The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-03-06 00:00:00

nlistellanons (11-telligenct,
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

THE PATENT LAW BILL.— The Inventors' In-
stitute met in London' on Friday in last week, at
4, St. Martin's-place, Trafalgar-square, under the
presidency of Captain Selwyn, R.N. The Committee
reported that, after having fully discussed the Patent
Law Bill, they considered it, although evidently in-
tended as an impartial adjustment of the interests of
inventors and the supposed antagonistic interests of
the public, yet in many of its provisions one-sided, and
particularly those as to requiring a practically irre-
sponsible examination to be made by examiners and
referees before the grant of a patent. They also
objected to the form in which compulsory licenses are
to be established, and to several other provisions of
the Bill, which would afford no greater security to
patent-right than at present, while rendering patent
proceedings ultra-litigious, and effecting no reduction
in the present heavy[Government charges, but rather
increasing them, while the duration of a patent would
be shortened. On the motion of Mr. Varley, V.P.C.,
seconded by Mr. C. 0-. Carttar, a resolution was
passed unanimously to the effect that it was desirable
that a meeting of all societies and parties having an
interest in the Patent Law question should be held at
the hall of the Society of Arts (if obtainable), and that
to insure vigorous action it was desirable to raise a
special fund. Mr. T. W. Campin, secretary, and the
mover and seconder were appointed to act in conjunc-
tion with the officers in carrying out the resolution.

MODERN WEAPONS AND M'ORT.— The Times
says that a sportsman in India writes home by last
mail :—"I hit a tigress (8f t. 6in.) the other day in the
chest with a spherical ball from my 12-bore double-
barrelled Dougal ' rifle, 4drs. powder, at about 70
yards off, as it was standing facing me, end on, and
the bullet went clean through from end to end, I
should not have thought that this was possible."
EMIGRATION STATISTICS. According to a
return furnished by the Board of Trade relative to
persons who left the -United Kingdom during the year
1874 forplaces out of Europe, the number was as follows:
From England, 184,291; from Scotland, 19,775; and
from Ireland, 36,948—making a grand total of 241,014.
In 1873, this was 310,612, showing a decrease in emi-
gration for the year 1874, of 69,598. Of the grand
total for 1874, nationality is thus distinguished : Eng-
lish, 116,490;. Seotch, 20,286; Irish, 60:496 ; foreign-
ers, 38,468; and unknown, 5,277; the numbers for
1873 being respectively, 123,343, 21,310, 83,692, 72,198,
and 10,069. Of the total number of passengers in
1874, 39,251 were cabin, and 201,763 steerage.
GIVING THE CLOTH IN !—A cloth-maker' very
eminent, was proud of his cloth, and wished to be
married in his own make. Most men have their weak-
nesses at this poetic moment of their lives. He took
the cloth to a great West-Ender—we will call him
-Water-in-Pond. Mr. Pond's great artist took his
measure, and promised to do the coat for seven guineas.
"I; have a piece of cloth, said the merchant, "a special
piece of cloth, which I wish to use. Will you make
it for me?" " Certainly," said Mr. Pond. "At what
reduction ?",demanded the merchant. "Oh !" replied
Pond, "we don't charge for material—we give you
that in; our price is solely for cutting and fitting;
seven guineas if you please, sir. The cloth is of no
consequence." With pride lowered, but for the sake
of b, splendid fit, he consented, and was made a man,
after having, as he thought, through his industry
become a made man.—Court Journal.
THE PATRONAGE BILL.—" A Trustee " writes
to The Times :—" In the Bishop of Peterborough's
Patronage Bill the 26th clause states that—' From and
after the commencement of this Act no clerk in holy
orders, who, in his own name or by a trustee or
trustees acting on his behalf, shall have purchased the
advowson of any benefice, shall be instituted to such
benefice until the second avoidance of such benefice
'after the purchase of the advowson, or until the ex-
piration of ten years from the date of such purchase,
whichever shall first happen.' May I through your
journal call the attention of ihose interested to the
wording of this clause, and point out the great ambiguity
of the term shall have purchased ? ' Does this mean
that any one in holy orders who shall have purchased
an advowson, say in 1870, either through trustees or
by himself, and should be presented to the living or
offer himself in 1876, could not be instituted because
ten years had not elapsed since the purchase; or does
it mean that this regulation is to be applied only to
those who may purchase advowsons after the Ist of
January, 1876 ? '
PUBLIC PETITIONS. —The third report of the
Select Committee on Public Petitions has been pre-
sented to the House of Commons, and the summary
shows that from the opening of Parliament to the 19th
ult., 12,042 persons had signed 160 petitions in favour
of the Women's Disabilities Removal Bill, and that
157,944 persons signed in favour, and 4,147 against
the now rejected Marriage with a Deceased Wife's
Sister Bill. The Sale of Intoxicating Liquors on Sun-
day (Ireland) Bill was supported by 9,859 persons, and
8,161 persons were in favour of the repeal of the Con-
tagious Diseases Acts. The Permissive Bill has already
found 1,022 supporters, and 1,526 persons desire the
repeal-of the Vaccination Acts. Among the miscel-
laneous petitions were two for inquiry into the
grievances of the Post Office employes.

- -
FOUND DEAD.—In London, on Monday night,
Mr. Bedford concluded, at the St. George's Hospital,
the adjourned inquiry into the cause of the death of a
man unknown, who wits found dying in the grounds of
Chelsea College, on the 17th ult. The evidence given
on the previous occasion showed that the deceased was
fpund sitting upon one of the seats in the grounds in an
apparently dying state. After he had been conveyed
to the hospital a bottle was found near the seat by
Serjeant Henniker containing a white powder. Mr.
Arthur •Cherwood, the house physician at St.
George'wHospital, deposed that the bottle contained a
large quantity of arsenic, but that no trace of that or
any other poison had been found in the body of the
deceased. In answer to the coroner, Serjeant Hen-
niker said that no steps had been taken by the police
to ascertain where the deceased or the bottle had come
from. The jury returned an open verdict. The
deceased was apparently a foreigner, and had "J.
Boun, 1830" tattoed upon his arm, and 11 dots over
the heart.

WAR DAMAGES. Besides the indemnity
France had to pay to the Germans, she had also to
indemnify herself for the ravages committed upon her
own property by her own children (says the Pall Mall
&azette). One of these claims has just been settled.
During ten months the principal house of the Jesuits
at Lyons was occupied in 1870-71 by regiments of
soldiers, some formed, others in course of formation,
and by Francs-Tireurs de la Mort, who paid so little
respect to the property contained in their lodging that
they made a complete wreck of it. The furniture, the
vestments, the library, the chapel, the sacristy, the
private apartments, and even the building itself were
, either injured or destroyed. Manuscripts, books, and
valuable documents were torn or stolen, and the total
amount of damage done to the property is estimated
at about 300,000 f. This affair has given rise to legal
pLoceedings which have only just been concluded, and
a judgment of the civil tribunal has allotted compensa-
tion to each of the twenty-nine owners or inhabitants
of the building according to the nature of their claims.
Some of these claims have been reduced, but the total
amount of compensation awarded is not less than
274,000 f. of which two-thirds are to be paid by the
municipality and one-third by the State.
CAUSES OF EXEMPTION FROM MILITARY SER-
VICE IN FRANCE.—The report lately distributed to
the French Deputies gives some interesting particulars
on the manner in which the new law on compulsory
military service is working. It appears that 303,510
young men figured on the list, of which 30,433
were excused on the ground that they were suffering
from diseases which rendered them unfit for service.
The list of these diseases is curious from a physio-
logical point of view. They are classed as follows :
Skin diseases, 795; blindness, 120; loss of an
eye,!1,325 ; squinting, 125 • short sight, 527; various
diseases of the eye, 1,879 ; 'deafness, 691 ; loss of teeth,
:115; stuttering, 529; wens, 416; serofula, 1,336;
heat-disease, 735; consumption, 522; hernia, 1,942;
loss of the use of an arm or leg, 1,883 ; mutilation of
fingers, 1,038 ; iftrticose veins, 818.—London Medical
Record.
A BRACING CLIMATE. —Under the title of
"Cold did you say?" a letter is published in the New
North-West, giving an account of the weather in Silver
Bow, Montana :—" On the evening of the Bth of
January, several persons being in my store, and the
spirit thermometer registering '35 deg. below,' the re-
mark was made that quicksilver would congeal et 3
deg. lower. I requested my clerk to thoroughly
cleanse a bar tumbler and partially fill it with quick-
silver. We then exposed the glass of mercury and the
spirit thermometer on the roof of the fire-proof on the
north side of the store, giving them as nearly equal
eXposnre as possible. At 9.40 p.m. the spirit indicated
41 deg. below; the quicksilver was hardening on the
outside. A few minutes later the thermometer stood
at 42 deg. below. I picked up the tumbler of quick-
silver, and to my astonishment found it completely
solidified—as hard as a rock. I carried it into the
store, and several persons examined it, it remaining in
that condition some time before it showed life. At
10.36 on the evening above mentioned the register was
46 deg. below. This iS the cOldest weathep idve lave'
had." Under date of January 14, the correspondent
adds the following news, expressed in the peculiar '
style of the West :—" Ja,ck Frost held the best band
last night, and played it as follows :—At 9.45 p.m. the
thermometer stood at 50 deg. below; at 10.30 p.m., 54
deg. below- at 11.30 p.m., 56 deg. below." But the
writer should have given some account of the authen-
ticity of hie thermometer,