The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-07-10 00:00:00

BURNING OF A LONDON THEATRE.

The Duke's Theatre, situated in Holborn, London,
was entirely destroyed by fire on Sunday evening. At a
few minutes to five o'clock a tenant of one of the
houses situated in a thoroughfare in which the pit
entrance of the theatre is situated, was looking out of
a back-room window when he saw smoke issuing
from the windows of some of the dressing-rooms
of the theatre. He immediately gave the alarm,
and within a very few minutes several steam-engines
arrived upon the scene. It was some time, however,
before the firemen could gain an entrance to the
theatre, owing to the fact that they had to break open
the doors of the box entrance in Holborn. By the time
this was effected no fewer than twelve steam fire-engines
wefe simultaneously playing upon the flames, which
by this time had taken hold of all parts of the
building. Owing to the extremel; inflammable
nature of the materials, the fire took such a firm
hold that it was evident from the first that
the utmost efforts of the Fire Brigade would be unavail-
ing to do more than save the surrounding premises.
After the fire had been raging for about twenty minutes
the roof gave way, carrying portions of the gallery and
upper boxes with it. The fire, although fierce, did not
last long, all being virtually over within three hours
of the first alarm. The fire is supposed to have
broken out near the greenroom; it was from that
part of the building that the smoke and flames were
first seen to issue. Thence it caught the property.
room and stage, which it quickly destroyed, together
with a quantity of machinery underneath the stage.
An immense crowd collected to see the fire, but the
spectators were kept well back by a large body of
police. Captain Shaw was early on the scene, and
directed the operations of th 6. firemen, who succeeded
in preventing any material injury to property in the
immediate neighbourhood of the theatre. No cause
can be assigned for the fire. When the actors and
others engaged in the house had left on Saturday
night, after the performance,
.the fireman on duty
went his rounds in the building as usual until eight
o'clock on Sunday morning, when, all being safe,
he went away. The fire was not observed until nine
hours later in the day.
The Duke's Theatre is the fifteenth theatre de-
stroyed by fire, in London, since the beginning of the
present century.

V‘.. .7, VI ‘1,4 11„ w , •

A large consignment of cheese has recently been
shipped from the United States for the English market
amounting to 21,500 boxes—the largest single shipment of
cheese from any United States port this season.
If the threatened war between Russia and China
should continue for any considerable time it will unques-
tionably be the means of greatly stimulating the tea
trade in India, especially if the Russians blockade the
ports.

Hares and rabbits are treated with little ceremony
in Australia, and the question there is regarded very dif-
ferently from the way in which it is viewed by supporters
! and opponents of the Government Bill. Indeed, some
colonists have thought of demanding a penalty from all
tenants of farms who have rabbits on their holdiags.

All reports received from Constantinople and
Vienna are agreed that the Sultan was "overcome with
rage" when he received the decisions of the Congress,
which were communicated to him; and it is added that he
refuses to hear of their acceptance. The Greeks are pre-
paring to occupy the territory marked out by the Confer-
ence.

It appears from a parliamentary return that the
number of ejectnients in Ireland last year for non-payment
of rent was 2,677, being 928 in excess of the previous year.
The Dowager-Duchess of Cleveland has contributed
£3,000 to the endowment of the proposed Bishopric of
Southwell. Her Grace has also subscribed £5OO towards the
erection of a palace at Southwell for the future Bishop.
The Manchester Evening News gives an account of
the present state of Fenianism in Ifanchester, Twelve
months ago there were eighteen lodges with a thousand
members, but now, owing to action of Roman Catholic
clergy, there are only live lodges, and 250 members.

On Tuesday morning the Loudoun Castle, with the
new teas from Hankow, arrived in the London docks. She
brought about three million pounds of tea, and made the
passage in thirty-nine days, having left Woosung on the 27th
May.
The Mark Lane Express says that everything points
to an abundance in our wheat supplies in the near
future, notably the devices from America, where the yield
promises to equal, if not exceed, last year's enormous
growth.

- A telegram from St. John's, Newfoundland, an-
nounces that the steamer F. W. Harris, from Cardiff to
Montreal, went ashore on Thursday morning, in last week,
during a dense fog at the north head of Chance Cove and
became a total wreck. The passengers and crew of the
W. F. Harris were all rescued and conveyed to St. John's.
The Capitale, a Roman paper, publishes a letter from
General Garibaldi, in which, after protesting against the
attitude of Austria in regard to the Trentino, he complains
of the aspirations of France in Tunis, "France," he says
"has rendered great services in the cause of civilization in
Algiers, but Italy cannot permit her to dominate in Tunis.
It is of the greatest interest to us that the Regency should
maintain its independence."

Mr. Garfield, the Republican candidate for the
Presidency, was present on Sunday at the dedication of a
soldiers' monument at S ;vale, Ohio, ad delivered a speech
In which he eulogised the sacrifices made by the soldiers
during the war. He expressed the hope that the time was
not far distant when peace, harmony, and liberty in the
North and South would be filly restored under the Union
flag.
The population of Geneva on the law passed by the
Great Council for the separation of Church and State has
resulted in the rejection of the measure, 9,306 persons re-
cording their suffrages against, and 4,064 in favour of it.
The number of voters on the rolls of the Canton is
17,451.

'The use of grains as cattle food is extending, and it
will doubtless extend with the discovery of various methods
for combining its use with other sorts of food.

An agricultural pest has appeared in some parts of
Cheshire, which threatens to destroy the entire mange! crop.
A species of fly has settled on mange! fields, which blows a
maggot ultimately developing to half an inch in length, and
nearly resembling sheep maggot. The worm attacks the
plant and everything before it.
The Corporation of the City of London having ex-
pressed a wish that London, Southwark, and Blacldriars
bridges should be lighted by electricity, the Commission of
Sewers have determined to extend the trial by taking in all
the important streets leading to those structures, and have
therefore invited tenders with a view to ascertain the lost.
The Corporation of Carlisle has just presented to
the Royal Gardens at Kew the herbarium of Bishop Good-
enough, who, having resided for some time at Ealing, ob-
tained botanical specimens from Kew and other London
gardens. He was afterwards made Bishop of Carlisle; was
born in 1743, and died in 1827. The deceased Bishop's
herbarium, now handed over to the national herbarium at
Kew, was made during the last quarter of the last century,
and contains many interesting and valuable specimens.
Bishop Goodenough was, at one time, treasurer of the
Linnean Society.
_ _ _ . . .

Under the title of The Tourjee Tourist, an enterprising
American has undertaken the issue of a daily newspaper for
the benefit of the passengers by the Anchor Line Steamers
between Glasgow and New York. The contents of the
broadsheet are interesting and varied. Lists are given of
the names of the passengers, events transpiring on board are
chronicled, the progress of the ship is recorded from day to
day, notices are given of prospective amusements, the re-
maining space being filled with miscellaneous matter useful
for whiling away moments of idleness, and to advertisements
likely to interest travellers.

The Citizen states that the Corporation of the City
of London for the past year received £116,425 14s. Old. in
the way of rents and quit-rents, and £147,235 Os. 9d. from
their six markets.

Among other interesting items just sold in London
by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson was an interesting auto-
graph letter of the poet Burns, in which fie- quotes his
"Scots wha hae." It fetched the sum of £94. The letter is
addressed to Dr. Currie, and dated December 15th to 25th,
1795.

- The Calcutta correspondent of the Times, telegraphs
"The news which has been received by the last three or four
mails of the objections which some persons at home have
raised to the Marquis of Ripon's appointment on the ground
of his being a Catholic has caused no little surprise and some
amusement in this country. The feeling which prompts those
expressions of opinion meets with no sympathy here. When
we first heard that the choice of the Ministry had fallen on
the Marquis of Ripon many persons were disposed to find
fault with the nomination for various reasons, but I have not
heard or read a single objection founded on religion."

A boiler explosion has occurred on board -a
pleasure
steamer on Lake Minnetonka, in Minnesota, while lying in
dock T previous to embarking an excursion party. Four of the
crew were killed and seven others injured.
We understand that the President of the Board of
Trade has consented to receive a deputation of co-operators
on Saturday week. The deputation will endeavour to refute
the arguments used by the deputation of the traders who
recently had an interview with Mr. Chamberlain.

On a little bonheur du jour table to which he suc-
ceeded, the Duke of Portland, it is stated, recently paid
probate duty at a valuation of 10,000 guineas. The table is
2ft. wide, 21t. gin, high, and 181 n. deep; the top, frieze, and
back are overlaid with old Sevres plaques, and the mounts
are very highly chased and gilt. This, the Artist states, is,
for its size, the most valuable piece of furniture extant.

Special editions of the Oxford Bible for Teachers
have just been prepared at the Oxford University Press, in
connexion with the Sunday School Centenary celebration.
In one we have what is understood to be the smallest copy
of the Holy Scriptures yet issued. It is printed on thin
India paper, consists of 1,416 pages measuring 4in. by 541 n.,
and weighs no more than 14 ounces. The other, which is
intended for the use of superintendents of Sunday schools, is
about as large again, but weighs only 19 ()tuxes.

A German contemporary states that among the
visitors at Ems is a Jew, who has attained the age cf 105
years, and who took part in the battle of the Beresina,
which was fought in 1812, between the Russians and the
French under Napoleon I.

The bones of St. Driscolius have been seized in the
New York Custom House. They are in a coffin-shaped box
with glass sides, the contents being a wax-coated skeleton
dressed in richly embroidered garments. They are said to
have been unearthed in Rome in 1802. Accompanying the
relics was a marble slab, on which was engraved the figure
of a hand and a bird, with the inscription, "St. Driscolius.
In pacd." The relics were consigned from Italy to a
monastery near Cincinnati.

The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, shortly after
his arrival at Claridge's on Monday evening, received visits
from the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Connaught, and
afterwards, attended by Prince Chahoffskoi, dined with
Prince Lobanoti at the Russian Embassy. His Imperial
Highness and Prince Chahoffskoi left by the mail train on
Tuesday night for Glasgow, in order to be present at the
launch of the Emperor of Russia's new steam yacht, the
Livadia.

On Sunday the Pope gave audience to the so-called
Sacred Orators or Preachers who have come on a pilgrimage
from all parts of the world to present their homage to his
Holiness—the countries represented being Italy, France,
Spain, Austria, Prussia, Poland, England, Turkey, India,
and America. Pepe Leo, in his reply to their address, ex-
pressed his approval of the pilgrimage, and speaking of the
necessity for combating the errors of the century by earnest
preaching, explained the manner in which preachers should
address their hearers, urging more particularly the ex-
pediency of simplicity and humility. His Holiness con-
cluded his discourse, which, on its termination was warmly
applauded, by recommending the Orators to study the works
of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Telegrams from Australia state that the revenue
of Victoria for the quarter ending the 30th of June was
£1,105,000, being an increase of £32,000 compared with the
corresponding quarter last year; the revenue of New South
Wales was £1,176,000 or an increase of £1,000; and the revenue
of South Australia was £547,000, or an increase of £146,000.
The Empress Eug4nie arrived at Table Bay on
Sunday, and remained at Cape Town until Tuesday as the
guest of Sir Bartle Frere. The Empress attended High
Mass of the Roman Catholic Cathedral, otherwise her Ma-
jesty remained in strict seclusion. The memorial shield
subscribed for by the ladies of the colony was presented on
Tuesday to Sir Evelyn Wood. The Trojan, with the Empress
and suite on board, left on Tuesday for England by way of
St. Helena, Ascension, and Madeira. At St. Helena the
Empress will visit the tomb of Napoleon I.
An abstract of the expenses incurred at the South
Lincolnshire election has just been published, from which it
appears that Sir W. E. Welby-Gregory and Mr. Lawrence,
Q.C. the succesiful Conservatives, expended £5,054 10s. 3d.,
and Mr. C. Sharpe, the unsuccessful Liberal, £2,393 78. 10d.

Notwithstanding the severe lessons they have had,
the Americans still continue to use wood as their staple
building material. In this country, and on the Continent,
it is a rarity to hear of an hotel being burnt down, but such
statistics as have been gathered together for 1879 show that
in America more people lost their lives by the burning of
hotels than by all the accidents to trains and steamboats
combined.

The conversation
Disraeli
the
"fireworks." "Well, Ie other day on the worn-
out platitude about d
said a lobbyist, "but Gladstone is fond of fire-
works, too.
•
Disraeli is like a Catherinae
cracker
—r—heyarielvdolavnels
in a
know
w' don't
u.kmn,
hocwr
0,
'said
; but Gladstone resembles
to expect him next."—.Court Journal.
The reocei
ofbareavneeenuee f fr0m273t,4h2e8
to
nt
Pwthsen(m cothaercewuanst a
.1-All%lli'3ol,BBlB'SO, were £19,619,058, against £18,92.2,C5C in the
orresponding period of the preceding financial year, whi
with a balance of £6,915,756. The net
expenditure
c
begaznio 544,987, against £20,669,957 to the same date in the
was ,
previous year. The Treasury balances on June 30 amounted
96S - 692' and at the same date in 1579 to £3,158,354.
to g 6,
Some prominent citizens in South Carolina have
started a society for the suppression of duelling. They
mean to put in force the old State law which provides
that whoever sends or accepts a challenge to fight a duel will
be "deprived of the right of suffrage, and be disabled for
ever from holding any office of profit or honour in South
Carolina, and will be imprisoned in the penitentiary for a
term not exceeding two years."
The Rev. Dr. Stewart, minister of the parish of
Giasserton, Wigtownshire, died suddenly in St. Cuthbert's
Established Church, Edinburgh, on Sunday afternoon. He
had preached a sermon in St. Giles's Cathedral in the morn-
ing, and was present as a worshipper in St. Cuthbert's when
he suddenly died in the pew. Dr. Stewart, who was in his
seventy-fourth year, occupied a prominent position in the
Church.
At the Zoological Gardens, Regent's-park, London,
may now be seen a'spider which is about as big as a house spar-
row with his wings folded. When the spider's legs are open, he
is most formidable looking. The whole of his body is covered
with dark red-brown hair. He is fed upon cockroaches, and
he spins threads across the ground, in which the cockroaches
get entangled. He will also kill and suck the blood of young
mice, of the brain of which he seems especially fond. He is
confined in a glass case, the temperature of which is kept up
by warm water. The bite of this spider—which comes from
South America—is said to be very injurious to both man and
beast.
A great landed proprietor says that hill land ought
to be excepted from the operation of the threatened ground
game bill, otherwise the landlords in Scotland alone may
run a probable chance of losing a rental of something like
£400,000, this being a sort of rough estimate of the rent paid
for game moors in the north generally. In many cases the
grouse rent amounts to three times the grazing rent in the
same land; and yet, under this new Act, the grazing tenant
may ruin the sport of the grouse tenant by ranging the
manor with his gun, under the plea of killing ground game.
He may, 'moreover, if he pleases, sell this privilege to one or
more professional poachers, who will in like manner set
keepers and landlords at defiance.

.

4

By the will of the late Empress of Russia the Castle
of Livadia, which was her own personal property, goes to
the Hereditary Grand Duke. This will entail on the pos-
sessor an annual expenditure of 300,000 francs.

The London publicans are bent upon agitating
against Sunday closing. All over London huge posters are
to be met with denouncing Sunday closing as "an infringe-
ment of the liberties of the people."

- -
Dr. "Messmer, a New York physician, has called
attention to the danger lurking in the cups at the fountains,
unless when well rinsed before drinking, as being a means
of communicating scarlet fever and measles to thirsty chil-
dren, and cancerous and other sores to the months of older
people.
_ .

lialtimore will celebrate its 150th anniversary during
the week ending October 9 next. The Maryland Historical
Seciety is taking the initiative in the celebration.

The expenses incurred by Mr. Gladstone through
his re-election for Mid-Lothian amounted to £3O 16s.
The King of the Hellenes, attended by Colonel
Hadji-Patros, and Colonel Kolocotronis, left London on
Monday evening for the Continent. The Prince of Wales,
attended by Colonel Ellis, accompanied his Majesty to the
Station, where the Greek Minister, M. Genadius, and the
Greek Consul General were present to see their Sovereign
leave.

An interesting find has lately been made in a field
near Sasbach in Baden, consisting of a silver spoon supposed
to date from the fourth century of the Christian era, and
to be a relic of an Alemannic burial ground. It is be-
lieved that the spoon was originally deposited in one of the
graves. _ _

- On Monday, at the command of the Queen, Mr.
Henry Leslie's Choir gave a concert at Windsor Castle. Pier
Majesty requested the repetition of the part-song, "Oh !
Hush thee, my babie." The ladies and gentlemen of the
choir were afterwards entertained by her Majesty at luncheon
in the Waterloo Chamber and later were shown through the
State and several of the private apartments.
Hand-painted silks are the fashion across the At-
lantic.

Six hundred and eighty-three thousand persons
visited the Paris Salon this year.

-
More than 3,300 persons passed through the turn-
stiles at the Hanover Gallery on Sunday, when it was open
to ticket-holders for the last time under the auspices of the
Sunday Society.

The recent additions to the Zoological Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, include an Arabian gazelle, from
Arabia, presented by Captain Titus ; a common %enet, South
European, presented by Mr. G. H. Thunder, EN.; an emu,
from Australia, presented by Mr. A. Mcllwraith, F.Z.S. • a
greater white-chested cockatoo, from Moluccas, presented
Mrs. A. L. Chetwode ; three red-beaked weaver birds, from
West Africa, presented by the Marchioness of Westminster;
a crested ground parrakeet. from Australia, presented by
Miss M. S. Spooner; a BarbarY ape, from North Africa, an
ocellated monitor, from West Africa, deposited; three
ruddy sheldrakes, European, two Sandwich Island geese,
from the Sandwich Islands; two blood-rumped parrakeets,
from Australia; two Celebean rails, from Celebes, purchased;
a collared fruit bat, a Japanese deer, born in the Gardens.

On Monday the London Hospital Sunday Fund
amounted to nearly £29,000.

The reports of the victories said to have been gained
by the Chinese over the Russians are described in official
circles at St. Petersburg as mere Eastern ba,..r gossip.
Fifteen hundred volunteers, both officers and men, are, how-
ever, going to the Pacific to strengthen the forces in the
Amoor district.

The Buenos Ayres Stonelard speaks of a "new
export' from Rosario. Twenty-two barrels of honey have
been sent to England from that country in the Teniers. In
Mendoza a considerable quantity of excellent honey is pro-
duced, and it is thought that the large quantities of lucerne
cultivated throughout the Argentine Confederation should
furnish the basis of a considerable export trade in honey.
Large quantities of honey are exported from ChM.

It is stated here that the mother of General Skobe-
let!, who is now in Bulgaria, intends establishing a religious
fraternity on one of the peaks of the famous Shipka Pass.—
Bucharest Correspondent of The Times.

A roll of Bank notes value £5OO, was dropped into
the offertory bag at St. Mary's Church, Chelmsford on Sun-
day forenoon, for the benefit of the Chelmsford Infirmary.
A celebration of the custom of giving a flitch of
bacon to the married couple who are willing to swear before
a jury of maidens and bachelors that they have lived
together in unbroken fidelity and amity for a year and a day
Is to take place at DUDMOW onaMonday, the 26th July.
London walls were never so greatly garnished with
pictorial announcement as at present. Everything or pretty
nearly Bois illustrated.

Two eggs of the Great Auk have been sold in
London, one for 100 guineas, and the other for 102 guineas.
From a census recently taken of the city of Buda-
Pesth it appears that the population is at present 333,557, a
considerable increase since the last census of 1876, when the
numbers were only 295,254. A hundred years ago Pesth con-
tained but 13,560 inhabitants and Buda 23,643. since then
the population of Buda has doubled, while that of Pesth has
increased twentyfold.

The Lord Mayor has received from the Keeper of
the Privy Purse a cheque for £11)5, being the contribution of
her Majesty the Queen to the fund now being raised at the
Mansion House in conneotion with loss of the Atalanta_

Mr. Ivan Zmertych, a young Hungarian, win'
coming from London had left Ostend on the 10th June,
arrived at Pesth on the evening of June 30, having travelled
all the distance, some 1,200 miles, on his velocipede. He
did on the average 130 kilometres per day, and took his way
rid Brussels, Cologne, Mainz, Aschaffenburg, Pasan, Enz,
Vienna, Pressburg, and Komon. The Budapest Athletic
Club gave Mr. Zmertych a cordial reception, and presented
him with a gold medal. So little was he fatigued by his
long journey that he attended the same night a prize walk-
ing match of 50 kilometres ia si hours, arranged in his
honour.
On the morning of Monday, June 28, a smart shock
of earthquake was felt at Geneva, Nyon, Rolle, Crons, Coppet,
and in the country between Ferney and the foot of the Jura.
The oscillation, which occurred at 3.15, lasted about three
seconds, and was preceded at Nyon by subterranean noises.
In Geneva many people were awakened from their sleep, but
none were ejected from their beds. At Crane a seeond,
though much slighter, shock was felt three-quarters of an
hour after the4first. This is the third, for this part of the
world, considerable oscillation of the earth which has been
observed since November last.—The Geneva Correspondent
of The Times says:—" A severe shock of earthquake occurred
on Sunday in the valley of the Upper Rhone. The principal
seat of the disturbance was at Brigue, where many buildings
were considerably damaged. It was also felt at Zermatt,
and sobae say at Geneva."

A shooking balloon accident occurred at Le Mans
on Sunday. M. and Madame Petit went up in one balloon,
and their son in a smaller one attached to it. The former
burst soon after starting, and the car fell 400 yards to the
ground, Madame Petit escaping with slight bruises, but her
husband was much hurt, and lies in a precarious state. The
smaller balloon got free, and the youth effected a descent
some miles distant.—Paris Correspondeut of The Times.

The Board of Trade inquiry into the circumstances
under which the Union Steamship Company's steamer
America was completed on Friday, in last week, and resulted
in the Court finding that there was no fault in the construc-
tion of the vessel, and that her captain and officers were
deserving of the highest praise and credit for their conduct
on the occasion of the disaster.

Herr Ludwig Lowe, of Berlin, the inventor of the
revolver now in general use in the Russian army, has de-
signed a peculiar apparatus for converting the German
Manser rifle at any time into a repeating rifle capable of
firing twelve rounds in 25 seconds. The apparatus, when
exhausted, can be detached in a moment from the gun,
leaving the latter exactly as it was before.

It has been decided that the memorial to be erected
by the subscriptions of the officers of the army, amounting
to over £4,000, to the Prince Imperial shall be placed at
Woolwich, and that the execution of it shall be confided to
Count Gleichen.

A splendid bronze head, life size, has been found
near Olympia. It is the first specimen of the head of ,
victor in the Olympian games ever found in perfect preseiva,
tfon ; it wears the laurel crown.

Some consternation has been caused at Winsford
(the centre of the Cheshire salt trade) by the brine pumps
slacking in their daily supply. There,has been a great strain
on the pumps in consequence of an active demand, and
towards the end of the week they ran dry. There is no
doubt rock salt abounds along the valley of the Weaver, but
though most pumpers have deepened their brine shafts, yet
the salt dissolves too slowly to meet the consumption.
_

On Sunday the Bishop of London took the first step
to put in force the sentence of sequestration against Mr.
2rfackonochie by the publication of the sentence on the doors
of the church. Shortly before ten a.m. Mr. Thomas, from
the office of Mr. Lee, the diocesan Registrar, appeared with
the legal parchment document reciting the sentence and ap-
pointing Mr. Lee to receive the emoluments of and provide
for the performance of Divine service in the church of St,
Alban's' Holborn. He affixed this and a copy of it to the
door of the church in the presence of a witness who accom-
panied him. Shortly afterwards some one pulled down the
parchment document. Mr.' Thomas, who had gone into the
church, came out and picked up the document, and returned
into the church, where he was slightly hustled about. Order
was, however, quickly restored, Mr. Thomas left with his
witness, and the services proceeded as usuaL—Monday's
Times.