The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-17 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Some riots between Irish Catholics and Orangemen
have occurred in Massachusets, and the police had to use
their pistols to restore order. Twenty persons were injured.

It is now stated that the disturbances in the Herze
govina, to which some political importance was at first
attached, are quite without gravity, and merely arise out of
the customary refusal of the people to pay their taxes.

On Monday night two children, aged respectively
five and three years, were burnt to death by a tire which
broke out in a house in York-road, Westminster. A portion
of one of the children was burnt to a cinder.

An English newspaper of the year 1709 describes the
attire of a fashionable lady of that day to consist of "a black
silk petticoat, with a red and white calico border; cherry-
coloured stays, trimmed with blue and silver ; a red and dove-
coloured damask gown, flowered with large trees; a yellow
satin apron, trimmed with white Persian; muslin head.
cloths, with crow-foot edging; a black silk furbelowed
scarf; and a spotted hood."

- The revisers of the authorised version of the New
Testament met on Monday at the Jerusalem Chamber.
Eighteen members were present, the Bishop of Gloucester
and Bristol being in the chair. The company carried on
their revision to the middle of the 4th chapter of the Ist
Epistle to the Corinthians.

A telegram from Pekin to the Journal de St. Peters-
bourg announces that the commission appointed to inquire
into the murder of Mr. Margary will not leave Pekin till
after the hot season is over.

In the extavations now being made at Fiesole, near
Florence, an ancient theatre has been brought to light, and
is not inferior, in its ample proportions, and the richness of
its decorations, to the similar monuments of Pompeii and
Sicily. .
From a Parliamentary paper just issued it appears
that the rate per annum for each cadet based on the average
number borne on the list, was in 1874-75 £3OB, and now £269.
The net cost of each cadet, inclusive of pay, (17c., is now £l3B

Judy's Special Punster says he carries out Aber-
nethy's advice—He lives on six puns a day, and earn's it.—
Judy.
It used to be believed that the earth's surface was
fiat. We know better now. So far from being fiat, it is
artful enough to get round the sun—Judy.
How to Turn a Riding Coat into a Walking One—
Hang it up in the passaze, taking particular care to leave
the street door open.—Judy.

A story is told that a gentleman lately, in making a
return of income to the tax commissioners, wrote on the
paper, "For the last three years my income has been some-
what under £l5O ; in future it will be more precarious, as the
man is dead of whom I borrowed the money.'
At a conference of miners held at Leeds on Tues-
day, under the presidency of Mr. Macdonald, M.P., it was
decided to form a national union, to be composed of the
existing local associations, each association to retain the
power to manage its own affairs. The President stated that
the object of the movement was to bind the men together in
such a way that their organization would command the res-
pect of the employers, and lead them to meet round the
same table and settle all disputes without strikes.

A man named Rieubernet was executeolon Tuesday
at Toulouse for robbery and murder at Aucanville. The in-
undations having delayed the execution, it was intended to
ask the Marshal on his visit to the town for the commit.
tation of his punishment. The very day, however, that the
request was to have been preferred he attempted to murder
one of the turnkeys, and the law was therefore allowed to
take its course.

Mr. Cunliffe Owen, the English Commissioner in
connection with the forthcoming International Exhibition at
Philadelphia, on Tuesday addressed a meeting of agricul-
tural implement makers at Taunton, and sought to obtain
a reversal of the recent resolution of British implement
makers not to exhibit in consequence of the high tariff levied
by the United States. The general opinion appeared to be
that it would not be to the advantage of the makers to neg-
lect their trade in other parts of the world for the sake of
pending to Philadelphia under existing circumstances.
A field of lava of 5,000 square miles has been dis-
covered in Southern Utah by the geologists of the Wheeler
expedition; also an area of 20,000 square miles in Arizona
and new Mexico. They surmise that volcanic eruptions have
occurred in the Western territories "so recently that it is
indeed surprising that there is no human record of them."
They also surmise that volcanic eruptions are liable to occur
at any time in the future.

During last week 5,503 births and 3,207 deaths were
registered in London and twenty other large towns of the
United Kingdom. The natural increase of population was
2,296. The mortality from all causes was attthe average rate
of 22 deaths annually in every 1,000 persons living. In
London 2,330 births and 1,400 deaths were registered, the
former having been 141 above, and the latter 6 below the
average numbers. The annual death-rate from all causes
was 21 out of every 1,000 persons living.
It is stated from Berlin that, at the suggestion of
several Powers interested, it is likely that the proposed Sc.
Petersburg Conference on the Usages of War will be post-
poned until next spring. Russia is now stated to have
abandoned all hope of England's taking part in the Con-
ference.

The National Congress of the Friendly Societies of
the kingdom, representing over 3,000,000 members, have
unanimously adopted a resolution, tendering their warmest
thanks to Mr. William Ilolms, M.P. for his attention
to the interests of these associations while the Government
Friendly Societies Bill was under discussion in the House of
Commons. The Conaress acknowledge that they have the
hon. member for Paisley to thank in a great measure for the
useful and practical portions of the Bill
The receipts on account of revenue from the Ist
April, 1875, when there was a balance of £6,265,322, on the
10th inst., were £19,532,596, against, £18,932,407 in the cor-
responding period of the preceding financial year, which
began with a balance of £7,442,854. The net expenditure
was £24,907,477, against £24,872,497 to the same date in the
previous year. The Treasury balances on the 10th inst.
amounted to £1,330,628, and at the same date in 1874 to
£1,494,719.

When were the good old times 7—Not the middle
ages certainly; they were medi-evil I—Judy.
- -

- -
A library, containing 30,000 volumes of foreign
works, has been established at Yedo by the Japanese Educe-
Xonal Department.
It is estimated that the damage done by the floods
In Normandy will amount to upwards of four millions of
fr,ncs.

On Monday, Mr. Stansfeld, M.P., presided over a
conference of Metropolitan Poor Law Guardians, at which
papers upon such subjects as Poor Law settlement and re.
moval, acid out-door relief, were read and discussed.

Mrs. Rohm, the "fat woman" of Barnum's show,
has died at Baltimore, aged 29. Her weight was 5831 b..
height 6 feet 4 inches, and the span round the waist 72 inches.

Every year 220,000 quires of carefully prepared
paper are consumed in the printing of Bank of England
notes.
The French papers state that the country between
Villefranche an& Macon is laid waste by the floods to the
extent of 40 kilometres, and that the wheat and wine crops
have in many instances been destroyed..
On Monday night a fire broke out at Inchiden
House, near Dumfries. the residence of Major Young. Before
the flames could be got under the premises were destroyed,
the damage being estimated at £lO,OOO.
A St. Petersburg telegram states that the investiga-
tion into the Russian Socialist conspiracy of last autumn has
been completed, and that 728 persons are to be brought to
trial.
The village of Los Palacio, in the Province of
Seville, Spain, has been destroyed by fire. As many as 140
houses were completely burned down. The inhabitants,
mostly agricultural labourers, are in the greatest destitution.
What beverage does a hen-pecked husband generally
partake of 2—Cream of Tartar i—Judy.
On Tuesday afternoon, his Highness the Sultan of
Zanzibar, attended by the whole of his suite, was present at
the Prince of Wales' garden party at Chiswick.
Replying to a deputation of the United Society of
Brushmakers, who complained of the competition of prison
labour in their trade, the Home Secretary said the matter
was under consideration.

The sugar season in Austria in 1874-5 has been one
of the worst known. From the month of August, 1874, to .
the end of February, 1875, only 928,453 tons of beet-root
were cultivated; while in 1872-3 the quantity was 1,668,000
otns.
The immunity from snake-bite enjoyed by Euro-
peans in India is largely attributable to their dress. A snake
in striking the trousered leg of a European mistakes the fold
of the cloth for the offending substance, and strikes accord.
ingly, while the man rarely gives the reptile an opportunity
of repeating the experiment.
Night Duty—Going to sleep.—Judy.
About 600 persons are expected to be present at the
banquet to municipal representatives at the Mansion-house,
in London, on the 29th inst. Invitations have been issued
to the municipal heads of eities in the principal towns of
Europe. Canada, and the United States, and to the mayors
and town clerks of municipalities in the United Kingdom
A telegram from Rangoon states that great distrust
prevails there in consequence of the attitude of the King of
Burmah. It appears that when Sir D. Forsyth was present,
the King appeared willing to concede all that was required-
but after Sir D. Forsyth left, the King wrote to Lord North-
brook refusing to British troops a passage through his terri-
tory.
It is estimated that 10,000,000 acres of land in
Algeria are covered with a spontaneous growth of the alpha
plant. The exportation of this fibre for papermakinghas in-
creased very rapidly during the past five or six years. In
1869 it amounted to 4,000 tons, hi 1870 it rose to 32,000 tons,
and in 1873 to 45,000 tons, while the past year's produce was
expected to reach 60,010 tons. The average price at Oran is
about 140 f. per ton.
A singular memento of the flood of 1740 exists. In
the National Library of Paris is a small duodecimo volume,
In a bad state, on the cover of which is a note which runs
thus :—" This book was found in 1740, at the time of the
great flood. The water was so high that it reached the
second floor on the Quai Saint-Bernard. This volume was
floating on the surface, and entered the window of the
apartment of the house Monengue." This attestation is signed
"Lenoble."
The buildings for the new aquarium in Westminster
are rapidly progressing. The dimensions of the aquarium
will be about 600 feet long by 240 feet in depth at the widest
part. The building will be two stories in height, and will
contain in the basement a central tank of salt and fresh
water, holding 600,000 gallons; this will be kept in constant
motion, and made to pass continually through a series of
smaller tanks, by the action of a steam engine destined to
work both day and night.
One of the five men accused before the Jury Court,
at Galatz, of participation in the outrage on Mr. and Mrs.
Dodshon near that city, has been found guilty and sen-
tenced to five years' imprisonment, the utmost punishment
the Roumanian law provides for the crime of robbery with
violence. The other four prisoners were acquitted.
A lionthyon prize is assigned to M. Malassez, for
researches on blood. He has contrived an instrument, said
to be superior to those previously used, for ascertaining the
number of red corpuscles in a given space. It consists of a
capillary tube, into which blood, and artificial serum are
introduced, and which is graduated so that the contents of
a given length are known. The mean number of red corpus-
cles in human blood is 4,000,000 in each cubic millemitre. A
greater number is found in small arteries than in large, and
In veins than in arteries, and most in veins that have lost
part of their serum by exosmose. They are fewer in cases of
cancer and tuberculose. Lead poisoning also lessens their
number