The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-07-11 00:00:00

Plistellancous Intelligente.

HOME FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

ENGAGER: CANDOUR.—Papa : " And pray,
sir, what do you intend to settle on My daughter ? and
how do you Mean to live ?"--Inteoided "I intend,
sir, to settle inrelf on your daughter, and to live on
you! "—Pooch.
CHARITABLE LEGAuIES.—The executors of the
late Miss Mary Gray Ratray have, with the approval
the Court of Chancery, forwarded £3OO to the Council
f the Charity Qrganization Society. In addition to
to the amount subscribed (.;822) at the first festival of
St. John's Hospital, Leicester-square, W.C., held on
the 23rd of June at Willis's Rooms, the committee of
that hospital have to acknowledge £3OO towards the
funds of this institution from the trustees of the late
Miss Mary Gray Ratray out of a legacy of I:120,000 for
charities.

"THE CONSCIENcE CLAUSE."—Rector's Wife:
And what's your father, my boy? "---Boy: My father's
a hagitator,' an' he says he won't have me learnt no
Catechism, 'r else you'll all of yer 'ear ov it !"--Punek.

A SMALL MATTER. —The Committee of Public
Accounts report that under the hewl "Royal Parks '
and Pleasure Gardens" that the Controller, and
Auditor General objects to a payment of wages as im-
properly made to two persons who had not obtained
certificates of qualification from the Civil Service
Commissioners. The amount, £7 414., has, in conse-
quence, been excluded from the vote, and the deficit
v,.ted thus reduced from £3lO fis. &1., the amount asked
for by the department, to the sum of £303 2s. &I. The
persons in question areold soldiersplaced asgatekeepers
at a gate in Birdcage-walk, and the Ranger has M-
b o-med the Office of Works that he could not obtain the
services of other men equally suitable at the wages—
viz., us, a week. The wages are, in fact provided out
a contribution which it was arranged should be given
by the inhabitants of Queen-square, for whose con-
venience the gate was, in good measure opened, and
who, in return, undertook to meet all expenses.con-
nected with it. Their contribution being, however, in
accordance with the general rule, paid into the Ex-
chtspier as an extra receipt, and the wages pail out of
the vote of the maintenance of the 'Ark:, the Con-
troller and Auditor General appears to have acted
according to the strict letter of his functions in with-
holding his approval to the payment. The payment
must, nevertheless, be provided for, and the committee
trust that the departments concerned will not fail to
devise means to prevent the recurrence of a technical
difficulty which impedes the employment of men
whose services it appears to be for the public interest
to obtain.

- SAD -bASE OF DROWNING. —A tradesman of
Reading, named Edwards, went to bathe in the Thames
about nine o'clock the other eve in;, taking with him
his littlo boy. Neither could swim. They got into the
water near the pond. The lad getting out of his depth,
the father went to his assistance, and in doing so also
got into deep water. He wasdrowned before assistance
could reach him. Some barge-men saved the lad. The
body of the deceased was recovered in about 20 minutes,
but all efforts to restore animation proved fruitless.
HOME-(RULE)-OPATHY. - Ireland: " Ah, sure,
thin, it's cruel bad I am, intirely ; and it's the docent
gentleman here knows the stuff to do me good !"- -Hr.
Bull: "No, no, friend Butt !—none of your nostrums!
We saw her well through the Repeal ' fever,—and
she'll come out of this all right yet !"---Pouch.

GAS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES.—The difficulty
of lighting railway carriages with gas has hitherto been
found insurmountable —at least for journeys of great
length. In the first place the ordinary gas reservoir
was too cumbrous, and even if this defect had been
met by pumping the gas into strong retorts under
pressure, so as to carry it in a smaller space, the
lighting power would have been considerably im-
paired. Herr Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, has now
mastered the difficulty. He abandons coal gas
altogether, and makes his km from oil. He packs
it in iron retorts at a pressure of 501bs. to the
square inch, and supplies it to the lamps through an
ingenious regulator. Some few of the Continental
railways have already adopted this system of lighting.
In England an experimental carriage has been fitted
with it on the London and North. Western Railway,
and has been running some weeks. The Engineer tells
us that it carries gas enough in a receiver, made of
wrought iron gin. thick, sft. 10in, long, and lft. 4lin.
in diameter, to run twice to Holyhead and back,
sufficient gas being left for a further run to Chester, if
necessary. In other words, the carriage carries gas
for over 1,000 miles.

•
RAILWAY COLLISION.—A collision occurred on
Monday morning on the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway between Ince and Hindley Stations. A lug-
gage train from Liverpool was standing at the Hindley
distant signal, owing either to want of steam power to
daub the hill or to an exceptionally heavy Toad. A
second luggage train approached in the same direction,
mfil behind this was the " pilot " engine from Wigan,
and whether the driver of the first engine of the second
train did not notice the fact that the distant signal was
against him, or whether, as is alleged, the action of the
engine in the rear was too strong to prevent an acci-
dent, a very serious collision happened. The engine
of the second train woo precipitated down a steep em-
bankment and the tender thrown across the metals.
The engine-driver and the stoker escaped. Consider-
able damage WM done to the rolling stock, a brake-
van and several trucks being smashed. The line was
cleared in about seven hours,

SINGULAR RECOVERY OF A VALUABLE MASA:-
scan:T.—A manusaipt of some value was lately found
at a low eating-house in Paris, where it had been left
by a working mason, and, not being called for, was
given to the children of the house to play with. A
bookseller, who happened to see it, begged that he
might be allowed to show it to a friend of his who had
more knowledge than himself of old manuscripts, 3L
Jeanmire. The latter at once perceived that it was a
manuscript of great historical interest, being a cartu-
lary of the Abbey of Savigny, a monastic foundation
of the Cistercian order. Seeing its character, M.
Jeamuaire conjectured that it was likely to have been
stolen from some public library or other repository
during the troubles of the Commune, and accordingly
advised that it should be deposited with M. Berilion,
the Commissary of Police, to be submitted to the Pro-
cureur of the Republic. This has been done, but with
what result is not yet known.--Athenrrum.

A NORTH CAROLINA WONDER—The Wilming-
ton (North Carolina) Star reports that at the house of
a coloured woman by the name of Mag Blutbey, on the
corner of Tenth and Wooster streets, them resides a
coloured man and his wife by the name of Fisher, who
are the parents of a girl about nine months old, who is
certainly one of the greatest curiosities of the human
species that we have ever heard or read of. Ex-police-
man William H. Harriss, who visited the house on Sun-
day and examined the child, informs us that its akin is
perfectly white, although its parents are both of a dark
ginger cake complexion. Its form and features are per-
fect up to the bridge of the nose, the chin, mouth, and
nasal organ being not only well formed, but really hand-
some in their symmetry and general appearance; but
commencing with the eyes, the face and head have the
appearance of an animal, more resembling a white
bear than anything else of the animal species our in-
f onnant could call to mind. The hair is of a whitish
colour and like the wool of a sheep. Its eyes are round
and piercing, resembling those of a mink, and revolve
in their sockets in a very peculiar manner. They
cannot bear the light of a candle, and are instantly
cloned when one is brought into the room, and are only
kept open in the day time when the room is somewhat
darkened. It has no eyebrows and the lid in of a
peculiar formation, in no particular resembling the eye-
lid of a human being. It is very timid, and when any
one approaches it has the appearance and actions of a
rabbit startled from its lair.