The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-11 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

"The Queen was much distressed by the accounts
of the recent railway accidents, and Her Majesty has been
in frequent communication with the Government as to the
means to be adopted to provide as far as possible for the
safety of those who travel upon or are connected with the
working of rttilways."—Wednesday's Times.

An electric railway has been established in the
Brussels Exhibition, and it is said to be working with great
'regularity, carrying six passengers at about six to seven
miles an hour to a distance of nearly 4,000 yards.

A meeting in aid of the Patriotic Fund for the relief
of the families of the killed and wounded in the Afghan war
has been held at Poona, Sir J. Fergusson presiding. Over
8,000 rupees'were subscribed.

The District Coroner for Wilts, has held an inquest
at Heytesbury, on the body of Alfred Ernest Hunt, agedl3.
The evidence showed that deceased was, with his employer,
engaged in a field near the railway station cutting barley
with-a machine. The lad, who was riding the front horse, -
was observed to fall. . fie was carried home, and died al-
most immediately. The medical man who was called in,
gave it as his opinion that death was caused by the excessive
heat.—The Jury found a verdict accordingly.
The Bishop of Liverpool on Tuesday confirmed a
number of boys from the Indefatigable, who were presented
to him by the chaplain, the Hey. John Bridger, administer-
ing the rite to each singly.

The War Office, in consideration of the importance
of ballooning in connection with military affairs, has decided
to detail a company of the Royal Engineers for instruction in
the art. The winter, being unfavourable to ascents, is to be
devoted to experiments in connection with the manufacture
of gas.
In France, the other day, a curious railway acci-
dent happened at the La Vlllette goods station. As a cattle
train was being shunted, two trucks, containing fifty-one
pigs, were accidentally sent off the line and precipitated
Into a canal considerably below the level of the station.
The trucks were smashed into pieces, and eleven of the pigs
drowned. The other forty were rescued from a watery
grave, presumably only to meet with a still snore cruel fate
at the hands of their consignee.

A survey has recently been made with a view of
ascertaining the feasibility of a ship canal across the penin-
sula of Florida, by which the route from New Orleans to New
York would be shortened 407 miles, and the voyage from
New Orleans to Liverpool by 412 miles. The length of the
canal from the mouth of the St. Mary's River to the Galt )!
Mexico would be 122 miles, with 34 miles of river navigatlor.
and 13 of deepest water from the bar of the mouth of the St.
Mary, and the
,cost of the proposed route would be about
50,000,000 dols.
The Government of India has decided to test the
fitness of Cyprus mules for active service in India, and a
mountain battery of Artillery horsed by these animals, No.
5 Battery Bth Brigade, has been selected for service at Can-
dahar with the reinforcements now proceeding from 'Bom-
bay. •
American children are noted for precocity, and they
have 'now taken to betting as keenly as their elders. At
Saratoga the little ones lay wagers on the races aud go
about betting-book in hand, talking wisely on Turf matters
and disussing the points of a horse with all the eagerness of
veteran sportsmen.
,t The Sheffield .coron'er, Me. D:-Wightman; 'llekl an'
inquiry on Tuesday at the-Shellield Infirmary as to the death
of Samuel Brameld. The man was a-labourer at the works
of Messrs. Jessop and Sons (Limited), at Brightside, and was
assisting a fitter to put a new stop-valve in the wain pipe
supplying force to the works. He was warned by the engine-
man not to break the joint, but he disregarded the warning,
the steam rushed out upon him, and he was terre.ily scalded
about the body. The steam came out with such force that it
lmocked him to the ground and broke oh of his hips. A
verdict of "Accidental death' was roturaM.

The Prince of Wales has made a present of four
setters to President Grdvy, who is now shooting in his Jura
home.

Great damage is being done to forest trees nea
Carbondale, Illinois, by a beetle which eats the tissue of the
leaves and reduces them to mere skeletons.

The consumption of wool in the United States has
increased from 224 million pounds in 1873 to 595 million
pounds in 1879.

In London, at an early hour on Monday morning,
a fire was discovered in the neighbourhood of Drury-lane
In a house in vhich it is stated thirty persons were asleep at
the time. On the extinction of the flames the body of a
man was discovered in a sitting position; he had been
burned to death. Next day the boiy of a woman missing
was found in a water-butt on the basement floor It was
burnt almost to a cinder.

On Saturday an old man, named Stephen Layster,
a basket maker of Wakefield, was found prostrate in the
street. It is supposed he had had a sunstroke. He was taken
to his home, but died almost immediately.
An extraordinary storm occurred on Saturday at
Retford. Within the space of a few minutes the clouds
darkened, the lightning became vivid, the thunder rattled,
the rain and hail fell in torrents, and as suddenly as it had
come the storm departed, and the hot sun shone out.
The army worm has made its appearance in the
eastern part of Halifax county, and in Sherbrooke, Canada
where it is doing much damage to the crops.
The arrivals from Canada and the United States
in the Mersey during the past month comprise 9,464 cattle,
12,221 sheep, and 1,219 pigs. The shipments of sheep and
cattle were somewhat less than in July. The losses of
cattle averaged 2 per cent., and of sheep a little over 3 per
cent.

At Pieve de Cadore, the birthplace of Titian, a
splendid statue of the great painter was unveiled on Sunday
in the presence of the authorities, the inhabitants, and an
immense concourse of visitors. The statue was designed by
the sculptor Dal Zotto, of Venice, and cast by the eminent
thin of De Poll, of Vittorib.
A return issued on Wednesday of the imports of the
principal articles of foreign and colonial merchandise shows
the value for the eight months ending August 31, 1880, to
be £275,632,435; for the same time 1879, £231,622,804 ; 1878,
£255,386,491. The exports for the same dates, £9,282,640,
£9,528,662, and £7,416,868 respectively.

The French, who have -held a protectorate over the
island of Tahati since the year 1842, on the 29th of June
concluded an agreement with King Pomare, by which
Tahati and the neighbouring islands under his rule were an-
nexed to France. The King is to retain his titular privi-
leges.

The oil shark is turned to profit as a regular in-
dustry on the southern coast of California. These fish
frequent the waters in great schools, and are easily taken by
hooks and in seines. About a gallon of the oil is got from
each one. The fins are sold to Chinamen, who esteem them
a great luxury as food.

A few days ago some freehold property, containing
something over two thousand superficial feet, belonging to
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, was sold for no less a sum
than £12,500, being at the rate of about a quarter 0/a million
sterling per acre. This property is situated in Park-lane,
close to Hyde-park, but there are any number of sites equally
valuable.—Court Journal.

The herring season on the east coast of Scotland
closed on Saturday. The season has been one of unprece-
dented success. l'he total catch is estimated at several
hundred thousand crans, being more than double the quan-
tity caught last year, and nearly a third more than in 1878.
Prices have ruled very low. In some towns the fish were
retailed at six a penny, and thousands of tons were used for
manure.

A religious service was celebrated at the Church of
Notre Dame de Lorette, in commemoration of the third
anniversary of M. Theirs' death. Madame Theirs and Mdllc
Doane were present. After the mass they repaired to the
grave of the late President of the Republic, at Pere Lachaise
Cemetery, where a number of admiring friends assembled,
and placed immortelles on the great statesman's tomb.
The recent outbreak of cholera at Saratoff, on the
Volga, which we reported a few days ago, and which con-
tinues unabated, has been followed by an outbreak at the
summer camp at Orel, in Central Russia, The Novoe Vremya
says that the epidemic has assumed serious proportions.
Upwards of seven hundred soldiers are down with the
disease. The intense heat prevailing in Russia, and the
badness of the water at the camp, are assigned as the causes
of the outbreak.

A farm servant ploughing near Rosenberg, in West
Prussia, a few days ago turned up an earthernware pot con-
taining about 6,000 old coins They were so-called "hollow
pennies" of the old Teutonic knights, and belonged to the
14th and lath centuries. The "hollow penny " is a silver coin
with a raised rim around it: the centre displays the arms of
the Grand-Master of the Order for the time being. There
were 21 different sorts among the some found.

An inquiry has been held at St. George's Hospital,
London, as to the death of Elizabeth Summers, 56, widow
of a licensed victualler, who lived at 26, Raphael-street,
Knightsbridge. The evidence went to show that some three
weeks ago the deceased was cleaning a window, and was
sitting on the sill outside. Whilst so engaged, she suddenly
became faint, and, losing her balance, fell into a yard paved
with stone, a distance of lift. She was taken to the hospital,
where she lingered until Saturday last. She was conscious
until her death, and more than once stated how the accident
occurred. The medical evidence showed that her back was
broken by the fall, and that she had received other severe
njuries. A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned.

Abdurrahm an's Body Guard are remarkable for their
curious equipment, the Times of India tells us. At the
interview between the Ameer and Mr. Lepel Griffin It was
noticeable that no two of the retainers were alike either in
height or garb, while they were marvellously armed with
Sniders, Chasseptits, Martinis, Minis rifles, double-barrelled
guns, and matchlocks.
The rival candidates for the Presidency of the
United States, riding together in the same carriage, are to
form the great attraction of a monster procession at Boston
on the 17th inst.—the 250th anniversary of the city's
settlement.

The London Gazette of 'the 3rd instant contains the
following :—" The Queen has been graciously pleased to
direct letters patent to be passed under the Great Seal of the
United Kingdom for the annexation to the Colony of the
Cape of Good Hope of certain British possessions or terri-
tories in the Transkei, known as Tembuland, Emigrant,
Ttuubookieland, isomvanaland, and Galekeland."

Some few days ago the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon received
another attack of his old malady, rheumatism, in one of his
knees. Though not of an exceedingly severe nature, it was
sufficiently painful to prevent the rev, gentleman leaving his
home, and he was unable to take his usual place at the
Metropolitan Tabernacle on Sunday. At the morning ser-
vice therein a special prayer was offered for the speedy
restoration to health of Mr. Spurgeon.
The shipments of grain from America to Europe
during the past week are again on a great scale, the money
value being about £1,500,000. Meantime the large sup-
plies from abroad are being supplemented by good deliveries
from our own farmers, and at the moment English wheat is
decidedly cheaper than foreign, fine dry 631 b. quality being
freely offered at 40s. per quarter. But even at such a low
price our farmers are far better off than in previous seasons,
both yield and quality being extremely satisfactory.—Pall
Mall Gazette.

Two children left alone in a house at Thurso got
into a chest, and the lid falling down, fixed itself by an out-
side catch, and the children were suffocated.

The Liberte states that Mgr. • Freppel, Bishop of
Angers and deputy for Finisterre, narrowly escaped drowning
a few days ago as he was going to I.7shant to visit his con-
stituents. While he was in the act of stepping on deck
from the shore, the gangway that connected the ship with
terra firma suddenly tipped over, and Mgr- Freppel fell
into the sea. Fortunately some sardine fishermen who were
near succeeded in extricating him without delay and in
bringing him safe to land.
On the arrival of the Columbia at Portland, Oregon,
last month, the chief engineer reported that the Edison's
electric lamp had worked with entire satisfaction during
the whole trip in all kinds of weather. The ordinary skill
of the engine-room was sufficient for the management of the
electric generators and the lights. This is the first applica-
tion of small or incandescent electric lamps to the lighting
of a ship's state-room and saloons.

"Mr. Edison is at it again. According to a report,
although there has been a great deal of experimenting at
Menlo Park with other things besides electric lamps, the
latter have not been neglected. A practical trial is pro-
mised in a district of New York where it is said enough de-
mand exists for electric motive power by day to make the
cost of electric lighting at night a matter of secondary im-
portance. At all events a practical trial of the lights and
motors is again talked about, and the reported preparations
for it give promise .of something more definite as to cost
and durability than has yet been shown with the convenient
little lamps so long used to illuminate Menlo Park for-the
amusement of visitors."—Cuttrt Journal.

In London, on Tuesday, Mr. Humphreys held an
Inquiry at the London Hospital, Whitechapel•road, as to the
death of John Goody, aged 40, builder's labourer, who was
killed on Saturday last through the breaking of a spliced
ladder on which he was standing repairing the gutter round
the roof of a house in the Mile-end-road. The deceased fell
head first to the ground. He was taken to the London Hos-
pital, where he died almost immediately after his arrival.
The coroner and the jury having examined the broken sec-
tion of the ladder and found the wood to be perfectly sound,
a verdict of "Accidental death" was returned.
On Wednesday morning, as the 9.15 train from
Euston to Rugby was being shunted on to the down platform
before starting, it was run into by a heavy train of empty
carriages that were being shunted from another siding. A
number of pdssengers had already taken their seats. When
it was seen that a collision was inevitable, a large number of
railway servants ran along the line shouting to the driver to
try and "back.' It was fully two minutes after the empties
had been started before the collision occurred. There was
great excitement as to the safety of those in the train, but
they escaped with a shaking. Three carriages were
smashed.

On Tuesday evening the notices served upon 700
men employed by the Wbarncliffe Silkstone Colliery Com-
pany, near Sheffield, expired, and all the hands ceased work
and brought their tools out of the pit. No reason has been
wiped for issuing the notices, which the men assume to be
preliminary to a reduction of wages.
The most profitable railway in the world is a little
affair not half a mile long, which connects the Manhattan
Beach and the Brighton Beach Hotels on Coney Island, N.Y.,
the summer resort of the well-to-do New Yorkers. It is of
three feet guage, and has two locomotives and four carriages,
a train running each way every five minutes. The railway
paid for itself in a few weeks after it was opened, and last
year returned 500 per cent. on its cost. The expenses are SO
dollars a day, and the receipts average 450 dollars, the fare
being five cent'.
• -•- • -

-- -
An old man, who lived in the Rue Vercingetoriz,
Paris, and who was noticeable only by the poverty of his
external appearance, died recently, and some time_elapsed
before an heir presented himself to claim the fortune of the
deceased, which he estimated at between £5O. and £OO. The
etlnyt,proceeded to take possession of the old
1 to his surprise no less a sum than
legatee
praelc.
ten%
£32, the habit of frequenting
(mei tly that the miser had been in
000 was discovearne(d. in a cupboard. It trampired subse-
quently he had evidently been favoured by fortune
erable extent—Court
.Journal.
cgrobis Durand, the eminent portrait painter, has
thet' o-a- c Bourse,ns
just performed an exiraordinary feat (says the Court
Journal). On a visit at
Ghent,
.he wagered he would
execute the portrait of his host ti lin an hour. Colours,
brushes, ttc.. were
rs
at once obtained, and a gentleman ap-
pointed to mark time. At the expiration of three-quarters
of n hour, Durand appeared with the finished toile, a
splendid likeness,, and signed "to M. Van der ilaeghen,
m h C
iron' his friend, C. Durand." Ordinarily Durand's fee is
.5,000 to iso,ooo'll'ancs a poitrait.
The labotir reports from the various parts of Lon-
don are on the whole favourable. Great activity still con-
tinues in the building trades, and the fine weather is most
favourable for outdoor occupations. The projected improve-
ments continue to increase. The new Leadenhall Market is
to be commenced at once, tenders having been invited for
the cost. The demolition of old buildings in the different
parts of the metropolis give employment to a large number
of labourers, and the erections of the new buildings finds
ji;11 work to the artisans in the building trade. The engi-
neering trades are getting busy.. The large and expensive
alterations to the bridges in London, and the demand by the
principal railways, owing to the increased traffic, for new
locomotives, tenders, and other rolling stocks, encourages
the hope that they are about to return to busy and pros-
perous times.
The great annual store cattle fair was held at Barnet
on Saturday. Each class of stock had separate fields assigned
for exhibition. Many farmers front various parts of the
country were present. Dealers demanded high prices, and
had to make concessions to buyers. Prices were as follows :
Devous, well-grown store steers, £ll to £l4 a head; and
,ditto, good blood. and level lots, £lB. Herefords were in
liraited supply, and made ..414-to, 04 shorthorns, large
steers, £18; and ditto in condition, £2O to £24; and heifers,
£l4 to £l6. Welsh cattle were poorly represented by black
cattle. North Wales steers made £l5 to £l7 a head; 'tints;
£9 to £l2; and heifers, £7 to £lO per ditto. The Scotch
cattle , fair, held near Barnet-common, was moderately
supplied with polled Scots. Highland steers and Scotch
runts realized rices yin-yin' from £ll to £l7 a head. Dairy-
ing cows, well 'bred and in full mill, fetched.£2.s to £3O, in-
eluding the suclag calf ; Alderney and small breeds, £l4 to
£22; and cows and heifers to calve down, £1.3 to 03 each.

The Earl of Lauderdale has intimated to his
tenants that those under old leases are to have the privilege
of killing hares and rabbits accorded by the Ground Game
Act to new tenants.

The expenses of the last election of the borough of
hien was only a contest of eight days, are as
follows : Mr. Rail (L), £1,2v8 45. 5. ; Mr. Banbury (C),
£1,093 19s. Bd.
A young man named Carpenter, aged 21, belonging
to Bognor, and engaged as a grocer's assistant at Portsmouth,
was drowned on Sunday morning while bathing off Southsea
beach.

The Indian Herald hears from Fazabad that two
officers at that station recently killed an alligator of the
extraordinary length of 21i feet.
- -

A six days' walking match was concluded at Bristol
on Saturday night, when one of the competitors named
Williams, a pedestrian, aged 50, won, having walked 412
miles in the prescribed time against 393 miles covered by
Parry, an American pedestrian, who came in second.

During the three months ended July 31, there were
565 outbreaks of swine fever, 3,025 animals being attacked
with the disease; in the corresponding period of 1879 there
were 713 outbreaks, and 5,064 animals attacked. This
statement shows a decrease or 2,039 cases in 1880, as com-
pared with the corresponding period of 1879.
A painful fatality has occurred at Plymouth. Four
boys, two named Toms, and two named Mitchell, drove a
horse and cart into the water for the purpose of cleansing
the animal. The horse took fright and plunged into deep
water, overturning the vehicle and its occupants. Before
help could be rendered, the animal and the two Mitchells
were drowned, and the other lads were with difficulty
rescued, the vehicle having fallen over on them and carried
them down with it.

The Tam o'Shanter Hat, worn by British beauties,
Is much admired in France, and the Paris Figaro recom-
mends its fair readers to adopt "this charming head-dress,
which was the national head-gear of Ireland in the six-
teenth century, and is known in history as the Tors
a'shanter.'"

The Vienna Correspondent of the Daily News says
that an hotel with fifty rooms has been built in three weeks
by an enterprising Viennese.

General Scobeleff has, it is stated, been summoned
by the Emperor to Livadia by telegraph, to take part in a
council of war regarding We...further progress of the expedi-
tion against the Tekke Turkomans. General Scobeleff is said
to insist upon be necessity of punishing the Turkomans of
Merv.

Mr. Carlyle (the London correspondent of the
Manchester Guardian says) has now so far recovered from
his recent indisposition as to be able to superintend the pre-
paration of the materials requisite for an adequate life,
which may be described as a biography interspersed with
characteristic chapters of autobiography. This interesting
book will when complete be in effect the joint work of Mr.
Froude and Mx. Carlyle's married niece, Mrs. Alexander
Carlyle.
A committee has been formed at Syra to raise
funds for the erection of a statue to Lord Byron at Misso-
longld.

On Saturday, the seventh annual collection, known
as "Hospital Saturday," in aid of the hospitals and dis-
pensaries of the metropolis, was held, and it resulted, as far
as the amount is at present ascertained, in a substantial sum
being realised. More than 400 lady collectors were in charge
of boxes in various parts of London.

For some time workmen have been engaged under
the direction of Mr. Barlow, C.E., in sinking an experimental
cylinder at the west side of the Tay Bridge for the purpose
of ascertaining the nature of the strata of the bed of the
river at a depth of from 20 ft. to 30 ft. Huge piles have been
driven into the ground, and the staging was almost erected
when, on Monday night, a south-westerly gale of great
violence sprang up, and the whole of the staging was swept
away, nothing being left save the bare piles. Fortunately, the
workmen had ceased their labours before the gale began.
The gale abated almost as quickly as it had arisen.

- -
The art of dressing in the commonest materials,
and yet looking superior to other women, is being studied
by fashionable Farisiennes. Fourteen ladies recently
entered into competition, and the prize was awarded to a
dress made of that coarse sacking used for packing purposes,
trimmed somewhat incongruously with 1. alenciennes lace
and floral embroidery on a gold ground, parasol and shoes
to match. The experiment, however, was decidedly ex-
pensive, for though the dress Itself cost a mere nothing, the
lace was worth £6O, the handle of the parasol cost £24, and
the embroidery £.32.

A great international exhibition is being organised
to be held in New York in 1883. The commission met for
the first time on August 11, when they nominated an execu-
tive committee.

The mortality in Paris increased to a frightful
extent in August as compared with last year, especially
among children. The cases of death from infantile
diarrhcea are 1,602, as against 472. These alarming
statistics are attributed to insufficient drainage, the
consequences of which have been developed by the extreme
heat.

The Queen held a Council at Balmoral Castle o
Monday morning, at which were present Prince Leopold, the
Lord President of the Council, and Lieutenant-General Sir
Henry Ponsouby. Mr. Charles Lennox Peel was clerk of the
Council.—On Sunday the Queen, Prince Leopold, and Prin-
cess Beatrice attended divine service at the Castle. The
Rev. Dr. Donald Macleod officiated.

A telegram from America says that President
Ilayes's reteption at Salt Lake City was cordial, but informal,
as he declined the hospitalities proffered by the city autho-
rities. The Mormon President and other Mormon Church
authorities paid the Prasident great attention during his
visit, and accompanied him back to Ogden, where he was
met by a deputation of Californian citizens, and resumed his
Journey westward;

The additions to the Zoological Society's Garagne
(Regent's Park) during the past, week include a Macaljue
monkey from India, presented by Mr. George G. Turner;
two American moorhens from America, presented by Mr.
G. H. llawtayne, ; a turustone, captured at sea, off
the Azores, presented by Captain A Icßitchie, steam.,,bip
Utopia; two koodoos from Africa, a harnessed antelope fr,
Gambia, a Syrian fennec fox: from North Africa, a kii,g
vulture from Tropical America, deposited ; a nylghaie from
India, a Michie's tufted deer from China, a Curler's toucan
from the Upper Amazons, purchased.

At Sierra• Leone, at midnight on the 7th of August,
a son of Provost-Sergeant Williams, of the Ist West India
Regiment, was stung by a scorpion and died the next morn-
ing.

At a meeting of the Cheltenham Board of
Guardians one of the members, Mr. Leuthall, said that
he had read in the newspapers that in a London work-
house the average age of 12 paupers was 84. He had
carefully examined the out-relief list of the Cheltenham
Union and found that the average age of 10 persons there
named amounted to 92 years; 10 averaged 84 years, and 10
others 83 years.

The Powers have communicated to the Porte that
Its last proposal concerning the Montenegrin affair has not
been found satishictory. The Ambassadors informed the
Porte that the naval demonstration would take place, in
which case it is more than probable that Turkey will with-
draw her troops from the disputed districts, and leave the
ships to make over the territory to Montenegro in their own
way.

11Idme. Botta, a New York lady, has presented to
the French Academy the sum of £l,OOO sterling, the interest
on which is to be applied to founding a prize, to be awarded
once every five years, for the best French work on the
" Conditioa of Women" published during that period. The
prize will be awarded for the first time next year.
The fourth centenary of the Russian victory over
the Tartars is being celebrated at St. Petersburg. The secre-
tary of the Archwological Commission in that city is prepar-
ing for the occasion a history of the so-called Golden Horde
from Arabic and Persian documents, collected from all acces-
sible libraries in Europe.

The Orient Line steamer Liguria arrived at
Plymouth on Monday, having made the fastest passage
from Australia yet recorded. Her dates are—Sydney, July
2u; Melbourne, July 27; Adelaide, July 31, eight p.m.;
Suez, August 24; Port Said, August 26; and Naples, August
30. She passed Cape St. Vincent on September 3 at eleven
a.m. The Liguria made the passage from Adelaide to
Plymouth Sound in 36 days 6 hours. She was fifty-six hours
getting through Suez Canal, and was detained at Naples
hours. The Liguria brought 137 passengers, eighty-five
sacks and two packages of mails, and £lOO,OOO in specie or
freight.

An accident by which four lives were lost occurred
on Monday night at the Great Western Company's colliery
near Maestag, Glamorganshire. Seven masons were at
work in the pit, when the guide-side rope of the north shaft
stage broke, and four men, were precipitated into the water
beneath and drowned. Several others were injured.

At the annual meeting of the Tweed Commissioners,
held at Berwick on Monday, it was stated in the report that
upwards of 5,000 salmon grilse and trout aff•cted with disease
had been drawn ashore by the water bailiffs. A committee,
with the Duke of Roxbungh as chairman, was appointed to
inquire into the cause of the disease, and to suggest a remedy
if possible.
The village of Pestnick in Pomerania, was for the
most part destroyed by fire fast week. Seventy-two houses,
in addition to eighteen cattle sheds and farm buildings,
were burnt to the ground. A large number of horses, cattle,
pigs, sheep, and poultry, together with the entire results of
this year's harvest, perished in the flames.

In London last week 2,403 births and 1,460 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 22 below, while the deaths exceeded by 10,
the average numbers in the corresponding week of
the last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes,
which had steadily declined from 24-9 to 21-2 in the five
precedlp.g weeks, further fell to 20.8 last week. During the
past nine weeks of the current quarter the metropolitan
death-rate averaged 21'9 per 1,000, against 23.6 and 183 in
the corresponding periods of 1878 and 1879. The 1,460
deaths included 5 from small-pox, 15 from measles, 47 from
scarlet fever, 10 from diphtheria, 25 from whooping-cough,
23 from different forms of fever, and 232 from diarrlicea.