The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-07-03 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1880.

THE MARLBOROUGH RELIEF FuND.--The trustees
of the Duchess of Marlborough fund met on Friday ,
in last week. It was stated that the total amount re-
ceived was £133,379, including £2,428 since last meet-
ing, and the expenditure was £119,886. Another
instalment of £5OO from the London Mansion-house
fund was acknowledged, making a total of £34,000
contributed through the hands of the Lord Mayor of
London. Inquiries having been made about the state
ot the people in Swineford Union, Dr. Grrimshaw, the
Registrar-General, made the satisfactory statement
that it is ordinary typhus and not famine fever which
has appeared in that district, An application was
received from the Rev. Canon MiDerrnott, asking aid
for 30 labourers to enable them to emigrate to Eng-
land and Scotland for work. It was considered a
legitimate form of giving help, and a committee was , •
empowered to make inquiry and deal with the appli-
cation. Some further aid was applied for on behalf
of distress in Donegal. It was stated that in a few -
weeks the account might be closed, and the prospects
of the harvest were very good. Grants were made by
the trustees to various localities, amounting altogether
to 21,958.
POPULATION OP PEsra.—From it census recently
taken of the city of Buda-Pesth it appears that the
population is at present 333,557, a considerable in-
crease since the last census of 1876, when he numbers
were only 295,254. A hundred
years ago Pesth on
tamed but 13,550 inhabitants, and Buda Z3,os.q. Since
then the population of Buda has doubled,
. c-
•o74ile that
of Pesth has increased twentyfold.
H.M.S. "ATALANTA."—The reWard of 2200 offerec: 1.3 Y
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on tle'a
24th of May last for the first information which mig/a,
lead to any definite knowledge being obtained of thei
causes or locality of the loss of her Majesty's ship
Atalanta, will not be given for any information re--
ceived at the Admiralty after the Ist of July, 1880,
i
If any such information s received after that date the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty will grant
whatever remuneration may appear to them to be
justified by the circumstances of the case.

A CHECK FROM THE TARTAN. —Scene : Slopes of A
Highland hill.—Cockney (his first trip to the High-
lands, but, of course, had heard a great deal about
those fearful linguists, the Highlanders, at his club,
you know). Well, Toogal, this was a fine morning.
the night previous, whatever, no more, and she
hope she be's well hereafter? Toogal (severely).
Aye, ma young mon, Toogal may be Heelan, but
she'll no be so Heelan as all that.—Judy.

MR. PARNELL'S IRISH DISTRESS BILL.-Mr. Par
nell's Bill for the relief of the Irish distress proposes'
to establish a commission of 12 members, consisting' -
of the chairman and two of the honorary secretaries of .
each of the four principal central associations or com- •
mittees in Dublin which have been engaged in cok
lecting and distributing relief during the current 7ear..
The time fixed for the duration of the commission iff
up to the end of the year. Vacancies among am
members would be filled up by the commission itself:
The duty which the Bill sets before the commission is
to relieve the distress in Ireland in such manner as
may appear most expedient and speedy. For this •
purpose it is proposed to transfer £200,000 into their
hands from the Irish Church Fund.

FAUNTLEROY AND THE BANK OF BNGLAND.—By the
forgeries of Fauntleroy, the banker, in 1824, the Bank
lost £360,000, and the interest alone, which was regu-
larly paid, had amounted to £9,000 or glO,OOO a year.
Fauntleroy's bank was in Berners &red. He had
forged powers of attorney to enable him to sell out
stock. An epicure and a voluptuary, he 1204 lived in
extraordinary luxury. In a private desk was found a ,
list of his forgeries ending with these words " The
Bank first began to refuse our acceptances, thert3bX
destroying the credit of our house. The Bank shaN
smart for it." After Fauntleroy was hung at New'
gate there were obscure rumours in the City tint her
had been saved by a silver tube being placed in hi',
throat, and that he had escaped to Paris.—Fu"r
Cassell's "Old and New London' for July.
TRAVELLING STONES. Travelling stones the"
American Architect says) similar to those reported to
exist in Australia, have recently been found in Nevada.
They are described as almost perfectly round, most a
them being as large as a walnut, and of an ironY
nature. When scattered about upon the floor, table,
or other level surface, within two or three feet of each
other, they begin travelling towards a common centre, ;
and there lie huddled like a lot of eggs in a neat.
single stone removed to a distance of three and a hali
feet, upbn being released, at once starts off with won.
derful and somewhat comical celerity to join Rai
fellows ; taken away four or five feet it remains motion-.
less. They are found in a region that is comparatively'
level, and is nothing but bare rock. Scattered over
this barren region are little basins, from a few feet to
a rod or two in diameter; and it is in the bottom of
these that the rolling stones are found. They are fr9lo
the size of a pea to five or six inches in diameter. The
cause of these stones rolling together is doubtless to be
found in the material of which they are composed'
which appears to be loadstone or magnetic iron ore.
TURNING THE TABLES.—Beginning with 12 tiraee
12.—Fun,

RESTORATION OF THE APPARENTLY DROWNED.
The National Lifeboat Institution continue* to use
every effort to distribute and make widely known
throughout the British Isles and the colonies its ad-
mirable instructions for the restoration of the apply
rently drowned. When it is remembered that in ono
year no less than 2,600 persons were drowned in the
rivers, canals, and lakes of England and Wales, ex•"J
duding Seotland and Ireland, and that this probabll
is the average number drowned every year in those
waters, it will at once be seen that these very lave--
ant, but simple instructions cannot have too large t
circulation. Their leading principles are foundetl
on those of the late Dr. Marshall Hall, cour
bined with those of Dr. H. R. Silvester, and are tile
result of extensive inquiries which were made by the
institution in 1863-4 amongst medical men, medical
bodies, and coroners throughout the United Kingdom-
They are now exclusively in use in her Majesty's,
fleet, in the coastguard service, at all the stations 0,1
the British army at home and abroad • in the light;
houses and vessels belonging to the dorporation ,
the Trinity House, the metropolitan and provincial
police forces, the London Board Schools, and the St.
John Ambulance Association. They have also beetl
translated into all the European languages. and have
appeared even in the Chinese language. Large illus-
trated placards of these instructions, and small copies
of the same, are supplied by the National Lifeboat,
Institution, Adelphi, London, at a cost little beyond
the actual price of the paper on which they are
printed.

_,,
'port-

THEN AND Now.—Once Mr. Gladstone was asso'
ciated with the lonian Islands, at the present ice
connect him with Malta.—Punch.
_ AN
_INGENIOUS CONTRIVANCE.—A clockinaker

V
Copenhagen, named Louis Soenderberg, who for some
time past has had charge of that city's electric dive'
keepers, has just invented an ingenious appliance
which obviates the necessity of -winding up the regly
lator from which the clocks in question " talc°
their time." By a mechanical contrivance which,
periodically cuts off the stream of electr fluin
emanating from the battery, and brings an dectrn:
magnet to bear upon the relaxed mainspring in suer;
sort as to renew its tension instantaneously, perpetus'
motion is practically imparted to the works of the
regulator—that is to say, as long as the batteries con'
rnrehcet e
dd
swc
oi tvhe
ri
et r a roe
fkeptthis
importantr operly s u
mp Ipi er
od
vwe t
ehn
ta c iht
satisfied himself, by six months' successful experi-
ments in his own workshops, that his system works
faultlessly, and has applied for permission to adapt
to the electric clocks set up by the municipality In
different parts of the Danish capital. Electricitir
under Mr. Soenderberg's compulsion, is destined 11°,1C
only to make the Copenhagen clocks go, but to win'
them up, with never-ending recurrence, until the
crack of doom."—.Daily Telegraph.
Loss AND RECOVF-RY OF VALUABLE BONDS.--•""
London, the other day, the Hon. Francis Lyttei*
ton, a member of the Victorian Legislature, gave in"
formation to the police authorities of the loss of °veil.
£lO,OOO, consisting principally of New Zealain
Queensland, and South Australian Governma.ly
securities, a cheque on the Union Bank of Austrahi
for £935, and five £2O and three £5 Bank of Englsnl
notes. It appears that the hon. gentleman, who het:,
been transacting some business in the City in th
morning, took a hansom cab in Threadneedle-strl
for the Colonial Office. On his way he made sever
stoppages, but did not miss the bag containing the
property until his arrival at his destination. 1343;
Hewing that it had been abstracted from the cab durinb
his temporary absence, he at once gave information
to the police. In the evening a clerk to Messrs'
Morgan, of Long-acre, where Mr. Lyttelton hats
called, discovered the bag under a table in the offi'
and the name and •address of the hotel where Ai_r't
Lyttelton was staying being attached to the bag it W"''
at once forwarded to that gentleman.
INTERESTING RELICS.—One Of Moliere's bones 10
been discovered by - Count Arthur Desaix, who 10
written an account of his treasure trove to the
MoliZriste. Commenting upon this fact the Parisin°
states that this probably unique bone is enclosed in
reliquary which once formed part of the Baron Denon'l
collection. In the same reliquary are: fragments
the bones of the Cid and of Chimene, found in the'-1
tombs at Burgos; fragments of the bones of Eloise en'
Abelard, taken from their tombs at Paraclet ; sorel
of Agnes Sorel's hair- part of the moustache °I
'Henry IV., found at the time of the exhumation el
the bodies of the kings of FrancAriat Saint-Denis, V'
Th_ere is no doubt of the authenticity of these relies'
MOE-bre's bone was probably obtained in the following
manner. The great writer was buried in the cemeted
of Saint-Joseph in the Rue Montmartre, where till
market now stands. In 1792, Moliere's remains an°
those of La Fontaine were exhumed, and, doubtless+
this moment was chosen by some fanatics to get pos'
session of Moliere's relics. Vivant Denon got a freg"
ment of a bone, while Cailhava got a tooth which 11,6
always wore mounted in a ring, Denon placed 115
fragment of bone in the reliquary above mentione°'
At his death, in 1826, the reliquary was bought hi,
the Count de Pourtabs, and in 1865 it again appeare“,
in a public sale and was bought by the Count Desmi.
for three hundred francs.

GEMS AND GREEN-GROCERY.—The Natai Mercury'
speaking of the South-African Diamond Fields, BAY:
that next to diamonds potatoes seem to be the dearsof
thing on them, £6 10s. having been given for a bag °
them. At this rate, however, potatoes are still col3'
siderably cheaper than carats.— Punch.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAIiiOND-FIELDS. -- The
South African diamond-fields owe their origin,
rather their recognition to the picking up by a chil
of a large diamond on the banks of the Orange River;
In 1869 a diamond, which has since become known 11:
"The Star of South Africa," was found by a GrigoP
shepherd, and several small stones were met with oily
the banks of the Vaal River in 1870. Three or foil'
years ago more than four thousand persons were ell:
ployed in connection with the South African dianiont't
fields, chiefly in the valleys of the Orange and '
rivers and at their junction. The remarkable thini
about the African diamonds is the great number
_O,
glare stones found among them. Their value, 11°_,";
ever, is diminished by the vast majority of them bew7
tinted with yellow and other shades. The whole 0
the South African diamond region, to the extent
about seventeen thousand square miles, was annat
in 1871. as a British colony, under the title of Griq"'
land,