The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-07-02 00:00:00

Ulisullantaits rtttiligturt.
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

PAPER FLOUR BARRELS.—The New York Produce
Exchange Reporter states that the cost of flour barrels
made of paper from wood pulp is only one-half that of
barrels made of staves. This compressed pulp can be
obtained from many kinds of materials, such as saw-
dust, shavings of wood, flags, cane, palmetto, etc.,
and not improbably the manufacture of the new sub-
stance may create a trade in these articles, and raise a
demand for them which was not before contemplated.
A NEW PENNY STAMP.—A combined adhesive
penny postage and Inland Re venue stamp, which can
be used for the purposes for which the adhesive penny
postage stamp and the ordinary adhesive penny Inland
Revenue stamp have hitherto been available, will
shortly be issued. The preselit adhesive penny post-
age stamps and adhesive penny Inland Revenue
stamps will continue to be sold until the stocks on
hand are exhausted, and they will for the present re-
main available for either postage or receipt purposes.
It is to be understood that the new stamp when used
for postage must have no printing or writing placed
on its face by the public. Any stamp so marked
will not be accepted for the payment of postage.

SPARROWS NESTING IN SHIP'S RIGGING.—A corre-
spondent of Land and Water writes from Plymouth :
"During the passage of the ship Nineveh from London
to Plymouth, at which port she was calling on her
way to Sydney, New South Wales, one of the crew
discovered, high up in the rigging, the nest of a
common house sparrow, with three eggs in it. The
nest was commsed principally of oakum and wool,
but there were a few feathers and pieces of straw in it.
This is such an unusual occurrence that I think it may
interest your readers. The nest was given to me, and
is now at the Industrial Exhibition here."

A " PET " or A FLOWER.—Sweet William. —Judy.
OYSTERS IN TASMANIA. —lt seems likely that a
new and profitable industry will be developed in Tas-
mania (says Land). At a place which has been
christened Little Oyster Cove a bed has been prepared
for the breeding of oysters, and so far the experiment
has been a conspicuous success. The expectation was
that the molluscs would spawn in the month the tem-
perature of which correspondstothat of our July, which
is the breeding season of the European oyster, but it was
not till the middle of February that symptoms of a
"fall of spat "were observed. An examination was made
in March, when it was found that the fascines were
thickly covered with minute oysters, the number of
which has been variously estimated from 2,500,000,000
to 40,000,000,000. Where calculations differ so widely
no reliance can be placed upon them. The fact re-
mains, however, that there is an immense number of
these young oysters. am'. should
n..y one in a himarorl
come to maturity, four years hence the experimen t
will yield a rich harvest of profit. At home the difik-
culty is to get the oysters to breed, and to preserve
the young brood until they attain a marketable size ;
but so far as can be seen at present, this obstacle will
not have to be encountered in Tasmania.
ODD—Amongst the articles not exhibited at the
Railway Appliance Exhibition at the Crystal Palace
we missed the following :—A train of thought,
wheel of fortune, a line of business, an engine of war,
a tender subject, a succes de steam, an eccentric ten-
tato; a signal escape, an university coach, a station hi
life, a whistle-ing oyster, and the van of progress.--
Judy.
AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS. The Agricultural
Gazette says :—"The hay crop is certain to be both
late and light. Green crops are nothing like so pro-
mising as they were last year. Turnips have be en
sown and resown repeatedly after destruction by the
fly. Mangolds are much riddled by the grub, which
attacks them in a later stage of growth Potatoes lire
very promising. As to the wheat crop opinions are
very various. Upon the who/e, we think the impr e?-
sion made by these reports is favourable. The croi )is
late and in some places it is thin, but generally we
trust there is a prospect of a fair average yield. Of
the spring corn, the barley is generally looking bet ter
than the oats, ii,hich have suffered from the wire worm
and are patchy in many places.

THE ROYAL VOLUNTEER REVIEW.-With respect; to
the Windsor Review it is stated that her Majesty, no
doubt imagining that many of the volunteers ',via
have to spend the night in the park, has graciously
placed the private part of the Home Park at thee dis-
posal of the War Office, and already three corps have
received permission to encamp on and about the
Royal demesne. A supply of water has been obtained
by tapping the mains and erecting hydrants us at
Wimbledon-common. The Royal Engineers will
float a pontoon bridge across the Thames at Dattchet
for the use of the troops arriving at that station,
DEMAND FOR LABOUR IN AMERICA.— The New
York correspondent of the Daily News says :
One reason for the increased demand for labour is the
extraordinary amount of building going on in that
city. In the upper wards a thousand new dwellings
are being erected. There are nJt mechanics enough
to do the work. Application has just been made at
the Immigration Office for 1.,000 Scandinavians to
work on the Texas-Pacific Railway in New MexiQo for
2i dollars per day.

POLITICS AND PROG.—The distinguished American
Ambassador and humorist, the Hon. J. R. Lowell,
told the patrons and promoters of the National Train-
ing School for Cookery, assembled, the other day, at
Devonshire House, that :—" He had seen many in-
stances in which a man's views on great political
questions had been decided by the state of his appetite."
As, for instance, when the question is whether or no a
nation shall eat humble pie. But Mr. Lowell has
always seen that question decided in the negative—at
home.—Punch.

COAL IN SOUTH APRICA.—We learn (says The Tintes)
that Mr. Frederic W. North, F.G.S., the mining
engineer appointed a few years ago to report upon the
coalfields of Cape Colony, has just returned to England
from a similar visit to Natal. His investigations for
that Government have been highly satisfactory, and
among the various and prolific seams of anthracite and
bituminous coal, some of them loft. or 12ft. in thick-
ness, he has found several that are well adapted for
locomotive and general steam purposes. That this
coal is suitable for the former work he proved before
leaving the colony by driving the locomotive si of the
existing railways for some hundreds of miles to and
fro between Durban and Maritzburg, and he has
handed to that Government a tabular statement show-
ing the advantage of using colonial coal instead of any
English varieties. The possibility of using cheap local
fuel instead of costly English coal in these distant
colonies must give a great impetus to railway cumtruc
tion, and an extension beyond Ladysmith, in Natal,
will provide a better and more expeditious hightway to
the Transvaal and Orange Free State. The Railway
Bill for the
_expenditure of £5,000,000 upon railway
construction in Cape Colony, which has just received
the sanction of the Assembly at Cape Town, °ante-ul-
ulates the intersection by a main line of ti coal
deposits of that colony. Therefore, after considerable
delay, those coalfields are now going to be placed in
direct communication with both the coast and the
Diamond Fields.
OUR DEPENDENCE ON THE FOREIGNER.—Strive tts we
may, it is difficult for us to realise how dependent we
are upon ti:e foreigner for the staff of life (says Land).
Perhaps w may be assisted in the effort by looking at
the fact that, roughly speaking, two-thirds of the
bread consumed in this country comes from abroad.
Upon an average each of the thirty-five millions
of human beings in the United Kingdom requires
about five-and-a-half bushels of wheat annually,
which gives a total consumption of nearly twenty-
five million quarters. Out of the fifty million
acres of cultivated land in this kingdom only
three millions are used to meet this deniand.
They produce a clop varying from six million quarters
in some seasons to eleven millions in others, so that
we have annually to import from fourteen to nineteen
million quarters. Since 1369 the number of acres
under wheat cultivation in Great Britain and Ireland
has decreased by nearly a million, or one-fourth of
the entire acreage, and in 1879 the total value of the
wheat crop, estimated with its straw at £30,000,000,
formed only a ninth part of the £265,000,000 at
which Mr. Caird valued our total agricultural Produce.
The tendencies of the times, therefore, point to the
probability that we shall have to rely to an eyen
greater extent upon the foreign producer,

ITALIANS IN FRANCE.—The Marseilles riots give an
interest to the statistics of Italians in France. In
1851 there were only 63,000, but a decided emigration
afterwards set in, and in 1861 the number had reached
76,000. In 1866 there were 99,000; in 1872, 112,000;
and in 1876, 165,000—namely, 100,000 males and
65,000 females.
REMAINS OF ANTIQUITY IN YUCATAN. The
Academy says that a distinguished French archmolo-
gists M. Desire Charnay, has lately returned from a
second voyage to Yucatan, where he has passed a long
time exploring the ancient forests in search of Mexican
antiquities. He brings back with him some large
photographic views of magnificent ruins found in the
heart of the forest, as well as a vast number of impres-
sions of inscriptions which he has discovered. He has
communicated the results of his researches to the
Geographical Society, which will publish the inscrip-
tions. Some idea of their extent may be con7eyed by
the fact that the writings on one monument alone at
Palenque cover a space of 80 square metres. The
decipherment of these ancient Mexican inscriptions
offers immense interest, for they are the vestiges of a
civilisation of which, in spite of recent researches, no
really satisfactory knowledge has yet been gained.
A NEW METHOD OF CHOOSING A PARTNER.—A
novel system of courtship is proposed by an American
Woman's Right Journal, as a means of placing men
and women on an equality. The marriageable youth
of both sexes, according to this plan, would assemble
at stated intervals, each one would write on a slip of
paper the name of the person he or she should like to
marry, the paper would then be submitted to two dis-
creet individuals and if any two were found to have
declared a mutual regard, the fact would be announced,
and the marriage would follow. The remaining
papers would be immediately destroyed.
"THE SERVANTS OF THE KlNG."—Shakespeare was
counted one of the " meane " or bumble folk in 1604,
when his full Hamlet was first published. His com-
pany is thus noticed by his contemporary, Gilbert
Dugdale, when speaking of the honours conferred by
James I. on the English :—" Not only to the indif-
ferent of worth and the worthy of honour [nobles and
gentry] did he [the King] freely deale about thiese
causes, but to the meane gave grace; as taking to him
the late Lord Chamberlaines Servants [Burbage,
Shakespeare, &c.]' now the Kings Acters : the Queene
taking to her the Earle of Worsters Servants, that are
now her Acters ; the Prince their Sonne, Henry
Prince of Wales, full of hope, tooke to him the Earle
of Nottingham his Servants, who are now his Acters ;
so that, of Lords Servants they are now the Servants
of the King, Queene, and Prince." •
CANAL BOATS. —The text of a Bill to Amend the
Canal Boats Act, 1877, was issued on Tuesday, and
on the back are the names of Mr. Broadhurst, Mr.
John Corbett, Mr. Morley, and 11r. Pell. ThIS Dill
is to amend the former one, and orders the annual
registration of canal boats; defines boats which are to
be deemed dwellings; restricts the employment of
children and young persons; and authorises Inquiries
and reports by Local Government Board through their
inspectors, and the appointment of such additional
inspectors as may be required.
ENGLISH. MADE MACHINERY. Mr. Broadhurst,
M.P., in addressing- a meeting of operative engineers
at Birmingham denied that trade unions had driven
trade from the country, or that they reduced the com-
petent workman to the level of the incompetent by
fixing a minimum rate of wages. To show how to-day
England could compete in making machinery, elan
with those countries that placed a high tariff upon
English manufactured articles, Mr. Broadhurst stated
that he recently met in a railway carriage an American
manufacturer, who was travelling to Leeds to order
machinery for his factory in one of the western towns
of America. He explained that he was not a Free-
trader, but he found that he could come to England,
order his machinery in Leeds, import it to his factory
in the Western States, pay a fair price to the makers
at Leeds, and also a 40 per cent. duty when it landed
in America, and still save £4OO as compared with the
price he would have to pay in the States.
THE LATEST INVENTION.—Labour-saving machinery
seems likely to multiply until all human effort is made
unnecessary. The latest invention is for the sake of
nurses and miunmas. At present mammas have to
carry their children in aching arms. An ingenious
nventor begs them to get artificial arms for a few
shillings' whereby they can carry children without any
danger to their tender backs, but with no expenditure
of strength. The child is placed in what is simply an
arrangement of straps and netting hung from the
shoulders. The mother's arm is used to keep the child
in position, but does not support its weight, and con-
sequently suffers no fatigue. It seems like a very good
invention, and is a veritable godsend to fragile
mothers, says the Court Journal.

fILGRIMS TO ROME.-A number of pilgrims from
Galicia, Bohemia, and Moravia, arrived at Vienna on
Sunday, on their way to Rome. Their number is
estimated at 1,300, many of whom are priests. Each
nationality is under its own clerical leader. Among
the Poles there are many from Prussian and Russian
Poland; the Ruthenes from Galicia are likewise
strongly represented. The Poles and Ruthenes, who
wear a red cross on a white ground on their left side,
went with Archbishop Sembrakovig to the Papal
Nuncio, Monsignor Vanutelli, by whom they were
received. In the morning a service was held in the
Slav language in the Votive Church. During the day
the pilgrims went about the town looking at its sights,
and at five p.m. a special train took them southward.
Among them are Prince Jablonowski, Count Bawarow-
ski, and a member of the Reichsrath.

THE Loss OF THE " ATALANTA."—In London, on
Tuesday, a final meeting of the Mansion-house fund for
the relief of the widows and orphans of the crew of Her
Majesty's ship Atalanta was held. The Lord Mayor
presided, and there were present, among others, Ad-
miral Ryder, Naval Commander-in-Chief at Ports-
mouth, and Admiral Sir Edward G. Fanshawe,
K.C.B. It was reported that the fund amounted to
£9,500, including £303 resulting from profit and in-
tarect on tho invoatmont of tho bulk of tho aubacrip-
tions. The advertising, printing, and all other ex-
penses amounted to £273. There was a balance in
hand of £9,317 9s. 11d. Of this £,075 will go to the
Royal Patriotic Fund for distribution in annuities to
the widows and orphans, £lOO was voted to. the cap-
tain's widow (Mrs. Stirling) as a small gratuity for the
loss of valuable effects, she having generously declined
to make any claim as a widow, and the balance will
be devoted to the payment of small sums to the depen-
dent parents of men lost in the vessel. Admiral
Ryder, on the part of the Portsmouth authorities,
thanked the late Lord Mayor for starting the fund,
and the present chief magistrate for continuing it, and
the proceedings ended.

DISCOVERY or EXPLOSIVES AT SOUTH SHIELDS.—
The discovery on Saturday of a canister of explosive
material in the Tyne Plate Glass Works has caused a
great sensation in South Shields. James Stewart, the
foreman, discovered the canister, which was five inches
long by about three in diameter, and weighed two and
a half pounds, and contained a quantity of some sub-
stance resembling powder, a number of percussion
caps, pieces of iron, and two bolts. The article was
found in a position where it would, if exploded, have
destroyed a large chimney and damaged machinery in
connection with polishing sheds.

A WOODEN PALACE.—The Japanese papers report
that a new palace for the residence of the Mikado is
about being built at Yeddo, which will be entirely of
wood, and will cost 5,600,000 yen (nearly £1,120,000).
There will be, however, a grand reception hall in
which all grand State ceremonies will be performed,
which is to be built partly of tiles and partly of
wood, at an estimated cost of 170,000 yen (about
£34,000).
THE ENGLISH SCHOOL IN ZERMATT.—The Commune
of Zermatt is a sort of internationalist capital during
the summer and auturon, and it is the recognised
head-quarters of " Alpinists " from all parts of
the world (says the Globe). But the English ele-
ment far outweighs and outnumbers all the other
constituents of the annual foreign immigration, and
English may be said to be the prevailing language
of the village from June to September. The con-
script fathers of the primitive little community have
been adopting characteristically prudent measures
during the past winter for the reception of their
summer visitors. From October, 1880, to May,
1881, a course of regular instruction in the English
language has been going on and no fewer than 50 of
the inhabitants have enrolled themselves as pupils.
As the village only contains about 500 inhabitants,
50 is a large proportion to devote the winter to the
study of a foreign tongue. The Nouvelle Gazette du
Valais declares that they have made such creditable
progress in our language that they actually contem-
plate acting a play in English before the end of the
present season, in order to exhibit the satisfactory
results of the winter classes. The natives who have
profited by the lessons in English are taibulated as
guides, carriage-drivers, hotel servants, communal
officials, and a clergyman. ' Not only the younger
men, but even old patriarchs with white hair, are
said to have diligently attended the classes from
beginning to end.
THE NEWFOUND!. I.ND SEAL FISHERIES.—Some re-
markable statistic, concerning the Newfoundland seal
fisheries this year are published in the New York
Herald. According to the figures given nearly, half a
million seals, representing a value of some 1,250,000
dols., were caught between the 15th of March and the
15th of May of this year. About 12,000 Newfoundland
fishermen are stated to have been employed in gather-
ing in this harvest. The sealing captains say that in
spite of indiscriminate killing of the parent seal and
its brood, young and old alike, without heed or refer-
ence to future result, the product of this year's opera
tions has only been excelled twice in the records of
seventy years.

AN INTERESTING INVENTION.—Germany is to con-
tribute to the Electro-technical Exhibition at Paris
the model of a new and important signalling apparatus,
the invention of a railway official at Elberfeld, which
is intended to dispense with intermediate block
stations, and to allow trains to follow each other at
closer distances than hitherto. The device, which has
been tried and found to work excellently, is called an
electro-automatic. block station telegraph, and is so
constructed as to register simultaneously by wheel.
pressure at two stations the passage of a train at a
point equidistant from them. The invention promises
to be of great importance, and will at any rate deeply
interest all railway engineers who visit Paris in July.
SOME NEW FACTS ABOUT RABIES.—It is known
that M. Pasteur is directing his attention to the
subject of rabies. The virus of that disorder, of
course, exists in the saliva, but M. Pasteur has now
proved that it does not exist there only. The brain
substance also contains it, and, used to inoculate
althy animals, will reproduce the disease as effec-
tively as the saliva. Matter from the medulla
oblongata and the frontal portion of one of the brain
hemispheres and the liquid of the brain have been
thus employed with success. Again, one of the great
difficulties in researches on rabies arises from the un-
certainty of development of the evil after inoculation
or a bite and the long time of incubation. M. Pasteur
is now able to communicate the disease surely and to
shorten considerably the time of incubation. His
method is to inoculate directly the surface of the brain,
having recourse to trepanation, and using as inocu-
lating matrfy the cerebral substance of a mad dog as
puretas poggible. In that/case the first symptoms of
rabies appear infallibly in a week or two, and death
ensues in less than three weeks. In these rdearches,
of which we may expect to hear more shortly, M.
Pasteur has the co-operation of MM. Chamberland,
ROUX, and Thulller,—Tl4 Timm.

YOUTIEFLIL ADVOCATE OF CELIBACY. - May.
"What's the matter' Flo? Have you broken your
doll ?''—Flo. "No ; She's not well. She's just had
such a horrid dream, poor thing She dreamt she
was married! '—Fun.
-

NEW PARK AT HALItAX.—A new park for the
borough of Halifax was opened last week. It is called
Shroggs Park, is on the north side of the town, and
has an area of about 25 acres. The site has been
generously leased to the Corporation for 999 year.'
by Mr. Henry Savile, of Rufford Abbey, at it nominal
rent, and part of the expense of formation has beer.%
borne by Mr. Edward Akroyd, formerly M.P. folc
Halifax. The park contains large football and cricket
grounds, a central pavilion, drinking and ornamental/
fountains, a fine waterfall, &c. About 60,000 trees
and shrub 3 have been planted. A drive round the
park runs along the top of a rocky cliff commanding
good views.
VITALITY OF ANIMALS. The American Register
gives an account of the maximum duration of life in
animals. In this it is said bears, wolves, and dogs,
rarely exceed twenty years old, foxes are known to
live fifteen years, cats seventeen, squirrels, hares, and
rabbits six and eight years. Elephants may live to
the patriarchal age of four hundred years, as is proved
by the annuary rings in their tusks; horses rarely
arrive at the age of thirty, although one was known to
reach his seventy-second year. Camels often live tcr
be one-hundred years; whilst crows, swans, and
turtles have lived to twice that age. Sheep seldom
live longer than ten years, nor cows more than fifteen
years. _ •

THE HAUNTS OF THE POET COWPER. COWIDe r'l3
accuracy in describing scenery is thus spoken of by a
correspondent of Notes and Queries :—The other day
a friend and I walked over the haunts of Cowper
both at Olney and at Weston. Having in our hands
"The Task," we were able to identify the "spinney,'
the "peasant's nest," "the alcoves" and colon-
nades, the "grove," and the "wilderness," in which.
he used to walk with Mrs. Unwin and the Throg-
mortons. The statue of Homer, with an Englisir
inscription by Cowper, is still there, though the
" Naiad " with her urn is gone, the old home of the
Throgmortons having been demolished for these fifty
years past. Just beyond the " rustic bridge " and
the " willows " which Cowper celebrates, we found
ourselves on a spot which is, as it were, "photographed
to to the very life by the poet
:-
"Here, ankle-deep in moss and flowery thyme,
We mount again, and feel at every step
Our foot half sunk in hillocks green and soft,
Raised by the mole, the miner of the soil."
If not ankle-deep in thyme, yet in wild flowers, just a
century after those lines were written, we found our-
selves on the 3rd of June; and in the middle of the
MOlO-11QMPOI fmind one of these "miners of the
soil " just dead. His body, still warm,
back with us, intending to have it made into a tobacco
pouch.
EFFECTS OF THE WINTER ON SHRUBS AND TREES:.
—The severity of the past winter (says the Journal of/
Forestry) appears to have had a more fatal effect on,
vegetation than that of the two previous winters,
although all three have been about equally rigorous.
Rhododendrons are generally accounted among our
hardiest shrubs, and from several districts reports
reach us that they are badly injured, and many of
the hybrid kinds are killed. The Portugal laurel, too.,
is reported to be worse injured than usual, and of
course the common laurel is generally cut to the
ground. Many deciduous trees and shrubs have had.
their young wood killed back more or less; walnuts„
poplars, chestnuts, willows, azaleas, guelder rose,.
catalpa, sumach, and like gross-wooded plants suffering
most. When the list of killed and injured can be.
fully made up, it promises to exceed that of any
previous winter on record.
A STRANGE MNEMONIC PROCESS.—A " striking "
instance of mnemonics is communicated to Notes and
Queries by one of its correspondents :—Gilles
de Retz, Marshal of France (said to be the veritable
Blue Beard), was sentenced to be led in chains to the
place of execution, and to be burnt alive at the stake.
The day appointed was October 23, 1440, "a date,"
says the historian, "about which there can be no
doubt, for all the people of Anjou and Maine, by
common consent, whipped their children on that
morning, so as to impress the precise date on their
memory." This strange mnemonic process is still a
favourite with the peasants of Anjou and Brittany.

AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The follow-
ing are the average prices of British Corn for the week
ending June 25, as received from the inspectors and
officers of excise :—Wheat, 455. ; barley, 30s. 3d. ;
oats, 235. Bd. per imperial qr. Corresponding week
last year :—Wheat, 445. Bd. ; barley, 28s. 3d. ; oats
265. 9d.

THE POTATO DISEASE IN SCOTLANEI,---The potato
disease threatens to give gardeners and farmers in
Scotland considerable trouble again this seast.s.n (says
Land and Water). During the week ending the 18th
inst. the potato leaves in the neighbourhood of Aly-th
were killed by frost. A correspondent, referring to
this circumstance, writes to a contemporary, I find
that the leaves that were blackened last week with
frost, are now covered on the under surface with the,
dreaded fungus. I gathered a quantity of the leaves,
in my garden on Tuesday; they were quite withered'
and crisp, but under the microscope with a power of
two hundred diameters, they showed the fine white
threads of the fungus, not many, but some emerging
from the points of the leaf hairs. I put all the
withered leaves on some clean blotting paper which
had been saturated with boiled water, and then
covered the whole with glass till yesterday afternoon.
There is now no mistake, Peronspora infestans is coyer-
ing the whole of these leaves."
MILITIA TRAININGS.—By order of the Secretary of
State for War, eleven regiments of militia in England,
Scotland, and Wales, representing nearly 10,060
officers and men, were ordered out on Monday morn-
ing for their annual training, which will last in each
case till the 23rd of July.
now IT WAS DONE !—The opening of the Rich-
mond Free Library brought to light some instructive
facts (says the Athteneum). The helpful zeal of a few
earne.,t men first obtained from the ratepayers a -rote
of nearly two to one in favour of the library rate.
This enabled the committee, with the help of subscrip-
tions, to buy a site near Richmond-green for £l,OOO,
and to raise upon it, or rather upon half of it, a
pleasant commodious building for £2,000. Seven
thousand volumes already stand on the shelves, the
lending library being on one side of the room, and the
books of reference, not removeable from the building,
on the other side. ,

THE LABOUR MARKET.—Heavy foreign orders and
exceptionally fine weather during the last week have
materially improved the trade prospects. There is
more animation in the iron trade, and prices are tend-
ing upwards. Bars, sheets, and common iron are in
good demand both for home and export, and prospects
are much brighter than formerly. Reports frcrn the
coal districts are more satisfactory, and the business
done during the week fairly good. The cotton trade
still keeps busy.—ln all the shipbuilding yards there
is great activity. It is stated on good authority that
the orders for shii,s on the Clyde alone amount at pre-
sent to about £13,000,000. At Leith and Edinburgh
the engineers have received an increase of a halfpenny
per hour, and this is expected to be general. From
the Midland districts the reports are very favourable.
The hardware industries are a,-tive, and the operatives
in the steel branches are well employed. The busi-
ness doing in the textile trades is more satisfactory.
The trades of Sheffield continue busy, and there is con-
siderable briskness in the hosiery, lace, linen, and
carpet indlistries. Trade in all parts of the metropolis
is good. During the past week trade in the West of
England and South Wales has not been so active, ex-
cept in the boot and shoe industries, which are very
busy, and good workmen are wanted in the agricul-
tural districts. In the Leeds Engine Works all hands
are fully employed, while in the machine and tool
branches trade is only moderately good. The woollen,
felt, and cloth trade business remains brisk, and
operatives are on full time. The chemical works con-
tinue bu-y. Curriers, leatherdre.ssers, and rivetters
and finishers in the boot and shoe trade are still busy.
A BENEVOLENT DOG.—Messrs. Caldwell, glaziers,
Charlotte-street, Glasgow, are the owners of an intel-
ligent member of the brute creation, a retriever dog
named Sankel, having obtained a wide reputation.
This animal has collected from strangers entering the
workshop no inconsiderable amounts for the benefit of
the Glasgow Eye Hospital,and the dog is looked upon
as one of the mainstays of the institution. Sankel is
extremely intelligent, and is regularly despatched with
messages in the surrounding district, and has seldom
been known to make a mistake.

SOMETHING IN THAT.—The small-pox epidemic, as
everybody knows, is terribly bad in London just now.
There is, however, one great consolation for those
who are so unfortunate as to catch this frightful
disease, viz., that the worse they have it, the more
will they be pitted.—Judy.
DISASTERS AT SEA.—There were 36 British and
foreign wrecks reported during the past week, of
which eight were British, one being a steamer, making
a total o 1906 for the present year, or an increase of
228 as compared with the corresponding period of last
year. The approximate value of property lost visa
£3,500,000, including British £1,000,000. our vessels
were lost off the coasts of the United Kingdom and 21
off Sweden and Norway. Sixty lives were lost.
A LOCUST-DESTROYING FLY.—The locust invasion in
the American States during 1880 will not soon be for-
gotten. While this insect in its larval stage devoured
every green thing, in its perfect stage the females laid
countless numbers of eggs; these were deposited in the
earth, BO that the sods seemed, when examined, to be
studded with them. Soon, however, a large, fat, white
larva was found voraciously feeding on these eggs, and
its appearance was hailed by the agriculturists with
great joy. So eagerly did these white 'arm feed that
the grounds filled with locust eggs were in the course of
a few weeks freed from all trace of them, nothing re-
maining but the empty shells. It was no wonder that
curiosity was excited to know what was the perfect
insect which in its larval stage promised to do so
much good, and during last summer Professor C. V.
Riley was successful in breeding some specimens. It
proved to be a "bee-fly," belonging to the family of
the Bombyliidce. These diptera are not uncommon in
America and Europe. They have a rapid, darting
flight, and hover over flowers from which they ex-
tract nectar by means of a long proboscis. They
derive their popular name from their general resem-
blance to bees, which is enhanced by the humming
which they produce in flight. Little was known of
their natural history until Lon Dufour, in 1858,
suggested that the larva of one species lived on the
eggs of a bee, and this was proved to demonstra-
tion by Dr. T. A. Chapman in 1878. Professor
Riley has now worked out the complete history of one
species (Systcechus or-ass). Among other interesting
facts, he notes that though as a rule but one year
is required for the full development of this fly from
the egg to the full-grown insect, still it is in this
respect subject to great irregularity, an irregularity
noticed before in the case of other parasitic insects,
whose mode of life must be precarious. Migratory
locusts occur in immense numbers, at irregular in-
tervals' and there are years of absolute immunity
from their presence, so that the young larvre of the
bee-flies hatched the year following the advent of
locusts in vast numbers would frequently find few
locust eggs on which to feed, and the greater bulk of
them would as a consequence perish, while the young
from such exceptional eggs as should not develop till
two or three years after a locust invasion would, cer-
tainly stand a better chance of getting their appro•
priate food and of perpetuating their speoisa,