The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-12-11 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.
At a meeting held in Philadelphia a Committee has
been appointed to organise a branch of the Irish Land
League.
The Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City has been
twenty years in course of construction, and as yet it
has hardly assumed definite shape. The cost is to be
£5,200,000, and the contract has still sixty years to run.
The officers of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards have
placed a brass cross in Holy Trinity Church, Windsor, in
memory of the late lieutenant Watkin William Wynn, who
was drowned while canoeing upon the Thames at the
Windsor weir.
Mr. Gladstone, replying to a communication from
the Barnsley Licensed Viatuallws' Association, says that
the recent change in the licence auty was founded on a caw-
fully and well reasoned report of the House of Lords
A telegram from Constantinople states that the
French, German, and Austrian Ambasssadors have received
instructions from their Governments to urge the Porte to act
with prudence and reserve with regard to the Greek ques-
tion, and to intimate at the same time that similar repre-
sentations have been addressed to the Greek Government.
A telegram from Canada says that the branch of the
Land League in Montreal has resolved to send counsel to
Dublin if necessary to defend the traversers in the
approaching State trials.
Mr. Thomas Carlyle completed his eighty-fifth year
on Saturday last.
Early on Sunday morning a large corn mill at Clay-
ton-le-Woods, near Preston, was destroyed by fire. The
building was three storeys high, sal the rooms were filled
with farmers' produce, either to grind or already prepared
for delivery, but none of it was saved from the flames. The
damage is estimated at about £3,000.
Private Hugh Morgan, 77th Regiment, the best
shot of the army for the year 1879-80, has been awarded the
prize of £2O and the silver medal.
A portrait by Titian of Isabella of Portugal, wife of
the Emperor Charles V., has been found hidden away in one
of the corridors of an old German castle.
Apropos of the advances women are making in
spheres hitherto mainly occupied by men, it is not generally
known that four Lady Bachelors have lately attained that
distinction by taking the B.S. degree at the London Univer-
sity.—Court Journal.
A very fine specimen of the sea eagle was recently
shot by the Culloden gamekeeper. It is unusual for an eagle
to be seen at Culluden, and it is supposed that the rectnt
severe storms had influenced its movements. The bird
measured seven feet nine inches from wing to wing.
It is proposed to erect a memorial to William Caxton,
England's first printer, in the shape of a stained glass window
In the church of St. Margaret, Westminster. The spot is
close by where Caxton set up his printing-press, and Is rich
in historical associations.
The French Government have decided upon propos-
ing the Chamber to sell the Crown jewels, as, in the opinion
of the Ministry, they do not possess any historical value. It
Is estimated that the sale will produce a sum of five million
francs, which will be devoted to extending and improving the
Nations:ll Museums.
A meeting of master shipbuilders and engineers vras
held in Glasgow on Tuesday afternoon for the purpose of
considering a request from the Clyde blacksmiths for an
advance of 10 percent. on their present rate of wages. It
was agreed to offer the workmen an advance of 7i per cent.
on the present rates, and this will probably be accepted.
On Sunday morning, on the invitation of Dean
Stanley, the Ist Surrey Volunteer Artillery Brigade attended
Divine service in Westminster Abbey. The Duke of Teck,
"
hon. colonel, was present. Dean Stanley selected for his text
the twentieth verse of the tenth chaper of Romans, Esaias
is Very bold." The Dean in a most earnest address, urged
his hearers to eschew untidiness and sloth, and avoid every-
thing that was selfish and mean, and concluded by some
practical illustrations of his text.
- j ;7, ittl; tit) :I •

On Wednesday night, in last week, a rather smart
earthquake shock was felt at Schaffhausen, being the
eighteenth shock in Switzerland this year.

Of the twenty-six thousand troops that are being
added to the German army, more than half are to be sta-
tioned on the Russian frontier. There will be no addition
to the troops on the French border.

It is stated that the Baron Charles de Rothschild, of
Frankfort, has lately added to his collection a superb cup of
silver gilt, a marvellous work of Jamnitzer, the price of
which it is said, was 750,000 francs.

All the Prussian towns of above twenty-fl ve thou-
sand inhabitants have combined for presenting a wedding
gift to Prince William, the heir to the German Crown.
On the property of Prince Windischgratz, near
Lienz, in the Tyrol, a vulture, measuring from the ends of
its wings ?pt., has been caught in a trap. ,
The Right Hon. Sir James W. Colville, Premier
Lord of Appeal of the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council, died. suddenly at his residence, 8, Rutland-gate, on
Sunday. He sat on Saturday with Sir Barnes Peacock and
Sir R..P.•Collier to hear two Indian appeals, and was then
suffering from a cough, which Was but of the slightest pos-
sible character. No complaint was made, or had recently
been made by him.

The diplomatic relations between France and
Mexico, suspended since 1867, or, without counting the
Maximilian interlude, since 1862, were formally resumed on
Monday, when Senor Veiasco presented his credentials to
President Gr6vy.

Latest accounts from the various districts show that
the labour market is in a much more healthy condition
than it was a week ago. There is an improvement of busi-
ness in all the large staple trades, and prices are very firm.
The iron trade is decidedly better. Nearly all the mills and
furnaces are now in full work, and orders are coming in
from all parts, and a hopeful tone prevails throughout the
trade.

The new English system of saving by postage
stamps is about to be introduced tentatively into Switzer-
land. It will be first tried in Geneva, and if found satisfac-
tory, will be extended to the rest of Switzerland.

The other day whilst out with the hounds, in com-
pany with her brother and several noblemen, the Princess
of the Asturias, eldest sister of King Alfonso, was thrown
from her saddle by the horse stumbling in a rabbit hole.
She fell on her head, and sustained a considerable bruise,
but with her usual decision of character she remounted after
her hurt had been dressed with plaster, and took au ani-
mated part in the chase during the whole afternoon.

The Registrar-General reports that the duration of
registered bright sunshine in London last week was 4.4
hours (against 51 hours at Glynde Place, Lewes), the sun
being above the horizon during 561 hours; the recorded
duration of sunshine was, therefore, equal to 8 per cent. of
its possible duration.

The Morning Post says it has good authority for the
assertion that during the past year the Porte has not only
paid off £1,000,000 of its floating debt in hard cash, but that
by the end of the year the Ottoman Bank will have in its
possession £500,000 at the disposal of the bondholders:

Another mad dog has made its appearance at Leeds.
It went on Monday night to a house in Cross-green-lan..,
where it created considerable alarm and coefusion by snap-
ping and biting at everthing it came across. The owner of
the place, however, happened to be at home, and struck the
animal on the head with a poker, killing it at once.

An enormous land meeting was held at Waterford,
on Sunday, approaching, if not equalling, in its dimensions;
the great gathering at Cork on Oct. 3. Mr. Parnell was pre-
sented with addresses of welcome from the Corportion and
from the trades of the city, which was gaily decorated.
The principal streets were spanned by triumphal arches,
the houses were profusely adorned with evergreens, flags of
all nations were displayed, and bunting floated from the
shipping in the harbour.

The first translation of the Bible into English has
been celebrated at the Academy of Music of New York by a
Wycliffe Semi-millennial, under the auspices of the Ameri-
can Bible Society, when Dr. Richard Storrs delivered an
address. Ex-Governor Chamberlain, of Maine, the Presi•
dent of the Bible Society was chairman, and many promi-
nent clergymen attended.

A return of the deaths in England and Wales in
1847, and in each year from 1855 to 1878; the index of the.
report from the elect Committee on the !potato crop; and
further correspondence respecting the affairs of the Suez
Canal Company, have been issued.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Beatrice, left
Windsor Castle on Monday morning on a short visit to the
Empress Eugenie at Chiselhurst.

The prospects of the Australasian harvest at the
end of this month are considered good, and if the results
prove equal to those cf last season they cannot fail to have
considerable influence on the spring wheat trade. Cargoes
of Australian at 50s. to 518. now compete closely with Ame-
rican at 48s. to 505., and the Pacific freighls are but about
per.quarter over those of the Atlantic.
An open competition will shortly be held for two
junior clerkships in the Colonial Office; with salaries com-
mencing at £,250 a year, and rising to £,600. Five of these
junior clerks have additional emoluments. The higher
classes of clerkships, with salaries from £7OO to £l,ooo,'_are
filled by promotion from the junior class.

General Garfield has received the congratulations of
the Ohio Electoral College on his election as President of the
United States, and in returning thanks expressed his gratifi-
cation at the quietness and regularity which had marked the
election. "The sovereign people," added the General,
"had imposed their commands upon him, .by their will he
was bound, and he would seek to realise their aspirations
for liberty, peace, and prosperity under just and equal laws.
Let us maintain," he concluded, the standard of
nationality, and promote all that is good and worthy in the
country."

The report of the United States Secretary of the
Navy, which has just been issued, favours the adoption by
United States vessels of the English maritime rules of the
road. The report also states that steps have been taken to
establish American naval coaling stations at Punta Arenas in
Costa Rica, and at Pagopago in the Samoa Islands, and urges
Government to foster shipbuilding and thereby enable the
United States to compete with England's navy and mercan-
tile marine.

The quantity of wheat now on passage to the
United Kingdom is made up of 900,000 qrs. from California,
520,000 qrs. from Atlantic ports, 300,000 qrs. from Australia
and Chili, 150,000 qrs. from Russia, and 102,000 qrs. from
In,lia.

The total exports from Melbourne, Adelaide, and
Sydney to Great Britain for the nast month have been :
Wool, 146,000 bales; tallow, 7,600 casks; copper, 1,525 tons;
copper ore, 2,600 tons; wheat, 52,000 qrs. ; flour, 5,900 tons
tin, 28,000 ingots

. ,
The judges of the Queen's Bench Division in Dublin
have unanimously refused to grant an application made on
behalf of the members of Parliament who are included in
the Crown prosecutions for a postponement of the trial
on account of their legislative duties beginning early in
January.

A memorial to the Home Departinent has been pre-
pared by several London vestries, in which a strong protest
is made apinst any further operation on the present lines
under the'Artizans' Dwellings Act. The memorial sets forth
that the Metropolitan Board of Works has lost £5g2,000 by
its purchase of property under the Act.

The abolition of the salt tax is heartily welcomed by
the entire press of St. Petersburg. It is stated that the loss
thus caused to the revenue, amounting to 12,000,000 roubles,
will be covered principally by an increase in the duty on
foreign manufactured goods and in the tax on patents. An
income tax is also contemplated.

The Lord Mayor of London has remitted to Herr
von Tisza, the Minister-President of Hungary, the sum of
£.600, being the first instalment of the Mansion House Fund
for the relief of the sufferers by the earthquakes at Agram.

The Great Western Railway Company's Station at
Paddington will be lit up next week with the Brush Electric
Light. Thirty-four electric lamps will be distributed inside
and outside the station and its approaches.

A communication has been received at Merthyr
stating that the Lords of the Privy Council regret they are
not able to recommend the granting of a charter or incorpo-
ration to that town. The promote/1 of the incorporation
movement now contemplate applying for a short Act of
Parliament, so that the matter may come in a public manner
before the House of Commons.

The last of the Dundee fleet of whaling ships having
arrived it is now possible to compute the value of the seal
and whale fisheries, so far as this pert is concernec,
Thirteen ships were employed during the year; nearly ninety
thousand seals were captured at Newfoundland and Green-
land; and at Davis's Straits over seven hundred whales.
Nearly seventeen hundred tons of oil were yielded and forty
tons of bone. In round numbers the value of the fishing is
£llO,OOO, as against £lBO,OOO last year, a decrease in value
mainly attributable to the fall in the price of bone.
Mr. Pulley, M.P., speaking at a meeting of the
Licensed Victuallers' Association at Hereford, in response to
the toast of the City members, he said he hoped when Parlia-
ment met some measure would be brought forward for
Ireland, so that the Government would be able to maintain
order and restore magisterial law in that country. He
thought the Burials Bill would do away with a gap between
Nonconformists and Churchmen.

Fans are becoming very expensive objects in France
(says a contemporary). During the past year 3,000 francs,
and 2,500 francs, and 7,000 francs, and 15,000 francs, have
been paid for fans painted by celebrated artists. It is more
lucrative to paint a fan,thah a picture for an altarpiece now-
a-days.
At the Birley Colliery, near Sheffield, on Monday,
two miners, named Clayton and Walls, were buried through
the fall of a portion of the colliery. When dug out Clayton
was found to be dead and his companion seriously injured.

- •
News received at St. Petersburg from Tobolsk, in
Siberia, states that the severity of the season-there is un-
equalled. More than a month ago the River Obi waf com-
pletely frozen over, eleven passenger steamers and many
other vessels of all sorts, including a Government boat
with despatches for Tomsk, being icebound. Within the
memory of any inhabitant the Obi has never been frozen
over at Tobolsk before, owing to the rapidity of its course.
A number of negroes were fishing at Galveston
wharf, when a boy about twelve fell into the water and
would have drowned had it not been for strenuous efforts
of an aged negro, known as Uncle Mose, to save him. A by-
stander, who admired the heroism shown by Uncle Mose,
asked him, "Is that your son?' to which the old man re-
plied, "No, boss; but he had all de bait in his pocket."

The Minga'rian G6vernment has in contemplation
the impopular project of a law by which civil service officers
intending to be united hereafter in holy wedlock, will have
to look out that the lady to be wedded be provided with a
guaranteed income of 1,500fi. (about £130), without which
the official authorization of marriage will be withheld, or
the disobedient servant be dismissed.

A mass meeting of. railway servants has been held
at Liverpool to consider the men's position under the Em-
ployers Liability Act. - It was resolved that the men would
gladly receive and carefully consider propositions emanating
Irons the railway companies with the view of preventing any
disturbance of friendly relations so long as such proposals
were not in contravention of the Employers' Liability Act.
The chairman said that under the Act the companies would
have to pay considerably .more compensation than at pre-
sent He advised them on no account to sign any docu-
ment by which they contracted themselves out of the Act.
Lord Dalhousie in speaking at Liverpool on the Irish
question said that although he had no sympathy with the
Land League programme, it would be weak and short-
sighted to allow themselves to be turned asidefrom the path
C,f justice. If Ireland were to become loyal it must be
through measures ot justice and reform. He had consider-
able interest in landed property, and suspected that many
Irish landlords now regretted the rejection of the Disturb-
ance Bill by the Peers, tor this prevented only what no good.
landlord would do if left to himself. His experience as a
landlord was that nothing injured a tenant so much as
insecurity of tenure.

The Daily News understands that Mr. G. W.
!las;igs intends to introduce a copyricht bill into the House
of Commons early in the ensuing session. No legislative
effect has yet been given to any of the recommendations of
the Royal Commission which the last Parliament heard
much evidence on this subject and agreed to an elaborate
report. Mr. Hastings's measure will be based upon Lord
John Manners's dropped bill, which, however, Is eon-.
sidered susceptible of considerable improvement in many
of its details.

General Lord Napier Of Mali; dal a, G. C. B. , G. C. S. 1.,
Governor and Commander-in-Cluef of Gibraltar, attained
his 70th year on Monday, having been born in Ceylon on
Dec. 6, 1810. His lordship, who received his title for his
successful conduct of the expedition to Abyssinia in 1868, is
the only surviving son of the late Major C. F. Napier, of the
Royal Artillery (who died in 1812). He was appointed to the
Governorship of Gibraltar on Oct. 10, 1876, so that his term
of office will not expire till next year.
The Buchatest Correspondent of The Times says :
"An American gentleman, largely interested in flour mills in
the Western States, has been inspecting the Hungarian mills
with a view to adopting the machinery and system of work-
ing in the latter country. The ,Hungarians use a large
number of rollers—between 30 and 40—made of chilled iron
and porcelain, in place of the " burr " stones used in other
countries. The Hungarian•plant and manufacture are more
expensive than in America; but the former get 80 per cent.
of flour from the wheat, while in the United States the
average yield is only about 69 per cent. The Hungarians
have also sent a commission to America to study the opera-
tions there, so as to enable them, if possible, to resist
American competition in Austrian markets,-

44,4

The Duke of Edinburgh has sent 20 brace of
pheasants from Eastwell Park for the sailor in-patients of
the Dreadnought Hospital, Greenwich.

During the five months ending in November last
the nvenne of the Dominion of Canada was 12,000,000 do].
and the expenditure 9,114,000 dols.

The Parliamentary vote to Sir Frederick Roberts
will, it is stated, be the substantial sum of £25,000.

The Report Af the United States Commissioner of
Internal Revenue shows that the receipts during the last
fiscal year were 10,000,000 dole. above tho3e of 1879, and in
the first four months of the present fiscal year 2,500,000 dela.
in excess of the amount received during the same period last
year. The Report advises reduction of taxation to the
amount of 11,000,000 dols , and the retention mainly of taxes
on spirits, beer, and tobacco.

Telegrams from Bombay announce that the Marquis
of Ripon has been suffering from fever, and that his depar-
ture to Calcutta, which was fixed for Saturday, had to be
postponed until Sunday. Ills 'Excellency met with a cordial
reception at Poonah on the 2nd, and in the course of a speech
which he delivered said India wanted peace and rest in order
to devote herself to the improvement of her agriculture and
commerce.

Official reports have been published respecting the
distribution of landed property in Russia, showing that
whereas before the emancipation of the serfs 67 per cent. of
the land belonged to or were appanages of the Crown, and 33
per cent. belonged to the nobility, the peasants, who then
possessed none, are now proprietors to the extent of 55 per
cent., besides farming the greater part of the landlords'
estates.

On Saturday a Royal Proclamation was; made at
the Cross of Edinburgh announcing the meeting of Parlia-
ment on the 6th proximo. The Heralds were escorted by a
detachment of the 71st Highlanders.

At a meeting in the Albert Hall, Leeds, to present
Mr. E. Baines, who formerly represented the borough, with
a memorial fund exceeding £3,000, which he has dedicated
to educational purposes, Mr. Herbert Gladstone, M.P.,
read a telegram from the Premier, announcing that the
Queen had been pleased to confer the honour of knighthood
upon Mr. Baines.

The Report of the Director of the United States
Mint just issued shows that the States coined during the
last fiscal year 36,000,000 dols. itigold and 38,000,000 dols. in
silver. The Mint received 99,000,000 dols, of gold bullion,
which was 30,000,000 dols. above that of any previous year.
In the former amount is included 62,000,000 dols. of foreign
coin and bullion, which is 60,000,000 dols. in exeess of 1879.
The Mint also received 34,000,000 dols. in silver bullion.

A terrible fog around Milan has caused a series of
lamentable disasters. Five labourers on the Venice-Milan
line were, while escaping from a goods train which they had
heard but not seen, killed by an equally unseen express
running in a contrary direction. Shortly afterwards a points-
man was killed at no great distance from the scene of the
former accident, and the same night a poor traveller was
similarly killed near Alexandria.

A new way of wearing jewellery has (says Land
and Water) has been adopted by some Paris alegantes; they
wear bracelets over the sleeves of their dresses, above the
elbow. This is exceedingly pretty, especially with black or
dark•coloured plush, velvet, or satin dresses. The bracelets
themselves consist of plain gold bands with a diamond
heart in the centre, or a jewelled insect or animal. Some-
times a handful of loose flowers is thrust through the brace-
let at the back of the arm.

It is stated, in a Vienna telegram, that. eight
churches,•one convent, and twenty-two large castles were
destroyed by the earthquakes at Agram. In one castle,
which contained 80 rooms, the Hungarian Landtag once
assembled. It belongs to Count Hombelles, preceptor of the
Crown Prince. Another was once the seat of the Knights
Templars.

The Liverpool Journal of Commerce says the French
locomotive builders are so full of orders that the Northern
of France Railway Company has been compelled to order
fifty engines from Austrian works.

The Oldham colliers have resolved to demand on the
Bth inst. an advance of 2d. in the is. on coal and day wages,
and the Ashton colliers 12i per cent. all round. Both dis-
tricts are considering a proposal of the colliery proprietors
to contract themselves out of the Employers Liability Act,
and forming a mutual accident insurance society.

On Tuesday morning an accident occurred on the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, near Bury Station. A
train of empty coal waggons was passing when the cross-
bar of one broke, leaving 25 waggons on the line. Another
train coming up, the driver seeing a collision was inevit-
able, leaped off the engine, and was seriously hurt. Con-
siderable damage was done to rolling stock.

As soon as " Endymion " passes through the censor's
hands at St. Petersburg, it will (the London correspondent of
the Manchester Guardian says) appt.ar in four separate trans-
lations in the Russian language. At Moscow and St. Peters-
burg 'A will be brought out in a cheap form by two eminent
publishing houses, and both the Novae Vremya and Novosti
will issue it in their weekly literary supplements.
The report on the Manchester Free Libraries for
1879-80 states that the issue c f books has been greater by
111,000 than that of any year except the preceding one. The
action of the council in authorising the opening of the free
libraries during a portion of every Sunday seems to have
given satisfaction, if we may judge from the increasing num-
ber of readers on that day. The boys' libraries have like-
wise been very successful.

Mr. Jacob Bright, M. P., speaking at Newton Heath
said the Compensation for Disturbance Bill ought to have
had no limitation of area or time, and unless some such
measure was passed we should in future years of distress
find Land Leagues, disturbance, and misrule in Ireland. He
was becoming tired of the cant about teaching the Irish the
sacredness of the law. No law was sacred which destroyed
h people; and unless we gave security to Irish industry we
sad better not enter upon the question of remedy at all.
•
Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan addressed his constituents at
Hawick on Monday. He said nothing had tended so much
to foster the anti-English feeling in the early days of the
Home-rule movement as the persistent manner in which the
late Government set their faces against the redress of Irish
grievances. And when the Conservatives were powerless in
this respect in the House of Commons last Session the Con-
servative leaders in the Upper Housetflung out the measures
of justice for Ireland. It was the duty of the country to
keep the settlement of the Irish question out of the hands of
Lord Salisbury and to leave it to Mr. Gladstone.

A widow residing at Rogart was found dead on
Tuesday on a Sutherlandshire moor. She had perished
from exposure while returning home by a lonely hill road
from Ardgay market.

Owing to the early winter about 50,000 tons of
goods have been frozen up at Cronstadt. A project is now
mooted at St. Petersburg for the construction of a tenfpo-
rary railway on the ice for the purpose of transporting these
goods to the capital.

A despatch has been received by the Spanish
Government from Havana, reporting that the last band of
insurgents, numbering forty men, have laid down their arms
The telegram adds that there are now no more insurgents is
the island.

•
Tuesday night's London Gazette contains the fol-
lowiag :—" The Queen has been pleased to recognise the
claim of Charles Colmore Grant, Esq., to the title of Baron
de Longuettil, of Longuettil, in the province of Quebec,
Canada. This title was conferred upon his ancestor, Charles
de Moyne, by letters patent of nobility, signed by King
Louis XIV. in the year 1700."

It appears from the latest statistics that the exports
from Lyons to America during November represented a
total of only 2,344,654 francs, being nearly one million less
than in October, and more than two millions less in Sep-
tember. The decrease is most remarkable in silk stuffs and
velvets, the exports of which have fallen from .2,300,000
francs to 1,400,000 francs.

The Manchester Guardian states that, owing to
several further pressing invitations to preach in Boston and
Philadelphia, the Rev. W. J. Knox-Little has postponed his
return home. The reverend gentleman now proposes to be
at St. Alban's, Cheetwood, by New Year's eve.

The British brig Courier, from Rio Janeiro, is
reported from the latter port to have been burned at sea.
The crew took to the boats, and were picked up and landed
at Rio Janeiro.

The Kearsage Cotton Mill at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, has been burned down. The loss is estimated
at 500,000 dolt Three hundred and fifty persons will bo
thrown out of employment by this disaster.

The Glasgow branch of the Irish National Land
League have passed the following resolution :—" We
solemnly resolve not to patronise the business of any Irish-
man who refuses to support the Irish laud movement."

The wine harvest has proved a complete failure in
most parts of Germany, not more than one-twelfth of an
average crop having been gathered this year. In France,
too, the crop this year was very small. This dearth has led
to a large traffic in grapes and wines overland by railway
from Italy and Hungary. Upwards of three thousand waggon
loads of grapes have been received in South Germany from
Italy alone within the past few weeks. From Hungary also
large quantities of the (mit have been despatched to the
West. During the past two or three weeksluggage trains,
loaded with Hungarian red wine, have every day been
crossing the Bavarian frontier at Passau, proceeding partly
to various destinations in South GI-en:eau, but principally
destined for France.