The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-10-09 00:00:00

TOE STOTAIBRTOGE OBSERVER.

' ESCAP OF A TASMANIAN " DEviL."—The
I m•HE MARQUIS TOWNSHEND ON AucklandE
Weekly Herald of July 17 says :—"By an nu-
! TEMPERANCE. foreseen accident the Tasmanian 'devil' on board the
On Tuesday morning, at five aulutites past eight
o'clock, Patrick Docberty, 20 years of age, was executed Oct Monday evening the Marquis Townshend pre- Bella Mary got loose and escaped to the liold of the vessel.
at South Prison, Glasgow, for the murder of jatnes sided at a large temperance m, l
Hh i Norwc. His said'stn that, with the in St. Andrew's The crew were mustered on Sunday td capture it, but
after many futile attempts the brute managed to
Miller, miner, at Riitherlen Bridge, near Glasgow, in Hall,escape by bounding over the head of the chief officer,
exception of the abolition of slavers', a subject .
May last. The murderer had been dancing with otheisk
and in_ t which was unfortunately again rising to the sur- and, being hotly pursued, took flight by jumping over-
Taking umbrage at Miller, he seized a hoe,
face, the promotion of temperance was the greatest board. It is uncertain in which direction the animal
flicted a wound which caused almost instant death. 1.
•t , ; question which men and women could be brought took its cotirse. He appeared to be an.expert swimmer.'
Docherty was sentenced to death on the 14th S
but as the act which unhappily had such &fatal r.- ',
:itongxethpeorsittioon c:/ritdheer.
most
uEnnplgelasishmantenandwepasittyudl
nOtoriety in consequence of the drinking customs
of the country, and the terrible intemperance which AD ETTER.— Times, Di NOT TO BE ADE L DIA. - r •
mination was not a premeditated one, hopes wer n- - a leader upon the Artisans' an: Labourers' Dwellings
tertained that a commutation of the sentence won ,be Improvement Act, which became lairin the course of
granted, especially as a strong recommendation -to the present year, remarks :
mercy accompanied the verdict. Every effort was existed in our midst. The question must, he believed, I This Act it applielaortsroisorat t;, be suffered to continue a
be taken. up individually more than it had been,
made on the prisoner's behalf, and not till Monday was dead letter in the report of the last
all hope of success finally dispelled. hitherto. There were great difficulties in the way of meeting of the Metropolitan Boarrrof'Weorksit appears that
The prisoner slept a little during the night, and sent convincing the masses of the importance of total body has received already several requests for the exercise
for his spiritual adviser, Father Munro, who went at ab-itinence,. and all those who professed to be Christians of the new powers the recent Act has conferred. The first
should man:ltalia the principle for themselves. Comic application made to them was about a block of buildings in
five o'clock and remained till six. At half-past seven tilt hear neighbourhood of the main thoroughfare of Hol-
enalatoo oftesk-dealt with the-the a iTrunken-
he returned with a priest, both of whom accampanied--j" born, and immediately to the east of Gray's-Mu road This
nese, as if it w a good joke. -He considered that
the prisoner to the scaffold. There was a large crowd , region the Medical Officer of the Holborn District Board hal:
'be regretted, and a great tnneunt cit pronounced to be so unhealthy d tit
assembled outside the prison, many of them frien)ls or avYai Inuth an unfit for human residence
-rttsulted f m this fnistaken course. The adep- 1 Jis to be-a proper-subject- for the ternedial intervention of
acquaintances of the prisoner or his relatives. 'Doc- -
lerty, although pale, walked to the scaffold with-a-firm tion-4- total-abstinence prin-cipietrhad iiirProved his , the Board of Works. We cannot be surprised that the
own health and the health of his two little children Board has accepted the task thus primarily assigned to*
tread, and unassisted took his place under the drop.
and he could assurg them that the practice of such them.
will
who are acquainted with the spot in ques-
tion One of the priests continued praying with the unhappyllabned aware that it Is one of the very worst in all
abstinence was not at all a difficult matter. Resolu-
.down.
man till the very last moment. Marwood, the execu- regardsoiton
na great part of it we should
timer, having adjusted the rope, beckoned the priests tions were adopted in accordance with the general tenor do wisely to get rtil y terms, and ta
to retire, and then drew the bolt. Docherty's hands of the speech of the noble marquis. , put up something better in its place, if no lighterxemedy
quivered, and his breast heaved for nearly two minutes can be devised for the evils of its present state. The scheme
when his body became rigid. The black flag was; ..p• s . . which the consulting officials of the Board of Works have
recommended fits in very happily with other Metropolitan
hoisted when the drop fell, and shortly after this inti- 1 THE MURDER OF MR. MARGARY. Improvements. Some open spaces Aground will be secnred
mation of the execution the crowd began slowly to dia. in a crowded region which much needs them, Gray's-inn-
penes . road will be widened, and streets and thoroughfares of a
proper breadth and construction will be carried all through
,
- the parts in question, and, will, we may hope, differ from
LADY BOWRING ON WOMEN'S WORK the blind courts and alleys which exist there at present in
being accessible with safety to the police The total extent
AND INFLUENCE. of ground over which the improvements are to extend is
The annual soirée of the Croydon Working Men's about 104. acres, and the cost to the Board of dealing with it
Club was attended by Lady Bowring, who in the will be somewhat over £200,000, of which rather more than
half may be looked upon simply as invested. The yearly
course of the evening delivered an address making loss on the remainder will amount to £3,466, which will have

The Times (on Tuesday) published the following letter :

Sir,—My son was sent by Her Britannic Majesty's
Representative at Pekin on a special duty to make
way for and conduct Colonel Horace Browne's mission
from Burmah to Shmighai. Mr. Margery was no less
than the Queen's Envoy, relying not only on the
Chinese Imperial safe conduct, but also on the_protec-
tion of his own Government, while he was alive, and
on their sense of responsibility regarding the deaths of
their servants, should they be .caused either by the
effects of their exertions, or by murder, while per-
forming public ser`viCe. When Mr. Margary was
sent forward by Colonel Horace Browne, on the
evident scent of danger, he accepted the posi-
tion, as it were, of an officer bearing a flag of
truce. He entered Manwyne peaceably, and was
well received by the inhabitants; after which he was
decoyed out of the place by Chinese soldiers, sent by
the Governor of Momein, th,e,ir commander, having
orders to arurihilate the whole 'of Colonel Horace
Browne's party. Of this fact Colonel Browne had
overwhelming evidence, and he reported it through the
Chief Commissioner in Burmah to the Viceroy of
India. By this vets, force, or a large portion of it,
Colonel H. Browne's party was attacked, and he knew
who commanded—viz., "a nephew of Lee See Hie"
(sic) from their own mouths—" of all this there is no
doubt," says Colonel Browne. A Chinese English paper
said, my son-was dragged from his pony, killed by deca-
pitation, and his head exposed on the wallsof Momien.
I heard through the Political Agent at Bhamo
that the Chinese (no others) speared my son to death,
and then cut his head off for exposure, and threw the
rest of his bodyinto a stream to be eaten by fishes,
birds, and dogs. Ido not call for revenge, but demand
of my Government that the cruel massacre be avenged
according to the laws of God and man; and then there
remains the outrageous insult to Great Britain to be
wiped out of which I can speak as a British subject
only. My son was murdered not merely in "cold
blood," but, if I may coin the expression, in "iced
blood."

special reference to the influence which should b-e
wielded by women in educational matters, and to the
various employments in which she thought they might
engage with advantage, but fr-m which they have
hitherto been excluded. Her ladyship said she felt that
men might gain much in softer manners and more genial
laws by their association with women, and that women
might learn much in business life and mental training
from their association with the other sex. These,
matters had perhaps been too much lost eight of.
With respect to the emplmyment of women, she did not
find women here, as in France, acting in the restaurants,
where they invariably met with all the deference
and politeness due to them. In France women were
also employed as clerks on railways, and were seen in
shops keeping the accounts, which she understood they
did with great exactitude. She could not but think

to be provided from the Rates. By this outlay a proper site.
will have been secured for buildings which it is hoped some
one or other of the expting Societies will erect, and the
ground will be handed dyer to them on terms which'Will'
permit of the further expenditure being remunerative.
FRESH PEACHES FROM AMERICA. The
Garden says :—" I observe that the experiment of
transplanting peaches in a fresh condition from
America to England, by means of refrigerators, is
being tried by an extensive peach grower on the other
side of the Atlantic, but I doubt its success, not
; becaude the peaches will not keep during a voyage of
fourteen or fifteen days, but because peaches that have
been kept in ice so long go bad almost directly after
they are exposed to the air in an ordinary tempera-
turd. I am in the habit of putting quantities of
peaches and nectarines 'in *ice every. year, when they
_ .

that some-of her poor countrywomen might learn to
do this sort of work quite as correctly. She hoped the
time was coming when women would find employment
in positions in which the feminine element had not
hitherto been properly utilised. She alluded more par-
ticularly to school boards. Hitherto but few women had
been elected as members of those assemblies, and as yet
there had not been appointed any female school inspec-
tor. She thought these questions would come home
to every one of them, because they were all more or
less interested in the education of the rising genera-
tion. If they were to inquire to which parent a
child ran in its difficulties and trials, its sorrows,
and little perplexities, they would invariably
find that it ran to the maternal parent for the succour,
help, andtlittle comforts it required. It was true there
were plenty of female instructors, but another element
was wanting to act in another spirit on thr., school
boards. She thought that the influence of women more
largely exerted on the school boards would be of great
advantage. It rested on the public to bring this before
the Committee of Council on Education. It seemed
quite extraordinary that no ladies had hitherto been
appointed schoo linspectors ; in fact, it was ridiculous,
because women were much more capable of giving
an opinion ou many matters connected with educa-
tion than men needlework, for instance. She
thought that young boys also would greatly benefit
by female inspection. It had often been observed
how rough and rude in manners were the rising
generation. The influence of gentlewomen would
help to check that tendency, which showed itself so
disagreeably. Side by side with considerable intelli-
gence they often found rough and rude manners in the
Young England of to-day; but gnod manners were by
no means despised, and she could not help thinking
that much advantage wouid arise from the larger in-
fluence_ of women on education. But if women were

one

The murder and attack were known in London on
the 2nd of March last, and up to this time there
appears to have been nothing done but talk. Twenty.
tour hours only should have been given to the Chinese
Government to promise faithfully to send off a man-
darin of high authority, with an officer of ours, escorted
by our soldiers as well as Chinese, to Yunnan, to have
the perpetrators and instigators of the outrages
punished. How many towns and.villages have been
bombarded by our ships because some naval officer or
our flag had been insulted? The Chinese Government
know this, and no wonder they think us afraid of them
when we adopt mild measures towards them in grave
cases. I happen to know that high authorities both
in China and Japan were of firm opinion, at the end of
last July, that no justice would be bbtained until we
sent a British force to Momien to exact it ourselves.
To do this the Sikh regiment would be sufficient;
no artillery would be necessary, not even moun-
tain guns; breech-loading rifles would be enough,
and a pack of bloodhounds would easily disperse thr
cowardly- Khakiens eiii the 'hills. If, :under the !eirt
cumatanoes;-the ICing-of Biirniah opposed us, he should
he coerced, and a European regiment left at or near,
Mandalay to watch the King, and as a reserve force.
If this were done we should redeem our national in-
fluence in the eyes of the civilized world.
I must give the European commercial inhabitants of
China credit for possessing nobler feelings than those
of profitable trade only. From my numerous private
letters, even from strangers to me, I know they burn
with just indignation at the murder, not only of a civil
officer on duty, but of a highly esteemed and familiar
friend.—Yours obediently,
H. J. MARGARY, Major-Gen. RE.
Weston-super-Mare, Oct. 3.

to obtain these positions it was necessary that they
should make themselves fit for them, and it behoved
them to acquire exactitude and a greater proficiency
-
in business bke habits. If, however, they qualified
themselves for the positions at which they aimed, she
had no doubt that they would go on step by step until
they Gbtained all they desired, and perhaps more than
was good for them. (Laughter and cheers.)

•
come in too fast for use at the time, and 'I
find that
after a fortnight or three weeks' preservation in that
way, they become discoloured and unpresentable a few
hours after being introduced to the fruit-room We
never, therefore, now bring them out of the ice till they
have to be dished up for dessert. Such kinds as Noblesse
and the pale and thin-skinned sorts are the worst,
while nectarines of a dark colour keep best of all—at
least, they do not show any discoloration and are good
in flavour."
THE PRICE OF MEAT.—In the recently issued
report from the Veterinary Deparement of the Privy
Council Office reference is made to the reduction in
the price of all live rapt at the Metropolitan Cattle
Market in the past year as compared with 1873-. It is
added—" The decrease in the price of mutton and
lamb was considerable amounting in the former case
to upwards of 14, and in the latter to upwards of 11
per cent. Yet the consumer does not appear to have
benefited from the reduction in price. In the report of
this Department for 1871 it was stated that no direct
connexion had been shown to exist between the whole-
sale price of meat and the price which the ordinary
consumer is required to pay for it. This statement
appears still to be true as regards reduction in the
wholesale price, for although any increase in the
wholesale price is invariably brought forward as an
-evidence of the necessity of increasing the retail
prices, a decrease in the former is not, so far ,arit,evi-
dencehas been obtainable, followed by a like reduc-
tion to the consumer. It is to be feared that sr! long
, as e,boice in selection of special joints exists fancy
prices will be 'paid for Meat, and so long as a good
profit is required by the middleman as well as by the
salesman and the wholesale and retail butcher, both
the producer and the consumer must suffer.
A "SWAMP MoNsTER."—A "swamp mon-
,niation