The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-17 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

El.

Pzince Bismarck is said not to be so very bad in
health as has been represented. He is, however, suffer.
lug from hypochondria, and believes himself worse than
he is.

There were 23 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making a total of 40 for the present
year. The approximate value of property lost was 4300•000.
including British £210,000. Ten were lost off the British
coasts.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in
The Times, under the head of "Conscience Money," the
receipt of the first halves of bank-notes for £.300 from "H.,"
and for ZE. from " Doubtful; " and the second halves of
notes for £5OO from "A. B," and for £lO from "C. D."
All great men have tastes of their own, and it may
be interesting to some people to know that M. Gambetta
delights in fresh plover's eggs. As plovers are very rare in
France, the President of the Chamber has rented a preserve
at Osnahrtick, near Hanover, and the eggs are sent up to the
Palais Bourbon as fast as they are collected.—Court
Journal.

Rus.ia again threatens to give a serious aspect to
Central Asian affairs, for she has formally announced her
intention of marching upon Mery as soon as possible.
The number of appraisers and house agents licensed,
in the last year was 4,876, at a each, and the revenue was
£9,752. .

The American sewing machine trade is becoming
of great importanoe in the United States, very nearly 4,000
skilled artizans being employed In the sewing machine fac-
tories. An extensive export trade is being carried on.

At the quarterly meeting of the Chesterfield and
Derbyshire Institute of Engineers, Lord Edward Cavendish
expressed the opinion that there was going to be a revival of
the iron trade, and suggested that in view thereof attention
should be turned to possible improvements in the production
of coke.

Tho Governors of the Royal Masonic Institution for
Girls has accepted the sum of 1,000 guineas from the Province
of West York for the purchase of a perpetual presentation
of one girl to the school, to be called the Bentley Shaw pre-
sentation.
-

Mr. W. H. Wills, member of the tobocco firm of
London and Bristol, and a Liberal candidate for Coventry,
has presented an organ of the value of £I,OOO to the Bristol
Grammar School.

The Financier understands that the depositors of the
City of Glasgow Bank, the balance of whose claims at the
date of the liquidators' report amounted to about £1,200,000,
are rapidly availing themselves of the offer of an immediate
20s. in the pound without interest. The bill holders outside
London are also said to be coming in with some readiness.

-
The shipments of grain from America for the week,
as telegraphed from New York, comprise 138,000 quarters
wheat, of which 118,000 quarters are In transit for the
United Kingdom, and 25,000 for the Continent. 01 176,000
quarters maize, 76,000 quarters are for the United Kingdom,
and 100,000 for the Continent. The visible supply is repre-
sented by 00.625.000 nllllll6lB Wheat, and 11,375,000 bnahala
maize.

The Empress Eugenie has intimated to the Union
Steamship Company her intention to embark in their Royal
mail steamship German in March next for conveyance to
Natal, en route to Zululand, for the purpose of visiting the
spot where her son lost his life. The Empress will be ac-
companied by several ladies and gentlemen, and a small re-
tinue of servants. The German will leave England with the
Cape of Good Hope mails on the 26th of March, and her
great speed should insure her reaching Natal in ample time
to allow the Empress to arrive at her destination by the Ist
of Jane, the anniversary of her son's death.
- - - -

•
Preparations for the celebration of the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the accession of the Czar are going forward
throughout the Russian Empire, his Majesty having suc-
ceeded to the throne on March 2nd, 1855. The Govern-
ment intend founding a University at Woronesch. Should
this Idea be realised .Russia even then would only have one
University for every eight millions of its inhabitants.
A terrible case of suicide is reported from Mar-
seines. In old man who had long bee„uffering great
torments from psral paralysis, while left alone in his
house, saturated his clothes with oil, and setting fire to a
bed of shavings previeway prepared, laid himself down upon
it. The flames quickly enveloped him, but his resolution
was firm. Re was found in a partly calcined state, but did
not die until some hours afterwards.—Paris Correspondent
of Daily Telegraph.
Friday, the 9th, being the seventh anniversary of
the death of Napoleon 111., the occasion was commemorated
by a funeral service at Chisiehurat. Mass commenced at
eleven o'clock in St. Mary's Church. The service consisted
of a low requiem mass, celebrated by Father Goddard, and
the ceremonies were of the simplest character. The Empress
Eugenie prayed for a considerable time at the tomb of her
late husband.

Lord Beaconsfield's mot. "You seem to be in now,
my lord," said a visitor, "for all time." "Well," said
the Premier, "that depends upon the date of the Day of
Judgment." _ _ - - -

An extraordinary accident occurred a few days ago
at Lembotug, a village in the Bernese Jura. A small cask of
petroleum had been placed in a room in which five children
were sleeping The cask leaked, and on a light being brought
Into the room the petroleum took tire. Three of the children
perished in the flames, and the house was burnt down so
rapidly that the surviving inmates had barely time to escape
with their lives.

The Address to the Crown in answer to the Speech
from the throne, at the opening of Parliament on the sth of
February, will be moved in the House of Commons by
Lieutenant-Colonel H. E. Home Drummond Moray, ALP.
for the county of Perth, and seconded by Air. J. P. Corry,
M.P. for Belfast. The address will be moved in the House
of Lords, by the Earl of Onslow, and seconded by the Earl
of Roue.

The Queen's Bench Division gave judgment on
Tuesday in the case of the South Eastern Railway Company
v. the Railway Commissioners and the Mayor of Hastings
and other; which involved the question of the power of the
Railway Commissioners to order certain alterations to be
made at the Hastings railway station. The Lord Chief
Justice and Mr. Justice Manisty were or opinion that the
Act did not confer on the .11.11iiWay Commissioners the
authority and jurisdiction which they claimed to exercise.
Mr. Justice Lush was of a cznitrary opinion. Judgment was
therefore given for the railway company.
An odd game of Chess was recently tried in Hungary.
Four gay Dlagyars at Pressburg had the squares duly chalked
out on a billiard table and for pieces used bottles of wine—
Champsgne representing the King, Claret the Queen,
Burgundy the Bishops, Port the Castles, Madeira the
Knights, and ()heap Hungarian wines the Pawns. The moot
notable rule in the game, however, compelled the players on
making a move to empty the respective "piece' at a
draught. The game did not last very long, for by the time
the opening moves had been played in accordance to the
rule the players were hors de cornbati.
In London last week 2,570 births aid 1,751 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 250, and the deaths 76, below the average num-
' berg in the corresponding week of the last ten years. The
annual death rate from all causes, which had averaged 20 1
per 1,000 in the three preceding weeks, declined to 25. The
deaths included 8 from small-pox, 48 from measles, 73 from
scarlet fever, 11 from diphtheria, 120 from whooping-cough,
22 from different forms of fever, and 10 from diarrbe°
Her Majesty has given another proof of the slice.
tionate solicitude which she has always evinced for her
soldiers by expressing her desire to be informed from time
to time of the progress made by the sick and wounded in
Afghanistan. Further, the Queen has addressed letters ot
condolence to many of those who have lost relatives in
action.—When the news reached them of the success of Sir
Francis Roberts at Cebu', Her Majesty and Lady Salisbury
rent telegrams to India congratulating the General on the
brilliant achievement of the troops under his command,
and expressing their admiration of the gallantry and devo-
tion which all ranks had displayed throughout a most try-
ing period.—Whitehall Review.

The Emattest Newfoundland deg yet discovered lives
at Revert:All, Ilassachusetts. He meets the newsboy at the
gate every morning, and carries his mastees paper into the
house—that is, he did so till the other day, when his master
stopped taking the paper. The neat morning the dog
noticing the boy passing on the other side without leaving
the newspaper, went over and took the whole bundle from
him and carried them into the house.

The receipts on account of revenue from the let
April, 1879, when there was a balance of £6,915,7-56, to Jan.
1880, were £56,607,390, against £57,284,710, in the corre-
spoding period of the preceding financial }ear, which begin
with et balance of £6,243,389. The net expenditure los
£67,249,045, against £67,817,847 to the same date in the
previous year. The Treasury balances on Jan. 10 amounted
to £1,070,930, and at the same date in 1879 to £1,151,565.
A frightful accident has occurred at Ragdall harslet,
Leicestershire, by which a man named Charles FflabY and
his four children were so terribly burnt that the lives of
several of them are despaired of. On Saturday night, Frisby.
who Is a general dealer, was in a room at the back of his shop
with his four children, and while trimming a lan3p by the
side of a candle the paraffin caught fire, and the blazing
liquid came into contact with a can which contained a gallon
of paraffin. In an instant Mr. Frisby and his four children
bad their clothing in flames, and the furniture also took fire.
Unfortunately, the door was fastened. The fire was severest
at this part of the room, and, no one beingnearaVvite. elpihtheye
whole family were in danger of being toasted
all screamed for help, and the neighbours, hearing their
cries, broke open the window, and with great difficulty ex-
tinguished the flames. Frisby and his four children pre
-
!tented a painful sight, and so severe are the burns that it is
thought impossible that be and two of the children oan sur-
vivo.

The Goldsmiths' Company of Glasgow have recently
issued a report unanimously condemning the !duties upon
Id and silver plate and the laws relating to compulsory
.marking.
Saturday the 10th, was the 40th anniversary of the
Introduction of the penny post.

The Marquis of-Hartington, M.P., has contributed
£5O to the Duchess of Marlborough's Fund for the Relief of
irish Distress.

The Leeds boot and shoe manufacturers have re.
solved to increase the price of their productions, in conse-
quence of the great rise in the cost of materials.

- -
A telegram from New York, under date January
12, says that the total eclipse of the sun was successfully ob-
served near Fresno, California.
The following are the average prices of British corn
for the week ending January 10, as received from the inspec-
tors and officers of Exotic :—Wheat, 465. 2d. ; barley, 363.8 d. •,
oats, 20s. 11d, per imperial qr. Corresponding week last
year: —Wheat, 39a. 7d.; barley, 365. lid.; oats, 20s. id.
The Prince of Wales has communicated to the
chairman of the directors of the Devon County School,
West Buckland, his congratulations that the head junior
scholarship of the Royal Agricultural Society has been won
by a pupil of that school.

Fifteen hundred female factory operatives in Brad-
ford refused to begin work on Monday morning in con-
sequence of their demand for an advance of wages being
disregarded. The consequence it that five of the principal
mills in the town were thrown idle.
The Queen and Princess Beatrice went to Whip.
pingham Church last Sunday. The lion. and Rev. Francis
Byng preached. The Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach
arrived at Osborne on Saturday, and had an audience of her
Majesty, and afterwards dined with the Queen. The Hon.
and Bev. Francis Byng was also included in her Majesty's
dinner party.

Professor Collacion, of Geneva, has effected an
Important improvement In the ingenious contrivance for
enabling deaf mutes to hear through the teeth, lately dis-
covered in the United States. !or the indiarubber apparatus
used by the American inventor, which is somewhat costly,
the Professor substitutes a piece of elastic cardboard. By
this simple expedient deaf mutes are enabled to hear voices
and distinguish the notes of a piano.
A severe earthquake shock was felt at Coire, in the
Grisons, early in the morning of the 7th.
A very simple error proved fatal to the nomination
of Mr. J. D. Goldthorpe, one of the Church and Conserva-
tive candidates for the Wakeleld School Board. Ills
nomination paper was not dated, and objeotion being
taken, the Mayor on Saturday had to declare it invalid.
At a recent meeting of the Royal Geographical
Society, a letter was read from Mr. Joseph Thomson, the
leader of the Society's Bast African expedition, announcing
the safe arrival of the party at Lake Nyassa, and their de-
parture for Lake Tanganyika.
Queen.—Will you write to me? My address is the
same. In life and death your Loyal subject.—The White
Lady Is entreated to communicate with Bobby and his wife.
They love her dearly, and forgive all. Do write. May God
bless you.—Advertisements In Tuesday's Times.

The severe simplicity of our Republican kinsmen
across the Atlantic is shown in the way Mr. and Mrs. Jacob
Astor entertained their friends in New York. The dinner
service is of solid gold, and consists of more than two hun-
dred pieces of exquisite workmanship.—Echo.
A letter has been addressed by the United States
Minister to Columbia to Mr. Everts, stating that by the con-
struction of the Panama Canal a French colony will be
planted on the isthmus, and dwelling upon the disadvantage
likely to arise from the management of the canal being in
European hands.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales on Satur-
day afternoon formally opened the new Windsor Eton and
Albert Hall, an institution intended to be a local memorial
of the virtues of the late Prince Consort and a home for the
Mechanics' Institute, of which he was patron.
- -

A telegram from Chicago says that there is an immense
gealn blockade In that city. The elevators, which have a
capacity of 16,000,000 bushels, are nearly filled, and about
1,000,000 bushels are afloat. The blockade has been brought
about by the constant purchases of the Syndicate having
forced prices to a point at which It is unprofitable to ship
grain.

On Christmas Day, visitor' at St. Peter's, Rome,
were somewhat puzzled to see a poor beggar dressed in a
rich white surplice, and standing close to St. Peter's statue.
Be told everyone who looked at him that the white surplice
was a gift of Pins IX., and that he wore it on all great fetes,
In memory of the donor. This tale (which is quite true,
however) gained him a harvest of sous. The surplice is a
blessing to the beggar, he says.—Court Journal.

The kmerican Correspondent of The Times says
that Messrs. Parnell and Dillon addressed a crowded meet-
ing at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on Saturday
night, nanny of the leading citizens attending, Colonel
Alexander M'Clure, editor of the Philadelphia Times, pre-
siding. The admission fees yielded about 2,000 dole., all of
which goes to the Irish relief fund, the expenses of the
meeting being defrayed by private subscription.
A curious case of death from gas poisoning has
occurred at Southport. One of the feet of a bed in which a
domestic servant was sleeping entered the floor of the room
and fractured a gas pipe, the result being that the gas
escaped into the room and was inhaled by the young woman,
who was found unconscious in the morning and never re-
covered.

Mr. William Wilson, public registrar of Dunferm-
line, on Monday met with his death through his clothes
Igniting while he was sitting before the tire in his bad-room.
Deceased, who was 75 years of age, had held office for
twenty-five years, and was also keeper of the Abbey and the
Royal Palace.

Signs are not wanting (the Paris Correspondent of
the Daily Telegraph say.) that France is about to follow the
recent example of Germany in devoting attention to the
subject of colonisation and the development of trade in
distant countries. The new Ministry, he thick., will pro-
bably make an energetic policy in this direction one of its
claims to popularity.

The annual municipal report shows Paris to contain
74,740 buildings, containing 337.667 sets of rooms used for
businesses, and 684,952 for habitation. The rental of the
former is estimated at 218,000,000 f., and that of the latter at
82,000,0001.

. •
The arrangement by which the Scotch banks be-
come the sole creditors of the City of Glasgow Bank on pay-
ment of other creditors in full, less interest, has, it is stated,
been accepted by a large number of outside creditors.

The Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph
says that M.. Isaac Pereira, the banker, has just given four
thousand pounds, to be divided into four prizes, for the best
essays on the means of improving the condition of the poorer
classes, both morally and materially.

The new Summary Jurisdiction Act has, among
other things, made a difference In the mode of dealing witt
offences against the game laws. Formerly night poaching
was punishable by absolute Imprisonment, but now the
magistrates have power to give an offender the option at
paying aline.
- -

- - -
The Duke of Cambridge has remitted 15 per cent.
on the whole of last year's rents of the tenants on his Coombe
estates, Surrey.
The death is annomved, at the afze of sixty•eight, of
Lieutenant-Colonel John Bratlawalte Bonham, late of the
50th (Queen's Own) Regiment. He was present with his
regiment at the battle of rannir, and served also the Sutiej
campaign of 1845-48, including the battles of Moodkee,
Ferozeshah, Allwal, and Sobraon, being dangerously wounded
at the latter. He retired from the army by the sale of his
commission in February, 1852.
A dangerous eye disease is becoming prevalent in
the East-end of London. (So, at least, says a correspondent
of a morning contemporary.) The disease is known as "the
blight." Although at present of a mild type, it has been
pronounced by an experienced oculist to be of a highly in-
fectious character, with a tendency to intensify in degree
as the epidemic progresses, and the correspondent urgently
advises that each case should be carefally isolated.
The sponge divers along the Florida coast have
begun to adopt an innovation that may work great change in
their business. It is found that this can be done by cutting
the live sponges into small pieces, attaching them to pieces
of rook, and sinking them to Proper depths in suitable
locations. In three years each piece Will attain a market-

able size.

----•
French oysters have suffered much from the severe
cold this winter. Millions of young ones have been killed
both in Brittany and at Arcaohon by the frost loosening the
spat from the tiles on which they rested, while at the latter
place an enormous quantity of fall-grown bivalves, just
ready for exportation, were frozen, and completely spoiled.
Christmas and New Year's toys in Paris occupy in
their manufacture 7,392 people of whom 2,488 are children;
while fifteen millions of these cheap articles de Paris were
exportedin 1875. Formerly the inexpensive playthings were
chiefly bought at the New Year's booths on the Boulevards,
which then drove a flourishing trade, and were gay and
substantial looking. Now the large shops have taken up
the sale, following out the store principle, and the poor
people who looked to the profits in the ten days' fair as an
income for the rest of the winter suffer much from the
monopoly.
On Sunday in all the Roman Catholic places of
worship in the diocese of Southwark, a circular, addressed
to the clergy by the Bishop, the Right. Rev. Dr. Danell,
ordering a general collection for the relief of Irish distress,
was read at the services.
Some peasants of Gaza while rummaging in a sand-
hill at Tell el Ajoul discovered lying on its back a splendid
marble statue of Jupiter. They cold it to a merchant for a
trifle, but the Turkish Governer repaid him the money, took
possession of the hill, and is trying to sell the statue, for
which the Prussian Consul has mace a bid. It is not yet
aechhdh a
ir beingpronounces
aitatmoirbaebOlyf
the best Alexandrian age,
2faeince
wholly unearthed, but M-tdhee
chiselled, and it may, perhaps, be a copy of Phidias's
Jupiter Olympus.

There is now living at Copstor•green, near the once
famous Itlman city of Ribchester, Lancashire, an old man
named William Hayhurst, who has reached 104 years. The
other day a number of gentlemen gave a dinner in his

honow at Copster-green. rhe old man was present, accom-
panied by a daughter, aged 78, who is a widow, and a
grandson, aged 49. Hayhurst Is well known to anglers on
the Rabble, who frequently call to bays a talk with him of
the olden times. He has buried four eons, but he has five
out of six daughters living. He married when 28 years of
age He is still active; his hearing is good, but his eyesight
is falling. His granichildren number from 30 to 32, and his
great-grandchildren 70. fle has lived in his present abode
more than three score years.

Dr. Joshua Henry Porter, whose death is announced
front Cabal, was the principal medical officer with the
British forces iu that city, and has fallen a victim to pneu-
monia. He was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College
of Surgeons in Ireland in 1852, and appointed an assistant.
surgeon in the army in 1853. He served with the Pith Regi-
ment at the siege of Sebastopol from Nov. 20, 1864, and
received for his services the medal with clasp, the fifth class
of the Medjidie, and the Turkish medal. He also served in
Bengal in suppressing the mutiny In 18578, took part with
the Jounpore field force in several actions, and afterwards
at the siege and capture of Lucknow and the storming of the
Kaiser Bagh. Daring part of the Franco• German war, in
1870, be served with the British ambulance, was at the siege
of Paris, and received the German steel war medal. He was
with the forces in Afghanistan in both campaigns, and his
services were of the greatest value.
The King of Italy has conferred upon Mr. Samuel
Smiles the rank of Chevalier of Saints Maurice and Lave,
is Loser' of his Majesty's appreciation of your very
valuable works;" and the insignia of the Order have been
forwarded to Mr. Smiles along with a complimentary letter
from Count Visene, Minister of the Heusehold. The well-
known works of Mr. Smiles have been trausiated into
Italian and have proved of much service by setting before
ablioaonycoaulthd examples of selthelp, industry, and thrift
'Self.'ililp," 60,000 copies have been sold,
complete form, in Italy, and it has also been condensed
little volume—sold at the book-stalls along the streets
centesimi-- under the title of " Ajutati che Dlo
Into
la tes
st tejiottahista .e k le
" —Monday's Times.

An Amerioan has, it is said, invented an electric
divining rod, whereby paying deposits of gold, silver, and
copper can be positively indicated and their exact location
pointed out.

- Mr. W H. Barlow took the chair on Tuesday night
as President for the ensuing year of the Institution of Civil
Engineers. In his inaugural address he contrasted the con-
dition ot the world with regard to engineering science when
he commenced his career In 1828, with that of the present
day. Railroads and steam navigation had made the greatest
changes; but within the period named practical telegraphy
had arisen, gas had become the universal Illuminator; a
complete revolution had oocurred in the materials and pro-
cesses of building; the use of hydraulic machinery had
extended, and steel had largely supplanted iron. The local
amigos in London were no less wonderful.
At the meeting of the Union Bank of Australia
; held in London), the chairman, referring to the prospects
of the future, said the improved condition of commerce
here and elsewhere was a good ground for anticipating a
greatly-increased vaino for Australian wool. In the wheat-
producing colonies an abundant harvest was all but assured,
South Austraiia alone showing an estimated surplus of from
, 250,000 to 300,00 tons. In mining matters, recent advice'
showed a revival of spirit, and the snore settled induatriells
including that of the sugar planter, were progressive.

Dynamite has been tried at Monte Catillo near
Tivoli, tor pulverizing rock adapted for tbe cultivation
of the olive, and the experiment is described as very
amused.

The value of hops imported in the last 11 months
was £i5i28.755, against £545,294 In the same period of the
previous year.
The American papers received by the present mail
speak very positively about the success of Mr. Edison's last
new lamp for the electric light.
On the 21st of December last a primrose was
found blooming in the open air by a wood not far out of
Brighton.
A shoemaker named Cnrkiewitz has just died at
Bromberg at the age of 112.
The Berlin correspondent of the Daily News
telegraphs that the King of Denmark has informed the
Emperor William that the Duke of Cumberland will most
certainly not accept the latest Prussian proposals concern-
ing the Hanoverian question.
The millmen and puddlers at the principal foundries
In Leeds and district have sent to their employers an appli-
cation for a further advance of wages.

The Marquis of Lorne has received from a deputa-
tion which waited upon him a petition praying the Queen to
consider the situation of the Irish people, and to bring about
legislation for remedying their position. Ills Excellency
expressed his regret for the distress In Ireland, and
suggested emigration to Canada as a means of remedying
it.

Frank Hart, or "Black Dan," as he is more fre-
quently called, won the 'prize belt in a six days walking
match contested In Madison-square Garden, in the last week
in December, and made the best score ever recorded in a
walking match in the United States. Sixty-five men started
on the track on December 22, 1879, but fourteen dropped oft
the list the same day, and only nine were on the track at the
end. Hart made 540.1 miles.

Although most people would think that this country
is tolerably well provided with railways, there are no fewer
than seventy-two bills for discussion by the Committee of
the Commons. Only half a century ago, and railways were
hotly opposed; now they are almost always welcomed,
notably so in Australia, where an estate, for which a few
years back £3,000 was paid, had last been divided into farms
and sold for £240,000 I The reason is a simple one: the
estate is near a railway.— 6c40.

The Earl of Roden died on Saturday last at Men
tone. Lord Roden had gone there to pan the winter,
owing to the delicate state of his health. Vlsoountess
Jocelyn, who had accompanied her son to Mentone, was
with him when he died. Her Majesty received the sad
news at Osborne with deep regret. Lord Roden served
during the Crimean War, and was made -Commandant al
the lad Diger Corps of the British German Legion in 1855.
-

- -
The Mormons are said to be contemplating a general
migration from Utah to Mexico. A conviction has for some
time put been growing among them that "they must go
somewhere," and recent events show that they are preparing
for a move. One indication of their intention is the late
departure from Salt Lake City of one of the elders for the city
of Mexico. Daring the past five years Mormon missionaries
have been visiting the northern States of Mexico, and some
colonies have been established within short distances of the
border in Arizona. Large tracts of land have been offered to
the Church at nominal prices by the Mexicans.
__ -- -.

Once a year Sir -Lydetone Newman allows hie
tenantry a day's wild fowl shooting on Slapton Lea, South
Devon. This annual event came off on Tuesday. Amen in
one of the boats attempted to reach a wounded bird. The
craft Capsized, and one of the occupants was unfortunately
drowned.

A correspondent writing from Sidmonth to The
Times, says :—" Mr. Y. 0, Morris has drawn attention to the
decrease of small birds, and has suggested some causes for
this decrease. Can he suggest any cause for the enormous
Increase either in the number or In the activity of moles
during the last six months? The pastures here are every-
where dotted with their earthworks and riddled with their
mines in a way hitherto unknown in the memory of the
oldest mole-catcher."

The death of Me. Serjeant Parry took place on
Saturday, the 10th, from congestion of the lungs—a few
hours after the death of his wife from an attack of the same
disease. The learned gentleman, who was in his 64th year,
was called to the bar in 1843, and became a serjeant-at•law
in 1856. In conjunction with Sir S. M. Pete he contested
Norwich in 1847 in the advanced Liberal interest, against
the present Duke of Wellington, but was unsuccessful. He
was also a candidate for Finsbury in 1857, but was third on
the poll.
The unfortunate Empress Charlotte of Mexico is
said to have so much improved in health that there is some
prosp3cl of her recovering her reason. The improvement is
specially noted since her residence at Bouchout, where she
removed after the fire at Teroveren. One peculiarity in the
Empress is that she never speaks in the first person, but
always says "on" desire. She talks well, but never touches
on some few subjects, which seem altogether banished from
her mind.
A legal contemporary suggests the advisability of
adding to farm leases this clause: "The tenant shah have
all the crops upon the farm properly cleared and weeded
daring the last two years of the tenantry, and the landlord
shall have the power to do this work at the expense of the
tenant if it be not effectually done upon notice from the
landlord."

A boiler explosion took place on Monday evening at
an iron foundry at Ormskirk. One man was killed, his
body being blown over an adjacent corn mill to a distance
of 150 yards. Several men were seriously injured, and con-
siderable damage was done to adjoining property, the
foundry being wrecked.
Private Bainbridge, of the 67th Regiment, has been
recommended by General Roberts for the Victoria Cross for
the meritorious service medal for oonspionotui gal/allt/7 Id
Bala Hissar on the occasion of the explosion there. In
response to the call of General goberte, etschtmr,.. among
volunteered to go to the ros 12e the sick
anthedmwoßuanndbAidgei
A discussion took place on Monday in the Town
Council or Dunfermline on the offer of £6,000 by Mr.
Carnegie, of New York, to establish a free library tor the
town. Much difference ot opinion was expressed as to the
conditions stipulated by the donor. It was eventually decided
that the Provost should convene a public meeting of house-
holders to consider whether the Public Libraries (Scotland)
Act, 1867, should be adopted.

The Marquis of Ripon presided on Tuesday night at
a soirée of the Halifax Mechanics Institution, and in an
address devoted to educational matters expressed his antici-
pation that the Education Act of 1870 would effectually do
away with the necessity for classes for primary instruction
In institutions of that description. He expected that me-
chanics' institutions would ultimately become peoples col-
leges and would consequently enjoy increased popularity.
Itefening to agriculture, the Marquis dwelt on the neces-
sity of agriculturists being prepared for severity of competi-
tion just as much as the manufacturing community. He
advocated the establishment of means by which young men
could become acquainted with the scientific principles of
fanning, and strongly recommended the development of
science classes.
- -

------- -------
Her Majesty, the German Empress, Queen of Prussia,
has spontaneously communicated her desire to add her
name to the list of patrons of the Seaman's Hospital, Green-
wich, to which many a German seaman is indebted for care
and relief.' Her Majesty has, therefore, sent through her
private secretary, Baron Knesebeck, a donation of £2O.

On Decembcr 10, 1878, the first cremation was
executed at Gotha. News from that town now states that
during 1879 15 other cremations were performed. This is
looked upon as an extremely satisfactory result for the first
year in which the process ma, be chosen by and for anybody.
The time for the complete incineration of the bodies was
between l and 21 hours, therefore about two hours on the
average. Besides Gotha, other German towns furnished
subjects for cremation, such as Langensalza, Naumburg,
Neastadt-on-the-Orla, Leipzig, Dresden, Bsmberg, Hanover,
Breslau, and Vienna.
The London Correspondent of the Manchester Guar-
dian says :—" I have reason to believe that upon the opening
of the session the attitude of Lord Derby in relation to the
Liberal party will assume a character of cordial association,
especially in regard to the great questiop which the coming
election is to decide—the inestion of confidence in the
foreign policy of the Government Lord Derby has left no
doubt in the minds of the responsible leaders of the Liberal
party of his friendly accord and sympathy with their oppo-
sition to the policy of the Government."
Mr. Justice Grover, presiding at Montgomeryshire
Assizes on Tuesday, was presented with a pair of white kid
gloves by the High Sheriff, the Hon. H. Herbert, there being
no criminal business. The Judge said that such as event
had happened only twice to him in his experience of eight
years on the judicial bench.
Her Majesty's Royal pack of buckhounds met at
the Crooked Billet, Iver-heath, on Tuesday. The day was
cold and miserable, scow falling the whole time of the run.
shortly before twelve o'clock the deer was uncarted at the
Water Splash, and went away for Beall'. It then doubled
back to Fulmer-bottom, into the woods, round the copse,
back to Fulmer-bottom, and along the meadows to
Fulmer-village. After passing through the village it made
for Fernacres, through Langley-park, and was taken, after
an hour's run, in the snow at Cowley.
The missionaries in China are much troubled by a
very unpleasant infatuation of the natives respecting their
children (says the Court Journal). A missionary lately
established an orphanage, and it would have been imagined,
considering the superfluity of Chinese infants, that a good
many parents would have been glad to have passed off their
inconvenient offspring as orphans, instead of drowning
them. This, however, was not the case. The missionary
was grieved to find that the popular idea of his labours was
that he collected children for the purpose of "scooping out"
theiro e eixy efs.,
formed
efht r cs
at in
an ge t
hh
iegi rh hy e
ianrtseilol
ir g
en t
op"medicine."iun The
of the
orphanage, and ordered it to be closed. With much difficulty
the missionary convinced them at last that he had no taste

for Intants' eyebaths, and that, being wholly destitute of the
profound medical knowledge of the Chinese, he had no
temptation to cut children's hearts out.