The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-12-26 00:00:00

CHEAP WINTER CLOTHING.

In a climate so fickle as that of Englan d the ernes
tion of clothing is of the greatest importance. We
never know what weather to expect, and we are just
as likely to require zephyr clothing at Christmas as
we are furs and flannels at Midsummer. It is of
importance we should have a covering which is warm
and at the same time light, and a correspondent of The
Times calls attention to the fact of the small use made
of furs among us. Ile thinks the reason of this may
possibly be a combination of dealers who are interested
in keeping up the price. That warm coats ought to be
within the reach of most is evident from the stabs-
meet that the fur-lined jackets supplied to the officers
, &ring the Crimean War cost 14s. 6.1. each. This cor ran-
p.. lent remarks, also, that there are enough surplus
et in LondoU_ to supply such fur-linings by thou-
frauds, and in addition be makes an admirable sugges-
tion with regard to providing omnibus drivers, con-
ductors, and cabmen with sheepskin coats. No doubt
we neglect the use of fur for 'garments almost as much
as we do feathers. It if 4 true during the last few years
sealskin has become fashionable, and the comfort of
eider-down quilts in winterffias been recognized. But
both sealskin and eider-down are beyond the reach of
any save the well-to-do, and the cheapest, lightest,
and most easily obtainable material for warm
clothing has not yet met with the attention it de-
serves to, or the patronage it merits. Few people
know the value of aper in this respect. ?so one
knows, unless he has tried it, what a capital
railway rug The T imes newspaper and its supple-
ment will make, and few people are aware what an
excellent substitute for paucity of blankets can be con-
trived from a selection of our daily contemporaries. It
is not generally known that a brown paper lining will
make an ordinary coat as serviceable as a great oat,
and that an under-waiscoat deftly contrived of the
lame material is equal in value to a flannel shirt.
This is a fact that cannot be too widely known among
all classes, for it cannot fail to be useful to the high
as well as to the low. The cheapness, the portability,
the universality of paper—combined with the fact
that you can throw it away when you have done
with it—renders the material, as an addition to cheap
winter clothing, valuable in the highest degree.—
Graphic.

WHAT WILL THEY Do WITH Jr ?—The New
Ytrk. T 0,1(8 says that the United States' Secretary of
State has purchased, through the First National
Bank of New York, 5 per cent. Government bonds to
the value of about $200,000, for the investment of the
interest on the money received under the Geneva
award.
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_
SCIENCE AND LONCEVITY.—The obituary list
read at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society
furnishes another instance, if another be wanted, that
science is favourable to longevity (remarks the I
Athenittesi). The total number of deaths within the
year— i.e., from November 30, 1873, to November 30,
1874, was 14. Of these, three were under 70 yeare ;
tive, Sir W. Jardine, Sir J. R. Martin, Professor J.
Phillips,Sir F. Smith, and E. H. Stirling, werebetween
70 and 80; five between 80 and 90 years ; and one, Sir
0. Rose, 94 years. Looking at the last five, we see
that Sir John Rennie died at 81, Professor H. H. Gpant
at 82, Sir W. Fairbairn at 83, and Dr. Anaott and the
Rev. J. W. Bellamy, each at 86. These are remark-
able facts, suggestive of matter for consideration. Tim
present number of the society is 525, of whom Sir
FAlward Saline is now the father. He was elected a
Fellow in 1818, and is the last of the Mee elected
within the second decade of the century. Of Fellows
elected within the period 1820-1829 there remain 18 who
now take rank as veterans. Among them we remark
the names of Thomas Ball, Dr. Bosworth, Sir John
Davis, the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Ennis-
killen, Earl Stanhope, the Dean o 3 Nlisbury, Sir J.
G. S. Lefevre, Sir C. Lyell, Sir WOtibine Parish, Mr.
G. P. Scope, Sir 0. Shuckburgh, said Sir It: Vyvyan.
In this list of veterans Sir J. Lefevre takes precedenoe,
having been elected in 1820.
THE HOUSES WE LIVE i.—By means of the
House Tax we get an annual aceount of thh value of
the inhabited houses in Great Britain worth £2oa year
or upwards. An official return has been issued for the
financial year ending on the sth of April, 1873; and it
shows that in that year the duty, at 90. in the pound,
was charged on dwelling-houses of the annual value
of £28,455,854 ; and, at fid in the pound, on shops and
warehouses of the annual value of £9,2;12,544; on beer-
shops, of the annual value of £3,575,560; and on farm-
houses of the annual value of £759,767. The total
annual value, therefore, was £42,023,727, which is
£606,749 more than in the preceding year. The increase
extended to every one of these four classes of houses,
hut is most marked in the first—namely, the ordinary
dwelling.housee, in which it amounted to more than
£500,000. An increase in value is, of course, con-
stantly going on. It is attributable partly to the
advancing value of house property, but more to the
increase in the number of taxable houses—that is,
houses worth 1:20 a year or more. If we go back
seven yea's', and compare the above return with that
for the year ending the sth of April, 1866, we find
that at that time the values were very much less; the
dwelling-houses taxed were assessed at the annual
value of only £20,824,335; shops and warehouses,
£7,505,169; beershopa, £2,841.181 ; farmhouse.,
£606,766; making a total of £31,779,451, which in
seven years rose to be 42 millions.
A SHIP ATTACKED BY A SWORDFISH'. —Captain
Thomson the ship Cashmere, writiog under date f
Calcutta, November 20, says
On my passage round from Bombay the ship eutilloidy
commenced making water without any apparent cause. I
did not mention it before as I thought thesdeak might
possibly be found as the ship lightened. Ihe cause of ill
found ill a mann. r I little anticipated. The ship had heen
attacked by a swordfish, chief, pierced through copper and
planking to a distance of eight inches inside. 11,e " sword "
broke off at the copper, and remained in the ship, splitting
, the plank sissinches on each side of it where it had entered,
as that I cc.uld get a chisel right through. Fortunately it
was a.ove water when the cargo was dhicharged. I have had
the plank taken out where split, and put to rights. The
sword and piece of plank I shall bring home for your in-
spection.
TIGER CRUSAIIt IFI MADRAS.—The destruc-
tion of man-eaters, tigers, and leopards by means of
strychnine has, Rays the Bombay Ga:ette, proved so
effective in the Coimbatore district that the loss of
human life has been reduced to nil during the present
year, and the number of cattle killed has been much
lees than usual. Fifty three tigers and thirty-two
cattle-killing leopards have been destroyed within the
twelve months, the majority of them by means of
poisoned baits prepared by order of the village magis-
trate, and the others by shooting and trapping. Al-
though the wild beasts thus disposed of were most of
them cattle-killers, it is stated that by their destruc-
tion there is a much less chance of man-eaters being
developed.