The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-01 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A German translation of Lord Beaconsfield's
g!Endymion "is being prepared at Leipsie.

- - - -
The Athenceum, states that a picture attributed to
Efogarth has been bequeathed to the bia.tioual Gallery.

A Berlin telegram seites that Russia
.has ordered
Krupp cannon of the value of 3,000,000 roubles.

The Queen's Christmas alms were distributed this
week at the Royal Almonry, at Whitehall. The number of
persons relieved was 1,108, of whom 1.000 received 6s. each,
and 168 13s; The ages of the recipients ranged from eighty
to ninety-six years.

Prince Ulrich, the only son of Prince William heir
presumptive to the Crown of Wurtemberg, died at Stuttgart,
on Tuesday afternoon. .

The South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire and the
Rotherham and District Miners' Association have resolved
that notices to cease work shall be given at every colliery in
these districts on the sth of January. This step is taken to
attempt to secure a 10 per cent, advance in the current
wages. Each lodge will hold a special meeting, in order
that unanimity may be secured.

• The Liverpool Journal of Commerce says that the
Liverpool Corporation has decided to light up several of the
main thoroughfares with the electric light, and have
accepted the tender of the Thitish ElOttiic Liwlit Company to
proceed at once with the work.

The Town Council of Dundee have had under con-
sideration the plans and Bill for thenew Tay Bridge. They
decided to recommend Parliament to make the height of the
bridge forty feet above high water level instead of seven-
seven-as proposed in the Bill, and are to take steps to secure
the co-operation of the burghs interested in seeing that the
new structure is a thoroughly substantial one to attain the
object in view.

Enthusiastic lady church-workers who find it diffi-
cult to raise money for church purposes should take a hint
from their Transatlantic sisters. In Aberdeen, Mississippi,
the other day, a number of young ladies who had been 'Di-
able to gather sufficient funds for a charitable object, went
into the fields for a day's labour, and made £2 by their
work.

The officials of the Irish Emigrant Society in New
York state that during the three weeks before Christmas
they sent 5,000 small drafts to Ireland as gifts from Irish-
Americans. In the aggregate these amounted to 1,000,000
do's.

"Why," we asked of a Scotchman (says the (Jraphic),
" are your cattle generally the primest in the English
market?" The reply was, "We grow better and cheaper
turnips thanyou do. '

On Tuesday afternoon the " Zulu " a fast train,
which left the Paddington Station of the Great Western.
Railway at three o'clock for Plymouth, while running about
sixty miles an hour between Slough and Taplow, was sud-
dei.dy disabled by the breaking of the crank axle. Assistance
having been telegraphed for, another engine was sent from
Paddington, and with this the express resumed its journey
about six o'clock. No injuries were received by the passen-
gers, but several trains were delayed.
Some ourioui Indian bats are now housed in the
Paris Jardiu d'Acclimatation. They belong to a very rare
species to be found only in the remote forests of Ixidia, and
differ from the European bats in not being of nocturnal
habits.

In a letter, received at Kilkenny Castle by Lord
Arthur Butler, it is stated that the Empress of Austria has
definitely abandoned her intention of visiting Kilkenny
during the hunting season.

A Melbourne correspondent, writing on November
11, says :—" The Exhibition seems to maintain fairly well
its popularity. The visitors admitted daily vary between
6,000 and 6,000. The Austrian band performs almost daily
In the building, and has made itself one of the chief attrac-
tractions of Melbourne.

The Leggistem tunnel, near Wasen, the first spiral
tunnel on the St. Gothard line, has been completed. It is
1,000 metres long, and has been bored through hard granite
entirely by hand labour, as, owing to the absence of water
power, perforators could not be used.'
-

The Edison Electric Light Company has asked
permission of the Board of Aldermen to introduce their
light in New York. Six different companies are now intro-
ducing electric lights in New York—viz., the Brush, Maxim,
Edison, Jablochkoff, Sawyer, and Gramme.

The Detached Squadron, under the command of
Rear Admiral the Earl of Clanwilliam, C. 8., arrived at Monte
Video from the Capp de Verde Islands on Wednesday. the
22nd inst. It will be remembered that the Princes Albert
Victor and George of Wales are on board the Bacchante,
Captain Lord Charles Scott, formiit one of the ships of the
Squadron.
Sir Frederick Roberts, who formerly lived in
Bristol, having promised to visit that city in January, the
citizens intend to entertain him at a public banquet ; while
the Society of Merchant Venturers propose to give a grand
ball in their Hall to Sir Frederick and Lady Roberts.

The Agent-General for New South Wales has been
informed by telegram of the arrival in Sydney of the ship
Northampton, which sailed from Plymouth with emigrants
in September last.
The late John Frederick Stanford, Esq., barrister.
at-law, of the Regent's-park, London, has left to the National
Lifeboat Institution £6,000, for the purpose of placing and
maintaining a lifeboat on the coast "as a permanent memo-
rial in honour" of his late mother, the lifeboat being named,
after her, the Mary Stanford.

Prince 'Waldemar of Denmark, the youngest brother
of the Princess of Wales, has had a narrow escape. The
Prince was assisting at some experiments with torpedoes
and dynamite, when two cartridges, charged with dynamite,
exploded accidentally, and two officers and several of the
assistants. were wounded.

To the donation of 40,000 gulden given by the Imperial
family for distribution among the poor of Vienna on the
occasion ot the Crown Prince Rudolph's marriage, the
Municipal Council of the city have now resolved to add a
subscription of an equal amount. With the Emperor's gift
it has been determined to redeeinwinter clothing, linen, and
tools pledged by destitute families. The other half of the
fund will be distributed among the most deserving poor, in
sums of from ten shillings to five five pounds sterling.

Over a quarter of an inch (27) of rain was
measured at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, within the
,twenty-four hours ending three p.m. on Tuesday.

As Dr. Luce was -being driven on Tuesday into
Stratford-on-Avon by his groom the horse bolted, and gallop-
ing up-Bridge-street, dashed into the shop of Mr. Inns, iron-
monger, High-street. ' The vehicle was prennted by the
doorway from entering, and the groom was thrown into the
shop. Dr. Luce, however, was struck on the head by the
upper part of the door, and sustained such injuries that he is
not expected to live

The shipments of wheat from America to Europe
during the past week amounted to 187,000 quarters, of
which 152,000 were for the United Kingdontand 35,000 for
the Continent; and of maize to 109,500 quarters, of which
59,500 were for the United Kingdom. To the latter destina-
tion were also shipped 186,000 bags of flour. The visible
supply of wheat in the United States is now 29,800,000
bushels, and of maize 16,400,000 bushels.
_

Presiding at the recent annual reunion of the Liver-
pool Skipwrights' Association, Lord Claud J. H amilton,
M.P., said he felt confident that, given a fair field and no
favour, British artisans could and always would produce r.
better article than the artisans of other nations, and at as
cheap a cost; but if various British trades were unfairly
handicapped by duties and bounties they would lose their
supremacy, if they did not go to the wall altogether. If the
foreigners found their policy answered;and to all appearance
they did at present, they would become more aggressive
until some of our great industries were placed at a disad•
vantage in the markets of the world.

The Marquis of Bute has announced his intention
of presenting to the Cardiff Infirmary Committee a freehold
site of four acres in extent, which is valued at from £IO,OOO
tg £12,000. His Lordship is a donor of £I,OOO to the
Building Fund.

FOreigners in China have not been looked upon with
Feat favour of late, so that in the Tartar streets of Canton
it has been found necessary to post a proclamation ordering
the payment of proper respect to foreigners under severe
penalties. The notice states that, as peace is noli,existing
between China and other oountries, foreigners ouglit to be
looked upon as members of one and the Caine family, and
repyoves all ignorant persons who make rude remarks on
foreign officers and merchants, or call them names.

The other morning the body of Mr. John Going&ly,
inspector of bridges on the Midland Railway, was found in
a mutilated state on the line at Lyston, near Leicester. The
deceased, who was nearly 70 years of age, was well-known
all over the line. He was walking to inspect a new bridge,
when, in avoiding one train, he stepped before the news-
paper express and was cut to pieces.

The number of letters posted and delivered in
Liverpool this Christmas in excess of last was 157,011. The num-
ber posted was 402,402, and the number delivered was 396,100.
These numbers were over and above the ordinary corres-
pondence. Handcarts were freely used by the postmen on
Christmas-day. The delivery of letters &e., was protracted
far into the evening, and the carriers had to be assisted by
the telegraph boys.

Washing butter is recommended by Professor
Arnold, who says :—" If the water be free from foreign
matter that will affect the butter, it will keep better for
washing the buttermilk out than by kneading it out."

The Bishop of Peterborough has asked a large con-
gregation to support the Agricultural Benevolent Society,
as probably English farmers were suffering more than their
noisy Irish neighbours.

Agricultural Education in America lately received
the commendation of Mr. Clare Sewell Read, and we (says
the Graphic) have obtained a list of colleges and farms
where young men may pay fees and earn money by their
actual labour on the land. These number over twenty in the
United States, as against the two colleges that hitherto have
been enough for the United Kingdom. Fresh establishments
are now being started at home.

The Standard says :—" We understand that the Bill
which the Government intend to introduce next Session/ for
continuing and amending the Ballot Act, will contain a
provision for the extension of the polling hours in Cities and
Boroughs. The Bill, we believe, is to be placed under the
charge of Sir Charles Mike."

A new insect pest has been ravaging the rice crops
round Monghir in Bengal, not very far distant from the
famous Patna rice district. The fly belongs to the genus
Cecidomyia, and is related to the Hessian fly which did so
much damage to the American wheatfields, but hitherto
none of the species had ever been seen in India. It is
proposed to christen the insect Ceeidomyia oryzce, or rice
fly.
On Thursday night. in last week the Paddington
Station of the Great Western Railway was lighted for the
first time by the Brush Electric light. Thirty-four lamps
were hung from the roof of the station over the various
platforms, but only 13 were lighted. At half-past eight the wires
were attached to the terminals of one of the dynamic
machines, and the terminus in a moment was illuminated
amid the cheers of the spectators.

The London correspondent of the Leeds Mercury
understands that Mr. Fawcett (the Postmaster-General) is
inglined to snake a still greater extension of the Post Office
Insurance system. It is thought that some arrangement may
eventually be made v
ebnyiwnlsictluhethei‘Siaavyionrgs
oßfanpkectareid.bso,rwohuigchh
have become so popular, may be utilised for the insurance
principle.
On
g
(Mr. John Thompson) entertained a large number of his
employes in the Corn Exchange, the principal inhabitant., of
the city, including the Dean of Peterborough, being present.
Reference was especially made to the good feeling which
such gatherings were calculated to- foster between masters
and workmen.
M. Munkacsy, the great Hungarian painter, has
just been ennobled by the Emperor Francis Joseph.
A terrible accident occurred on Christmas Day at
the village of Saillagot, is Tarn et Garonne. The roof of
the church fell in during vespers and sad to relate seven per-
sons were killed and fifty severely injured.
At the meeting of the Mersey Docks and Harbour
Board it has been resolved to adopt the electric light at a
portion of the new dock system at the north end of the city,
at an estimated cost of £2,000. This is to be an experiment
and upon the result will depend the, extension of the light
over the docks generally.
Mr. Crawshay Baily, Abergavenny, who holds very
extensive landed property in .Glamorganshire, Monmouth-
shire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and other counties,
has granted a reduction of 10 per cent, on the last half-
year's rent to all his agricultural tenants.
At the soiree of the associated societies at Liverpool,
Professor Swan described the new light which he, in con-
junction with Mr. Stearn, had invented, and which he said
would before long be brought into domestic use, as well as
In places of bu.siness. He said the light was steady anci
mild, and could be easily divided, in proof of which he gaVe
Illustrations in St. George's Hall. The lamp was constructed
on the principle of incandescence, and the„carbon was en-
tirely secluded from contact with the air, and they could
light from 150 to 260 candles by an engine of one horse and a
half, and make as many divisions of the light as they
wanted. The lamps were so simple, that if broken a servant
could replace them. He also exhibited an electric safety-
lamp for use In mines, which was of oat strength, for Were
baneldnyrg
abrooplcowbeovi
amansy blotwca., I:
elep waS movable,

Zerlina.—Theught I was forgotten, but now know'
lam not. Wish you every happiness. Am always true to •
my two vows. Let me know if you see this."—Advertisement
in The Times.
A historical horse is dead—the milk-white steed
belonging to the Comte de Chambord, on which it was
intended Henry V. should make his entry as King into Paris,
during the Royalist plot of 1873. Since then the horse has
lived literally in clover, awaiting any emergency, but it has
died after all without seeing its master restored to the throne
of his fathers.

We ( Standard) hear that the Admi,ralty have ap-
proved of plans for the construction of anew type of torpedo-
boat, and among other novelties to be introduced will be her
pripulsion by Means of hydraulic engines working up to one
hundred indicated horse-power.

Sir Stafford Northcote has issued invitations to the
supporters of the late Government in the House of Commons
to dine with him on the sth of January, the eve of the
Meeting of Parliament.
It is estimated that no fewer than 410,000 letters in
addition to the ordinary correspondence have passed
through the hands of the Manchester Post-office officials
this Christmas. _

'The Electrician says that the Post-Office authorities
have given an order for 20,000 Gower-Bell telephones.
•

The Glasgow • Daily Mail, in its annual report on
Clyde shipbuilding, states that there has been a very marked
improvement in the Clyde shipbuilding trade since the
beginning of the present year, and this has been steadily
maintained with an increased order of new contracts. The
returns show that 242,774 tons, representing 226 steam vessels,
and 29 sailing ships have been put into the river, giving an
increase of 68,051 tons over that of 1879. There are about fifty
vessels presently under construction on the Clyde of over
3,000 tons each.
Dried potatoes, like dried apples, ate now being
brought to market, and past experiments promise to make
the process adopted useful and popular.
The multiplication of provincial colleges goes on
apace. Liverpool has collected about £lOO,OOO for the endow- •
ment of its new University College, and now it is announced
that no less a sum than £125,000 is ready for the endowment
of a similar institution at Dundee.
Christmas Eve was celebrated at. Sandringham by
the usual distribution of joints of beef as the gift of his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to all the cottagers on
the Royal Estate. The Prince travelled from London to
Wolverton in order to be present at he distribution.
The other day a whale'was captured in Aberdeen Bay
by the crew of a trawler. The whale became entangled in the
trawling gear, and apt being able to free itself, was killed,
after a running fight which lasted two hours, and taken
into Aberdeen Harbour. It is fourteen feet in length, a.ud
will probably yield a good profit to the captors. •
A correspondent warns intending goat-keepers that
these animals, where they fped off steep banks, nibble, and
often pull away, the herbage, roots and all, so that the vege-
tation that binds together the soil would be destroyed or
only left in patches.
Messrs. P. D. Armour and Co. have taken the
lard average on 200,00 Q hogs slaughtered by them during
November of the present year, and find it to be 421 b. against
39•651 b. in November of last year. This does not include
grease. The production of lard is said to be rapidly in-
creasing in the United States.
In a letter which he has addressed to one of his con-
stituents, Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P., says he will have no
hesitation in voting with Mr. P. A. Taylor for the total
abolition of compulsory vaccination. •

There are, at the present time, it is stated, 14,000,000
bushels of grain stored at Chicago, as compared With
12,000,000 at the same period last year.
On Tuesday morning, at the Round Oak offices,
Dudley, his lordship's colliers definitely agreea to revert to
the system of field pay and surgical help rather than accept
the provisions of the Employers' Liability Act. The imme-
morial custom, now newly sanctioned, provides for all
injuries, and for relief for women and children.

At a meeting of Liberals held in Accrington on
Monday night a resolution was passed expressing sympathy
with Mr. Bnadlaugh, M.P., in his effort to abolish perpetual
pensions, and requesting the members for the division, Lord
Hartington and Mr. Grafton, to support Mr. Bradlaugh's
motion on the subject.

A sad ice accident occurred at Ripon on Christmas
Day. Two boys named William Baines and Whitfield Benson
were sliding on a large pond when the ice suddenly gave
way, and both were submerged. Every effort was made to
rescue them, but two hours elapsed before the bodies Were
taken from the water.

• Mr. Leopold de Rothschild has remitted 15 per cent
of his tenants' rents for the last half-year.

A telegram from Orkney says, that a large "poulpe"
or octopus has been driven ashore in the island of Sande. It
was found bya farmer, and had evidently been killed by the
sea.
At a public meeting held at Dundee, Dr. John Boyd
Baxter intimated that he intended giving £125,000 for the
establishment in Dundee of a college similng to Owens Col-
lege, Manchester, An effort is to be made to raise a similar
sum by public subscription for the endowment of the college.
Doll parties are the latest style of Christmas
festivity for children in New York—afternoon gatherings,
at which the little ones vie with ,each other in displaying
the most expensive dolls and their elaborate trousseaux.

A Paris paper announces the death, at over one
hundred, of the grandmother of M. Challemel Lacour,
Madame ltiguet, born Oct. 22, 1779. She preserved her
faculties to the last.

The arrivals of live stock and fresh meat from the
United States and Canada landed at Liverpool last week
show an increase on those of the preceding week, the totals
being 904 cattle, 262 sheep, 7,893 qrs. of beef, 643 carcasses
of mutton, and 299 pigs.
Three hundred and twenty thousand immigrants are
estimated to have arrived at New York during the present
year.

Notice has been received from the Post Offices of
Italy and the United States of America that by the laws of
those countries it is prohibited to send through the post
any letters or circulars concerning lotteries.
An inquest has been held at Swanscombe on the
body of Mrs. Jane Ellis, aged seventy-one, who broke her
neck by falling downstairs. The deceased was the sister-in- '
law of Edward Ellis, the gamekeeper who with his wife was
murdered a few months ago. The coroner commented upon
the violent deaths which had happ'ened in this family.

The dials of the clock tower of the Houses of
Parliament are now illuminated by the electric light.
text for the Cobden Club is given in the book
just issued under the auspices of the Club, and written by
the Hon George Brodrick :—"So leng as free trade prevails
the highly. rented land and uncertain climate of Great
Britain cannot produce wheat to compete in quality and
cheapness with that grown on the boundless prairies of
America."
An anonymous dcnor ("A. B. C.") has given to
the National Society for Promoting the Education of the
Poor in the Principles of the Established Church the sum
of £2,000 to meet the numerous and urgent calls on the
buds of the society.
Mr. Aaam arrived at Madras on the 19th inst., and
was sworn in as Governor on the 20th. The Duke of
Buckingham embarked for England on the same evening.
The Dyke's departure seems to be much regretted by the
natives, and during the last few weeks he has been con-
stantly employed in 'receiving addresses and attending en-
tertainments given by them in his honour.
On Tuesday the subcription to the:Boycott Relief
Fund amounted to nearly £1,400.

At the Commercial Travellers' banquet, given at
Paris on Tuesday evening, M. Brisson, Vice-President of the
Chamber of Deputies, made a speech in which he said that
social problems would be solved by the principle of asso-
ciations. In
,the course of his speech he said :—" At the
present time, when our enemies assert that the Republicans
wish for war, you must loudly reiterate that the delegateg
of the people desire peace, but such peace only as is desired
by the whole of France."
Voluminous statistics relating to the navigation of
the Suez Canal have been published, from which the follow-
ing figures may prove interesting :—The total movement
during the first nine months of the present year in the two
directions from North to South and vice versa was 1,534
vessels of an actual tonnage of 3,318,810. VI ie crews and
passengers on board these 1,534 vessels numbered 101,119.
It is hardly necessary to add that the British flag occupied
the first rank in the movement, with 1,210 vessels out of the
total of 1,684. -

A French official was recently presented to the
youngest son of Bismarck at a shooting party in Alsace. The
Introduction was sufficiently embarrassing for the French-
man, who, however, bore it bravely. "I am most happy to
make your acquaintance, Monsieur," he said, bowing, "for
I have heard a great deal said of your father."
Mr. Fawcett, who was staying airing the Christma3
holidays at Trinity hall, Cambridge, sent for the telegraph
boys at the Cambridgerost-office on Boxing-day, and gave
each of them a smalMurn as a Christmas present. —Mr.
Fawcett has declined to receive a deputation of telegraph
clerks on the subject of granting an advance of wages.

The Indian opium trade is likely to find a seriotua
rival in the cultivation of the poppy in Persia and Eastern
Africa'. The industry is comparatively new in Mozambique,
but the crops there are reported.to be excellent, while in
Persia the experiment is equally successfal. Mr both
Persian and African opium is virtually untaxed, the drug,
notwithstanding its infefiority to the Indian production,
thus possesses a great advantage for Chinese customers.

Bric-a-Brac collectors, anxious to find a new and
effective style of cabinet for their treasures, should take a
hint from 'Paris, where it is now the fashion to fit up old
sedan•chairs with shelves for the display of ancient china
and other objets de vertu. These &clan chairs look partidu-
larly well in the halls of country houses, and their spars
corners can be filled up with antique fans.
It is said that the German Government has resolved
on establisking a regular pigeon post between Strasburg,
Cologne, and getz, and for this purpose carrier pigeons aro
to be put under a course of training so as to fly backwards
and forwards between those three cities.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, in replying to a
letter from the Bishop of TasmaniVrespecting the Ritualists
says, " I see no reason why some satisfactory solution of
present difficulties might not be arrived at if those who
are dissatisfied with the present government of the Church
would state definitely what it is that they desire."
The Odessa papers just received contain telegrams
announcing an explosion at Nicolaeff Dockyard, causing the
Instantaneous death of three workmen„ seriously injuring
nine more, and scalding eleven other persons. The cause of
the explosion was the absence of water in the boiler. The
explosion completely destroyed a saw mill adjoining the
boiler-house and set fire to some timber, the flames of which.
however, were easily extinguished.
A fire broke out on Tuesday night on board the
French ironclad frigate Richelieu, belonging to the Toulon
division, and spread so rapidly as to defeat the exertions
made to extinguish the flames. The vessel finally sank.
Several of the drew were injured.

Dr. DiplOck has held an inquest at the West
London Hospital on the body of William Rogers, 16, son of
Robert Rogers, drill-master at the Central London Districs
Schools, Hanwell. On the 11th inst. the deceased won a
pistol in a raffle at Ealing. Two hours afterwards he wall
about to shoot at a bird, when his coat, caught the trigger of
the pistol, which went off, the bullet penetrating his right
leg. Mr. Lindeman, the house surgeon of the hospital,
said the deceased was admitted, suffering from a pistol-shot
wound in the outer part of the leg two inches above the
ankle. The witness removed the bullet, which he found at
the base of the big toe. The deceased went on very well
until the 15th, when symptoms of lock-jaw set in, and ha
died on the 20th.—The Jury returned a verdict of " Acci
dental death."

Friday in last week waslthe 43rd anniversary of the
birth of the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, who
was born on Dec. 24, 1837. her Imperial Majesty (Elizabeth)
is the second daughter of Maximilian, Duke in Bavaria,
general of cavalry in the Bavarian Service, by his marriage,
in 1828, with the princess Ludovica of Bavaria. Her mar-
riage with Francis Joseph,, Emperor of Austria and King Of
Hungary, was solemnised on April 24, 1854, the offspring of
this union being three children, one sou and two daughter&
Her only son is the Archduke Rodolph, heir apparent to the
Imperial Throne, who will shortly wed the Princess
Stephanie of Belgium ; her daughters being the Archducherie
Gisela, wife of Prince Leopold of Bavaria, and the Arch'
duchess Maria.

Brandy-drinking in Switzerland is causing stead,
physical deterioration amongst the population, partieularlY
in Canton Berne. The military authorities complain that In
some parts of the country it is difficult to obtain O.
necessary strength of a regiment, as many of the inhabitant,/
are totally unfit for army service. Drunkenness 'and crirof
of all kinds have notably increased of late years In proporilos -
with the consumption of alcohol, and measures are being
discussed to prevent the free sale of brandy.

Mr. Coroner Settle has held an inquest at Hartle.'
pool concerning the death of an unknown man, whose hod/
was found on the railway, near Hartlepoll station, 00
Christmas mcrning, with his head completely severed frop
his body. His appearance and clothing seemed to indicat!
that he was a fireman of a steamer, but inquiries institute!
by the police failed to establish his identity. From the foe
that only a knife and a telsacoe-box were found upon hint§
and from the position of the body when found., it
thqught that the man committed !suicide from want TN/
Wined was adiciurned.