The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-05-14 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The centenary anniversary of Sir David BrewerN
birth is to be celebrated in Edinburgh by a public dinner on
the 9th of December next.

Last Sunday, at St. Jude's Church, Southsea, a
member of the congregation deposited in the collecting box
a cheque for £2,000 in aid of the fund for a new church In
he parish.

The execution of Albert Moore, now lying in Maid-
stone Gaol under sentence of death for the murder of Mary
• Ann Marsh, at Gravesend, on the 16th of February, has been
fixed by the Home Secretary tritake place on the 17th inst.
An endeavour is being made to obtain a reprieve on the
ground of insanity.
Great satisfaction is experienced at Glasgow owing
to the fact that the strike of Clyde shipjoiners, which has
lasted a fortnight terminated on Monday, the employers
having granted the men's demands of an increase of if
per cent. on their present rate of wages, which is sid. per
hour.
The Paris correspondent of the Daily .News writing
on the 9th says :—" Dr. Crevaux gave yesterday an interest-
ing account at the Sorbonne of his travels in Equatorial
America. He claims to have discovered a river which he has
christened Lesseps. He and his companions were frequently
pursued by caimans, the American alligators, and often
narrowly escaped. His journey lasted a year, and after many
perils he gained Venezula and embarked for Franee."
- - -

For the first time in the annals of the Calcutta
University a native gentleman has been elected president of
the Faculty of Arts. This honour has been conferred upon
the Iron. the Maharaja Jotendromohun Tagore, C.S.L

The Princess Alice, a British barque, from Cardiff
to Bahia, laden with coal, was totally wrecked on the 26th of
April on Hartwell Reef, Baavista. Two of the crew, named
Fenley and Chilton, were saved. The captain and the rest
of the crew were drowned. The Princess Alice was a vessel
of 377 tons, built at Prince Edward's Island in 1864 and
owned in Newport.

The total net quantity of iron and steal rails manu-
factured in the United. States during last year was 1,461,837
tons, being 31 per cent. in excess of the amount produced in
1879.

From a Parliamentary paper issued the other day
It appears that in :November, 1880, the Commissioners for
the Reduction of the National Debt held in respect of trustee
savings banks the enormous BUM of £44,370,332 Mr. 24..

"Coals, cinders, &c.," is the title of a Parlia-
mentary paper just issued. In the year 1880 there were
exported from the United Kingdom 17,891,181 tons of coals,
442,797 tons of cinders, and 385,993 tons of patent fuel; and
there was brought coastways, by inland navigation, and by
railway into the port (34 Loudon in the same period 9,925,652
tons of coals and 11,775 tons of patent fuel.

A Bill for amending the law with regard to the in-
terment of the bodies of persons drowned in tidal rivers is
to be introduced by Baron ilenry De Worms, and will not
meet with opposition from the Government. As the provi-
sions of the measure are to be retrospective, it will enable
the parish of Woolwich to recover from the county of Kent
the sum of £1,200 which the parochial authorities disbursed
for the burial of persons who lost their lives in the autumn
of 1878 by the disaster to the Princess Alice steamer.
"Returns relative to proof spirits in England"
have been published in the form of Parliamentary Paper.
The tables for 1880 show that 36,234,762 gallons of proof
spirits were distilled; that 2,575,647 gallons were delivered,
duty paid from stocks, and that 32,317,025 gallons were put
into bond. England paid £6,922,655 Ss. 3d. as duty on spirits
during the year; Scotland paid £4,205,218 10s. sd. as duty;
and Ireland paid £3,680,720 18s. 2d. for duty. With regard
to consumption England drank 16,950,020 gallons, Scotland
6,325,036 gallons, and Irbland 5,182,430 gallons.

_
The Wilton Barents, the little Polar ship which has
already made three voyages to the Northern Polar Sea, has
left Amsterdam for the fourth time. The crew consists of a
Lieutenant of the Royal Navy, H. van 13roekhuyzen, as cap-
tain, two other officers, a physician, a zeologist, a photo-
grapher (the Englishman, Mr. Grant), and six sailors. The
King and all the members of the Royal family have given
considerable gifts to the expedition, and from all aides it has
met with sympathetic co-operation.

Prince Bismarck has addressed the following message
to the widow of General Benedek : "May it be of consola-
tion to you in your grief to know that Austria is not alone in
mourning for the loss of Itadetzky's companion in arms.
The death of a brave soldier, loyal to his Emperor, is also
deeply regretted here. The Almighty will give you strength
to bear the trial he has inflicted."

The Coronation fetes at Bucharest are announced to
take place on the 22nd, 28rd, and 24th inst. Every commune,
both urban and rural, will send a deputation to the capital,
the number of persons expected in this capacity being about
7,000. National costumes will be worn, a grand Te Denial
will be sung, thatrooPs will be reviewed by the King, and
the city will be illuminated. A medal is being cast to com-
memorate the event.

A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat, on May 6 was 18,500,000 bushels; Ditto Indian corn,
13,000,000 bushels. Export clearances of wheat for Europe
for the past week, 1,890,000 bushels; export clearances of
Indian oorn for Europe for the past week, 1,010,000 bushels.
The Field Marshal Commanding in Chief has con-
veyed to the directors of the London and Brighton Railway
his appreciation of the excellent manner in which the rail-
way services in connection with the conveyance of the
volunteers to and from Brighton on Easter Monday were
carried out.
- - -

A telegram from New York states that there is
everywhere a good prospect of an unusually large wheat
crop in the United States.
About 260 Unitarian ministers recently referred in
their sermons to the question of the opium tyatlic between
India and China. Others have, by means of lectures or
meetings, &T., on week nights drawn the attention of their
people to this important subject.

_
Mr. Edwaid Hermon, one of the Conservative
members for Preston, died rather suddenly on Malay morn.
log in last week. On Thursday night he complained in the
House of Commons of a severe pain in the region of the
stomach, and was taken to his residence in Berkeley-square
by Dr. Lyons, II.P. Dr. Hamby was fetched, but virly in
the morning, immediately after complaining of a feeling of
nausea, Mr. Hermon died.

The imports of the Colony of South Australia during
tite past year show an increase of £560,000, and the exports
of £BOO,OOO, as compared with 1879.
The post-office ystem in Japan, which was esta-
blished nine years ago, seems, according to the latest report
of the Japanese Postmaster-General, to be a great success.
The total revenue during the last fiscal year amounted to
1,173,094 yens, while the expenditure was 1,091,900 yens.
The service is thus self-supporting. The aggregate number
of letters, newspapers, books, etc., carried was 68,914,782.
The aggregate length of the mail routes was in English
miles 42,295. The total number of post-offices was 4,377.
The letters and cards despatched for foreign countries were
204,187.

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 45,000 bales, and since let September
6,363,000 bales. Shipments to Great Britain, 24,000 bales;
and to the Continent and Channel, 23,000 bales: total since
Ist September, 3,856,800 bales. Stock at all ports 597,000
bales.

There were 21 British and foreign wrecks, of which
14 were British (4 being steamers) reported last week, making
a total of 750 for the present year, or an increase of 191 as
compared with the corresponding period of last year. The
approximate value of property lost was £7,090,000, including
British £6,000,000. 280 men lost their lives.

Mr. Justice Matthew, in charging the Grand Jury
at the Liverpool Assizes, referred to the necessity of an
alteration in the Criminal Law, and said he could not see
why it should not be allowed to a convicted person in this
country as it was in every other civilised country to appeal
against a sentence which he thought too severe.
As the one a.m. mail train from Southamptorl to
London neared Woking, on Friday morning in lr.d. week? the
driver noticed the danger signal on at Sheefwater and
stopped his train. After waiting ge. minutes the fireman
went to the signal-box to ascertain the cause of the delay,
and found the signalman dead in his box. Less than half an
hour previously the deceased had signalled a train to
Woking. He had been in the service of the company So
years.
A large open-air meeting was held at Coventry on
Monday night in support of Mr. Bradlaugh. The proceed-
ings were orderly until the following resolution was put
"That, in the opinion of this meeting, all candidates for
Parliamentary. honours being duly-elected by the free vote
of any constituency should be allowed to take their seats
without being subject to any kind of religious test what-
soever." This was received with mingled cheers, groans,
and hisses; and upon an attempt being made to second it,
stones were thrown and fights commenced in all directions.
Ultimately, a portion of the mob charged and took posses-
sion of the platform, attacked the speakers, and compe4led
them to retreat. Eventually, the police succeeded in re-
storing quiet. No attempt was made to continue the
meeting.

The yputhful Coningsby Disraeli, heir to Lord
Beaconsfield's estate, was on Saturday presented to the
Queen, by Lord Rowton, at Windsor.
__ _

_
Rooks, which were unknown in Orkney until about
two years ago, have now formed a regular settlement in
every garden where trees are to be found. _

The-re is said to be a strong desire on the part of the
Vatican for some direct nrd authoritative means of corn-
muuication with the English Government with a view to
more authentic knowledge of social questions, and especially
of those connected with Ireland.

The Irish World announces over 3,000 slollars of
fresh contributions to the Land League Fund this week,
making a total of more than 102,000 dollars.

"Opportunist Mauve" is the favourite spring tint
in Paris, so-called from its indefinite hue, which contains a
little of all shades of violet, just as some politicians borrow
from every shade of opinion.

The Times of India says that in the Madras Presi•
dency two gentlemen have been fined for travelling in a
ladies' carriage on the Madras Railway, contrary to the
rules and regulations.

Acbbraing to the recent census, the total population
of British Burmah is 3,704,253, being an increase of 34 per
cent. since 1872. Rangoon contains 132,004, and Moulmein
46,472, an increase in the former of 36 per cent, and in the
latter of 14 per cent. This large increase is due chiefly to
immigration.

It is announced from St. Petersburg that the publi-
cation of an Imperial ukase is shortly expected, remitting
the arrears of the peasants in respect of the annual land
redemption payments to the State, diminishing future pay-
ments to the extent of 9,000,000 roubles per annum, and com-
pelling those proprietors who have not yet done so to come
to a final arrangement with their former serfs concerning the
land allotted to the latter by the State.

In London, the other -day, nineteen men of the
Metropolitan Fire Brigade, who had displayed conspicuous
bravery during the last five years in saving sixty-seven
lives, received medals at the hands of the Chairman of the
Metropolitan Board of Works, Sir J. M.Garel Hogg, who,
after delivering an encouraging address, pinned the rewards
on the breast of each man as he presented himself.

It is reported in Ottawa that the Marquis of Lorne,
after his trip to Manitoba, will resign the Governor-General-
ship of Canada and return to England.
The Baroness Burdett-Coutts lost on Tuesday last
at the Drawing Room a sapphire brooch surrounded by
diamonds. The-sapphire is the second in size of a set of
three family jewels of beauty and value.—Pall Mall Gazette.
In the American Court of Common Pleas, a suit
has just been heard in which the guardian of a child six
years of age sought to recover 50,000d015. as damages for the
bite of an escaped monkey, belonging to the proprietors of
a museum. The case lasted three days, and a verdict was
given in favour of plaintiff for 3,500 doh.

The Queen's first State Concert is fixed for Wed-
nesday, the 18th inst., at Buckingham Palace; and the first
State Ball takes place on Wednesday, the 25th mat. -

Two Home-rule members, Mr. O'Shaughnessy and
Mr. Gray, have brought in a Bill to improve and extend, at
the public charge, the reformatories of Ireland.
According to the Estafette, a proposal to introduce
nickel coins in the place of the present copper ones is under
consideration,at the French Ministry of Finance. In order
that they may be easily distinguished from the silver, coins
it is proposed to give them an octagonal form.

"Knights of the Sepulchre" is the euphuistic
Transatlantic term for undertakers.

At the last meeting of the Council of the Nationa
Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, held
at St. Stephen's-chambers, Westminster, Earl Percy, M.P.,
in the chair, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Ritchie,
M.P. : "That a subscription be set on foot by the Council of
the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional
Associations to commemorate Lord Beaconsfield's services
to the country in some permanent and public manner, and
that a committee be appointed to concert with others who
may have the same object in view, so as to secure united
action." A committee was afterwards appointed.

--
Five members of the Government abstained from
voting on Monday night on the question of the monument to
Lord Abacolustleld. They were Mr. Bright, Mr. Chamberlain.
Sir Charles Mike, Mr. Trevelyan, and Mr. Courtney. Mr.
Bright was not present during the debate, though he arrived
as soon as the division was taken.—Mr. Couingsby Disraeli,
nephew and heir of the late Lord Beaconsfield, occupied a
seat in the Ambassadors' Gallery of the House of Commons
jiuring the discussion on the proposed monument. —Daily
News.

Serious strikes are reported among the railway
labourers in Chicago and Mil*aukie, impeding the goods
traffic.

The Census of the United States newspapers show
that there are 982 dailies published, including 80 that have
been suspended and 114 new ones started during the census
year. These dailies have an aggregate daily circulation of
3,581,187, costing the public 26,250,100 dols. annually. New
York has 116 daily papers; Pennsylvania, 98; Illinois, 73;
Ohio, 54: and California, 64.
On Friday in last week, at Weeton, near Harrogate,.
the 11.35 a.m. express on the North-Eastern line to Leeds
had a narrow escape from a serious disaster. A boy in
charge of two horses drawing a heavy road roller was cross-
ing the line as the train approached. The horses and lad
were on the up line, and the engine dashed into them and
killed them instantly. The roller was on the metals of the
down line, and had the collision occurred a few seconds
later the obstruction to the train would have been such as
to cause an accident of a much more serious nature.

In London last week 2,510 births and 3,472 deaths
were registered. Allownw. for increase of population, the
births were 153, and the deaths 87, below the average num-
bers in the corresponding week of the last ten years. The
annual death-rate from all causes, which had been equal to
22', 22 5, and 21•8 per 1,000 in the three preceding weeks,
farther declined to 201.

Eighty-eight persons died from small-pox in London
last weuk, and these fatal cases included 18 of children under
five years of age, 29 of persons between 5 and 20 years, 32
between 20 and 40, and 9 upwards of 40. The number of
smallpox patients in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals rose
to 1,093, a higher number than has been under treatment at
these institutions since the epidemic of 1871-72,

A shocking case of injury through boys playing
"tip cat' in the crowded streets of London has been re-
ceived into the ophthalmic ward of St. Thomas' Hospital. A
little girl was passing on her way to school, when a boy, who
was playing with several companions on the pavement,
strtttk a " tip cat," the point of which entered her right eye
with great violence. Examination showed that the sight of
the eye was permanently lost.

"It does not speak well for European prosperity
that over 6,500 emigrants should be landed at New York in
a single day, as happened last Monday. It is stated that
in the first four months of the year 130,000 emigrants have
been added to the population of the United States, and it is
reckoned that about one-tenth of them are from Ireland."—

An inquest has been held at Liverpool on the body
of a man named Matthew i,aly, a grinder, who was killed by
the breaking of a grindstone five feet in diameter, turned by
steam power at the rate of 120 revolutions a minute. It flew
in pieces, and injured the deceased BO severely that he died
the next day. A verdict of "Accidental death" was re-
turned.
The trial of 25 Russian private soldiers for dis-
obedience and resistance to the authorities in time of war
has been concluded at Odessa. Three of the prisoners were
condemned to 12 years' hard labour in the mines, three
others to exile in Siberia, and the remainder to varions terms
of imprisonment.
A singular case of suicide was reported to Mr.
Payne, the City of London Coroner, on Saturday. On the
previous evening a German lady went to the Metropolitan
Baths, Shepheidess-walk, City-road, and Raked for a warm -
bath. The bath was supplied, and the door of the room
shut. Some three hours afterwards the attendant called to
the woman, but received no answer. The door being
forced open, she was found in the bath in a comatose con-
dition. With a knife, recently purchased, she had severed
the artery in the bend of both her arms, and had cut herself
about the body. She was conveyed to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, where she died an hour after admission. The whole
of her clothing was quite new. The deceased, who was
not known, is about forty years of age, and of middle height.

"It is stated as a fact that hatters are seriously dis-
quieted in consequence of the gradual diminution of the size
of Englishmen's heads. Of the truth they make no question,
for the inside measurement of hats is, they say, au argument
which does not admit of dispute, and the inside measurement
of the hats they are making is steadily growing smaller. It
is true there is nothing to create a panic as yet, for the decrease
Is represented by eighths of inches only • but it is 'the prin-
ciple' of the change that perturbs them, where are heads
going to stop? "—Leader in Daily Telegraph.

- -
The Earl of Southesk has announced to his tenantry
that he has resolved to grant them a deduction of 10 per
cent. on their rents for 1880,on account of the losses sus-
tained by them owing to the damage done to the turnip crop
by the snowstorm of the past winter.

A coach between Liverpool and York will probably
be started this year. The journey will occupy eleven hours.
The imports of live cattle and fresh meat to Liver-
pool from the United States and Canada last week show a
considerable decrease compared with the preceding week,
the figures being-1,373 cattle, 1,751 sheep, 6,907 qrs. of beef,
1,158 carcases of mutton, and 260 dead and 256 live pigs.
Official telegrams from Kieff state that the anti-
Jewish riots at that place, after being quelled on Monday
morning, recommenced at mid-day and were only repressed
by the military. The fact of five hundred rioters having
been arrested on the first occasion, and that nevertheless the
riots were subsequently renewed, indicates their determined
character. The death of one woman is reported, and SE veral
persons are said to have been wounded. The loss of pro-
perty is considerable. It is now stated that the losses tar the
late riots at Elizabethgrad are officially given at two million
roubles.

The Golos gives some details of the precautions
taken to ensure the safety of the Emperor Alexander at
Gatschina. Every person arriving at the palace, without
exception, has to be subjected to a strict examination as to
who he is, the reason of his coming, and other particulars.
All is this written down in a book, and, it considered satis-
factory. he is carefully conveyed to the person with whom
he has business. On leaving his name is again written down,
and he is seen off the premises. All the servants and work-
men employed are photographed, and carry one copy about
them with a written certificate on the back, a duplicate being
kept in the office.

-Cardinal Manning has forbidden the use of any of
the halls of the Catholia Clubs or the assembly rooms of the
Total Abstinence Society of the League of the Cross for
meetings of branches of the Land League. The announce-
ment has caused considerable exottement and comment.

The Japanese Government has just published a
great dictionary of military and naval terms in five languages
—Japanese, French, English, German, and Dutch. This is
said to be the first Japanese dictionary arranged on the
European plau.

- -
"if Prince Bismarck were not an exception to all
rules, recent events would seem to show that his power in
Germany is not so unqualified as it once was. He has met
with a succession of checks in the Reichstag. Ile has fre-
quently betrayed, by eAplosions of anger, his sense of annoy-
ance at the presence of unusual obstacles and diflioulties,
or navy has
oanudat Itiitsorlewgr.etithheatG he ev
ei is
nnmo
et
nutusdperrosptooosdalatioi dlasyccaonspdeecdiaalstlaixe
gerbv3i'c'eaninuntaianeinairomuls. vote. Much
boneepnerres joencsteedx einni
tphtee dßferiocmh s
tas
the same fate befell the startling proposal to abolish annual
budgets, and to substitute biennial financial arrangements."
--Leader in The Times.
A telegram from Shanghai says that King Kala-
kaua, the King of the Sandwieh Islands, after visiting
Shanghai, proceeded
northwards, and had an interview
with the Viceroy of Tientsin on the subject of Chinese emi-
gration to the Sandwich Islands. The King expressed his
wish that families should settle in the Sandwich Islands,
and not men alone.
It is stated that three fishing boats caught in the
severe gale which swept over the Hebrides on Thursday in
last week are still unaccounted for, and all hope of their
safety has been abandoned. Two of the boats carried crews
of six men each; the third boat was smaller, and her crew
numbered four. All the boats belonged to Stornoway.
On Monday an influential deputation of noblemen
and gentlemen, headed by Lord Shaftesbury, and accom-
panied by the City Remenabrancer, waited upon the Lord
Chancellor, in his room at the House of 'Lords to protest
n th
against the Charitable Trusts Bill, o
e ground that it
hands over sixty millions of charitable bequests to a small
body of men who had shown n o particular aptitude for deal-
ing with such vast sums. The Lord Chancellor promised to
give the matter his consideration.

It is stated that the health of the King of Sweden
has improved since his Majesty's arrival at Bournemouth.
In company with the Queen, and the usual Court attendants,
the King has frequently taken carriage exercise.

- -
Her Majesty, attended by the suite, visited the
Royal vault at Windsor beneath the Albert Memorial Chapel
on Tuesday. Access to the tomb is obtained from the
eastern aisle of St. George's Chapel, whence a flight of steps,
protected by a brass handrail, only used on such an occasion,
leads to the burial place. rhe iron covering concealing the
entrance was removed and the vault ventilated early in the
morning. The tomb contains the remains of several members
of the Royal family, the last interments being those of the
King of Hanover and the infant daughter of Princess
Frederica of Hanover and Baron Von Pawel Rammingen.
The Queen at the close of the visit returned to the Castle.