The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-10 00:00:00

A cheese weighing fourteen tons will be one of the
contributions from Ohio to the Philadelphia centennial.
Reports of the Australian wheat crop give an esti-
mate of five millions of bushels as the yiild in Victoria, and
tea millions for South Australia, leaving a surplus, in he
latter case, of 183,000 tons for export.
- - -

A special meeting of the Corporation of Dublin was
held on Monday, at which it was resolved by a majority of
19 to 15 to petition Parliament in favour of the Sunday
clesing of public-houses in Ireland.

-
The Bill to abolish the Game Laws is appointed for
second reading on the 19th of May, and Sir Charles Legard
has given notice that he will move that it be read that day six
months.

Cardinal Manning arrived at his residence at
Westminister from Rome on Monday, the Archbishop
having left Paris by the ordinary mail train on Sunday night.
- He was accompanied by his nephew, the Rev. William
Manning.
On the 31st March, 1873, the number of registered
newspapers existing in India amounted to 478; during the
past year 131 fresh papers were registered, 58 discontinued,
and 8 publications included in the previous list were omitted
as not being newspapers, thus leaving on the 31st March,
184, a net total of 542..
Lord Hampton presided at a meeting of the Centra -
Chamber of Agriculture held in London, on Tuesday, at
which a motion was carried, expressing the regret of the
Council that the Government should have seen reason to
omit all mention of local taxation from the Queen's Speech
for the first time in the history of many successive sessions
of Parliament.
It would seem that there is some fear that a scarcity
of wood may be suffered from in India ere many years at the
present rate of consumption, therefose the Government of
India have taken up nearly 21,000 acres of land in the Cen-
tral Provinces, in the Canadian district, for the formation of
a reserved State forest.
The Berlin papers state that the first new fortifica-
tions executed in Germany upon the newly approved prin-
ciple of hard cast-iron plates are to be erected on the mouth
of the river Weser. The casting is effected by a totally new
process, which is considered no less valuable an invention
than Herr Krupp's method of manufacturing cast steel. A
new kind of gunpowder is also spoken of, and it is said that
the proposed gunpowder factory at Hanan—the fifth govern-
ment establishment of the empire—is to have the exclusive
manufacture of the new explosive.
The Emperor Francis Joseph, during his stay at
Trieste, witnessed the unveiling Jos? h,
monument to his late
brother, the Emperor Maximilian. There was a great crowd
at the ceremony, and his Majesty was deeply moved by the
proseeduigs. He has since addressed an autograph letter to
the Governor of Trieete expressing lively satisfaction at the
loyal and affectionate sentiments manifested towards him
It is stated by a German paper that at a given
moment the number of German troops, which hitherto has
numbered only 1,320,600 men, may be brought up to
1,600,000 by the formation of a fourth battalion. According
to the same paper, the French Army, which numbers only
1,089,400 men, may eventually be raised to the same num-
ber as the German army by draughting into it the whole
newly-created territorial army.
Lord Derby on Tuesday received a deputation from
the Evangelical Alliance and other bodies on the subject of
religious persecution in Turkey. His lordship sympathised
entirely with the obje 3t in view, and expressed his regret
that in the matter of the recent visit of a deputation to
Constantinople any misunderstanding should have taken
place. True, the Sultan did not see them, but neither did
he see his own subjects on such terms: and looking at the
secluded life which he led, the refusal of an audience by
such a Sovereign ought not to be regarded in the same light
as a refusal by any other European Government.
In London, on Tuesday afternoon, the new buildings
of the Merchant Taylors' School in Charterhouse-square 4,0
were opened by the Prince of Wales, who had returned from
the Continent a few hours previously. His Royal Highness, die
who was accompanied by the Princess, was presented with ;
an address of welcome. In responding to the toast of "The
s4A
Royal Family," proposed by the Master of the Guild at
a luncheon which succeeded the ceremony, the Prince ten- •Jot
dered his warm congratulations on the success which had
attended the schools hitherto, and expressed his hearty hope
for a continuance of the prosperity which the institution had ill
so long enjoyed. itro
In the month of October, 1853, the Cork steamship I,
Ajax was wrecked on the Little Mewstone just outside •
•
eastern end of the Plymouth breakwater. The vi -
since that time lain in a dangerous position a few feet
water, and a buoy has been placed-on the spot as a warning
to vessels. Notwithstanding this warning, several fishing
boats have been destroyed there, and some lives have been
lost. An effort is now being made to break the vessel up.
and for this purpose several divers have been engaged. They
...me
have cleared the weed from the ship, and have succeded in
dislodging a portion. They are confident of being successful
in raising the whole of the wreck, thus removing a long- ,414
standing source of danger. 'as
For some time sheets of veneer have been produced
so large and thin that they can be used in place of wall ' al°
paper, by simply being glued against the walL In order to s 4
make them a round log two or three feet long is placed in a
lathe and slowly revolved, while a sharp knife of the length 71:
of the log is so placed and firmly supported as to act like a •ra
plane, cutting a thin film fr. the circumference of-the log,
which film rolls up at the sa e time it leaves the knife. In
this way veneers of mahogany, black walnut, ckc., have been
made and applied to walls, giving the rooms an appearance ;74
far superior in solidity to papered walls, especially when, by
the application of proper mouldings, large surfaces are sub-
divided into divers panels. .1 Wel
According to the return of the Registrar-General
2,493 births and 1,873 deaths were registered in London last
week. The births exceeded by 42, and the deaths by 207, the
average numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which in
the three preceeding weeks had been equal to 28. 26, and
25 per 1,000, rose again to 28. The 1,873 deaths included
1 from small-pox, 24 from measles, 32 from scarlet fever, 16
from diphtheria, 92 from whooping-cough, 30 from different • Mt
forms of fever, and 24 from .diarrhces. Thus to the seven
principal diseases of the zymotic class 219 deaths were re- mai
ferred, against 180 and 152 in the two preceding weeks.
These deaths were 25 below the.,corrected average number Sit
from the same diseases in the corresponding week of the last 40
ten years.