The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-04-03 00:00:00

ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY.

At a meeting of this society held on Saturday, Dr.
St. George Mivart, F.R.S., in the chair, Mr. G. J.
Symons, F.R.S., continued his remarks upon earth
temperatures during the present season, which
elicited some interesting observations upon the
variations of the thermometer at different depths.
Mr. W. S. Manning read a paper upon the future of
fruit and vegetable growing in England, advocating
the project of an international fruit and floral exhibi-
tion for 1887, which by bringing before us examples
of foreign fruits and methods of cultivation for com-
parison with our own would give a valuable impetus
to an industry he believed destined to replace our now
unprofitable system of corn and cattle farming.

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_• • -

The total subscription for the Institut Pasteur
amounts to 437,846 fr.
M. Robert Case, journalist, died on Sunday from the
wound he received in a duel with M. Felicien
Champsaur, editor of the " Lutece Gazette."
With a view to pushing forward the construction of
first-class torpedo boats, 125 feet in length, similar to
those recently despatched to join the Mediterranean
Fleet, the Admiralty have given orders for complete
sets of discharge tubes, carriagen, and firing and elec-
tric gear, to be supplied as soon as possible for 20 of
the craft now in Course of construction. Each is to
have five discharge tubes, fitted with all the latest im-
provements.
A series of trials of waggon couplings was commenced
on Monday in the Nine Elms gouds yard of the London
and South-Western Railway Company. The object of
the trials is to avoid the personal injury and loss of life
which have occurred from standing between the
waggons to couple them.
On Monday Mr. Steinitz won the 10th game in the
chess match with Dr. Zukertort, winning thus the
championship of the world and 4000 dole.
A fire broke out early on Monday morning in a farm
byre at Newmill of Gray, near Dundee, and spread
with such rapidity that the building became enveloped
in flames before the farm servants could extricate the
beasts in it, and the result was that 14 milch cows, two
oxen, and two calves were roasted to death. The byre
was totally destroyed.
In addition to the sum of £3OOO already voted for
the purpose, the Lords of the Admiralty have approved
a further expenditure of £548 on the annual refit of the
Royal yacht Alberta.
A memorial window to Shakespeare is to be placed
in the church of St. James, Curtain-road, Shoreditch,
which is opposite the spot where the Curtain Theatre
used to stand. The Lord Mayor will unveil the window
on Friday, May 14, at 3 p.m.
George Elward Halley, who is charged with being
concerned in the " Golden Argosy "frauds, was at the
Mansion House on Monday committed for trial. Last year
valuable monetary prizes were offered on certain terms
to readers of ihe journal in question and another, and
on contributions being sent in articles of only small
value were forwarded in return. It was stated that the
defendant had been a victim in the matter, and he was
admitted to bail. _ _

For -acting as a solicitor in December, January, and
February last—both in the police-court and county-
court—without having taken out his certificate, Mr.
Thomas Sampson, of 252, Marylebone-road, was at the
Marylebone Poli7e-court on Monday fined £33.
The delimitation cf the Afghan frontier is proceeding
without interruption:
Countess Erbach, who in the autumn of 1884 visited
her brother, the Prince of Bulgaria, has just published
a little book," My Journey to Bulgaria," which is a
curiosity. It was set up in type and printed solely by
Prince and Princess Ludwig of Batteuberg.
The General of the Jesuits has published the statis-
tics of the Order, showing that it counts 2500
missionaries, and that it can boast of having had 248
saints, 1500 martyrs, 13 popes, 60 cardinals, 4000 arch.
bishops and bishops, and 6000 authors.
A cholera epidemic has broken out among fowls,
cats, and other domestic animals, in the neighbour.
hood of Cnneo, Naples. A commissiun has been formed
to study the malady, and to make experiments of inocu•
lation on healthy fowls. It is found that those so
inoculated shortly die with all the symptoms of cholera.
It has been decided to isolate the animals affected in
order to prevent the propagation of the disease.
Alfred Wain Furness, aged 78, who for a number of
years has carried on business as an accountant at
Derby, was on Sunday morning found suspended by
the neck from a beam in the cellar of his residence.
No reamn is assignedtor the apparent suicide.
. .

A fatal fire -occurred on Katurday night at 38,
Lothair-street, Battersea, Mrs. Sarah Roberts receiving
such severe burns that she died on Sunday morning.
The upsetting of a spirit lamp did the mischief.
Considerable progress has been made with regard to
the introduction of railways into China, Prince Chun,
the young Emperor's father, having been converted to a
recognition of the advantages of these instruments of
modern civilisation.

Switzerland will celebrate, on July 9th, the 500th
anniversary of the fatal fight by Lake Sempach, when
the men of the Four Cantons utterly routed the
Austrian forces and slew Duke Leopold, with most his
knights and men-at-arms.
The" Panama Star and Herald" has been suspended
for sixty days for declining to publish certain corre-
spondence emanating from the Government of the
United States of Colombia.

A return of the number of births, marriages, and
deaths in England and Wales, during 1885, compiled
from quarterly returns furnished by the local registrars,
has just been issued. This shows that in an estimated
population of 27,499,041 there were 893,694 births,
394,892 persons were married, and there were 522,517
deaths.

At Belfast on Sunday afternoon Dr. M‘Alister was
consecrated as Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and
00nn3r, in succession to the late Dr. Dorrian.
The suicide of a monk by means of a revolver is an
incident sufficiently rare to be noted. Father Kopat-
Behar, a monk in the Capuchin monastery at Olmiitz,
was found dead in his cell on Thursday morning with a
revolver be!ide him. He had been doorkeeper of the
monastery, and it is supposed that he must have bought
the weapon from a pedlar.
Great excitement has been caused at Naples bv the
murder of a well-known French gentleman, DI. Philip
de Malzac, who, on returning to his beautiful villa on
Posilippo, was stabbed to the death by the husband of a
dismissed servant. The dying man declared that the
etime was due to jealeusy. The murderer has since
given himself up to the police.
As at present arranged, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer will introduce his first Budget on Monday,
the 12th of April.
It is still the intention of the Government (in accotd.
mice with the prom'se given in the last Parliament) to
recommend the appointment of a Select Committee to
consider the question of grants of public money to
members of the Royal Family; but regard being had to
the many engagements to which the Administration
is pledged, they cannot fix any date for moving in the
matter.

As many as 47 actual shipwrecks were reporte 1 last
week against 24 for the correspcnding week of last
year, 90 lives being lost. The wrecks so far this year
number 429 against 269 last year.
A sad affair was reported to the Glasgow police on
Sunday. David M'Clay, a labourer, and his wife
Barbara received a number of their friends in William.
street, Mile-end, Glasgow, on Saturday night. As it
grew late the company drank to excess, and a quarrel
soon ensued. The wife interfered, when her husband
angrily turr ed round, and, it is stated, dealt her such
a blow in the face that she fell, her head sttiking the
corner of a chest of drawers. She died almost instan-
taneously.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to intimate
her intention of opening the Colonial and Indian
Exhibition on Tuesday the 4th of May.
We (the "Morning Post ") understand that previous
to last Friday's Cabinet Council Mr. Chamberlain and
Mr. Trevelyan received formal assurances from over 50
members of the Liberal Party that they would vote
against Mr. Gladstone's Irish schemes if the two
Ministers decided on resigning at once.
Jn and atter April 1 parcels not exceeding 71bs. in
weight will be received at any Post Office in the United
Kingdom for transmission to Norway. Parcels for
Norway will be forwarded from Newcastle-on-Tyne
every Friday, commencing on April 2, and parcels in"
tended to be so sent must be posted so as to reach
Newcastle-on-Tyne not later than Friday morning.
At Liverpool, on Saturday, before the Recorder, John
Atkins, formerly assistant acting manager to Mr. Carl
Rosa, at the Liverpool Court Theatre, pleaded guilty to
falsify ing his accounts, and was sentenced to six
months' imprisonment. The prisoner's defalcations
amounted to about £BOO, and this deficiency, he alleged,
was largely due to his having lent money to Mr. J. D.
M'Laren. his superior in the theatre.