The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-09-24 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

The flow of German emigrants to America con-
tinues to be incessant. The Bremen Lloyd's states that
during the present year 100,000 emigrants have been de-
spatched.
Messrs. Moody and Sankey, the evangelists, are
about to organise a tour through Great Britain and Ireland.
Mr. Sankey reached Liverpool on Tuesday in the City of
Berlin, for the purpose of acting as pioneer. He is to be
follo ed by Mr. Moody, who sails from the United States on
Saturday.
The number of immigrants into the United States
in July was 56,607, as compared with 49,155 in July, 1810.
Lord and Lady Bective visited Bradford on Monday
In furtherance of the movement inaugurated by her lady-
ship for the use of British woollen goods in preference to
those of foreign manufacture. They were accorded a hearty
reception by the townspeople, who presented them with
several addresses.
The guns, cables, and anchors revered from the
wreck of the Doterel were landed at Devonport on Saturday
from the Penguin. To one of the cables there was attached
an eye bolt from the kelson to which the cable had been
shackled, showing that the kelson must have been very
much split up by the force of the explosion.
The special correspondent of the Dail" News at
Kiel gives an account of the naval evolutions which took
place there on Saturday. They were followed by some tor-
pedo experiments. A small gunboat was blown up by a
submarine mine, charged with 2001 b. of gun-cotton, which
the Emperor William fired with his own hand from the
Royal yacht.
A large buoy has been picked up en the western
coast of North America, and has been identified as a Rus-
sian buoy formerly stationed at the mouth of the Amoor.
The fact is accepted as proof of the existence of a Japanese
current.

-
The acclimatisation of English skylarks in America
has not proved a success. Seven were imported in the
spring; but two died shortly after their arrival, while the
remaining five were liberated in a meadow bordering on the
Hudson, and speedily disappeared. A pair were seen in the
meadow for some weeks; but they were never heard to sing,
and seemed much disliked by the American meadow-larks,
which drove them off the grass.
Myer's Circus was destroyed by fire at Hertford on
Saturday. The circus was being lighted for the evening en-
tertainment, when the canvas caught fire, and in a few
minutes the whole circus was in flames. No lives either of
men or the animals were lost.
Sir William Collins, of Glasgow, has just presented
a handsome gold bracelet as a memento to Miss Macfarlane,
telegraph clerk, Fort Augustus, as she was the first to convey
the intelligence of his having been knighted, and to congra-
tulate him.
•

In Mann county, California, over 60,000 acres east
of Mount Tama have been burnt over by forest fires.
The success of the Siemens electrical railway in
Paris is very great, and the mode of louomotion very highly
prized by Parisians. It is certain that steps will be taken
after the Exhibition for rendering it a permanent feature of
the French capital.
The favourite Indian summer retreat, Naini Tal,
does not appear to be ytt considered safe from a repitition of
the terrible calamity of last year. lhe municipal committee
have applied to the Indian Government for a loan of 150,000
rupees, said to be still necessary for the purpose of protect-
ing the dangerous portion of the hills and drainage channels
In the ravines within the watershed of the district. To re-
move as far as possible the traces of the great landslip is also
stated to be one of the labours still to be accomplished.
It is the intention of the officers of the 2nd Queen's
to place a handsome window in the east end of Stoke Church,
Guildford, in memory of the late Sir Cieorge Colley, who was
slain at Majuba Hill. The subject ciii be a scriptural one,
and the work will be proceeded with shortly.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 92,000 bales, and since Ist September, 1881,
210,000 bales. Exports to Great Britain, 28,000 bales, and
to the Continent and Channel, 3,000 bales; total since Ist
September, 7881, 101,000 bales. Stock at all ports, 298,000
bales.

In order the better to circulate a knowledge of the
leading provisions of the Land Act among the farming
classes in Ireland, the Land Commissioners have arranged
that the official summary of the new law shall be on sale at
a halfpenny per copy at all the rural post-offices in Ireland.
A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on Sept. 16 was 19,800,000 bushels; Ditto, Indian,
corn, 24,100,000 bushels. Export clearances of wheat for
Europe during the past week, 1,800,000 bushels; export
clearances of Indian corn for Europe during the past week.
750,000 bushels.
The German army has lost one of its most dis-
tinguished commanders in General von Schwarzhoff, who
Sins just died in the seventieth year of his age, from the re-
sults of a fall from his horse a few weeks back.
There were 13 British and foreign wrecks—of which
fire were British, two being steamers—reported during the
past week, making a total of 1,157 for the present year, or an
increase of 186, as compared with the corresponding period
of last year. rhe approximate value of property lost was
£2,800,000, including British £980.000.
Electricity is just at present all the rage in Paris,
and speculators are spending money freely in all sorts of
novelties ill which electrical appliances are the prominent
features. The latest invention is an advertising vehicle
perambulating the streets of the capital, the announce-
ments on which are illuminated by a current of ele,tricity
at night, produced by r. simple form of galvanic battery.
A Parliamentary return shows that in England and
Wales there are 394 old building societies in existence, :aid
873 societies %Mai have been formed since 1874, making a
total of 1,267. The membership of 1,015 of tiltss societies
amounts to 372,035, giving an average of 367.
"We have to announce to-day the death of a vener-
able lady who was all but a centenarian—Mrs. Warburton,
widow oi the late Rev. Rowland Egerton Warburton. She
was Emma, daughter of Mr. James Croxton, of Norleybank,
Cheshire. She was born towards the close of 1781, or early
in the following year, and was married at the beginning of
the present century. Her eldest son, Mr. Rowland E.
Egerton Warburton, of Arley-hall, near Northwich, father of
the M.P. for Mid-Cheshire, was born as far back as the year
1804."—Obituary in Tuesday's Times.
"A doll show" was a recent attraction held at
Melbourne, Australia. The dolls were dressed in bridal
costumes, evening dresses, ball dresses, and many in babies'
robes. The dolls' houses were numerous, many of them
being elegantly furnished.
Her Majesty has been pleased to approve that the
following Territorial Regiments, having no distinctive regi-
mental badge, shall in future wear the rose, as showing their
nationality, viz. ;—The Devonshire, East Yorkshire, Bedford-
shire, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire, Cheshire, Wor-
cestershire, East Surrey, Duke of Cornwall s Light Infantry,
Royal Sussex, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, Sherwood Foresters
(Derbyshire), Loyal North Lancashire, King's Own Light
Infantry (South Yorkshire), King's Light Infantry (Shrop-
shire), and Durham Light Infantry.
Encouraged by the success which has attended the
introduction of ining,-room cars on the Great Northern
have
place d decided idd
iendi tgo
.
fßoallirwaiyn,
tthhee
sal.relideldanirdeetßietw
manyd
to eCyo
inpt
e
room car on all their express trains running between London,
Manchester, and Liverpool. These cars are to be made by
the Pullman Palace Car Company. The same company are
making several new palace cars for the London, Brighton,
and south Coast Railway.
In the course of the restoration of St. Giles, Edin-
burgh, an arched recess has been discovered in the north
wall of the Albany aisle, which was built by the Duke of
Albany and the fourth Earl of Douglas as an expiation for
the death of the Duke of Rothesay. This arched recess is
eight feet high and seven feet wide, with a depth of two or
three feet. On the front of the arch is an exceedingly fine
moulding of the thirteenth century, but it is more than
half destroyed. Dr. Chambers has ordered the restoration
of the moulding, and inteinds to place a recumbent figure in
white marble of the •Duke -of Rothesay.,l4 the recess.—
Athenceura. " •

In deference to the Scotch farmers' agitation for a.
measure of Land Law reform, the Scottish Chamber of Agri--
culture has prepared the draft of a Land Bill, which willi
shortly be discussed at a meeting to be held in Rdin--
burgh.
Sir Evelyn Wood ha! recommended the Government
to grant permanent pensions to several of the leading
officials at Pretoria, to compensate them for loss of office on
our withdrawal from the Tra,nsvaal.
The ship Charger, from Liverpool, has arrived at:
San Francisco, and reports that while crossing the South,
Atlantic Ocean she struck a whale, cutting it completely in
two. The stern of the vessel was slightly damaged.
According to the Citizen the Postmaster-General
is considering the introduction of reply-paid post cards in
England on the Swiss model.
Prayers for the recovery of President Garfield wire
offered on Sunday morning and evening in many of the.
London churches.
The arrival of live stock and fresh meat at Liver-
pool last week from the United States and Canada show a
large decrease in both live stock and fresh meat on those of
the preceding week. The totals were :-1,566 cattle, 1,608
sheep, 5,044 quarters of beef, and 551 carcases of mutton.
The Berlin Museum is now the fortunate possessor
of archreolergical treasures which are perfectly unique. They
are the long expected sculptures from the Central American
field of ruins at Santa Lucia de Cosumalgapan, Guatemela
purchased for the liaseum by Frof. Bastian when upon his
American journey.
Amongst the visitors on Saturday at the Dairy
Show, in London, were some 700 or 800 Irish farmers, who
brought over with them about three tons of Irish butteie for
exhibition.
The famous cedars of Lebanon hare suffered so
much from relic-hunting trayellers that the Governor of
he district has been obliged to take special measures for
heir protection. Only four hundred now remain.
The furnace put up at Gotha in 1878, for purposes
of cremation, has thus far been in operation in 57 cases, of
which one occurred in December, 1878, 17 in 1879, 16 in 1880
and (up to August 19th) 23 during the present year.
At the close of a cricket match at Nottingham on
Saturday a popular demonstration was made on the de-
parture of Shaw's Australian Eleven. They left the station
amid the cheers of many friends, en route for Queenstown,
where they will take the Cunard steamer Algeria' for
New York. After playing a few matches in the States, they
will proceed, Ind San Francisco, to Australia.
"Clouds of flying ants," covering miles of territory
appeared at Emerson, Manitoba, a short time ago. The
myriads of insects obscured the daylight while passing, and
when they alighted the streets and earth were" black with
them." On the rivet they floated "an inch thick."
A New York bachelor makes the r ertinent and
ratter novel suggestion that a number of thrifty women
might put themselves in the way of a fortune by opening a
shop for mending men's clothes, darning stookings, sewing
on buttons, etc.
The (Ecumenical Methodist Conference has passed
a resolution declarink the manufacture and sale of opium
-to be a serious drawback to the spread of Christianity in
China, and injurious to the credit and influence of England
throughout the Eastern world, and appealing to all the
Churches of Christendom to endeavour to create such a
state of public sentiment as would render a continuance of
the opium traffic impossible.
An outbreak of cholera is reported from the Russian
frontier town of Bremenete. The schools have been closed,
and Austria has established a military cordon on the
frontier.
The ex-Empress of the French has never recovered
the loss of her son, and is now living in almost unbroken
solitude, taking but little interest in external events or
persons. A strange fatality seems to have fallen upon her
and her household, for at this -time. with the exception of
young Francisco Pietri, there is not a single person about
her who formed part of the old Imperial entourage.—Court
Journal.
During the first six months of the year the London
and North-Western Railway Company spent nearly 00,000
in improving their London station; and now the Great
Western are expending some £40,000 in enlarging their ter-
minus at Paddington.
It is pretty well-known that the General Post Office
haveoduring the past few months, been supplying bicycles
and tricycles to rural postmen. This accommodation has
been more particularly brought into use in Ireland, where
the distances to be traversed by foot-messengers are longer
than in Great Britain. The authorities are watching the ex-
periment with a considerable degreeof interest, owing to the
fact that not a few casualties have occurred in the use of
their new means of locomotion.
-

- -
The Tyne herring fishery is reported to have aug-
mented its catch this year as compared with last, by ten
million fish, or an increase of 25 per cent. At the same
time, the average price has risen from is. 61 per 100 to 3s.
per 100, or a gain of 100 per cent.
As an indication of approaching severe weather, it
is report3d that wild duck have already made their appear-
ance on the east coast, and that some have been shot by
sportsmen. This is an unusually early period for birds to
come.

By the breaking of a coupling chain at the new
dock works at Swansea on Tuesday morning several waggons
collided with an engine. The boiler exploded, and three
men were fearfully injured. One died ou the way to the
hospital, anothtr two hours later, and the third was in a
precarious condition.
- - -

The collection at HiEhbury Congregational Chapel,
Bristol, on Sunday, in aid of the London Missionary Society
amounted to the munificent sum of £lO4 13s.

On Sunday at all the chu-eches in the Roman
Catholic diocese of Westminster, prayers were offered at
the conclusion of each mass that God would be pleased
to send fine weather for the harvest operations of the
country.
With few exceptions net fishing for salmon has now
closed on English rivers, and for the next four months the
nsh will be enjoying what is cornr,only known as the4r
" jubilee" or "close time" season. During that p,
capture of salmon is illeghl save with rod and lit.e,
which anglers are permitted to kill 11AI in several wAters
until the end of October.

Mr. Forster has written a letter to the Irish Ma.nu-
facturers Committee, offering £250 towards the Guarantee
Fund of the Exhibition of Irish Manufactures, to be helll
next year. The right hon. gentleman expresses his satisfac-
tion at the progress of the. movement in which the com-
mittee is interested.
Foot Notes—Dance music.—Bred winners—Rare
horses.— Brass flnishers—spendthrifts.—A light ship—a
burning vesseL—Commercial interests—per-centages.—Page
boys—authors.—Household words—ma and pa.-21/ oonshine.
As two children of seven years of age, named
Davies and Thomas, were playing .on a large sand heap at
Pentre, near Swansea, on Tuesday, a slip took place, which
threw Thomas some distance, and buried Davies in the sand.
No one but the child Thomas saw what happened, and by the
time the alarm had been given and Davies had been dug out
by his father, life was extinct.
There is an interesting relic of the past in Etestii—
the violin of Louis XIV., made by Amati at the express order
of the monarch. The sides are adorned with jleur-de-lys,
while on the back are painted his Majesty's arms and motto.
' Until 1879 this instrument was kept in the Garde-Meubles,
Paris, but subsequently, after many adventures, it came
into the possession of Lipinsky, the violinist, who left it to
his family in Pesth.

Nearly 800 officers of the Royal Artillery and many
of the rank and file have subscribed towards a memorial
in honour of the officers, non-commissioned officer:3, and
men of the Royal Artillery who fell on service in Afghan-
istan and South Africa in 1877-80. It is proposed tO erect
a suitable monument at Woolwich, the home of the Royal
Regiment, and the remainder of the fund will be devoted
to the purchase of presentations to different charitable
institutions for the benefit of the widows and children of
those whose lost their lives in the Afghan, Zulu, and Trans-
vaal campaigns.
- - - - -

The Pacific Steam Navigation Company's Royal
Mail steamer Cotopaxi, It. Studdert, commander, has just
completed a remarkable quick passage across the Indian
Ocean. Her log shows an average speed of 322 knots per
day for 18 consecutive days from Adelaide to the Red Sea.
The Cotopaxi was detakned two days in the Suez Canal, but
nevertheless completed the voyage from Adelaide to Ply-
mouth in the extreme short time of 35 days 3 hours, in-
cluding all stoppages. Tile Cotopaxi was built and engined
by Messrs. John Elder an 4 Co. nine years ago.
The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants
have received communications to the effect that since the
commencement of the nine hourd' movement some changes
tending to the advantage of the men have been made at the
Willesden Junction of the North-Western Railway, and on
Manchester and Sheffield and the Great Western lines. The
changes, however, are not deemed satisfactory, and the men
demand a uniform "shift' of eight hours. A congress of
railway servants will meet at Manchester from the 4th to
the 6th of October.—Lord perby has written to express his
good wishes for the Society, and hi 3 regret that he will be
unable to attend the dinner to be given on the conclusion
of the Congress.
The Bishop of Bath and Wells opened a Coffee
Hotel at Taunton on Tuesday afternoon. He said he re-
garded!these institutions as one of the best agencies ever
devised for preventing the spread of intemperance. Eng-
lishmen, he believed, gave way to intemperance less from a
vicious propensity to do wrong than from ever-recurring
temptations overcoming their moral weaknesses. These
hotels supplied a want long felt, by providing a suitable
place for working men to meet, where temptation to use in-
toxicants were removed.