The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-03 00:00:00

THE ATTACK ON surnrurc.

Writing on December 25, the Correspondent of The Times
gives an interesting account of the attack on Sherpur, from
which we make the following extracts
"The main incidents of the attack on Sherpur on the 93rd
Inst. are as follows :—The General had trustworthy infor-
mation on the evening of the 22d that an attach wools be
made on the tollowlng morning. The slgol wes to be the
lighting of a beacon on the shoulder of the koh.l-Asmal. . .
Orders were accordingly tuned that the troops should be on
the alert at 4 a.m. General Roberts had now had eight days
in which to make Sherpur defensible and full advantage had
been taken of this interval. The shape of Sherpur is a huge
rectangle, the long sides of which are about 2,200 yards
and the short aides about 1,200 yards long.
"The Correspondent then gives a description of the
defences of Sherpur and the surrounding country; and pro.
ceeds to describe the action as follows ;

" l'he troops were told oft u far as possible to the defences
nearest their quarters, with a strong .reserve at the mouth
of the Behmaru gorge. The reserve consisted of the 92nd
wines of the 67nd and 72ud Regiments,
with a field ana 11.'4.1441W 1.0111.1.01Lj, skuU 11114%/0...../11.3
of dismounted cavalry, all under the command of
General Baker. The Behmara heights were held by
the 3rd Sikhs and the sth Goorkhas. A wing of
the 23rd Pioneers and the sth Punjab Infantry held
the gorge at the western foot of the heights as far
as the General's gateway. Some companies of tte 2ith
Native Infantry and A company of the 67th Regiment bt ld
the eastern face of the redoubt. The Guides held Behmaru.
The zemainder of the British regiments manned the parapets
and the gateways nearest our barracks. General Bilis com-
manded from the General's Gateway to the Behruarn gorge,
and General Gough from the gorge to Behmaru. Generals
Macpherson, Malty, and Brownlow divided between them
the rest of the defences.

As expected, at 6 a.m. the beacon on the Koh i-Asmai
blazed up with a brilliant light. lhe troops were all ready,
and ten minutes later there was a smart musketry lire from
and against the parapet held by the 72nd. This was sac-
ceeded by volleys of musketry in the direction of Behmaru,
which lasted for some time. It was then nearly full day-
light. The firing seemed to indicate that the real attack
was on Behrearn. Tne enemy came on here with
considerable boldness, and got pouession of a small
village beyond the defences, from which they were
able to bring a very heavy musketry fire both on the
defenc2s of the village and the east end of the heights. The
mountain guns, which alone could be used at this point, and
the fire of the Guides, &c , were unable to dislodge than.
So resolute was the attack and so large the numbers of the
enemy, chiefly Kohtstants, at this point, that General Baker
twice sett reinforcements from the reserve. While this
attack continued the enemy enveloped the whole south and
west front . with a very brisk fire from the orchards
and other cover, sending many of their bullets into the
Interior of 6herpur. They also showed large bodies of
men, and for some time it was not certain that theY
did not mean to make a serious attack from the south
and west also. General Roberts, who was duly informed
what was passing at the principal point., by telegrsPh and
heliograph, at last, about ten o'clock, decided to disregard
other communication with the enemy, and advanced four
guns G Battery 3rd Brigade through the Behmaru gerge, so
as to bring a crots fire to bear on the village outside. This
fire soon drove the enemy out, and their dialodgement from
this chosen point pf attack apparently so dispirited them
that the Kohistanis commenced streaming out from all the
villages they had hitherto occupied in the direction of
their homes. Then General Roberts ordered the whole of
the cavalry in pursuit, and, riding ihimself to Behmar;
made arrangements for clearing all the villages to the east
and sonth-east of Sherpur, and for holding gleh of them
as might annoy the approach of General Gough', force
next morning. In the meanwhile, under tionveral Afa,sy,
the cavalry had circled well round to the /sorth-eaat of
Sherpa?, and had intercepted and cut up MA of the
hindermost fugitives before they could reach the shelter of
the hills. As the cavalry got farther round Pe enemy, who
still held fast the remaining villages to the east, fearing
that their retreat on the city would be cut off, lost heart,
and made for the Slah-Sang hills. All the villages round, as
far as the centre of the south face were clear of the enemy
before dark, and the more important were occupied or
destroyed trvour troops. The cavalry, whose movements
Did beep most effective, vettirued to Sberpnr before dark,"

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Manufactured ice is now being sold in Bombay at
the rate of a quarter of an alma a pound, or less than a half.
penny.

The Prime Minister having been written to re-
specting the sentence passed on the Tichborne Claimant,
has replied that he Is unable to interfere In the case, but
that the matter is now under the consideration of her
Majesty'. law advisers.

At Catti, near Freiburg, Switzerland, a tradesman
named \Vicky has just died at the age of 90, leaving 163
descendants—viz., 16 children, 94 grandchildren, and 68
great- grandchildren.

The Bishop of Natal, in a letter dated Bishopstowe,
November 23, says .—" I heard to-day that Cetewayo is very
desirous to learn to read and write, and is taking great
trouble to do so under Captain Poole's instruction&

The Daily News states that Mr. Gladatone's recent
speeches in Scotland are to be published in Gaelic.
__

The Finance Committee of the Free Church of
Scotland have agreed to accept the offer made of payment
In full, without interest, of the sum due to the Free Church
by the City of Glasgow Bulk. The Free Church are large
creditors.
A girl aged ten, was the other day attacked by
wolves on the border of a wood at Montnreux, in the
French department of the Haute Saone, and so severely
bitten before her cries brought assistance that her life is in
danger.
A. telegram from Pesth says that a terrible dyne.
mite explosion took place on Monday in one of the brick
works of Alt Wen, resulting in the death of several persons.
The accident was occasioned by twenty dynamite cartridges
which were frozen having been placed on a stove in the
workshop. _ _ _

At a -meeting of persona interested in the preserva-
tion of the ancient Welsh music, held at Carnarvon on
Tuesday, the establishment of a school of musicians was
resolved upon, the Rev. E. Stephen being elected the first
president.
The declared value of poultry and game imported in
the year which ended the Slat December was £310,281,
against £277,430 in the corresponding period of the pre-
ceding year.

On Christmas•eve the President of the French
Republic gave an audlenc& to the mb any Extraordinary
from Morocco. The menT6ers of the Embassy assured M.
Grevy of the devoted friendliness of their Sovereign towards
himself and the French people, and presented the President
with eight magnificent hones as ha offering from the African
potentate.
The merchants of Valladolid, Burgos, Bilbao, Sara-
goesa, and Pampeluna have opened a subscription in their
cities for a monument which they propose to erect on the
Spaniah•French frontier. It is to serve as "a memorial of
the generosity shown by franca to Murcia," and "as a
sign of the fraternal unity which binds the two nations,"

At Lyons, at 2 a.m. on Friday in last week, there
were some slight shocks if f an earthquake.
Mr. Gladstone has written to Mr. Broadhurst in
acknowledgment of an address from the National Labour
League, expressing a hope that the day is near when he may
fairly claim to rest from the labours of political contention,
and trusting that he shall claim his title to retirement after
having witnessed the overthrow of the present dishonouring
and disturbing system of Government.

There being no case for trial at the Bideford
Quarter Sessions on Monday, the customary presentation
of a pair of kid gloves was made to the Recorder, Mr.
Jerome Murch, who, in dismtsalng the jury, congratulated
the borough on the absence of crime, there having been a
succession of tour "maiden" tagalong.

Last financial year there were 297,183 E 'else lioenceti
tuned to deal in t)bacco, at a duty ot 53. 31. The revenue
received amounted to £80,053 ii. 7i

A youth, aged 16 (whose name wae then unknown),
was found dead on Tuesday morulug beneath a heap of
Umber, blown down by the gale which raged so furiously in
Sheffield on the previous day.

A terrible accident occurred at Resehill Mill,
Bolton, on Tuesday. A Jack frame tenter, named Mary
Alice &hole', was engaged in cleankg her frame close to
the upright shaft extending across the room, when her
clothes caught in the belt, and she was whirled round the
shalt in awful rapidity, being dashed at each revolution
against the frame. When the machinery stopped it was
found that one of the woman's arms was torn right out,
and that the back of the skull was almost pounded away.
An inquiry has been held at Ratcliff, as to the death
of Henry Walker, twenty-four, a ticket-collector in the em-
ployment of the Great Eastern Railway Company at Stepney
station. On Friday in last week he was seen running along
the platform to c.ateh a train which had already started for
FLnchurch-street. He was warned by a guard to stand back,
but he caught hold of the handle of a carriage at the rear
of the train. He slipped and was dragged between the car-
riage and the platform, receiving injuries from which he
died shortly afterwards. A verdict of "Accidental death"
was returned.

Colonel Blackburn, M.P., speaking at Liverpool,
saki it behoved the country to see how we could get the
same efficiency In education at a smaller cost than at pre-
sent. He favoured the voluntary principle. but in large
centres School Boards were necessary. He believed the
majority of the English people were in favour of religious
education, and tl at the minority opposed to this view would
decrease. More attention should be paid to gutter children.
and augmented efforts made for the instruction of the off-
spring of the working classes so as to counteract the tend-
ency of immoral literature.

Oa Saturday afternoon Sir Alexander Grierkon
WAS walking In hit garden at Bouthaea, when he fell to the
ground and shortly afterwards expired. The deceased, who
was the son of Sir Alexander Gilbert Grlerson, ilithbaronet,
was born about 1800, and succeeded his brother Richard
in 1846. Re was formerly a lieutenant in the 78;h High-
landers.

Queen Isabella of Spain has had a room in her
OA eau at Fontenay Fresigny set apart for the use of the
poor during the severe weather, where they may warm
themselves as long as they plesce, on presentation of an
order from the cure or the mayor. Food is abundantly dis-
tributed, and on one day more than eighty persons were
treated to a comfortable dinner.

Alaska would seem not such an unpleasant place to
live in after all, notwithstanding its Arctic latitude (re-
marks a correspondent of the San Francisco Bulletin). The
climate of the islands, and that part of the mainland bathed
by the warm ocean currents from Japan, is mild and
temperate, and free from extremes of heat and cold. There
Is, however, much rain, thanks to the vapour-laden winds
from Japan; but the rain is warm and gentle, and keeps the
land fresh and frdittal. The wettest weatihr seems to be
perfectly healthy, and there is no mildew in the houses,
while thunder is scarcely ever heard.

By the death of the Rev. John Rattenbury the
Wesleyan Methodist Connexion has sustained a great loss.
He was a distinguished and succeskful minister. For up.
wards of 40 years he travelled in come of the leading circuits
of Methodism, and in 1831 was elected President of the Con-
ference. As treasurer of the Auxiliary Fund for the help of
superannuated ministers and ministers widows, in 1873 he
retired from circuit work that he might raise a special fund
for augmentint their income, and by his influence and exer-
tions the sum of £lOO,OOO has been obtained for this pur-
pose. He died at his residence, 39, Hamilton-road, Highbury,
London, on the 21st December.

The only railway accident which can be compared
with that on the Tay Bridge took place fifteen years ago,
at Si.Hilaire, Canada, when the train ran off a bridge and
83 persons were killed and 200 injured. The fall of an em-
b mkment on the Lake Shore Railway, New York, in 1867,
resulted in 41 deaths. At Odessa, two years ago, 68 persons
were killed by a train running over an embankment, and
near St. Nlz tire, eight years ago, an explosion of powder in
a goods van killed 60 people. But none of these accidents
presented such appalling features as the Tay disaster, and
none of them resulted in the death ot every person in the
train.
The master cotton-spinners of Lancashire and ad-
joining counties, at a meeting held on Tuesday at Manchester,
discussed the demand of the operatives for an increase of
wages, and unanimously resolved not to accede to it, on the
ground that the time has not yet arrived when an advance
can be given.
Straesburg under her new rulers has grown much
quieter than It was ten years ago. German is spoken in
nearly all the shops and cafés, and French is seldom heard,
although the young recruits from the country rarely under-
stand German, and when drafted into Teutonic corps—there
being no regiments exclusively composed of Alsatians and
Lorralners—they are obliged to ask the officers to translate
the orders. The Jews have flocked into Straasburg, most of
the well-to-do shopkeepers being Israelites. Field-Marshal
Von Manteuffel, by the way, allows considerable liberty of
the Press, thirty-nine prohibited French journals having been
re admitted to circulation. As regards educational matters,
Strassburg is better off under German authority, as the pro-
fessors and schoolmasters have all had their salaries raised.
The University now contains 810 students, the largest portion
of whom are studying civil law and philosophy.
The Hannoversche Courier announces that Leibnitz's
long-lost calculating machine has been 'recovered. Leibnitz
Invented and constructed this machine in 1672, during his
stay in PAHL It can add, substract, divide, and multiply,
and was the wonder ot the time.

IL London last week 1,7-19 births and 1,878 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of populaatirnuthm!
births were 457, and the deaths 6, belozittirena"erargs, The
the Last
h2ald6 years.
3V.81, '
bo
rbore
annualtn t
death-ratethe
correspondingtr m
preceding * 1 wieceakowsoeefes ith
sw Ie a y 111-
d in the eight
Crease
de-
clined last week to 27 1. During the thirteen weeks which
ended OD Saturday last, the death-rate averaged 24 4 per
1 000, against 21 6, 221, and 23 7 in the corresponding periods
of the three years 1878-7-8 The 1,878 deaths included 2
from small-pox, 48 from measles, 80 from scarlet fever, 11
from diphtheria, 129 from whooping cough, 18 from different
forms of fever, and 8 from diardcea. Whooping-cough was
again the most fatal zymotic (theme in London; the deaths
referred to this disease further rose to 120 from 57, 82, and
111 in the three preceding weeks.

An ir genions colleague in journalism has di4covered
that there are in France., at the present monent, 1,700 women
of letters, and 2,150 lady artists, as they are called In Eng-
land. Two-thirds of these writers were born in the pro-
vinces, Normandy, Brittany, or the South, while two-thirds
of the artists are born Parisians. Out of the writers, 1,000
pO7lusl4 Ltv.vt• Va. /11,,,..1 ffilottalue Eva Utalia&ClLl, ZOO map pUeLli,
150 write for pedagogue journals. Out of the artists, 107 are
sculptors, 602 oil painters, 193 minaturlsts, 754 ceramists,
and 494 water-colour and fan painters, and or pastel crayon
drAwers.

The straw, hat and bonnet trade of Luton id rapidly
Improving. Many of the manufacturers are busy with ship.
pig orders and samples for spring. 'note ad of Chinese
plaits, which were used so extensively Nat season, English
fancy plaits are Low chiefly In demend. Tais will give em-
ployment to sema thousands of platters In Bedfordshire aLd
the adjoining counties.

An Italian paper thus tabniates the attempt 3cl
regicides of 1678 and 1879 :—Thero have been two attacks on
the Emperor William, one against King Ilumbtrt, one
against King Alfonso, and two against the Czar. bovereigns.
it remarks, will soon reckon their years of rule by th.se out-
rages, the Czar having experienced four and the Emperor
William five. Napoleon 111. had seven.

A. telegram from the correspondent of The Times
t Philadelphia, under date Dec. 29, says :—" A fire at
to on Sunday night has destroyed several large business
houses there, including the publishing house of Houghton,
.3,g00d, and Co., and has Involved a loss of 1,000,000 doll.
Toe building of Houghton, Osgood, snd Co., was totally
destroyed, with a loss of £l3o.ooodcli, of which7s,ooo dols
is c,vered by insurance. That firm states, however, that
oily their bound books have been destroy :d, their plates
three
days' gs
safe at Cambridge. They will resume
ba nu d h
i,
nsene eitns
h

The Hong Kong .1) aily Press learns from its corre-
spondent at Canton that news has been received in that
city of the capture, by the Imperialist General, of the rebel
leader Li Yung Choi on the borders of Kwangai. His stated
that Li, finding his commissariat had dwindled down to the
lowest ebb, had been obliged to leave the shelter of the
inaccessible hill district, In order to obtain food for his
comrades, and that this Is the cause of his falling into the
hands of the Imperialists.
Efforts are about to be made in Australia to send
fresh meat to this country in vessels specially fitted with
the new cold-air freezing apparatus. The voyage is a long
one--it cannot be done much under 40 days—and the vessel
must pass through the hottest regions of the globe. If suc-
cessful the experiment will be another triumph for modern
science and skill; but possibly if the same amount of
energy were devoted to the task of importing live cattle
from nangary we should get moat cheaper stilt—Echo,
- -

A fierce gale oi wind broke over Greenock and dis-
trict on Sunday night, doing great damage in all parts of
the town. The gables of houses were in inany places blown
down, ands large cooperage was unroofed aud all but coai.
pletely wrecked. Brick walls ard palings enclosing gardens
and yards were demolished, and innumerable chimney pots
were flying into the street, rendering it highly dangerous to
traverse the town. So strong was the gale that many per-
sons were thrown down.—There was a most violent gale in
the Firth of Forth on Sunday night. The most powerful
steamers were unable to proceed to their destination. A
large amount of wreckage has been east ashore In the
vicinity, supposed to be the hull of a steamer. Inland
houses were stripped of tlaelr roofs, and many trees blown
dOWII.

There are now 1,200,000 acres of 'United States
publics lands still unsold.

A Flowery name for the people of the United
states:—The Carnation.—Fun.

The advocates of marriage law reform intend, early
In the ensuing year, to hold a conference for the purpose of
considering the marriage laws ot various countries, to far
as they effect the rights of Englishwomen who marry
foreigners in this country, _ _

-
Lord Dudley's agent has informed the South Staf.
fordahire colliers that the price of ironmaking coal will be
advanced a further Is. per ton. The Cannock Chase coal.
owners have notified a rise of 21.

Last financial year there were 3,029 persons licensed
to deal in game, and 185,508 to kill game.
The Academy of Science of Turin has awarded a
prize of 12,000 lire to Professor Darwin for his discoveries in
the physiology of plants.
A Cremation Society has just been constituted in
Rome, with the well-known physician and Deputy, Dr.
Francesco Bath, as its president, and the Avvocato,
Giammiarioli, as vice president.

Some artillerymen at the Camp of St. Bromic°,
Turin, were playing with the straw of the target, thinking
the ball/ had all been removed, when one exploded. One
soldier was killed and three c There, with one °Milan, in-
fused.

The Paris Temps says that the Marquis of Salisbury,
who possesses a chateau near Dieppe, has sent to the Pre-
sident of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul a sum of twelve
hundred francs, to be distributed among the poor of that
locality.

An entploy6 in a menagerie now at Lyons has been
nearly eaten alive by seven lions, into whose cage he had
entered for the purpose of cleaning it. The lion tamer, a
woman, happened to be on the spot and rescued the man,
but nob before he had been fearfully mutilated.
The total imports of cotton into the United King-
dom for the year ending Dec. 25 was 3,210,N7 bales. The
exports were 454,001.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh left England
on Mqntlay evening for Cannes, on a ',hot to the Empress of
Ennis, as was arranged some months back. The duration
of their visit is undecided.

In the Institute for the Blind, in Boston, the pupils
are taught how to tune pianos. In New York city one of
the best tuners In a large piano manufactory is a gentleman
who is blind.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges (in
The rim's) the receipt of Bank-notes for £lO on acoonnt of
Customs from "I. Y. Z. ; " also of the first halves of notes
for £550 from "A. B. K.: on account of conscience money.
Ever since the electric light has been introduced
Into the Reading-room of the British Museum, slowing the
hours of admission to be extended to seven p.m., the number
of " readers " has vastly increased.

A telegram from Peeth Days that great distreaa pre-
vails all over the Balkan Peninsula.

The latest fashion now in for our golden youth to
wear a small watch let into a round knob on the top ot
their walking canee.—Court Journal.

The petal officials at Lticeeter report that the
additional labour imposed upon that department during the
Christina. holidays this year has been greater than any
before recorded in the history of the borough. Considerable
provision had been made, but even with this extra assistance
the resources of the post-office were taxed to the utmost.
Twenty additional sorters were engaged, and in the three
days before Christmas over £3OO above the average was
received for postage stamps.

By the new South African cable we have now
from Cape Town up to Sunday. The Boers, whose meeting
was looked forward to with some anxiety, passed a resolu-
tion to meet again on the 6th of April, and then dispersed
quietly. Sir G. Wolseley has publicly stated in Pretoria
that henceforth the Transvaal would be regarded as a Crovra
colony.

The Lord Mayor of London ha received a donation
of 2200 from Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P. (Faux), in aid of the
Duchess of Martborough's Belief Fond. ifia Lordship hs.:
remitted £2,000 to the Duchess of Marlborough as a first in-
stalment of the Mansion-house Fund for the relief of the
distress.

Several fonnderies in the north of France have been
obliged to stop working, owing to the want of coal through
the strike of the Belgian miners.

It is stated that her M.jesty has made known her
desire that she may be informed from time to time as to the
progress made by the sick and wounded in Afghanistan.
Her Majesty has addressed letters of condolence to the
relatives of many of those who have been killed in recent
actions before Oahu'.

The Queen has been pleased to approve of the ap-
pointment of Mr. C. Rivers Wilson, C. 8., as a Knight Corn-
mender of the Order of S. Michael and St. George, in appro-
bation of the services rendered by him to her Majesty in
Egypt.

The creditors of the City of Glasgow Bank appear in
most cases to have adopted the sensible, and we may add
graceful, course of accepting payment in full without-Interest.
On Monday there were large applications by the London
creditors, and about £250.000 was paid at the offices in
Bishopsgate•street, on account of tbe remaining dividendof
fis. Sd to those who accepted thelirrangement in question.
What has been done in Scotland we cannot say ; but the im-
pression in well-informed quarters is that the dividend will
be accepted and the interest foreeone in practically every
case.—" Trade and Finance" in Pall Mail Gazette.
On Saturday
Garrison Warannouncing
Office
order
erth we
stoned ofticers and privates had been in the habit of wearing
d aecommreceainvdfeci r- iwtt
Portsmouth
crape on their arms at funerals. Such practice is, by the
Duke of Cambridge's order, to be Immediately discontinued.
The immense stcck of grain stowed In New York
awaiting export and also larger tonnage than ever before
had caused 821 vessels to be collected there. On Saturday
only about 75 were loading. The vessels demand higher
freights, while speculation keeps wheat at prices higher
than would allow profit on export. Hence the temporary
blockade.—Philadelphia Correspondent of The Times.
The Waihington Capitol narrowly escaped destruc-
tion a short time ago. A ball was being held In the Rotunda,
and some thouaand additional gas jets had been lighted
which had not been used for eleven years. Suddenly 1,800
Jets went out, and had it not been for the prompt measures
of the Capitol electrician and the miraculous automatic
action of the valve in the supply-pipe, which had
shut off the flow of gas, an explosion would have inevitably
occurred, bringing down the whole of the dome In fragments
upon the guests, amongst whom were the President and the
Cabinet.

Drilling her clams in poetry recently, a teacher
quoted from the familiar lines of Tennyson, "Yon mud
wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear."
"Now," she asked, "why did the girl want to be called
early?" "Don's know," replied Tommy, "tulle's it was
because that was her name."

An explrirnent which has been Italie in connection
with the Autumn Exhibition of the Works of Modern
Artists, at the Royal Manchester Institution, came to a
close on Sunday. The council decided some time ago to
give gratuitous admtssion on Sunday afternoon, between
two and five, and the total attendance during the eleven
consecutive Sundays on which the exhibition has seen so
open was between 61,000 and 52,000. The visitors were
mostly of the working classes.
- -

General Grant, reply jug to an address presented to
him at Philadelphia by a delegation of the Universal Peace
Scciety, said he looked forward to the time when a Court
recognised by all nations would settle international differ-
etc., but he had found that there was Rot the same desire
abroad as in America for such a Court. lie, however,
believed that the mission of the Society would prevail ha
the end.

The Ontario Globe fears over-production of wheat.
It says :—There is real danger ahead for the farmers of this
continent from the reckless way in which the acreage under
wheat is being increased. In three States alone, Kansas,
Nebraska, and Texas, more than a million acres of new land
were broken for wheat this year. In Dakota and Minnesota
hundreds of thousands of new lands will give their first crop
next stuhmer. In Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, lowa, and Michigan
farmers have crowded wheat in everywhere instead of corn.
An increased breadth of winter wheat is spoken of every-
where in Ontario, and unless prices should run down before
April there will be an immensely increased area in spring
wheat. If the enormous breadth of land sown in wheat on
this continent should yield as bountiful a crop as the last
three years have shown, the markets of Britain will not be
able to absorb it.

Orders have (says the Sheffield Independent) been
Issued by the Duke of Portlanct to finish the work which
the late Duke left in an unfinished state at Welbeck. It la
understood that the work will be pushed on as rapidly to
its termination as possible. The Duke is still busily em-
ployed in making acquaintance with his Inheritance, and
it is his intention to remain through the winter at
Welbeck.

The recent eruption of Mount Etna is declared by a
Catanian professor to have been one of the most noteworthy
In the history os the volcano. •Daring the eleven days on
which the mountain was in activity Etna split open to •
length of 8 miles in a direct line, and poured forth streams
of lava on the northern and south-western sides, the lava
covering a surface of 672 acre'. A fresh small crater with
two peaks has formed on the northern side, and has been
called " limberto•Margherlta "after the King and Quell of
welieckrigliytroeet London on
SSauinddhaye
Italy.
Cardinal Archbishop Manning, ill appealing, in the
Wtha: morn-
ing, could
Catholic
o c h
behalfarc
of,
f,
testify that these priests, in common with all others in Cato
Of souls throughout his diocese, lived so very poorly that
they managed to secure but the bared existence. The
clergy had none but their Bock to depend upon, and
although the prevailing distress might be well pleaded as
an excuse for small contributions upon the present occa-
sion, dill he felt sure they would make every sacrifice to
maintain their pastors.

Since the heavy fall of snow which took place in
Paris in the beglnning of December an average number or
17,250 workmen, with 3,976 waggons and carts and 7,609
horses, have been daily employed in clearing the streets.
The most rapid way of getting rid of the snow was found to
be to melt it by scattering salt over it ; but this method was
also found to be too costly to be employed except along the
tramwas and in some of the most frequented thorough,
fares. A vast number of other expedients were suggested,
and several were tried, but none proved practicable.

The following cable message has been receive4at the
I..saadon offioo of the Ness York Herald, from the Herald
Weather Bureau, New York: "Unsettled weather will pre-
vail over the British Wands and the Norwegian and
Northern French coasts, between the 27th and 2nd snow
and sleet alternating, with short periods of line weather, wil
be experienced ; first three da3s January very cold."
-

In connection with the age of trees, it may intereat
many to know that in Earl Spencer's park, Althorp, near
Northampton, a stone with the date of their planting has
been p!aced in the various plantations !rem Queen
Elizabeth's time downwards. This custom was begun bp
Sir John Spe7 car. The three-hundred-year old oaks, or.
which the herons now build, are tine tall growlbg trees, with
no appearatce of age or decay about them.

American pinicultnriats have been endeavouring
of late to introduce the German carp into the waters of the
Middle and Southern States. The German carp is a fish of
rapid growth. Many of those experimented with, although
spawned only in June last, are already fine. It is believed
that, with proper care, they will weigh 21b. next slimmer,
and, in the course of five years, increase to 101 b. They are
hardy fish, ar d can be fed on grain like poultry, and are
noted for their edible qualities.

Edison's telephone has, it is said, been successfully
used over a line 2.000 miles In length. A hunting party In
Nebraska were thus enabled to converse with perfect dis-
tinctness with their friends in Pennsylvania, vie/ Chicago and
the Western Union Teiagraph Company's line,

- -
After a squally and wet morning, on Tuesday,
London was shortly before one o'clock visited by a severe
thunder and hail storm. The atmosphere became very dark,
hail and rain fell heavily for about a quarter of an hour,
during which there were repeated flashes of vivid lightning,
followed by unusually heavy claps of thunder. The tem-
perature was comparatively cold at the time, and a high
wind blew to gusts, such as are seldom experienced at this
time el the year.

The Mark Lane Express says that autumn sown
grain has scarcely made its appearance above the soil. and
roots have in many plaoes been seriously damaged, as the
snow has disappeared and exposed them to the rigour of the
temperature. The past disastrous seasons have been abso-
lutely ruinous to the agriculturalluterest. Indeed, it is hard
is Ilnd a parallel to 1879, a year which, having produced
neither wheat, hops, nor fruit, leaves the country nearly
drained of money, and farmers a prey to most dismal fore-
bodings.

The Berlin Correspondent of the Daily News writes
—"I hear from vary good quarters that the Czar agreesto
hand over the reins of government to the Czarewitch a. tar
as lutnrnal Russian affairs are concerned, but will not do
so as regards external affairs, especially his Majesty's rela-
tions with Germany. To this, it Is stated, the Czarewitch
will not agree."
When the late Doke of Portland went into society
be was one of the most constant habitues of the RoYal
Milian Opera. Accompanied by a lady, he occupied two
stalls in the best' possible position, and in order that be
might not be annoyed by having tall people in front of him,
or ladles with high head-dresses to obscure the view of the
stagea t
e iyi
a v
h advance was
n
,thwehiheahboltioefourhilinse
rgemined acant durint
the-whole of the performance.the two stalls immedi.