select rep,s tAations in honour of the Sair.t Hubert or
great Inintsuian day. The bill litotes that the coat of living
for him and his actors doting live days amounted to the sum
of 440 francs. It bears the itate of the 11th November, 16 S.
At the same sale, there was sold an autograph fable of La
Fontaine, entitled L'Hultre et lea Plaideurs." Below are
the following W., di addressed by the poet to his friend
Maucroix I have three other fables on the stnclie. I
have been rewriting 'Le Gland' and La Cltroullle.'" This
wan knocked down for 163 franca.
On Monday the eldest daughter of his Excellency
Musurat Puha, the Turkish Ambassador at the Court of
St James's, waa married to Mr. Warner-Hulot, brother of
Lady Wentworth, at St. Paul is Church, FL nightsbridge. Most of
the leading members of the foreign diplomatic body were pre-
sent. and many of Her Majesty's Ministers, including Mr.
Gladstone, Mr. Lowe, and Mr. Goschen. The marriage ear
vice was pelf.mmed by the Bishop of Winchester. tiMit tt d In
the 11-n. and Rev Robert Limicil, Incumbent f St. Paula
At the conclusion o. the Church .4 England ceremonial the
bridal party adjourned to the Turkish lgmbauy in Bryan-
' ston square, where th.. marriage was solemnised accor•line
to the rites of the Greek Church by the Archimandrite Nor
dation tt, rphihrte 44 the Gruk Church, London.wall Afire
the we . ding breakfast the newly-wanted pair left the Em-
my fur Yertr,