The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-03 00:00:00

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A perfume cane is the last novelty for Pariqian
dandies. The stick is surmounted by a Chinese head or an
Indian idol, and on pressing a hidden spring a spray of scent
spurts from the mouth.

A Berlin engineer has asked to be permitted to
connect every house in the capital with a central telephone
station.

A telegram from Berlin says :—" According to
intelligence received here from St. Petersburg, the Emperor,
at a military parade on Sunday last, was amiable with the
British Ambassador, Lord Duff erin, shaking hands with him
and others, but only gave a cold military salute to General
Chanzy, the Ambassador of France."

The Russian Government has sent to the Japanese
stations the Kniaz Pojarski, one of its best armour-plated
frigates, ostensibly for the purpose of continuing the hydro-
graphic survey of the seas along the Japanese coast. The
frigate carries an armament of ten 300-pounders, and has the
reputation of being a very fast sailer.
Queen Victoria and the Princess Beatrice arrived at
Darmstadt from Baden-Baden on Tuesday evening, and were
received at the station by the Grand Duke of Hesse.—The
Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Baden late on Mon-
day night, and are residing at the new Palace.
• • • - -

- -
At the half-yearly meeting of the North British
Railway Company, a letter was read from a gentleman at
Glasgow, requesting the chairman to put a motion to the
meeting to the effect that in future there be no trains, either
local or through, run on any part of the North British Rail-
way system on the Lord's Day. The chairman said it was for
the meeting to say whether the motion should be adopted or
not. (Cries of "No, no.") The motion then fell to the
ground.
The Pall Mall Gazette, in their article on "Trade
and Finance," says that the samples of English wheat
brought to market last week throughout the provinces were
In somewhat better condition, and prices tended in sellers'
favour. Yet the quotations are singularly low for the cir-
cumstances of the time. The Gazette average for 150 towns
of England and Wales was 475. 3d. against 405. Bd. in the
corresponding week of last year, 48s. 9d. in 1878, and 515. ld.
in 1877. On the other hand, the quantity sold in the 150
towns was exceptionally small, as was to have been ex-
pected, being only 27,197 quarters, against 42,230qr5. in the
corresponding week of last year, 32,593qr5. in 1878, and
37,793qr5. in 1877 _ _

The shipments of potatoes from the Clyde to Ire-
land during the past month have been extremely large, all
parts of Scotland sending bags to the Feat shipping port of
Greenock. It is said that the high pnces offered for potatoes
have tempted many Northern growers to sell out all their
stock, so that they will have in turn to become buyers.
Palms in Paris for the " Dimanche des Rameaux "
come chiefly from Normandy and Brittany on the preceding
Wednesday, and the markets are filled with enormous pileci
of box. On their first arrival they sell at Bd. a bundle, but
by Palm-Sunday the price doubles, while in the churches they
are re-sold by the beadles and officials for threefold the
amount.

Juvenile themtricals were popular some 150 years ago,
the New York Hour reminds us. When Gay's Beggar's Opera
was first played in Dublin, it was so much liked that a com-
pany of children was formed to act the piece at the Theatre
Royal, where the afterwards famous Peg Wollington, then
not ten years old, was one of the chief miniature actresses.

A fatal accident happened in the hunting field on.
Tuesday to Mr. Thomas Lye, of Crewkerne. As this gentle-
man was taking a fence with two other sportsmen, the horses
came into collision. The deceased's horse rolled over him
twice, breaking his back. An inquest was held, and a verdict
of death from paralysis was returned.
The other day, at Prague, in the presence of the
Governor of Bohemia, the Prince Archbishop Cardinal von
Schwarzenberg, and other personages, were solemnly dis-
interred the remains of St. Adalbert, the famous Benedictine
monk and Bishop of Prague, who was killed in the 10th cen-
tury while endeavouring to convert the Pagan Prussians.
His body was taken by the Polish King Boleslas to Gnesen,
whence the Duke of Bohemia, Bretislav 1., brought it among
his trophies, after a campaign against the Poles, to Prague.
The coffin bore the date 1346. It had been conveyed to the
Cathedral and placed in the reliquiary
Father Giovanni, the celebrated priest tenor, may
be said to have died singing, for towards the last he intoned
one of his favourite psalms, and beating time with his hand
he continued singing till he died—with his eyes fixed on the
ceiling and a smile on his lips. Gradually the voice grew
weaker and weaker until it assumed a hoarse whisper which
finished in death.

There were 15 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making the total of the year 370, or a
decrease of 129 as compared with the corresponding period of
last year. The approximate value of property lost was
£405,000, including British, £330,000.
On Monday afternoon the Bishop of Manchester
delivered an address in opening some new schools, near
Accrington. He said we were at a critical period in our
history, and that, upon our conduct during the next ten or
fifteen years, depended the future of England. Her past
glories had been greatly identified with war, and he believed,
if we set ourselves to the task before us resolutely and fought
with such things as Lord Derby had recently pointed out—
intemperance, pauperism, crime, and ignorance—there was
a greaterluture before England than any she had attained.
All 10s. gun licenses expired on Wednesday, and
licenses to kill game expire on Monday the sth.
The Canadian team who are to participate in the
rifle competition at Wimbledon this year have been selected.
The team numbers twenty men, eight of whom are from
Ontario, four from Quebec, three from Nova Scotia, one from
New Brunswick, one from prince Edward's Island, two from
Manitoba, and one‘from British Columbia.

In celebration of the 300th anniversary of the foun-
dation of Buenos Ayres, the Government of the Argentine
Republic purpose holding an Exhibition during the period
from September 15 to the end of the year. The exhibition
is intended to be international so far as regards machinery,
implements, &T._

The Puns Correspondent of thd Daily Telegraph
says :—" It may interest your readers to learn that the ticket
bearing the number 2,803,490, which has won the great prize
of 150,000 francs in the Franco-Spanish lottery, was sold by
the committee to a tobacconist at Rheims. The winner of
the second prize, valued at 100,000 francs, is 31. Charles Le
Monnier, Mayor of Cosmes, in the department of Calvados.
It appears that by the Ist of March the committee had
cleared the sum of 3,728,000 francs, so that the lottery has
proved to be an admirable speculation."
At Oxford the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. Evan Evans
has publicly presented Mr. John Robert Baxter, of Holywell,
Oxford, with a handsome gold watch and a purse of fifty
sovereigns, for having saved the life of Mr. Barton, an under-
graduate of Magdalen College, when the ice gave way in
Blenheim Park, in January last. Several influential mem-
bers of the university and leading citizens were present.

Cardinal Manning has left England for Rome, and
will be absent for some weeks.

The following cable message has been received at
the London office of the New York Herald from the Herald
Weather Bureau, New York: "A disturbance, attended by
gales, rain, and possibly electrical phenomena will arrive on
the British, French, and Norwegian coasts between the Ist
and 3rd; Atlantic north of 30 deg. stormy.

"Any one who doubts whether short skirts are
coming in or not should pay evisit to one of the rinks at
Brighton just now, where rollering' has once more set in
with unusual severity. Formerly—save in the short-frocked
pantaletted contingent—you rarely saw anything but the
toes of the fair rinkualisr Just peeping beneath her skirt.
Now you have a clear view of boot, skate, and a suspicion of
stocking. This innovation not only looks better, but it
enables girls to skate with much greater ease and freedom."
—The World-
The Duchess of Marlborough, acknowledgping a con-
tribution of two thousand pounds from the London Mansion
House Irish Distress Fund, says that the normal condition of
the peasantry in the west of Ireland is an almost utter
absence of clothing. Her Grace would gladly receive supplies
of this description to the utmost possible extent.
The Surrey magistrates have at length arrived at a
decision as to the appropriation of the site of Horsemonger-
lane Gaol, by which it appears that the efforts which have
been made to have the site converted into a recreation
ground have failed, and it may now be regarded as certain
that the site upon which until recently the gaol stood will
very shortly be covered with other buildings.
The New York Herald Irish Relief Fund now reaches
318,013 dots. There have also been sent 6,208 dols, to the
Land League, and 1,000 dols. to the Relief Committee of
Kilskeery, county Tyrone. The American collections up to
the present aggregate 1,018,700 dole.
As an experiment, the German Postal and Tele-
graphic Department is about to open for use during the
coming summer a telephone oonnecting the top of the Drachen-
fels with the charming riverside resort of Koingsvrinter, on the
Rhine. The wire is laid along the foot road by way of
Hartfberg and Kuekstein to the refreshment house beneath
the ruins.
While the Rev. J. M. Thomson, the pastor at
ti Burnsland parish church, who was only inducted ten days
ago, was preaching on Sunday, he suddenly fell back in the
pulpit in a fainting condition, and died soon afterwards. Mr.
Thomson was for twenty years chaplain in the army at Cal-
cutta.
"It is a curious fact, known probablyls.Wellington,i,ibl sute NtvochroefametNeava:
that in the list of Marshals of France figures the name of an
illustrious Englishmans—tt ephsetunkiebe,
of
Marshal of France the
doubt what I assert have only to look into the French Royal
Almanack of 1816, page 17."—Whitehall Beriew.

The Emperor William, in acknowledging the con-
gratulatory address presented by the Municipality of Berlin
on the occasion of his Majesty's birthday, says :—" Raving
succeeded, with the help of the Almighty, in obtaining a
satisfactory result to my efforts for the preservation of peace,
I trust that the Divine assistance will be continued to me in
future with the like result, and that under the same protec-
tion the commercial prosperity now returning after a long
period of depression may become permanently strengthened
on solid bases."

Prince Bismarck has been decorated.with the Grand
Cross of the Star of Roumania.

"It was estimated that in the City of London it
would cost the candidates in the aggregate some eighteen
thousand pounds to placard the hoardings and the reserved
places ; and, like sensible men, the agents of both parties
agreed to fight without the flaming posters, and save the
money."—The World.
Prince Bismarck observed a few days ago that
Princes of the Blood Royal had begun to take up other than
the military calling. People wondered to whom the refer-
ence could be. There is little doubt that he was speaking
of Karl Theodor, Duke of Bavaria, M.D., who had just re-
ceived the latter title front the Bavarian authorities upon
recommendation of the medical examiners. The Prince
passed a strict medical examination with all the honours,
and is now fully licensed to practice as a Doctor of 31edi-
c Me. —Echo.
Wednesday was the anniversary of two notable
events in the musical world, namely, the birth of Haydn and
the death of Beethoven. Francis Joseph Haydn, the great
musical composer, was born at Rohron, between Hungary and
Austria, on March 31, 1723, and Wednesday was accordingly
the the 148th anniversary of his birth. Beethoven died on
March 31, 1827, just 53 years ago.
Telegrams from Wellington, New Zealand, state
that the wheat crops on the Pacific coast have given an un-
precedented yield this year, and large shipments are being
made to England. The Government are finding work for
a number of persons without occupation in Wellington.
According to a contemporary a new fibrous plant
was exhibited in the Paris Exhibition, but which at the time
failed to attract much attention. It cantos from Bombay,
and bears the simple and easily pronounced name of
Malachra rotundifolia. This plant is, however, only found
in South America. As a fibre it undoubtedly deserves at-
tention, for it is said to be quite equal to jute.
The notice of motion on education given by Lord
Norton, which the dissolution has put off from the first Mon-
day after Easter, will come on immediately after the meeting
of Parliament. The notice is as follows :—" To call atten-
tion to the present condition of national education, and to
move a resolution that it is inexpedient that middle-class
instruction should be given at public expense in the element-
.
tary schools."
On Tuesday afternoon James Bailey, of Sitting-
bourne, and George Mason, of Itatcliff, met at Lillie Bridge
Grounds, West Brompton, to run for the Fifty Miles Cham-
pionship Challenge Belt presented by Sir J. D. Astley, of
which the former is the holder, and stakes amounting to £5O.
The attendance was extremely moderate. The start- took
place at 12.33. Bailey at once assumed the lead, of which he
• was never dispossessed during the race. After running 41
miles Mason retired from the contest, and Bailey, having
gone exactly 42 miles and 2 laps, was allowed permission to
retire. Time 5 hours 48 minutes and 22 seconds, Bailey
thus wins the belt for the third time in succession.
On Saturday the German Emperor's birthday festival
was commemorated at Oberlahnstem, between Ems and Cob-
lentz, by the formal opening of the Victoria fountain. This
new spring was accidentally discovered last year by the large
quantity of bubbles which were observed to be rising in a
pond in a brickfield. Examination showed the-bubbles to be
of carbonic acid, and the conjecture that a valuable spring
was near was fully confirmed by the borings which were sub-
sequently undertaken.

Senator Dawes has been named by the Indiana
whom he has been cross-examining at Washington " Great-
Chief-Who-Asks-Questions."

The personalty of the late Duke of Portland in
England has been sworn under £1,500,000; that of the late
Dean of York, under £500,.02.9 ; and that of the late Mr.
Julius Beer, .under £i-06;000: . • ..
Which is the best .way to find a .`iptraigliti".• Gonser-
vative I—Get hold of a Direct-Tory.:,Funny Folks.
The other day the Crown Princess of Gernialiy visited
Camogli to inspect the tombs of the Kings ,g Span t And the
Doria family at San Fruttuogo. A great crowd followed her
from the railway station to the port, but, at. her own request,
the municipal authorities treated
.the visit as: one of strict
incognito. . • •• ' •
A Swiss paper mentions. that in pulling down the
old town barracks at Brunswick a
.feW days ago, a part of the
original facade of Henry the*Lion's palace.wagfomid built in
one of the walls. A window, divided into thtee.parts by two
exquisitely executed and well-preserled-pillarli,,with Rbman
capitals, has already been laid bare, and little'..doubt is en-
tertained that the entire eastern faeade of the historic build-
ing will be susceptible of restoration.

Dean

The superintendent of a factory in Canal::la which
manufactures paper from wood, says that tlise Drocess is now
so much improved that the paper can be macle ready for use
in six hours from the cutting of the tree. '
The Coloan,e Gazette announces that on the let of
April a telephone service will be opened from Ebnigswinter
to the Drachenfels. The plan of a railway up thes height has,
for the time being, been abandoned.

An official announcement -h as been made at St.
Petersburg of the groat precautions that are. to be taken to
ensure the safety of the Winter Palace and its inmates.
Each floor is to "be in charge of officers of the Imperial
Guard, who are required to know personally every servant,
and to arrest all strangers whose llusiness is nnknown.

Lord Dunsany has placed the following notice on
the journals of the House of Lords, with the note appended,
"No day named : "—" To ask Her Majesty's Ministers
whether there is any truth in the rumour of the contemplated
appointment of his Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught to
the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland; and whether, assuming the
willingness of his Royal Highness to accept- an appointment
which would be gratifying to many among the loyal portion
of Her Majesty's subjects, there are any constitutibnal objec-
tions thereto.'

It is announced that Prince Leopold will sail direct
to Canada on April 29th, in the Allan steam ship Sarmatian,
the same vessel that conveyed the Princess Louise p.cross the
Atlantic. From Canada he will proceed through the Western
States of America, but he will not (as recently contemplated)
extend his tour to San Francisco.
General Grant, appearing at a banquet at Galveston,
said that he wished the people of the South would forget
in their prosperity that there was a boundary between the
North and the South, as all would be 'happier and more
prosperous when sectional feeling had disappeared. lie also
expressed the hope that the country would progress happily
and contentedly without being too much governed.*

In France a most valuable historical curiosity has
been discovered by a peasant in the department of the Pas
de Calais. It consists of a piece of gold chain, part of a neck-
lace, bearing on the one side the monogram of Queen Bathilde,
wife of Clovis IL, and on the other the head of Christ, with
an inscription. A lawyer, who bought the relic for a trifling
sum of money from the peastant, has, since finding its value,
presented him with a considerable amount.' '
The piano-makers' strike and lock-out at New York
is ended with victory for the workmen, most employers taking
them back unconditionally. The trade is too good for the
factories to remain idle.

It is estimated that the General Election will cost
£13,000,000, the basis of the calculation being that the elec-
tion expenditure of each candidate will average £2,000.

-
"It seems to be by no means improbable that, before
long, air and water will be enlisted as belligerents by land
and by sea. As regards the operations of subaqueous attack,
it is notorious that every maritime nation is and has
long been busily engaged in perfecting Its own system of
torpedoes, while, with respect to the air, the Volunteer Re-
view which took place on Monday at Brighton suffices to
show that in the battles of the future the
,balloon will play a
conspicuous part."—Leader in-Daily Telegnmh.

The Paris Correspondent of the• Daily Telegraph says
that a manuscript supposed to have been, written by St. Peter
has lately been discovered among the • property of a man
named Bore, who died last year at Jerusalem, at the age of
109. The style of the work has led to tlie conclusion that it
Is authentic, and it is stated that the London Bible Society,
which has despatched a committee to •the spot, has offered
Bore's heirs the sum of £20,000 for its possession. The heirs,
however, refuse to part with the manuscript, though it seems
probable that they will allow the society. to reproduce and
translate it.
Mr. E. W. Roberts, a meraber.of the Corporation of
London, has sent 10,000 fish to stock the waters in Epping
Forest, on condition that a proper close breeding season
should be observed, and Sunday angling should not be pro-
hibited. He has promised a further gift. of 3,000 or 4,000
fish.

A telegram from Naples says that Vesuvius, as
usual during fell moon, shows greatly increased activity.
Two new mouths opened the other night at the foot of the
new cone, sending jets and red-hot stohes to a great height,
while the lava issued from the central crater.
" Sir Eveleyn Wood has, I und.erstand, a surprise in
storeade faocrqtuha
nEtmedPurenstsilE.Eugheeyniweewreitfhail;lkty conh streirwvasoynagote.to
sbier
overhangs the tomb at St. Helena in. which the remains of
Evelyn has procured some slips from the latnous willow that
the Great Napoleon were first interred. These slips, it is
Intended, shall be planted on the spot where the body of the
111-fated Prince Imperial was found. It will be necessary,
Sir Evelyn thinks, that a regular guardian should be ap-
pointed, in whose charge the .enclosure should be left in
order to secure it from accidental or wilful damage."—The
World.

A sad accident has occurred at Hastings. A trades-
man named Bossom, at whose house a committee-room for
the Liberal candidates was engaged, fell from the roof to the
pavement whilst lowering a large flag representing the
colours of Mr. Brassey and Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth.
He was removed to the infirmary in a fearful state, and there
is little hope of his recovery.

While blasting operations were going on the other
day above the fourth sunken girder of the Thy Bridge a
charge of dynamite exploded, and not only,Ainashed the
ironwork of the girder but knocked a hole in one of the huge
pontoons, which immediately sank, but did not reach the
bottom of the river, as it rested on the broken girder. The
workmen escaped by leaping on to another pontoon.
The City Press states that the Queen and the Prince
of Wales have signified their approval of a design for com-
memorating the old site of Temple Bar by a memorial that
will include statues of the Queen and the Prince of Wales,
and a wish has been expressed that the dedication of tho
work should take place during the reign of the present Lord