The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-30 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The heat in Australia is intense, and much damage
has been caused by bush fires. _ __

-
The number of immigrants who arrived at New
York in 1874 was 140,337 ;it was 266,818 in the preceding year.
-

. . .
The floating debt of Austria is to be increased by
25,000,000 florins for railway purposes and repayable within
three years.

From April Ist to Saturday last the Exchequer
receipts amounted to £50,640,000, as compared with £57,546,000
In the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
The expenditure has been nearly £62,000,000.
Charcoal is recommended for fattening turkeys. It
should be pulverised and mixed with mashed potatoes and
corn-meal, as well as fed to them in small lumps.

Dr. Leahy, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Cashel, died on Tuesday morning. The archbishop, who
had been ill for some months, was in his 68th year.

It was a woman—Elizabeth, Countess of Thanet—
who first petitioned the Irish Government for a penny post.
This was 172 years ago. Subsequently for that valuable hint
she was awarded a pension of £3OO per annum.—Pictorial
World.
The weather on Tuesday was very severe all along
the east and north-east of Scotland. In the morning the
frost was intense. Towards the afternoon a fresh breeze
sprung up and snow fell in heavy showers. In some parts
it is over a foot deep.

Misprints will present themselves in other columns
besides those of newspapers. The author of a temperance
novel who wrote, "Drunkenness is folly," was horrified to
read, "Drunkenness is jolly."

Twenty-eight capitalists have offered to construct
the new Don Railway, which is to open up the coal mines of
Southern Russia.

Garibaldi will (says the Liberk), introduce a bill
into the Italian Parliament for improving the Campagna and
embanking the Tiber.

- -
The Government of Japan has, after protracted ne-
gotiations, consented to admit foreigners into the interior
of the country. They must, however, be provided with
special passports.
The supply of house coals at the London Coal.
market on Monday morning was unnsually large, and a re-
duction of is. per ton was submitted to.

In consequence of the numerous desertions from the
Navy, the Admiralty have issued a circular, stating that
men who break leave or desert to avoid foreign service, shall
Invariably be sent abroad to their ships after punishment.
While awaiting their passage they are to be kept in close
confinement.

"Did you steal the complainant's, coat ?" asked a
magistrate of a seedy indivie cal, who was arraigned before
him. "I decline to gratify the morbid curiosity of the
public by answering that question," responded the seedy
individual, with a glance at the reporters.—Pictorial World.

A public meeting is announced to be held next
month for the purpose of adopting a memorial to the
government for the repeal of the Railway Passenger Duty,
or at least for its remission so far as concerns the Id. per
mile traffic.

The Seine continues to rise, and has not been so high
for many ye a”s. The penny steamboats have been compelled
to cease running, the stations on the embankment being
flooded. The low-lying environs of Paris are for the most part
inundated, the water running two or three feet deep throuzh
the streets cf nearly all the villages lon the banks of the-
river. _ _

On a recent occasion, in order to demonstrate his
opinion that fish do not hear, an American savant requested
a band of music to arrange themselves in close proximity to
the tanks and blow their loudest blast. This was done, but
not one of the multitude of fishes stirred a fin. To further
illustrate the theory that although fish are unsusceptible to
sound, they are keen of vision and sensitive to the slightest
jar, he tapped on the bottom of one of the trout tanks with
just enough force to cause a slight vibration in the water,
when every one darted off like a flash.
A Vienna paper states that the European Powers
will 'offer no objection to the recognition of King Alfonso,
and that according to an agreement amongst them, Austria
will take the initiative in the matter. The notification of
King Alfonso's accession was communicated to the Austrian
Government on lionctay. On Tuesday an autograph letter
from the young King to the same effect was delivered to the
Emperor William at Berlin.

Sir Henry Rawlinson, at Monday night's meeting of
the Royal Geographical Society, announced that he had re-
ceived a long letter by Colonel Gordon from Africa, and that
Messrs. Watson and Chippenalale had arrived safely at Gon-
dokoro, and had been ordered to explore the Albert Nyanza.
—A paper by the Rev. Joseph Mullens on the Central Pro-
vinces of Madagascar was afterwards read and discussed.—
At the next meeting, Captain Sherard Osborn is to read a
paper on the Arctic Expedition, and the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of Edinburgh are expected to be present.

- -
On Monday a deputation, headed by Mr. John
Locke, M.P., waited on the Royal Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals with a memorial, inviting its co-opera-
tion in active measures for restricting vivisection. Mr.
Locke offered statistical information as to the increase of
experiments on live animals both in Europe and America.
Mr. R. H. Hutton, Sir F. Elliot, Miss Cobbe, and others
supported the memorial, which was acknowledged by the
chairman, Lord Harrowby, and the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
An American paper states that the King of the
Sandwich Islands was delighted to find at New Bedford a
number of whalers whom he had seen when at home. Some
very old sailors paid their respects to him. One Captain
Gardner, 90 years of age, is stated to be the only survivor of
the crew of the first whaler that called at the Sandwich
Islands in 1800. At that time the Queen swam out to the
ship ! She was no more encumbered with dress than the
fishes she passed. A gcod deal has happened since then.
King David has just crossed the American continent, loaded
with furs, and in a Wagner car.
A meeting was held in Glasgow, on Tuesday evening,
to promote the movement for providing better homes for
working men and clerks; the Lord Provost presiding.
General Knollys wrote that the Prince of Wales takes great
interest in whatever relates to the improvement of the work-
ing classes, and would have been glad to give his patronage
to the schemes did it not involve him in difficulties for the
future. The Duke of Argyll sent a letter promising to take
shares. The Marquis of Lorne wrote approving the move-
ment. Dr. Beg, one of the speakers, said that nearly so, 000
houses in Glasgow, inhabited by 100,000 persons, were of one
room, and many were without windows, Resolutions were
adopted to establish an extensive house scheme.

A new tonic called Boldo has been discovered,
which is claimed to have a marked action on the liver,
besdes Mac a powerful stimulant to digestion. Boldo is a
tree found in Chili, growing to the height of five or six feet,
with yellow blossoms and a verdant foliage. Its bark, leaves,
and blossoms possess a marked aromatic odour, resembling
a mixture of turpentine and cqmphor. The leaves contain
largely an essential oil. It also contains an alkaloid, which
is already called boldine.

We deeply regret to state that the Countess of
Carnarvon succumbed to the attack of puerperal fever which
followed upon her confinement on the 30th December last.
Her ladyship had been in a critical condition for some days
on Sunday all hope of saving her life was abandoned by her
medical attendants, Sir William Gull, and Dr. Farre, and she
expired at eight o'clock on Monday morning at Lord Carnar-
von's town residence in Bruton-street, to the deep grief of
her husband, her children, and her mother, the Countess of
Chesterfield, who had been in constant attendance upon her
daughter throughout her illness.
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An extraordinary state of affairs exists at Lincoln,
the capital of Nebraska. The convicts in the Penitentiary,
taking advantage of the absence of the warden, revolted
about 8 p.m. on the 12th that., and, gaining possession of
the armoury, drove the guards from their posts, wounding
two of them, and getting possession of the building. The
warden's family and the female convicts they locked up in
the upper part of the building, and they then thoroughly
garrisoned it. In the evening the warden summoned a
posse of citizens, and they patrolled the streets round the
penitentiary, expecting the comicts to sally out and attempt
an escape. The Governor of Nebraska has asked for military
aid, and a company of troops has been sent from Omaha to
assist the warden and townspeople.

The recent state visit of the Lord Mayor and
Sheriffs of London to Paris has elicited from the French
Minister of Foreign Affairs an expression of the great plea-
sure which it would give the French Government to bestow
upon them the highest decorations of the Legion of Honour.
The matter has been the subject of communication with the
Foreign Office, who have, however, decided to adhere to the
strict letter of the Queen's Regulations regarding foreign
orders, the principle of which is that a foreign order shall
not be accepted or worn by a subject of her Majesty unless
it shall have been conferred in consequence of active and
distinguished service before the enemy either at sea or in the
field.
At the annual meeting of the Glasgow Trades
Council, which represents about twenty thousand work-
people, amongst the speakers were Mr. George Anderson,
M.P. for Glasgow, and Mr. Alex. Macdonald, M.P. for
Stafford. In a lengthened address Mr. Anderson spoke of
the great change for the better which had taken place
amongst the working classes. He hoped they would try still
further to raise themselves in the social scale, and give up
the terrible evil of drinking.—Mr. Macdonald referred to the
great benefit which trades unions had conferred upon the
working classes, and contrasted the uneducated, half-starved
condition of the working-classes thirty-five !ears ago with
the educated, fairly remunerated, and. intelligent working-
man of the present day. He strongly impressed upon them
the advantages to be be derived from co-operation, and ex-
pressed a firm conviction that with equal laws the ''Working-
ipap would be able to reach and maintain his proper sphere
In life.