The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-08 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

There were 189 deaths from yellow fever at Rio de
Janeiro during the last fortnight of March.
Cases of suicide are greatly on the increase in the
Prussian army, it is supposed owing to the stern discipline.
Two of the Sultan's aides-de-camp, Nonni Bey +and
Achmet Bey, have presented to his Majesty a couple of
ancient and valuable pictures which have been heirlooms in
their families.
Professor Huxley, who was appointed to Professor
Wyville Thomson's chair at Edinburgh University, during
his absence with the Challenger Expedition, delivered his in-
troductory lecture on Monday to a large audience. He
spoka.at some length on the structure of the crocodile, which
he regarded as the key to a vast number of extinct reptiles.
Archwological facts, he said, showed that there had been a
succession of forms of that animal from the Triassic period
to the present day, the oldest being something like the
lizard.
The death is announced of Mrs. Anne O'Reilly,
"the oldest Catholic in CincinnatL" She settled in the city
in 1815, when there was no church of her faith there estab-
lished, and going to work earnestly, she formed a congrega-
tion that has grown to a membership of 75,000, with forty-five
. houses of worship.
We learn from Paris that the balloon which went
up from that city on Sunday for scientific purposes reached
a height of 3,800 metres, and descended in safety at Troyes.
The plasterers at Bolton have struck work for an ad-
vance of 4s. per week in the summer months, and 3s. per
week in winter. The masters allege that at present the rate
of remuneration is the same as in Manchester, while the men
in Bolton work six hours less per week.
Several chief constables have been examined before
the House of Commons Committee on the subject of police
superannuation, and all expressed themselves in fayour of a
system of retirement with pensions.
In the year 1874 there were 505,337 ounces of gold,
of the declared value of £1,937,425, exported from New Zea-
land. The amount exported from the Ist of April, 1857 to
the end of 1874 was 7,599,973 ounces, of the declared value
of £29,577,016.
The Paris papers report a serious conflagration as
having taken place at La Vilette in a heifer match manu-
factory. A boiler full of resinous materials being over-
heated, suddenly burst into flames, which rapidly extended
to the adjoining buildings. The efforts of the firemen suc-
ceeded in confining the fire to the premises in which it ori-
ginated. The loss is estimated at 100,000 f.
The Delhi Gazette records the following romance :
"A soldier in a regiment now at Lucknow once saved a
young lady from being drowned in the Thames. His regi-
ment came out to India. The young lady's papa having
lately died, she has remembered her preserver, purchased
his discharge, and offered him her hand. It is believed he
will accept the offer."
In a Shanghai letter in The Times (of Monday) we
read :—"The enterprising editor of the Shenpao—to which
I have before had occasion to allude as a Chinese newspaper
published under foreign auspices—made a hit by printing
the day's issue on vermillion paper. He had previously
struck the papular taste with equal happiness by printing the
news of Tung-che's death in blue, and on each occasion more
than double the usual number of copies were sold."
On Saturday afternoon Captain Boyton exhibited
his life-saving apparatus in the Mersey, off Rock Ferry. He
announced his intention of crossing the English Channel
during the present month, but this time it would be with an
English pilot and without doctors.—Captain Boyton went out
again on Tuesday, to the mouth of the Mersey and exhibited
his life-saving dress in the presence of a large number of
spectators who attended in steamers. His principal experi-
ment was that of burning a boat.
The Alexandra Palace was opened on Saturday in
the midst of a pouring rain which strongly contrasted
with the bright sunshine that attended thesopening of the
building destroyed by fire nearly two years ago. An address
having been presented to the Lord Mayor, his lordship, with
the Sheriffs, and the provincial Mayors, were conducted to
the grand hall, were the musical festival took place. At its
conclusion the chairman and directors entertained a num-
rous company at luncheon. "Success to the Alexandra
Palace" was proposed and duly responded to.
Dr. Diplock has held an inquiry at 192, Lancaster-
road, Kensington, into the circumstances attending the
death of Mr. Thomas Howlett, aged 70, a private gentleman,
residing at that house. The deceased was standing at the
top of the front steps of his house, giving some instructions
to the newspaper boy, when he fell over the balustrade of
the steps into the area, sustaining concussion of the spine.—
He died shortly afterwards. The occurrence was purely
accidental, and a verdict to that effect was returned by the
jury.
The receipts on account of revenue from the Ist
April, 1875, when there was a balance of £6,265,322 to the Ist
instant, were £7,212,930, against £6,398,525 in the corres-
ponding period of the preceding financial year, which began
with a balance of £7,442,854. The net expenditure was
£9,452,373, against £8,805,871 to the same date in the pre-
vious year. The Treasury balances on the Ist instant
amounted to £4,010,357, and at the same date in 1874 to
£4,777,627.
In London last week, according to the return of the
Registrar-General, 2,449 births and 1,532 deaths were regis-
tered. The births were one below, while the deaths ex-
ceeded by 80 the average numbers. The annual death-rate
from all causes, which in the four previous weeks had
steadily declined from 23 to 24 per 1,000 further fell to 23.
The deaths included 11 from measles, 35 from scarlet fever,
seven from diptheria, 96 from whooping-cough, 30 from
different forms of fever, 15 from diarrhcea, and not one from
small-pox; thus to the seven principal disease of the zymotic
class 194 deaths were referred, against 175 and 163 in the two
preceding weeks.
It has been ascertained by the inquiries of a Special
Committee of the National Assembly that of 54,000 children
born annually in Paris, more than one-half do not reach
their fourth year, and that in the whole of France one-fifth
of the children born die before reaching their second year
The Jardind'Acclimatation in Paris recently received
from the Cape of Good Hope six young zebras, which are
about to be subjected to a training process. Notwithstand-
ing what Buffon has said of the untamable character of this
animal, the managers of the above-named establishment have
succeeded in domesticating them, and there are now six
which suffer themselves to be ridden and put in harness,
just like horses. The Rodin d'Acclimatation is also daily re-
ceiving rare and valuable specimens of birds, beasts, fish,
and plants. A series of the different species of pheasants
has come from Asia, among which is the king of pheasants,
the pure blooded pheasant of Lady Amherst, a couple of
which splendid variety has the value of 2,4001 r. ; some
pheasants of Swinhoe, Semmering, and of Wallich.
An inquest has been held at Staines, respecting the
death of Louise Lock, aged 3i- years, the daaghter of a resi-
dent in the town. The evidence given‘before the jury
showed that the deceased and her brother were strolling
along the bank of the Thames, when .the former, in endeas
vouring to pluck same wild flowers, slipped into the water
and sank. Mrs. Venn, of Thames-bank, hearing what had
occurred, called to two gentlemen who were rowing near the
spot, and begged their assistance. One of them, Mr. Lang-
worth, of 10, Cheltenham-terrace, Chelsea, at once divested
himself of his outer garments and plunged into the river.
He succeeded in bringing the child to shore, but it was dead.
The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death, and com-
plimented Mr. Langworth on his spirited conduct."

About four thousand performers took part in the
annual juvenile choral festival of the Tonics Sol Fa Associa-
tion at the Crystal Palace on Saturday, and the manner in
which the programme was rendered won general applause
from the vast number of visitors present
A very large portion of St. James's Hall, Liver-
pool, was destroyed by fire about midnight on Saturday.
The damage is estimated at about £30,000, only £5,000
of which is covered by insurance.
The National Debt of the United States amounted
on the Ist of May, according to the official monthly state-
ment, to 2,131,309,431 dols. This shows a decrease during
April of 2,325,346 dols.

,
The Bredel collection of pictures was sold In London,
on Saturday, the total sum realised being £48,390. _ _ _

The statistics of emigration from the port of Liver
pool show that during the past month there has been a de-
crease in the number of departures of 2,535 as compared
with the month of April last year, and that in the four months
cf the present year the number has been 4,995 less than in
the corresponding period of 1874.
Count Malvaria of Italy has invented an earthquake
indicator to give warning of coming shocks. The instant
that a trembling of the earth occurs the mechanism fires off
a gun. a .
An inquest has been held in Liverpool on the body
of a victim of over-drinking. Deceased was a married
woman, and it was stated that between Saturday and Mon-
day last she spent 275. in liquor.
The Mexican State of Oaxaca has decided that a
spot may be set apart in each cemetery for the reduction by
fire of lifeless human bodies.

The Princess of Wales has been presented by the
Revivalists with a richly-bound copy of the hymns used in
the services of Messrs Moody and Sankey. A similar presen-
tation has been made to the Duchess of Sutherland.
On Monday afternoon the ice on the Neva com-
menced breaking up, moving slowly in large floes down the
stream. Beautiful spring weather prevailed.
The swans in the river Thames have been remark-
ably unproliflc this season; many old sitting swans have
come off the nests without bringing broods of cygnets. There
are about 400 swans in the river, the greater portion belong-
ing to the Queen and the rest to the Dyers' and Vintners'
City Company.
A curious bet has been made by a well-known pedes-
trian and guide of Pau and Nice, who has wagered that
within a certain time he will capture a living izard in the
Pyrenees, will bring it to Paris, conduct it through the
Champs Ellsees, and make it mount the Arc-de-Triomphe
without touching it with a switch. The izard is the wildest
and most unapproachable animal found in the Pyrenees. It
pumps from peak to peak at the greatest heights, and is
rarely shot even at the longest range.
According to the report of the executive committee,
just published, £6,333 was collected for the relief of the suf-
ferers by the Regent's Park explosion. Of this sum over
£5,260 has been distributed amongst some 1,100 claimants
for relief, which, after payment of expenses, leaves a balance
of £123 in the hands of the treasurers.

The son of the Belgian sculptor Godecharb has
recently died, leaving about 600,000 fr., the interest of which
is to be applied to the annual endowment of young Belgian
sculptors. The Belgian Government is to have the charge of
this fund.
An editor of one of the New York magazines lately
sent back his tailor's bill, accompanied by a neatly printed
slip, informing the tailor that his MS. was "respectfully de-
clined." Force of habit. The mistake was not discovered
until next day. The tailor discovered it.
A conference of representatives from various parts
of the country assembled in London, on DICSda) LA cuing, ht
the "City Terminus" Hotel, at which resolutions were come
to pledging the meeting to a continuance of the agitation
against the Contagions Diseases Acts.
A meeting was held in London, on Tuesday, at
Grosvenor House, the residence of the Duke of Westminster,
to hear statements with regard to the working of the Arti-
sans' Institute A large and influential company were pre-
sent, among the speakers being the Duke of Westminster,
Lord Lyttleton, Mr. S. Morley, M.P., Lord Shaftesbury, and
the Earl of Rosebery.
The St. Petersburg journals state that Russia has
urged the British Government to send delegates to the St.
Petersburg Conference, even if only as passive participators
therein. It is added that if England should persist in her
refusal to take part in the proceedings, the whole enterprise
will be dropped.
The New York Tribune, which has been for some
time constructing a huge publication office in New city, took
possession of the new building on the 11th of April, the 34th
anniversary of its first issue. This new building is one of
the prominent structures in New York, on account of its
great elevation. It is surmounted by a tower 260 feet high
Monday's Magnet says the grain crops continue to
be well spoken of. The condition of the pastures is, how-
ever, such as to suggest the apprehension that the hay crop
will be very deficient, unless there be a plentiful fall of rain
at an early date, succeeded by warm sunshine. From the
Continent reports refer to the gloomy prospects of the yield
of grass, but in other respects are eminently satisfactory.
A lieutenant in the Russian navy publishes a device
for quickly stopping holes made in ships by collisions. It
consists of a waterproof, pliable patch, with mechanism by
which it may be readily adjusted on the outside of the leak-
ing surface. The Russian men-of-war are being supplied
with It.
A game of chess between Europe and the City of
New York, which was started in 1859 by correspondence, was
recently concluded, after having been in progress for sixteen
years. The contestants were Dr. Brenzinger, of Pforzheim,
in Baden (Germany), and F. A. Brenzinger, of New York. The
New York player won the game.
A lady in one of our manufacturfng towns recently
had her attention attracted to the window of a milliner's
shop by a beautiful and very expensive French bonnet, and
inquired the price; she was told it was sold. "Oh, I had
no intention of buying such an expensive bonnet," remarked
the lady, upon which the milliner said, "It is a joint-stock
bonnet—that is, it belongs to three factory girls, who wear
It by turns on Sunday."—Pictorial World.
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