The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-07-17 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH ANT) FOREIGN.

A proclamation has been issued at Ottawa granting
a general amnesty to all persons implicated in the late
rebellions in the North-West, except those guilty ce,
attempting to murder in cold blood.
Mr. Carl Rosa has been elected a maser of o'6
Council of the Royal College of Musio. He had tto
honour of being proposed by the Prince #.l Wales.
In the French Chamber, on Saturday, on the motion
of M. Develle, the Minister of Agricultgre, the nrst
clause of the bill imposing a surtax on cereals was
referred back to the committee, thus postponing the
further consideration of the measure.

At a Cabinet Council held in Paris it has been
decided to withdraw the bill authorising che Panama
Canal Lottery Loan.
The death has occurred of M. Bouree, formerly
French Ambweador at Constantinople.
The Egyptian Bilinistry has resolved to dismiss the
Director-General of the Daira.

Arthur Brighty, the lad who was sentenced to a
memth's hard labour for assaulting Mr. Slater at an
election meet!ng in West Islington, was released on
Sunday from Holloway Prison, after undergoing half
his sentence.

At the instance of M. Onou, Councillor to the
RuFsian Embassy, the Porte has paid a further instal-
ment of £T50,000 on account of the Russo-Turkish
War In&mnity:
Tl.e declaration of the French Protectorate over the
Comoro Islands, situated in the Mozambique Channel,
hits been officially notified to the Signatory Powers of
the Berlin Conference.
Two mysterious deaths are reported from East-
bourne. A man's body, partly decomposed, was found
in a field near Langley Marsh; aid the body of a boy
Lamed Alfred Goldsmith, who Lad been missed for
s me days, has been discovezed in Norway Pond.
Lord Rosebery has made arrangements for the publi-
cation, in future, of Diplomatic and Consular Reports
on Trade, &c., as separate and substantive papers. By
these means reports which are ready for publication
will be issued at once without waiting for others which
are in a less advanced staae, and the delay which has
hitherto been occasioned by the existing practice will
thus be avoided.

The Barry Dock and Railway Company, while con-
structing their railway near Cardiff, came upon some
coal, which they got out anil used to supply the engines
engaged in the construction of their works. But the
minerals under the land belonged to the Maritime
Coal Company, who, after endeavouring in vain to in-
duce the Dock Company to pay for the coal, took pro-
ceedings on Saturday in the Chancery Division. Vice-
Chancellor Bacon said the Dock Company had no right
to touch the minerals without first paying for them,
and he granted the injunction for which the Coal Corn.
pany asked.
The Princess Christian, oh Maturday, laid the f Dunda-
tion stone of the Finsbury and Shoreditch Polytechnic,
a building designed as the head-quarters of popular
technical instruction and healthful recreation for the
young persons of that large district. The estimated
cost is eight thousand poutds, of which only three
thousand have been contributed. _

The Duke of Westminster presided on Saturday at
the annual festival of the Normal College for the
Blind at Norwood. After concert had been given by
the students, the chairman said the institution was in a
most prosperous condition; it had now 176 pupils, and
it was intended to enlarge the premises. There was
also a project on foot to establish local committees to
assist in finding situations for pupils leaving the
College.
The French Government has ordered that 16 regi-
ments of Infantry and 17 battalions of Foot Chasseurs
are to be forthwith supplied with repeating rifles; and
it is understood that 60,000 of such rifles will be fur-
nished to the French Army before the end of the
present month. Some Paris newspapers state that this
step is being taken in consequence of information that
some German battalions in Alsaca-Lorraine are being
armed in this manner.

There has been published as a Parliamentary Paper
copies and translations of the Treaties referred to in
Commercial 'Convention between the Governments of
Great Britain aud Spain, which was signed at Madrid
in April last. Appended to this is a table of the Spanish
conventional and unconventional tariff.

The Duchess of Cambridge completes her eighty-
ninth year on the 25th inst., and, except the infirmity
she has suffered for some years, is in wonderfully good
health.

____A____
t the Royal Observatory, Greeawicb, the mean
reading of the barometer last week was 29.891 n.; the
variation being from 30•13 in. to 29•586 n. The mean
temperature of the air, 66.5, was 4•5 above the average.
Rain fell one day of the week to the amount of 002 of
an inch. The duration of registered bright sunshine
in the week was 591 hours, against 66 5 hours at
Glyndc-place, Lewes.

Miss Frances Ravel, of Upper Baker-street, Regent's.
park, was fined 20s. at the Marylebone Police-court, on
Tuesday, for assaulting Police Inspector Prendergast
by throwing a jug of water over him while he and other
policemen were killing a mad dog. The animal be-
longed to a Miss Olyde, of Ist. John's-wood. Sum-
monses against the police for maliciously killing the
dog were dismissed.
The receipts on account of revenue from the Ist of
April, 1886, when there was a balance of 15,625,944, to
July 10, 1886, were £22,740,203, against £22,938,164 in
the corresponding period of the preceding financial
year, which began with a balance of £4,993,207. The
net expenditure was £27,787,898, against £28,959,954
to the same date in the previous year. The Treasury
balances on July 10, 1856, amounted to £1,495,501, and
at the same date in 1885 to £2,295,103.
_

Near Freemount, Kanturk, on Tuesday night, a party
of about 20 armed men attacked the house of a man
named Walsh, fired shots into it, and then entered and
beat the inmates severely. They afterwards went to
the ho..se of a man named Sallivau, and there corn..
mitted a similar outrage.
Ireland is blessed with the promise of a splendid
harvest. From north, south, west, and the midlands
come most favourable account i of the maturing crops.
The flax crop in the north gives everywhere promise of
being equal, if not superior to, that of last year, and
in every province, the potato, though rather backward,
promises an abundant yield, without any sign of blight.
Wheat, though not extensively cultivated, and oats,
which are extensively sown, are in a flourishing con-
dition, with every prospect of an abundant yield. Hay
and grass will be luxuriant crops, and the green are
also thriving, their progress having been greatly ac•
celerated by the warm showery weather of the last
fortnight. Altogether the farmers generally admit
that the agricultural prospect is most satisfactory.
Colonel W. H. Gilder was arrested just as he was on
the point of starting on his expedition to the Polar
seas. He is charged with the misappropriation of a
bond entrusted to him. He was released on bail,
pending further proceedings, but the departure of his
expedition is postponed.
F. Williams, G. Williams, Samuel Johnson, Tom
Taylor, Thomas Jones, and Frances Stevens, were on
Tuesday charged, on remand, at the Southwark Police-
court, with being concerned together with breaking
and entering various dwelling-honses at Balham and
other places, and stealing a large quantity of pro-
petty, valued at £500; and J. Knight, a general
dealer, was charged with receiving some of the pro-
perty, well knnwing it to have been stolen, The pri-
soners were committed for trial.

The Afghan Boundary Commission has made no
progress for a month past, notwithstanding that the
Ermlish Commissioner has urged the completion of the
work. The Russian members of the Commission have
received instructions to protract the delay pending the
result of the English elections.
An infernal machine outrage has been perpetrated at
the residence of Mr. T. C. Campbell, J.P., near London-
derry. Mr. Campbell is a Protestant merchant who
gave his vote and interest for the Nationalist candidate
at the recent election for Derry city.
The annual Temperance Fête at the Crystal Palace
Look place on Tuesday. A prominent feature in the
day's proceedings was a reception luncheon given by
the National Temperance League to colonial delegates
attending the congress which has been convened by
that organisation. Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R S,,
presided, and alluded to the advance made during the
last 20 years with regard to the physical department of
the temperance question. Several daegates also
addressed the meeting. Other conferences took place,
and there were three concerts by separate contingents,
of 5000 abstainers in each case.
At the Lancaster Assizes on Tuesday, Alfred Bligh,
a police•constable stationed at Kirkham, was indicted
for the wilful murder of his three young children.
Prisoner, who was a widower, sent his housekeeper
out of the way, and after he had killed the children he
cut his own throat and threw himself from a window.
Ihe defence was one of insanity, but the jury found a
verdict of guilty, and sentence of death was passed.
It is reported from Bucharest that Count Bratiano,
who was to have gone to a foreign watering-place, has,
after a Ministe dal Council, given up his journey, and
will remain at home. This decision is said to be owing
to impending entanglement, the scene of which is to be
Bulgaria.
Mr. Hugh Watt, M.P., has just had conferred upon
him by the President the Grand Cross of the Order of
Simon Bolivar, for distinguished commercial services
in connection with the United States of Venezuela
On Tuesday evening the foundation ;stone was laid
of the Bickersteth Memorial Hall at Hampstead, which
is to form the completion of a testimonial to the Might
Rev Dr. Bickersteth, Bishop of Exeter, for 30 years
vicar of Christ Church. Hampetead.

Mr. Holyoake, boot maker, Market-place, Leicester,
greatly to his surprise, received, on Saturday morning,
a letter by post containing cheques amounting to
nearly £lOO, which had been stolen in a very daring
meaner from his shop the previous day. The letter
also contained a piece of paper, on which was written
"Mush obliged for the gold." The robbery was effected
by a supposed "customer "calling the proprietor's son
to the shop door while he was in charge alone, to point
out a special boot in his shop window, while an acorn-
plice entered the shop and secured from a desk a bag
containing between £4O and £5O in gold and notes, and
about £lOO in cheques. The robbery was not dis-
covered till the " customer " had gone.
Thore was a desperate affray at a lodging-house at
Hanley on Saturday night, in which the keeper of the
house, a blind mln named Hall, was killed; Some
lodgers were fighting when Hall and his wife attempted
to separate them. Two of them, named Brown and
Richards, knoeked Hall down and jumped upon him„,
inflicting such internal injuries as resulted in his death.
Off Shields Harbour a collision occurred on Saturday
between the Swedish schooner Elizabeth and the screw
steamer Recta, of Sunderland. The Elizabeth left
Shields Harbour for Kalmar. She was afterwards run.
into by the Recta. The damage she sustained was con-
siderable. The Elizabeth was compelled to put back'
to the Tyne for repairs.
Messrs. Krupp have secured a contract from the.
Chinese Government for the supply of 1500 tens ot
steel rails, the price, including freight, being 255. oer
ton below the lowed English offer.

The residence, near Listowel, of Mr. P. Mahoney,.
the Parnellite member for North Meath, was entered
on Sunday by a party of Moonlighters, who carried
away a gun and a revolver.
There was a large and representative assembly at
Bloomsbury Chapel, London, on Monday, where a
special service was held in connection with the funeral
of the Rev. J. P. Chown. The Rev. Dr. Angus,
Principal of Regent's•park College, delivered an
address. _ _

Henry Taylor, a discharged soldier, committed
suicide on Monday by throwing himself in front of a
train at Church Fenton, on the Leeds side of the
Bardsey Station. In his pocket was found a sheet of
paper on which was written, "Died of a broken heart.
Unable to find employment."
The opening of the first public swimming bath ire
Dublin on Monday was marked by an amusing inci-
dent. After the inaugural ceremony the Lord Mayor
(Mr. T. D. Sullivan, M.P.) end the Town Clerk stripped,.
and were the first to plunge into the water. A stirring
race followed, the Lord Mayor beating the Town.
Clerk.
At Dublin on Monday Judge Boyd, as Receiver
Judge, said an attachment should issue against Mr.
Ryan, secretary of the Carlisle Branch of the Natienal
League, for having written to an auctioneer cautioning
him against selling Mr. Daniel Gobbett's lands at,
Cahirconlish, county Limerick.
A farmer at Cranbrook, in Kent, being unable to
obtain more than the nominal price of 31s. per quarter
for his wheat, decided to have it ground himself. This.
he did, telling the miller to make the flour as good as
possible. The result was that the offal more than paid
for the grinding, and the grower has since been able to-
sell the whole of the flour at 9d. per gallon, thus
realising 425. per quarter.
Dr. Terence Brodie, of Spidda, Galway, shot his wife
on Monday. When the police entered the house the
accused, who is stated to be labouring under a delu-
sion, said he was about to give himself up. Mrs.
Brodie was found lying in a pool of blood, shot through
the head. A gun was also found hidden beneath a
table. When brought before the magistrates the
accused asked to be tried at the next assizes, and said
he would "die like a man."

Recently a deputation from the Cheshire Chamber of
Agriculture, the Cheshire Agricultural Society, and
other local societies interested in the carriage of agri-
cultural produce, waited upon the directors of the
London and North-Western Railway Company, to corn-
plaia of the preferential rates which the company
quoted for American and foreign produce over the cost
of the carriage of Cheshire dairy and other home pro-
duce. The directors, having listened to the arguments
adduced of unfair preferential rates, promised to reply
by post. They now regret, after giving the matter
full consideration, that they are unable to meet the
wishes of the deputation with regard to a reduction in
the rates for milk, butter, and cream cheese; but they
are prepared to make some reduction in the rates for
farm produce—such as potatoes' carrots, and turnips—
to Liverpool and Manchester. They are also prepared
to make reductions in the rates for packed and stable
manure, lime, and oilcake. As regards cheese and
meat, the rates are in hand for revision. The rate for
cheese, from Nant Rich to Halifax, specially zomplained
of, has already been reduced.
An action brought by Messrs Kelly and Co., against
Messrs. Hammond and Co.' printers, Messrs. Eyre
Brothers being third parties, for a piracy of a portion
of plainiiff's Directory for Devonshire and Cornwall,
concluded on Monday, when Mr. Justice Cave, who had
tried the case without a jury, gave judgment for plain-
tiffs for £l2, with costs, this to be recovered after-
wards by Messrs. Hammonds and Co. from Eyre
Brothers. _ _ _

The Library Committee of the Corporation of
London gave a banquet on Monday evening at the
Albion, Aldersgato-street, to celebrate the opening of
the Corporation Art Gallery. Sir F Leighton, P.R.A.,
who responded for the toast of "Success to the Art
Gallery," said he regarded what had been done as only
the herald of what was to come, and, as such, hailed it
with the deepest satisfaction.
The Due d'Aumale, having been officially informed.
that his name had been removed from the French
army list, has appealed to the Council of State, and has
written to the President of the Republic, stating that
military grades are beyond his attack. The Due de,
Chartres has also appealed to the Council of State. DI.
Brisson, late Premier, has expressed to M. de Freycinet
his surprise that the Duo d'Aumale had not beets ex-
pelled as soon as his letter was received.
The celebration of the 12th July occasioned some
rioting in the North of Ireland on Monday, and in
Belfast two Protestants wore stabbed. Cheers and
salutes were given by the Orangemen for Lord Harting
ton, Sir George Trevelyan, Mr. Bright, Mr. Chamber-
lain and other Liberal Unionists. Forty Orange lodges
met near Cookstown, in the county of Tyrone, and
there was a great meeting at Armagh. At Walton,
near Liverpool, a mass meeting of Orangemen was also
held.

Margaret Weston, the wife of an engine-driver, was
committed for trial at Wolverhampton on Monday for
attempting to drown her four children and herself.
The prisoner first threw the children into the caeal, and
then :lumped in after them. She had for some time
past been subject to fits, and was suspected of being
mentally deranged. The prisoner, in reply to the
magistrate, said there had been quart Is between her-
self and her husband because she had got in debt, and
she determined to drown herself and the children.
M Paul de Cassagnac addressed a public meeting at
Armentieres, in the Department of the Nord, on Sun-
day, and denounced the Republican Government now
ruling France, saying the time had-long passed when
the Republic could be accepted by honest men. Serious
disturbances followed, and the street fights were kept
up until 11 o'clock at night. Firearms were used, and
several persons were seriously injured.
Mr. Justice Cave on Monday directed the prepa-
ration of an order for the committal of Mr. James
M‘Henry, a bankrupt who had neglected to Ale a gate-
ment of accounts. Upon former liquidation proceed-
ings in this case, it was stated that the liabilities
amounted to seven hundred thousand pourds ; but
counsel said these figures would now be materislly
altered. Oa behalf of the bankrupt, who hap bcen con-
cerned in American railways and finance, it was said
that he was willing to do all that was reasonable. The,
Judge said the order would be suspended tor a ri v nth,
and if the accounts were filed in the meantia.k.,, the
committal would not be issuee