The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-20 00:00:00

On Tuesday Mr. Mark Firth, J.P. of Sheffield,
suffered a paralytic attack which rendered him completely
helpless and speechless. At midnight he was lying in a
precarious condition, being quite unconscious. Mr. Firth is
in his 62nd year.
Among the deaths by cholera at Peshawar last week
was that of the son of the Prince of Bokhara, among whose at-
tendants there was a very smart outbreak of the disease.
_

The death is announced of General von Goeben, one
of the commanders in the Franco-German war. He was an
eminent member of the new school of Pruisian tacticians.
His defeat of General Faidherbe at St. Quentin put an end
to the struggle in the northern provinces of France.

According to the Jackson Citizen (Mi. U.S.A.) the
apple crop in New England has been so large that the price
of cider has fallen to 90 cents (Zs. od.) per barrel.
The body of Brigadier General Brooke f who waS
killed in the sortie from Candahar on the 16th August, has
been exhumed, and, it is stated, will be sent to England at
the request of his relatives.

At a meeting of the Commissioners of Sewers of the
City of London it was resolved that tenders should be ac-
cepted for the electric lighting of the City on three systems.
The cost of lighting for twelve months from next February
will be £8,060.

The Lunatic Asylum at St. Peter, Minnesota, was
destroyed by tire on Monday night. The weather at the
time was iutensely cold, and from thirty to forty of the un-
fortunate inmates were burned or frozen to death.
_ _

Her Majesty the Queen and Princess Beatrice are
now expected to arrive at Windsor, from Scotland, on pr
about the 20th, 23rd, or 24th inst.
Lord H. Lennox, M.P., will renew his motion next
Session in favour of opening the Museums at South
Kensington on Sundays.
Tt has been suggested by a gentleman at Maim
that a canal should be cut through the Malayan Peninsula,
to facilitate trade communication between Europe and
China.
The church of St. Stephen, Edge-hill, Liverpool, is
being remoYed from one side of the street to another for A
railway improvement.

Sunday last was " Temperatme Sunday " in
Rochester, when, by the desire of the Bishop, sermons on
temperance were preaehed in several of the churches, and
collections made in behalf of the Diocesan Temperance
Society.

Mr. Bright was on Monday elected Lord Rector of
glasgow University by a majority of 814 votes over Mr.
Ruskin, the nominee of the Conservative students. The
numbers were: Bright, 1,128; Ruskin, 814. In the evening
there was a torchlight procession of the Liberal students
through the principal streets.

The Queen and Princess Beatrice attended Divine
service on Sunday morning in Balmoral Castle. The Rev.
David Strong, minister of Hillhead Church, Glasgow
officiated. Mr. Childers dined with the Queen ia the
evening.

Miners from the headwaters of the River Jackson,
Alaska, report having found numerous gold deposits and
indications of rich placers in that region.
The aggregate production of anthracite and bitumi-
nous coal in Pennsylvania, to October 18 this year, amounte4
to 21,353,745 tons, as compared with 23,343,703 tons in the
corresponding period of 1879, showing a decrease of 1,989,958
tons this year.
Some curious items of English news may frequently
be gathered from the Parisian journals. Thus one paper in-
forms its readers that the London Times has paid Lord
Beaconsfield .£l,OOO fcr the permission to publish some ad-
vanced pages of his forthcoming novel! It should be said
that this practice is very common with many French
journals.

"Lucy Hayes' Tea Parties" will be. the fashion in
New York this winter—temperance entertainments such as
the President's wife gives at the White House, and planned
on the model of the " Martha Washington parties" of the
last century. simplicity in dress, food, and amusements will
be the main feature of these gatherings, for Mrs. Hayes is
trying to check American feminine extravagance.

Cork gas has 'seen lately produced with great
succ-ass, the Paris Globe tells us. Besides being much cheaper
than coal gas, it gives far better light, while it will not
Injure pictures, gilding, drx.
The Jesuits having attempted to re-enter Portugal,
whence they were expelled in 1759, the Government has
instructed the provincial and colonial Governors to watch over
the strict enforcement of the decree of 1834, abolishing all
religious Orders.

Accounts from many parts of the island of Jamaica
show that the inhabitants are still suffering severely
from the hurricane of the 18th of August last. A letter from
Hope Bay says that in that locality alone, within an area of
50 square miles, 426 houses were totally and 162 partially
destroyed by the storm, some 1,700 persons being left shel-
terless and destitute.

As to the iron and steel trades, the advice' are all
favourable (remarks the Pall Mall Gazette). Makers of pig
iron are standing out for higher prices, while the finished
Iron trade is reported to be more active than it has been
for many years past; the rail trade is brisk, wire mills are
active, and engineers and shipbuilders actively employed.
From New York also it is reported that there has been a
general improvement in the demand for all kinds of iron,
tinplates, and hardwares, and that the price of Scotch pigs
have risen from 28. to 6s. per ton.

Emigration from Germany to the United States
continues as brisk as ever, notwithstanding the advanced
state of the season. According to a calculation made at
Bremen, by the end of this year about 80,000 persons will
have been shipped for America from that port alone.

A Blue Book just published shows that the Danish
Army counts 12 Generals, 78 Colonels, 229 Captains, 605
Lieutenants, and 97 Ensigns. The average pay of a General
Officer is about £450, a Colonel £220, a Captain £lBO, a.
Lieutenant £75, and an Ensign £4O annually.—The Fleet la
officered by three Admirals receiving an annual pay ot
£4OO, 15 Commanders receiving £275, 36 Captains with £lB6l,
80 Lieutenants with £75, and 20 Second Lieutenants receiv-
ing £3O per annum.

It was stated in Bristol on Monday night that the
Bristol Conservatives, who claim a gain of 606 on the recent
Parliamentary registration, have selected as one of their
candidates for the next vacancy, Mr. Edward Colston, a
lineal descendant of the Bristol philanthropis

In London last week 2,538 births and 1,636 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 80 below, whereas the deaths exceeded by 17, the
average numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which had
been equal to 21'6, 211, and 21 8 per 1,000 in the three pre-
ceding weeks, rose to 233. The 1,636 deaths included 1T
from small-pox, 47 from measles, 84 from scarlet-fever, 18
from diphtheria, 17 from whooping-cough, 21: from different
forms of fever, and 21 from diarrhoea.
The death is announced of Mrs. Lydia Maria
Child, the well-known American authoress and reformer.
The deceased was the daughter of Mr. David Francis, of
Medford, Massachusetts, where she was bora on the 11th of
February, 1802. At the age of twenty-six she was married
to Mr. David Lee Child, a lawyer, and for sunny years they
lived in New York city, where they jointly conducted an
able Abolitionist paper, the National Anti-Slavery Standard,
The early advent of frosty weather this year pre.
raises to intensify considerably the distress in Russia. We
learn from the St. Petersburg Herald that a considerable
number of shiploads of corn have been caught on the Volga
by the winter, and will now be compelled to remain there
until the return of spring. A portion of the consignments
was destined for the north, and especially for the St. Peters-
burg district, and another portion for the famine-threatened
districts of Saratoff and Samara. It is stated that only about
one-half of the consignments can be unloaded and despatched
by land routes to the consuming districts, while the other
half inust remain on board until ths vessels are liberated
next year
No little alarm was created at Woolwich on
Monday night by a sudden flash, which lit up the sky with a
red tint and was soon followed by a subdued light. A quan-
tity of gun-cotton in the yard of the Chemical Establish-
ment, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, where such explosives are.
the subjects of continufil experiments, had by some means
became detonated, no serious damage being done, with the
exception of the destruction of a small wooden building in
the yard and the smashing of a number of windows. Persona
who were passing the building at the time were covered
with the dibris, which fell in a shower all round.
At Ramsay, Isle of Man, during a sudden gale, on
Sunday night, the schooner Ada, of Beaumaris, bound from
Plymouth to Runcorn, went ashore. She had been driven
out of her course, her bulwarks had been carried away, and
she was leaking badly. The Manchester branch lifeboats
of the National Institution stationed at Ramsay, was imme-
diately launched, and taken through the heavy breakers to
the spot, and saved the crew of four men. on account
of the severity of the weather the vessel was likely to be-
come a total wreck.—The Ramsay lifeboat was during the
recent storms the means of saving two shipwrecked crews,
and has altogether saved 84 lives from different shipwrecks.