The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-07-31 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

COMMENTS ON CURRENT TOPICS. 1

CABINET-MAKING is the 'chief topic of the
hour, and much contention has occured as to
the filling up of some of the more important
posts. The Irish Chief-Secretaryship—a
most unthankful and laborious office under
eN.istent circumstances—has 'caused much -
trouble, and so have some of the other ap-
pointments. Many of the Conservative
party wished to see a large infusion of new
blood into. the Cabinet, and others favoured'
the retention of older hands as the colleagues
of the First Lord. At the Carlton Club
meeting the Marquis of ;Salisbury regret-
fully announced that Lord Hartington had
declined to enter office with the Conserva-
tives, but it wits understood that an arrange-
ment had been,, come to between the Liberal
dissentients and the new Premier's followers,
, whereby Lord HartingtOn and those who are
with him agree, with reservations, not to
oppbse an indicated policy. As Punch puts
it,' the Marquis of Hartington having ridden
with Lord Salisbury to , the cross-roads
where Liberalism and Conservatism inter-
sect each other, now -gets down from the
trap, leaving the lord of Hatfield to proceed
along his party journey alone. By the time
these lines are read, the Cabinet positions
will have been determined, so speculations
and anticipations are futile.

Tut] Standard correspondent's eirctun-
stantial account of the narrative of Wassif
Bey, an old sojourner in the Soudan, respect-
ing the alleged destructionrof lihartouni,
has a pctinful interest, though it remains to
be seen whether the statements will have
full corroboration. Wassif, who has travell( d
from Omdurman in dervish's disguise, re-
ports that the desert city has been razed to
the ground, with the exception of a few,
houses built on the banks of the Nile Ly
Europeans. If the report is accurate, poor
, Gordon's life .was indeed spent for naught.

KING MOB is a power in Holland as els( -
where, as the terrible rioting in Amsterdam
this week shows. Deaause the authorities
interposed to prohibit an improper though
popular spectacle, a scene of wild disorder
ensued, and many lives, variously stated
from 10 to 25 and evenhigher,werelost, while
upwards of 100 persons were badly wounded.,
In such outbreaks as this there is generally
sorse blame to be attached to the authorities,
for it is very dangerous to violently interfe e
with an excited crowd. Not long ago, at
Cardiff, we had an analogous, though,
happily, not so serious, encounter; arising
from a different cause; and the Tiree
Crofters have been on the verge of war with
the authorities this week. Firmness and
control of temper under temptation are.
what is reqrdsite in these disturbances on
the part of police and military, and then
disgraceful disorder will speedily be reduced
to quietude, and serious consequence
I 'everted.

,
THE latest intelligence receeived at St.
John's, Newfoundland, from Labiadm-,
gives the number of Indians and. EsquillnliX
who have perished from cold and huno.(ie at
the appalling total: of 3500. The surretings
of these poor people through the failure of
the fisheries have been heartrending., The
scattered popalation.of Labrador, and the
remote Newfoundland coast district, depend
ontirely upon the fish, they catch tor susten-
ance, eking out a frugal life by agricultmal
effort. The fish season has been a blank,
and -exceptional cold has killed the el•oi s.
S'd intense was the winter region that no
were astir, and the quest for them would
have meant freezing'to death for the fislver--:
Now, isolated from the world, they have di d
fi7am sheer starvation—a terrible fate. When
all the details of this awful calamity cone
to hand we shall, indeed, have a moving'
story. . ,

TH KEE-QUARTERS of amillion of money have
been spent on a new floating leviathan of ot r
navy, the Imperieuse, with the intent of
making the vessel the Channel Fleet Ad-
miral's flagship, but, by some miscaleala Hoe,
the gigantic marine magazine and batter
at one ha been so constructed as to be
anavailatle or that purpose. -rhe gift. t
,ship was to draw twenty-five feet , of water,
but she does this without her 1400 tens of
stores already, and this ballasting would
sink- her forty inches farther in the water.
Xs she lies empty in dock, her torpedo ports
ire only eighteen inches above the' water-
line, so that it is evident the unweildly
vessel is a splendid failpire. The British
taxpayer will settle the bill for this mighty
ship that cannot sail.

THAT was a fearful earthquake in New
Zealand; of which details have come to
hand this week. Brief telegraphic accounts
of the eruption were published at the time
of its occurrence; but the many who have
wandered through the New, Zealand Conrts
of the Colonial Exhibition can hardly have
realised that such awful convulsions have
Occurred in the beautiful spot from which
all the products which have so delighted
them were brought. For sixty miles the
entire aspect of a fertile and lovely land has
undergone a desolating and disastrous change
and beauty spots have been swept away by
torrents of heated mud and a rain of volcanic
fire. Some day we may know the causes cf,
and so be able to guard against such appal-
ling upheavals of '''Nature as this; but to-day
we are e:Ltirely in the dark as to the w• ole
errible matter.

THE sad death of the three children in a
tent in a Kentish fruit garden a few days
back should arouse sufficient feeling to effect
a, needful refornt- 'More is no provision in
most cases for the safety of the hundreds of
families who camp out in the south during
the fruit picking season, and no proper over-
sight. In numerous instarces fires are not
permitted on the estate; in others, no regu-
lations whatever obtain. The consequence
is that fires are kindled indiscriminately on
commons and wayside wastes, where there
is much parched vegetation of a highly in-
flammable nature, and every year one hears
'of some deplorable fatality. In connection
with all the great fruit estates the law
should insist upon proper provision being
made for the secure housing and superintend-
ence of the families who quit the big towns
for .the picking. Mr. George Smith of Coal-
yille, and others, ha' • ;aterested themselves
in the matter, hut iiiaeh that ought to be
, done lemains undone at present.

St, Jacobs Oil will cure
All ills that we endure ;
Its plwer is great and sore.
Ft Jacobs Oil is sold by Chemists at 2s. 6d. a bottle,
,r by pet 2s. 9d.. from the rharles A, Vogeler Corn-
any, sole Prol rietors. 45. Farringdon load. Londo.i.

THROAT 151ITATTON A'D COCGH.—FOreIIeSS and dry
ness, tickling and irritation, inducing c,ugh and affect-
ing the voice. For thee symptoms use Epps's Glycer-
ine Jujubes. In contact with the glands at the
moment they are excit,d by the act of sucking the
Gly•erine in those acreeable confections becomes
actively healing. Sold only in boxes. 7d . tins Is lid,
labeled JAN 1S EPPS &Co • l-lomoeopothic Chemists,
ondon." Dr George Moore in his work on —Nose
and :111.00 liseases," sass fhe Glycerine Jujubes
epa d by James Epps and Co ,are of undoubted
service as a curative or pal iative agent," while Pr.
Gordon Homes. Senior Physeian to the Illuniciptl
Throat end Ear Intirontri., : "After an exteno,. d
trial, I have found your Glyr,,rine ujube ,of conside
, able benefit in ,ltnost all fo.rus f threat disease.'
.Epps's 51edico:es may be 11.Ld at 6tne!:
Steurbridp.