The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-08-14 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P., Mr. Deasy, M.P., and Mr.
William O'Brien left Queenstown on Sunday for New
Stork, on the way to Chicago, where they are to attend
the Irish Convention: Addresses were presented to
them on the eve of their departure, and in responding
they made references to Mr. Gladstone, whose name
was loudly cheered.
Mr. Bridge concluded bis inquiry into the Cardiff
election riot on Saturday, after farther evidence had
been given on behalf of the police. He censured some
a the public men of the town, and suggested that the
inhabitants should raise a subscription to compensate
the injured. His official report will be duly forwarded
to the Home Secretary.
At the Central Criminal Court a man named Scott
was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude for com-
mitting a burglary at the residence of Dr. Byrne,
_

Tooting.
About 5000 Volunteers left London on Saturday
for a week's training with the regular forces at Alder-

shot.
The Marquis of Ripon on Saturday formally opened
the Huddersfield Friendly and Trades Society's Club
and presided at a luncheon which followed, and at
which there were present Mr. Summers, M.P. Mr. H.
F. Beaumont, M.P., Mr. Alderman Woodheak M.P.,

and other gentlemen.
Mr. Justice Chitty has made an, order for the wind.
lug up of the Mawddach Gold Mining Company, which
is a company for working gold mines on the Mawddach
River, near Dolgelly, North Wales.
James Roach, belonging to No. 2 Battery of the
Northumberland Militia, which was disbanded at
Berwick on Saturday, was found the same morning
lying at the foot of the gun battery, on the ramparts,
with his neck broken and head fracturei, and quite
dead. It is supposed that the deceased, who was
about 29 years of age and belonged to Wallsend-on-
Tyne, while sleeping on the mount, fell over a height
of some 50 feet.
At Bootle on Monday, John Geraghty, a member of
the Town Council, was committed for trial for refusing
to assist the police to convey a prisoner to the station
when called upon. It was alleged that while the police
were taking a drunken and violent man to the station,
Mr. Geraghty interfered, and refused to give his name.
He was then called on to assist, but did not do so Mr.
Geraghty said the man was being ill-used, and he
advised the police to get a hand-cart
A few days ago the friends of the famous French
chemist, Cheveuels celebrated his 100th1 birthday. He
was himself the guest of the evening, and was accom-
panied by his son, who is 70 years old.
Mr. Wu:. Willis, Q.C., of the South-Eastern Circuit,
has been appointed to the Recorderships of Blaldon and
Saffron 'kV aldron.
An important addition was made to the active list of
the Royal Navy on Tuesday by the completion for sea at
Sheerness Dockyard of her Majesty's corvette Tour-
maline, 12, 2120 tons, 1979-horse power, which has
been under repair since June, 1885. The refit has
cost about £40,000. It is intended to commission her
for service on the North America and West Indies
Station.
Tho Metropolitan Police Courts are frequently occu-
pied with the cases of ticket-of-leave men who have
failed to report themselves to the police. On Tuesday,
at Southwark, Robert Kinghorn, a bill poster, was
charged with this offence, the police alleging that he
had failed last month to report himself. The prisoner
said he had lost his situation through someone giving
information that he was a returned convict. The
raasistrate sent him back to finish his term of penal
servitude.
Res°Miens have been passed by the Welsh Baptist
Union approving of Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy, ex-
pressing dissatisfaction at the appointments to the
elsh magistracy, and demanding the disestablishnient
of the Church in Wales.
Considerable excitement has been caused at Tientsin
by the reported Russian occupation of Port Lazaretf,
though there is reasan to believe that it has not been
actually effected.
The number of shipwrecks reported last week rope to
20, compared with the previous week. Ten were
British-owned vesls, of which five went down off the
United Kingdom, two sinking by collision (two lives
lost) and one being burnt A French vessel sank off
America by collision, one man being lost. Three sailors
(Briti-h, Austrian, and Italian) were reported with all
hands. Total wrecks for year, 804.
After lasting five days, an action brought by Mr.
R L. Adams stock and share broker, of Leeds, to re-
cover damages for breach of contract and slander from
Mr. S. Hatch, stockbroker, London, was concluded at
the Leeds Assizes, on Tuesday night. The plaintiff's
case was that the defendant sold him his Leeds business,
and undertook to secure him the benefit thereof, hut,
instead of doing so, the plaintiff alleged that the de-
fendant endeavoured to ruin him by taking part in
stock transactions in Leeds. by inducing several clients
to leave him, and by circulating bad reports as to his
financial position and business habits. The plaintiff es-
timated his losses in consequence at £7OOO. The. de-
fence was a denial of these statements; but the jury
found for the plaintiff, damages e 2500.
Four men went on Tuesday evening for a sail in
Swansea Bay in a cutter. The sea was lumpy, and the
wind squally. After the boat had got two miles out a
squall caught her and she capsized and sank. The
men struggled in the water a considerable time, two
were seen to sink, and the others, named James Strong
and Gibson, were picked up by a smack. The drowned
men are named Griffiths, a dock runner, and Jones.
Between the Ist April and the 7th instant, the Ex-
chequer receipts amounted to £27,497,380, as compared
with L 28,000,479 in the corresponding period of the
last financial year, and the expenditure to £32.217,810,
as against £34,735,052. On Saturday last the Treasury
balances amounted to £1,372,120, as compared with
i:2,346,892 at the same date last year.
A charge of libel arising out of the recent election at
Hackney came on for hearing at the Worship-street
Police-court, on Tuesday. The defendant, Mr. J.
Dunton, secretary of the Hackney Wick Radical Club,
was committed for trial.
The mean reading of the barometer at the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich, last week, was 29.79'in. ; the
variation being from 29.97 in., to 29.47 in. The mean
temperature of the air, 60.2, was 2-5 below the aver-
age in the corresponding weeks of the 20 years ending
1868. Rain fell on two days of the week to the aggre-
gate amount of 0.15 of an inch The duration of
registered bright sunshine in the week was 31.0 hours,
against 31.1 hours at Glynde-place, Lewes.
Lord Lansdowne is on his way to England for the
purpose of urging the ,rnment to appoint a Fishery
Commission to sett' ...a fishery question. The Cana-
dians object to pay heavy duties on Canadian fish ex-
ported to the United States. Canada's exports of fish
are said to have declined since the treaty expired.
The family one-horse railway omnibuses, which have
been found a great convenience in the holiday season,
have been provided by the London and Brighton Rail-
way at thefr metropolitan termini.
In the twenty universities of the German Empire
there are 28,021 students. Of this number 4434 are at
Berlin, 3069 at Leipsic, 3035 at Munich, and 1036 at
Heidelberg.
The French wheat crop is estimated at 106,000,000
hectolitres, as compared with 110,000.000 hectolitres
in 1885, 114,000,000 hectolitres in 1884, 103,000,000
hectolitres in 1882, and 96,000,000 hectolitres in 1881.
Major Trotter's report on the difference between the
British Consul and the Governor-General of Aleppo
will shortly be forwarded to Lord Salisbury from Con-
stantinople.
The proceeds of the 25 performances already given
by Madame Sarah Bernhardt in her American tour
amount to £12,800. The expenses being reckoned at
90,000 franes, 130,000 francs pass into the hands of the
direction, and 100,000 francs, or £4OOO, to Madame
Bernhardt. By the terms of her engagement, Madame
Bernhardt receives £lOO for each performance, plus
25 per cent, on the total receipts when the latter rise
above £4OO. Her hotel expenses are also defrayed by
the direction.
President Cleveland has appointed Mr. James
Matthews, a gentleman of colour, to be Recorder of
Deeds, an office for which the Senate had previously
rejected him.
The director of the American Mint reports that the
production of gold in the United States during 1885 is
estimated at 31,800,000 dols., showing an increase of
1,000,000 dols. over the estimated production for 1884.
The production of silver for 1885, calculated at the
coining rate in silver dollars, is estimated at 51,600,000
dols., against 48,800,000 dole. during the previous year.
The director estimates the gold coin in the United
States on the Ist of January, 1886, at 533,485,453 dols.,
, the silver dollars at 218,259,761 dols., and the subsidiary
silver at 75,034,111 dole.
New York journals announce the death of Mr. Dexter
A. Hawkins, the distinguished advocate of popular
education in the United States. Mr. Hawkins, who
alatmcd descent from the famous Admiral Sir John
Hawkins, took great interest in municipal affairs, and
in 1871 he published a report on the "Extravagances
of the Tammany Ring," showing a secret addition in
28 months of over 50 millions to the City debt of New
Yerk. He was the author of other pamphlets ex-
exposing municipal abuses.
A gentleman who died in 1871 left four thousand
pounds for the establishment of a soup kitchen and
cottage hospital in the parish of Shoreditch, and six
thousand pounds to provide an income for the expenses
of the institution. No site has been found up to the
)sresent time in Shoreditch, and the chief clerk to
Justice Kay has decided that therefore the scheme
'cannot be carried out. Counsel for the Attorney-
General argued recently before Justice Kay that the
order should be varied, as there was vacant land in this
adjoining parish. The judge refused to alter the certi-
ficate of his chief dark.
' It has been determined that, as soon as the financial
business of the year is completed, Parliament shall be
prorogued, not adjourned. There are technical difficul-
ties in the way of an adjournment.
A Hanley photographer named Spilsbury was fined
El and costs on Tuesday for larceny- He found a
postal order in the street, and although the name and
;address of the owner was on the envelope in which it
was enclossd, he went to the post-Office and tried to
negotiate it.
Much surprise has been caused in Derby by the
announcement that one of the three names submitted
by the late Lord Chancellor to the Town Council, and
approved by them to be added to the Borough Bench,
had not been put on the roll when it was returned to
' the Town Clerk on Monday. The name is that of Alder-
man Johnson, coal merchant, who is an advanced
Liberal.
Four workmen in the employ of the Yarrow Torpedo
Shipbuilding firm, Poplar, found themselves before the
magistrates on Tuesday at Malting. They had gone to
Wrotham to hold their beanfeast, aud during a quarrel
two policemen interfered and were much knocked about.
One of the men was discharged, another was fined six
guineas, and two were sentenced to two months' hard
labour.
The Cabinet Councils of the present Government will
be held in Lord Iddlesleigh's audience chamber at the
Foreise Office, instead of at the Prime Minister's of-
ficial residence in Downing-street. The same room
was used during the last Administration of Lord Salis-
bury.
The T,or don Road Car Company on Tuesday began
to run omnibuses from Liverpool-street to West Ken-
sington and the Exhibition, through Shaftesbury-
avenue This connects Bloomsbury directly with Pic-
cadilly and it will, moreover, introduce penny fares
into the Holborn and Oxford-street lines.

SATURDAY, AUG. 14, 1886.

At Newcastle three men were each fined £lOO, and a
fourth man, who had been previously convicted, was
sentenced to one month's imprisonment with had
labour, for keeping open a lottery on a horse-race,
entitled "The Kempton Park Grand Prize."
A mad dog was run down and killed at Baslow, near
Chatsworth, on Monday, after having worried two
valuable hounds and bitten two lads.
It was stated at the half-yearly meeting of the
Great Northern Railway Company that the abandote-
ment of second-class compartments as soon as it
becomes necessary, except in the special express trains
to the north and the metropolitan area is contem-
plated.
The Highgate magistrates dismissed summonses
against two persons for allowing doge to be at large
unmuzzled, holding that as the animals were following
their owners at reasonable distances they were under
proper control.
Judgment has been given in the Court of Appeal in
the case of the Fine Art Society, Limited, v. the Union
Bank of London. The action was commenced for the
alleged wrongful conversion of property, and raised a.
question as to whether Post Office orders are negotiable
instruments, as the defendants contended. In the
result the judgment of Mr. Justice Day, in favour of
the plaintiff, was affirmed.
The Duke of Westminster opened the Grosvenor
Museum for Chester and North Wales, at Chester, on
Monday. The museum is intended as the hcme of the
Chester Society of Natural Science, the Chester
Archreological Society, the Chester Schools of Art, and
the Chester Science Classes.
A new home for babies, to which the name of Babies'
Castle has been given, forming one of Dr. Barnardo's
Homes, has been opened at Hawkhurst, Kent, by
Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck.
The greater portion of the town of Skien, in the dis-
trict of Bradsberg, Norway, was 'on Monday destroyed'
by fire. Among the buildings burnt down were several
large warehouses. The total loss is estimated at from .-
four ta five million kroner, of which ,`Y; millions are z,
covered by insurance.
The Anglo-Spanish Commercial Convention will ,
come into force for both contracting parties on the 15th, -
inst.
The Press Association understands that the recom-
mendation of the Royal Commission on the Depression
of Trade and Industry to the effect that a special corn.-
mittee should consider the currency question has been
adopte& atd that within a short time the proposals of
Lord Iddesleigh, president of the Commission, will be
carried out.
At an in q rest held before the Nottingham coroner on
the body of an elderly man named Searcy a verdict of
manslaughter was returned against Mr. Joseph Met-
calf, marquee manufacturer, and member of the
Nottingham Board of Guardians. It appeared that on
Saturday Mr. Metcalf threw a heavy tarpaulin from an
upper window of his business premises, and it fell
upon Searcy; who was passing at the time, killing him
instantly.
A man named Cleaver, aged 57, of Cinder-hill-street,
Monmouth, fell over the stairs at his house on Saturday
night and broke his neck.
A prisoner named Lyons, who was being conveyed
from Failsworth Police-court to ntrangeways Gaol,
Manchester, charged with burglary, made a daring
escape the other morning. He was handcuffed, in
charge of three policemen, and was riding outside of a
car, when he suddenly sprang up, and leaping over the
rails, dropped on the road below and ran down the
street. The officers started in pursuit, but Lyons had
disappeared.
The Ven. Archdeacon Birch, vicar of Blackburn,
who has been staying at Southport, owing to ill-
health, for twelve months past, is dead. The deceased
gentleman was, for 32 years, rector of St. Saviour's,
Manchester, and 18 years vicar of Blackburn. He was,
an old Etonian and graduate of Cambridge University.
He belongs to an old Manchester family, tend was born
at Carnforth 77 years ago.
The Burgomaster of Brussels will be able shortly to
lay before the Communal Council the result of his
negotiations with the English syndicate which pro.
poses to make Brussels a real sea-port, by widening the
canal to the Ssheld, and by constructing extensive
docks at Brussels.
There has been presented to the Marseilles Society
of Science, Art, and Literature by Mdlle. Dosne, sister-
in-law of M. Thiers, the two houses in a street of that
town which bears the name of M. Thiers, and which
formerly b --longed to his family, on condition that the
academy shall take up its quarters there and shall pre-
serve intact the chamber in which the statesman first
saw the light.
The Brussels Court of Appeal has decided in favour
of the demand of extraeition merin! by the French
Government with regard to the Englishman Harry
Benson, who has undergone here a term of imprison-
ment for establishing a fraudulent news agency. Ben-
son has several accounts to settle with the justice of
France.
The Leic seer magistrates on Saturday committed for
trial Henry Nixon, a youth of 18, in the hoot manufac-
turing line. The prosecuting solicitor stated that the
prisoner. well-knowing he was incapable of entering
into a civil contract, started in business, succeeded in
obtaining credit to the extent of £2OOO, and eventually
offered his creditors 3s. in the pound.
As the 5,10 train from Oxford to Paddington was
passing Culham on Monday, it was stopped by signal,
the next stopping place being Reading. It was ascera
tamed that the cause of stoppage was that a lady had
been thrown out of a previous train, and was lying on
the metals. As the train slowly mqved past the spot
the mangled eemains of the deceased were being
removed from the six-foot way by the officials.
On Monday night, as some children were playing
near the air-shaft of the chemical sewer at Gateshead,
one of them named John Lennon, fell down the shaft
and Was suffocated. A young ma. aamaa eas;a dee-
cended with the object of rescuing the boy, but wag
himself overcome and fell to the bottom. His come
panion, a man named Swinburne, then tried to
descend, and was also overcome. A rescue party was
organised, and after several gallant attempts Swinbnrne
was drawn up in a comatose condition. He lies in a
criticol state. The dead bodies of Lennon and Quill-
were afterwards recovered.
A heavy loss has fallen upon the Berlin University by
the sudden death of Professor Wilhelm Scherer, the
philologist. Since the death of Muellenhoff, Scherer
may be said to have inherited the fame of the brothers
Grimm.
Tn tile trial of Anarchists at Chicago on Saturday,
Fielden, who made the speech which incited to the
riot in May, testified that he was born in England. He
went to America when he was 21, and had been an
anarchist for many years.
An eaciting incident took place on Sunday in an
itinerant menagerie at the outer Boulevards fa r, Paris
-
A beast-tamer named Graconeth was in a lion's cage, •
one of the inmates of which had a surly air, and tore
his thighs with its claws. The spectators were terror.
struck, but the tamer in falling managed to keep his
eyes fixed on those of the beast, and when he rose-
backed out of the cage, frowning and holding hit h his-
whip in a menacing attitude. The blood spurted
through the torn hose, and after he had slammed the
grated door in the lion's face, he fainted. Naturally
the rzzvesentation was suspended, not to be resume&