The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-24 00:00:00

A Congress of Freethinkers is to be held at Brussels
in August.
An explosion has occurred at the Giant Powder
works in Berkely, California, by which twelve whites and the
same number of Chinamen Were blown to atoms. _ _

Advices from Adelaide Make the somewhat im-
portant announcement that South Australia will have this
year a surplus of 13,375,000 bushels of wheat available for ex-
portation.
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The Empress Euenie left Cape Town on board the
Union Steamship Company's Royal Mail steamer German, for
l'Catal on Tuesday afternoon. The Empress and suite Were
all well.

The Queen has been graciously pleased to confer the
distinction of Knight Commander of the Most Honourable
Order of the Bath on Mr. John Tilley, C. 8., Secretary of the
Post Office, who retires after •ia service of fifty-one years;
and also the honour of Companion of the Bath on Mr.
Stevenson Arthur Blackwood, who has been appointed as
Mr. Tilley's successor.

The Liverpool Mercury says a number of very
superior Canadian cattle, which were landed on Saturday
from the steamship Brooklyn, were exposed for sale at the
Liverpool Cattle Market on Monday, and realised the extra-.
ordinary price of £45 each.

The -American papers announce the death atßoston,
at the age of seventy-four, of the Rev. George Punchard,
known as the author of "A History of Congregationalism.'
Ile was for ten years one of the editors and publishers of the
Boston Traveller, which he founded in 1845.

Last week the temperature of the air was rather
below the average. The duration of bright sunshine at
Greenwich was 114•8 hours.

Bishop Claughton, in more than one Continental
town where he has been confirming since Easter for the
Bishop of London, spoke of the probability at no distant
future of the appointment of another bishop to superintend
English chaplaincies in northern and central Europe, his
title to be taken from Heligoland.
The receipts on account of revenue from the Ist
April, 1880, when there was a balance of £3,273,428, to April
17, 1880, were £4,263,254, against £4,863,885 in the corre-
sponding period of the preceding financial year, which began
with a balance of £6,915,758. The net expenditure was
£6,830,968, against £7,390,541 to the same date in the previous
year. The Treasury balances on April 17 amounted to
£3,304,231, and at the same date in 1870 to £3,758,071.

The shipments of wheat from America to Europe
during the past week amounted to 256,000 quarters, of which
126,000 quarters, including 20,000 from California and
Oregon, were for tbe United Kingdom, and 130,000 for the
Continent; and 461 maize to 317,500 quarters, of which
197,500 quarters were for the United Kingdom. To the
latter destination were also shipped 50,000 bags of flour. The
visible supply of wheat is now 23,750,000 bushels, and of
maize 15,750,000 bushels.

The interment of the late Mr. J. S. Wright, M.P.
which took place at Birmingham on Monday, was attended
by representatives of the public bodies and trade societies of
that and other towns, the funeral procession being estimated
at a mile in length.

On Saturday last a singular case of accidental death
was reported to Mr. John Humphreys, the coroner for Mid-
dlesex. Alfred Harris, aged 11, the son of a licensed vic-
tualler of Hackney, was in the habit of placing his head in a
jacktowel hanging behind the door and swinging round and
round until his head and face was enveloped as in a bandage.
On Thursday in last week he again did it, but was seized with
vertigo and hung senseless until he was suffocated. The
poor boy was found dead hanging in the towel shortly after-
wards.—An inquest has been held, when the medical evidence
showed that death was due to strangulation, and a verdict of
"Accidental death" was returned.

A French anti-tobacco society having petitioned M.
Lepere to forbid the sale of tobacco to boys under 16, and the
smoking by them in taverns and out-of-door cafés, he has re-
plied that if the effects of tobacco on youths were as noxious
as those of alcohol, legislative interference would be very de-
sirable. He does not see, however, how such prohibitions
could be enforced, for a boy would pretend to be buying the
tobacco for his father, and lines for smoking would practi-
cally fall on the parents, for they clearly could not perpetually
watch over their children's behaviour.

"A company is being formed in Madras to work the
gold reefs in the Colar districts. Reefs in that district, as in
Wynaad, have long seen kthawn to and worked by the natives.
They are said'to be well defined and to vary in thickness from
2ft. to 12ft. The surface of the earth contains gold in minute
particles, and some miners think that alluvial deposits may
yet be discovered. Some ore taken from a reef idColar now
worked by the Ooregum Company gave over four ounces of
gold to the ton."—Calcutta Correspondent of The Times.
Notice has been received at the ljydrographic Office
from the Chinese Government that two telegraph cables have
been laid down at Taku, at the entrance to the Pei Ho river.
The first of these cables connects the upper corner of Taku
south fort with the lower corner of the north fort; the other
conneeting the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Com-
pany's landing pier with the north bank of the river. Vessels
are cautioned not to anchor' near the cables, the locality of
whieli will be indicated by beacons.

A workman in a cement factory, at Boulogne hsx
met with a shocking death. He ventured on to one of the
furnaces for the purpose of drying a few cigar-extds, and the
crust of cement broke, letting hisn through into a mass of in-
candescent matter. The body when extricated presented a
frighful appearance, being much shrunk by the action of the
heat.
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Her Majesty the Queen has lately forwarded to
Canada a couple of valuable gold watches, to be presented
to the aide-de-camp and groom who were in attendance
upon the Princess Louise and the Marquis of L9rne, on the
occasion of the recent sleigh accident at Ottawa, and who
rendered valuable assistance. The watches in each case
bear an inscription, and it is Her Majesty's wish that they
should be presented by the Princess'in person.

The United States frigate Constellation having
on board supplies for the relief of the distress of Ireland, ar-
rived at Queenstown on Tuesday morning. She is laden with
five hundred tons of potatoes, flour, meal, canned meat, and
clothing.
Reports have been received from the Dundee fleeteof
ealers, and they are very unsatisfactory, a circumstance all
-the more deplorable following the ill-fortune which has
attended the Newfoundland seal fishing. It is not expected
that the total catch of the Dundee fleet will be above 300
tuns of oil, a result much below the average df many past
years. The value of the catch will be about £20,000, a sum
which will scarcely be sufficient to meet expenses.

Important finds of Roman antiquities have been
made for some weeks past in the neighbourhood of Treves.
Among the objects obtained are a large number of iron
utensils and implements and swords, with a bronze bas-relief
representing a warrior being crowned by a figure of Victory.
More important still is the discovery of relics of a Roman
glass-blowing factory on the Hoclnnark, near Cordel, in the
Eipel. Excavations have been made on the part of the pro-
vincial mi.seum, and a large number of fragments of gla,ss ob-
jects have been brought to light, among others some multi-
coloured pieces of glass, showing that many-coloured glass
vessels were not exclusively brought from Italy, but were also
of home manufacture.

The recent additions to the Zoological Society's
Gardens include a Vervet monkey from West Africa, pre-
sented by.. Mr. L. Samuel • a garnett's galago from East
Africa' a marsh ichneumon from South Africa, presented by
Mr. A. Chirnside ; an African civet cat from Africa' pre-
sented by Mr. P. Lembery ; a banded ichneumon from West
Africa, presented by Mr. A. Ferris; a common jay,
British, presented by Mrs. A. Dutton; two graceful ground
doves from Australia, deposited; a black saki from the
Lower Amazons, a Cape hyrax, a Robben Island snake from
South Africa, e great-billed rhea from South America, pur-
chased; an Amherst ,pheasant from Szechuen, China, re-
ceived in exchange.

_
An unusually serious carriage accident occurred in
Paris on Sunday afternoon on the Boulevard Picpus (says the
Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph). A cab was driving
quietly along when suddenly the horse bolted. The coach-
man, jumping from the box, fractured his arm and sustained
several severe injuries ; while the gentleman inside, a
M. Despernis, in 'following his example, rolled under the
wheels and was picked up dead. The horse continuing its
wild career smashed the vehicle to atoms against a tramcar.
loth the horses of the car were injured. Finally the cab
,horse fell down exhausted near the railway. The excitement
and consternation of the neighbourhood at such a sad
chapter of accidents may well be imagined.

"Sir James Milne Wilson, K.C.M.G., whose death
at Hobart Town was telegraphed to England early in March,
was at one time Premier of Tasmania, and afterwards
PresiAnt of the Legislative CounciL He died on his 68th
birthday. The Melbourne Argue says of him :—‘ Re was,
perhaps, next to the late William Robertson, the most
popular man in Hobart Town, or perhaps Tasraania. His
intercourse with friends and opponents (he had no enemies)
in public life was uniformly characterized by geniality,
courtesy, conciliation, and consideration for the feelings of
others. Sir James Wilson, though descended from a respect-
able county family in Scotland, was in effect a self-made
man. Re had not enjoyed the advantage of much scholastic
training, having left home when little more than a boy; but
his knowledge on almost every ,subject was extensive, and
It was entirely the result of by voluntary reading and study."
—Obituary of The Times, April 19.
Dr. Diplock, coroner for West Mildlesex held an
inquiry at the "Duke of York" Inn, Twickenham; as to the
death of Frederic Blanc, a Swiss, aged 60, who was found
dead in the Thames, off Twickenham on Sunday morning,
by a police-constable. Sophia Blanc sa.i'd she was a cook in
service at Twickenham. The deceased had formerly kept an
hotel at Boulogne, but had recently been engaged as a courier.
For several years past he had had very bad health. He had
been lodging at Twickenham for a few months. On Saturday
night he bade her "good-bye," saying he was in great pain.
A police-inspector handed to the coroner a Testament, in
which Blanc had written:—" My dear Wife,—l pray for you.
I suffer, and cannot bear it any longer. Pardon me for the
pain that I give you. My last wish is for you. I have
, loved you always. Farewell." The wife said the hand-
I writing was that of her husband. The jury returned a
verdict of "Suicide while mentally deranged."