The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-27 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.
There are already thirty-seven notices of motion
for next session on the book of the House of Commons.

According to the meteorological return of the Board
of Trade, very rainy weather has spread over nearly the
whole o. England.

Prince Takabito, of Japan, arrived at Osborne on
Saturday, and was received by the Queen His Highness
left for London in the afternoon.

Northamptonshire is the county in which the
greatest number of outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease
have been reported in the course of the current year. The
number is 128.

An American paper says that Queen Victoria, the
Emperor of Germany, and a London lady, are among the
fortunate few who possess the Japanese pug dogs.

The Tunisian flags captured at Sfax have been-hung
in the Paris Invalides. One of these was the standard of the
Prophet, and is of green silk, with a broad red stripe.
- • -

evening, and
on her outward
. . -
The telegraph steamer Faraday picked up the shore
scpa
lbileee , opnr
olleleoeuddeady
voyage, laying the mid-ocean section.
henavdinogf
ntilaiedentch‘ev
nAe ct leasial at ircy
The fund for Mrs. Garfield has received several
additions during the President's relapse. It now exceeds
150,000 dots. ,
-

The New York Titnes has a despatch saying that
there are indications that the wheat crop in all the North-
Western States will be smaller than that of last year.
- - - - -

- --
A cape lately sold to a New York lady was made of
humming birds' breasts. Each bird from whom the spot of
emerald gold was taken was valued at 5 dols.

The Duke of Edinburgh arrived at Greenock on
Tuesday morning, and inspected the Cumberland training
ship. His Royal Highness, who was accompanied by Lord
Sb.aftesbury, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, and a numerous
company, distributed prizes to several of the lads.

Speaking of the American harvest, Messrs. Mel-
ville, Evans, and Co., in their last circular, say that the
opinion iq gaining ground that the ante-harvest calculations
underrated the crop. It will "grade unusually high" they
add, and the conclusion is gradually obtaining acceptance
that the surplus available for export will not fall more than
40 to 50 million bushels below that of 1880.
"Captain Campion, late of the 72nd Regiment (the
Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders), died recently at
Brecon, where he had resided some years, at the great age
of 86. He was the son of the late Colonel Campion, of Rock-
ville, Cremorne, and Dromore, county Cork, who fell in
action in the retreat of Sir John Moore after the battle of
Corunna. lie was entered at the Royal Military College,
Sandhurst, and received his commission in the 72nd Regi-
ment in 1813. He married in 1832 the daughter of Mr.
Simon Spence, of Swinithwaite-grange, Wensleydale, and
3liddleham-house, Yorkshire, and was left a widower in
1865. About forty-nine years ago Captain Campion received
a bullet wound in the back, the ball lodging in his hip, and
it was never extracted. He left instructions that after his
death a post-mortem examination should be made to discover
the locality of the ball. This was done by Dr. Valentine
Rees and Dr. Owen, who found it in close proximity to the
hip bone."—Obituary of The Timer.

JA.,JVJaiI is/11.1*.t•

_,

A San Francisco despatch says that ships of war of
various nations, including England, are assembling at Hono-
lulu, in anticipation of the annexation of the Sandwich
Islands by the United States.
A careful estimate of the receipts of 22 of the lead-
ing religious and philanthropic societies shows that their
total income last year was £1,427,746, as against £1,394,777
the preceding twelve months.

It is announced that Prince Furrokshah will shortly
visit England to personally thank the Queen for the distinc-
tion of Shahzada lately bestowed upon him. Mir Feroze
Hoosein Khan, a member of the Carnatic family, also, it is
said, contemplates visiting Europe.

The Quartermaster-General in India is reported to
have a scheme on foot for the training of carrier pigeons In
the various large cantonments, the birds to be available as
messengers in cases of grave emergency where the telegraph
has been destroyed.
Live stock from the United States and Canada ar-
rived at Liverpool last week in double the numbers of the
previous week, while the quantity of fresh meat also showed
an increase, particularly in beef. The totals were :-•1,808
cattle, 2,860 sheep, 4,748 quarters of beef, and 453 carcases
of mutton.

It is believed that six new peerages will shortly be
announced. The Marquis of Tweeddale and Lord Reay will
probably become English peers, and Sir Harcourt Johnson
and Sir Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks be elevated to the Upper
House.— Daily Telegraph.

- -
Fourteen Liberals (including tellers) voted against
the Government in the majority against the Attorney
General's Motion for a Royal Cotuntission to inquire into the
corrupt practices in the Borough of Wigan.
—••• • - •

The health of the Emperor William has during the
last few days not been satisfactory. It is likely that the
Emperor, iu consequence of the cool weather, will soon be
obliged to leave Babelsberg and return to Berlin.

The Italian Minister of Marine has ordered from
the firm of Messrs. Thornicrofts ten first-class torpedo
launches, to be delivered in June, 1882, by which date the
number possessed by the Italian navy will be sixteen.

In a letter addressed to a Dublin newspaper, Sir
Charles Gavin Duffy declares he thinks the Irish Land Act
contains the germs of immeasurable good, and that it is a
boon such as no Parliament, native or foreign, ever gave to
the Irish people before. Wisely administered and amended
it will do by law what it would otherwise have been neces-
sary to do by revglution.

The London and China Telegraph hears that Prince
Prisdang will arrive in England in about three weeks,
accompanied by a number of Siamese noblemen, and one of
the Royal Princes, who will be entrusted to the charge of
Mr. D. K. Mason, the Siamese Consul General in London to
be educated in this country.

King Kalakaua was present at a bull•fight in Lisbon
on Monday, and left afterwards for Madrid and Paris.

An Alexandria telegram to the Daily News says :
The project of a second Suez Canal under English auspices is
the subject of animated discussion in the local press. The
advantages proposed include a quicker transit and a reduced
tariff. _

On Saturday afternoon the Queen, accompanied by
Princess Beatrice, and attended by several members of the
household, crossed from Osborne in the Royal yacht Alborta,
and visited Netley Hospital. The visit wasu private one,
and laQted about two hours.

General Lord Airey, G.C.8., has recently been
seized with a paralytic attack, by which he has lost the use
of his right side. When attacked his lordship was staying
at Sir Garnet Wolseley's residence at Leatherhead, where he
still remains.

A telegram from New York says that an officer,
four soldiers, and one citizen have been killed and one
officer wounded in a fight with some Tndians in New
Mexico.

For the International Congress at Bologna, to
take place in September, the King of Italy has offered a prize
of 5,000 lire to be awarded to the best work on the uniform
graphic representation of geological charts within the past
twelvemonth.
It is intended shortly to place a number of the large
shrubs known as Latina Nobilis, or the sweet bay, in the
place in front of St. George's Hall, Liverpool. They are
cultivated very successfully in Paris and other continental
cities, and the experiment in Liverpool will be specially
Interesting.

Lord Braybrooke has caught forty-nine grilse and
two salmon on the Shin, a Sutherlandshire river ; the grilse
averaged °lbs., and the salmon were 131bs. and 15Ibs. re-
spectively. In the course of the first six days of the current
month, Lord Braybrooke landed thirteen grilse.

-
A monument is about to be raised at Mafeteng in
memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men
who fell in the service of the Cape Colony during the Basuto
war.

A child has been born in Philadelphia with three
perfectly formed teeth—just the number Shakespeare says
Richard 111. had at his birth. Such a freak of nature is very
rare. The child when only five days old submitted to the
operation of pulling one of the teeth, and laughed and cooed
when it was over. It likes to 'have its gums rubbed, and
when patted on the chin will laugh in a way hardly
credible.

The introduction of tea and coffee into this country
has probably done more to promote temperance than all the
temperance societies that ever existed. If a non-intoxicating
drink could be secured as pleasant to the palate as wine,
which would cheer without inebriating, and could be served
without a preliminary process of kettle-boiling and the like,
a much more serious blow would be struck at the empire of
King Alcohol than any which he is likely to receive from the
Permissive Bills of the United Kingdom Alliance.—Pall Mall
Gazette.

The Queen has been pleased to accept a copy of
"Church and Chapel," a volume of sermons on the Church
of England and Dissent, with an Introduction by the late
Dean Stanley. The work is dedicated to the Rev. William
Rogers, in whose church the sermons were preached, and is
edited by the Rev. R. H. Haddon, curate of St. Botolph,
Bishopagate.

Shipments of grain from America to Europe for the
past week include 430,000 quarters wheat. Of this total
270,000 were forwarded to the United Kingdon and 160,( 00
to the Continent. Of 174,000 quarters maize 134,000 were
shipped to this country and 40,000 to other parts of Europe,
950,000 bags of flour for England being added. The visible
supply of wheat now stands at 17,500,000 bushels, and of
maize at 15,900,000 bushels.

The correspondent of the Daily News at Vienna is
informed by private intaligence from St. Petersburg that
more than 200 persons suspected of being concerned in the
Nihilist movement are about to be transported to Siberia.

Visitors are abundant this year in Switzerland.
Last Saturday 2,000 persons were carried to the top of the
Right by rail, the greatest number that ever ascended the
mountain in one day.

-
Her Majesty the Queen has given an order for
a bas-relief bust of Dean Stanley tc his niece, Miss Grant.

A Paris telegram says that the body of M. d'Armen-
Ceres, who recently started from Montpellier in a balloon,
has been found, frightfully mutilated, near the Lighthouse
of l'Espignette.

The following cable message was received at the
London office of the New York Herald from the Herald
Weather Bureau, New "iork :—"Dangerous cyclonic dis-
turbance crossing south of 40, and will arrive on British and
French coasts, affecting the Spanish coasts, between 23rd
and 25th. South backing north-east gales, heavy rains,
possibly lightning; unsettled weather will prevail several
days."
A serious plague among young ostriches has been
spreading over South Africa during recent years. A post-
mortem examination made by Mr. Arthur Douglas dis-
covered the trouble to arise from the presence of small
worms adhering to the coats of the ostrich's stomach. Speci-
mens were sent to Dr. Spencer Cobbold, who pronounced
them unknown to science, and named them Strongylus
Douglassti.
In Paris the very poetry of a bonnet or hat is com-
posed of half a bushel of roses and ecru lace, the whole with
a quarter of a truss of straw, artistically plaited, forms a
thing of incomparable beauty, grace, and elegance. It is
called Guy Fawkes, and is worn very much on one side of the
head.—Court Journal.

The St. Petersburg Correspondent of the Daily
Telegraph states that there was recently found painted on
the seats of the Emperor's private garden at Peterhof an
announcement that his Majesty had been condemned to
death by the Revolutionary Committee.
Harvest prospects in Germany generally are excel-
lent this year, A report from the Prussian Governmental
district of Liegnitz says that the yield in every description
promises to be so abundant as quite to make up for the defi-
ciencies of last season.

The Geneva correspondent of The Times says that
the President of the Federal Tribunal has received an anony-
mous letter threatening him with death if he decides
against the Socialists in the matter of the proposed Socialist
Congress at Zurich, as to which an appeal has been made to
the tribunal against the action of the Local Government.
The writer says that the Socialists have dynamite enough
In their possession to blow up half of Switzerland.
The Prime Minister has presented to the Notting-
ham Free Library copies of the only books of his which are
not out of print—namely, " Juventus Mundt: Gods and
Men of the Heroic Age in Greece,' "Homeric Synchronism,'
"Homer," and "Gleanings of Past Years." In an accom-
panying letter to the librarian, Mr. Gladstone expresses
his hope that the books "may serve as a token, however
small, of his respect for the signal public spirit of the town
of Nottingham."
The inhabitants of Crefeld, in Germany, have
begun to erect a grand building for their new school of
textile industries. It is to be finished in two years. The in-
stitution will be fitted with every appliance for complete in-
struction in all that appertains to the production of textiles,
and will contain a laboratory, workshops for carpenters and
locksmiths, a drawing-room, library, and museum. The
municipality has given the ground anti contributed 150,000
marks towards the expenses.

A general strike of switchmen, yardmen, and track-
men on the Erie Railway began on Thursday in last week
along the entire line. The men demand a restoration of the
JO per cent, reduction in their wages made in 1877. They
maintain good order, but, while permitting passenger trains
to run, have stopped the movement of goods trains.
Telegrams from Buffalo. Salamanca, and Ilornellsville
announce that the strike is general. Four thousand goods
cars are accumulated at Salamanca.

In London, last week, 2,532 births and 1,474 deaths
were registered. Allowing ter increase of population, the
births were 58 and the deaths 149 below the average numbers
In the corresponding weeks of the last ten years. The annual
death-rate from all cansw., which had been equal to 272, 23.4,
and 215 per 1,000 in the three preceding weeks, further
declined to 20'1.

The 12.43 London and North-Western express ran
off the metals just after leaving Huddersfield for Leeds on
Tuesday, three carriages being thrown across the line on a
high viaduct. The passengers were greatly alarmed, but
fortunately escaped uninjured.
On Monday evening a man named Parker fell off a
mineral-water wagon on which he was riding at Lauuton,
near Bicester, and the wheels passing over his chest he was
killed almost instantaneously.
There were 38 deaths from smallpox in Lcndon
last week. Thirteen of the deceased persons had resided in
the south, 11 in the east, 10 in the north, three in the central
groups of districts, and one in South Acton.

Some one ivith great patience has been counting the
number of alterations made in the Revised Version. It was
sabl that about 5,000 changes had been made. Some said
more and others less. Therefore he decided that he would
count them all, and settle the matter, lie found that no
less than 36,000 changes have been made.

•
In Phowery weather on Monday afternoon, the
annual swimming and diving matches in connection with
the Eton and Windsor Royal Humane Society took place at
" Athens," the bathing rendezvous of the College students
on the Bucks shore of the Thames. '1 he competitors were
numerous, mostly youths between fourteen and sixteen
years of age, a swimming race of 300 yards being reserved for
men ; the various events producing some very exciting feats
of natation, and attracting many spectators to the river-
side. _

--
"July and August seem this year to have changed
places. July is proverbially showery and uncertain, and
August as a rule is one of the driest and most trustworthy
months in the whole year. In the present summer, how-
ever, we had steady fine weather in July, and have got, un-
fortunately, our wet and changeable weather in August.
This Inversion of the usual order thas been most unfortunate."
—St. James's Gazette.

..._. ........__., .....____.
The Arab who murdered the Maltese at Susa was
tried On Saturday by the Bey, and was condemned to death
(says the Correspondent of The Times). He was then led
through some of the streets of the town and his condeinna-
wen years t
tion was proclaimed by a public crier, tvho warned the
People against a similar fate. The murderer mas then im-
mediately hanged. The trial and the execution of the sen-
tence only occupied a few hours This is the first time thlt
the By has ever administered justice during Ramadan.
Major John Eckford, Royal (late Bengal) Engineers,
died a few days ago at Netley, in his 46th year. Educated
at Addiscombe, he passed an especially brilliant examina-
:ete en out to
of
tion for his commission, gaining the Pollock medal, the
sword of honour, many prizes for individual subjects, and
scoring
India towards the end of the Mutiny, but only saw a little
service. Thenceforward
oirrigation
n exceptional ti:,nora works,
s,
he,
number
for
r o
the
he
last marks, lfou
ward his career was civil. Employed at
first n
his life, was in the Government Telegraph Departme t in
which he rendered excellent service. n '

A residentiary stall in Rochester Cathedral has
became vacant by the death of the Rev. Canon Hamilton. It
Is worth £I,OOO a year, with house, and is in the gift of the
Lord Chancellor.

The largest five cities in the 'United States, accord-
ing to the last census, are as follows: New York, 1,206,577;
Philadelphia, 846980; Brooklyn, 566,659; Chicago, 503,053;
Boston, 362,535.

Mr. Gladstone, in consequence of his attendance in
the House of Commons on Saturday, was unable to leave
town on Sunday. He attended Divine service with Miss
Gladstone at the Chapel Royal, WhitehalL
The Biblotheque Nationale of France has just
bought a collection of unpublished letters of Alfred de
Musset, which are contained in a sealed box to be opened
only in 1910.

By a new Act of Parliament the Governors of Queen
Anne's Bounty are empowered to extend for three years the
loans made to incumbents for the augmentation of the
maintenance of the poor clergy.
It is stated that early next Session Mr. P. J. Smyth,
intends to call the attention of Parliament to the
circumstances attending the granting to Ireland of the Con-
stitution of 1782, and to those of its subsequent suppression
in the year 1880.

A Parliamentary Paper just issued shows that
during the present session, up to Aug. 15, 125 breakfasts,
9,058 luncheons, 10,594 dinners, and 278 suppers have been
served in the refreshment rooms of the louses of Par-
liament.

In London, one of the workmen employed in the
construction of the new Law Courts fell from a scaffolding
a height of 42 ft., on to some rough stone chippings below,
and was so seriousls injured that he died in King's College
Hospital a few hours afterwards.

The death is announced of M. M. J. Bonnat, which
occurred last month on the Gold Coast, from an attack of
malignant African fever. 31.-Bonnat will be remembered in
connection with the Ashanti campaign of 1873-4, he having
been delivered from captivity in Coomassie by the force
under Sir Garnet Wolseley, after passing between four and
live years as a prisoner in the hands of the Ashantis.

There were 19 British and foreign wrecks, of which
11 were British, one being a steamer, reported during the
past weck, making a total of 1,050 for the present year, or
an increase of 170 as compared with the corresponding
period of last year. The approximate value of property lost
was £2,800,000, including British £2,300,000.

- •
For the next few nights Schaberle's comet will be
an interesting object in the north-west sky, beneath the
four principal stars of the constellation of the Bear.

After some discussion, it has been decided that the
Sedan anniversary shall be celebrated in Berlin this year as
usual

Yale, British Columbia, was almost entirely con-
sumed by fire on Friday in last week. Nearly the Whole of
the business portion of the town was destroyed, including
the Government buildings and the best private residences.
The Chinese quarter escaped without damage. Dynamite
had to be used to destroy some of the buildings, in order to
check the progress of the flames. The loss occasioned by
the fire is estimated at from 300,000 dole. to 400,000 dole.
The Times of Monday said :—" Although no general
amnesty of the prisoners detained on suspicion of offences
connected with the land agitation in Ireland will be adopted
by the Government, it is stated that the Rev. Father Sheehy,
Mr. A. Kettle, and some half-doren of the suspects arrested
shortly after the Coercion A3t became law will be liberated
before the end of the present Session of Parliament."

- -
A French scientific expedition will start next
month for Thebes of the hundred gates, the ancient capital
of Upper Egypt, where thirty-six sarcophagi of the Kings
and Queens of the seventeenth dynasty have recently been
discovered by M. Maspero. These sarcophagi, it is said
contain papyrus documents, jewels, talismans, and other
historical relics.
The body of George Mom., one of the crew of the
Shetland fishing boats lost in the recent storm, bas been
recovered in Long Island, Shetland. Moar was a young man,
and son of Alexander Molar, whose body was found a few
days ago. The latter leaves a widow and six children.
These two are the only bodies yet recovered of all those
lost.

A Correspondent of Land and Water writes in a
deplorable mood from Australia concerning the inundation
of the colonies with Chinese emigrants. They make things
there very dull, and are overrinning the country, and he
thinks that in the course of a few years they will hare
matters almost in their own hands.

King Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islandstakes home
with him the travelling bedstead of King Frederick William
IV., of Prussia, a perfect work of art in polished iron, inge-
niously constructed to fold up. The only similar piece of
furniture is in the Royal Palace at Berlin.
Women in India have hitherto been excluded from
official employment, but now a lady, Miss Pogson, has been
appointed Meteorological Reporter to the Madras Govern-
ment. For many years past Miss Pogson has acted as
Assistant Government Astronomer.

A number of French fencing professors and amateurs
purpose attending a grand fencing competition, which is
announced to take place at Naples, during the month of
September next. Naples contains a number of academies
where fencing is cultivated with almost as much assiduity as
in Paris, and the result of a meeting between the Frenchand
Neapolitan swordsmen would be of great interest to all who
are interested in the use of the foil, one of the only bodily
exercises pursued with any ardour in France.

Advices received from Chicago states that thirty-
nine locomotives were shipped last month from the locomo-
tive works at Paterson, New Jersey, four of them beipg sent
to Spain.

The Bombay Gazate says that at the coronation of
the boy• King of Nepaul, which will take place early in
November next, embassies from Lhassa and Chins, and
Chinese troops to the number, it is said, of 14,000, will
assemble in the Valley of Katmandu. Two thousand ele-
phants are being trained for the "tumasha," and several
lakhs of rupees will be expended in feasting the Bralnnins.

Count Moltke has returned to Berlin from Sweden
and Denmark in very good spirits, and has expressed to his
friends his great satisfaction at the reception he met with
everywhere in Scandinavia.

The vacation business bids fair to surpass in extent
the work of any previous vacation. The list of motions
before the Vacation Judge on Wednesday in last week was so
great that, the Solicitor's Journal believes, the question of
two sittings a week in court has been mooted.

In 1870 the total production of coal in the world was
193,970,683 tons; in 1880 the output was 294,46800 tons;
the increase was therefore 100,497,317 tons, or 52 per cent.
The increase during the ten years was greatest in the United
States, where it amounted to 127 per cent, and in Russia,
where the output was greater by 275 per cent. It was aug-
mented least in Spain, only 36 per cent.

- -
Mr. Joseph Cowen, M.P., in acknowledging the
rezeipt of a resolution passed by the Newcastle branch of
the Land League, expresses his regret that the labours of
the few individuals who sympathized with the cause
have not been more successful. "It was," he adds,
" with extreme regret that I heard 31r. Forster's declaration
that the Government did not intend to release the pri-
soners."

Mr. Bradlaugh's health has improved, but the
erysipelas in his arm has not entirely abated. It was an-
nounced at the Hall of Science on Sunday night that Mr.
Bradlaugh had stated that it was impossible for him to say
whether he would make another attempt to get into the
House of Commons this session. He intended, however, in
a few days to publish an explanation of his future course oil
action.

Yesterday, amid a crowd of obscure measures, the
Land Law (Ireland) Bill received the Royal Assent, and the' L
great work of one of the longest Sessions in Parliamentary
history was accomplished. To-day one congratulation takes-. • ;
precedence of all others :—" Thank Heaven, the Land MU -
is disposed of." "Are you not glad to feel there is no more
Land Bill?" "What a blessing that we look into a paper
without seeing that Land Bill staring us in the facel'
Tuesday's Times.
The vintage in France last year is estimated at 653
millions of gallons, which, though more than one-sixth in
excess of that of the previous year, was not much more than
one-half the average of the last ten years. It is reckoned
that the vineyards in which the vines have been totally de-
stroyed by the phylloxera amount to more than 11million
of English acres, and that more than an equal extent is in-
fected though resisting the attack.
The dispossessed or excluded Princes of various
European States have sent addresses to the Pope, deploring
the events of the 13th, and declaring themselves all ready to
support the cause of the Papacy and the Church. The first
signature is that of the Comte de Chambord. Then follow
those of the ex-King of Naples, Don Carlos, and others, with
their families. In all, forty-seven signatures have been
affixed to the address.

A scheme is approaching maturity which has for its
object the enclosure of Penenden Heath, on which, in former
times, criminals were executed and where also great county
meetings were held, and utilising it as a recreation ground
for the inhabitants of Maidstone. The undertaking is likely
to meet with considerable opposition. The Heath has been
used as a cricket-ground. Under the proposed scheme, a
large, and by far the better portion, is to be enclosed for
private purposes.

A novel feature in the fruit market at New York
recently was the receipt of a considerable quantity of straw-
berries from Nova Scotia, of very fine quality, the first im-
portation of tie kind on record. They sold readily at
eighteen cents the quart. The home product had dis-
appeared some ten days before. The Nova Scotia consign-
ment went off so readily that further importations have
been ordered. This kind of fruit grows there until well into
the autumn, and the first of the year come from Florida, in
January.

Boulogne•sur-Mer is preparing to celebrate with
three days rejoicings the erection of a monument to the
memory of Frederic Sauvage, a native inventor, for whom
the discovery of the principle of the scrov-propeller for
steamships is claimed. The movement *ill be formally
Inaugurated on the 12th of next month. On the preceding
and following days various popular amusements will be pro-
vided, including aquatic sports on the little river Liaise,
halls, concerts, a public dinner, and above all a free per-
formance at the theatre, without which a French fliite would
hardly be complete.