The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-28 00:00:00

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The Maater it the Rolls has decided that a blame
of "shares in arty railway " did trot include railway stock.
In Monday's sitting of the Paris Municipal Council
a bill was read for a Lottery Loan of 222.000,00 (48.800,000).
The bill is to be at mese brought forward for discussion.
Notwithstanding the lieTe stringent requirement
of the Wier (Moe with regard to the efii leney of volunteers,
the London Rill, Brigade this year shosa an increase, I.th in
the number of selciruts and in the emotint of the capitatiou
grant.
Disturbances Imre broken out at the principal
schools of St. retershargh7 in consequence of the unpopu-
larity of a professor, who has then fore been prohibited by
the Government from appearing at the Cuiversity.
To judge by the new Perna tildes of mortality the
two sieges of Paris killed of the inhabitants 40,000 males and
20,000 females. By killieg oft old people and 3 ming children
the sieges have slightly diminished the death-rate in 1872,
1a73, and 1874.
Prince Leopold has added his name to the list of
patrons of the recently firmed Oxford branch of the Royal
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, with the
Duke of Marlborough, Lord Lieutenant of the county, and
the Bishop of Oxford.
According to the return of the Registrar-General
the deaths from scarlet fever in London etre last week 124.
The new Arctic Expedition is to be fitted out at
Portsmouth. The equipment of the different yawl which
will be *elected to pence. d on the expedition will be
superintended by a committee of experieuced arctic officers.
Brigham Young, the Mormon President and
Prophet, reported only the other day to be so dangerously
11l that it was feared he wa on his death bed, has, It now
appears, so far recovered as undertake Ids usual journey
to Southern Utah and Ins w n residence at St. George.
They have discovered a method of thinning out the
ever-abundant population of Japan Kerosene lamps have
been introduced into that country.
Scarlatina caused 6,081 deaths in England and
Wales during last quarter. nail the aunual ilea, h rate from
this disease, which in the Mat wo quarters of the year had
been OS soil OS per LOS., rose to 10, which, however,
scarcely exeeeded the average annual rate during the twenty
years 1850009.
Pericles, the rhinoceros of the Jardin des Plantes at
Paris, whme death had been more than once announced by
the journals, really succumbed on Thursday morning in last
week, almost at the moment when the • 0b.,. at Sts
Denis took place. The animal had been in the c:tablishment
twenty-two years.
During the prevalence of the fog in London, on
Monday morning, a shocking accident happened to a plate-
layer near the Spa-road Station°, the South-Eastern Railway,
Ile was engaged in la 3 tug doer fog signals under instruc-
tions from the signal man, when suddenly a train Cane
upon him, mutilating the poar fellow in a most frightful
manner. heath was instantaneous.
The Printing Times and Lithographer says :—" The
earliest known poetical valentines were written by Charles,
Duke of Orleans, who was taken prisoner at the battle of
Agincourt in 1415 ; they are in the library of the British
Museum. The Christmas or greeting card is of much more
recent origin ; but there Is good cause to believe that more
than 100 years ago the custom of sending cards of a more or
less decorative character, and containing religious or moral
maxims, was observed."
According to official statistics, the value of the
rough mineral produce of the United Kingdom during the
year 1973 was nearly 591 millions sterling, of which more
than 471 millions was the value of upwards of 127 million
tens of coal. Manufactured metals during the same period
are set down at about 21i millions.
It is announced from St. Petersburg that the Budget
for 1875 s-ill show a larger surplus than was expected. The
statement is again made that nothing whatever is known in
the Russian capital of the conspiracy which it was recently
reported had been discovered there. It is even said that
the report has caused considerable surprise in St. Petersburg.
In the Lower House of the Austrian Reicherath on
Tuesday the Minister of Commerce announced that the
Government would spend about fit ty millions of ti orins
upon railway works next year. A larger grant would, he
said, be umdvisable at present. In 1876 the conetruction
of one huudred German miles of railway would be under-
taken.
The Municipal elections took place in France on
Sunday. In the towns the Republicans have, for the most
part, been successful, their party having been thoroughly
well organized. The Conservatives, on the other baud, are
said to have shown imitated signs of discouragement. It is
stated that the number of Municipal Councillots to he
chosen on Sunday was upwards of four hundred thousand, or
more than the whole of the taxpaying electors in the time of
Louis Philippe.
A writer in the Journal des Mats has been at the
pains to collect some statistics which are by no means devoid
of interest. There are 35,989 mayors, and the number of
assistant-mayors (adjoints) is dein upon 37,000. They are,
under the new law brought In by M. de Broglie, either ap-
pointed directly by the Government or are Me ted subject
to its approval ; but the municipal couucillors, who are
returned by the direct votes of the inhabitants am o no fewer
Gino 428,455.
The famous "Stevens battery," of New Jersey,
which the Government of that State ordered to be sold,
probably lie purchased for the United States Navy. The
highest 101 l up to the leaving of the American mail was from
the Navy Department, 145,000 dole, subject to the approval
4.1 Congress. she buttery cost at least ten Mules this sum to
build, and this and all the other). .di were based ou eatimates
of its value for old metal
The Imperial Ottoman Bank has successfully re-
sided a claim made by the Crown that it should pay income
tax on £278,305, the total amount of its profit. in England,
France, and Turkey. The bank contended that It ought only
to lot taxed ou about £40,000, the amount of its English
profits. The Roams of the Exchequer have declared In
favour of the bank, regarding the London establishment as
a branch only,
Her Imperial Majesty the Empress of Russia and
the Czarewith, accompanied by their respective suites, con-
sisting of Baroness Piller, Millie. ilihiotixe, Prince
Bariatinsky, Dr. Ilareltman, Dr. Botkine, lab.° Wolkousky,
Prince W. Bariatinsky, and Baron Schilling, left Buckingham
Palace shortly after eight o'clock on Tuesday morning, en
their journey to the South of France. The Grand Duke
Alexis sod the Duke of Edinburgh were also with the Imperial
panty, who were conveyed in eight earciagm to the Charing-
Cross Station of the South-Eastern Railway.
A Melbourne contemporary says :—" A citizen here
of rather diminutive size, who, according to the ordinary
law of compensation in these cases, married a regular may-
pole of a partner, who overtopped him by about two feet,
As he led her up to the altar, the minister lost his presence
of mind. aD"d called out, • Who bringeth this child to be
baptised '

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Miss Coshtron took her farewell of the Fringe, in tins
etaracter of I ady klo-loth, on the 70, iu New York. At
the conclusion of the performance she was escorted to her
. . . . _

hotel by a torchlight- procession ',lore than fifteen
thousand persons are said to hays taken part in the demon-
stratiou.
A " giurichasha " is a Japanese waggon, two.
wheeled, and drawn by a coolie. in Jmitio there are said to
be 100,000 of these waggons for Wale use. It costs about
twelve cents an hour to ride in one, and a good " gin-
rackasha " man will run forty miles a day in a hot sun with
a ftill.grown passenger In the waggon. 1 his conveyance is
very much used both by foreigners and the Japanese.
The Denver News says :—" In excavating the cuts
down the Kansas Pacific lately, large numbers of cattle were
found snowed under. There seemed to be three strata of
cattle who had perished one above the other. One cow was
t alive."

Addressing the Conservative working men of Bristol
on Monday night, Mr. R. E. S. Plunkett, M.P., reminded
them that much of the future welfare of this country would
depend upon how they used that power which had beer.
given them by Mr. Disraeli
The Garden remarks that the Thames Embankment
is gradually becoming the handsomest boulevard in Europe.
When its trees, now doing so well, and gardens have haul
time to develop themselves, the Embankment will be far
liner than anything of the kind in Paris or elsewhere.
The Manchester Guardian's London correspondent is
informed that the directors of the Great Northern Railway
Company are preparing an important attraction for the
northern express which leaves King's Cross at five o'clock. It
will consist of a handsome saloon, in which dinner can be
served en route.
The American papers publish long accounts of the
ascent by a party including three American ladies, of Mount
Popocatapeti, in Mexico. The summit of the mountain is
18,000 feet above the level of the sea. The party camped out
three nights, two on the upward and one on the return
Journey. A ball was given in honour of the ladies at the
village of Ameca-Meca at the foot of the mountain.
Lady Franklin has announced that the reward of
,C2OOO made some years ago by her for the recovery of the
official records of her husband's expedition still holds good,
and that over and above she will be prepared to remunerate
anyone who may succeed in recovering them for any outlay to
Which his research may subject him.
The Globe understands that the King of the Sand-
wich Islam. has expressed his intention of paying a visit to
Washington, and some idea seems to be entertained that a
cession of his dominion to the tinted States is contemplated.
America already possesses a naval station at the Sandwich
Islandn,
A Calais journal states that immense shoals of
herrings have been caught on the coast of that town. The
fishermen, who had previously been doing a very bad busi-
ness for some time, took such a large quentity of herrings
that their boats sank under the load. tills abundance has
reduced the price to the lowest rate known for many years.
Herrings have been sold at the rate of five for a imitpenny.
A Times' telegram says that on Sunday evening
(Nov 22) a tornado destroyed half the town of Tosco odds,
Alabama, including the church, seminary, and chief dwel-
lings. Twelve persons were killed and numbers injured.
Many penons have been rendered homeless, and are
threatened with destitution. A railroad bridge near linsi
cumbia wee als., destroyed and an accident occurred in con-
sequence to a teals, in which several persons were injured.
The Bombay Gozette says that public opinion in India
has been greatly perplexed with regard to the man who had
declared himself to be Nana Sahib. The Numerous telegrams
published only added to the general uncertainty. Some
announced that he had been distinctly Identified. Others
that he was certainly not the man he had represented him-
self to be. The Mkt telegrams indicated that at (I walks only
a lingering hope was entertained that the prisoner would
prove to be Nana Mehl, The evidence which bad produced
the greatest impression was that of Dr. Tressider. Ile failed
to recognise the prisoner as Nana Sahib, upon whom before
the mutiny lie performed a surgical operation, there being
no scars in the places where they should have been. The
prisoner, moreover, was too young in appearance and not
tall enough.
A circular has been issued by the Local Government
Board, drawing the attention of the various Assessment
Committees to the Rating Act of last session. The nixie
object id the Act was to abolish the exemptions from rating
which have hitherto existed with respect to land used for n
plantation or a wood ; rights of sporting, when severed from
the occupation of the land ; and mines other than collieries.
In this circular the Board at Whitehall indicates the
principles which will govern the assessment of the several
kinds of property now rendered milli ct to local rates. 'ili:.
application of those principles to Individual cases will reed,
with the Assessment Committee,
The Italian Parliament was opened on Monday by
King Victor EunmanueL In the Speech from the Throne his
Majesty expressed his gratitude to the people for the proofs
of affection they had given him on the tweily•lifth aline
versary of his accession. He hoped the new Legislature
would pursue the work of reorganization begun by Its pre-
decessor. After referring to various, measures that would
be introduced, he said that fresh expenses must only lie in-
curred when urgently necessary, and the means for meeting
them must at the stone time he provided. In this way it
would become poasible to establish a financial
and to lighten the bunieus of the people. In conclusion,
his Majesty expressed his solicitude for the poorer classes of
the population, and his gratitude to God for the abundant
harvest of the present year,
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
decided on Saturday an appeal from Canada, in which the
question raised was whether a Roman Catholic was tte.!.:„
certain circumstances entitled to ecclesiastic
'c
dis
Institute, which contained boo A
tone
died who in his lifetime was • member
ty7.:,..ibit hu ed by the Crch
result of the litigation.
of Rome. As being under the I:AR of the Church, interment
in the cemetry of the parish Wall rehired, and the body had
'the Judicial Committee reversed
been deposited in a temporary resting-place peuding the
the decision of the Canadian Courts, upholding the interdict,
and directed r mandamus to issue for the burial of the
In London,
on Monday night, Sir Charles Reed
deem-Atm in the manlier cleinied,
presided at toy enniversary meeting of the Metroleolitwn
Methodist Lay Mission, at the City-road Chapel_ In moving
the adoption of the report he spoke of the suitability of the
mission to reach the hearts if the very poor and dejected,
whose Bolas ars hard to reach owing to the struggle they
have to gal a livelihood, which becomes their greatest con-
cern. Nieith regard to the condition of the very poor he knew
something, for, when represehting the to rough of Hackney
in Parliament he felt it his duty to make himself acquainted
with this subject, and accordingly changed Ma attire and
went WM the very vilest nests of poverty and degradation
In East London. He hoped the mission would prosper, that
gummier friends would send help, and that others would
render personal sank+) in carrying out the work.