The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-22 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

During the first four months of the present year the
emigration from Irish ports was 17,720, against 22,249 in the
corresponding four months of 1874; decrease, 4,709.
In a letter he has written to a member of the French
Assembly, the Comte de Chambord says he still hopes that
the Monarchy will be re-established in France.
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An American contemporary gives one a vivid idea
of the extremely cold weather of the past winter when it says
that a mother thought her daughter was a long time bidding
her sweetheart good-night, until she went to the door and
found their lips frozen together.
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A famous auctioneer, after exhausting the language
of praise in extolling a certain gentleman's park which had
to fall under his hammer, said he was bound, as an honest
man, not to conceal the only drawbacks to the property,
which were the litter made by the rose-leaves, and the per-
petual din kept up by the nightingales.
It is said that in the course of his visit to Berlin the
Czar remarked that he had had an easy task in maintaining
peace, and that Germany had no desire to go to war. The
North German Gazette also asEerts that there was no pros-
pect of adisturbance of peace, and strongly deprecates the
suspicions directed against Germany.
A telegram received last week from Newfoundland
stated that the ice-pack had increased in density through
the change in the wind, and that several vessels, unable to
reach St. John's, were obliged to alter their course to get
into Halifax.

Major Frank Bolton, in his monthly report upon
the metropolitan water supply, directs the attention of
householders to the importance of frequently cleaning out
the cisterns attached to their dwellings, which, in case of
neglect, might become a cause of fever and disease.

The Agricultural Department of the United States
has issued the April Report, showing the condition of the
wheat crop. The area of winter wheat has decreased 7 per
cent, since last autumn, small portions having been de-
stroyed by the severe winter. The condition of the crop is
generally below the average.
The Jubilee Singers were to sail from New York on
Saturday last in the Cunard steamer Algeria, for a second
tour through this country. They are engaged in raising an
endowment fund for Fisk University. Their first concert
will be given in London early in June. They intend, after
the season in London, making a tour of the provinces. The
troup consists of twelve singers; under the musical direction
of Professor Theodore F. Seward.
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The statue of the late Lord Canning has been placed
In the "Statesmen's Corner " of Westminster Abbey. It
stands close to that of George Canning, his father, and, in
consequence of the plinth resting on the step of the monu-
ment of "the loyal Duke of Newcastle," is of greater altitude.
Directly opposite is the statue of Lord Palmerston.
On Friday in last week the Pope entered upon his
84th year, on which occasion he received at the Vatican 600
German pilgrims, who conveyed the homage of the German
Catholics and their congratulations on his birthday. They
also presented his Holiness with an address signed by
1,200,000 Catholics.
The Graphic remarks The advance of education
has even spread to the feathered tribe. A Parsisian bird-
seller advertises to teach parrots to talk sensibly.' An
ornithological School Board will probably be the next insti-
tution"
Speaking at the London Artisans' Institute last
week, Mr. Mundella, M. P., said that he did not believe in
arbitration pure and simple without a board of conciliation
as a means of settling disputes between masters and men.
He thought that in England we were much nearer concilia-
tion than in any other country in the world.
The Agricultural Department has issued the April
Report, showing the condition of the wheat crop. The area
of winter wheat has decreased 7 per cent, since last Autumn,
small portions having been destroyed by the severe winter.
The condition of the crop is generally below the average.

- -
Amongst the measures which received the Royal
assent last week was the Holiday Act Amendment Bill, for
extending to the docks, custom-houses, inland revenue
offices, and bonding warehouses in England and Ireland, cer-
tain provisions of the Bank Holidays Act of 1871. The new
statute came into operation on Monday last.

The Journal de Geneve says that the Canton of
Glarus is threatened with a strike of doctors, which is to
begin very shortly. Out of 23 licensed medical practitioners,
21 declare that they will no longer perform any official duties
until the medical examinations be once more intrusted to a
committee of competent men and the regulations be so modi-
fied as to allow of the use of an effective sanitary police.
The Bank Holiday of Monday, was very generally
observed throughout London and the suburbs. The brilliant
weather, affording as it did such a contrast to that of last
Whit-Monday, attracted to London large numbers of excur-
sionists from the home dounties ; while out of the metropolis,
during the earlier hours of the day, enormous crowds poured
In all directions.
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--- -
Why don't you take a leaf out of my book ?—Cer-
tainly, old boy, you're very kind. Pass us your chequebook.
—Judy.
A correspondent of The TilitCS states that it is still
uncertain whether Garibaldi will accept the 50,000 f. annuity
for life and 60,000 f. additional, with remainder to his heirs in
perpetuity, to which the Italian Senate has just given its con-
sent. Just as if within a year the Pope, if he does not accept
the 15,000,000 lire accumulating to his credit during five years,
will forfeit his right to the arrears, so Garibaldi, if by 1879 he
does not draw the accumulated annuity, will only be entitled
In 1880 to 100,000 lire.

The Rev. Dr. Buchanan, who died at Rome about
three weeks since, was buried at Glasgow on Tueslay. The
procession was a mile long, and was composed of ministers
and members of all denominations from every part of Scot-
land. The flags of the ships in the harbour and on the pub-
lic buildings were half-mast high.
The most gloomy forebodings are stated to exist in
medical circles in India regarding the pestilence. The deaths
have already been far in excess of the usual number at this
season, and, judging by past experience, a terrible visitation
seems inevitable during the coming summer.

From Barcelona advices have been received reporting
an important victory as having been gained over the Carlists
on Mount Monserrat. The Royal troops carried the positions,
which had been strongly fortified by the Carlists, and lost
93 in killed and wounded. The Carlist losses had not been
ascertained.

The American correspondent of The Times says
that the military have nearly all been withdrawn from
the Pennsylvania coal region, where disorder was feared
from the colliers' strike. The only serious disturbance that
has occurred there was resistance in Luzerne County to a
levy made upon a storekeeper, two officers being wounded,
one of them fatally. The sheriff subsequently, however, was
able, with the help of his posse, to serve the writ and cap-
ture all the offenders, who are now in gaol. The strike is
near its end, the funds of the colliers being almost exhausted.
The production of coal every week is becoming larger, and
there are no longer fears of a "famine."
There were 2,346 births and 1,427 deaths regis-
tered in London last week, the former being exceeded by 61,
and the latter by three, the average numbers. The annual
death-rate per 1,000 of the population was 22. 24 persons
died from measles, 69 from scarlet fever, 13 from diphtheria,
86 from whooping-cough. 23 from different forms of fever, 15
from diarrhoea, and not one from small-pox ,• thus to the
seven principal diseases of the zymotic class 220 deaths were
referred, against 194 and 181 in the two preceding weeks.
These 220 deaths were 18 below the corrected average
number from the same diseases in the corresponding week of
the last ten years, and were equal to an annual rate of 3.3
per 1,000.
The Queen arrived at Balmoral about three o'clock
last Saturday afternoon. At Perth, which her Majesty
reached exactly at half-past nine in the morning, there was
a large representation of the leading families of the county
on the platform. The Queen, Royal Family, and suite break-
fasted at the Station. When the train' left the station the
cheering was-vociferous. At Ferryhill Junction, where the
journey by the Deeside Railway begins, there was an exceed-
ingly large gathering of the inhabitants of Aberdeen. A halt
of only three or four minutes was made, during which time
the train was shunted from the Caledonian to the Deeside
line. Frequent and hearty cheers were raised, and were
graciously acknowledged by the Queen. About a couple of
minutes behind time, the train steamed into Ballater
Station, whicliwas crowded. Her Majesty was received by
a Guard of Honour consisting of fifty men of the 99th Regi-
ment, under the command of Captain Greenharn. As the
Queen passed from the railway train to her carriage a Royal
salute was given. The journey between Ballater and Bal-
moral was done in open carriages drawn by four horses. The
weather was throughout splendid, and the Queen Appeared
In excellent spirits.

virA=Mqc,V

The importations into France during tla,e, 4nst four
months of the current year amounted to 1,717;000,0d0C; the
exports during the same period reached the value of
1,352,000,0001.
Captain Boyton's second attempt to cross the
Channel will be made 011 Friday, the 28th inst. The start is •
tube effected from Cape Grisnez, and the landing, if possi-
ble, at Folkestone. - • -
A correspondent speaking of Masonry says :—" It
Is the most hospitable of institutions. You may meet Masons
in the tent of an Arab in the Great Desert. You may meet
them in the wildest parts of Mexico. I have little doubt if
the North Pole is inhabited Captain Xtges, will get a Masonic
grip over there!, a—firtlaiilfiisOnid grip Li klways useful."-
An article appears in the Paris Moniteur highly com-
mending the action recently taken' by the British Cabinet to •
promote the interests of peace. The intervention of England
in the late crisis is also said have Wen much satisfsdfon
to the Russian Government.
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-- -
From April Ist to the 15th instant the Exchequer
receipts amounted to £9,877,394, as .compared with
£8,886,918 in the corresponding period of last year. The
expenditure has exceeded eleven millions and a half sterling;
of which nearly ELI millions was for interest on the National
Debt.
On the 29th of June a grand religious ceremony is to
take place in Paris. The foundation-stone is to be laid of the
new Church of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre.;
Religious disturbances have occurred at Ghezit.
Some pilgrims visiting on Monday a shrine near that city
were assailed by the crowd, and their banners destroyed.
The police were compelled to interfere to restore order.
The total number of messages forwarded from postal
telegraph stations in the United Kingdom during the week
ended the Bth inst. was 402,502, and during the correspond-
ing week of 1874, 375,870, showing an increase ill the week of
1875 on that of 1874 of 26,632.
In London, on Tuesday evening, the annual meeting
of the Peace Society was held in Finsbury Chapel; Mr.
Henry Pease in the chair. Resolutions were passed rejoicing
in the progress made by the question of international arbi-
tration as a substitute for war, and expressing the cordial
satisfaction of the meeting with the course pursued by Lord
Carnarvon in regard to the unhappy events in the colony of
Natal, as being founded on a policy of strict justice in deal-
ing with the aboriginal tribes.
What is the difference between an empty bakehouse
and a tissue of falsehoods ?—One is a lack of pies, and the
other is a pack of lies.—Judy.
The South Kensington Museum has lately received
from the French Government a magnificient porcelain vase
or wine-cooler, 3ft. 4in. in length and lft. 6in. high, from the
Sevres manufactory. The body of the cistern is of a lapis-
lazuli colour; on one side is a white oval plaque, with a re-
presentation in very low relief of a will boar attacked by
dogs; and on the other side is a similar plaque, with a deer
hunt. The handles are formed of Pan'e heads with enormous
rams' horns. This fine vase was chosen for the Museum by
M. du Somertvd —Academy.
On Saturday Captain Boyton performed experi-
ments with his life-preserving dress at Leeds. The water
used for the exhibition was the Waterloo Lake In Roundhay-
park (the Leeds People's Park), which covers 33 acres. At
least 30,000 persons were present, and Captain Boyton's per-
formances convinced them of the efficacy of his apparatus.
He was loudly cheered, and to gratify some thousands of
fresh arrivals at the Park he entered the lake again at
8 p.m., and wei Ilrote.,ll sliort,r sei.;es of illustrations.
Buffalo gnat, Z., ‘,4 311 notion among the
horses and mules in Tennessee, and killing them in great
numbers. The way in which these vicious insects accomplish
the work is not explained, but they do it so thoroughly that
the people of Tennessee are panic— trtcken on account of them.
On Monday, the usual Whitsuntide gathering of
Sunday School children took place at Sheffield. Between
40,000 and 50,000 scholars assembled, the largest concourse
having been in the Duke of Norfolk's park, where 30,000
children sang hymns in the presence of 60,000 spectators.
The sixteenth ;annual meeting of the Army and 1
Navy Pensioners' Employment Society was held in London,
on Saturday, at the Royal United Service Institution; the
Duke of Connaught in the chair. It was shown in the report
that from 1859 to the present time nearly 10,124 pensioners
of good character had been registered, and 8,305 provided
with employment. The situations varied in value from £3O
to £lOO a year, and the Council were enabled to state, from
the favourable reports received both from employers and the
pensioners themselves, that the operations of the society
continued to give general satisfaction.
Archduke Charh s 'Louis, brother of the Emperor,
has just inaugurated the "Oriental Museum" in Vienna,
before a numerous audience, composed of the Ministers,
members of the Diplomatic Body, and some of the leading
members of commerce. The Museum possesses various and
Interesting collections of industry and art exclusively belong-
ing to Oriental countries, for which it is indebted to the
generosity Of the Asiatic Governments represented at the
Vienna Exhibition of 1873.
From an official document, obtained by Sir C.
Dilke and printed by order of the House of Commons, it ap-
pears that the constituency in England and Wales numbered
2,301,206, of which 840,360 are electors in counties, 1,448,779,
In boroughs, and 12,067 in Universities. In Ireland the
Parliamentary electors number 230,436-175,414 in counties
and 55,022 in boroughs In Scotland there are 289,789 electors,
of which 84,752 are in counties, 195,176 in boroughs, and
9,861 in Universities.
From the data given in the San Francisco Directory
for 1875, it Is estimated that the present pWpulation of the
town is about 230,000. Some one having taken the trouble
to count the number of persons bearing the names of Smith,
Brown, and Jones, finds that 105 Smiths have come to us,
and that we have now 845 of that name, against 740 last year ;
that, instead of 383 Browns, we have now 470 of them; and
that Jones has increased and multiplied from 216 to 266.
At Bradford, last Saturday, Mr, Forster, M.P., un-
veiled the statue of Mr. S. C. Lister, whose enterprise and
inventive genius had been the means of materially adding to
the prosperity of the town. The right hon. gentleman ex-
pressed a hope that, in after days, the statue of Mr. Lister
would be admired, not merely because it gave the form and
features of a rich and successful man, but because it pre-
sented the form and features of one who was endowed with
industry, with intellect, with energy, with courage, with
perseverance, and who spared himself no pains in first ascer-
taining the conditions of the problems he had to solve. His
heart never fainted, his will never relaxed, in determining to
carry out those conditions.
A Table has been presented to the House of Com-
mons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer showing the pro-
gress of the operation of cancelling every year sufficient
Three per Cent. stock to create a ten years' annuity of £lOO,OOO.
A foot note states that the increased charge on the Exchequer
arrives at its maximum in 10 years, and thenceforth decreases
until in 26 more years it disappears, having produced at this
period the effect of an extinction of £33,069,996 of debt. In
100 years the amount extinguished would be £91,861,100.
Queensland papers report the heaviest rainfall ever
known in the colony. Twenty-three inches of rain fell
in
twenty-four days, causing floods everywhere. All communi-
tion and business were almost totally suspended. The rail-
way was stopped, the telegraph lines were under water.
Great damage was done to buildings in Brisbane, wherenine
inches of rain fell in one night. At Gympie, on the 4th of
March, the water was twenty.nine feet above ordinary levels
In the Mary. The water was over the roof of the Varieties
Theatre and twenty-seven houses, of which six collapsed
and fell.