The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-03-29 00:00:00

Plisalhnerats Ptelliwita

GOLAI.. FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

THE CilnisnAN PRINTERS' STRIKE.— A general
Meeting of the German I'rinterB' ASEO:iation was held
on Monday at Weimar, and lotted until five p.m. A
mama! sca'e of wages was adopted, and its immediate
ittmluction into the printing.officns of the association
was assented to. The proposal of the President of the
union to call together delegates on behalf of the masters
and men to eximine the tariff was agreed to, on condi.
thin that the strike at Leipzig should be declared at
an end immediately the tariff was introduced in that
city, whereupon the notice given to the unionists by
the siqv.ciation should also be withdrawn.

A STRANGE VISITOR TO WINDSOR CASTLE.—
A strange visitor prevented bites-if at Windtor Castle
on MouN,y afternoon. It appears that a person of
respectable appearance and of middle age arrived at
Windsor from London about one o'clock by the Great
Wt stern Railway, and at once proceeded, cairying a
box, portmanteau, and a rug, to the Castle. On being
stopped by a police officer on duty, he made the stat-
hog announcement that he had receivr d instructions to
attend at the Castle for the purpose of making arrange-
ments for burying the PriDC-So Beatrice, and that he
had written to her Pdajelty upon the matter on the
previous Saturday! The officer, having doubtless had
experience of previous visitors suffering horn various
forms of mania, informed him that happily his services
were not required, and politely saw him on his way
back to London by the 2.45 p.m. train.

ARABLE LAND AND PERMANENT PASTURE IN
1872. -It appears by the returns for 1872 that in Great
Britain 18,420,000 acres, or 594 per cent., were under
arable cultivation, and 12,575,000 acres, or 406 per
cent., were under permanent grams. In Ireland the
relative condition of the land is very different, as there
were but 5,505,001) acres, or 35 0 per cent., ef arable, I
and as many as 10,241,03 acres, or 65 per cent., of
permanent pasture. For the islends, where the culti-
vation is of interest on account of the tenure of land,
especially in the Channel Islands, the returns show that
in the Isle of Man, 76.000 acres, or 860 per cent., were
arable, and 12,000 acres, or 140 per cent., were
permanent grass; in Jersey, 14,500 acres, or 806 per
cent., were arable, and 3,500 acres, or 19 4 per cent.,
were permanent grass; and in Guernsey, &c., 7,000
acres, or 571:1 per cent., were arable, and 5,000 acres,
or 43 0 per cent. weft permanent grass.
TELEGRAPH SERVICE.—The official estimate
for the telegraph service in the financial years 1873 74
puts the probable revenue at £1,220,30, and the work-
ing expenses and maintenance at 4:813,000, leasing a
surplus of £405,000, out of which is to come the interest
of the purchase-money. The wires used for public
messages alone, exclusive of those which belong to
railway companies, and areVused principally for railway
and secondarily for public purposes, form a system of
100,098 miles; and the wires leased by the department
to private firms or individuals for the transudeeion of
messages on their own business between offices and fac-
tories, and so forth, make a system of 5,187 miles. The
total is 105,285 miles, and this mileage of wire serves
0,640 postal telegraph offices and 1,( 97 renters of pri-
vate wires. There are 435 of these renters in the
metropolitan division-202 in the north-western, 183
in the northern, 46 in the north-eastern, 33 in the
southern, 6 in the eastern; 154 in Scotland, 38 in Ire-
land. The pneumatic tubes worked in London extend
through a length of 12,800 yards; in provincial towns,
8,069 yards—namely, 2,700 in Lublin, 2,403 in Liver-
pool, 2,026 in Manchester, 698 in Birmingham, 242 in
Glasgow. The estimate provides for upwards of 6,000
telegraph messengers. More than half this little army
is entitled to uniform clothing—tunic and cap every
eight months, trousers and boots every six months,
overcoat and leggings every three years. Those not
entitled to uniform have, like the others, a belt and
pouch every three years, and have also an arm badge.
A PERPLEXING QUESTION OF PATERNITY.—
The Paris Journal states that a peculiar case is now
occupying the French law courts. Mr. and Mrs.
Joson were married in 1837, but were judicially tepa-
rated four years later. Shortly afterwards the lady
visits England with l'aron Coppins, and they are
united according to our law, thoneh Mr. Josen is still
alive. Two children were born, and in 1850 M.
Coppins is deported. On his return to France the in-
constant fair one demands and obtains separation, and
the gentleman, on the ground that the English mar-
riage had taken place while both parties knew that
Mr. Jason seas in being, demands and obtains a decree
lof nullity of marriage. The two sons, now thirty
years of age, are compelled to bear the name of Joson,
on the ground that children born during marriage
neceiaarily belong to their mother's husband. Mr.
Jeson having been dead some years, and his relations
having claimed his property, the affair promises son
eiderable difficulty, since, in order to carry their claim,
they must show that the birth of these two unfortm
rate young men was completely unknown to the hus-
band.

MR. CHARLES MATHEWS AT LIVERPOOL.
The Liverpool Albion Pays that Mr. MathewP, on dos-
ing his engagement at the Alexander Theatre on
Saturday evening, gave the following character;stic
address
Ladle. and Genllimen,—Permit me to profit by the
absence of my friends and address a word or two to you in
private. I hear that a report has gone abroad that lam at
present on my farewell visit. Nothing of the kind, ladies
and gentlemen You aid rn.t or easily get rid of me. It Is
a long time since I first made my appearance here, and I
trust it wlina a long time before I make my Lat. I have
not the tlightest wish to come upon the stage on crutches,
but so long as I feel myself hi good health, and have got
before roe so many bind friends, I will be in no hoary to
h ave H." This abort address was received with great ap-
plause.

THE List' Deo TALK :—The dog seems to grow
more intelligent every day ; at least he does so in the
country newspapers. The latest story is told by the
Ellenville (N. Y.) Press:—" A few days since, while
Mr. Euderlv, of Napanocb, was engaged in transacting
souse businevc in this village, his horse was left tied
under John Edmond's shed. Remaining with the horse
was Mr. Euderley's well-known coach-dog, which,
during his master's absence, laid in the sleigh After
a time the horse become untied, and started from the
shed. The dog immediately commenced pawing the
blanket and robe which covered the lines on the front of
the sleigh, but before be could remove them the horse
had got as far a 3 the Centre-street iron bridge, when
the lines fell to the pound. On seeing this the dog
jumped after them, caught them in his mouth, wined
the home to a standstill, and hell the lines until aid
came, when he res.gued them with a friendly wag of
his tail to a stranger, whom he would not have allowed
under any other circumstances to have approached his
master's property."

A CENTENARIAN.— Count de Waldeck, who
has just completed the 107th anniversary of his birth-
day, is about to undertake the management of a new
entertainment in Paris (says the Globe). The registry
of his both, in due form, bears the date of Marsh 16,
1766. He was a contemporary of Lou s XV., and
pti haps the only one of them in France who has
seen the third Republic. Born in Prague, he is a
naturalized Frenchman. He devoted 40 years of his
life to scientific travels in differentaeountries—Nuhia,
Abyssinia, Mozambique, and Mexico. Apart from
a slight deafness, he is affected .by no infirmity, is
in the full enjoyment of all his faculties, and his
memory bas faithfully retained the different episodes
of his long career. He has, however, preserved a
rathir sad recollection of Austerlitz, where Ile was
captain of the 4th Huqsars, as a ball received there,
and which has Lever been extracted, causes him
much suffering on certain occasions. Everybody
may have remarked Lis pictures at some of the late
exhibitions, entitled "Lo din d'un Ceatenaire." This
veteran still forms plans for the future, and now re.
turns to his first vocation. as he was director of the
orte-Saint-Martin Theatre in 1793.

THE KINO IN THE CAB.—The Milan cOrm-
spondent of the Swiss Times, says :
"An amusing incident occurred on Friday at none. A cab
drove up to the city gate and demanded admittance. The
custodian redlted that admittance was Impossible as that
pate was ordered to be closed, that the review ought not be
interfered with. The driver, nothing daunted, insisted
upon passing, and upon being asked who be wan that he
could pass against orders, replitd, 'l'm nobody ; but I've got
tine King in the cab.' The astounded official stammered out,
'1 he King! anti glancing into the vehicle saw a brown face,
a pair of piercing eyes, and an enormous moustache ; pulling
off his cap he shouted an order to his assistants, and
with the opening id the gate the word 'forward' gave
free therm to the cab and Its occupant. Like
a flash the news spread about Milan that Victor Duane
noel wds in the cly, and the nobility and city authorities
were in a nutter of pi, paration and expectation. flat the
hours went by, and neither the prefect or syndic were
officially apprised of the presence of his Majisty. During
the evening the suspicion of a joke crept into emend
quarters, and an investigation was made the following day.
Alter much effort it was found that the cab load set clown
• the King' at the Albergo del Falcone. The gentleman
proved to be Signor Siena, a pensioner, and his resemblance
to the King is wonderfully striking As to Slzuor Siena,
who was not conscious of c ibby's mistake, which was made
in good faith, the extreme politeness of the officials iv,s co
astonl,hing, that he had arrived at the combision that
Milan was the most polite city in the world."
POPULAR C II ERY. —Her Majesty's Cturnmis-
sioners' Board of Management for the International Ex
hibition of 1873 met lost week at Gore Lodge, and de
termined to adopt the following announcement respec
Ling the School of Popular Cookery. The School is
aitua`e on tine ground floor between the East Galleries
and the Colonial Annexe. The object is to give il-
lustrations of cooking food in the best, simplest, and
cheapest ways, suitable for persons with incomes from
£5O to 1:500 on year. The utensils used are those which
might be found in a house of £4O a year rental. The
lecture room will only hold about 120 people, of which
number not more than 70 can be accomodated with re-
served seats, and thtie will be a charge of 6nl, f d. each
hour's instruction. Verbal explanations of the pro-
ceases will be given by Mr. Btickinaster. There will
ale.) be a tasting room. This room will not be regare
ded as a general refreshment room, but arrangements
will he made to allow a limited number of persons who
register their names each day to taste the practical il
luatrations of the lessons in cooking at two o'clock and
six o'clock. The subject of the illustrations giveneach
hour in each day will be duly advertised.

I THE COMR,O, COMET.—An astronomical friend
well up in stellar matters tells us (Court Journal), all
about the coming comet. It is the old wandere
known as Briar, which was thought, like Nrobe, to
have changed into a shower of meteoric i tones.
Comets do, it appears, reach an earth stage or opaque
character, on the principle that a body when frequently
is:et:trifled ',anoints magnetic. Our earth was once
a cornet; but Ito tail is now exhibited only in earth
currents of electricity, which are incicated by the
Aurora Borealis and by stoppages of the telegraph.
All astronomers and gcolosste admit that the earth
was once on fire, but have not remarked that this
means it was then a comet. Our blend informs us
that a comet may fall into the sun, as Newton thottAt,
because it is attracted on its ride next the sun more
than it is repelled on the opposite side, as the elec.
tricity escapes from its tail. But, as the earth retains
any electricity expelled from the sun or moon, she CAD
never fall into the egintrAl orb, the two syn bronous
tides exemplifying the attraction of one side of the
earth by the moon, and the repulsion of the other sides
The modal operandi is the same as occurs when a body
is presented to an e ectrifying machine. It becomes
negative, and rushes to the machine to regain its slue
share of the electric fluid. But the earth, being per-
fectly insulated, is as much repelled throughout half
its extent (as the tides show) as it is attracted through
the other half.

A SLOVNN'S PLZA.—Comfort before °dents-
tie% Your outward appearance neeesearily affecta the
consciousness only of other people • but by no reason-
ing whatsoever can you dismiss bodily sensations from
your own.—Punch.
nig ST. GOTILLIID TUNNEL.—TIN 3 I), ,ring.
machine recently commenced working at the Saint.
Gothard mountain. The first expenses of installation
amount to not less than £.80,000. The engines are put
in movement by hydraulic pumps of 500.herse tower.
At the northern extremity of the tunnel is a waterfag
of 95 feet, the power of which will be turned to account.
At the south, the tt-sters of the Tremola precipitate
themselves from a height of 984 feet, and will also be
, utilised by means of a vertical hydraulic machine.
Hopes are entertained of being able to bore DO metres
on each aide every na,nth.
_ _ _

THE OCTOPI7B.-Mr. Henry Lee, F.L.S., con-
sulting naturaliet to the Brighton A luarium, writes :

"I have often been asked whether an octopus of the
ordinary sire can really be dangerous to bathers 1 Victor
lingo's description of it in his Travailleurs de to Mer, which
brought it into fashion, and surrounded it with ghastly
horrors, is, of course, highly wrought ant much exaggerated.
But the holding power of its numerous suckers is enormous.
It is almost impossible forcibly to detach it from its adhesion
to a rock or the fiat bottom of a tank without tearing apart
its strong tough arms and if one happened to edit some of
these to the leg of a swimmer while the others held firmly to a
rock, I doubt if the man could disengage himself from It by
mere strength before being exhausted. Fortunately, it can
be made to relax its hold by grasping it tightly round the
'throat,' if I msy so call it, and the knowledge of this may be
useful. To have the long, cold, clammy arms of an octopus
writhing and twining about one's wrist and hand, and fixing
Its hundreds of sucking cups all over them, gives a singularly
unpleasant sensation ; the kind of feelings most persons
would experience on grasping a handful of lively snakes. I
find that the capability of suction does not cease with the
death of the animal, which shows that the vacuum is me-
chanically produced."
A FIERO OF THE GREEK WAR OF INDEPEND-
ENCE.— Sir Richard Church, G. 0.11., the father of the
Dean of St. Paul's, oiled at Athens on Thursday, in
last week, after a short illness. Sir Richard Church,
who entered the British army as er sign in the 13th
Foot in 1800, served in the expeditions to Ferrol,
Malts, and Egypt; was present at the battle of Maids,
and was wonndert in the defence of Capri. He subse-
quently raised a Greek corps. In 1812 he became a
lieutenant-colonel in the British army, besides being
appointed &Grand Cross in the Neapolitan Order of St.
George and Commander of the Sicilian Order of St.
Ferdinand and Merit, but it was in connection with
the Greek War of Independence that Sir Richard will
be chiefly remembered. On its termination he took up
his residence it Athena.
CHEMI,TitIf OF LAW REYORM.—There is talk
about a c natemplated "fusion of Law with Equity."
Perhaps, if this be effected, the resulting amalgam
will be innocent, or even salutary. Such is sometimes
the case with a compound the constituents of which
are deadly poisons. —Punch.
A GASTRONOMIC EXHIBITION IN PARIS.—The
I gastronomic exhibition in the Champs Elyeeee opened
on Sur day, and though hardly yet complete, says
Oulignani, about 50 of the 400 'stands not being oc-
copied, it comprised a fair assortment of comestib'es
and of accessories to the science of eating and
drinking. A butcher has sent some magnificent
quarters of beef and veal, and tome prime samples
of mutton; the show of poultry is good, but the
shooting season being over, game is only very sparsely
represented, the specimens being limited to Russian
grouse, American pheasants, and a few other foreign
birds. There is, however, a fair supply of water-fowl,
and a good collection of fruit and vegetables. Wines
aud liquers of all kinds may be seen, and some of them
tasted. The exhibition is completed by cutlery, dinner
services, kitchen utensils, and other similar articles.

A Fooirsit Cosrom.—At the York Assizes
the case of "Bailey v. Welbourne " was tried, and
was an action for an assault arising out of a foolish
custom called "showing or haltering a colt." The
plaintiff was at a public-house at 'Muston when the
the defendant, who is a farmer and parish constable,
came in with a young man with a halter round his
neck. It stems that upon a new tithe payer being in-
troduced to the old tithe-payers they expect him to
pay for some drink, and if he declines he has a halter
fastened to his neck. The plaintiff, according to his
own account, thought the man would be,hurt, and told
the defendant to let go, and then the defendant stunk
1 the plaintiff. The landlord interfered at last, and put
the plaintiff in the cellar. His lordship cautioned
the landlord not to allow such a custom in future, or
he might get himself into a serious sciape. After
witnesses had been called on both sides, a juror was
withdrawn.
CRIME IN SCOTLAND.—Tho return of the
number of criminals in prison in Scotland in 1872 shows
an increase over the number in the preceeding year.
These annual returns present successive series as of ebb
and flow of a tide. In 1840 the average daily number
of criminal prisoners in the prisons of Scotland was
only 1,940; but there then followed an almost uniform
increase year by year until in 1849 the numbers reached
3,143. A steady decrease then set in until in 1861 the
number had fallen to 2,083. At tbat date another
tieing series began, and there has been again a gradual
increase. The daily average in 1872 was 2,777, which
Is the largest numbefin the present ascending series,
though still not reaching the number in any of the
five years 1848-1852, the period of the last climax. The
population has been increasing all the time, and has
grown from 2,620, 184 in 1841 to 3,360,018 in 187 L The
number of females in criminal prisons in Scotland has
for some years been very large. Twenty years ago it
was not greatly above half the number of males, but
in some subsequent years the two numbers have ap-
proached equality. The daily average in 1872 WWI
1,615 males and 1,162 females.
A MIXTURE OF POLITICO AND PIIILANe
THROPT.—The subscription for the families of the Com-
muntst convicts, opened some time ago by the Rappel,
continues to go on slowly but surely. The eontritup
tions, as announced by that paper, are a curious mix-
ture of politics and philanthropy. I take the following
specimens from its last list :—" Collectidn made on the
18th of March among some working jewellers in favour
of an amnesty, 20frs. ;" " A group of Republican work-
men, 32frs 70c ; " " Collection made among the washer-
women of Sr. Laurent, on Mi-Careme, 351 rs. " " A
small group of democratic carpenters at Versailles,
sfrs. ;" "A group of free men who desire an amnesty,
12frs. ; "a bundle of linen and sfra. from a lady."
Monsieur X., is postman, Fends one franc, accompanied
by a letter in which he says :—" I am a married man
and father of two children. I tarn 95 francs per
month, wi•li which I have to support myself and little
family. During two days I have abstained from smok-
ing. This accounts for my being able to send you my
small offering.
AN UNSATISFACTORY STATE OF THINGS.—At
the Newcastle County Court, on the 19th inst., the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers were summoned
by a member for £l4 for 43 weeks superannuation al-
lowance due to him, the complainant having been a
member for 21 years, and having during the whole
time regularly paid his subscriptions. The fact of the
payment being due according to the rules of the so iety
was n it denied, but the plea set up that the society,
although it numbered 41,000 members, is not regis-
tered, and is therefore merely a private partnership,
so that the plaintiff has' no loots standi. In reply to
a remark of apparent surprise from the Judge, the
solicitor for the society avowed, "I frankly whilit that
for all purposes, though the members might have the
protection of the law, they have none." In conclusLn
the Judge said be was bound to act upon the assertion
that it was not a registered society, and that the ease
was therefore out of his jurisdiction, but this was a
very unsatisfactory state of things, and that he trusted
what had passed would be reported.

NOT ALL PROFIT !—The Daily Telegraph in
noticing the presence of card-sharpers and professional
gamblers at races, remarks :
The gambling cheat is like every other who takes the ways
of notoriety f•ir a high horse. Ho has to work hard to make
it pay, to stilly third-cless trains and stilling a night lodg-
ings, and where the largest quantity of bread and cheese
may be bou_ilit for threepence, in order to make both ends
meet in his j ,urney from one race meeting to another, and a
sto.ipage on the road, even when it talus no more formidable
shape than seven days' imprisonment with hard labour, Is an
embarrassment to be avoided on all occasions if practicable,
and without doubt race-course gambling on a petty scale Ii
as hard work as stone-sawing. It may be, and doubtless !a,
all very well for gentlemen in a large and dourishing busi-
ness, but the huckster at the game of odds and evei s, the
shrewd calculator of shillings and sispences, has so severe a
time of it that one can scarcely help thinking that if in some
previous part of his existence he trod the paths of the just
and found them so stony that th, so he ii at present engaged
In are preferable, he is a man to be pitied rather than con-
demned. The amount of ingenuity emplmed by those paltr
trilapers of the unwary is often worthy of a more houcs
cause.

Mn. KINGSLEY ON EvAsomatuidam.--Canon
Kingsley preached on Sunday afternoon at the Chapel
Royal, Whitehall, on behalf of the Royal Female
Philanthropic Society. In the course of his sermon,
Mr. Kingsley spoke of the vaet amount of practical
benevolence which followed in the wake of the great
religions revival which took place in England at the
beginning of this century, and which gave rise to whet
was called the Evangelical school. That old school,
the preacher said, might have passed its prime, and,
as some thought, be verging on old age, whilst other
schoola younger and stronger, with a broader and
clearer knowledge of dogma and of history (civil and
ecclesiastical), and of the value of ceremonial to the
needs of the human intellect and human emotions,
might have las-ted it in a noble rivalry, and have
snatched as it were from its bands the lamp of truth,
to bear it fuither forward in the race. Yet no just and
well informed man who had paroled the middle age of
life but must confees that he owed to that school what-
soever vital religion existed at this moment
in any echool or party in the Church of Eng-
land. It was to them that we owed the germs at least,
and in many cases the organization and financial euc
cees, of a hundred schemes of practical benevolence
and justice, without which this country, in its baste
to grow lich at all risks and by all means, migLt have
—be would almost v. nture to say must have—lunged
•
itself ere now into anarchy and revolution.

GAOL ALBUM.—The keeper of the Criminal
Register of Scotland, under the Prevention of Crimes
Act of 1871, has made his first report of his proaeal-
ings. He was appointed to office in March, 1672, and
13) April the arrangements were complete for opening
the Register of Criminals," which will improve and
extend to all prisons a system introduced some time
since at the General Pris nat Perth. The governors
of the several prisons in Sootland will send up photo-
graphic patraits of habitual criminals, with partL•ulars
as to age, personal peculiarities, previous convictions,
and other matters servicab e to the administration
of criminal justice. The number of portraits already
received under the Act, and preser ted in the
Keeper's office, at the end of the' year 1872 was 870.
Each sheet, with its photograph, description, and what
maybe termed criminal biography, is tiled. The prison
governors vend a duplicate photograph in every case,
with a brief note of the more important particulars,
such as the name, age, date of conviction, court of
trial, and the like, and these are all parted consecu-
tively hito a large book, which is a kind of pictorial
index to the more elaborate record formed by filing the
returns received. A police officer in search of a face
which he knows will readily find it by turning over the
leaves 44 the pictorisl index, which will refer him to
the sheet of the register with its fuller details. There
is intercommunication with the registrars for England
and Ireland; go that when it is onderstool that a
mituinal who has been liberated elsewhere is gunig to
Scot/and, his portrait and history will go al,o.