The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-02-27 00:00:00

There was a decrease in the stamp duties on "play-
ing cards "in the year ended the 21st of March last. In
1873 the duty was £12,865, and in 1874, £12,582.
Hepworth Dixon wrote and rewrote his "Two
Queens " eight times before he was satisfied with s copy
and Mr. Kingtlake went over his "Eothen " six inns.—
Pictorial World.
The Army and Navy Gazette says it may be looked
upon as settled that the manceuVres this year will take the
form of summer drills in the neighbourhood of Aldershot.
One of the greatest innovations the country of the
Pharoahs has ever seen is the school for girls, lately estab-
lished by the third wife of the Khedive .of Egypt. Moreover .
it has proved a great success—Court Journal.
On Saturday the Empress Euganie and the Prince. :
Imperial paid a visit to the Prince and Princess of Wales at
Marlborough Hou-se ..
No fewer than 71 public bills have been introduced .--
into the House Of Commons in the present session, of 'which • ''''
14 are Government measures. a. •
In the year ending the Blst March last, there were' 1
6,482 refreshment houses in the United Kingdom, the amount
of duty charged being £5,812.
Her Majesty's Bignature has been appended to an
important series of regulations for Greenwich Hospital
SchooL The numbers of boys is to be raised from 800 to .. .
1,000, and the committee of selection are to give special
consideration to the cases of poorer lads, and those whose
fathers have been killed or injured in the naval service.
The Massachusetts Dental Society has passed resolu- •
tions emphatically conderaning the use of chloroform as an'
anresthetic, and declaring any member rainistering it liable
to expulsion.
Thc ether day hardly five minutes had elapsed aftAr
the erection of a telegraph post before some enterprising
genius posted a bill thereon, angl wo street Arabs were
attracted to the spot; when the following dialogUe ensued :
"I say, what an invention the telegraph is." “ Yee
here's a dispatch broke out.on the post I' —Court Journal.
At New York a factory ha;been established to con-
vert milk into cakes. To the Olk is elided one-folulh at
sugar, and a table-spoonful of carbonate of soda dissolved. -
It is then exposed to the fire. At the end of three hours the -, •
mixture becomes pasty, and it is then mixedeor beaten until • : , e
the mass Ls reduced to an orange-yellow powder. It is Asu k.
suffered to cool, and formed into tablets by pressure. .
Intelligence has been received from China stating`.. ~..
that the telegraph from Foochow to Amoy has been
stroyed by persons hostile to its use, but that the members
of the staff have not been molested. •
On Monday the Pope addressed a crowd of 'English
persons, Americans, North and South Germans, and French-
men at the Vatican. It is stated that at the next Consistory
four ecclesiastical provinces will be created in North
America.
The Prefecture of Police of Tokio has addressed the
following circular to all the cho of Japan :7--" Any person, in
European costume, meeting bin Imperial Majesty, will be
obliged to salute the Emperor by holding his hat under his
arm, and lowering his right hand to his knees. Those whg
do not wear a hat will be obliged to lower both hands to the
knee while bowing before the Emperor." -
In London, on Monday evening, a soirée and public
meeting of the Liberation Society took place at the Cod- .
gregational Memorial Hall, when resolutions were passed •
Con-
expressing satisfaction at the extent to which public atten- • •
tion is now engaged in the question of disestablishinent,
and at the steps taken by the Executive Committee so to
extend the operations of the Society as to enable it to talks-
ence all classes of the community. In order the better to effect
this object, it is proposed to raise a sum of £lOO,OOO in five ,
years, of which between £40,000 and £50,000 has been already
promised.
The Sheriff of Norwich held a court on Tuesday for -
assessing the damages due to the legal representatives of .
some of the victims of the late terrible collision on the .
Great Eastern Railway, at Thorpe. In the case of BerJeant-
major Cassel, of the West Norfolk Militia whose income was -..
proved to have been over £3 a week, the jury awarded £1,250; -
in that of Serjeant Ward, of the same regiment, whose income' •
was £2 ss. per week, £1,050; and in that of Job John
Hutton, a journeyman saddler, receiving 255. a week, they. ~
awarded £7OO. In each cast a special jury assessed the .
damages.
According to the Paris Presse, duelling after the .
German fashion has taken root both at the University and
at the Polytechnic School of Zurich. The large influx of
German students is cited as the cause of this new practice,
and several severe accidents are reported as resulting froth -
it. The Council of the Polytechnic has resolved, therefore,
to interfere, and in future any of its students who remain them:•
bers of duelling societies will be at once dismissed from the
schooL
In Ross-shire, the shootings and deer forests are
assessed on a rental of more than £34,000 ; in Inverness- . -,
shire, on a rental of more than £46,000 ; about half of the
sum, in both cases, being levied on lands containing deer
alone. In Ross-shire, the annual value cf the shootings and
deer forests is about a sixth, in Inverness-shire, between a
sixth and a fifth of the value of the whole lands and houses;
and the increase in the value of the land used for sportin
purposes has been accompanied not by a decrease but by a
steady growth in the value of other kinds of property in the
same counties.
A supplementary navy estimate has been issued
containing the probable charges on account of the Arctic
Expedition. The total amount is £98,620, made up of the
following items :—Wages to seamen and marines, £1,000;
victuals and clothing for seamen and marines, £2,1,270 .
scientific branch, £1,950; wages to artificers, £18,500; nava
stores, £32,000 • steam machinery and ships, £22,775 ; a sit
eines, &c., £225' ; and expenses of committees, £9OO '
It may interest our readers (says the .Athenceum.) .
to hear that the Messrs. Harpers, of N.ew York, who have
published the American edition of "Dr. Livingstone's Last,
Journals," have forwarded already£l,ooo for the family. The
book is published there, as it is here, for the benefit st the
children of Dr. Livingstone. The work is being translated
into French and German.
The Catherinoslav Gazette records the recent death-of.
a peasant named Mamoschine, of the village of liramank-
hovka, at the age of 118. He was noted for his size, stature,
and Herculean strength, qualities which he preserved till
nearly his last moment. His memory was in its full vigour
half an hour before his death. a.
According to official tables recently published, die
Excise duty on spirits in the year ended the 31st of March
last amounted to £14,639,562, being an increase of £890,619
on the preceding year. In the United Kingdom the quan-
tity retained for consumption as beverage was last year
29,308,989 gallons, being an increase of 1,752,755. The quan-
tity consumed per head of the population in 1873 was 0112.
Long life in Great Britain is on the decrease, and
centenarians are much less frequent than forty years since, •
despite the increase of population. The two millions of
population in the south eastern counties produce 1,086 nona-
genarians; but London, with a population of three and-a-
quarter millions, can only muster 834 persons above the
age of 90, and Lancashire and-Cheshire with a similar are- jog.
gate population only 585. --.-- eliP