The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-08-28 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A pass to the pit at Drury-lane Theatre, when
Edmund Kean was playing in the Merchant of Venice, sold
the other day for £2 2s.

It is stated that Lord H. Thynne, one of the mem-
bers for South Wilts, and Treasurer to her MaRSV'S louse.
hold under the late Government, has been compelled to
forego his attendance in Parliament, and leave England for
the Continent for the benefit of his health.
Mr. Watkin Williams has given notice that he will
next session bring in a bill to amend the law of parliam9n-
tary and municipal elections by prohibiting and rendering
illegal the following practices :-1. The employment of paid
canvassers; 2. The solicitation of promises to vote or
abstain from voting for a particular candidate ; 3. The con-
vening or holding of committee meetings or the like in
public houses; 4. The hiring and employment of persona as
legal or other agents, or as messengers or the like, in excess
of a certain limited and necessary number to be certified
and approved by a public authority ; 5. The conveyanee of
voters to the poll !ay the eandidates.

It is stated thawarland Hall, an ancient historic
mansion in Northumberland, has been placed at the dis-
posal of a community of French Jesuits by the owner, Mr.
J. G. Ridden.

The " take " in the salmon season just closed is
said to have been much greater than that during 1879. But
in several districts salmon have been extremely scarce and
the capture far below that of former years.
The United States continue to pay off their National
Debt by rapid and large instalments, so much so that last
year a total equal to thirteen millions of our money was thus
cancelled.

Blondin, the famous rope-walker of former years at
Niagara Falls, will revisit the scenes of his former triumphs
before the present season ends, and he proposes to under-
take some more difficult feats than ever before.

The Baroness Burdett-Coutts was on Monday night
presented at the Brown's-lane House, Spitalfields, which
forms the centre of a large charitable work carried on in the
East-end under the care of her ladyship, with a drawing-
room inlaid table, made by the workmen of the neighbour-
ing factory, whose tools the Baroness replaced after a disas-
trous lire which occurred some time ago.

On Saturday night James Cavan, 16 years of age,
only son of a widow, was drowned while bathing at Gareloch
Head, near Greenock, and a companion narrowly escaped a
like fate in attempting to rescue him.
Twenty•three English bicylists have been visiting
Calais. They batted that they wOuld reach Boulogne 20
minutes sooner than a steamer starting at the same time.
The steamer, however, won by a quarter of an hour.

"We have good news from Italy. The season has
been extraordinarily favourable to every variety of agricul-
tural produce. The wheat harvest has b 7 this time in that
happy climate been already garnered in. The maim, or
'Turkish corn as it is there called, hardly a leas important
crop, as it supplies the staple food for the peasantry, is
equally safe. The vine Yards, the fruit trees, and whatever
else thrives in that deep soil, bid fair to make the present
year an annus mirabilts, one of the most bountiful on record.
—Leader in The Times.

The National Welsh Eisteddfod was opened at
Carnarvon on Tuesday by Sir Watkin W. Wynn, M.P. There
was a good attendance from all parts of the principality.
The president referred to the absence of crime in Wales,
attributing it to meetings like the present gathering which
encouraged a love for music and literature, improved the
moral tone of the people and provided profitable amusement
for their leisure time. The chief choral prize of one hundred
and fifty guineas and a gold medal was awarded to the
Birkenhead Cambrian Choir. Several other prizes were
awarded.

Frog shooting is becoming quite a fashionable sport
in France, and large numbers of cross-bows, especially
manufactured for this purpose, are now sold in Paris.
An enthusiastic meeting in favour of universal suf-
frage has been held at Venice, when several workmen made
speeches showing a thorough appreciation of the value ef a
vote.

According to the United States Bureau of Statistics
report, 49,922 immigrants arrived in the United States last
month. This number includes 6,067 from Ireland, 6,888
from England, 11,276 from Germany. and 12,716 from
Cazada.

The Russian torpedo boat Nadine which recently
crossed the Atlantic on a trial trip, has been completely
wrecked off Aracati, near the month of the Jagusuib
River, in Brazil. All her crew were saved.

From the annual report of the Commissioners of
Patents it appears that during 1879 there were 5,388 appli-
cations for patents. This is a decrease of live upon the
returns for the previous year, when the number of applica-
tions was 5,393, being the highest ever recorded.

The passengers in the eleven o'clock train from
Cambridge to Ipswich on Wednesday were horrified by the
fall out of a third-class carriage of a child six years old,
through the deor being unfastened. The child's mothewas
with difficulty prevented from following it. The child fell
on its side, and was not killed. Some workmen on the line
took charge of it; but some time elapsed before the atten-
tion of the guard could be called to the accident. Eventually
the train was stopped and backed to the scene of the acci-
dent, where the child had miraculously escaped uninjured.
Last Saturday afternoon a navvy named Holman,
aged 86, employed on the work of doubling the Sevenoaka
and Maidstone Railway, was killed near to the Mailing
station by the train reaching that place at 4.20 p.m.
:he arrivals at Liverpool of live stock and fresh
meat from the United Stites and Canada last week were
much below that of the previous week. The totals were
as follows :-806 head of cattle, 795 sheep, 3,106 quarters of
beef, 160 carcases of mutton, and 150 carcases of pigs.
- -

' 7,
" Bendigo, a once celebrated pugilist, and winner
of eight prizefights in one year, died on Monday evening at
Beeston, Notts, aged 69. His death was occasioned by a
fracture of the ribs, which penetrated the lungs, the injury
having been received seven weeks ago. Of late years the
deceased had been a preacher, and was well known as a leader
of revivalist services.

The Canadian papers say that a disease, pro-
nounced by experts to be pleuro-pueumonia, has broken out
In some parts of Nova Scotia, and that the cattle raisers of
the Dominion are crying out for the most energetic mea-
sures to be taken for preventing the spread of the disease,
which would mean a terrible loss both to them and to the
English markets which they supply.

One thousand Sioux Indians are reported to have
surrendered to the United States military authorities at
Fort Keogh, and 1,000 more are expected to make sub-
mission.

On Wednesday, while a train was running at a high
speed between Aberdeen and Ballater, a child aged three
years fell out of a carriage. Mr. Robb, the child's grand-
father, leaped out after it, and the child's mother had to be
forcibly restrained from also leaping out. On the engine
proceeding back the child was found to have escaped un-
injured, but the old man, who fell on his head, is in a pre-
carious state.

More trouble seems to be in store for China. The
Celestial Empire says :—" The present summer would
appear to be an unfortunate one for China. Heavy rains
have fallen in Canton and the neighbourhood, and many
lives have been lost by the floods. It has been found neces-
sary to commence a system of relief, and subscriptions are
now being raised.

Mr. Evan Matthew Richards, of Brooklands, Swan-
sea, Deputy-Lieutenant for Glamorganshire, died suddenly on
Saturday evening, while witnessing a game of croquet on his
lawn. The cause of death is said to be apoplexy. The
deceased, who was sixty-six years of age, and formerly
represented Cardigan county in the House of Commons
for six years, was President of the Swansea Liberal Associa-
tion. He leaves a large family of sons and one daughter.

The death is announced, at Berlin, at the age of 62,
of Herr Albert Hoff mand, proprietor, founder, and publisher
of Kla,dderadatsch, the leading comic journal of Berlin, if
not of Germany, which first saw the light in 1848. Herr
Hoffmann, who startA in life as a bookseller's assistant, pos-
sessed no inconsiderable fund of humour, with a daring
spirit of enterprise, Assisted by the literary and artistic
talents of men like Dohn Kalisch and Lowenstein, he
managed to create and popularise a German Punch, which
made for its founder a princely fortune.

News aas been received of the death, in Calcutta,
on the 20th inst., of the Rev. Dr. Wenger, one of the oldest
missionaries in Calcutta, who had given his special atten-
tion to the work of Biblical translation in the Sanscrit and
Bengali languages. He was an accomplished Sanscrit
scholar, and completed the work commenced by the late Dr.
Yates. His version of the Bible is used by all denomina-
tions of Christians in Bengal. Dr. Wenger was a Swiss by
birth, and went out to India in 1839 as an agent of the Bap-
tist Missionary Society. Dr. Wenger was in his sixty-ninth
year at the time of his death.
_ _ _

-
The Birmingham Post of Monday says :—"A friendly,
but unexpected visitor, made his appearance in Birmingham
yesterday. For just a week we have not had a gleam of sun-
light; but yesterday the sun shone out brilliantly during
the morning and most of the afternoon. Then he went in
again behind the too familiar clouds."
The Prince and Princess of Wales, with their
children, took luncheon with the Queen on Sunday.

An announcement has been made at St. Petersburg
that during the last four months one hundred and fifteen
persons have been either returned to their homes or have
received some mitigation of their sentences; one thousand
six hundred and ninety-six individuaLs remain under police
surveillanee.

The fashionable millinery world is turning its atten-
tion to ceramic art for buttons. Miniature plates, exquisite
Imitations of Wedgwood Dresden china, and buttons with
small views on them, are in demand for costly dresses.

It is said that in the City of London alone there
are £200,000,000 of money awaiting investment, and it is
quite possible; for there must be immense amounts of idle
capital everywhere, in every branch of trade and industry.
The Bavarian Press is at this moment complaining
bitterly. The cause of its loud lamentation is to outsiders
exceedingly relishable. It is that the railway authorities
have given what Mr. Artemus Ward calls a " perpetooal free
parss ' to Prince Bismarck to travel up and down their lines
to Kissengen, while they have recently refused the same
favour to the Company's own ernploys.—Echo.
Richard Stroud, a shipwright employed upon the
Inflexible at Portsmouth, died at Hasler Hospital on Monday
night from injuries which he had received in the morning.
He was returning to the ship, and in attempting to
Jump upon a train while in motion he missed his footing, and
the wheels passed over one of his legs, completely severing
it. Ile was unmarried_
A memorial for general signature has been issued
by the Patriotic Association, urging upon her Majesty's
Government the great importance of a permanent military
occupation of Candahar, and of such other points in Af-
ghanistan as are strategically important. The retention of
such a military centre as Candahar, the memorial points
out, would not overstrain our resources; whilst the ad-
vantages that m ould result to British commeree could not
, be over-estimate d.

A member of the Twickenham Tricycle Club lately
took a run to the sea-side and back in one day. Leaving
Twickenham at 5.10 a.m., he ran to the "Railway" Hotel at
Crawley to breakfast, arriving there at 8.23 a.m. Leaving
again at 9.27, he ran to the "King and Queen" Hotel,
Brighton, which he reached at 11.55. After lunch, sea bath,
&c., he started on the return journey against a strong head
wind, reaching Twickenham at 10.35 p.m. The distance was
106 miles.

An inquest was held at Barrow on Monday, night
On the body of Richard Sanders, aged 15, who was drowned
on Sunday afternoon in Walney Channel while bathing
with James Gaffney and William Brown, both about the
same age as himself. The tide began to carry them away,
and a man named David Boyd jumped into the water and
was successful in saving the lives of Gaffney and Brown,
who on being brought to the shore were much exhausted.
Sanders's body was recovered after the tide had receded.
A verdict of "Accidentally drowned" was returned.

The splendid lace veil which the City of Brussels has
had made for a bridal present for the Princess Stephanie has
been for some days on exhibition at the Mite' de Ville in the
Belgian capital. It is 128 m. long by 118 m. broad, and is pro-
bably the largest piece of work of its Mad which has ever
been made. It has employed 125 workwomen for three
months, and has cost 25,0001. In the middle of the veil are
the arms of Austria-Hungary, flanked on the right and left
by the arms of the City of Brussels. The border will repre-
sent the arms of the nine provinces of Belgium, those of
Austria, and of the Belgian kingdom, all connected together
by a wreath of flowers. A narrower border runs all round.
The intervening spaces are filled up with flowers and plants.
The work is of the very best and finest quality.
While deplorable harvest reports continue to he
received at Silesia, Posen, and the two Prussias, most
favourable accounts are coming in from South Germany, all
the crops there showing a yield such as the oldest people
scarcely remember to have seen, the farmers hardly know-
ing where to garner them.

The receipts on amount of Revenue from the Ist
April, ieso, when there was a balance of £3,273,428, to
,migust 21, 1880, were £29,371,000, against £29,269,496 in the
corresponding period of the preceding financial year, which
began with a balance of £6,915,756. The net expenditure
was £32,542,078, against £34,345,484 to the same date in the
previous year. The Treasury balances on August 21
amounted to 43,875,923, and at the same date in 1879 to.
A 1,842,883.

.
M. and Madame Leon -Say have just expenenced a
heavy blow in the loss of their only daughter, who died on
Monday at the Chateau de Store. Soon after her return
from London Mdlle. Anna Say began to suffer from general
debility, though the symptoms were net regarded as
calculated to inspire alartn. In the course of a few days,
however, inflammation of the respiratory organit set in, and
rapidly acquired such intensity that all efforts to stay its
Progress were unavailing. I,ldLle. Say had attained her
twenty-first birthday on the day of her decease.—Paris corre-
spondent of the Standard.

Further reports have been received of the severity of
the recent storms in the centre and south of France. Lyons
suffered to a tremendous extent. Hundreds of trees and
thousands of panes of glass were destroyed, a circus was
completely blown down, and a theatre and the Museum of
Anatomy were partially demolished. The steamboats on the
Saone had to discontinue running. In the Puy de DOme, at
Blom, the Court of Assizes had to adjourn, owing to the
darkness, while at Thiers the hail fell in such force as to
ruin all the vines, and three houses in the neighbourhood
were set on fire by the lightning. At Cosne-sur-Loire, where
three men were taking refuge under a tree, one was killed
an another paralysed..

M cablegram from Lloyd's agent at Kingston.
Jamaica, states thata hurricane has passed over Kingstba,
Samaica, doing considerable damage to property.

The Queen and Princess Beatrice attended Divine
.service at Osborne on Sunday morning. The Rev. George
Connor, M.A., vicar of Newport and Chaplain in Ordinary
to her Majesty, officiated.
The destructive storm which almost destroyed
Brownsville, Texas, on the 12th and 13th inst., also wrecked
300 houses in Matamoras, which is situated on the frontier
between Mexico and Texas. Great damage was done to the
neighbouring towns, several steamboats were wrecked, and
some lives were lost.—The total damage done by the storm
Is estimated at 1,000,000 dols.
There were 20 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making a total of 877 for the present
year, or a decrease of 169 as compared with the correspond-
ing period of last year. The approximate value of property
lost was £710,000, including British, £620,000.
-

- -
Major Boyd, R.E., and his pontoon troop of 195
men and 100 horses, are now encamped on the banks of the
Thames at Egham, where they will remain until the 15th
September. Their operations are a daily source of interest
to numbers of visitors from Windsor, Staines, and other
places.
- - - -

The Imperial ukase appointing General Loris
Melikoff Minister of the Interior and abolishing the "Third
Section " is, the St. Peterburg telegrams state, " hailed with
delight by the patriotic press, as a public announcement of
the dose of the era of domestic troubles and extraordinary
measures."

Active preparations are now in progress for the
India Census, which is to be taken next February. It has
been decided to record the names, condition, sex, age, reli-
gion, mother tongue, birthplace, occupation, education, in-
firmities, such as blindness, deafness, dumbness. insanity,
and leprosy. Ilindoos will also be required to give their
castes.

The London Gazette of the 21st inst. contains a
Royal Order to the effect that the brothers and sisters of the
present Earl of Kilmorey shall enjoy the same title, pre-
eminence, and precedence as if their late father had sur-
vived and succeeded to the title and dignity of his father,
the late Earl of Kilmorey, who died in June last.
The experiment of placing reporters in galleries at
each side of the House of Lords was tried on Tuesday night,
and seemed to be fairly successful, there being, as antici-
pated, no difficulty in hearing the speeches of noble lords
opposite, but it was extremely difficult to hear the speeches
of those who sat below the galleries on the same aide of the
House, although such speeches could be heard very well in
the ordinary.gallery. Several of the reporters paid visits to
the new galleries, and their opinion generally was that thew
were able to hear much better there than in the gallery at
the end.

There was a severe thunderstorm on Sunday after-
noon at Douai inFrance. A house struck by lightning was
set on Ere and two men were killed. At Bordeaux there
was also a severe storm. Two labourers, who were werklag
in the drains, were carried away by the males torrent
tint invaded the sewers and were drowsed.
"There is considerable difference of opinion amongst
experts as to the probable yield of the wheat erop in this
country. The fact is that there is an unusual varieties is
the condition of the wheat crop in differeat parts of the
country. On dry soils and in districts which did not get the
worst of the July storms, the crop is generally sound aid
full of corn. On wet land, and in parts of the country which
suffered most from heavy rains, the crop is badly mildewed
and otherwise defective. As heavy land prevails to a con-
siderable extent in this country, and especially in the prin-
cipal wheat-growing counties, it is to be feared that some-
thing like 10 per cent, under an average yield must be ac-
cepted as a reasonable estimate."—Pall Mall Gazette.

Our American cousins having beaten the old
country agriculturists in growing corn, are now looking for
new worlds to conquer, and are experimenting in tea-
producing. The results in Georgia are said to be highly
successful, samples having been tasted by an expert in New
York, and declared to be equal to the finest India tea, and
very difficult to distinguish from the imported article. The
more sanguine spirits across the Atlantic accordingly pro-
phesy that in a few years the 'United States will be pro-
ducing as much tea as may be needed for home consumption,
at about one-third the present price.

The corn harvest, which, except in the higher
valleys, has now been gathered in throughout Switzerland,
is one of the most bountiful ever known. Potatoes are also
an excellent crop, and in Western Switzerland farmers are
now getting in their second hay crops.
The First Commissioner of Works having promised
to furnish full particulars of the game preserving and en-
closures in Richmond Park Mr. Bradlaugh has postponed
the motion standing in his name until these details are
given. He will then raise the whole question, contending
that one-third of Richmond Park is now enclosed, and the
public shut out from it.

Mr. Bradlaugh has given notice of his intention
early next session to call attention to the several perpetual
pensions charged on the Consolidated rand, and to move a
resolution.

Details of the disaster to the Liverpool ship Star of
the Sea have been obtained, from which it appears that the
vessel on the 29th May was in a heavy gale, when two sbas
from opposite directions broke simultaneously over her.
The deck was flooded up to the rails, and when the water
partially subsided, it was found that no fewer than seven of
the crew had been carried away. The Star of the Sea was on
a voyage from Liverpool for Calcutta, and the disaster oo-
curred in lat. 9930 south, ion. 66 east.
It is understood that the banquet to her Majesty's
Ministers, which was fixed to take place at the
.Mansion
House on the 6th inst., and which was postponed in conse-
quence of the illness of Mr. Gladstone, has been finally
abandoned. This annual gathering of llinisters W 24 not
held in 1864, and was again indefinitely postponed in 1877,
on the death of Mr. Ward Hunt; but these were the only
exceptions until the present year.—Daily Telegraph.

Some idea of the extent of Australian sheep farms
may be gathered from the feet that Sir Samuel Wilson has
recently sold one of his pastoral estates for ten yearly pay-
ments of £40,000. The "run " comprises about 3,000,000
acres of land, carrying about a quarter of a million of
sheep and several hundred head of cattle and horses. The
station was bought five years ago for less than £lOO,OOO, but
since then over 1,300 miles of wire fencing have been
erected, and, as the lease is direct from the Crown. the
value of the property will steadily increase, especially if the
efforts to export fresh meat in carcase are successfaL
The return of the Registrar-General for the week
ending Saturday, the 21st of August, states that during the
week 6,862 births and 4,014 deaths were registered in London
and twenty-two other large towns of the United Kingdom.
The mortality from all causes was at the average rate of 2.4
deaths annually in every 1,000 persons living. In London
2,512 births and 1,492 deaths were registered. The return
shows that the highest death rate was in Hull, where it was
at the annual rate of 40 per thousand living persona.
Brighton and Bristol are bracketed for the lowest rate with
16 per thousand, whilst London stands at 21.

The Comte de Paris, the •present representative of
the House of Orleans, was born at Paris, on Aug. 24, 1838,
thus completing his 42nd year on Tuesday. He is the son of
the late Prince Ferdinand, Duc d'Orleans, and grandson of
Louis Philippe, King of the French, who went into exile in
1848, when he was but ten years of age. He was educated
at Claremont, in this country, by his widowed mother, the
late Duchess of Orleans, who died there on May 18, 1858.
The Comte de Paris married his cousin, the Princess Marie
Isabelle Francoise d'Assize, eldest daughter of the Due de
Montpensier, on May 30, 1884; his only son, named Louis
Philippe, was born on Feb. 6, 1869.
The Bishop of Manchester, preaching on Sunday
morning at St. Thomas's Church, Red Bank, protested
against so much attention being paid to disputable argu-
ments and questionable points of doctrine in the present
state of society. There was, he said, a truth in the remark
recently made by Mr. John Bright, that men were weary gf
dogma. They were weary of it as it had been fulminated
again and again from pulpits; but he did not believe that
Mr. Bright meant that men were weary of hearing of those
great Christian truths which were the basis of all Christian
hope and the foundation of all Christian faith. He was filled
with anxiety to know how to deal with the phenomena which
presented themselves in society, and he could not under-
stand how men could persuade themselves to waste tim• on
mere pnerilities.
The thirty-fourth report of the Commissioners in
Lunacy, dated March 31, 1880, has been just printed. Ac-
cording to the annual returns, the number of lunatics, idiots,
and persons of unsound mind in England and Wales on the
Ist of January last was 71,191, being an increase 3f 1,306
above the total registered number for January lt 1879. Of
those patients 7,620 were in private and 63,571 in pauper
asylums; and 32,164 were males and 39,027 females.
These numbers do not include 208 lunatics so found by in-
quistion who are residing in the immediate charge of their
committees. The tables show a steady advance in the total
number of persons registered as of unsound mind, though
the increase is no doubt in a great measure accounted or by
the various alterations in the law which has tended to pro-
mote the removal of the insane poor to asylums, and by the
greater opposition to the granting of out-door relief shown
by guardians of late years. The county and borough asylums
In England and Wales are now sixty in number, an addition
of one having occurred by the opening in October last of the
Portsmouth Borough Asylum.