The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-24 00:00:00

ploy
with

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The immigration statistics of the past year will, it
La believed, show a total of arrivais at Buenos Ayres of up-
wards of 60,000 persons, of whom the great majority are

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.
--
Dashing has by no means gone out of fsehion Berm
the Channel, for thirty-three ennunters took place In France
last year.

There are complaints of drought in Naples in the
districts which had no heavy snowfalls.

It has been stated that her Majesty the Qaeen will,
In person, open the Seventh Session of Parliament.

Beggars in Paris were allowed to ply their calling
unmolested on New Year's Day, but thls year the weather
was so bad that the beggars were remarkably few.

-
The trustees of the Langford Brooke estate!, in
Cheshire, have returned £lO per cent. to their tenants on the
half-year's rents.

The complete Board of Trade returns for the past
year in France have Just appeared. The imports in 1879
amounted to 4,698,837,000 francs, or 418,619,000 more than
In 1878 The exports were 3,166,090,000 francs, or 13.617,000
less than in the previous year.
It is reported by the astronomers who watched the
recent total eclipse of the sun from the summit of the Santa
Lucia Mountain, in California, that the intermercurial
planet was observed, but that there was no appearance of
the phenomenon known as Billey's Beads.
Fourteen new gold mines have been discovered in
Eastern Siberia.

The Mansion House Fund for the relief of the
distress In Ireland amounted on Monday to £8,600.

The King of Sweden has published a poem on the
legend of "Lohengrin" in the official Swediah Gazette.

Eight Little Sisters of the Poor have .been sent from
Rennes to establish a branch at Brooklyn, New York.

On Sunday, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, New-
ington, the congregation was informed that Mx. Spurgeon's
health had greatly improved. The continued fine weather
at Mentone had wrought immense benefit. Mr. Spurgeon
hoped to return in February, and to be able to preach at the
Tabernacle on the second Sunday in that month.
Lientenant-Greneral Demitry Skobeleff, father of
the well-known Adjutant-General Skobeleff, died at St.
Petersburg en the 9th of January. He was born in 1820,
Joined the Bassi= army in 1840, went through the Crimean
campaign, and distinguished himself by his bravery. In the
last war against Turkey Lieut.-General Skobeleff commanded
a cavalry corps.

The Empreas of Germany has sent a donation
of £2O to the funds of the Seamen's Hospital Society,
Greenwich.

It appears from the Judicial Statistics (England and
Wales) for the year ended the 29th of September, 1878,
which have been just issued, that there was a considerable
Increase in crime during that period as compared with the
previous year.

A new variety of sweet potato is being cultivated in
parts of California. It is called the Ocean Queen. Picked
specimens weigh from 151 b. up to as much as 221 b. The yield
is exceedingly heavy, and the local farmers are said to find
the tnbEr splendid hog-feFding. Its sweetness Is stated to
exceed that of the betroot, and it use for making sugar is
not regarded ax improbable.

The Inman ocean steamer City of Berlin made her
last trip using the electric light only, and a steamer on.the
Mississippi's using that mode of lighting.

It is stated to be the intention of her Majesty to
confer upon Sir F. Roberts the Cross of the Star of India in
recognition of his services in the second phase of the Afghan
campaign.

A report of mercantile failures in the United
States throughout 1879 shows 6,858 failures, pith 98,149,052
dots. liabilities, against 1),478 failures, with 984,383,132 dols.
liabilities, in 1878.—The report of failures in Canada for
1879 gives the number of 1,902, with 29,347,937 dole. liabi-
lities.

The newspapers of the United States now amount
to 7,500—a number nearly equal to that of all the journals
published in every other part of the civilized world. In 1721
America had only two newspapers, and between 1770 and
1826 the number rose to 6,000.
The American papers announce the death, after a
long illness, on January 3, at Malden, of Bishop Gilbert
tven, of the M.thodist apiscopal Church in America, and
one of the best known and most popular ministers of that
communion.

A proposal has been made to extend the boundaries
of Bristol by taking in three or four of the more populous
suburbs, raising the population to nearly 250000 and thus
strengthening the demand of the city for a third member.
A destructive accident occurred on Monday on the
North British Railway near Dunfermline. A train of seven-
teen waggons was running from Ladybank Junction to
Dunfermline, when one of the waggons left the rails,
dragging with it several others, and all were broken W
pieces.

Owing to various causes, amongst which the most
prominent is the scarcity of employment which has of late
prevailed, the Guards have lately recruited exceedingly
well (says the Court Journal). In the opinion of those who
have known them tor a long while, they look better now
than they have at any period since the Crimean War.

An old veteran has just died at Turin. This is M.
Alexandre Garda, who, when Napoleon left Elba, hoisted the
tricolour at the Tuileries, although the Palace was still occu-
pied by the Royal Guards. During the hundred days U.
Garda was attached to the Emperor's staff, and he was pre-
sent at the battle of Waterloo.

The adjudication of Sir Gilbert Blame's gold medal,
founded for medical officers of the Royal Navy, has lately
been made by the presidents of the Royal Colleges of
Physicians and Surgeons, and the Director-General of the
Medical Department of the Navy, and medals have been
awarded to Fleet-Surgeons H. F. Noe:lazy, C.B , late of Her
Majesty's ship Active, and W. D. Lougfield, late of Her
Majesty's ship Tenedos. Both these officers were lately pro-
moted for their services in the Zulu war.

Intelligence from Berlin states that the Russian Go.
vernment has addressed notes of an absolutely pacific nature
to the Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin, declaring its willing-
ness to withdraw the troops which it stationed on the
frontiers without any warlike intention, if their presence is
regarded by those Cabinets as of a character to disturb the
friendly relations which at present prevail.
A paper on the National Development of Canada,
by Ur. J. G. Bourinot, Clerk-Assistant of the Canadiau
House ot Commons, was read in London on Tuesday night
at the meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, the Duke of
Manchester presiding. Of the three possible destinies of
Canada—annexation, independence, or consolidation with
the Empire—the author favoured the last, and urged the
desirability of attention being directed to it.

Mum Helen Jane Gladstone, the youngest sister of
the Right Hon. W. Gladstone. 31. P died at Cologne,
on Friday in last week. Miss Gladstone had resided for
several years in Cologne. She was a lady of great bene-
volence, accomplishments, and mental activity. It was
in consequence of the precarious illness of Miss Giaddone
that the ex-prtniter and his brother hastened over to
Cologne. .

A gentleman in Lancashire recently observed a toad
climb a six•teet vertical plastered and whitewashed wall.
The persevering batrachlan was more than an hour "doing
the ascent."

On Saturday, George Bailey, aged 22, of Tipton,
fell from an ascending cage in the shaft of the Tipton-green
Colliery. His body swung backwards and forwards as it
descended, and was terribly mangled and disfigured. His
remains were gathered together and brought to the surface
In a sack.

Oscar IL, the reigning king of Sweden and Norway,
was born on Jan. 21, 1829, thus completing his 51st year on
is the third son of Kina Oscar 1.,
aWneddnoefsdQsaye.eall
Jisoilel
pats:y 0,
daughter of Prince Kagime of
Leuchtenberg.

The remains of Robert Jocelyn, Earl of Roden, who
died on the 10th at Mentone, were interred on the lath in
the cemetery at Cannes, where other members of the family
are burled. The brother and successor of the late peer, the
Hon. Colonel John Strange Jocelyn, now Earl of Roden, was
present, as was also Mr. Evelyn Ashley, It p.

-
An American dairy club has published a protest
against what it believes to be the far too general eastern of
stinting cows of food in the period when they give no milt.
France was obliged last year owing to the bad bar.
vest to imp in artic)ei of consumption to the value of
1,800,000,000 f, and but for tree trade the amount of suffer-
ing in the country would have been incalculable. As it was,
Parliament felt called upon a couple of months ago to vote
5,000,000 f. for the purpose of alleviating distress.

-
On Saturday evening an especial Grand Lodge of
Freemasons was held at Freemasons' Hall, for the appoint-
ment and investiture of a Grand Secretary The choice is in
the gift of the Prince of Wales, the Grano Master, and it fell
upon Lieut.-Colonel Shadwell H. Clerke, one of the past
Grand Deacons, who was duly Invested by his Ho) at High-
ness,

At a Liberal meeting held at Richton, near Accring-
ton, on Saturday evening, a resolution was passed protesting
against the foreign policy of the Government, and pledging
the assemtply to use every legitimate means to secure the
return of Lord Hartington and Mr. Grafton for North-East
Lancashire at the next general election.

In Hyde-park last Saturday, at a meeting of the
unemployed of London, a memorial to Lord Beaconsfield,
praying him to take measures for having people out of
employment engaged on public worlus, was carried. It was
also resolved that the Lord Mayor be requested to receive A
ios e
n hit
so
lordship,
ehewm Corporation.
hoh
received
Scaellbviideed.
irkdeputation of men out of work to point out how additional
employment could be given by the
quentsy this deputation waited
them very cordially, and
relieving the existing distress.

The receipts on account of Revenue from the Ist
kpril, 1879, when there was a balance of £6,195,756, to Jan.
17, 1830, were £58341673, against £59,011,012 in the corre-
sponding period of the preceding financial year, which began
with a balance of £6 243,889 The net expenditure was
£67,575,055, against £68,287,975, to the same date in the
previous year. The Treasury balances on Jan 17 amounted
to 4.1,184,770, and at the same date in 1879 to £1,257,738.

Paolo Frisaini, the eminent astronomer, of Brera,
Lombardy, died on Vonday (12th), in his eighty-third year.
He entered Brera Observatory in 1822 as assistant to Pi AA,
and passed, step by step, to the highest post, lie was a great
mathematician, and tent vAlealile communications on astro-
nomy, spectrum analyst, 41:..1 nftatrtai magnattun to the
Lombard Institute.

The It,v. Newman Hall, in directing the attention
of his congregation on Sunday evening to a public meeting
of the EArly Closing Association, observed—" I would re-
spectfully urge upon evet) member of the congregation not
to indulge in the practise of late shopping, Sc) that the young
men and young women engaged in houses of buaineu may
have some time for recreation and improvement."

The Msretioness of Waterford has during the past
three weeks expended £5OO for winter clothing, bedding,
and fuel for distribution among the labourers employed on
Lord Waterford's estates in the county of Waterford. In
the case of one tenant the marquis has forgiven two years'
arrears of rent, and granted the tenant £BO for improvements
made on his farm.

A melancholy occurrence took place off Cullercoats,
near North Shields, on Tuesday, whereby one man was
drowned and another narrowly escaped drowning. Adam
Hedley
lfawr' George Hart, left North
a vessel. While off C uller-
Sh!elds anda
chottlbero -1
t:pelorokn-
o
coats they ob.erved the brig and made towards her. The
f- en endeavoured to secure a hold of the vessel by means of
el/a. Ti is failed, and the coble caught the backwash of
the arlg and was capsized, and the men being thrown into
the water. Assistance was rendered, and Hart was rescued
in an exhausted condition lledley was picked up, but died
shortly afterwards. He was sixty years of age and married.
At the present time, it is computed there are in the
United Kingdom a fleet of 50,000 fishing boats constantly at
work gathering the harvest of the sea. Day after day, from
upwards of a hundred harbours, great and small, these
vessels depart and arrive, bringing so the community large
and grateful additions to its daily food, as well as giving
employment to about a million of the population.
The Crown is heir to the estates of persons dying
intestate and without next-of-kin, and, as such, sometimes
c mei in for a very good thing, as In the instance of Mrs.
Helen Blake, of Kensington, who died in 1876, and whose
property, amounting to £149,000, lapsed in that way.
metween 1824 and 1830 the Crown inherited au average of
£35,000 a year, and the values of all estates are much larger
now.
"Many things are uncertain in the Parliamentary
future, but there is one over which there can scarcely be
any dispute. The Session that begins next month will be
the last of the present House of Commons. How long it
will endure is hidden from the wisest, but it is certain that
after its prorogation a dissolution mast precede a new birth
of the representative chamber of the people.'—Extract from
a leader in The Timee,
The Queen has been pleased to direct that a grant
of £5O shall be made from the Royal Bounty to Private
George Dodd, of the 13. h Company, Army Service Corps,
(stationed at Granby Barracks, Davonport), in recognition
of the gallantry displayed by him in saving the life of a
child from under the wheels of a tramcar in Dbblin. This
act was performed at the imminent risk of Dodds own life.
The car was running down a steep incline, and could not
be brought up. Dodd sprang forward to save the child.
But for the fact that the pole struck him and knocked him
clear of the rails both of them must have been crushed
beneath the !peek! _

• •
w;r:rym narr,e(lSaintonx has died in the i3orc;eaux
hotpital at the alleved age of 105. Sbe r4t ne.l tbe
possersion of h,..1 tsClitifS •tra'yk (low?) by the late from:.
It is intended to erect a rnonnment in the Shanklin
Cemetery to the memory of the men who lost their liver
throngh the capsizing of her Majesty's OAP Earydfce, on the
24th of March, 1878. Several of the bodies recovered were
Interred In the cemetery,

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has issued a
circular to the supporters of the Government in the House
of Commons, reminding them of the date fixed for the open-
ing of Parliament, and adding that important business will
be broughtforward immediately.

French linen handkerchiefs of robbin's•egg blue,
spotted with little polka dots, are carried by those gentle-
man who insist upon having the very newest thing whether
it be pretty or not —Court Journal.

King Tneebasv of Burmsh is evidently much per.
plexed what to do with his money. He has now spent over
£l,OOO on cheval-giasses for the benefit of the ladies of his
hontehold.

A serious landslip has occurred in Spain, destroying
the village of AlcalA del Jucar, in the province of Albacete.
Several lives were lost, and fifty families have been rendered
homeless by this occurrence. A considerable number of
injured persons were rescued from the ruins.

The funeral of Mr. Ptuey, the only on of Dr. Pusey,
took place on Tuesday in the burial•ground attached to the
cathedral at Oxford. The dean, all the canons resident
except Dr. Pussy, and all the senior members of the college
were present. Canon King read the service. Dr. Pusey, who
is now eighty years of age, is seriously ill.

- -
The Judge of the Cheltenham County Court has
decided that in order to make an innkeeper liable for pro-
perty lost the traveller must prove, not only that it came
int) the care of the innkeeper or his servants, but that it was
known to them at the same time to whom the property be-
longed.
The Clothworkers' Company (London), offer
through the Yorkshire Union of MeChanics' Institutes a
series of prizes, amounting in the total to £9O, for designs
in eleven classes in textile fabrics. The prizes are intended
as a special encouragement of originality in thought and
design, and will be awarded in accordance with that object.
City Press

A telegram from New York says that an unpre•
cedented number of vessels are now lying in the docks there
width g for cargoes. This fact is mainly due to the stagnation
in trade, especially as regards grain and provisions.

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A monster meeting in behalf of local option has
been arranged to be held on March 2 at Cambridge. Sir
Wilfrid Lawson, Cardinal Manning, and Canon Wilberforce
will be the principal speakers, and Mr B. B. Hunter Rod.
well, one of the members for Cambridgeshire, has consented
to take the chair.

I hear from New York that the vestments worn by
Cardinal liicClosky, in celebrating High Kass on New Year's
Day, were valued at £2,000. To this must be added costly
jewels, notably a cross of diamonds, representing, perhaps,
£l,OOO, and said to be the gift of a Spanish Itoyalty.— White-
hall Review.

Lord Reldhaven recently met with an accident
while shooting, a pellet lodging in his eye. He has already
nearly recovered, and his sight has not been injured nor his
face distlgured.—Monday's Times.
"Why is Gibraltar one of the most wonderful places
in the world ?--Recanse It is always on the rock, yet it never
moves:'—Judy.

There were 21 British and foreign wrecks reported
daring the past week, making a total of 61 for the present
year, or a decrease of 76, as compared with the corresponding
period of last year. The approximate value of property lost
was £300,000, of which £270,000 was British.

The results of the purchase by the German Govern-
ment of some of the Prussian railways will be watched with
no small interest in this country. Already a capital sum
exceeding ninety-three millions has been taken over, and
the interest alone will involve the annual payment of about
four millions. It remains to be seen whether the Govern-
ment can work the railways more economically and more
beneficially to the country than public companies.

In London last week 2,595 births and 1,730 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 61, and the deaths 30, below the average numbers
In the corresponding week of the last ten years. The annual
death-rate, which had been equal to 31•5 and 250 per 1,000
in the two preceding weeks, farther declined to 24•6 Daring
the past three weeks the death-rate has averaged 270,
against 264 and 274 In the corresponding periods of 1877-8
and 1878 9 The deaths included 4 from small-pox, 40 from
measles, 89 from scarlet fever, 10 from diphtheria, 114 from
whooping-cough, 17 from different forms of fever, and 9 from
diarrbcea.

p The Bishop of Manchester, at the request of the
editor of a Blanchester periodical, has furnished a few auto-
biographical facts His father was a Forfarahlre man,
who went out when very young to India, where be pursued
a very successful career. The Bishop was educated at
Shrewsbury and Lincoln College, Oxford. His mother,
eighty-eight years of age, is still living.
A. marked improvement in C:yde shipbuilding
Industry (says the Glasgow News) is evident on all sides, and
particularly in the upper reaches of the river. Nearly all
the stocks in the yards, which but recently presented a very
deserted appearance, are now occupied with the frame-
work of large-sized steamers, and in addition It Is further
gratifying to notice that orders are being booked daily by
shipbuilders.
made i cetu thousands res, rl v rivalled
ecl f
o
Mr. Tom Landseer, A.R.A., the eminent engraver,
died on Tuesday evening, in Ms eighty-s! Lib year. Some of
thehis originalsengravings
ln his
beauty b roof tetixeere
execution.
t 4 .n
/4: tiw n
people acquainted with the worts of the great artist of which
they would otherwise know nothing. Mr. Landseer, who
anwad.dtbeeafmtoosalit affsoecutinotawtesadiglapfot.edsltiwonit.h lat la:iechrrleivnegdnithaantnhaer
has left large legacies to the Artists' Benevolent Fund and
for the promotion of other objects connected with art.

A pastoral letter from Cardinal Manning' was read
In all the churches of his diocese on Sunday calling upon the
faithful to make a solemn act of reparation for the " out-
rage to the Person of our Divine Lad and Redeemer" com-
mitted on Saturday week at the altar of the Italian Cuurch,
Hatton-garden, London. Prayers and ceremonies prescribed
for the purpose, were carried out on Sunday, and a " plenary
indulgence" was granted to those who compiled with certain
conditions. The Church was densely crowded at all services
on Sunday, and after the conclusion of the high Mass a very
large number of people remained in the church far Into the
evening watching and praying before the high altar on 'which
the blessed sacrament was exposed. Since the church wail
opened many years ago there Is na record of an attendance
in one day anything like so numerous as that of Sunday.
There were grand processions after the high Mass in the
afternoon and after vespers in the evening.

The official report of the health of Paris for the Past
week contains (the Paris Correspondent of the Standard
salts) some alarming facts, to which the attention of
the public must be seriously drawn. The death rate
exceeded the birth rate by 63; the deaths being 1,269,
and the births 1,206 No doubt the severe cold had
a great deal to do with this excessive mortality ; but,
untortunat,ly, rho report feels bound to state that
small-pox and diphtheria are raging to an extent
almost unprecedented. Small-pox carried oft last week HO
fewer than sixty-one persons, cmipared with 6ve only
during the same period of the last three year.. Diphtheria
was fatal In forty-one macs.

Under date St. Petersburg, Sunday, the Corre-
spondent of the Datly News says :—" To-day the blessing of
the waters took place A mass was celebrated at noon in
the Winter Palace, in Presence of the Emperor and the
Imperial faintly. Outside the Palace was erected the shrine,
with steps leading to the river where the Ice had been
broken. At 12.40 the procession issued from the Palace,
consisting of choristers, priests, high official:, az.d colour-
sergeants bearing fifty regimental flags and standards. These
were sprinkled by the Metropolitan with consecrated water,
which was taken away in bottles or eagerly drunk by de-
votees. It is considered a panacea for various ills. In
some instances ab!utions cmsidered neces•ary in the case of
those who had worn masks in the late holidays were re-
sorted to, notwithstanding the cold-27 degrees Faireu-
belt."

The Duke de Gramont, whose name will go down to
history in connection with Napoleon the Third's declara-
tion of war against Germany in 1870—he then being
Foreign Minister died almost audd nly in Paris on
Saturday.—M. Jules Favre also expired at Versailles,
on T, esday morning, ot heart disease and bronchitis.
The deceased, who was an advocate by profession, was
a pronounced Radical from his earliest days, and took
a prominent part in all the great movements in favour of
Republicanism in France since 1830. On the fall of the
Empire he took a leading part in the government which
rose upon its ruins, and became Foreign Minister, and
his diplomatic circular, offering a pecuniary indemnity, but
refusing to give up an inch of soil or a stone of a fortress, is
a matter of history, as are also his fruitless interviews with
Prince Bismarck After the conclusion of peace, at the
commencement of 1871, M. jute' Fevre did not long con-
tinue to hold office. In July he resigned his post as Minister
of Foreign Affairs, and from that time he may be said to
have withdrawn from public life, though he still followed
the profession of an advocate, and in which he had first
gained his reputation.