The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-05-02 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The annual pearl fishery ham commenced in Ceylon,
and we are told the result of nine working days was 712,000
oysters, which realized £0,700.

-
The Indian papers say that a young officer, whose
name Is not mentioned. has recently been severely injured
hv a tiger at lioorkee, and remains hi a very precarious con-
dition.

Her Maiesty has made a donation of £5O towards
the funds of the Berkshire and Hants Agricultural show,
which will be held at Reading at the end of .Tune.

The authorities of the Mint are about to coin a large
quantity of half-crowns, none of which have been made since
1848.

Bibs have been printed which propose to amend the
law relating to the registration of births and deaths in Eng-
land, and to consolidate the law respecting the registration
of births and deaths at sea (Mr Selater-Booth): and to ex-
tend to the NI hole of Sunday the present restrictions on the
sale of beer and other fermented or distilled liquors (Mr.
Wilson.)

The German News of Monday night says that
Pr nee Bismarck takes daily walks in the garden of the
Foreign °thee, although he still requires to support himself
on a stick. He has greatly altered in appearance in cozier-
queue° of his illness, but this is also partly owing to the
fact that the Prince has permitted his beard to grow, and
this is as white as snow.

It is now expected that the Czar will arrive in Eng-
land on the 13th of May, landing at Gravesend. It is expected
that ills Majesty's visit will last about five days, and that on
the 14th there will be a grand State banquet in at. George's-
hall at Windsor, at which about 150 guests will be present.
There will be a grand review at Ablershott, the open space in
Windsor Great Park not being sufficiently large for the
number of t, oops that will take part in it. The preparat hes
for the reception of the Czar arellow completed. and the in-
habitants of Windsor will, as usual, give a gay appearance to
the town on His Majesty's arrival.

Commander Markby has lectured at Portsmouth on
Artie discovery, urging upon a Conservative Government the
importance of undertaking another enterprise of this nature,
and arguing, amidst the applause of his audience, that an
expedition should be fitted up and despatched under the
direct superientendence of Rear-Admiral Sir Leopold
St•Clintock, the greatest and most successful of Arctic
travellers.

The Scotsman states that the Diocesan Synod of
Edinburgh has appointed a committee to take such action as
may procure the alteration and amendment of the law of
marriage an as to legalise in Scotland banns proclaimed in
England. The startling announcement was made that the
Episcopal clergy of Scotland had habitually broken the pre-
sent marriage law in regard to banns, and had so rundered
themselves liable to exile for life from Scotland.
A donation of £l,OOO has been made to the fossils of
the Swedenborg Society by an anonymous admirer of the
Swedish Seer's writings. The society was founded in 1810
solely for the purpose of publishing to the world the works
of Swedenborg. It carries on Its operations in Bloomsbury-
street, London.
The case of the Anulrique was before the Court of
Abnira,ty on Tuesday. Compensation was claimed by three
sets of salvors to the amount of .055,000. The vessel had
been arrested by the marshal of the court, and bail was
taken itt the three actions for £55,000. On the application
of Mr. Butt, QC., it was agreed, to save expenat, that the
v, said should be valued at £155,000, and the cargo and
freight at i.:35,000, and the court consented to this course
being adopted.

,
Cardinal Cullen May pastoral was read in the
Dublin churches on Sunday. Ilia Eminence status that at

the present time the Churclris persecuted in almost all the
countries of Europe. Her supreme head has been deprived
of his liberty, and many if her bishops are doomed to
im-
prisonment or exile. lie looks to the Cross for triumph
over persecution, and announces that the Pope has given
him a large piece of the real cross on which our Lord
died, to be deposited in a new church which they are

An emigrant ship, the Somersetshire, bound from
London to Melbourne, with 300 passengers on board me upon
the Plymouth breakwater on Saturday morning during a fog.
Fortunately assistance was at hand, and the ship was got oft
without being much the worse.

We (the Roar) understand that Prince Alphonso,
son of the ex-Queen of Spain, will shortly take up his resi-
dence in this country. The Prince, who Is described by those
who know him well as a youth of considerable ability and
promise, is anxious, it is stated, to join the School of Artillery
at Woolwich, but it is doubtful if his wish can be carried out,
It would be strange, indeed, if Woolwich should afford in-
struction at the same time to the Prince Imperial and Prince
Alphonso, on each of whom the hopes of no large a portion of
their countrymen are respectively centred.

•
A telegram reached Greenock on Monday announc-
ing the safety of the crew of the bark Renfrewslare, which
has not been heard of since October. The vessel was wrecked
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and it is understood that the
crew spent the winter on the uninhabited island of Anti-
costi, which is girt round with ice.
At a special meeting of the Executive Committee of
the Agricultural Lihourers' Union held at Leamington on
Monday, under the presidency of Mr. Arch, it was reported
that there was at present no prospect of a settlement of the
lock-out. Various sums were voted towards the relief of
those who are out of employment.
A bill bearing the names of Sir John Lubbock, Dr.
Lyon naytair, and Mr. Plunket, proposes to amend the
Apothecaries Act, by removing restrictions as to the qualifi-
cation and number of examiners, and to give power to the
Society of Apothecaries to strike off the list of licentiates the
name of any person who shall he convicted in England or
Ireland of any felony or misdemeanour, or in Scotland of ally
crime or offence, or who shall after due inquiry be judged by
the General Council to have been guilty of infamous conduct
ID any professional respect."

According to the statement of Mr. Baker"he In-
spector f Factories, in his report just printed, theearnings
of brit:km:lkm, are considerable. A moulder, his wife, and
I by on an average earn £5 10s. ed a week. He mentions an
I extreme case of a moulder, his wife and three chthlren earn-
ing £8 7s. 2fd.

A terrible calamity is reporter! by the New York
papers of the 16th, as having taken place near hiverhead a
few days before the steamer Holsatia left A sailing vessel
laden with lime was driven ashore in a gale of wind, and,
the sea breaking over it, the lime caught tire The ship was
burnt, and the crew are believed to have shared the same
fate.

A Parsee merchant in Bombay, Sir enwanjee
Jvhanghier, whose public henetactions, extending over thirty
t=i=tl=ritiltenlni=all:n===a2lg42:
for furnishing the CowasJee Jehaughier Univershy fLaiL

• -
In Elgin, the Earl of Scofield owns 96,721 acres, of
the annual value of £31,131 : and the Earl .4 Fife, 40,959
acres of the annual value of EIRm93. Thc two estates
together make up nearly a hid! of the enthe acreage of the
county. In Forfarshire, also, there are only two proprietors
al over 50,000 acrea The Earl of Dalhousie awns 130602
acres, of the annual value of £55,001, and the Earl of Airlfe
05.059 acres, of the animal value of £51,64:4. These two pro-
prietors thus own considerably more thou a third Of the total
area of Die county.

- -
The death is announced of Major Henry Court
(Lather-in-law to Mr. John Walter, M.P.), at the advanced
age of ninety years. In early life the deceased officer was a
major in the Madras Artillery, and after his retirement from
the service took a prominent part in the tinnsaction of public
business in Berkshire, being a Justice uf the peace, and also
deputy lieutenant. He was probably tine oldest magistrate
in the county, having qualified as far back as 1827.

- • •
A Bill has been printed, which bears the names of
Mr. Wheelhouse, Mr Locke, and Colonel Makin., having
for Its object Use akolition of certain that now attaching
to innkeepers. Rif proposed to enact that innkeepers shall
no longer be liable to make good the buses of their guests,
unless the property shall have been expressly entrusted to
them for safe keeping. Exception is made in the ease of
horses and other live animals and carriages. The innkeeper
is to lie bound to receive goods .t 1 take charge of them on
being required to do so, and he is further, as a condition of
benefiting by the jot, to keep a copy of its brat section con-
spicuously posted in his house,

A devatch to the New York papers from Galveston,
dated the fah of April, says that an Italian sea captain named
Aniazal had entered the residence of Mr. Jett, three miles
from Orange, 'texas, during the owner's absence, and mur-
dered 311 a. Jett and two children. A daughter, nearly
grown, made her escape and gar: an alarm, when Mr. Lyons
and other citizens arrived In time to catch Arden] In the
act of endeavouring to burn the bodies lie was immediately
arrested. On the sense night soon after the Sheriff entered
the gaol to give the prisoner supper a crowd of armed men
rushed in, overpowered the Milder, took Ardazal outside the
prison, and literally riddled him vnth bullets.
An influential deputation had an interview on
lifonday with the Bowe Secretary, with a view to obtain Lir
summrt to the bill by which it is proposed that all penalties
i paid n every borough maintaining Its own police force,
though It has wit a separate court of a quarter cessions.
should be paid to the treasurer of such borough, Instead of
to the county funds, as is now done In accordance with
reoent dections of two of the superior courts of common
law. —Mr. brass suggested that the passing of such a bill
wight involve further alterations auto the maintenance of
outlay prisons out hinted that If, as the deputation urged,
it was the police force which earned these fines, the lancet-
lor id the Exchequer, who in future sigh pay half the cost of
thyetglyeb,orrtlght demand to receive half the sum now sought

By a law to be promulgated on the lth (29t1) of
April, the two birthday, hflprieoLmtht to debt will he
abolished in Rusata

"Praying aoatumett" are tuivertitted by fashh.nabla
mediate in Ylitill Of course the people inside the draaea
not an the same auggeata, ere supposed to pray.- Court
Journal.

A rural belle in New York attendel a ball recently,
and wore a red bombazine dresz. ruched with a point alpaca,
and an overskirt of roan gingham, with a border of I..araley
blossom&

The Bishop of Nancy has been aontenced i,z rontu-
maeissn by the Saverne Gourt to two months imprisonment
ins fortreas. The specific offence was that of inducing a curt
to read from the pulpit a pastoral 'male .o Germany

On Saturday the • Lyons Police-court passed judg-
ment upon twenty-nine persons accused of being members of
the In.ernational Society. Only two were acquitted. The
rest were sentenced to terms of imprisonment vat, ing from
five years to .hree mouths.
-.-

A new rhinoceros 1138 been added to the London
Zoo, " and though quite y,,ung, it has coat the society
MOO.

Further large areas on the Lower Mississippi have
been inundated, and thousands of persons are said to have
been plunged into a state of destitution.
-

- -
The Minerva Load Mine Company, Wrexham, hay
given notice eta reduction of Ti per cent, in the wages of
their surface hands, In cousetoence of causes which the
management cannot control. It is not expected the men
will ineke any decisive stand against this ari augment,

The expenses of the Liverpool candidates in the late
garliamentary election have just been published It appears
That the expenses of the Liberals were 0,068 Ca 54., and
those of the Conservatives a. 3,971 14s. hi.

Mr. Mundella, M.P., in presiding at a public
meeting held In Sheffield, in support of the locked-out farm
labourers, warmly eulogised the men who were expatriating
themselves at the behest of their unions, and appealed for
means to enable them to leave the lock-out districts A
resolution was adopted pledging the meeting to assist the
labourers "in the exercise of their lawful right of combina-
tion." A sum of £167 was collected in the room.

Pending the reply of the Government, a stn=
wish has been expressed, especially in Scotland. that itirtiTrr
efforts to raise a national fund for the family in recognition
of Dr. Livingstone's merits may for the present remain iu
abeyance.

Every cat in Pane during the aiege wee taxed three
francs a year. It was noticed after this that there were
much fewer cats in the houses, and a much better supply A
rabbits lathe restaurants !

It was expected that over a thousand tailors would
have entered upon a strike at Liverpool on Monday, but this
was averted by a concession on the part of the employers
of id. per hour additional wages. The rate now is 64. per
hour.

At a conference between men and masters at Nev.
castle on Saturday a reduction 0( 1.1 per cent. in wages was
agreed to. It was announced that a further reduction shortly
might be expecte

At Nottingham, on Sunday, Mr. Taylor, secretary
to the Labourers Union, preached two sermons in the mar-
ket-place, in support of the locked-out agricultural labourera
Inn the Eastern cmunies. The won-king classes inn Nottingham
take great interat in the movement, one society of lace-
makers having on Saturday night granted 450 tu the fund.

- - - -
A Parliamentary return, containing a regi ater of the
owners of lands and heritages in Scotland, shows that there
are 131,530 such owners; and that tile estimated extent of
their property is 18,946,1304 acree, the gross annual value of
which is £1 8,098,&)4.

The Gras!dual», a Russian paper noted for its good
Court intelligence, says that in nuniefous letters to her
family and friends the Duchess of Edinburgh describes her
life in En:land as one of perfect happiness She speaks
with great gratitude of the cordial and friendly reception
she has met with from all with whom she has come in con-
tact—the Queen, the Royal Family, the Court, and the
people at large. The letters have occasioned great satisfac-
tion in It. Petersburg.
In Lisbon a native agitation has commenced against
passports The Portuguese have at last woke up to the fact
that the passport system is an obstruction to their shipping
trade.

" An ingenious photographer photoi:raphs the ladies'
column in The Times, reducing the anneunements to a size
which is just legible, and he sends them to the persons in-
terested, with a modest request for a shilling it approeed."--
Court Journal.

Journalists in Russia are not, as a rule, allowed to be
too free In expressing their opiMons on the manner in which
the great Muscovite Empire is governed. If they transgress,
they are sent to the frontier without more notice than that
afforded by a note more or less polite and the speedy visit of
&policeman.

A Brussels correspondent writes —"A: letter from
Florence states that on the 10th insL a fearful crime was
committed in the Turin railway train, between Alexandra
and Plaisance, near atradella. 'three ruffians who were in a
second-class compartment contrived during the night to
ester a timt-class carriage occupied by a merchant of Turns
and the secretary of the Count Miraflori, and having stabbed
them, tvmk all their money and jewellery, and disappeared
at the next station, leaving their victims perfectly iusenaible
and fatally wounded."

An inquest on the body of the late Professor Phillips
was held on Saturday afternoon before Mr. F. P. Morrell,
M.A., at St. John's College, one of the rniveraity coroners.
The Principal of Jesus College (Dr. Williams) said that on
Thursday evening he and Professor Phillips dined with Pro-
fessor Montague Bernard, and after dinner they went to an
adjoining room to take tea. The deceased was sulking a little
before the witness, but they kept up a continuous
conversation as they went along On coining to the
staircase, which was a broad one, with a slight arm on each
side, and very steep. Dr Williams said to Mr. Phillips, "Take
care you don't fall backwards." The deceased turned his
head half way to see where he was going, and in doing no he
slipped over the first step and fell to the bottom of the
fligh, of fifteen stairs onto the stone door below. The verdict
was accidental delth.