The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-10 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

It is estimated that the destruction of property
caused by the inundations in the south of France will
amount to about 300,000,000 francs. Three thousand persons
are supposed to have perished.
•

- -
The Secretary to the American Treasury reports
that on the let inst. the amount of the National Debt was
2,128,688,726 dols., a decrease of 1,431,24 dole. during the
month of June.
A parliamentary paper recently issued states tha
the amount required by the Army Puediase Commis-
sioners for the year ending March 31, 1876, is estimated at
£636,560, being a net decrease of £21,190 compared with the
sum required last year.
By the new Customs and Inland Revenue Act the
stamp duties on appointments, charged under the 33rd and
34th Victoria, cap, 97, and the 35th and 36th Victoria, cap.
20, sec. 3, are repealed from the passing of the statute on
the 14th inst.
Monday was observed as a general holiday through-
out the United States and by Americans in this country in
celebration of the Feast of Independence, the 4th of July
having this year fallen on Sunday.
A Report respecting the attendance of children at
the Board schools in Birmingham shows an increase at the
rate of 113 per cent. since the first appointment of visiting
officers. This is an augmentation on last year of nearly
5,000.
The welding together of the jacket-piece which
carries the trunnions of the 81-ton gun and encloses the
breech end of the cylinder, was successfully performed at
Woolwich on Saturday. The satisfactory completion of the
gun is now regarded as certain.
The rifle shooting competitions between the Irish
and American teams came to a close on Saturday, after which
the Lady Mayoress distributed the prizes in the Dublin Exhi-
bition Palace. The Americans have presented to the Irish
Rifle Association a silver cup, value 100 guineas, which is to
be competed for annually.
- - - - - -

The Duke of Cambridge, who is honorary colonel of
the London Rifle Brigade, inspected that regiment in Hyde
Park on Saturday evening. His Royal Highness compli-
mented the Volunteers generally on the solidity and steadi-
ness they were acquiring.

A bill has been introduced into Congress which pro-
poses to give to every resident of the United States, who
may discover any new or valuable fruit or plant, the sole
right of growing and selling such plant or fruit for the term
of seventeen years. Inventors can secure patents, and
authors avail themselves of the protection of a copyright
law.

The Jardin des Plantes has made several recent
additions to its collection, either by donations or purchase,
among them being a lion from Zanzibar, a royal tiger from
Cochin China, a zebra and a young male giraffe from Abys-
sinia ; and the fossil remains of a dinoris from New Zealand.
The skeleton of this antediluvian bird is now being recon-
structed; the feet measure Mt. 61n. in length, and the neck
is as long. The total height 15 over 1411.

Her Majesty the Queen on Tuesday morning re-
viewed the 2nd battalion of the Grenadier Guards, in
Windsor Great Park The Queen, with the Princess Beatrice
and suite, left the Castle shortly before eleven o'clock, and
drove to the ground, where the Royal party were met by
Prince Edward of Saxe Weimer, the Queen receiving a Royal
salute.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Edinburgh, after church on Sunday, took a drive into the
country, lunching at Fredericksborg Castle with the Danish
Royal family. In the evening there was a banquet, to which
the members of the English and Russian Legations were in-
vited, as well as the officers of the Osborne.
' -

According to a Parliamentary paper just issued,
there were in all England, on Lady Day last, 146,800 indoor
and 654,114 outdoor paupers relieved, being a total decrease
of 26,500 as compared with the previous year. The pauper
unatics were 32,339 in number, being an increase of 1,315.
Another dreadful railway accident is reported from
America. On Monday, a telegram states, two passenger
trains came in collision on the Southern Railway of Long
Island, near Far Rockaway, and 11 persons were killed, and
28 injured.
An Italian School of Painting is to be established
In Japan. The Mikado has had the portraits of himself and
his wife painted from photographs by a Milanese artist, and
is so pleased with the result that he has determined to
found an art school and to invite Ltalian artists to conduct
it. The Mikado is adorning his residence at Tokio with
the life size portraits of all European emperors, kings, and
presidents.

Nature says that the quality of water in relation to
its fauna and flora has been the subject of investigation by
some of the French Academicians. In substance the results
seem to prove that water in which animals and plants of
higher organisation will thrive is fit to drink and, on the
other hand, water in which only the infusoria and lower
cryptogams will grow is unhealthy. If the water beoome
stagnant and impure, aquatic plants of the higher order
will languish and disappear, and the half-suffocated fish will
rise near the surface and crowd together in parts where
there may still be a little of the purer element trickling in,
and if driven from these places they soon die. No mollusc
will live in corrupt water. Plants also exercise a reactive
influence on the quality of water. The most delicate appears
to be the common water-cress, the presence of which indi-
cates excellent quality. Veronicas and the floating water.
weeds flourish only u. water, of good quality. The water-
plantain, mints, loosestrife, sedges, rashes, water-hli,s, and
many others, grow perfectly well in water of moderately
good quality. Some of the sedges and the arrow•heada will
hr
thrive in water of very Poor mabty. The most ody or
least exacting in this respect is me commoia reed, or Philp.
mita. wimitunifi

A banquet in honour of Garibaldi's birthday has
taken place in Paris. It was attended by four hundred
persons, including several deputies of the Extreme Left.
You'll find it true. The greatest republican has
seldom any objection to a sovereign. —Judy.
In China a liquor is distilled from the flowers of the
Chrysanthemum, which is regarded as an elixir vita, and a
powder of these flowers is prescribed as a cure for drunken-
ness.
The other day at the Tombs Court, in New York, a
prisoner was upon his trial, and at the conclusion of it he
was told the jury had found him guilty. "Exactly," replied
the culprit, "that's just my conviction."
-

The whole of Swedenborg's MSS. are to, be repro-
duced in fax simile by photo-lithography, in pursuance of a
re:-olution passed by the General Convention of the New
Church in America.
The son of a minor canon may, without any die.
respect, be called the son of a guo.—Judy.
Captain Boyton has arranged to cross the Firth of
Forth in his india-rubber suit, and with the aid of a paddle
and a sail, on the 17th inst.
The herring fishery, which has recently closed on the
north-west coast of Scotland, is represented as having been
the most unproductive for many years. The catch in the
various districts does not exceed 86,000 crane. Last year the
take was 62,000, and in 1870 the total was 182,000 crane. .
The Empress of Russia has invited the Empress of
Austria to pass a part of the summer with her in Livadia.
The Empress Elizabeth is expected to accept the offer after
her visit to Sassetot, on the French coast. - •
The idea of a steamer being able to run 12,000 miles
in a space of forty-five days has now become an accomplished
fact by the arrival at Melbourne of the steamship St. Osyth
In 44i days, including stoppages.
The German Emperor has received, through Dr.
Nachtigal, an Arabic letter from the Sultan of Bomu, in
which the African ruler thanks "the most Mighty Lord of
Prussia and Supreme Chief over Northern Germany" for this
costly gifts which he had sent him by his messenger and ser-
vant, Edris Effendi (Dr. Nachtigal).
An Act of Parliament has been printed to continue
the Endowed Schools Act, 1868. It is now provided that,the
Statute 31 and 32 Vict , c. 32, shall continue in force so long
as the powers of making schemes under the Endowed Schools
Acts 1869, 1873, and 1874 continue in operation.
Before the blaster of the Rolls has been heard a sin-
gular case, in which a man named Hall had twice been sup-
posed to be dead, but had on each occasion been found alive.
A third report of his death having proved true, an applica-
tion was made for the payment of some money to which cer-
tain persons would be entitled on his decease, and thia was
granted.
It is announced from Madrid that the committee
appointed to draw up the bases of the new Spanish Cox:laths-
tion has concluded its labours. Individual liberty is to. he
respected, there are to be two Chambers, the magistracy will
be irremovable, and religious freedom is to prevail through-
out Spain.
The National Temperance League held its annual
fife at the Alexandra Palace on Tuesday, when the fineness
of the weather combined with the varied programme of en-
tertainments to attract many thousands of persons to the
Palace from all parts of the country.
The weekly table of receipts and expenditure issued
from the Treasury supplies some information which was not
contained in the revenue returns published last week. Thus
it is shown that, while the national income during the first
three months of the financial year was £18,266,662, the ex-
penditure was £19,048,137,
a slight decrease upon the cor-
responding period of last year.
There was an imposing serenade on the Grand Canal
at Venice, given by the municipality on Monday evening, is
honour of the British fleet now off that port. Admiral
Drummond and the British officers were provided with tour
gondolas, and the procession was very long. The first boat
contained the musicians and singers, and the route was
illuminated by pyrotechnic displays.
Dr. Haydon, the 'United States geologist, is Con-
tinuing this season his explorations in the western terri-
tories. His party has been reinforced by Drs. A. S. Packard
and P. ii. Uhler, two of the leading entomologists jn
America, who will make a tour of the region under examias-
tion, and whose observations will be published as an ap-
pendix to Dr. Hayden's annual report.
The House of Assembly at Cape Town on July .3rd
unanimously resolved to annex about two-thirds of the
territories heretofore considered independent of British
rule lying between the Kel and NataL The tract of land
thus to be brought under colonial rule has a population df
about 140,000 Kaflirs. It is known as No Man's Land and
Fingoland.
A special commissioner has been despatched by the
Chinese Government to Yunnan to inquire into the circuni-
stances of the murder of Lieutenant Margery. Some native
soldiers have been punished for the outrage at Chinkiang,
but further attacks on foreigners have been committed at
Pekin.
Mr. Joshua Fielden and his brothers' Messrs. Samuel
and John Field en, have presented to the National Lifeboat
Institution £2 500 to defray the first cost of a lifeboat estab-
lishment and permanently endow it, in memory of their
uncle, the late Thomas Fielden, M.P., the well-known
philanthropist, after whom the boat is to be named.
The Munich papers announce that a General
German Art and Industrial Exhibition will be held in the
summer of 1876, at Munich, to commemorate the 25th Jubilee
of the Art Association of Bavaria. The King of Bavaria has
informed the president of the association that as patron of
the Exhibition he will contribute a sum of 10,000 florins
towards its expenses.
Professor Cornu, of the Ecole Polytechnique,lParis,
has put into successful use a new instrument for meastuing
the velocity of light between two stations, in which an elec-
trical registering apparatus is used, giving, it is believed,
more accurate measurements than the well-known toothed
wheel arrangement of Fizeau. Foucault fixed the velocity.ol
light, by his instrument, at 185,157 miles per second. Pro-
fessor Cornu, by his new instrument, fixes the velocity of
light at 186,660 miles per second, or 1,513 miles taster per
second than Foucault.—Engineer.

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PICTURBS FRAMED
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A NEW SELFCTION OF PA 1 T!4n7s
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Plain, St med. or Polisbtet, from 4d. each.
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Also
41) 'SCRAP PICTURES
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THE OXFORD FRAMING DBPOT.

71, HIGH STREET, STOIMBLIDGE.