The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-27 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The widow of Mehemet Ali Pasha, the first Viceroy
of Egypt, died on the 19th.
The Earl of Sheffield offers a prize of the value of 30
guineas, in the Cricketing Season of 1881, to the gainer of
the highest batting average in the county matches against
other club.
Mr. R. Loder, M.P., has guaranteed £5O a year, for
three years, towards a fund for the purpose of scientically
testing what manures are best adapted for the soil in the
Weald of Sussex.
One ship left Halifax, Nova Scotia, last week with
7,000 barrels of apples.

The intended production of the Passion Play in New
York has already aroused considerable opposition. When
brought out last year in California, the play was fairly
forced off the stage by the weight of public opinion, and
there,seems every prospect that Eastern audiences will be
equally condemnatory.

The Report of the United States Agricultural De-
partment states that the corn crop shows a slight decline
from last year. Less land was planted with tobacco this year
than last, and the yield, too, is less per acre. About the
same area was planted with potatoes, but in the total crop
there is a distinct decline as compared with 1879.

The Chinese labour agitation on the Pacific Coast
is frightening the Chinese. The steamer Oceanic sailed from
San Francisco for Hongkong the other day with 850 Chinese
on board.

It is estimated that the losses sustained by
Glasgow underwriters during the last month amount to
from £lOO,OOO to £200,000. The loss is divided between
about 250 firms. .

In reply to a letter from the Home Secretwy to
the borough justices of Wolverhampton, requesting an ex-
pression of opinion as to the treatment of juvenile offenders,
the clerk to the Bench has just forwarded a communication
on this subject. The magistrates are of opinion that in any
alteration of the law juvenile offenders should be classed
under different heads, with a specified punishment appro-
priate to each class, and that only hardened criminals
should be sent to gaol.
A very singular circumstance occurred on Monday
on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lancashire Railway. On
the arrival of a train at Retford, from Manchester, it was
found that the driver, a man named James Owen, was
seriously ill, and he died a minute or two afterwards. It is
supposed that dtath resulted from heart disease. The de-
ceased had been in the service of the Company for many
years.

Speaking at a meeting held at Shrewsbury, the
Bishop of Lichfield said that £50,00 had been subscribed
out of the £14,000 required for the establishment of the new
Southwell bishopric, and he hoped that at the end of next
year all:would be collected.

A telegram to The Times says that intensely cold
weather has spread over the United States and Canada, the
temperature falling below zero in many places. Several
persons have been frozen to death. This remarkably early
opening of severe winter has closed the navigation on the
lakes and canals before the usual time, catching many vessels
In transit. Eight hundred grain-laden barges are fast frozen
in the Erie Canal, and 10,000,000 bushels of grain are thus
embargoed, causing a sharp advance in prices.
It is averred by "those who ought to know" in
Berlin, that there is real foundation for the reports of the
Czar's indisposition.
The Pope, in receiving the Archbishop of Cashel
and the Bishops of Limerick, Ross, Cloyne, and Kerry to
take their leave, is said by the Aurora to have expressed a
most ardent desire that the Catholic population of Ireland
would continue strictly united and devoted to the teaching
and direction of their Bishops.
Mr. John Bright, writing to Mr. Harris, president
of the Birmingham Liberal Association, thanks him for send-
ing a copy of,the resolutions agreed to at the meeting of the
Eight Hundred, held on Saturday week, and says: "They
are important, and I need scarcely toll you will not be for-
gotten by me in regard to any proposed legislation for
Ireland.'

In the French Senate on Monday the Bill for the
Higher Instruction of Girls was read a first time by a majority
of eleven.

The expulsion of the Jesuits from France has re-
minded Gallic gourmets that, amongst other benefits they
have conferred upon the country, the Society introduced the
turkey, now so profitable a source of income to farmers.
First aclimatised about the end of the sixteenth century, the
turkey came into favour so rapidly, that a Societe des
Dindonaphiles was formed to promote the rearing of the
birds, and Louis XVI. kept some of the finest specimens in a
"Royal menagerie." At the present time Paris alone con-
sumes some 43,000 turkeys between IN ovember and February.
N ero's Golden House is reproduced on a small scale
by a building in the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The
owfier noticed lately that the bricks of the house contained
shining yellow particles, and, taking down a piece of the
wall, he sent it to an assayer, who found that each brick
contained gold to the value from is. to 2s. The bricks, it
appears, were made in a yard bordering on a deserted gold-
field.

-71.'W0 very singular cases, due to the explosion of
soda-water bottles, were on Saturday attended by the
house surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospital, London. The first
was that of a barmaid, who, whilst stooping with a soda-
water bottle in her hand it exploded, and a piece of the
glass penetrated the ball of her eye. Another case followed
immediately after—viz., that of a petman, who was injured
whilst -removing some soda-water bottles, one of which ex-
ploded, the glass literally severing- the arteries of his wrist.
Drawing is now taught in all London Beard Schools,
and next month a selection of the best works done by the
scholars from the different metropolitan divisions will be
shown at the Saffron-hill Schoolroom. There have already
been some local displays in different parts of London, and
the drawings show considerable progress, although as yet
the copies are solely from the fiat, not from the round. If
this branch of study is to be of real use in any branch of
trade, however, the pupils, as they advance, must copy from
models, as in the Art Schools of both England and other
countries.

Ladies who powder their faces should carefully
avoid mineral watering-places. A Transatlantic belle re-
cently joined a picnic to some sulphur springs, and was
sipping the waters with the rest of the party, when her
friends suddenly noticed a remarkable change in her features.
Her face gradually assumed a mottled appearance, black
and white, and at last grew so discoloured that her alarmed
companions sent for a doctor. The physician speedily found
out that his patient used a face-powder containing some
chemical which was affected by the sulphureous vapour of
the spring.
The fire in the sugar refinery at Nantes last week,
caused a much greater amount of damage than was at first
calculated. The buildings and plant alone have suffered to
the extent of nearly haif a million of francs, while the value
of the stock destroyed is estimated at two million francs.
The warehouses contained 80,000 loaves, 4,000 bags, 1,000
cases, and 1,100 barrels of sugar, which are entirely lost' no
lass than fifty tons having fallen into the river through the
breaking down of a wall. No personal accidents occurred
during the fire.
The Marquis of Lorne and a distinguished party of
friends were out duck-shooting at Long Point, Ontario, on
October Ist and 2nd. The Marquis bagged 116 head, and
one of the party had 181. The total to fourteen guns was
1,142 head.

The semi-official Correskmdencia de Esparia says
that the members of religious orders expelled from France
who have taken refuge in Spain are at liberty to establish
themselves separately in whatever part of the country they
may think fit, but may not form themselves into religious
associations or publicly wear the habit of their • order.
Nevertheless, should some of the refugees be compelled
through special circumstances to continue wearing the
monastic dress, they will not, adds the journal, be the
object of repressive measures on the part of the Spanish
Government.

At Ruabon, last Saturday morning, a boiler explo-
sion, causing the death of four men and injury to fourteen
others, took place at the works of the New British Iron Com-
pany, occurring at about eight o'clock, when about 80 men
were at work. The force was so great that the pieces of
iron were scattered in all directions. One huge mass of
metal, weighing about three tons, was blown over the roofs
of the adjoining houses and shattered a massive stone
chimney. An inquest was opened on Tuesday on the bodies
of the following four men who 'were killed :—Thomas
Richards, who leaves a widow and five children; Kendrick
Kendrick, who leaves a widow and four children • Joseph
Davies, a widower, without children; and Joshua Jones, IS
years of age. The boilers were officially inspected about
six weeks ago. The jury having viewed the bodies, the in-
quest was adjourned for a fortnight.—One of the injured
men, Robert Jones, died on Tuesday afternoon at his own
house. This makes the fifth death resulting from the ex-
plotiou.

The health of the Queen of Denmark which has
lately been causing much anxiety, has so far improved that
her Majesty is able to leave her room.

Mr. Bright, in a letter to the President of the
Glasgow University Liberal Club, acknowledging his election
as Lord Rector of Glasgow University, says that it is for-
tunate for him that the duties of the office are light, but
he hopes during its term to present himself before his con-
stituency and deliver the address expected_from him.

While a number of boys were sliding on " Chorley's
dam,' Prescot, on Sunday, the ice gave way, and a boy
named Thomas Lyon was drowned.

According to a statement of Herr Lucius, the
Prussian Minister of Agriculture, made in the House, the
net income derived from State lands in Prussia has within the
last 3o years risen from 13 to 39 marks per hectare, or by 200
per cent. -

The monument erected in the cemetery at Evera to
the memory of the French soldiers who fell on Belgium
territory during the Franco-German war of 1870 was un-
veiled on Sunday in presence of a large crowd of spectators.
The trade report received at Berlin from the Ger-
man Consul at 'I okohama records a further development of
commercial intercourse between Germany and Japan in the
year 1879. In that year Germany sold goods to the value
of about 7 000,000 marks to Japan.

There will be 7,527,500 householders' schedules, and
79,350 numerating books used in taking the census in Great
Britain. The amount of paper that will be required will be
68 tons.

Since the formal betrothal of the Archduke Rodolph
to the Princess Stephanie, a magnificent bouquet has, by
order of his Royal Highness, been forwarded every day to
the Princess.

The will of the late Sir Thomas Bouch, the engineer
of the Tay Bridge, has just been registered. Jim estate
amounts to upwards of a quarter of million.
The Liverpool Mercury understands that a conference
of Nonconformists will shortly be held to consider what
steps shall be taken to get rid of the enactment which re-
quires that the local registrar shall be present at all mar-
riages celebrated in places of worship other than the
churches belonging to the Establishment.

The first prize of 500 dols., offered by the National
Board of Trade of the United States of America for the
best essay and draft of an Act to prevent injurious adultera-
tion and regulate the sale of food without imposing un-
necessary burdens upon commerce, has been awarded to
Mr. G. W. Wigner, F.C.S., F.1.C., honorary secretary of the
Society of Public Analysis, ctc., of London.

An inquest was held at Oldham on Monday on the
body of a boy who was drowned on Sunday through the
breaking of the ice on which he was skating in Chadderton-
phrk. Evidence was given to the effect that a young man
named Blake, in trying to save the deceased, went down
twice, was struck on the temple by ice, and much cut about
the body. The coroner said Blake's gallant conduct deserved
the notice of the litimane Society.

Mr. George Manley, Jun., of Spofforth Hall,
Wetherby, Yorkshire, was drowned on Monday while skat-
ing on Loch Unischan. The unfortunate gentleman, who
was in his twenty-second year, was residing at the monastery
at Fort Augustus as a postulant. _ _

-
A special meeting of the members of the _Man-
chester Chamber of Commerce was held on Monday, Mr. B.
Armitage, M.P., presiding, to hear an address by Sir Samuel
Rowe on trade with the West Coast of Africa. Sir Samuel
expned the efforts he had made as Governor in Chief of
her Majesty's settlements on the West Coast of Africa to
open up increased trading facilities with the interior, and
said that many native chiefs had given promises to assist in
the development of those faeilities.

Sir Charles Wingfield and Mr. Chesson, on behalf
of the Aborigines' Protection Society, had an interview on
Monday with Mr. Adam, the Governor of Madras, with
reference to emigration from that colony to various colonies
in which indentured labour is employed. His Excellency
promised to look carefully into the subject and do all in his
Power to pretect the immigrants.

The Court Journal says that an English clergyman
and nobleman expeated last week to receive about £5OO for
tithes. The sum forwarded to him was less than a£s note;
the explanation being that the farmers were waiting to see
what Government would do for them with regard to tithes
before they paid anything.

The American Indians, including those in Alaska,
number 256,000, who are exhibiting steady progress towards
civil.sation, and all of them, with the exception of 18,000,
are more or less under the control of-the Government agents.
Increased grants are asked for their education, which is
reported to be making satisfactory progress.

The annual report of the United States Secretary of
War, which has just been published, urges Congress to
make grants sufficient to maintain the strength of the army
at 30,000 men, and recommends the assimilation of the
militia to the regular army. The report urgently demands
the repair and improvement of the fortifications and de-
fences, especially on the sea coast, which are described as
discreditable to the country, inasmuch as they are unable
to resist the ironclad fleets of the present day.
Monster fans are all the rage now—made of feathers,
painted or plainly coloured. Their size is enormous, some-
thing like the half of a circle, measuring a yard across, and
almost a yard long when folded and closed. Many of them
are very beautifully painted, and are really valuable works
of art. When carried folded in the hand they look almost
like walking-sticks.—Court Journal.
In Paris, on Sunday, a fatal accident occurred at
the Bois de Boulogne. M. Antonio Alvarez, a wine mer-
chant, was riding a young horse in the avema which is now
named after the Bois, when the animal suddenly took fright
and bolted, its rider fast losing all control over Its move-
ments. After a short but sharp gallop M. Alvarez was
thrown on his head, and though every attention was speedily
lavished upon him, he expired an hour after.

Mr. Arthur Arnold and Mr. B. Armitage, the mem-
bers for Salford, addressed their constituents on Monday
night, when the former said that he considered it to be the
duty of Irishmen to agitate against a continuance of the pre-
sent landlord system. He neither asked for the abolition of
landlordism nor the establishment of the peasant proprietor-
ship, but he wished that it should have fair play, and then it
would establish itself.

Mr. Brassey, M.P., who sat three days last week at
Hanley as umpire on the subject of potters wages, has
given his award. The workmen prayed for their wages to be
made the same as they were up to last Novembar, when
Lord Hatherton awarded a reduction amounting to eight
and one-third per cent. Mr. Brassey, whose award reached
Hanley on Monday afternoon by special messenger from
Hastings, regrets that justice seemed to compel him to
decide in favour of the employers against the workmen. He
is sorry that trade did not appear sufficiently prosperous to
justify a rise of wages.

- -
There were 2,34-3 births and 1,489 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population the
births were 215, and the deaths 222 below the average
numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten years.
The annual death-rate from all causes, which had been
equal to 2113 and 233 per 1,000 in the two preceding weeks,
declined to 211. During the past seven weeks of the current
quarter, the metropolitan death-rate has averaged 2r3 per
1,000.

The final heat for the prizes in the International
Regatta was rowed from Putney to Mortlake on Saturday,
and resulted in Laycock, of Sydney, carrying off the first
prize of £500; Ross, of New Brunswick, being second;
Hosmer, of Boston, third; and Smith, of Halifax, fourth.
The official investigation into the origin of the fire
which occurred at the Lunatic Asylum at St. Peter, Min-
nesota on the 15th inst., indicates that.ithirty-two persons
met their deaths by burning.

The excavations at Olympia, under the direction of
the German Expedition, have been resumed. With the pre-
sent series the researches which have been going on for two
or three years past, under the patronage of the German
Government will be brought to a conclusion. The expendi-
ture incurred in these labours during the present year has
been defrayed from the Zmperor William's private
purse.
During a gale on Saturday morning the Norwegian
barque Freden, 400 tons, bound for Bordeaux, with a cargo
of deals, drove ashore on the East Goodwin Sands. In
response to signals from the lightships on the Sands, the
Ramsgate Harbour steamer and the lifeboat Bradfurd pro-
ceeded to tlfe assistance of the shipwrecked crew. Just
before the lifeboat reached the Sands the vessel's masts fell
over the aide, thus preventing the boat from getting along-.
side. The seamen then climbed along the broken masts.
They ran great risk of being washed away by the heavy seas,
but fortunately they safely reached the boat, and eleven
hands in all, including the master, were landed at Ramsgate
shortly afterwards.
The Glasgow Home Rule Association, at a meeting
on Tuesday night, declared its hearty approval of the prin-
ciples and objects of the Irish Land League. condemned the
State prosecutions, and resolved to contribute to the Defence
Fund. While giving the Irish land movement their earnest
support they couldj never recede from their demands for
self-government.
Sunday (21st) being the birthday of the Crown
Princess of Germany (Princess Royal of Great Britain and
Ireland) the bells of St. George's Chapel and St. John's
Church, Windsor, rang in honour of the occasion. The
Royal salutes were reserved until Monday. The Princes
Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, eldest daughter of Her
Majesty the Queen and the late Prince Consort, was born
on the 21st of November, 1840, and married on the 25th of
January, 1858 the Crown Prince of Prussia. Her eldest
son, Prince William of Prussia, who has just left England
for Wiesbaden, is 21 years of age, and will be married next
February to Princess Victoria of Holstein-A ugustenbtuw.
Princess Victoria, his betrothed, is at present staying at
Cumberland Lodge with Prince and Princess Christian of
Schleswig-Holstein.

Although the eclipse of ,the sun on the last day of
the present year will not in ay part of Great Britain amount
to six-tenths of the sun's diameter, Nature says it is never-
theless as large a one as will be visible until May 28, 1900,
and only that on the morning of June 17, 1890, will compare
with it in magnitude in the interval.

Large additions are now being made to the
Mus6um d'llistorie Naturelle in the Jardin des Plantes at
Paris. A new front is being erected and two new sides,
which, combined with the former • Galerie," wil, form a
hollow square. This square will be covered with glass and
used for the exhibition of skeletons of whales and other
specimens of inordinate dimensions. The total cost of
these buildings is estimated at five million francs (4160,000.)
- -

„
Mr. Charles Wilson, M.P., was a speaker at the
Hull ChrLstmas Fat Stock Show dinner, and, referring to the
subject of agricultural depression, said that the time had
gone by when one interest could be protected at the expense
of another. They must remember that unless they could
feed the people cheaply, it would be impossible to have
wages at a sufficiently low rate to compete in the manqfae-
taring world with other nations. If the prosperity of the
country could not be secured without Protection, it was in a
critical state.

In Paris, a few days since, a terrible accident hap-
pened in the Montmartre Quarter. An omnibus laden with
passengers, both inside and out, toppled over through the
breaking of an axietree, while turning round the corner of a
street. All the persons were more or less injured. Three of
the outside passengers had their limbs broken and two their
two hours after hoeu ndssi dseh she passengers,reived: anlaedvyehdiicelde
skulls fractured.froOnnl One of
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was smashed by the fall.
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of Lords would never stand very long between the nation and
that uponwhich' it had set ts heart.
Queen Christine of Spain has presented to the Pope
i
i
magnificent golden chalice set with precious stones.
The Manchester Guardian is informed that Lady
Mountmorres, who, with two of her children, has for nearly
five weeks been the guest of Mr. W. H. 0. Bagshaw, Ford
Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith, has received a letter from the
Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe stating in the kindest terms
that Her Majesty had unexpectedly been able to offer to
Lady Mountmorres a suite of apartments in Hampton Court
Palace. Lady 111ountmorres has accepted the offer.
On Monday evening the Under-Sheriff of Essex and
the Governor of Chelmsford Prison received a communica-
tion from the Home Secretary respiting during her Majesty's
pleasure the sentence of death passed by Mr. Justice
Hawkins upon William Wright, labourer, aged 23, for the
murder of John Prior, a gamekeeper, by shooting him upon
the estate of Lord Braybrooke, at Audley-end, Saffron
Walden. The petition in the culprit's favour from Chelms-
ford and district bore 1,063 signatures Petitions were also
sent from Saffron Walden —The sentence of death has been
commuted to one of penal servitude for life.
An invention which will very considerably influence
architecture and sculpture has just been made by Dr.
Gehring, at Landshut, in Bavaria. Dr. Gehring, by means
of an enameiling liquid, renders any species of stone or
cement harder than granite, and gives it the absolute and
indelible appearance of any other mineral that may be
desired. The process admits of being applied to metal,
which is completely protected from rust.
The Marquis of Hertford has notified to his tenants
that they may consider themselves under the Hares and
Rabbits Bill from the present time. His lordships adds:
" I make this concession with confidence that they do not
desire to deprive mc and my friends cf one of the pleasure'
of a country life among them, And that they will assist,'
keepers in protecting feathered game and in prevent
UnallthOrizW gasps from tropasaing on thoir Urmi."