The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-29 00:00:00

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

A large part of the Arsenal at Karlskrona, which is
the principal station of the
.Swedish Navy, has been
destroyed by lire. •
The threatened strike among portion of the
tapestry and Brussels carpet weavers at Kidderminster has
been averted.

Private telegrams were received in London on Mon-
day announcing the capitulation of Callao. The importance of
this intelligence is considerable as affecting the -chances of
an early conclusion of peace. In the last war it required
nearly two months to bring Callao into submissien after
Lima had been taken

The Countess Marchand, widow of the former
chamberlain of Napoleon I. at St. Helena, and executor of
the will of the First Emperor, has -just died in Paris,
aged '76. She was a daughter of the late General Count
Breyer.
"A Matron" describes a way in which ladies who,
like herself, are not district visitors, and who do not know
the deserving poor of the neighbourhood, may do some-
thing to relieve prevalent distress. She gets her cook to
make soup, and then sends tickets to the clergyman of the.
parish, to be given away at his discretion. The tickets bear
the address at which, and the time when the application is
to be made. The same plan may, of course be adopted by
kindly-disposed people who wish to distribute coals 'or
clothing. —globe.

Mr. Rendel ind Mr. Gurdon have introduced a Bill
to amend the law relating to distress for rent: and Mr.
Blennerhassett has a motion on the paper affirming that it
is "desirable that the power of levying distress for the rent
of agricultural holdings be abolished in Engiand, Wales,
and Ireland."

The Rev. the Master of Christ Church, Cambridge,
Dr. Cartmell, died suddenly onbunday evening at his residence
in the college. On Saturday the deceased was upon the-
bench of magistrates, and on Sunday afternoon attended
Great St. Mary's Church. Thircause of death was heart
disease.

In Berlin last Saturday at a Chapter of the High
Order of the Black Eagle, Prince Henry of Prussia, the on
of the Crown Prince, was created a Knight. The Emperor,
being still indisposed, attended the ceremony only for a few
minutes.

The Times states that the Princess Louise returns to
her husband in Canada in May, when also a numerous party
of English visitors will join in a fishing tour on the Lower
St. Lawrence. Subsequefftly the Princess with the visitors
from Ef!klansl will pay a visit to Manitoba and the North-
West Provincespf the Dominion.

A somewhat singular accident occurred early on
Tuesday morning at Wellington-chambers, Brook-street,
London. The weight of snow on the roof forced away two
pieces of iron guttering, weighing about three hundred-
weight, which fell sixty feet through the glass roof of an
adjoining ante-room, in which eight or nine lodgers were
sleeping. One of them had his leg broken, and another was
severely cut under the eye by the falling glass.

On Monday afternoon Alexander Gibb, aged seven
years, residing in Whitckurch-street, Glasgow, did not re-
turn home from school. A band of men was organised, and
with lamps they searched the eastern suburbs during the
whole night, and at five o'clock on Tuesday morning they
found him lying in an unsheltered spot in Alexander Park
nearly dead with cold. He was at once taken home..

The Peuple Franfaise announces that as soon as the
Empress Eugenie is finally settled in her new residence at
Farnborough she will publish a volume entitled " Histoire
de la vie et de la snort du Prinoe Imperial," written by her
Majesty during her exile at Chislehurst. The publication
of the "Notes de Napoleon III.," being the daily notes of
the ex-Emperor during his reign, is also spoken of.
It is believed that the St. Gothard tunnel will be
completed this year, although it may not be ready for traffic
until 1882.
The London Correspondent of the Manchester
Guardian says that according to advices reoeived from Russia
the cotton-mills are working on short time or are being closed
all over the country owing to the large accumulations of
stock and the slackness of trade. The fillur9 of last year's
harvest has reduced the peasants to such distress that they
have no money to buy cotton goods. In the cloth trade
there is the same decline.

The future of the Crown colony of Fiji appears to
be none the leas hopeful from some statistics just to hand.
It appears that the exports of Fiji during the first quarter
a 1876 amounted to £14,965; in 1877 they were £,29,704, in
1878 £32,28, in 1879 £29,228, and in 1880 £62,003. These
figures speak for themselves as to the capability of the
colony for great things when capital finds its way to the
archipelago.
- -

At a meeting held in London last Saturday, at
which Hanlon, Trickett (Who represented Laycoek), and Mr.
. Ireland, the umpire, were present, it was decided to post-
pone the match for the sculling championship and stake of
LOCO between Haul= and Laycock to Monday, the 14th of
February.
The officers of the Inland Revenue Department in
Scotland have received instructions from the Commissioners
that they are not to interfere with persons "who make the
article called treacle beer, to be used chiefly as a substitute
fo: milk with their food." The manufacture of such beer in
the ordinary way, without malt and hops, is not brewing in
the sense of the Act, and may therefore be carried on just
as before without any license.
The Anti-Jewish agitation in Germany has re-
minded the Berlin Volkseitung tliat Prin.9e Bismarck is
closely allied to the Israelitisk community. His sister
married a Jew, several nephews hold the same faith, and
the Prince has various other close links with the persecuted
race.
Great satisfaction has been occasioned in the
.watch-
making distritts of Switzerland by 'alie receipt of some exten-
sive orders from Australia as a consequence of the Swiss ex-
hibits at Melbourne.

The violent gale and snowstorm of Tuesday and
Wednesday, the 18th and 19th, were severely felt at Osborne
and in the 181 e of Wight generally. The roads to lijffle and
Newport were blocked, and the drifts near Osborne were 10
and 12 feet deep; the steamers were unable to cross the
Solent • and as at one period of the day the telegraph poles
were blown down, all communication between the island
and the mainland was cut off.
The Queen has, on the recommendation of the
_Prime Minister, approved of the grant of he followipg pen-
sions from the Civil List :—To Mr. Alfred Russell Wallace,
£2OO a year, in recognition of his eminence as a natural-
ist ; Mrs. Rodgers, £75 a year, in recognition of the ser.
vices of her late husband, the Rev. John Rodgers, in the
cause of public elementary education; Lady Dutfus Hardy,
£,55 a year, in addition to the pension of £lOO a year granted
in 1379, in recognition of the historical, literary, and public
services of her late hnsband, Sir Thomas Dallas Elardy ; Dr.
Schmitz, £.50 a year, in recognition of his services to classical
education and literature.

The City Press states that since Tuesday in last week
no fewer than 1,335 men were constantly employed in
London by the Commissioners of Sewers in the work of
clearing the streets, in addition to the regular staff of 450
men and boys. The remuneration allowed to each labourer
was 6d. per hour, and it is calculated that the expenditure
In wages and hire of horses alone during the past week was
not less than £5OO per day.

" On or about the 28th Dec. last, on board the
Montgomeryihire, s.s., outward bound, which founded off
Figueira, Portugal (when all hands _perished), Herbert Alan,
third son of Freeeric and Marian Dobson, Castle-grove, The
Park, Nottingham, aged 18 years. Friends will kindly accept
this intimation."—Obituary notice in Monday's Times.
_ _ .

In London last week 2,192 births and 2,016 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 531 below, whereas the deaths, under the in-
flueace of the severe cold weather, exceeded by 230 the
average numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which had
not exceeded 213 and
•22•6 per 1,000 in the two preceding
weeks, rose to 284. During the past three weeks of the
current quarter, the death-rate in the metropolis has
averaged 241 per 1,000, against 27-6 and 25-6 in the corrE-
sponding periods of 1879 and 1880.
After being embedded in the snow for a week, a
train and two engines were duz out on Tuesday on the
South-Western line between Fareham and Gosport. The
block was on the down line, which is the branch by which
the Queen travels in her journey from the North to
Clarence-yard when on her way to Osborne. The Stokes
Bay route was opened on Tuesday, after being also blccked
just one week.

Two cases of persons living over 100 years are
vouched for by a correspondent. Our informant was per-
sonally acquainted with an Irish magistrate who was at least
116 years old at his death. His name had been on the roll of
justices for a period which would have given him that age,
even if he had been appointed at 21. Another instance is
mentioned of a man living to the age of 10b. —Globe.

Dr. Lenz, the German traveller, who lately accom-
plished the feat of reaching Timbuctoo from the north, hais
arrived at Bordeaux and is expected soon to give an account
of his explorations.
-------

-
The wedding of Prince William of Prussia is defini-
tively fixed for Sunday, the 27th of Irebrmuy, invitations
having been already sent to the nearest family relations as
well as to the Royal House of Saxony. The occasion
promises to be celebrated by a series of very brilliant fes-
tivities.

-- • ------
A remarkable accident has occurred at Bristol. The
steam-tug Alarm had been employed to break up the ice
in the harboar, and it is supposed must have been injured
in this service. In the middle of the night the tug suddenly
began to sink, and those on board narrowly escaped, they
being awakened by the rise of water into their bunks, and
having barely time to scramble on deck, jump on to the
floating ice, and be hauled on to au adjoining tug.

- - -
The intelligence of the loss with all hands of the ship
Lupata on the Tellamork Rock reached San Francisco on
the 18th inst. On the /tight of the 3rd the men engaged on
the Tellamork Rock Lighthouse heard loud voices shouting,
and saw a ship's light inside the rock. A bonfire was lighted,
and a large vessel was seen about 200 yards distant for about
five minutes. She disappeared, and those on the rock ton.
eluded that the captain had backed ship and steered out of
danger. It was found in the morning, however, that the
vessel had sunk, her topmasts being visible above water.
There was no trace of the ship's company, who were sup-
posed to have been lost.
The admission of women to the classes at 'University
College is proving a strilang success. There are now about
ITO, excluding the "Slade Girls," who attend regularly the
classes of the various professors, and a lady, Miss A. Heather-
Bigg, has just carried off the Joseph Hume Scholarship,
defeating all the male competitors. Miss Heather-Bigg is a
LL. A. of St. Andrew's IJniversity.-21 thenceton.

Joseph Goddard, aged ninety-six, who had fought
at Waterloo, has recently died at Ipswich. The deceased
served in the 33rd Regiment (Duke of Wellington's), and
subsequently joined the Ist Battalion of the 31st, and passed
through the Indian and Burmese wars.

An alarming accident to a coroner's jury occurred
In Birming.ham on 'Monday afternoon. A wagonette .con-
thining fourteen jurymen was overturned in Livery-street,
in consequence of an obstruction caused by snow in the
road, and the vehicle was completely smashed. The fourteen
jurymen were dashed violently to the greurd, and all
sustained injury, three being so seriously hurt as to neces-
sitate immediate removal to the General Hospital.

The landlords of Claremorris, are declining to pay
income tax because they get no rent.

The dead body of a man named George Temple, a
carpenter, was found in the snow at Farthinghoe, near
Banbury, on Saturday. A road was beisig. cut through the
snow when the body was found. The spot was within
thirty yards of a dwelling-house. This makes the fifth
death through the storm in the neighbourhood of Ban-
bury.

Lord Cranbrook was present at a Conservative
gathering at Lincoln on Saturday, and delivered an address
in which he adversely criticised the foreign and home policy
of the Government. With respect to Ireland he held that
while the caantry was in a state ot disorder, while it was
disobedient to the law, while life and property were in jeo-
pardy, and when people were under the immediate protec•
tion of the police, and could not move without being in fear
of their lives; it was not the time to apply what was called
remedial legislation.
Mr. Carbutt proposes to move, on the second read-
ing of the Marriage Law Amendment Bill, f‘ that it it ex-
pedient, in the interest of the Industrial classes, that facil
Wes should be afforded them for marriage outside working*
hours, thus avoiding loss of wages; and that it should be
rendered obligatory on every parson, vicar, minister, or
curate to solemnize marriages on Saturday from eight
o'closk in the forenoon to six o'clock in the afternoon."
During the last fortnight the great snowstorms and
frost have occasioned immense sheep*losses, and a series of
lu tinan losses quite unprecedented in the winter annals of
this generation. The money loss, however, is not likely this
year to be nearly so great as that of the protracted season of
1879, and there is a great abundance of sound roots As re-
gards the land, the severities of 1867 were followed by the
immense grain yield of 1868, inferring the fertilizing benefits
of a snowy winter.
It has been calculated that 300,000 cubic metrep of
snow have fallen in the streets of Brussels, and men have
been employed from the commencement in its removal,
which has been effected at the rate of about 3,200 cubic
metres daily. The coat of this has been about 41,000 a day,
besides the employment of theregulat staff otatreet cloaners
but the errata have been made available for transit

A telegram from New York gays that ttle viibie
supply of wheat on Jan. 15 amounted to 28,603,6433 busheb4
and the exports for the week.*nding the 19th instant to
1,013,170 bushels.
-

,
Sunday being King Alfonso's fat day was kept at
Madrid as a general holiday. A great reception was held in
the palace, attended by two thousand members of the
aristocracy and the official world.

The Ray. R. W. Enraght, who was released from
Warwick Gaol on Monday in last week, was present at three
services on Sunday at Holy. Trinity Church. Bordesley.
There was no alteration in the, ritual, lie preached at each
service.

The Egyptian Obelisk was successfully erected in
New York on Saturday last. The Foreign and Naval Secre-
taries and a large number of other officials and about 5,0C0
citizens were present. There was no Masonic or other cere-
monial.

The total traffic of the Suez Canal during 1886
amounted to 2.026 ships of 4,349,548 tons producing a
revenue of 39,750,000 francs, thus enormously surpassing
the traffic of any year since the opening of the Canal ten
years ago.

Several cases of spotted typhus have lately occurred
In various parts of Saxony, originating, according to the
6fficial inquiry, with itinerant Slovak wire-workers.
Measures have been taken to prevent so terrible a disease
being spread by these anct,othcr wandering foreigners in
Germany.

On several occasions of late, sharks have been seen
in the Firth of Forth, and several have been secured. The
other day a crew, when fishing near the Island of May,
captured one of these dreaded fish. It measured nine feet
in length and was publicly exhibited.

Sir Noel Paton has intimated his intention of pre-
senting to the town of Dunfermline his cartoon of the
'Spirit of Religion," which obtained the premium of £2OO
awarded by her Majesty's Commissioners on the Fine Arts
in 1845. The picture will be hung in tfie new Town-house.
The Bullionist says it has authority for stating that
before the contractors for the Forth Bridge project have
been finally settled with, the abandonment will cost upwards
of £200,000.
The town of iluddersfiel4, haying been polled ir.
connection with the Public Libraries Act, has decided
against the adoption of the Act by a majority of 1,181, the
numbers being—for the Act, 1,264; against, 2,425.
'Under the head of "Conscience Money," the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer acknowledges, in The Times, the
receipt of the second half of a £lOO note from "Mistake."

An experiment was made at Newbury on Tuesday,
with the oi9ject of clearing the streets of the accumulation
of snow. Steam pipes were inserted into the heaps, which,
being melted, ran off into the drains. It is estimated that
by this process as mu), as 200 cartloads of snow were dis•
posed off.
-

The University-of Kiel has promoted r dead man to
the rank of a Doctor in Philosophy. And -eas Llrk, the
objcct of these posthumous honours, died on the day on
whick he had passed his exathination.
Sir H. Wolff intends on the 15th proximo t.) move
for the appointment of a Select Committee of the Home of
Commons to inquire into and report on the operation of the
laws regulating the importation, manufacture, and sale of
tobacco in the United Kingdom. Mr. Errington "will ask
that the scope of the inquiry may be enlarged, so as to
include "the expediency of permitting and encouraging its
cultivation in this country."
Mr. Porter Rhodes, of Kimberley, South Africa,
has had the honour of submitting to the inspection of the
Queen and:Royal family at Osborne the large diamond found
by him near Kimberley last February.

In the course of dredging operations in the bed of
the Limmat, at Zurich, some very interesting objects have
been brought to light, among others ancient ooins (including
50 gold pieces of Brabant), swords, and the skeleton of a
stag of a species now extinct in Switzerland. The piers of a
Roman bridge which once spanned the river have also been
laid bare. All the finds are being placed in the Zurich His-
torical Museum.

The Union Steamship Company, at the request of
the Red Cross Societies of England and France, have agreed
to convey to East London, free of charge, some cages of
hospital comforts for the use of the sitk and wounded in the
struggle now being carried on between the colonial forces
and the Basutos.
On Saturday afternoon, while a clerk on the London
and North-Western Railway, named Edward Warren, was
riding in a wagon at the Banbury Station, he was thrown
out by a sudden jerk while shunting. The wagon went
over both his legs, mangling them fearfully. He was re-
moved to the Horton Infirmary, where amputation had to
be resorted to, and it is not expected that he will recover.

A Calcutta telegram states that since his arrival
there, the Viceroy has been steadily regaining strength.
The House of Wynnstay,the seat of Sir Watkin
William Wynn, Bart., M.P., near Rtiabon, was discovered
to be on fire on Tuesday evening. The flames broke out in a
bedroom. The fire was got under in about half an hour
with the aid of the private fire-engine under the superintend-
ence of Sir Watkin.

- -
The remains of the late Mr. E. A. Sothern were, in
accordance with his own request, interred on Tuesday at
Southampton, in the arave of his sister, Mrs. Gwynne. Mr.
Sothern had ordered that no one should be invited to
attend, and that the strictest privacy should be maintained.
A New York telegram says that a band of Apache
Indians in New Mexico have killed 15 whites near Sam-
marial, and hare committed other outrages.

In the Lippe-Sehaumhurg forest at Turha, in Hun-
gary, a peculiar animal was recently shot, which was-at
first supposed to be a very powerful fox. The Vienna zoo-
logists, however, have shown that it is a cross between a
wolf and a fox. Its form is that of a fox, but it has the
colour of a wolf.

The loss of a fishins boat and six men is reported
from Stornoway. On liriday, in last week, a number of
fishing boats left rortnaguran and other adjacent villages
in the llroadbay for the cod and ling fishing. In the after-
noon they were caught in a snowstorm, and all drew their
nets and made for home. At Portnaguran it was discovered
that one of the boats was missing. Nat day, the boat was
found floating full of water, but her crew of six men were
gone. All the deceased belonged to the district,
In the Hebrides the storm was felt with exceptional
severity. Six men were drowned by the capsizin of their
boat while running to port for shelter. A man was drowned
In South Uist by the giving way of ice on A fresh-water loch,
and a woman, while crossing a moor in the same place,
perished in the snow. Near Stornoway houses were eouried
in the snow, and the inmatcs had .to be dug out. In 17ist
the snow is six feet deep on the roads, and sheep are dyin.,.;
in hundreds.

Access to any of the barracks in the Portsmouth
Garrison can now only be obtained by a pass from the
Adjutant General's Department.
It is announced that Chili and the United States of
Colombia will enter the general Postal Union in the begin-
ning of April and July respectiyely, the only States not
belonging to the Union being Bolivia, Paraguay, and several
minor Republics of Central America, with the Cape and the
Australian colonies.

Per Haps the heaviest blow dealt at the monastic
orders in France is the subjection of their property to the
ordinary rules of assessment and taxation. The Minister of
• Public Worship stated recently that the hitherto on-
assessed value of such property amounted to no less than
750,000,000 francs—say *135,000,000 sterling—which at the
normal rate would represent about one million pounds of
annual taxation now uncollected.

The Esquimaux, or Esquitno, at the Zoological
Gardens, -in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, were enraptured at
the sight of the first snow; they felt themselves quite at
home, and brought forth their sledges, but the ground was
not sufficiently carpetted for thpfr exercise.

The foot-and-mouth disease is diminishing in viru-
lence in most districts, but fresh outbreaks are still occur-
ring. Scientific treatment is now getting generally under-
stood, and cure and prevention go band-m-hand, thaziks to
the Orders in Council and the agricultural press.
So desperate has the condition of the poor and la'
bouring classes in the County Clare become that it has
been feund necessary to raise subscriptions for their relief
in every town throughout the county. Numbers have been
obliged to abandon their homes and take to the workhouses,
which are daily filling.
It is said that 10,000 tons of steel rails hare been
bought in this country for the New York Central Railroad,
and that other American companies are placing some
orders.

News comes from two of the great wheat-growing
States of the north-west in America that the autumn-sown
fields threaten to fail to yield a crop. This opinion must be
regarded as very premature, especially as from adjacent
States fair reports are received.
The annual dinner of the Council of the Amal-
gamated Society of Engineers was held in London, at the
Bridge House Hotel. on Saturday evening; when Mr. Burt,
M.P., and Mr. Broadhurst, M.P., were the psmcipal speakers.
The latter, with regard to the position of labour in Parlia-
ment, said that, although he had always been in favour of
the representation of lalfnur in the House of Commons, now
that he was a member of the House he was more strongly of
the same opinion. He hoped they would not stop until they
had fifty labour representatives in Parliament, and he also
hoped the Government would be successful in passing the
Corrupt Practices and the Ballot Bills.