The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-09 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Honey of horehound and tar is the new American
cure for cough in even its severest form up to consumptive
cough.
As far as can be ascertained, in addition to her
usual expenses—to what we might call her "housekeeping"
ezpenses France has had to pay for wax expenses (her own,
of course included), the fearful sun of 9 milliards 300
millions, or £.372,000,000 sterling

According to the Vienna Press, Alfonso XII.
believes that Spain can be saved only by a King who will
conciliate all parties, and strive to gain the affection of all
Spaniards. More especially he hopes to win over Senor
Castelar, whose patriotism he greatly admires.

A little work on British wild flowers considered in
their relation to insects has been written by Sir John Lub-
bock.

In China the bamboo is extensively cultivated.
There are no less than sixty species of it, and it is used for
almost everything. Out of it are made baskets, beds, chairs
mats, pipes, brooms, thatches, umbrella ribs, and ever so
many kinds of household and agricultural implements.

The number of workmen in Krupp's foundries at
EaEel), which hag been already reduced from 16,000 to 12,000,
is to be reduced by 4,000 more.

The literary circles of Boston are disputing as to
what is the plural of Daddy Longlegs.

The Arnim family is numerously represented
among the officers of the German army. The "-Rang and
Quartier Liste," just published at Berlin, contains no fewer
than 49 bearing the name of "Von Arnim."

The native armies of the Native States in India
number a grand total of nearly 315,000 men, supplemented
by 5,300 large guns.

A Paris correspondent mentions that 3,324 men
and twenty women (French Communists) were transported
to New Caledonia last summer.

A California paper says a company has been formed
In that section for growing the eucalyptus tree for fuel and
manufacturing purposes.

A difficulty is now being experienced in obtaining
cooks for the Navy, the new regulations requiring a ten years'
engagement.

Garibaldi has declined the grant which was made to
him by the Italian Chamber on account of the present con-
dition of Italian finance, but he expressed his gratitude for
the offer.

A general meeting of the Council of the Hospita.l
Saturday Fund has been held, at which a plan was approved
regulating the distribution of the money whichshas been
raised. .This, after paying all expenses, amounted to £4,992
On Saturday a large consignment of American grouse
or prairie fowl was received hi London for sale. They were
In a good state of preservation, and were disposed of at from
4s. Gd. to ss. per brace, and eapercalzies from Norway were
sold at from 9s. to 14s. a brace.

M. Pierre Larousse, author of the "Grand Diction-
naire Universel" which bears his name, and of several
other lexicographical works, died at Paris on Sunday, at the
age of fifty-eight.

Her Majesty received on Saturday from the
Emperor of Austria a portrait of the' Empress of Austria,
which the Emperor has had purposely copied for the Queen
from a picture of her Imperial Majesty by Winterhaiter.

In thankfulness at the disappearance of the fever
epidemic, services wore held in all the churches and chapels
in Darwen and the neighbourhood on Sunday last.

There was a full supply of house coals at the London
coal market on Monday. Business was exceedingly dull,
the tendency of prices at the close of the market being de-
cidedly downward.

Severe gales and floods have recently caused great
damage at the Cape of Good Hope. Nine vessels are known
to have been wrecked on the coast, and the injury done to
public works, besides that sustained by private property on
land, will involve a loss of £350,000.
The war club of the King of the Fiji Islands is the
latest present to the Queen. King Cackobau had given the
weapon to Sir Hercules Robinson to be forwarded to her
Majesty, and is now being exhibited at Sydney. The club is
a formidable looking piece of wood, richly ornamented with
silver, and was used in times of peace as a sceptre.

While fourteen navvies were excavating for "the
foundation of the wet dock wall at Whitehaven on Tuesday,
the tide broke through beneath the foundation of an old wall
between them and the sea. The men scrambled or were
pulled out, and it was thought all were saved. An hour
afterwards, however, when the water was pumped out, the
dead body of an elderly navvy named Grant was found. His
guernsey had been caught by the falling timbers, and he was
drowned in an upright position.

Recently two girls in a New York seminary were
playing at leap-frog in their bed-room, and one of them
struck her head with such force that the ceiling, being, per-
haps, old and dilapidated, gave way, and buried the girls in
the ruins. They were with difficulty extracted by the
governesses, who were called to their assistance by their
loud screams. When rescued it was found that not much
damage had been done to the girls, although a new ceiling
will cost 100 dollars.

Max Adeler says: "One of the New York papers
states that somebody the other day stole a very valuable
bull-dog from the Central Park menagerie in that city, and
have felt ever since as if I would like to get acquainted with
the thief. A man who is capable of stealing a bull-dog has
talent that is sufficiently remarkable to entitle him to
thoughtful consideration. I suppose for a very small in-
ducement such a man as that would pick up a couple of
Bengal tigers and a hyena and walk off with them, and if I
owned a good wild cat I would not like to leave him alone
with it."

The fatal cases of scarlet fever in London, which in
the six preceding weeks had declined from 124 to 65, were
69 last week, and included 28 in the east, 14 in the south,
and 12 in the north gioups of districts.
The great snowstorm which descended upon Scotland
at the end of last'week caused the loss of several lives. On
some of the northern lines of railway The drifts wore 20 feet'
in depth, and the sufferings of the railway passengers wgre
very great. The recent thaw caused the rivers to overflow
their banks in all directions, and vast tracts of land in the
valleys have been covered with water.

Early on Tuesday morning there was an explosion
at the Aldwarke Main Colliery at Rotherham, belonging to
Messrs. John prawn and Co., of the Atlas Works, Sheffield,
when seven lives were unfortunately lest.

An official list of petitions for private Bills in the
next Session has just been issued. There are 262 petitions
filed in the Private Bill office of the louse of Commons.

Among the prints recently acquired by the British
Museum from the Howard Collection is a large and curious
early NI oodcut of a man-of-war of the time of Queen Eliza-
beth. This print is interesting from its being probably the
work of an English engraver, No other impression of it is
known. It is printed with three blocks, and gives a broad-
side view of a ship full-rigged, with af_ermast, foresail, and
mainsail, and, hanging over the side, a large standard quar-
tered with the arms of the Howard family. This makes it
probable that the ship represented was the Ark Royal, the
largest ship in Queen Elizabeth's fleet at the time of the
Armada, and the flag-ship of Lord Howard of Effingham.

During last week 5,044 births and 6,020 deaths were
registered in London and twenty other large towns of the
United KiDgdom. The deaths exceeded the births by 76. The
mortality from all causes was at the average rate of 41 deaths
annually in every 1,000 persons living. The annual death-
rate was 42 per 1,000 in Edinburgh, 60 in Glasgow, and 45 in
Dublin. In London 2,685 births and 2,442 deaths were regis-
ti.red Allowing for increase of population the births were
621, and the deaths 721, above the average numbers in the
corresponding week of the last ten years. The death-rate
during the past twci weeks averaged Si per 1,000. .
In Paris, on Tuesday, the Lord Mayor of London,
accompanied by the Sheriffs, went in State to the Elysee, to
pay a visit to Marshal MacMahon. He was escorted by a
party of Dragoons, and was introduced by Lord Lyons.
Speaking in French, Marshal MacMahon welcomed his lord-
ship, and said his visit could onlx tend to strengthen the
friendship between the two countries. The Lord Mayor
thanked the Marshal in English, Lord Lyons acting as in-
terpreter. The Lady Mayoress afterwards paid a visit to
Madame MacMahon.

The King of Hawaii arrived at New York on the
23rd of December, and was received by the mayor and alder
men, and afterwards entertained by them at the "Windsor
Hotel." On the 24th King Kalakaua and his suite were to
visit Booth's Theatre, accompanied by Mayor Vance and the
resident Consul of the Hawaiian Islands, Mr. OdelL The
managers had also invited the Mayor-elect. The proscenium
box to be occupied by the Royal party was to be decorated
with the colours of the Sandwich Islands and of the United
States, and upon the entrance of the guests the National
Hymn, composed by the sister of his Majesty, would be per-
formed by the orchestra. There would be a display of fire-
works in front of the theatre upon the arrival and at the de
parture of the King.