The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-09-26 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The net Stamp duty on " playing cards' in the year
ending the zua of Starch last woo £1.2,528 Os. la
According to a Parliamentary paper just out the net
produce of the excise duty on malt in the last tlnancial year
was E 7,753,616 Ms. ad

,
In the year en led the 31st of March last the annuities
and pensions amounted to E 307,772 las. Id.
_

The Volkstaat of Leipsig states that the Tribunal of
Berlin has condemned by default 656 young men, natives of
that city, to a fine of fifty thalers each, for having with-
drawn themselves by emigiation from the requirements of
the military law. .

The United States Government has paid the British
claim of 2,000,000 dollars awarded to British subjects by the
Anglo-American Commission.
•

The Grocers' Company (London) have presented
£OO,OOO to the London Hospital for the erection of a new
wing. It will be called the Grocers' Wing, and will be
capable of accommodating 0.00 patients Attached to it
there will be a mortuary, constructed at a cost of £10,000._

The gross Customs' duty on tobacco and snuff in the
year ended the 31st of March was £7,399,074 10s. 4d., and the
net produce £7,305,•46 Ile Id.
- - - -

The large supplies of partridges to London last week
caused a considerable reduction in the value of game, and on
Saturday afternoon partridges were hawked about the streets
at is. Csl. and is. Gil. per brace, and stale grouse at 2s. per
brace . . . . . . .

An American statistician calculates that at the end
of 173 the waste of population to the United states by the
slaughter In the Confederate rebellion was equal to three
years growth or three million souls.
The executors to the will of the late Miss llannah
Brackenbury have presented a donation of £5OO to the Uni-
versity College Hospital, from the funds left by that lady
or distribution to charitable purposes.

- -
The revenue by penny tamps realiacal in the financial
year ended the gist of March last was in gross £704,282 Is. yd.
and in net £733,128 10$.

•
Advicea from the Cape of Good Hope say that the
yield of the gold fields is improving, and that a nugget weigh-
ing seven pounds and four ounces had been found. At the
diamond fields business was dun A ten-carat black stone
had, however, been discovered, which from its rarity was
thought to be of great value.

The Duke and Duchese of Edinburgh left Balmoral
Castle on Monday morning, and travelled by special train to
Aberdeen, where they arrived at twelve o'clock. After a
brief stay the Duke and Duchess left by the 12.23 mail train
for London. Previous to the departure of the Duke and
Duchess the guard of honour at Balloter, belonging to the
99th Regiment, presented their old colours to their Royal
Highnesses, whose name the regiment bears.

The Governor of Algeria has forbidden Mahomedan
pilgrimages from that country this year on account of the
plague having appeared in the neighbourhood of Mecca, and
of the danger of its extension to Egypt and Europe.

Lady 'Bake, wife of Sir Ctutr—leß W. Bilke, Bart.,
RP. for Chelsea, died on Monday morning at her residence,
Sloane-street, London. On Saturday Lady Mike bad given
birth to a son, and was apparently going on well, but a fatal
relapse took place on Sunday.

During last year (a German correspondent writes)
936 persons at Berlin left the Evangelical Church. Twelve
of them became Catholics, 8 Baptists, 10 Free Congrega-
tionalists, 12 Jews, 13 Old Lutherans, and 881 joined no
religious body. 811 left the Evangelical Church for the pur-
pose of contracting civil marriages. In the same 3 ear 48
Jews, 226 Catholics 1 Old Lutheran, and 68 persons from
other religious communities went over to the Evangelical
Church.

The net Excise duty on dogs in the year ended the
31st of March was £309,320 15s.

The Italian newspapers notice an archeological dis-
covery of some importance made during the past few days in
Herculaneum. It is a silver bust, of life size and in an ex-
cellent state of preservation. It is impossible at present to
say whether it is cast or worked with the chisel, or whom It
may represent. It is said to be the first discovery of its
kind either in Pompeii or Ilerculanetun.

" A gentleman, 32, with a family of little children,
wishes to meet with an elderly or middle-aged lady,
with ample means, as mother for them. In return for
means and motherly attention to little ones he would be a
true and kind husband," &e. —Advertisement in the Ala a-
chemfer Examiner.

"We are informed that the Caledonian Railway
Company have sold 3,600 square yards of their ground in
Bothwell-street for the sum of £lOB,OOO, which is equal to
£3O per square yard."—Glaxgrae Herald.

- - -
The receipts into the Exchequer from the lot April
to the lath September amounted to £31,516,517, compared
With £33,367,792 received in the corresponding period of
but year. The total expenditure during the same time was
£33,914,979, as compared with £36,753,710 last year The
balance in the Bank of England on the 19th September was
£3,208,104, and in the Bank of Ireland £956,579.

•
It is announced from Paris that the elections for
the vacant seats in the French Assembly have been hired for
the 18th of October. Great activity is being displayed in the
departments in omnection with the elections to the Cguncils-
General, which are about to take place. The struggle, it is
said, will chiefly be between the Republicans and the
Bonapartist.. hi. Rouber, the Due d'Auruale, and It Magne
ale among the candidates.

Sir Henry Holland, Bart., son of the late eminent
physician of that nanie and title, has been returned without
opposition as C onservative member for Alidhurst, in the
place of Mr. Perceval, who has succeeded to a peerage.

Advices from St. Petersburg received in l'aris
confirm the news recently published by a Vienna paper that
Prince Bismark had proposed to Denmark to enter Into the
German Confederation, and that the offerhad been declined.
It It added that the circumstances was made known to
ittenrs,sl
yantd. greatlyoth
e irritatedke yihhe eLstle sh er
iweorule
cdonn:vpeorliacl3lo:,
the Russian Government towards Spain is said to be due to
this Incident.

While a Post.oilice van was being moved on to the
main line at Carlisle Citadel Station on Saturday morning,
an engine dashed into it, and part of the roof of the station
was knocked down. Much damage was done, but no person
was injured.

Fresh outrages are reported by the Carlists, in Spain.
On the Murcia line they have burnt two stations and fifty
goods trucks, destroyed lour locomotives, cut the telegraph
wires, and endeavoured to cause a collision with a passenger
train. On the Tatalla line they have destroyed four bridges.
A considerable number of working men were pre-
sent at the West Theatre of the International Exhibition on
Saturday last, at a lecture delivered by Dr. Christopher
Dresser on the works of the late Owen Jones, illustrative of
the principles of ornamenHand decoration.
The Dail,/ News reports that Mr. and Mrs. S. C.
Hall celebrated their golden wedding on Sunday. It was ob-
served as a day of open house at Avenue Villa, Holland-street,
Kensington, London, for the reception of the many friends
who were anxious to pay a congratulatory visit on so inter.
resting an occasion. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are in the enfr.y-
ment of good health and mental vigour. To each caller was
given a card, upon which were printed photographs of the
host and hostess and a little poem.

The Royal Engineers have received instructions from
the War Office to immediately commence experiments with
a view to blowing up llaunt's Rock, situated at the mouth of
Cork harbour. It is expected that an officer will be sent over
specially from England to superintend the operations, which
will be carried out by means of gun cotton. Daunt's Rock
has always been a most dangerous obstacle to the Trans-
atlantic traffic, and many vessels have been lost upon it.

The Patric announces that the French Cabinet has
decided to surmount the Vendome Column with the statue of
Napoleon now in the Court of the Invalides —it is stated
that the sum voted by the Assembly for its restoration
has proved insufficient, and that an additional sum of
70,000 f. will be necessary. The work will not be suspended,
but will be less vigorously proceeded with than would other.
wise have been the case. The date of its completion cannot
therefore yet be lined.

A Paris paper comments on the increase of suicide
In France In 1826, when official returns on this subject were
first prepared, they numbered 1,739 ; in 1831 they were 2,084 ;
In 1836, 2,340 ; in 1839,2,747 ; in 1841, 2,814 ; in 1845, 3,085 ; in
1847, 3,657 ; in 1852, 3,674 ; in 1860, 3,920 ; in 1869, 5,114 ; and
in 1072, 5,275. It is feared that this year they will reach 7,000.
As regards Parts alone, there were 567 suicides in 1872 and
660 in 1879 While if the second half of 1874 is as serious as
the first, the total will approach 1,000.

„.
At an early hour last Saturday morning a shocking
aiTident occurred at the Victoria Station of the Manchester,
shettield, and Lincolnshire Railway Company at Sheffield.
A young man named Samuel Walker, a native of Newark, on
the arrival of the midnight train from Retford to Manchester,
went to the ton of the carriages for the purpose of removing
the lamps. While thus engaged the train was shunted, and
the deceased fell between the carriages and was rim over by
three of them. His head was levered from his body, and his
arms and legs were shockingly mutilated.

_
The German Government haa paid £1,880,000 as
compensation for injuries sustained during the war by in-
habitants of Lower Alsace, besides £270 000 for provisions,
horses, and other requisitions In Upper Alsace the com-
pensation awarded amounted to £92,000 and £941,000. The
Government have also contributed about £12,000 for the
relief of persons who were indirectly reduced to indigence
by the war.

Park it has been found necessary to withdraw
the privilege of free trading In meat and bread, for it is
found that these articles of food are kept up at a price out
of all reason. Although any man is free to compete in the
sale of these articles, all who enter the business at once com-
bine with the rest for the sake of high profits. Hence the
Government feels bound to interfere again in the interest of
the working classes.
The Parliament of Brazil closed on the 12th with a
speech from the Emperor, who stated that the harvest was
likely to be abundant. A new law on enlistment wax about
to come in force by which the condition of the soldier would
be elevated, and the burdens of military service be impartially
distributed. Among the subjects requiring urgent attention
were electoral reform, assistance to agriculture, and a re-
Organisation of primary and seconder/ causation.
From Egypt, we have intelligence of Mr. Stanley,
the American traveller, who is reported to have passed
through that country in the commencement of the month on
his way to Zanzibar. Before entering the country of the
Great Lakes he will explore the Juba and other rivers to the
north of Zanzibar, and endeavour to make himself aequainted
with the great seats of the slave trade in those districts. Be
his taking out a yacht for that purpose.
At a conference of engine-keepers at Glaagow it was
resolved to petition Parliament to appoint a board of ens-
minerstor the purpose of granting certificates of competency
to engine-keepers in Great Britain and Ireland, and falling
in this, it was agreed that a local board of examiners should
be appointed. It was recommended that the engine-keepers
of the United Kingdom should contribute ls. a year each
towards a fund to be-established for agitating the examina-
tion question, and a committee was elected to receive eon.
tributions and subscriptions and carry out the resolutions
arrived at by the conference. Mr Macdonald, M.P., was
present, and letters of encouragement were read from several

The net duty of excise on epirita in the year ended
the 31st of Much last was 5214,639,561 be aid.

The authorities of the Mint have decided on sus-
pending coinage operations for three months in order to en-
able the necessary repairs In thediunding to be carried out.
. .

The 'United States Govenunent has dispatched a
Commission to inspect the water-work systems of Europe.
The commiaidoners have already arrived at Vienna, where
they are employed in examining thee mks now being carried
on to improve the navigation of the Danube
It is stated in a Madrid telegram that at a Council
of the Bourbon family which has recently been held, it was
decided that Dim Warlosahmild be regarded as the sole repre-
sentative of the four branches, with presumptive rights to
the throne of France. .

Ai Fall River, Dfaseachusetts, on the morning of the
19th of September, a tire occurred in a large cotton mill
Set en hundred bands were lit the building at the time. The
fire quickly cut of the memo; of escape from the fourth and
fifth stories, where 140 persons were employed, chiefly girls.
Many jumped from,the windows. The roof fell in. Forty
persons were killed or burnt towleath, and about SO seriously
injured.
The following were the average prices of British
corn, per Imperial measure, as received from the inspectors
and officers of the Excise, for the week ending Sept. 19 :
Wheat, 465. Sd. ; barley, 425. sil ; oats, 27. 2d. Correspond-
ing seek last year : Wheat, 645. id. ; barley, 451. lid. ; oats,
27. TKI.
" A woman suffering from bulimia has lately7Ml
in l'uris at the age of 43. She ate every day on an average
abdut six pontos and a hag of bread, and halt a pound of
meat. Bread formed her principal sustenance, of which
she required about nine pounda to completely satisfy her
appetite. The unfortunate creature Awed abouti2s. a day
as a needlewornau, which with a little income she possessed,
was nearly all absorbed in providing food for her inaatiable
appetite."—Leadon Medical Record.
Two milittry executions took place at Algiers a few
days back: that of a soldier of the let Zonaves. named Mon.
nice, condemned for wounding an officer, and that of a
native of Medeah. guilty of murder. The Frenchman
showed great fortitude in his last moments, and stood firm
facing the firing party the Arab, Nessaoud ben Lakhdar,
drew hie cloak over his head, and turned his back to the
executioners, and when the discharge took place, he
stooped instinctively. He fell to the ground still breathing,
aud had to be dispatched by a pistol ball in the head.
At the Hague, on Monday, the Dutch Parliament
was opened in person by the 1: ing. lute Majesty, in the
course of his speech, said that the conntry was prosperous
financially, and that the crops were satisfactory. lie recom-
mended that great public works should be undertaken,
especially the drainage of a portion of the Zuyder Zee. The
news from Acheen indicated that prudence and perseverance
would triumph over the resistance of the enemy.

• --- -
On Saturday morning, RA an up train was entering
George-lane Station, Woodford, Miss Baber, a young lady
who was crossing the lane to the up platform, ass caught
and killed. Her father and brother were close by at the
time, and witnessed the accident.

At a large meeting of Wolverhampton iron workers,
held on Monday in the Temperance Mill, it was resolved
that the time had arrived when the ironworkers should pur-
chase or erect ironworks to be conducted on the co-operative
principle, and the meeting pledged itself to forward the
movement.
- - - - -

—•-----•
The local papers report a great abundance of fruit
in Gascony. The trees and vines are so loaded with fruit
that the branches threaten to break down. Peach, plum,
apple, .and pear trees have had to be propped up. Peaches
weighing three tosthe pound are being sold in the streets of
Toulouse at 60. a dozen, and fine gropes at a hi. a pound. In
the country AS) Reine Claude plums can be bought for Id. or
lid.
In consequence of the circulation of revolutionary
proclamations, many peasants in several Russian provinces
have been arrested. It is also proposed to suppress work-
men's associations on account of their socialist tendencies
In St. Petersburg the police have paid domiciliary visits to
the houses of suspected persons.
On Monday the strike of operative spinners and self.
actor winders at Bolton which has continued for eleven
tlas, and thrown out of employment 10,000 hands, was ter-
minated by the masters and men signing an agreement
referring to Mr. J. A. Russell, QC., Judge of the Man-
chester county Court, the question in dispute, namely, a
reduction of 5 per cent In wages. The arbitrator is to give
his award on or before Oct. 31, unless he extends the time
on or before such day, in which case the award shall be made
on or before Nov. 30.

• Signal guns having been heard from the Goodwin
Lightship, on Monday morning, the Itanisgate Harbour
steamtug l'idcan and the lifeboat Bradford proceeded to
sea, and on arriving at the senile they found the brig
Marina, of and for Cherbourg, with coals, which had gone
ashore at about two o'clock a.m. The crews of the tug and
• lifeboat, together with some Deal boatmen, were engaged to
get the vessel off, and after several hours' hard work, and
lightening her by throwing part of the cargo overboard, she
was extricated from her perilous position, and brought into
j harbour at about eight o'clock in the evening.
Dr. Sehultz, MP. for Liver, Manitoba, who arrived
It Montreal on the let of Septembpr, corroborates the reports
previously received from Manitoba concerning the ravages:of
the grasshopper. About onc-ttlth of the area the crops Is
destroyed ; but he says that the parts untouched will average
20 bushels to the acre. The grasshoppers have all left.
A report, says the Stein Times, has been current
! that the Brunswick diamonds left unsold at the public corn
: petition in Geneva iu April last had recently been disposed
of at one of the well-known auction marts in London. This
, is incorrect, theijewels remaining in the safe keeping of the
Banque du Commerce of Geneva, where they await the final
detemlination of the municipal authorities as to their

The Saddlers' Company of the City of London are
offering prizes for an improved kind of saddle for the
military. Intending competitorsmiust send in patterns to the
hall before the Ist of October. The chairman of the
Saddlers' Company offers 100 twineas for a saddle which
shall be said by the appointed judges to be superior to any
now in use in the British anity. The Company give 50
guineas for a second prize, which, at the late competition
for premiums, was not adjudged to any competition.
The Glasgow Herald says that Mr. E. F. Mackenzie,
, engineer, of Milan, and formerly Of Glasgow, has recently
! paid a visit to this country for the purpose of inspecting a
I number of the peat fuel manufactories in operation here.
I Mr. Mackenzie was commissioned, by the lauded proprietors
in the neighbourhood of Milan, raid the object in view is the
introduction Into Italy of the manufacture of peat into coke.
The extensive marshes of that country have not been
previously utilised in any way, and the supply of material
is practically unlimited. Among other places visited by
Mr. Mackenzie was the manufactory of peat at Forsenard, on
the Duke of Sutherland's estate, the peat of which is ob-
tained at Lairg. Mr. Mackenzie was much struck with the
magnitude of the land reclamation operations being carried
on by his grace at the latter place, and believes that the
system would be found of the utmost utility for the recla-
mation of the Moman Campagna.