The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-05-28 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Prince Bismarck is said to be elaborating a bill in-
tended to forbid the private manufacture of dynamite and
other explosive materials.
Mr. Stuart Wortley and Mr. Dodds have under-
taken to bring a Bill into the House of Commons to amend
the Fresh Water Fisheries Act of 1878, with a view to legal-
ise rod fishing in close time.

Under the head of "Conscience Money," the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer acknowledges (in The Tins) the
receipt of £6O from " A.8.C.," for income-tax; also of the
se ond half of a £lOO-note from" A. 8.," for income-tax.

On Monday the Emperor of Russia received a
deputation of Jewish residents in St. Petersburg, who assured
his Majesty of the loyalty and devotion of his Jewish sub-
jects. The Emperpr asked them to draw up a memorial on
the subject of Jewish grievances and send it to General
Ignatieff.—lt is stated that the damage done in one quarter
of Kieff alone by the anti-Jewish riots is estimated at over a
million roubles. Disturbances still continue in other parts
of Russia.

According to a Madril telegram in the Temps
England offers Spain a slight reduction of the wine duties,
on the conditions of the most favoured nation clause,
reduced duties on manufactures, and conversion of specific
into ad valorem duties. Spain would be inclined to concede
these points in return for a duty of Is. a gallon on wines of
36 deg., so as to compete with French wines.

At a public meeting held at Portsmouth, it was
resolved to form in that town a centre of the St. John
Ambulance Association, with classes for the instruction of
all in the first treatment of injured persons.
Ancient Greek dancers have been introduced in
Parisian fashionablo circles, hostesses having grown weary
of the eternal cotillon. Another Society innovation hails
from New York, where every fashionable boudoir is now
as fragrant as a Roman Catholic Church after High Mass,
incense being burnt in elaborate bronze dishes on the dif-
ferent tables.

The tope has received from one of his secret Cham-
berlains, Count Gabriel de Caix, a beautiful vase in massive
gold, and covered with a masterpiece of filigree work,
amongst which are bzilliant gems, and twenty-four enamelled
miniatures, representing scenes in the life of Jesus from his
birth to his resurrection It is in an elegant case, which
bears a dedication to the Pope.
A deputation of Welsh licensed victuallers have
waited upon the Home Secretary respecting the Sunday
Closing Bill for Wales. It hawing been pointed out that the
trade would be seriously affected were the measure carried
in its present shape, Sir William Harcourt briefly replied,
promising to consider the matter.—Replying to a represen-
tation made to him on behalf of the South Wales licensed
victuallers against the Weish Sunday Closing Bill, Sir E J.
Reed, M.P., states that he cannot promise to vote against
the measure, but ha will consider the objections urged.

The pork panic has certainly not reached Goa, for a
correspondent of the, 1%-ine:.• of India relates that on Easter
Eve the town of Panjim resounded with the shrieks of pigs
Which were being sacrificed for the next day's feast.
Another Easter feature in Panjim was the boat-loads of fair
devotees, their heads loaded with natural flowers, sid their
figures draped entirely in long white sheet.
A New York telegram says that fifteen barrels of
burning fluid exploded At St. ,Idseph, Missouri, in the cellar
of a liquor shop pn Monday evening. The shop was full of
neg,ro?a, nearly all of whom were killed. The exact number
is unknown, as the building was demolished and the victims
buried in the ruins. Five bodies were recovered, but they
were all burnt beyond recnpition. Eleven wounded negroes
escaped,
A good deal of over•building seems to be going on
in the shipping trade at the present time. About SOO,OOO
tons of new shipping is said to be in course of building in
the United Kingdom, or about 300,000 tons more than ts,i,g
average of recent years. The greater part of this is steam
shipping, and as a steamer can do TA val scierage three times
the work of a sailing vessel in the mere matter of voyages,
It is difficult to re where, in the present state of the world's
tradp,tiU this great addition to the carrying power of mer-
chant navies is to find work.—" City Notes" in Pall Mall
Gazette.
"On the 20th inst., at Eridge House, Fulham,
S.W., Jane, the beloved wife of Frederick( WrioM Itsci
in the 75th
, arid
eldest daughter of the late Thc.,(nga (Win, Esq.,
year of her age; aad, op tile alone date, at the same house,
and withiu op,e hour of the death of his wife, after an union
, ueaiTy'46 years. Frederick Wright, Esq., second so
thelate Thomas Wiight, Esq., in the 72nd year of hisangeo.4
—Obituary of The Times, May 23.

The number of steamers which arrived at Liverpool
last week from the United States and Canada usually ec,n-
veying live stock and fresh meat was quit o np, to, the aver-
age of recent weeks, but only half te lit4l4Orit ;fowled live
stock and fresh !neat, oonseietitly tile arrivals were con-
siderably Jon Oalca,PailOn ith the preceding week. The
totals *ore 67 LOW eep, 4,935 quarters of beef,
1,010 carcases of mutton, and 299 dead hogs.
In London on Monday, a meeting of the Mansion-
house Committee for the relief of the sufferers by the earth-
quake at Chic was held in the Venetian-parlour. The fund
was reported to amount to £22 895, of which 418,600 ha 6
remitted to the Constantinople Committee tc.r. diiinbution
among the sufferers and £2,064 1,124 has spent in blankets
and clothes. Thep reaineTti balance of £2,331 ; but this
incluclod qa.me promited sums not yet collected. The corn-
fattee determined to forward a further sum of 41,400 for
the relief of the distressed, making nearly £22,000 sent
altogether.
How long Lord Shaftesbury has bep ç work is
vividly recalled by a story which h 3 at least the merit of
truth (remarks the Cant; Journtit) When about the time
Mrs. Beecher-Stowe was in England, Lord Shaftesbury in-
curred the wrath of some American politicians for his ener-
getic denunciation of their system of slavery, he receive a
letter from across the Atlantic, which endea keries of
reproaches by the following sentenN:—"And after all, e
Pretty fellow.you set 1,4) as, philanthropist. We should like
to know Where you were *hen Lord Ashley was fighting the
hilttl9 (2.; Lnglish I
8 4Vc.B in coal-pit and factory. We never
heard of you then.--f Lord Shaftesbury sat in the house of
Commons as Lord Ashley previous to his accession to the
peerage.

The Trustees of the Earl of Mornington, who was
hereditary Lord Warden of Epping Forest, have obtained an
award of three hundred pounds as compensation for the ex-
tinguishment of that office.
After a strike extending over three weeks, the
puddlers employed at the Forest Vale Iron Works, in the
Forest of Dean, have resumed work at a reduction of 6d.
per ton.

The experiment of importing apples from Australia
has been tried by dealers in Manchester with entire success.
A large quantity arrived this week from Adelaide in good
condition, and fetched ss. per stone of 141 b. This fruit from
Australia will keep the apple market for a few weeks.

The greater part of Pinsk, a town of 18,000 in
habitants in the government of Minsk, was destroyed by fire
on Monday. Great distress exists among the inhabitants,
and the losses are enormous.

Advices from Bagdad, under date the 25th ultimo,
report that the plague is localised at Nejef, where 943 per-
sons died during the preceding 15 days. Bagdal and Busreh
were still healthy.

"Lady Companions and housekeepers" are, we
fear, superabundant. A lady who advertised for one a week
ago, advertises again today to thank the 180 applicants for
the post, and to inform the 179 who were unsuccessful that
she has made her choice.—Globe.

The Madras Government has just laid down a curi-
ous rule of precedence among native officials. When the
salary is not under 200 rupees a month, 31ahomedans will be
entitled to the affix of " Sahib Bahadur," and members of
other faiths to that of " Guru "or Avargal." But inferior
titles are to be borne by officials drawing lower salaries ;
they are considered, the Minute says, merely "Misters
but the magical 200 rupees make a man an Esquire" at
once.--Globe.

The Queen has been pleased to become a Patroness
of the United Kingdom Beneficent Association, and has sent
£5O in aid of its funds.

An Arab rising in South Algeria is reported. On
the 19th inst. a column of French native auxiliaries, under
the command of Colonel Innocenti, was attacked near
Chellala, in the south of the province of Oran, by a body of
insurgents numbering 5,000 men. The rebels were defeated
after a hotly contested engagement, but the French had
upwards of eighty men hors de combat, the proportion of
killed being very large to the number of the wounded.
Colonel Innocenti estimates the loss of the enemy at four
hundred killed.

The Archbishop of Canterbury presided on Monday
at the annual meeting of the Society for Promoting the
Employment of Additional Curates, and pointed to the fact
that churches did not increase to the extent required by
the demand through the growth of population. His Grace
urged the claims of the Society, which provided for addi-
tional men for the service of the Church. Sir R. Cross,
M.P., also expressed his gratification that steps were being
taken for the education of men for the Church of England.
Mr. W. H. Gladstone, M.P., and others spoke on the
occasion.

Telegraphic despatches received at Vienna from
Agram report that at two o'clock last Saturday morning a
violent shock of earthquake, three seconds in duration, was
felt in that city and the neighbouring districts. There and
In other parts of Croatia the event was accompanied by loud
subterranean thunder.

The City Press says that a commencement was made
on Tuesday of taking returns of the vehicles which enter the
City of London at various points during the 24 hours, and
the work will be continued. These returns will doubtless be
of a very interesting nature, as helping to show the vastness
of the commerce of the City.

A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on the 20th inst. was 16,300,000 bushels; ditto
Indian corn, 11,000,000. Export clearances of wheat for
Europe during the past week, 1,660,000 bushels; ditto.lndian
corn ditto, 1,330,000.

By command of the Queen, Lieut.-General Sir H.
Ponsonby has conveyed to Mr. F. G. Heath her Majesty's
thanks for a copy of "Peasant Life" containing the fac-
simile of a letter to the author from the late Lord
Beaconsfield.

There were 29 British and foreign wrecks, of which
17 were British, two being steamers, reported during last
week, making a total of 795 for the present year, or an in-
crease of 200 as compared with the corresponding period of
last year. The approximate value of property lost was
£7,000,000, including British £4,500,009. Eight vessels were
lost off the coasts of the United Kingdom; six by collision.
Forty-two lives were lost.

Fresh facts in favour of growing tobacco in England
are daily accruing (says the Globe). A writer in the last
number of the Live Stock Journal furnishes interesting evi-
dence on the subject. The tobacco crop would not only be
profitable, but would support a heavy duty.

According to the provisions of the new Treaty of
Commerce between Austria and Servia, Austrian and Hun-
garian manufactures, with the exception of cotton and
woollen goods, will be subjected on importation into Servia
to only one.half of the most-favoured nation duties.
On Monday, the 23rd of May, the officers of "the
Buffs "—the regiment raised from the ancient trained bands
of which the illustrious John Gilpin was a member—were
presented in a body to the Prince of Wales.—lt may be
interesting to note that, so long ago as in May, 1572, their
predecessors in the regiment were presented to Queen Eliza-
beth on the eve of their departure to Holland.

A California letter, dated 20th of April, prophesies
an enormous vintage. So prodigious are the authentic re-
turns of our new vines planted that Headman Harazthy
reports : " In three years the wines of California will return
5,000,000 dollars a year to the State, with sure increase at
improving valuations."

Petitions against the licensing of travelling saloons
for the sale of dr.ink over railways were signed by the con-
gregations of most of the churches and chapels in Plymouth
and De.vonport on Sunday, and were forwarded, together
with similar petitions from all parts of Devon and Cornwall,
to the (louse of Commons for presentation.

- .
The quantity of tea exported from China to the
United Kingdom from the Ist June, 1880, to the 4th April
last was 172,949,106 lbs., as compared with 160,034,115 lbs.
exported during the corresponding period uf last year. The
quantity exported to the United States from China and
Japan during the same period was 81,224,310 lbs , as
against 63,253,171 lbs. in the previous year.
Nearly £l,OOO has been subscribed towards remov-
ng the cit'bris caused by the fall of the beautiful old tower of
it. John's Church, Chester.

A report comes from Russia that the Emperor has
promised to transfer his residence to Moscow.

According to an Imperial crdinance just issued the
cavalry of the Austrian army has been reorganised into the
following sections. There are, In future, to be fourteen
regiments of Dragoons, sixteen of Hussars, and eleven of
Uhlans. Within a short time two more regiments are to be
added to the Uhlans.

In London last week 2,463 births and 1,488 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births exceeded by 59, and the deaths by 14. the average
numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten years.
The annual death-rate from all causes, which had slowly
declined from 23-0 to 201 per 1,000 iu the five preceding
we.lts, rose again to 20*9.

The Egyptian Gazette learns that M. Maspero has
opened three new pyramids at Sakkara. One of them, that
of King Oonas, of the Fifth Dynasty, contains 80 of the
finest and most closely-written texts, describing the reli-
gions belief of the Egyptians in the most detailed and precise
manner.

Why there should be constaht changes in the
fashion of a lady's dress is beyond explanation. If the new
society is able to prevail upon the sex to fix upon some per-
manent style of dress "based upon considerations of health,
comfort, and beauty," such as was worn by Greek and Roman
ladies, it will perform a service not only to those who have
to pay milliners bills, but to the world at large.—Globe.

The Registrar General reports that -last week in
London the fatal cases of smallpox rose to 103, of which 41
occurred in private dwelling-houses. The number of new
cases admitod to the hospitals last week was 346.

On Sunday morning, about nine o'clock, a glass-
cutter, named James Ritchie, jumped over the Dean•bridge,
Edinburgh. He was rescued and removed to the Royal
Infirmary, but died about two hours after admittance. The
point from which the deceased leaped was about 100 ft. above
the bed of the river.

The I imes pleasantly surmises, in connection with
Afghanistan, that Russia will not be likely to renew her
meddling "with the affairs of a country from which she
has been once, and again warned off." It is, we think,
because England has thus had to warn her off "once and
again" that a repetition of her meddlesomeuess is to be
looked for.—Globe.

Mr, Thomas A. Scott, described as the greatest
American railway manager of his day, has just died, after a
lingering illness, at the age of fifty-seven.

The Royal Agricultural Society held its annual
meeting on Monday, and reported a small decrease in the
number of members. Mr. John Dent was elected President
for the ensuing year, and it was resolved to hold the meeting
for 1882 at Reading. A deputation was appointed to wait
upon Earl Spencer and ask that the restrictions upon the
movement of cattle should not be removed in the face of
the existence of foot-and mouth disease in twenty-three
counties. Lord Spencer received the deputation in the
afternoon, and said his Department did not propose to re-
move all the restrictions; they maintained the important
ones; and if he thought there was any danger in making
the relaxations he should not be anxious or willing to recom-
mend it to the Privy Council.

The forthcoming number of the Nimteenth Century
will contain an article on the Irish Land Bill from the pen
of the Right Hon. J. G. Shaw Lefevre, M.P.

Lord Aberdare presided on Monday evening at the
annual dinner of the Royal Geographical Society. In pro-
posing the toast of the Medallists, Major Serpa Pinto, a
Portuguese officer, and Mr. Lee Smith, the Chairman said
the latter had indicated the route by which the North Pole
would have to be reached. Mr. Lee Smith was not present
to respond, being engaged at Peterhead in fitting out
his yacht for another Arctic voyage. The Portuguese
Minister replied to the toast. The health of the noble
President was proposed in felicitous terms by the American
mister.

The dispute between some residents at Wormwo:sd
Scrubs and the Fulham Board of Works with respect to a
Small-pox I I ospital was again before the Master of the Rolls
last Saturday. His Lordship remarked that the proposed
institution was intended far the benefit of the district, and
the effect would be that poor people suffering from this dis-
order would be removed from their homes, and thus there
would be only one centre of infection instead of fifty. On
the other hand, it might be said that the collection of these
cases into one centre would increase the source of infection.
The medical evidence was conflicting, and he could not
decide between doctors who differed. A temporary order
was then made pending the trial, the defendants under-
taking not to use the Hospital for more than fifty patients
at one time.

On Monday evening a demonstration of working
men was held in St. George's Ball, Bradford. Mr. Ecroyd,
for Preston, addrossed the meeting amidst much up-
roar in support of Protection. Ultimately the following
resolhtiou was carried :—" That seeing the enormous de-
velopment of the French wool industry since the adoption of
the Commercial .Treaty of 1860, and that Franoe can now
compete with us successfully in all neutral markets as well
as in our owe, this meeting is of opinion that no new treaty
will be satisfactory which does not provide for the im-
mediate reduction ol existing duties, with a view of their
gradual and 3bsointe extinction." An amendment was pro-
posed, but the meeting would not listen to the mover and
teconder of it. The proceedings terminated amidst much
eonfuslon.

On the 17th inst., after a fortnight's sudden illneSa
a paralytic nature, died, at the age of K. Mr. Alfred
Barratt, secretary to the Oxford University Commission, the
completion of whose report he had done much to hasten.
Mr. Barratt was a 'Rugby boy pupil of the present head
master, and a Ballo scholar, lie obtained at Oxford the
distinetiom (unique, we believe) of live first classes—two
classical, two mathexuatioal, and one in the then undivided
School of Law and Modern History, and was subsequently
elected Eldon Law Scholar and Fellow of Brasenose. He
was the author of more than one philosophical work., was
as genial in'temper as varied in culture, and in him the
Junior Bar, has lost one of its most gifted alut most learned
members.—Obituary of The Time.
The Duke and Duthew ot Edinburgh arrived off
Sidmouth on board the Admiralty yacht Lively on Monday
mornin,7, While the party were attempting to laud at
%circoUth from the Lively's steam launch a heavy waya
struck the craft astern and swung her around broadside to
the beach. The lifeboat was sent out, and the floyal party
were transferred to it and brought:aszhootrryinoasf
tfehtey.LifNeVbhoialet
this was being done, Mr. Fiqd, z
Committee, was throw 5.,-vdrboard by a sudden lurch of the
boat, and it wil.3 With &colt; difficulty that he was picked up
by the f,s, Men who jumped into the sea after him. Their
iioYat Highnesses afterwards travelled to Exeter and
Dawlish, and
.then re embarked on board the 4,fpete for
Torquay. •
ss
asarsriv stomez
that they must not pass, rut pointing 'e:
An amusing incident occurred at Monday's inspec-
'
tion of the F,xmouth district aoastpards by the Duke of
alightedt
e rposed, were advancing
uring h
Edinburgh. The D,mbe and Lady Seymour arrived
what More the Ditlikeeil aandsehnatvriy inn g
to the enclosure, m
out a spot where he
said "they could get a good view of the Duke." The
Duchess laughingly explained tAs:at was not w,,hat they wanted
they wished to see the coasYgna.rdinienout before the
sentry could recover from his astonishment at such misplaced
curiosity an officer arrived and passed the ladies through the
barrier.

4,0•-•

An asylum for sick animals is to
Eibe established
near Paris by the Society for the Protection of Animals.

At a meeting of the Royal Society last Thursday
Mr. Gladstone was admitted a Fellow.
An exhibition will be opened at Gothenburg on the
Ist of June next, to which the best artists and sculptors in
gweden, Norway. Denmark, and Finland will contribute.
There will also be an exhibition of pictures from various
private collections in those countries.

Prenarations are being made for the removal of the
remaiiia of the late Duke of Cambridge from the Mausoleum
at Kew Church to the Royal vault at St. George's Chapel.
Windsor. The cause of the removal, which has been directed
by the Queen, is the necessary enlargement of Kew Church
and the consequent disturbance of the Mausoleum.
Her Majesty has been pleased to direct Mr. Belt to
design a monument to be erected to the late Earl Beacons-
field in Hughenden Church. A medallion of the bust Mr.
Belt has exeeuted is to form a part of the monument.
The Vienna Presse states that the corn merchants
of Galicia have received an urgent warning to withdraw
from Russia as speedily as possible any grain they may have
stored there, as there is a danger of general plunder and
destruction.

"We are informed on the best authority that in a
policy of assurance taken out by the late Lord Beaconsfield
in the year 1824 he there described himself as born in the
parish of St. Mary Axe. As the policy still exists and the
entry is in his own handwriting, this may be regarded as con-
clusive evidence of his real place of birth, in spite of his
statement in old age to Lord. Barrington.—Academy.
The Hon.. Harold Gathorne-Hardy, son of Lord
Cranbrook, is lying dangerously ill at Low Moor, near
Bradford. He ruptured a blood vessel a month ago, and
since then he has suffered from lung disease. Lord and Lady
Cranbrook have been with him, and he has been visited by
Sir NV. -Telmer.

The success of the electric railway at Berlin en-
courages hope that the locomotive engine as a motive power
on railways has had its day, and will soon become extinct as
the dodo. There is now a talk of propelling ships by electri-
city, and the projectors affirm that not mechanical but only
physical difficulties have to be met. Those physical difficul-
ties are the rub.—Giobe.

While a letter-sorter in the post-office at Gloucester
was emptying a bag he was startled by a snake falling from
it. The animal was about three feet in length, and had evi-
dently been sent through the post in a parcel, from which
it had escaped. Its destination not having been ascertained,
it was destroyed.

A Reuter's telegram says that two strong shocks of
earthquake occurred at Chios on the 20th inst., bringing
down several of the houses that remained standing after the
late catastrophe.

Last week's receipt of cotton at all United States
ports have been. 42,000 bales, and since Sept. 1, 5,458,670
bales. Shipments to Great Britain 33,000 bales, and to the
Continent and Channel 29,000 bales. Total since Sept. 1.
3,989,450 bales. Stocks at all ports, 531,000 bales.

The pearl fisheries on the Ceylon -coast, after many
years of failure, have this season yielded very large returns.
The share of Government alone is estimated at £75t000,
being the highest amount received since HU" No specially
fine pearls have been found; the largest was valued at £9.

The Emperor Francis Joseph, the Empress Eliza-
beth, and the entire Imperial family, as well as the Burgo-
master of Vienna, sent their congratulations by telegraph to
Pesth on Saturday to the Princess Stephanie (the Austrian
Crown Princess) on the occasion of her seventeenth birthday.
The Empress also sent by train a magnificent bouquet to the
Crown Princess.

As the morning shift was working in one of the
Tondu Colliery veins, in the Ogmore Valley, a stone fell
from the top, smashing a safety lamp. The gas caught fire,
and four men were burned, two very badly.
The Queen has directed that 1001 b. of cast linen
be sent for the use of the Victoria Hospital for Children,
Queen's-road, Chelsea.

A regular line of cattle steamers has been esta-
blished between Leith and Sweden.

On Tuesday Lord Granville received an influential
Jewish Deputation, who asked his lordship's intercession
with the Russian Government to stop the outrages that are
being committed in various parts of that Empire. The
Foreign Secretary expressed a belief that the Emperor of
Russia was sincerely desirous to prevent what was taking
place. But considering how jealous this country was of any
interference by foreign rowers with our internal affairs, he
could not undertake to make any official representation to
the Russian Government until there was some ground for a
formal demand.

Mr. Hunter Rodwell, M.P., speaking at the Cam-
bridgeshire Chamber of Agriculture on Saturday on the
question of imposing a duty on foreign corn, strongly urged
the farmers to put aside the idea of returning to protection.
The Chamber resolved that relief from the present pressure
of agricultural distress is not te be sought for in returning
to import duties on foreign corn.

A Bill to amend the laws relating to patronage,
simony, and exchange of beneficies in the Church of Eng-
land ; a Bill to afford facilities for the erection, enlargement,
improvement, and purchase of buildings for Industrial and
Reformatory Schools in Ireland, have been issued.

Mr. Arch recently addressed a letter to the Premier
on behalf of the Agricultural Labourers' 'Union, calling
attention to the county franchise question. In his reply the
Premier says that Mr. Arch will have noticed the desires and
intentions of the Government with regard to the enfranchise-
ment of the rural labourer; but, he adds, "you will doubt-
less have observed the present condition of the House of
Commons ;with respect to the despatch of its business, which
appears to constitute a new public question of urgency
demanding very early attention."
At the annual meeting of the Surrey Society for the
General Welfare of the Blind, the Earl of haftesbury stated
that the Postmaster-General is considering a plan by which
blind persons may be employed at theyost Office.
The reason for Mr. Gladstone's hesitancy to relin-
quish the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer is
suggested by the talk about the conversion of Consols
into 2.4 per cent. Stock. The price now verges on
103. If they maintain their disposition to keep at this tiptop
price, the temptation to lower the interest will becoioe a
necessity, and this•is one of those operations which Mr.
Gladstone would undoubtedly desire to be associated with.
The difference between 2i and 3 per cent, in interest means
several millions, and it suggests the manner in which the
lucerne-tax might be abolished.—Court Journal.
While a mixed train was on Monday night ap-
proaching Kemnay Station, on the Great Northern of Scot-
land Hailway, a waggon next the enOne left the rails,
dragging six other wagons with it. These rolled to the
bottom of a high embankment. Fortunately the couplings
snapped, and the passenger carriages remained on the rails;
but their occupants were severely shaken. Considerable
damage was done to the pernianant way.

The question of the legality of payments made to
members of the German Parliament from private sources is
being much discussed just now at Bolin.

On Sunday night a party of pleasure-seekers were
returning home from Hampton Court in a four-horse
omnibus, a young man who was sitting oatiiide, incau-
tiously stretched forwsird his.hana to pluck a bunch of
blossom from off the chestnut treets growing by the side of
the Isle worth-road, Twickenham. In doing so he over-
balanced himself and fell to the ground, and was picked up
bleeding and insensible. He was conveyed to the Twining
Hospital, where he was discovered to be dead.
An analysis of the division on the Irish Land Bill
shows that the majority was composed of 312 Liberals, 14
Conservatives, and 26 Home Rulers. Sir John Ennis was
the only Liberal who voted in the minority, which included
seven Irish Conservatives. Fifteen Irish Liberals and thirteen
Irish Conservatives voted with Ministers. Most of the mem-
bers of the late Government, with the exception of Lord
George Hamilton, whose name does not appear in the divi-
sion list, voted in the minority.—Daily News.

On Tuesday evening about 20 acres of furie and fir
tress on Newtown-common, near Newbury, were destroyed
by fire, and Newtown Rectory, the residence of the Rev.
F. C. Gosling, had a very narrow escape.

Wednesday (25th) was the thirty-fifth anniversary
of the birth of her Royal Highness the Princess Helena
Augusta Victoria, second surviving daughter of her Majesty
the Queen and the late Prince Consort, the Princess having
been born at Buckingham Palace on May 25, 1846. The Princess
Helena's marriage with Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
was solemnised at her 31ajesty s private chapel at Windsor
Castle on July, 5, 1866, nearly fifteen years ago, the surviving
issue of this union being two sons and two daughters

The people of Seville have lately had the oppor-
tunity of witnessing a somewhat extraordinary spectacle.
An Englishman staying at Seville, after looking on at a bull
fight, was roused to enthusiasm by the skill and courage of
the gordito, and obtained from him a number of le s.
Quite lately he took his place in the arena, and is s to
have amazed the spectators by his skill in handlin e
cloak and throwing the banderillas, and above all by the
coolness with which he faced one of the most savage of the
bulls, and killed it by a skilful stroke with the stabbing
sword. . - . - -
At Dover. on Saturday, during the excavations for
a new club-house, on the site of the ancient church of St.
Martin's-le-Grand, built by Widred, King of Kent, about the
year 700, the life-size figure of a nude woman, sculptured in
oolite, and in a remarkably fine state of preservation, was
discovered. The head, which shows three-quarter face,
appears to be crowned with a laurel wreath similar to that
seen on ancient Roman coins, several of which were also
found near to the spot where the figure Was exhumed. It
was removed to the local museum.
The scarcity of British visitors to Brussels of late
years is being bitterly lamented by the Belgians, who find
one of their chief sources of income sadly curtailed. Formerly
Belgium was the great high road to Gerwany, but now, owing
to the cheaper and quicker transit by-Holland and by the
Flushing passage, the Brussels route is comparatively
deserted, and the receipts of the Ostend line diminish yearly.
According to the Brussels National, the l3ruxellois are rack-
ing their brains to improve the state of affairs, and propose
to establish an express between Brussels and 3layence, out
Huy, which would be cheaper than the present journey by
Liege and Cologne, and would occupy four hours less.