The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-21 00:00:00

glisrellantaus

HOME FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL,

A WELL coN FIEE.—As some farmers were
boring for water the other day, at Odell, Illinois, and
when the augur had reached the depth of eighty feet,
the water spouted into the air to the height of nearly
two hundred feet, sending out sand and gravel. After
a while gas was found to be issuing from the opening,
and a match being lighted, instantly a streak of flame
twenty feet high leaped into the air with a roar like
that of a city in Names. The hole, which in the begin-
ning wee but five inches in diameter, increased to
twelve, with the volume of flame enlarging. This
remarkable well is situated on the open prairie, and
can be seen for miles.

A COLD WATER CURE.—The Permissive. Bill.
—Punch.

THE DIVORCE COURT.—The annual return
made to the Secretary of State by the Registrar of the
Divorce Court shows that in the year 1873 the Court
made as many as 215 "decrees absolute" for the dis-
solution of marriages. In 1872 the number was only
133; in 1871 it Was 166; in 1870 it was 154; averaging
151 a year in those three years. The increased number
in 1873 raises the average of the last four years to 167
a year. The Act creating this Court came into opera-
tion in January, 1858.
JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES.—In the year 1872.
1,098 joint-stock companies were registered in the
United Kingdom under the Companies Act of 1862,
the capital proposed or authorised amounting to
t 133,041,395. In 1873 there were 1,224 more com-
panies registered, their proposed capital amcunting to
£152,056,545. They were almost all " limited
liability' companies, but it will be observed that the
limit was not small. A very few were old companies,
formed before 1862, but not registered until the above
dates.

PETROLEUM IN GERMANY.—The discovery of
petroleum springs on the Luneburg Heaths in Northern
Germany promises to convert this once barren and
apparently unavailable tract into what might by
comparison be designated as an El Dorado. Borings
were made at Oberg by Hanoverian and French
surveyors as early as 1863, but then the measures
taken failed to confirm the opinion which had been
previously advanced of the presence of oil. Since then
the heath has been drained and rendered fit for culti-
vation, and recently it has been shown that petroleum
can be obtained by simple borings, and that at some
spots, as at the village of Wietze, the sand is saturated
with rock oil. In this part of the heath since 1852,
when the owner of the land came a a shaft to be sunk,
petroleum has been obtained without intermission,
although the process adopted for its extraction has
consisted in little more than a mere washing of the
sand, through which the oil was suffered to run into
vessels prepared for its reception. In clearness, purity
and specific weight the Luneburg oil is said to be
identical with the American rock-oils, and it is almost
without smell of any kind.—Acackeiy.
NEW TRADE Utriorc—The operative plas-
terers of Brooklyn, New York, have recently formed
a trade association, in which the workmen are classed
according to their skill and industry. Instead of
good, bad, and indifferent being massed together in
one clam, fir which equal wages are usually demanded
in strikes, there are three grades, rated as to wages ac-
cording to the current prices for equivalent qualities
and quantities or hours of work. The association
pledges itself not to make a demand for increase of
wagos without giving three months' notice of its inten-
tion. It reserves the right to take contracts for work
to be done by its members on the co-operative prin-
ciple. Thus, the individual member is to be allowed
to decide for himself what he will do if the wages
asked for by the society have been refused. He may
either accept the lower rate, or may use his influence to
secure contracts for the Society, upon which he can work
in co.operation with his fellow-members until the em-
ployers, for want of workmen, raise the wages paid
to them. The enforced idleness of an ordinary
"strike,' with the dependence upon the help of other
workmen, may thereby be replaced by continual
activity on the part of self-supporting strikers. Another
resolution of the association pledges the Union to
work in harmony with plasterers who may not be
members of the Union.

THE BOARDING-OUT SYSTEM.—DiRiGg at the
Club. Punch.

SUICIDES IN Two Crrus.—Coneul-General
Archibald, of New York, in his report this year, gives
statistics of suicides in that city in 1873. Their
number, according to the coroner's record, was 101; in
the same year there were 287 in London, which has
has more than three times the population of New York.
The Consul gives the nationality of the persons who
committed suicide in New York, and states that no
less than 40 of the 101 were natives of Germany. 24
were citizens of the 'United States; 17 were from ire-
land; 12 from England, 2 from France, 2 from Switzer-
land, 2 from Russia, 1 from Italy, and 1 from Poland.
There were six suicides in New York under 20 years
of age, 26 others under 30, 35 under 40, 24 under 50,
7 under 60,2 under 70, and lover 80 years. As many
as 34—a third of the whole number—died by poison,
23 of them by taking Paris green. In London only
one-seventh died by poison ; the suicides in London
were chiefly by the rope, the kaire, or the water.

FASHIONABLE AMUSEMENT AT THE ANTIPODES.
—A new amusement has become fashionable in
Australis under viceregal patronage (says a Mel-
bourne correspondent), and the art of skating upon
rollers is now part of a polite education. A large room
has been opened in Melbourne, where the ornament,'
of our ball rooms may be seen wheeling about with
more or less of skill upon a floor of Knurl pine, which
is open to any one who pays Is. 6d. for the use of it.
All sorts and conditions of people, young and old, are
to be found at the skating rink, and as many spec-
tators as performers. An amusement of a different
kind has been introduced at Warrnambool, where the
game of polo has been played for the first time in the
colony. Skilful horsemen abound, and the want of
leisure will be the only hindrance to playing it in the
country, where ponies can be readily picked up.
"JO BACCHE ! "—Jean/es : "Momin', Mr.
Jarvice. What's the News? "—Mr. J. (the old Coach-
man : "Well I 'ye 'card the best bit o' News this
Morning as I've 'card for many a Day, from our
Butler. He tell me the Win'yards is a cumin
round,' and there's every Prospec' of our gettin' some
more goad Itladeiry ! "—Punch.

A REMARKABLE PAINTING.—A gentleman of
Sacramento (California) is the owner of a painting
which is remarkable both for its history and the
superior excellence of its execution. It is a repre-
sentation on hammered copper of Belshazzar's Feast,
and represents the king at the head of his table at the
the time the mysterious hand is pointing to the in-
scription on the wall, " Mena, mene, tekel upharsin."
Seated around the table are the guests of the king,
including Nebuchadnezzar and the king's concubines.
Grouped around are the men-at arms, servants, &c.,
and in a sort of balcony are seated the musicians.
There are fifty-one human figures in the painting;
each one is a perfect miniature. The jewels, oven to
the pearl necklaces, clothing, tapestry, and ornaments.
tion, are all brought out in fine relief. The colouring and
Perspective of the painting are faultless, even the
minutest detail being carefully considered. The author
of ihe wonderful painting is unknown; but as rolled
copper was not manufactured until 1760, it is con;.
lectured that the picture must have been painted
either in the latter part of the seventeenth or the fore
part of the eighteenth century. In any event the
painting must be over 125 years old. A remarkable
peculiarity of the painting is the successful grouping
and delineation of so many figuree-51—in the apace
of 24 by 34 inckes, which is its size.

•
THE BAR SINISTER. —Temple Bar.—Punch.
DISSATISFIED YOUNG MEN.—In London on
Sunday evening, the Rev. 'Dr. 11I'Auslane, the pastor
of the Finsbury Chapel, preached a special sermon—
one of a series—on the subject of Dissatisfied Young
Men." The question as to what WAR true satisfaction
NM answered by the Apostle, when he said, "I have
learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be
content." Of all who ought to be most satisfied were
the young men who lived in the great metropolis of
the empire. They had health and strength, vigour
and elasticity, were buoyant with hope, with few
cares, burdens, or trials. Yet a great number of them
were as restless as the ocean. They were dissatisfied
with their homes, their situations, their friends, their
country, and worst of all with themselves. This was
a terrible evil, and would continue to grow unless they
I struck at the very root from which it sprang, and
removed it. Referring to those who had been eminent
I in fashion, in politics, oratory, poetry, literature, and
in wealth, yet who died miserable and unhappy, the
preacher said that true satisfaction was not to be ob-
tained from man, but only from Jesus Christ. The main
causes that led young men to be dissatisfied weretheir
own sins, their having wronged others, their not
getting on in the world, their inability to rise in 'social
position, their belief that the things of this life were
continually changing, and, finally, that death was
likely to overtake them before they had matured their
plane. There was nothing to counteract these de '
structive influences but Christ • for it was He alone
who could make them truly satisfied and happy,