The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-13 00:00:00

year.

A fire, accompanied with fatal results, occurred at
Maxwell-road, East Pollokshields, Glasgow, on Sunday morn-
ing. Two children were so seriously scorched that they died
a few hours after being rescued.

On Sunday night as the excursion train between
Sheffield and Cleethorpes was nearing Retford Station on
the return journey a man whose name did not transpire, was
knocked down at Ordskll crossing. The train passed over
.him cutting off his legs and mutilating him terribly. Death
was instantaneous.

The executive committee of the Amalgamated
Society of Railway Servants have arranged for the prepara-
tion ot a Bill compelling railway companies to fit all trains
with self-acting continuous breaks.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 18,000 bales, and since let September
5,723,800 bales. Shipments to Great Britain, 32,000 bales,
and to the Continent and Channel, 1,000 bales; total since
Ist September, 4,442,600 bales. Stock at all ports, 240,000
bales.
The total number of amendments made by the
House of Lords to the Irish Land bill was 94.

A New York telegram states that the boiler of a
steam threshing machine in use near St. Louis has exploded
°wising the death of six persons, and mortal injury to three
others.

There were 38 deaths from small-pox in London
last week, and of these 27 were recorded in the Metropolitan
Asylum Hospitals, and 11 in private dwelling-houses. No
less than 13 fatal cases belonged to Hackney.

In London, last week, 2,242 births and 1,717 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population the
births were 278 below, whereas the deaths exceeded by 30,
the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of the last
ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which
had steadily increased in the six preceding weeks from 191
to 27'2 per 1,000, declined to 23'4.

The value of the unoccupied land at the Blackfriars
end of the Thames Embankment in London is stated, on
the authority of Sir Henry Hunt, consulting surveyor of her
Majesty's Office of Works, to have risen since 1870 from
£40,000 to £84,825 an acre.

Last Saturday a party of labourers in South Carolina
were struck while at work by lightning, which killed four of
the men on the spot and injured twelve others, five of whom
were not expected live.

A calculation of the time occupied in divisions
during the present Session shows that ten days of nine hours
each have been thus appropriated.
Anti-Jewish excesses are reported from Jastrow, in
Prussia, where a Jewish clergyman has been attacked and
wounded, his assailants succeeding in escaping. There was
a fight on the occasion between the police and the snob. A
renewal of the Anti-Jewish riots has occurred at Bublitz, in
Pomeranis..

The Edinlturgh Daily Review states that Mr. Andrew
Carnegie, of New York and Pittsburg, U.S.A., now an
American citizen, but a native of Dunfermline, has intimated
to the custodier of Dunfermline Abbey his desire that the
Crown should Permit him to fill the large west window of
the Abbey Church with stained glass. The window is a very
beautiful specimen of early fourteenth century Gothic, and is
situr.ted immediately above the line recessed Norman door-
way of the original church, founded A.D. 1075. Mr. Carnegie
has already given to Dunfermline £5,000 and £B,OOO for the
establishment of public baths and a free library.

Mr. Ralph Disraeli on Tuesday, delivered up to her
Majesty the Badge of the Order of the Garter worn by his
brother, the late Lord Beaconsfield.
In one of the divisions in the House of Commons
on Tuesday night 438 members took part. It is stated that
the division lists show that for many years past the "rouse of
Commons has not contained so many members within its
walls on the 9th of August.

A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on August 5, was 18,800,0(0 bushels; Ditto, Indian
Corn, 15,900,080 bushels. Export clearances of wheat for
Europe during the past week, 1,730,000 bushels; export
clearances of Indian corn for Europe during the past week,
2,400,000 bushels.
At a meeting in London a letter from the Prince of
Wales was read, in which his Royal Highness signifies his
warm approval of the objects of the Northbrook Indian
Sod:Ay and Club, established for the benefit of Indian gen-
tlemen coming to England to pursue their studies, and
offers to become its patron in the event of there being a suf-
ficient response from India to enable the Committee to csta-
bli.th the institution on a permanent basis.

The principal argument in favour of cremation is
said to be its economy, but the recent services attending
the cremation of the Princess of Siam and her infant cost
R. 69,000. Part of these ceremonies, it is true consisted in
giving presents to all who attended, especially to the priests,
who received £20,000. The services occupied ten days, and
Included athletic sports, lotus dancing, and fireworks.

In order to encourage the love of reading and wean
the Russian peasants from the vodki shops it is proposed
that the Government should publish a popular gazette, and
that the volosts should receive and distribute every Sunday
and holiday three or four copies in each village, where the
villagers are to be assembled to listen to the public reading
and discussion of its contents. The Russian press is en-
grossed with the discussion of this well-meaning project.

- - -
According to the Times of India, of July 19, the
crop and weather reports throughout India are generally
favourable, but considerable anxiety still prevails In Mysore
in consequence of the failure of the rains there. The pros-
pects are described as very gloomy, and a famine, it is said,
seems imminent. _ _

-------
We have had the white ox, the white elephant,
the white fox, the white crow, the _white mow, the white
blackbird in the list of abnormal specimens of the animal
Kingdom. To this has now to be added a pair of snow-white
swallows, which have built a nest, apart from their peers,
over the door of a house in Hohenlimburg (Westphalia) and
are busy raising a brood.

The opening meetings of the British Medical Asso-
ciation commenced at Ityde on Tuesday. Mr. Benjamin
Barrow, of Ryde, was elected president for the ensuing year.
Mr. Barrow delivered 'a long address, in which he traced the
discoveries in medicine and defended vivisection on the
ground that some of the earliest discoveries had been made
by its aid. He also spoke of the mischief occasioned by the
upholders of anti-vaccination and those who carried temper-
ance principles to so great a length as not to administer
alcohol under any circumstances.

The Glasgow, Herald has published reports from the
various counties of Scotland giving details of the condition
of the crops. It would appear that the coming harvest is to
be a late one, and that as regards the different cereals the
yield, in comparison with that of last year, will be light—
probably a fifth less.
A Japanese paper is responsible for the following:
—A wonderfully large wasp, so big indeed that it is more
than four feet long from one end of its wings to the other,
has lately been taken on a place on the Nage mountain,
Settsu province. Its nest was on an old yenoki nearly
twenty ken in height ; therefore, no one was able to catch
It, but eventually a hunter shot it with his rifle. It will, it
is said, be shortly exhibited at the Osaka Museum.

An extensive coal mining company in the State of
Illinois, being unable to secure sufficient workmen, has sent
an agent to Europe with instructions to take back to the
United States 500 miners with their families.

Signor Matteucci, the Italian traveller, who for
several years has been engaged in exploring the interior of
Africa, and who travelled from the Red Sea to the Guinea
Gulf in company of Lieutenant Massare, of the Royal Italian
navy, died on Monday at the Provitali Hotel, Arundel-
street, London, in his thirtieth year. He was on his way
home after an absence of several years.

A return has been issued of the number of eases of
ejectmente for non-payment of rent in Ireland since the
Land Act of 1870 came into operation, in which claims for
disturbance on account of the rent being exorbitant were
made. For this it appears that in 72 ejectment cases claims
for disturbance werepade to the extent of £9,082 10s. 5d.,
while the Courts awarded £.2,729 7s. Bid. •

The arrivals of live stock from the United States
and Canada last week landed at Liverpool show a very large
decrease in cattle, and were the smallest for many weeks
past ; and, as regards sheep, there was the largest number
landed this year. The quantity of fresh meat was also
smaller than that of the previous week. The totals were
548 catt!e, 3,762 sheep, 3,120 quarters of beef, and 474 carcases
of mutton.
M. Galtir, Professor at the Veterinary School of
Lyons, has discovered a process of vaccination against rabies.
Having injected rabid virus into the veins of a sheep, he
noticed that the animal not only remained in good health,
but also became refractory to all other rabid inoculations
made in the skin or cellular tissue. M. Galtier inoculated
rabies on twenty sheep, ten of which had been vaccinated by
his process ; these remained in good health, while the ten
others died mad. The learned surgeon will shortly renew his
experiments on dogs.

The dancer which the Louvre incurs of being de-
'Etroyed by lire has at last attracted the serious attention of
the Paris authorities. The attendantil who hare hitherto
lived on the premises are for the future to ba replaced by
firemen—the former, wbo be it said are mainly family men,
being given au allowance of only 20. per diem as compensa-
tion for the free lodging which they have hitherto eujoyed.

- -
A telegram from Adelaide says that an inaugura-
tion service was held in the Exhibition building on Sunday,
the 10th inst. Nearly 10,000 persons were present, including
a volunteer choir numbering 400 performers. An Au:Arian
band also played selections, and everything tends to show
that the exhibition will prove a success. The opening is
fixed for the 21st inst.

At Windsor, on Saturday, the 37th birthday of the
Doke of Edinburgh was celebrated with the usual honours
paid to members of the Royal Family. The bells of
St. George's Chapel and St. John's Church rang merrily at
intervals, and salutes of 21 guns were tired in the afternoon
from the artillery in the Long Walk and Virginia Water.
Prince Alfred Erneat Albert was born on Aug. 6, 1814, and
created a Rear-Admiral of the British Navy on Dec. 30,
187. Ws Royal Highness was married on Jan. 23, 1874, to
the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, by whom he has several
children.

In compliance with the suggestion made by Car-
dinal Manning, the Executive of the Irish Ls.bour League has
determined to obtain signatures to a memo' ial addressed to
Mr. Gladstone, and requesting the appointment by the Go-
vernment of a Commission to inquire into the conditioe of
the Irish agricultural labourers, as a preliminary to tuner
legislation in their favour than that suet:limed in the
labourers' clauses added to the Laud Bill. •
Mr. Michael Davitt, the founder of the Land
League, in a letter which he has addressed to .his sister
from Portland Prison, says : "Since my arrival here my
geliGral health has been fairly good. The tonic atmosphere
and sea breeze of the island, though somewhat boisterous
betimes, is an agreeable contrast to the damp, foggy climate
of Dartmoor of foggy memory, and as I am at the same time
subject once more to those favoured disciplinary conditions
of life by which health, wealth, and wisdom are, at least
proverbially acquired, I am, you see, in want of nothing that
goes to the making up of sublunary happiness—fl I except,
among a few other trines, those of liberty, tke newspapers,:
and some one to speak to.
A very serious fire broke out on Monday night in
the centre of Berlin, resulting. in the destruction of Pro-
fessor Gropius's house and the three houses next door (sayt-
the Correspondent of the Daily News). Herr Gropins is-the
street
well-known and clever scene painter for •the• Royal opera
and theatre here. • The fire spread very rapidly, and the
palace of Count Pouri4talewso7su the
a ezim 4
hi:o, pv.osite sid.eroj:
akaree
nt
was damaged to the extv...t °flair-a-Imillion marks. Many
sears have ela s ,
ps:l4.:
place Luckily, no wind was prevailing, otherwise a
4ausiclerable portion of the town might have been destropd,

takaiii4

Eleven artillerymen have been injured, four of
them very severely, by an explosion in the Government
cartridge factory at Perpignan.
A telegram from Alexandria states that the Nile is
rising freely and that the crops generally leok well.
On Monday the sparks from a train set fire to and
destroyed about three acres of barley at Margate,
The vice-president, the hon. secretary, and two
other members of the Nenagh Land League were arrested last
Saturday under the Coercion Act, and conveyed to Naas Gaol
under a strong escort.
Coffin stealing is a favourite occupation in Chicago.
The coffins are carried away with their inmates, and no trace
can be found of the thieves.
The partridge season of 1881 promises to be one of
the best We have had for many years.
.A machine boy at the University Press, Cambridge,
had his hand so terribly smashed in the machinery on Mon-
day afternoon that it had to be amputated on his being taker
to Addenbrook's Hospital.

The Postmaster-General, replying to a letter ad-
dressed to him, says that the question of abolishing telegraph
stamps has been for some time under his consideration, but
he has not been able yet to come to a decision. Mr. Fawcett
also proposes to at once inquire into the desirability of
abolishing embarrassing letter-box distinctions.
Dr. Hancock's report of savings in Ireland for the
past year shows a decrease of £1,061,000 in deposits and cash
balances in Irish joint-stock banks, the total deposit being
now .C28,28'9,000; a decrease of £674,000 in investments in
Government and India stock: a decrease of £97,000 in bank-
notes circulat:d, and of 83,000 in deposits in trustee savings-
banks; with an increase of £197,000 in deposits in Post
Office savings banks.

Pope Leo XIII. k still unwell. His illness is said
not to be serious, but the medical men attending him have
been requested not to leave Rome. .

On Monday Mr. Handley Jones, an assistant civil
engineer in the service of the Great Eastern Railway Company,
was knocked down and killed about a half-a-mile above Brent-
wood-station by the morning express from Ipswich. Mr.
Jones was making a survey, and in attempting to get out of
the way stepped upon the wrong line.

- - - -
The wishing bone has been seslected to figure in
art •, ornaments of jewellery are now made in the likeness of
that bit of chicken—Court Journal.

The German alphabet has found a new defender in
Prince Bismarck. A book printed in Roman letters which
had been presented to the Prince was returned to the
publisher, with a letter from the Prince's private secretary,
stating that "according to general rules, it was forbiddenta
present to the Imperial Chancellor any books in German
printed with Roman letters, because it took the Chancellor
too much time to read them."

A parliamentary paper published on Tuesday con-
tains a full list of the persons imprisoned as suspects under
the provisions of the Coercion Act. 'Up to the 2nd inst. there
were 192 persons detained in custody, and they were distribu-
ted as follows :—Kilmainham, 51; Limerick, 51; Galway, 58;
Dundalk, 13; and Naas, 19.

Thursday in last week having been the last day on
which regiments were allowed to send in applications to
attend the Queen's review at Edinburgh on the 25th inst.,
and the applications received having reached a total of nearly
38,000 of all ranks and arms, officers have been appointed to
the command of the twelve brigades which it is intended to
form on the occasion.

On Tuesday the Queen decorated Lance Corporal
Farmer, one of the Army Hospital Corps, with the Victoria
Cross, for his gallant conduct at Majuba Hill when assisting
wounded men.
During a race in the Southern Yacht Club Regatta
at Southampton on Monday the Samcena and the Miranda be-
came jammed, and the Miranda's rigging broke the boom of
the committee vessel. Mr. William and Mr. liammersley,
two of the sailing committee, were swept overboard, the
arm of the former gentleman and the ribs of the latter being
broken.

The Christmas books at the conclusion of the
present year will comprehend a contribution of no little
interest, a birthday book by her Royal Highness the Princess
Beatrice. The book will consist of illustrations in water-
colours, said.to be very charmingly executed, and designed
to represent, by their appropriate flowers,lbe twelve mouths
of the year.
The German papers state that the Queen, on the
suggestion of the Crown Princess, has presented to the
Museum of Berlin a picture by Rembrandt of "The Money
Changer," formerly in the Royal galleries at Windsor.
Special interest attaches to this picture from the fact that it
is dated 1627, when the painter was only 19 years old.
In a telegram from Copenhagen on Monday night,
the Correspondent of the Standard says:—" A report of an
attempt to assassinate the Russian Imperial family has been
published here, apparently on good authority, and caused
immense sensation. On inquiring today I find that no
information had reached the Royal family, who did not
believe the story."

A great meeting of capitalists and merchants was
held at Baltimore the other day, and decid_rd upon the im-
mediate construction of a canal across DeLiware and Mary-
land to connect Baltimore with the ocean. The route will
shorten the distance between the western grain fields and
the English ports by over two hundred miles. The cost is
estimated at eight millions, six millions of which are already
subscribed.

Among the Royal and notable personages whose
birthdays occurred on Saturday last may be mentioned his
Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, born at Windsor
Castle, Aug. 6, 1844, aged 37; the Marquis of Lorne, K.T.
G.C. M.G. Governor-General of Canada, born at Stafford
House, London, Aug. 6, 1845, aged 36; the Duke of Athole,
born Aug. 6, 1840, aged 41; Major-General Sir Henry
Marshman Havelock-Allan, Bart, (3.8., V.C., commanding a
division at Aldershot, born at Chimsurah, In Bengal, Aug. 6,
1830, aged 51; Mr. Alfred Tennyson, the Poet Laureate, born
at Somerby, in Lincolnshire, Aug. 6, 1809, aged 72; the Very.
Rev. Charles John Vaughan, D. D., Dean of Llandaff and Master
of the Temple, bern Aug. 6, 1817, aged 68; and the Rev.
Edward Hayes Plumptre, born Aug. 6, 1821, aged 60.
A fire wastdiscovered on Sunday afternoon in one of
the shelter-houses on the Southport Pier. The structure
was crowded with promenaders, and great excitement pre-
vailed among them. Measures were at once taken to extin-
guish the flames, which were got under before much damage
was done.

Some ears of wheat and barley have been sent to me •
from different parts of the country, for which I thank the
senders. The wheat is generally well set and full of plump
grain, and the barley is long in the ear and looks like being
full-bodied samples of good colour and texture.-211ark Lane
Express.

The Duke of Manchester writing in the Nin,cteerah
Century on Free Trade deals chiefly with the question as affec-
ting our colonies, defending their policy in the matter of
fiscal duties, and advocating a 10 per cent, duty on all wool
Imported from all places outside the British Empire, as sng-
gested by Mr. Ecroyd. He does not believe this would at all
enhance the price of raw material, and it would give a 'More
certain market for colonial wool. "If a trade," the Duke
concludes, "has a burden on one side it should be equalised
by a burden on the other. If you cannot have real free
trade, an equal trade, or a fair trade, is next best. Obstin-
ately to persist in a lopsided trade cannot be profitable."
The Italians are manifestly bent on conducting all
Parliamentary procedure by machinery. A shorthand re-
porting apparatus was recently described, and now we read
of an invention to vote by electricity. According to this
system every Deputy weuld have a metallic plate with his
name on his seat. This plate has three knobs, one worked.
with "Yes," 'another with "No," and a third with "Abstain."
By touching one of these knobs the Deputy will be able to
record his vote without leaving his seat.' What means,-how-
ever, are to be adopted to prevent an unscrupulous Deputy
from recording an absentee's vote are not revealed. - •

Of the 36,384 Volunteers in Scotland, no less than
24,615 are clothed in scarlet, the remaining 11,769 being ao-
counted for by 4,316 in green (mostly the familiar garb ot
the 60th Rifles), and 7,453 in the widely different shades ol
grey.
The escape from prison of the Arab chief Allela
Bezeit, now wielding much influence among the Arabs, is
thus told by our Tunis Correspondent (says the Daily
News):—" As soon as he was shut up in the prison at Gabes,
several shocks of earthquake were heard. Availing himself
of the general excitement, he began preaching to the Arabs
that he had been constantly managing to oppose the French
Invasion; but that, instead of remunerating him, the Bey
and Minister ordered him imprisonment in that horrid gaol.
3lahomet, the Prophet, however, from on high interceded
for him, and obtained unmistakable signs to show that
Allela, the servant of God, only preached what was just and
worthy of a Mohammedan. His gaolors were speedily im-
pressed, and they set him at liberty and proclaimed him
Bey.
. A Correspondent writes to the Standard :—" I have:
just learnt that Owassoo, Prince of Gaman, committed
suicide at Elmina Castle, on the 16th June, by Jumping over
the fort walL It was for the surrender of this Prince that
King Mensal', of Ashanti, threatened to invade the colony.
fd ens ah , King of Ashanti, has paid all the flue, 2,000 ounoes
of gold, excepting about 60 ounces (Z 150 which will be paid
shortly."

When the last mail left, fears were entertained at
Timis lest the Arabs, driven to an extremity, might destroy-
the aqueduct of Zagnan. This aqueduct was con:dructed by
the Romans. Becoming injured in the lapse of time, it was
not for a while made use of to supply the town with freak
water. The Arabs till 1872 used to collect rain-water in wells,
but since then a French company, at a great cost to the
Tunisian Government, has repaired it. All the wells were
then abandoned and Riled up. II the aqueduct is broken.
200,000 inhabitants will be in absolute want of water.