The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-01-06 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Earl Granville I suffering from gout at Walmer
Castle.

Mr. Harry Ring', the Queen's hnntqman, died at
Windsor on satur.iay, after a few days' illness.

A New York hair-restorer agent went out into the
suhuroto P tuck hls posters all over a church pulpit, and then
asked the minister to call atttention to them.

Some person is gone to try his hand at compiling a
hymn.hook of universal application to the churches,
chapels, lac., throughout the empire." In his OWLI case he
will have to prove that union is strength.
At Ayr, a boy 13 years of age, the son of a letter-
carrier, quarrelled with his mother, and immediately ran to
the railway about a mile from the town, and ort a train
coming op deliberately laid Ids head on the rail. lie was, of
course, instantly killed.
Among the 'Penang passengers by the Australian
mail packet Sonata, which arrived at Southampton last
Saturday, was the Abysainian Prince Alamaya, son of the
late Emperor Theodore. lie has been travelling in India
and China, and has grown a line youth. He has forgotten
his native language—the Abyssinian—and la dressed like a
young English gentleman. He has come home to commence
his English education.
. •

A serious accident occurred at Antwerp on Satur•
day last. A new house. was in course of erection in the
Straese Berchem, and eight men were engaged on the work.
They were occupied in raising a heavy brain to place on the
wall, which had already been built up to the third storey,
when the apparatus they were using slipped, and striking
against one side, knocked down the masonry, and entaded
the fall of the three other portions. Five of the men were
buried in the ruins, and, when recovered, after some active
exertions, two were found to be dead, a third in • state whin
left no hope of his recovery, and the other two very
seriously Injured.

A new poem by Mr. Swinburne will be published in
the next number of Onee a INek.

A marriage is published in the Buffalo papers te
whkh is alibied the eorl,, " No cards, no nonsense.'

The latest style of parasol for winter use folds up
like a fan, and can be carried in a muff or in the pocket.
The Archbishop of Paris has authorised the priests
of his diocese to let their beards grow.
An exhibition of the arts and industries of Spain,
Pprtugal, and the colonies of these countries, a lUbe opened
Id Oporto on the lat of August next.
•••- • - - -

her Majesty Ile Queen has been plemed to send a
liberal supply of game for the use of the patients in St.
Thomas's hospital, London.
Miss Macpherson, from Cana, la, is at present in the
North of England, trying to secure domestic servants to take
bark with her to Canada.

Buddhism LIS been "established" in Japan.
The tiovernment no declared that it shall no longer be the
national

The Publishers Citrular has recorded during 1871,
the full transcript of the title-pages, with size, price, pub-
lishers' names, and numbers of pages, of 6,317 books.
' • • '

It in reported that the Speaker trill be raised to the
Peerage, with the rank of Viscount, on his retirement fr,,in
the Speakership.

•
The retiring pension of the Sneaker is £4,000 per
annum, and this sum will now be received both tiy Lord
Eversley and Mr. Denison.

Lord Ellenborongh enjoyed for many years & pen-
sion of £7,700 per annum in consideration of his having
held the abolished office of Chief Clerk of the Court of
Queens Bench.

The census of the city of Maartss, taken in litls3, gave
a total population f 427,71. The census of 1271, Just corn-
Plett d, give,, total f barely 400,000. his conjectured that
the former enumeration was inaccurate.

The marriage of the Princess Marguerite de Netnonrs
with Prince Crartoriakt, syhich had been fixed for the 15th
January, will now, at the request of the Emperor of tintail,
take place on the 10th.

On Monday morning her Majesty's New Year's
gifts to the poor of Windaor, Holy Trinity, and Clewer were
distributed in the Riding-school at Windsor Castle, in the
presence of the Castle authorities and local clergy.
In accordance with the provisions of a recent Order
In Council, the prohibition as to the removal of cattle out
of London alive ceased at twelve o'clock on Sunday night.
The regulations, however, as to the general removal of cattle
are even more strict than previously.
The following announcement appears in the Madras
Mail of November 21, under the head of latest telegrams
London, November 22. It is announced that Mr. Might
will return to his seat in Parliament sae Conservative, and
has been elected Mosher of Parliament for Plymouth."'
The last number of the Spiritualist newspaper con.
tabs a prospectus drawn np by Mr. Serjeaut Cox, of the
pruposedaPsychological Society for the scientific inveatiga.
tion of spiritualism, and it is stated that Lord Lindsay, Mr.
C. F. Varley, PRO,, Mr. William Crm,kes. F. 8.5., and other
lielentille men take considerable interest in its formation.
Mr. Matthew Greathead, of Richmond, Yorkshire,
died there on Sunday, lathe 102nd year of his age. He was
born at High Cunniscliffe, near Darlington, on April 7.3.
1770, and was believed to lie the oldest Freemason in Eng-
land, having been a member of a lodge for seventy-five
years.

O'Donovan RORBa has become the editor of the Icily
York Era, and, in an introductory address, declares that his
paper will support the Canoe of reform, and endeavour to
promote harmony between all citizens in the interests of
progress and good government. The Era will Ice, he sap',
non-partisan, but American and Republican.
_ .

It was said that, in the town of Boston, the girls had
made an improvement in ironing, which beats the steam.
engine on common roads all hollow. They spread out all
the clothes on a smooth platform, and fastened hot flat-irons
to their feet, alai skated over them. This was combining the
recreation with the useful and ornamental.

A lisping mother, who had presented her infant at
the baptismal font for christening, on being asked by the
clergyman. "What name ?" responded, in a whisper,
Luthy, Thir," when, to the horror of the whole congrega-
tion and the consternation of the mother, he christened the
baby—Lucifer.
he Illustrated Australian Nero of October 9th
Informs no that a photographer at Climes, called John
Tanner, has, after four years of labour, succeeded in pro-
ducing photographs enamelled upon copper. These are
said to be, as works of art, very beautiful, and almost inde-
structible.

The Daily Teti-graph state that the total amount o
the expooes incurred by Mr. Rooker, in the late Plymouth
election, amounting to nearly gl 000, has beat raised by
private subscriptions RIO offered to that gentleman, who
has, however, declined to receive the money. It is not yet
decided to what purpose the fund shall be applied.
.

- -
The other day a cool young gent all of the modern
days entered a menagerie with a cigar in his mouth, u hen
the proprietor politely requested him not to teach the other
monkeys bad habits. The young man was equal to the °ma-
Bion by producing his cigar-case and saying "Try one.''
" Things are bad," said a Paris tradesman to an
Dudish customer. "Why, sir, in ISO% I used to take 6,000
francs a day. Yesterday, I took SO francs; and to-day, and
It is now live o'clock In the afternoon, you are my a rst cus-
tomer.' This is a picture that speaks of the real condition
of things in Paris more powerfully than a volume of com-
ment.

At a prayer meeting which was held after the usual
service at the Wesleyan Chapel, lbstock, near Leicester, on
Sunday evening, a collier, named Thomas Smith, aged
thirty seven, who was in the act of giving out the first
hymn, suddenly fell backwards, and was picked up lifeless.
Death is supposed to have been caused by disease of the
heart.

On Sunday soo iron-workere walked in procemien
through the main streets of Blackburn, to celebrate the
adoption of the nine hours system in all the foundries of
Blackburn. The procession was in aded by a military baud.
On returning to the Town Hall, some addresses were dr.
livered, and a special resolution was passed, thanking the
employers for their generous concession of 54 hours per
neck. Cheers were given for the employers, the nine hours,
and the Queen.

On Monday, at the installation of the incoming
Mayor of Limerick, a scene of great confusion took place.
The reference by the Mayor to the illness !.f the Prince of
Wales was received with a perfect storm_ of groans,
with cheers for the political prisoners, and "ith cries of
"God save Ireland and Richard ligott.'"rhe tumult was
protracted, cheers for "home Kale" alternating with cries
of " Dawn with Gladstone !"

Mr. Mundella, M.P.. has been making what the
Scotch call 'a great deliverance" on the subject of the Ele-
mentary Education Act. Although a Liberal and a Dissenter,
he disclaims all sympathy with his brother Noneonforinists
and the ultra-Liberals, and stands by the principles on which
the recent legislation was based.

The Pope has 6)11114 means to give a new explanation
of the sense In which be understands the word captivity.
At the reception of the delegates of three Roman parishes,
he snit :—" I am not a prisoner in the ordinary sense of the
word. I have neither a warder in my prison nor guards at
my grin. Bat lam morally imprisoned ; for it would be
impossible for me to go out without my person and my
dignity being offended."

The superintendant of the Central London Di,iriet
School has reported an inert need number of smallpox cases
of. virulent nature in the village of Ilanwell, and the mana-
gers of the school have given instructions to Use extra
vigilance to prevent the discus. from attacking the children
under their care.

The Rev. James Dixon, D. D., an eminent Wesleyan
minister, died on Thursday night, in last week, at his
resideneo, Wellesley.terrace, Manninghaln, at the age of 2.41
years. With the exception of the Rev. Thomas Jackson, he
was the oldest minister in the Wesleyan Society. Ile was
widely known as the author of several theological and No.
graphical works. Ile was somejears ago the President of the
Wesleyan Conference.

The Liivrte states that Rochefort has been conveyed
to the hospital of Fort lb yard. Hated previously refused
to quit his chamber, insisting that lie was slightly Indisposed
but symptoms of fever appearing, and his cough being
obstinate, the medical men had him removed.
James Tarr—what an appropriate name !- one of
the oil princes, has died worth a splendid fortune, even for
America. In the fall of 1065, when gold was worth 2 dollars
to cents. he was offered cash for the fee-simple of the Tarr
farm equivalent to 2,000,000 dollars. He refused it.

It is officially reported that his Majesty the King of
Siam, in fultheranee of his known desire to promote still
more the amicable relations he has always held with the
British Government, has resolved to pay a visit of state to
the Viceroy of India, and to see some of the Britisl. pot-
8e.i.11 in Ilindostan. Ills Majesty kit Singapore with
that view on the 24th November last.

A new branch of industry hanlately been pursued by
the seafaring population of Ranvgate in fishing for prof..!
An immense quantity have been caught iu the sea skin tine
the bathing sands. Fishing for sprats is not known to have
been carried on In the neikhlmrhood of Rana:ate within
the memory of " the oldest inhabitant."

. •
In the various colleges of Palls a distribution of
Chassopots for the use of the pupils has just taken place.
The drill will be commenced regularly on the reassembling
of the students after the Christmas vacation. This weapon
is smaller than that used in the army, being two inches
shorter, whilst the weight has been calculated in proportion
to the strength of lads of from 15 to 17 years.

_
It is now satisfactorily proved (eays the Swiss Times)
that the asphalte bed in the Val de Travers projects regularly
and uninterruptedly Into the mountain, thus fully confirm-
ing Pr.pfessor Desor s supposition& The contents of the bed
have thus risen to 2,000,000 tons : and, according to the
pund, will rise to two more if the fifth shaft now being sunk
should confirm the theoretical profile.

A Paris correspondent says that al thongh there was
a good deal of stir and bustle in the streets there on New
Year's-day, those who knew the city in former days noticed
a great difference is its aspect. The desolating effects of
the war were only too palpably seen in poor dresses, com-
paratively few purchases, restaurants and cafés no longer
crowded to excess, anxious faces among the small dealers.
and the absence of novelty In the great houses lonyine.,.
The day was, however, observed as a general holiday, and
only one paper, the Liberte was published in the evening.
The Duke of Edinburgh has lent, for public exhibi-
tion, at the South Kensington Museum, London, specimens
of the collections of objects of science and aft, which he
made in his cruise round the world in her Majesty's ship
Galatea, in the year 1867, 1868, 1069, 1870, and 1871. They
will be Illustrated by paintings of the scenes of places
touched at by Mr. Oswald Briefly and Mr. Nicholas Chevalier.
It is expected that they will be arranged for public inspec-
tion in the north court of the Sluseum towards the end of
January.

The obituary of The Times of Monday (New Year's
Day) again contained sonic remarkable illustrations of pro-
longed existence in live gentlemen and four ladies, whose
united ages amounted to 705 years, giving an average of
exactly 05 years to each. The oldest gentleman had reached
the great age of 92, the youngest 81 years of age. Of the
opposite sex the eldest was 87, andehe youngest SO years of
age. The years numbered by each were as follows: 80, Si,
82, two at 84, 85, 87, 95, and 92.
The Nor York Times of the 20th tilt, says that Miss
Mary ii. Graves was ordained as motor of the Unitarian
Church, In Mansfield, Bristol County, Mass:tel.:setts, on
Thureday, Dec. 14. She in a graduate of the State Normal
School at Salem, during her attendance at which place she
first became interested in the ministerial.work. After gra-
duation she pursued, under the direction of Rev. Olonpla
Brown, of Bridgevrt, Conn , t'ueu at Wepnouth. Masi, the
course of study prescribed at the roivemlist Tin tlogical
School at Canton. Fr the past year she hats been serving as
pastor of the church in 51:trotfield, over which she has now
been ordained. The lady is the first who has entered the
Unitarian ministry in Massachusetts, and the second in the
denomination, Mrs. Celia' burleign, of Brooklyn, COJUI.,
being the first.

.•
The weapon with which it is supposed Mr. William
Glass, of the Newtomnitewart flask, was nmrdered hut
June, was found on Sunday morning, close to the place
where the first bundle of money was discovered. The
weapon is a hedge knife, twelve imbes long. The handle
was removed, and a pound of lead substituted. Tide fact Is
important, as it was deposed at the inquest that a quantity
of lead had been purchased from a shopkeeper, immediately
before the murder waa committed. Riese to where this
knife was found thirty-three sovereigns a-ere also discovered,
and this, it is said, completes the recovery of the entire
money taken from the bank,
A Paris paper, the Pat rip, in its review of 1871,
describes the year which has just elapsed as the gloomiest
which any Frenchman living has passed through. During
those twelve months of anxiety arid humiliation no tram can
be found, it maintains, of a single really consoling day. To
find an equally mournful period in the history of France it
would be necessary to go back to the darkest times of the
fifteenth century. In the opinion of the Petri, the saddest
reflection is that after losing military superiority, territory,
and civic honour, a still more valuable thing has been lost—
viz., the opportunity of national regeneration. Two occasi‘ais
offered the fall of Gambetta, and the meeting of the Bor-
deaux Assembly. France *hould have finished with the Re-
volution ; but Iko, she trusted to NI. Thiers and his expedients,
and how Garubetta is again coming to the front and the Ger-
mans only await his restoration to undertake their second
haulm.

Dr. Balfour St ! nipeuaa-
non from the rail, br :brine, to a- -Yered
at Barrow.
It is Raid that her MSjl•4ltr.l. I.reflent anno iAS A.. 0
then happily at •cu a., . b ..to continue, I.nst, he
will open the Seta ..n of earbo• .
According to a teiegrain from Ceylon, 472 bags of
mails hare been recovered from the we„eh of the
at Point de Calle. rho vessel had • heavy Australlaakan=
on board when she woe wreck,d.

The Liverpool atipendiary had before him on Satur-
day several parents for having neglected to send their chil-
dren to an elementary school, and imposed lines varying
from 50. fin 20. itt in each case.

Mr. Gladstone has intimated that the Government
does not at present contemplate any further hicreaae bi tire
capitation grant to volunteers, and that it dons not Intnntt
to contribute to the cost of volunteer drillaheds.
On Monday morning Her Majesty's New Year Gifts ilia
to the poor of the parishes of Windsor, Holy Trinity, nod
(lover were distaltated in the Riding School at V% indsor
Castle. Her Majesty's detention at Sandringham precluded
her personal auperintendance at the ceremoi.v. The ;Mtn,
consisting of beef and coals, were divided se.i.ording to the
number of each family.

The execution ofArtliur Frederick Drown, who, at
the last Warwickshire Asaises, was condemned to death for
the murder of John Alward, at Corentry, is appointed te
take place at Warwick Gaol on the ath of January. should
the seuteeice be carried out, and there is et. p probability
it will, this will be the first private execution at the county
gad.

The Directors of the Royal Mail Steam l'aeket
Company have unconditionally complied with the request
of the •nop/opes in their eagine factory at Southampton for
a working day f nine hours. A large meeting of the Knee
was held on Ssturday afternoon, when hearty thanks IWO
ac0,,:e.1 to the In artt tor the prompt compliance with the
demands of the men.
An extraordinary desecration of tLe dead has just
been discovered at Lyons. A watchman at the La Gnilto-
tiere cemetery, named Tabare, appears to have for a long
time past been in the habit of violating at night the tombs
of females to cut off their hair which he sold for making
chignons. The crime was discovered accidentally by • eat
drawing some tresses from a hole in which be had concealed
them.

A disastrous strident occurred oet Saturday at
Glasgow A traction engine was passing aleng the streets.
when the boiler burst and a large fragment fell through the
roof of an eating house. Three boys were killed outriaht,
one man fatally Injured, and six others so surlomly hurl
that they had to be conveyed to the infirmary. Four lees
severely injured were conveyed to their homes, mid :several
others, although hurt, were ante to walk from the spot.
A notice to parents is being distributed through the
metropolla by the School Board. It sets out that the haw'
Board is empowered to require that all children between toe
ages of five and thliteen should be at achool unleits there Is
some re:winnable excuse; It points out that there are neatly
vacancies in existing schools, and tinnily arges all parents to
send their children withoct delay "to some school wham
efficient instruction is given."

"We have bidden farewell to the Old Year, and
now we welcome the New, with it. vague hopes and promise.,
Its suggestions of joy or sorrow, its incalculable future of
evils, its infitifte possibilities of good It is needless to sap
that at such a time aspiration rather than retrospection is
the inevitable attitude of humanity, and that, standing, as it
were, on the very threshold of a season ohleh witnesses the
revival of Nature from its wintry slumber, hope rather than
anxiety is the uppermost feelisig in men's heisrts."—Leadsriu
Daily Telegraph.

- - -
The revenue returns for the quarter and year juat
closed have been published. On the tptarler there appears
to have been an increase on every item except the Post Office,
In which there was a loss of .C. 12,000. This leaves the nut ha.-
crease at 024,015. The net increase an the whole year is
stated to be £940,150. On the other side, however, there ap-
peals to be a net deficiency of revenue in hand to meet Om
stuns charged on the Consolidated Fund and payable during
the next quarter of 4,144,b35.

. - -
The news of the cordial reception accorded to the
Crawl Duke Alexis by the American people has awakened
profound satisfaction in Russia. The St. Petorxbury.lou 'wet
says that " Russia will not beget that reception. awl that
" the peace of the world and the progress of civilizathm eon-
not but NI fostered by the friendly relations between Boasts
and the United States."
On the '..*ith of November last the Many Ann fishinq
smack, of Colchester, repoits that the carcase of a buthieg
wao picked up in the Stein, near the Spitway buoy, supposed
to have been thrown overboard from one of the Loudon
cattle busts a few days previously. The carcase was opened
for the purpuseof getting a little fat for the rigging, and the
crew were in the act of throwing it overboard again, when a
gold ring fell from the paunch mortal -Johanna Ulbera
1%9." The ring was transmitted to the Board of Trade
authoritleo, is whose custody it remai.us.
At the parish church of Slcugh, near Windsor, on
Sunday morning, the vicar, at the close of his sermon, re-
ferring to the poser of isayer, as illustrated by the answer
vouchsafed to the nation's earnest pleading, read the
Queen's letter and, as the congregation left the church, the
organist played the "National Anthem." The ''Notiogel
Anthem' was also played at St. Peter's, Cholvey, in whir
parish, in consequence of Its proximity to Windsor, there
has been much anxiety in reference to the Prince.

The late Lord Ellenborough's voice was the finest
In either Bowie of Parliament, sonorous, full, clear, and
penetrating. Lord Elkithorougha figure was manly, the
hair grey with the snow of eighty Viten, yet still
abundant. Ilis features were so handsome se became hin
parentage. Some readers may remeniber lord Campbell's
description of the Earl's mother—a distinguished toast of
her day, who woo so beautiful that whenever she came out
to water the plants in her balcony a crowd immediate*
formed In the street below.
An inquest has been held in London, upon the body
pf one William Young, who lately committed suicide after
having made a murderous attack upon his wife. In erne of
the documents which the &exalted left behind hire, It was
manifest that the poor man's brain had been turned, for he
spoke of himself as "the Second Messiah," and complained
bitterly of the way in which his teachings had been disre-
garded. The Jury, sentient hesitation, found a verdict that
Young had killed himself while in astute of unsound mina,
The Japanese Mikado, in pursuance of Ma policy
to popularize Ida Government, lately appeared In the streets
of Yedo, driven In an English carriage, four-in-hand, with
only four running footmen Sulgequently, he walked out
unattended, and has issued an imperial order forbidding
the performance of obeisances and ceremonies formerly pre-
ecribed by law on those who met the Mikado face to face or
were passed by his official emblems.
An alarming fire broke out on New Year's-day at
the susses County Hospital, Brighton. The reuse of the
accident is said to have been an escape of gas, and on the
alarm being given measures wire taken to remove the
patients. On one floor of the ward where the outbreak oc-
curred there were 30 male patients, and on another floor a
large number of women. Immediately to the east W. the
fever ward, and to tbe west were the accident wards, all un-
fortunately fully tenentell by suffering patients. By great
exertions, and the neighbours offering their aid, all the in-
mates, E.:, in number, were safely honed elsewhere anti the
fever patients were placed ie a newly erected detached
library to the east of the snafu buililieg. The greater part of
the edifice fell a prey to the dames.
On Saturday afternoon a very beautiful and costly
monument to the memory of the late bishop Lonsdale was
publicly tumefied in I.l.llfield Cathedral. The neemment,
which roast in erre of the north bays of the Cathedral, Its
the joint production of Mr. Watts, It A., of Load, u, acid Ise.
Gilbert Scott, ft. A., the former having designed the effigy of
the deceased bishop, and the latter the beautiful manly
with which it In surmounted. The total cost hi nearly
£2,900. The memorial consists of a tomb in alabaster, In
the sides of which are circular indentntione, decorated with
indtat ion i inadoetelles and shields, and upon the top of widen
rests the reennibent effigy of the late Bishop ef Langdale,
attired in full canonicals and initte and crozier.
Last week the aggregate mortality in London and
19 other large towns in the larited Kingdom, was at the rate
of 30 deaths annually to every I,ooe persons estimated to be
living. In the metropolis 1,891 births sad 1,080 deaths were
registered, the feline ovine been 79 below, and the latter
73 above the average. Ninety-seven persons died from
small-pox, 75 trom measles, 34 from scarlet fever, 2 bout dip.
theria, 79 from -.drooping-cough, 45 from different forms of
lever (ef which 4 were certified as typhus, 33 as enter ic or
typhoid, and 8 as steeple continued fever, and 9 from
diarrhoea. The fatal cases of measles Mid whooping cough
showed a considerable decline, while those of small-pox and
scarlatina were slightly more numerous l ruler the Innueneti
of the ninth weather in the two past weeks the fatal eases of
bronchitis and plitheils, which had been 482 and 225 in the
week emilug ItOh Deeemlier, declined to 3e2 and 161. The
deaths, however, referred to diseases of the respiratory
orgasm, including phtlirsia, swain showed e considerable ex-
cess upon the corrected average number in the eorreopondissa
week of the last ten y ears.