The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-03-15 00:00:00

glisttliantous 4nitiligentt,

nun, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

ECCLESIASTICAL ToPICS IN GENEVA. A
Reuter' e telegram, under date Geneva, March 10,
sage :

" This afternoon a meeting which lasted two bnnrs, was
held at the litre-1./mite-hall to bid farewell to the Rev. Mr
D iwnton. The Rev Mr. Newman was In the chair, and
many speeches were delivered, Englishmen, Geneve, and
Ammicans taking part in the proceedings Mr. Downton's
name was received with great cheering. Father liyactothe
is expected here every day 0 begin the coutereueea he ham
announced his Intention of holding."

MIMI.EVAL FRANCIS. A singular discovery
has been made at the old e'onciergerie in Paris (says
the Globe). At the Court of Casiation fire had destroyed
two out of the three towers. and a few days since the
workmen engaged in repairing that named after St.
Louis came suddenly upon a mysteriously deep well.
This was contrived „curiously in the wall facing the
quay, and proven to be nothing less than the fatal
dungeon of the old Palace of St. Louis. Yet none of
the historians of the Conctergerie mention it, and
cnance and mischance only have now made it known.
An opening of two square yards in one of the turrets
reveals a horrid tunnel reaching the level of the Seine.
There it forms a gallery sloping downwards to the bed
of the river. The attempt to penetrate into this
dreadful dungeon was fruitless, as the interior is lined
with sharp iron spears and points which cross ea
other in every direction. When this tower of St.
Louis was used occaeionally as the dwelling of the
Kings of France captives of note were confined in its
nn lerground prisons, and when the powers that were
became maxi us to get rid of any one of them they led
him through a passage formed in the interior of the
wall towards this newly-discovered dungeon. A secret
door was opened, and he was precipitated into the
yawning chasm, and there, transfixed by spikes, he
perished in slow Untrue. Of course, it may be easily
narrgined that it was only portions of skehrtons that
ever reariar d the berl of the Seine. The discovery of
this relic of a barbarous age is another milestone mark-
ng the progress of humanity.

SZASON•BLII RILIZY.—To one class, at least,
the present state of the Coal Market brings hope, if
not immediate comfort. These are the unfortunate
persons who have all their lives been accustomed to
be "hauled over the coals." There will soon be no
alas for them to be hauled over.—Peneh.
THE PRINTERS' STRIKE IN GRRMLNY.—TIIO
publishers of Leipeic, Hanover, Brunswick, Breslau,
Munich, and of nearly all the principal cities of Ger-
many gave notice, on Saturday last, in siccoETERCe
with the decision of the President of the Printers'
Aesociation of Leipsic, to all compositors and others
belonging to the Strike Union. In consequence of
this the compositors at an establishment at Breslau
have stopped working, and the proprietors of other
printing-offices have sent apprentices to aid that
establishment, a proceeding which the compositors of
the other offices had objected to. The proprietors of
minting-offices and publishers of newspapers have
reject-d a request to allow only a joint newspaper to
appear for the present.

- -
PRICE OF BUTCHER'S MEAT.—The report -Of
the Veterinary Department of the Privy Council for
1872 Met issued, contains tables showing the number
of animals in Great Britain, the fluctuations in the
Price of meat, number of imported animals, the meat
supply, the foreign etatistics. The importation of
Australian preserved meat, though it has recently
greatly increased, only now equals one-eighth of the
t dal importation of dead meat. The average price of
live stock was about one farthing per pound more than
in 1871, but this is attributed to increased cost of
labour. There is nothing in the report which gives
any hopes of a reduction of the price of butcher's
meat; on the contrary, the statistics show that not
only in Great Britain but in most European countries,
there has been during the last fifty years a steady rise
in the price of meat.
VETERINARY Norrosr:—lt seems that an
outbreak of a disease amongst horses, called the
American Horse Epidemic, is apprehended in Prussia.
In the Chamber ef Deputies, at Berlin, Herr Donalie,
the other day, inquired what would be done in that
event? In replying, the Minister of Agriculture
described the horse-disease named American as •
species of influenza affecting the noble animal. What
to do with it Government would take tbne to consider.
Considering the reputation of a certain herb for
efficacy in coughs, together with the fact that the
Horse Epidemic is an Influenza amongst horses, the
Prussian Government, and indeed our own, if need be,
may be advised to try Coltsfoot. —Punch.
IMPROVED TRANSIT OF ANIMALS.—The Ani•
male' Friend says :

This matter is earnestly engaging the attention of the
It 8 P C A., whose Committee has jiist determined on offer-
ing two prize. of £lOO each—(l) for • satiafactory model of a
new cattle railway carriage which shall supply food and
wat-r to its occupants during the journey; (2) for the model
of an ordinary railway cattle carriage so altered that the
animals may eat and drink during their journey without re.
moval from the truck. These premiums will be subject to
conditions .bent to be published, particulars of which may
be had of the Secretary of the Society, 101 Jermyn-street.
We are delighted in being able to make thia announcement,
and to add that a gentleman, viewing—as we do—the para.
mount importance of titere proceedings, has geoerotudy
signified his intention to place at the disposal of the Com-
mittee £2OO, in order to double such prizes no soon as the
successful competitor shall have Induced a railway company
to build SO of his improved trucks and bring them Into actual
we on their line for the transport of cattle.

MUSIC AND Wur.—A Scottish Gentleman
proposes that, on the occasion of the next " Gregorian
Demonstration" at St. Paul's, an instrument more ap-
propriate to that performance shall be substituted for
the " hist fu' o' wh sties." Instead of the organ he
suggests, let, the accompaniments of the Gregorian
music, if any, be played on the bagpipes. That, he
urges, the king of instrumentals, inreality as in name,
the right one whereon to accompany the Gregorian
tones. He adds that, though his f,s3t just now is awa'
from his native heath, his name is MacGregor.—Punch,

CHALK FOR FcraL.—Among the later theories
for economising in fuel without sacrifice of comfort is the
substitution of chalk for coal, says a Boston (American)
paper. Not wholly, however, but for the greater
past. A gentleman who has made a thorough test of
the matter declares himself satisfied beyond doubt
of the superiority in heat-giving properties of chalk
over coal. The idea is an old one, but we have
never heard of any practical attempt being made
to turn it to account before. With those who
have ever noticed the great specific heat of chalk
or the large amount of carbonic acid contained
in it, and the convertibility of that acid into
carbonic oxide by means of beat; or with those
who have merely noticed either the vast aoaonnt
of heat which, generated by a comparatively small
amount of fuel, is radiated from • limekiln; or
again, the effect in smelting ore of a few hundred
pounds weight of limestone or chalk, it has long been a
matter of strong pere‘sasion that the time snort came
when chalk, and perhaps limestone shall be made sub-
servient to the increase of heat and the diminution in
the consumption of coal. Our late fire presented
hundreds of instances of the intensity of the beat of
limeetoae, and the length of time it was retained even
by small fragments. With regard to the experiments
referred to, it is asserted that by using chalk and coal
in about equal proportions, the chalk being placed at
the back ot the grate and coal In front, a saving of at
least seventy-five per cent. wars effected in cost, with a
more intense heat and chesrful blaze than would have
been obtainable from coal alone.

A Minscaniks DAY'd DREAM. —There is talk
of holding a Hospital Sunday somewhen in Jane.
Very good. Coals may be a little cheaper at Mid•
summer. and Charity somewhat warmer towards the
Striking Clareen.—Purtch.

Draw BOYD ON Srmars.—On Tuesday night,
at a crowded meeting at Exeter, composed chiefly of
Ve working classes, Dean Boyd dwelt at length on the
evil to all parties strikes an a rule entailed. Alluding
to the South Wales strike, he said that from the end
of December to the commencement of February the
men had lost in Wales alone £400,000. Besides this,
they bad to endure unparalleled hardships and suffertng,
and had not only to come on the rates, but to beg from
door to door like common tramps. Besides this, the
entire trade of the district has been ruined ; but the
parties who suffered most, and from no fault of their
own, were the middle class and the wick ng men engaged
in other trades throughout the country, who, as areenit
of this strike had to pay a great deal more for every
necessary of life. The evil„resulting from these strikes,
and the injury done to the country by them. was
enough to make one stand aghast already. Other
countries were taking away our trade, and if these
strikes continued much longer the commerce of Eng-
land would be ruined. Such experience as had now
been gained was a warning against such a measure as
a strike being resorted to without the consequences
being fully weighed.
ENGLISH TENANT RIGHT.—A bill bearing the
the names of Mr. Howard and Mr. Clare Read has
been brought in, which has for its object " the im-
provement of the relations between landlord and tenant
in England." It proposes that any tenant of a holding
shall be entitled on quitting his holding to claim VAII.
pensation from the landlord for temporary, durable,
and permanent improvements. The bill prescribes
the mode of valuing these improvements; contains
provisions respecting the deductions to be made
from the compensation granted to the tenant, the
proceedings in case of claims by tenant and by
landlord respectively for compensation ; en! gives
power to the tenant to remove certain improve-
ments for which no compensation would be payable.
The bill also proposes to place a restriction upon the
eviction of tenants, and provides that • tenant is not
to contract himself out of the Act, and that the Act is
not to interfere with existing leases and agreements,
nor with Lincolnshire and other bead customs.
Questions arising under the Act may be referred to
arbitration, and the Public Works Loan Commis-
eioners are to have power to make advances to lands
lords for compensation for improvements. Agnculi
tural or pastoral holdings only are to be subject to the
Act.

--- -
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. "1 tine Tim
Larry one pound for assault and battery on Pat
Malone." Pat: "But, your honour, I want more
damages. He blacked my rye, and if I had been in-
vited to a tea-party I couldn't have gone." Judge:
"The Court knows nothing about consequential
damages. You must carry your case to Geneva."
A BRAZILIAN MoRDER.—Tbo Angles Bra-
zilian Tow gives the following :—Near Campos, on
the 9th Feb. Sr. J. A. Barroom de Siqueira was mur-
dered in his house by some of his slaves, and his wife
was saved only by the devotion of another, who, though
severely wounded with a bill-hook. succeeded in keep-
ing off the assassin. After robbing the house they
went off to murder a tenant of the launch, but faded
to find him. On the way to Campos they encountered
Baron de Itabapoana, unele of Sr. Siqueira, accom-
pinied by five other persons, and in an ensuing fight
killed one and wounded three, the Baron and Captain
Epifanio Franco de Miranda escaping without attack.
Some time afterwards the slaves were arrested without
resistance. The slave who protected his mistress so
valiantly, and another who helped to keep guard ever
her, are to be fr.ed.

ALO(us PIENITENTLE.— Par! lament has been
called upon already this session to pass another mar-
riages legalisation bill. It is to remove doubts enter-
tained whether certain Tiverton couples have been
really marrhd. The ceremony occurred in Cove
Chapel, after it had been rebuilt within the ancient
chapel yard, but not on the exact spot where the old
cha.,,el stood ; there had been no re-consecration.

EVELYN'S DIARY AND BOONE OF PRAYERS.—
Thia interesting relic of John Evelyn, consisting of
prayers, composed and selected by him for his annuli
and quotidian use, and also containing some MS.
emendations by his friend Mrs. Godolphin, to whom it
was presented, as recorded on the fl -leaf, " Remember
with what importunity you desired this booke of your
friend, remember me for it in your prayers,' was sold
at Messrs. l'uttick and Simpson's mu:Lion-rooms in
London for £:36 104. - _

- --
DEPTH OF MR. CHARLES KNIGHT. Mr.
Charles Knight died last evening at Adllestone,
Surrey, in his eighty-second year. Mr. Knight was
the sou of a respectable bookseller at Windegr, and in
1812, in conjunction with his fa her, established the
Windsor and Eton Express. Mr. Knight was the
printer and publisher of the "Etonian," and this cir-
cumstance led to an intimate acquaintance with
Winthrop M. Prael, Macaulay, Sidney Walker, John
Mnnitrie, and Derwenta nil Henry Nelson Colerhige,
who afterwarda, while undergraduates at Cambridge,
became the chief contributor, to "Knight's Qaarterif
Magazine ;" and this, in its turn, led to the eetablille•
meet of Mr. Charles Knight as a publisher in London in
or about the year 1823. In 1827 he became connected
with the newly found.-cl "Society for the Diffusion of
Useful Knowledge," and commenced the publication
of his "British Almanack and Companion," newt'
was followed by the "Library of Entertaining Know,;
ledge," "Penny Magazine,"" Penny Cyclopieliai
and many other well-known works. In 18.55 he com-
menced his "Popular History of England," which was
completed at the end of 1842. Since that time Mr.
Knight has chiefly rccupied himself with two retro,:
spective works—his "Shadows of the Old Booksellers,
and "Passages of a Working Life." In his later yearn
Mr. Knight was nearly blind—the result of that long
devotion to letters by which he acquired a title to, be
remembered as a benefactor of his countrym.. 7o
large circle of friend, he was known as a most amiable
and excellent man- and Douglas Jerrold, ei•h witty
tenderness, said ttiat the epitaph on his tomb should be
contained in the two words—' Good Knight."

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