The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-02-26 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The election expenses for Carnarvonshire were :
Mr. Rathbone, the saseessful Liberal, £4,Q00 les. ; Mr.
Nanney, the unsuecessful Conservative, £.3,198 ss. Carriage
hire cost Mr. Rathbone A 937, and Mr. Nanney £642.
The total population of New South Wales is esti-
mated at 750,742 souls, all told.

The "Poets' Corner" of the Mitchell Public
Library at Glasgow contains at present the works of 1,222
Scottish posts and verse-writers, of whom 1,022 are named,
and the rest anonymous.

At a meeting of railway and carriers' servants held
in Manchester, a resolution was passed expressing "alarm
and indignation" at the means which are being used by
certain hip employers to contract themselves out of the
Employers Liability Act.
It being no longer considered necessary to keep the
Coastguard ship Belleisle on the North Coast of Ireland,
orders have been given for her to return to her usual winter
station at Kingstown.

At the half-yearly meeting of the Taff Vale Rail-
way Company, held at Bristol, £2OO were vited to the
Penycraiz Explosion Fund, £5OO towards the New Infirmary
at Cardiff, and £5OO placed at the service of the directors
for schools and benevolentpurposes. _

- -
The Abbe Guelle, formerly chaplain to Louis
Phillippe, died on Monday, in his eighty-third year. The
deceased, who accompanied the King to England, was pre-
sent at his death-bed, as well as at that of Queen Marie
Amelie.

Owing to the peaceful turn assumed in the relations
with China, the Czar has ordered, states a lierlin corre-
spondent, that the preparations for war should be discon-
tinued.

At the conclusion of the hunting season in Cheshire
the Empress of Austria will, it is stated, proceed to
London on a short visit. Rooms have been engaged at
Claridge's Hotel.

- -
We are glad to see that the custom of publishing a
wian's obituary notice before he dies is coming into vogue.
This gives an opportunity for the correction of all mistakes
before the subject really shuffles off this mortal coil.—Coort
Jourriza.

The Birminghant Daily Post mentions that on
Monday Cardinal Newman completed his eightieth year, and
is glad to say that he is in goed health.

From Mitchell and Co.'s Newspaper Prot Directory,
just issued, it appears that there are now in England 1,466
newspapers; Wales, 66; Scotland, 1$1; Ireland, 154; and
' the British Isles 20; making a total of 1,986. The maga-
zines, including the quarterly reviews, number 1,097.
The Irish Land Leaguers in New York, Philadel-
phia, Brooklyn, Boston, St. Louis, and elsewhere held
meetings on Sunday, collecting funds for transmission to
Ireland,

A few months ago three layge bloeke of petrified
wood were found in the Devonian be at DOppersberg,
Germany. They were recognised by Prof. Gibppert, of
Brealau, as belonging to a fossil arauoaria, named by him
arancarites Elberfeldenais (Deppers).
Mdlle. Sarah Bernhardt last week gave one per-
formance each at New Orleans, Atlanta, ltashville, and
three at Memphis. The total receipts of the week were
18,600 dols. The aggregate receipts of the 94 American per-
formances already given amount to 319,922 do's.

Lord Beaconsfield's Endymion costs more in its
native land than in any other country. The London edition
is published at 31s. od., whereas the authorised Germsu
translation sells for 18s., the Tauchnitz can be had for
Ss. 4d. and the American version for 2s. Witiele Trans.
atlantic energy this last edition was publishecrWithin fifty-
five hours of its arrival in America.
The Home Secretary has granted permission to Dr.
Joseph E. Kenney, of Dublin, Ditvitt's physician, to visit the
latter in Portland Prison, in order to assertain the (mast
condition of his health.
The deliveries of tea from the bonded warehouses in
London last year amounted to upwards of 200 million
pounds, which was the largest amount ever "cleared "in a
single year.

Italian women, hitherto somewhat behind their con-
temporaries in the woman's work movement, have at length
found out the sweets of independence. Many Italian ladies
now contribute by divers pursuits to the household expenses,
literature being their favourite field, and some indeed being
playwrights.
On Tuesday the first Act of the Session was 'issued
to apply tha sum of £2,600,000 out of the Consolidated Fund
for the service of the year ending the list March next. The
Treasury may borrow the money at 6 per cent.

Oranges should be plentiful just at present, for the
freight trains frown the south roll into Paris with carloads of
the golden fruit every day. These cargoes of oranges and
mandarins are sent from Itice, and from different towns in
Spain and Italy. There has never been a more plentiful
crop than this year, and consequently the price of the fruit
should be low.

The Boston people are fond to excess of skating,
and In order to gratify that penchant they have gone to
great lengths. We learn that at the Amphitheatre ice is
made three times a day, and nearly 44,000 square feet are
covered by an artificial substance that resists the pressure of
the weather, and the merry skaters glide over this material
with all the freedom imaginable.

Public benevolence has not in recent years kept
pace with the demands made upon it on behalf of the
widows and the orphans of those who fell in battle. The
fund on behalf of those orphaned and widowed by the
Afghan War lags painfully. Less than £3,000 has been
received, though claims have been put in on behalf of
eighty four widows and Mt children. £29,000 was sub-
scribed for the widows aid orphans of Ike Zulu War.
Court Journal.

Stocks of hides are now very large in all the mar-
kets of the world. In Antwerp, Tram, and Liverpool there
are 500,000. In Hamburg and Bremen 60,000. There are
also in Brat hands at New York and Boston some 350,000
dry hides, while the stocks of salted are large and increasing,
especially at western points, Chicago having a stock of
50,000, which are held for sale.
It is reported that an eleotric watch has been pro-
duced by a clockmaker at Copenhagen. It is especially
s stable for persons of irregular habits, for it requires no
winding up. The sole attention necessary must be devoted
to the battery which accompanies it, and which needs
replenishing once in six months.

At a meeting held in Sheffield on Tuesday night,
in favour of the independence of the Transvaal, it was re-
solved : "That this meeting strongly deprecates the present
war to force British rule on an unwilling people, and urges
the Government to bring the conflict to an end by restoring
the peace of the Transvaal." Sir Wilfrid Lawson, who was
expected at the meeting, telegraphed that he hoped Sheffield
would speak out against the war as London '.l,ad done on the
previous day. The meeting was addressed by Captain
Verney, R.N., and others.

Some improvements have lately been carried out in
Paris with relation to the employment of solar heat for the
purposes of steam-boilers. It is now found possible to bring
eighty-eight gallons of water to the boiling-point in forty
minutes the sole condition being that the sky is clear.
The Maidstone Museum was again opened on Sun-
day afternoon and arrangements having been made to count
the exact number attending between two and live o'clock,
the hours during which it was open, it was ascertained
that there were 481 present. •

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
dorts have been 144,000 bales, and since let September
4,371,600 bales. Shipments to England and Great Britain,
79,000 bales; and to the Continent and Channel, 21,000
bales; total since Ist September, 2,784,160 bales. Stock at
all ports, 854,000 hales.
A Times' telegram says that one hundred and
fourteen shipbuilders passed through Montreal on Friday in
last week from Glasgow for Detroit, where they have a
labour contract.

" Aylmer's Field.—Do not think me a trouble, but
you really must let me see you once only, any day or time.
You will do this for my sake. This is making me very low-
spirited and anxious. Send just a line, saying when and
where. You will be acting then kindly to me and to your-
self, and doing what is right. My last was a day late.
Answer soon."—Advertisement in The Times.

Professor Bishoff, of Munich, has found out iay his
experiments that a woman's brain weighs about 143 grammes,
or 101 per cent. less than that of a man.
The General Lynch who has conquered Peru for
the Chi Hans is a scion of the old Galway family of that name,
whose ancient residence, with its strongly-barred windows
and ponderous Spanish perch, surmounted by the Lynch
arms, is one of the sights of the "City of the Tribes."

The Irish Americans held a large meeting in Phil-
adelphia on Monday night, under the auspices of the Land
League, to protest against Mr. Gladstone s coercion BiU.
The Catholic Archbishop Wood sent a letter, as also did
several Catholic clergymen, approving the object of the
meeting. Speaker Randall also sent a sympathetie letter.—
Philadelphia Correspondent of The rifriel.
The New Yorkers are going to do a big thing in
dogs. A World's Show is being got up to take place in New
York in May.

Mr. Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate, having been
asked by the Welsh National Eisteddfod committee to ally
himself with the movement, has intimated that owing to
the state of his health he cannot undertake to attend the
Eisteddfod meetings, but as the committee appear to think
his name will add to the prestige of the Eisteddfod he has
much pleasure in permitting his name to be Included in the
list of vice-presidents.
- - - - - - -

The Empress of Austria has already had some
capital sport in Cheshire. On Saturday she enjoyed a
splendid run with Sir Watkin Wynn's hounds. The meet
was at Macefen, and immediately a fox was found, and after
a most brilliant run, which lasted over an hour-and-a-half, he
escaped. Her Imperial Majesty, with Captain Middleton
and Prince Lichtenstein, were always to the front. Another
fox was put up, and went away at great pace. During this
run the hounds got on fresh foxes, and, as horses and men
were well tired, the hounds were stopped at half-past three,
this run lasting nearly an hour.
'Che Lord Mayor of London lately presented to the
House of Commons a petition from upwards of 10,000 mem-
*hers of French and Swiss Protestant churches, who asked the
House to intervene in order to secure a merciful settlement
of the sad misunderstandings which have led to war in
Basutoland. This petition has been returned to the Lord
Mayor, on the ground that the rules of House prohibit the
reception of petitions from foreigners.

Major Poole, who fell in the attack on Laing's
Nek, was for more than a year the custodian of Cetywayo,
who was very much attached to him, and who is reported
to have cried like a child when he heard of the death of the
Englishman who had done BO much to render his captivity
tolerable.—Cetyvrayo is shortly to be transferred from Cape
Town Castle to a farm near the city, where he will enjoy
considerable liberty.

A return has been published showing that the annual
expense of the Ist class Army Reserve, from its creation in
1810, up to April Ist, 1880, for clothing, necessaries, allow-
mice, and deferred pay amounted to £b83,755 12s. 4d. The
expenses of the maintenance 6f the families of this Reserve
during the time the husbands weae called to arms in the
Russian emergency amounted to £2C,900.
Although the seventh week of the session has ar-
rived, the Government have been able to introduce only 13
bills in the House of Commons out of a total of 89 bill
entered upon the journals, and of these 13 but three have
become Acts of Parliament, and received the Royal assenst
Of the remaining 76 bills 64 have been introduced by Minis-
terial or Home Rule members, and 12 by members of the
Conservative party.

A crowded meeting was held in London, on Mon-
day night, at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street, under
the auspices of the Transvaal Committee, to protest against
the continuance of the war in South Africa, and to urge the
restoration of the Boers to a state of independence. Captain
Verney presided, and Sir Wilfrid Lawson and other mem-
bers of Parliament addreseeel the meeting, which almost
unanimously passed resolutions in favour of the objects
which the committee is endeavouring to attain.

The Maine Senate recently passed a res3lution ex-
pressing sympathy with the Irish people. This resolution
the Maine Assembly have now declined to support. This
course is said to be significant of the changing views of the
American people on the Irish question since Mr. Parnell
visit to Paris.

The Cambridge Chamber of Agriculture have
passed a resolution disapproving the Rivera Conservancy Bill
and the River Floods Prevention Bill, in so far as they will,
if passed, impose local taxation on ratepayers not benefited
thereby, and declaring that any Act for the Conservancy of
Rivers should adhere to the principle observed in all other
drainage Acts, that only such lands and other properties as
are benefited by the works should contribute' to the costs
thereof.
"It was but the other day that Mr. Thomas
Hughes founded the new colony or settlement of Rugby, in
Tennessee, and returned to England. This infant eem-
.inunity (named otter Arnold's Rugby), thoigh it dates its
birth only from Oct. 5, 15i0. has already started its lirst
newspaper, the Rugbetan. This newspaper deals with
almost every subject of interest to the new or intending
settlets—land, climate, soil, drainage, building, tillage, and
the. like. The head-quarters of fhe Board, wilt-eh deals
with the question of land, &c., at Rugby, are at Its OffICES,
67, Moorgate-street, London. —Land.

11- ‘4.,...:12.14.1‘,1 0 3.

M. Thiers is not without honour save in hie own
oountry. The Rathcal Municipality cif Marseilles, his
native town, has rescinded the decision to grant a site for
a statue of him.—Paris Correspondent of The Times.

According to a telegram from Axim, Prince Amah,
uncle of the King of A shantee, has stated that the latter has
been recruiting on a large scale for a long time, and Is now
able to put 90,000 men in the field.
We understand that the Cabinet had the Irish
Land Bill before them for the first time at their meeting on
Saturday.—Monday's Daily News.
A bill to consolidate and amend the law of free
libraries has been introduced into the House by Bir John
Lubbock, Sir Charles Reed, and Lord George Hamilton.
It is understood that Mr. Barlow's estimate for the
new Thy Bridge, at the height of 77 feet, is close upon
£700,00e.

Violent shocks of earthquakes have taken place at
St. Michael's, in the Azores. They have caused some destruc-
tion and much consternation.

The preliminary report upon the silk manufacture
in the United States is issued by the Census Office at
Washington, and shows the total value of finished goods for
the year ending June 30th last to be thirty-four million fcrur
hundred and ten thousand four hundred and sixty-three
dollars, the number of factories three hundred and eighty-
three, and the number of looms eight thousand four hundred
and sixty-seven.

Some dredging work which is going on at Zurich in
the bed of the Limmat has brought to light the shore pillars
of a Roman bridge, as well as the skeleton of a prehistoric
stag.

A valuable contrivance for the transport of persois
suffering from infectious diseases has been adopted in Paris.
Special vehicles have been made of bamboo and varnished
wood, which can be easily cleaned and disinfected by jets of
steam and chemical materials.

A century and a-half of existence waa celebrated
last month by the Haraburgi!che Corres7onclent, which
was started in 1731, although it is believed to have existed
in 1710 under another name. The journal published a jubilee
number containing a photographic reproduction of tho first
number. -

The Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland offers a reward of
£2OO for information respecting the perpetrators of an out-
rage committed in the Island of Arran, on the night of the
7th of January, when 22 sheep were driven into the sea OTIIC
a cliff 200f1. high and destroyed.
- - -

Three eases of antiquities from Mr. Rassam hare
arrived at the British Museum. They are prineipally of
objects found at Kouyunjik and the Nebbi Younnis.
Amongst them are an onyx patera, the socket of a gate with
the name of Sennacherib, and several inscribed clay tablets
and enamelled bricks relating to the Elamite campaign of
Asaurbanihabla.

Tuesday was the 70th anniversary of the birth of
tie Right RCY. John Jackson, D.D., Lord Bishop of 1/011dAlla,
who was born in London on Feb. 22,

The Baroness Burdett-Coutts, on her marriage,
presented to the tenants on the Columbia estate the sum of
Al each. Nearly £4OO wa.s distributed by Mr. L. Harrison,
her agent, on this account. Substantial presents have also
been given to all the Baroness's employ 4 on the Highgate
ostato and elsen here.

Her Majesty has directed letters to be sent in her
name to the near relatives of many of the officers who have
lost their lives in action in the Transvaal, expressing her
sympathy for them in the sad losses they have sustained.

In Philadelphia, the other day, two Chinamen ap-
plied in Chicago for full naturalization as American citizens.
The application was held under advisement, the Judge
stating that the ffew York and San Francisco Courts had
decided that Chinamen cannot become citizens. Be also
thought that the new treaty might prevent them from be-
coming full citizens.

The Duchess of Marlborough, in acknowledging the
volume of addresses lately presented to her Grace, in recog-
nition of her labours for the relief of Irish distress during
last winter, expresses a hive that the torrent of agitation
now sweeping over Ireland will not obliterate in the minds
of those who were the objects of .her earnest solicitude the
sentiments of loyalty and gratitude which she trusted those
exertions would have evoked.
On Monday morning a fatal accident occurred at
Barrow Shipbuilding Works. Thomas Orton, forty-five years
of age, a plater, working on the steamer Navarre, suddenly
fell a distanoe of 30ft. from a plank on which he was walk-
ing. Re was carried by some of his fellow-workmen to the
North Loruidsle Hospital, but died almost immediately. He
has left a wife and four children.

The memorial cross to the Prince Imperial is
erected, and stands on the common immediately opposite
Camden House, Clislehurst. It is built upon a brick founda-
tion, and makes a prominent ornangyAt, being visilele from a
long distance. The granite was brodght from Scotland, and
is of a grey oolour, cut in the Grecian form. It is a monu-
ment of great simplicity, standing 27 feet high, and bears the
full name of the late Prince Imperial, with the date upon
which he met his death in Zululand.

Sir Charles Dilke, Sir William Harcourt, Mr.
Chamberlain, and the Attorney-General have put their names
on the back of a Bill to amend and make perpetual the Ballot
Act. Under this Act the penalty on a voter who displays his
ballot paper may be five pounds; local authorities may, if
they think flt, keep the boxes open till eight o'clock in the
evening. It also furnishes a code of rules for the direstion
of returning officers.

The United States Treasury Department reports
that the imports of iron and steel from the United Kingdom
to the United States were 1,574,100 tons, value 56,690,96(1
dols. last year; 762,612 tons, value 16,719,400 dols. the pre-
vious year; and 157,470 tons, value 11,617,770 dols., in
1878.

Some excavations commenced at the distance of
about a kilometre from the walls of Pompeii, with a view
to ascertaining the nature of the surroundings of the city,
have led to the discovery, within an area of but a few square
metres, ot 30 skeletons, ten of which were huddled together
in one room of a small suburban villa, and among and upon
the bones were found bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and
other objects of the kind.

At a crowded meeting of the incorporated members
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, hold on
Friday, in last week, at Willis's Rooms, London, under the
presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the resolutions
proposed by the special comrdittee for petitioning Her
Majority for a new charter to secure the better government
of the society were, on the motion of Canon Gregory, carried
without alterations and nearly unanhnously.

According to intelligence receiyed from St. Michael's
very bad weather hasbeen experienced at the Azores, causing
great loss in the orange crops. Only the two steamers—
Azorsen and Oceano—now lying there will be able to be
loaded. There has been a slight earthquake at Ponta
Delgada, but in other parts of the island the shocks were
more severe. Some small villages were destroyed, and many
houses in Villa Franca thrown down.

The Postmaster-General has, we believe, informed
Mr. Stewart macliver, M.P., that he intends personally to
takq the evidence of telegraph clerks, male and female, both
in 1.41,d0n and the country, in order that he may be in a
position to devise a scheme for the purpose of removing the
grievances of which they complain.—Standard.
A meeting in favour of the retention of Candahar
was held in London, on Tuesday afternoon, at Bt. James's
Hall, under the auspices of the Constitutional Union, Mr.
Edward Stanhope, M.P., presiding. Colonel Mallesen
delivered a lecture entitled "Why we should not evacuate
Candahar," in which he said that the natives of India de-
clared with one voice that no frontier can be secure which
does not include Candahar.

The Bishop of Exeter has issued an invitation to
the clergy of his diocese for " asday of retirement and de-
votion." which sets forth the following programme :—Holy
Communion, with sermon, 8 a.m. ; breakfast at the Waco,
8.30; the 'first address, at 10.30; morning prayer, 11; the
second address, 12.30 to 1.15p.m. ; dinner at palace, 1.31 ;
the third address, 2.30 to 2.0; the fourth address, 1.30;
evening prayer, 4. It is added that the intervals that
occur "may be spent either in meditation in the chapel or
in the garden of the palace." It is further stipulated that
"silence will be maintained throughout the day, exceping
as regards subjects of a spiritual character."

At the London and North Western meeting of share-
holders on Saturday Mr. Moon touched upon a subjeet of
much interest to railway proprietors generally. Speaking
of the saving effected by the substitution of steel for iron
rails, he said that while in 1874 the eost of relaying the line
wai £454,000 for materials alone, the total cost in IsBo was
or.ly No doubt the lower price of iron and steel
last year partly accounted for this saving, but if they took
the actual weight of metal laid down they would still find a
great reduction. Thus, about the year 1875 the mileage re-
laid annually was 211 or 220 miles, whereas last year, not-
withstanding the severity of the winter, only 150 miles had
to is. relaid.
The miners' strike in the Wigan districts virtually
terminated on Monday. At nearly all the collieries in the
neighbourhood numbers of men resumed work, and it is
believed that they will be joined day by day by others. On
Monday about 3,000 colliers were working and as many more
day-wage men, drawers, d7c. The masters have made no ad-
vance in wages, but have promised to recommend the trade
to grant weekly payment of wages. Every precaution was
taken to prevent any interference with those resuming work,
but no disturbance took place. The strike has hated seven
weeks.

For a considerable time past the borough magistrates
of Bedford have been in the habit of inflicting a fine of Od.
without costs upon anti-vaccinators when summoned before
them for disobeying the vaccination law. One of the
guardians of the union has just discovered that the coats—
about Gs. ad. in each case—are charged upon the common
fund, and the amount per annum is very considerable, as
there are a great many anti-vaccinators in the town. Conse-
quent upon this the guardians at their last meeting ordered
a letter to be sent te the magistrates asking them to alter
this state of things, and make the defendants pay their own
costs in future. It was hinted by ens of the guardians that
they would have seriously considered the advisability of
ordering any further prosecutions for non-Tacoination in the
borough if the cost was to be borne by ratepayers who obeyed
the law.