The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-11-26 00:00:00

Railway accidents in Great Britain during the firs
nine months of the present year caused the death of 18 people
and occasioned injury to 790 persons.

Mark Twain is said to be about to lecture on the
obelisk which is coming from Alexandria to the 15 S. He
says it was originally erected some 10,000 }ears ago with the.
,object of being exported be America.
,i7.11e Minister of the Czar's household has ordered',
nreparatons for a formal coron-tion of His Majesty a
Moscow on .41aY Ist.
-
Prince BiBli7arck having been asked at a parliamen-
tary dinner whers.her M. Gambetta visited him at Varzin
utterly denied the trth of the statement.
Mr. A. W. Dilke,
his constituents in the T0r71111311,
LP. was announced to address
a.,.-49 Newcastle, on Tuesday
night, admission being p
opposition met him vrith groans' by Ifricet. An organised
words, he desisted. An attempt to c.
ahnyda
his
rfkriienngdnsltahneiwi
an hour, having failed to obtain a is.'
anVisses ; and after half
ring for more than a few
vry a vote of confidence
arseteigreuda.lly unsucc •rtssfal, and Mr. Dilke

The tide at Liverpool on Tuesday forenoon wan
remarkably high, and at eleven o'clock U.* water washed
over the dock wall at various points. Near the' Landing-stage
the scene was very exciting. The great fioatint.?: bridge was
level with the balustrading, and moved about wi,'ll a strange
twisting motion. it was at least four feet above the street
level. At the eastern end of No. 2 bridge a special ~zangway
had to be prepared to prevent pedestrians getting vet, the
water dashing over the ordinary footpath.

A short time ago, during some boring operations Lit
Preesal, near Fleetwood, the men came across a deep bed a
rock salt. The investigations were extended ; samples were
sent for analysis, and the result has been that a company has
been formed, principally Glasgow and Middlesbrough mer-
chants. A line of rails will be laid down from the mine to a
jetty which is to be built at the foot of Fern-hill.
"We understand that Prince Albert Victor and
Prince George will not return to this country before next
spring, meanwhile visiting Singapore, China, Japan, and
Ceylon, among other places. Nothing has yet been decided
as to what they will do Dereafter."—Monday a Times.
Mr. Sclater Booth, at the Botley Farmers' Club
reminded his hearers that Engltroct liad now to solve one of
the most difficult and complicated prekblems which a nation
could attempt to solve. To frame a comprehensive Bill
dealing with all agricultural questions Weald take years, and
what was wanted was one which would be of immediate
application towards the relief of existing griences.
v
On Sunday night a large factory in the Piazza dei
a
Cerchi, Rome, near the Temple of Vesta, was burned down.
At midnight the authorities, fearing lest the ilames should
spread to the neighbouring gasometer, and, entering the
gas pipes, blow up the city, turned off the supfily of gas,
plunging all Rome in darkness.
The Free Church Commission at their recent meet'
log sent a congratulatory note to Mr. Bright, who, .‘ll Ms
reply, says that he takes it as a very precious testimonial
that be had endeavoured honestly to promote the Vacs
Interests of our country by legislation based upon the prlgn-
ciples of justice and Christian morality.
The Melbourne Argus says that the offer by an anony;
mous donor of £.5,000 towards the completion of the Angli- •
can Cathedral, Melbourne, on condition that the sum of
Z 26,000 is contributed from other sources before the close
of the year, nas wet with hoarty rooponeo. At renant-
meeting of Churchmen, it was announced that £l, 760 had
been subscribed. Since then many further contributions
have come in.

—•----- ---
A shocking accident has occurred on the Great
North of Scotland Railway at Ayne. A farmer, named
Alexander Wilson, of the 31111 of Buckanstone, Ayne,
Aberdeenshire. was removing two young colts from one
field to another over a level crossing, when, a train ap-
proaching, the animals took fright, and Wilson stumbled
and fell on to the rails, and before be could get out of
the way the engine passed over him, and cutting his body
In two.
A boat with electric motive power is in caurse of
construction at one of the yards on the:.banks of tie seine.
It is to be eighteen feet long and five feet wide. The pro.
prietor proposes to cross the Channel in it—namely, from
Boulogne to Folkestone. If he is successful he will be able
to claim the distinction of haring inaugurated the applica-
tion of electricity to maritime traffic.
In the report of the Directors of the Royal Gardens,
Kew. just issued, en their progress and condition during the
year 1830, it is stated that the number of visitors to the
gardens during the year was 723,681, which was 1,741 less
than that of 1378. The number admitted on Whit-Monday
(Bank holiday)-61,831—was the largest admitted on any one
sink day.
Mr. D. Davies, M.P. for Cardiganshire, promised
to give the North Wales Cal-vanistic Methodists £4,000 if
they collected £ll,OOO by the end of the current year
towards the Ministers' Fund. He had also promised to
present the South Wales Methodists with £2,000 if they will
collect £B,OOO. The North Wales Methodists have re-
sponded to the offer by promptly collecting £20,000. -
It is announced that the French Railway Com-
panies have agreed to issue circular tickets for the use of
commercial travellers; they are, however, to be circum-
scribed to a radius of about seventy miles from Paris. Each
ticket will allow the bearer to transport a hundredweight
of luggage free of charge.
An exhibition of heraldry, seals, and genealogical
records, under the patronage of hi, Royal Highness Prince
Charles of Prussia, is to be inaugurated at Berlin on the lit
of April next, and to remain open for two months. On its
behalf the participation and support of all person interested
in heraldic art are invited.

A very prosperous financial condition was shown in
the New South Wales budget just introduced, the revenue
being estimated at £6,210,000, and the expenditure at
£5,960,000. The current year has shown an excess of above
£000,•00 over the estimates, all sources of natlenal income
having shown a remarkable increase.

The Book Committee of the Birminghm Free
Library has just been fortunate enough to obtain Ii pur•
chase a copy of the first folio Shakespeare in excellent Con-
dition, and alp() a copy of the third edition.

-
An alarming accident happened to the 2.30 pas-
sanger train from Oxford on the Oxford and Bletchley branch
of the North-Western Railway on Tuesday afternoon, when,
about three miles from Bicester, one of the connecting-rods
of the engine broke, smashing the foot-plate and doing
damage in other respects to the engine, and tecring up
the ballast for a considerable distance. The train was
brought to a standstill without any injury occurring to the
passengers.

- The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's-park, London, during the past week include two
Vulpine phalangers, a Rufous rat kangaroo, from Australia,
presented by Mr. F. J. Horniman, F.Z.S. ; a ring-necked
parrakeet from India, presented by the Countess Dowager of
Lou sdale •, two long-eared owls, British, presented by the
Rev. J. A. Wix ; two grey wagtails; British, presented by
Mr. Swaysland ; a Dufresne's amazon, from south-east Brazil,
a yellow-cheeked amazon, from Honduras, an orange-winged
amazon, from South America, deposited; a Pluto monkey, a
Sykes's monkey, from West Africa, a Darwin's rhea, from
Patagonia, a Picazuro pigeon from South America, two
spotted Zenaida doves, from La Plata, two Dominican gulls,
from Antarctic America, purchased.

In Rome on Tuesday; the King of Italy visited the
Pantheon and knelt for a quarter of an hour before his
father's tomb ; then, after some conversation with An officer
and a private (a veteran) who were on duty at that spot, he
proceeded to visit the excavation and demolitions in progress
for isolating the Pantheon and the ancient remains behind
it.
At a temperance conference held at Darlington, a
letter was read from Mr. Herbert Gladstone, M.P., in which
he said that, in his opinion, the time had now come when
the temperance r ake their voices heard
above all the rest.----------------- _ _

There were 2,623 births and 1,434 deaths regis-
tered in London last week Allowing for increase of popu-
lation, the births were 21 and the deaths 302 below the
average numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which had
been equal to 224 and 22•3 per 1,000 in the two preceding
weeks, declined to 19.6.

On Friday, in last week, at the meeting of the
Metropolitan Board of Works, Colonel Sir J. M`Glarel Hogg,
M.P., was elected Chairman for the ensuing year, at a salary
of two thousand pounds. In thanking the Board for this
renewal of their confidence, he said they had done good
work in the past and union was now especially necessary in
view of coming changes. The Board had improved the
health of the inhabitants of the Metropolis, had facilitated
its communications, and had adcred to its beauty.

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 218,000 bales, and since Ist September,
1,785,500 bales. Exports to Great Britain, 66,000 ,ales, and
to the Continent and Channel, 49,000 bales; total since let
September, 838,300 bales. Stock at, all port; 826,000 ba:es.
The Channel Tunnel experimental works at the
Shakespeare Cliffs Shaft still continue to progress very
satisfactorily. Up to the present time there has been no
change in the nature Of the soil, and there is a remarkable
absence of springs or water courses through the sides of the
heading. The boring averages about 28 feet per day of 20
hours. The drilling machine is advanced at intervals of
three feet six inches, when the precaution is taken to gauge
the gradient at which the heading is.
Returns of the attendance at places of publis wor-
ship in the town of Leicester were taken last Sunday, and
show that, with a population of 122,650 and 60,000 sittings,
the numbers in the .morning were 17,228; in the afternoon,
5,692; and in the evening, 29,821.

• -
The late Mr. Robert Nicholson' of Lochbank, Druro
fries, has left handsome bequests to Mr. Spurgeon's Or-
phanages. Mr. Nicholson was a member of the United
Presbyterian Church, and has bequeathed three sums of
£2OO each to objects connected with that denomination,
besides numerous charitable bequests, but having in his
latter years been unable through deafness to attend church
he has left the residue of his estate, amounting to about
0,000, to the Orphanages, in acknowledgment of the
advantages he has derived from reading Sr. SpurgeonX
sermons.