The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-02-01 00:00:00

PlisttflanCODS )nttiligeart,

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL,

Paw PREMIUMS.— On Plymouth Church
(Breoklyn) sale day for 1873 several pews fetched a
premium of 360 dole, each, in addition to the rent of
90 dole. The rental of the pews amounts to 12,800
dole, a year, but the premiums realized at the sale
reached 46,580 dole; and the sale of chairs in the aisles
will bring the total above 60,000 dole. Mr. Beecher
was present at the sale, and made a few pleasant re-
marks before it began.
MR. GLA.DsTONE AND TUE MINER& MEMORIAL.
—The following letter has been received from Mr.
Gladstone. in reply to the memorial of the miners,
alopted at the meeting held at Bedlington, on the
18th 'nat.
"10, Downing-street, Whitehall, Jan. 25. IS73,—Sir.—l am
directed by Mr. Uladst,ne to acknonledge the receipt of •
memorial, adopted at a meeting held at Bedtington, in the
borough of Morpeth, on the 10th Inst., urging the unsettle
factory character of the household frayed, le boa, e
and advocating manh-od *of. , . a... no tlealteli
not a.. :. i,iie ot Ilia serious difficulties which
the hut Parliament encountered in the definition of • home
and that he feels the gravity of the considerations connected
with the question of household franchise, which Parliament
will doubtless weigh with care ehenerer the subject again
comes under notice.—lf hare the honour to he. Air, your
Obedient sei vent, W. R. GURtion.—Sir. Robert Elliott."

VERY WELCOME—We are &lad to see ad•
vertir.ed a new book by Mr. rlanehd. It is called
Wiltiam with the Ring. We hope the ring fitted well,
and that the lovely wearer lived happy ever afterwards
with her Wildam.—Punch.

THE EXODUS OF FARM LABJIIRERS. —Mr.
Yeats, the champion of the Labour. re' Union in
Gloucestershire, is about to proceed to Brazil with 200
families. It has also been arranged for two Protestant
missionaries to go to Canada and Assunguy. Last
week about 100 labourers and artisans sailed 'tom Liver.
pool to the Western Colonies, and on Saturday about
the same number arrived at the post for embarkation.
The emigrants go in families, and are about to settle
and become farmers on the grant lands—At a meeting
of the directors of the National Agricultural Labourers'
J-nion at Lea,ilngton, Mr. Arch laid before the meet-
ing an. ffsr to take ill the married men locked out and
tet them „up in business SA freehold farmers on one
hundred acres in the State Colonies of Brazil. Two
hundred families are goiog out in charge of Mr. Yrats,
Union delegate.

EMIOATION SOMERSETSIIIRE LABOTMERS.—
On the 25th of March a pioneer party, consisting of 100
eingle man and men leaving their wives and families
behind them for the preient, will set sail from Liver-
pool, under the conduct of the Rev. G. Rodgers, of
Yeovil, Somerset, for the new English colony just
founded at Yeovil, situate in the Red River Valley, in
the State of Minnesota, on the line of the North Pacific
Railway. This colony has been formed for the sake of
the many -small farmers of the south of Eugland who
cannot get mutable holoings, and for the agricultural
labourers and mechanics who may not be able to got
sufficient employment in this country. The manage-
nient of the colony is en' rusted to a president (the Rev.
G. Ito !gem), a secretary, a treasurer, and a committee
chosen by the. members, who have to pay an entrancs
fee of half a-crown, being promised gaol laud at from
10s. to 30s. an acre, with seven years' credit if re-
(mired. The wives and families of the married men
in the pioneer paity will follow at the end of April,
when homes will hare been prepared for them, for
which purpose mechanics connected with the building
trade are being already sent out. In June, many
hundreds of labourets, small farmers, and mechanics
are to follow; the majority belonging to Somerset-
shire. Ye Atil colony is stated to he situ stol in one of
the most healthy and fertde districts of Minnesota.
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A YEAR'S LIFEBOAT WORK.—The work of
the Natiooal Lifeboat Institution in saving life from
shipwreck in the year 1872 may thus be briefly sum-
mai ized (says the Lifeboat) : —By lifehoat4, 869,; by
shore-bats and other nu aua, for the services of which
the institution granted rewards, 170—total, 739. The
preservation of life, to which the institution has dey.ted
itself fo: nearly half a century, hal born considered in
all ages as an act deiervirg every mend of gratitude
and encouragement. The highest and humblest are
often made widows and orphans by the villerce of the
storm, as was too frequeetly seen during the fearful
gales of last December. To-day, it is the great captain
in his proud war-ship who goes down with 500 men into
the ocean's bosom; to-morrow, it is the poor woman,
with her children round her, who on the desolate beach
mourns for the manly heart that will return no more,
.for IbikpiOt Imo helm SWUM" MIL ib3 tfiakerliNll
all been drowned." It only remains for us at the
commencement of the year to pray that it may not be
so stormy as the past year, and to appeal to the public
at large for their continuous support to the Lifeboat
Institution, which is so merciful and patriotic in its
design, and which is so constantly giving practical
proofs of its successful working in laving life from ship-
wreck.

I wee-i:,

Aus..rue., ousa.—A correspondent Crf the
Neuf Vert, l'inira a,ktithe aid r.f that journal vra.
tecting the public againet a grow,ng nibuer of the
word '• elegant." The letter orates to have had for ite
proximate mnse a quotation described as tak. n from
"an elegant morning newspaper."

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GUMP. —Old Lady : " YOll know the Roy.l
? Well, you turn to the right, pat the 'Jolly
Gardeners.' till you come to he 'Red. Lion'—."
Artful CaLku : "..0, don't tell me the 'owes, num!
Name some o' the churches, and then I shall in
where I am! !"--[Asks and gets an tzorbitant fare
without a mernturi—Puticx.

HORRIBLE MURDER IN FRANCE.•— A fearful
crime wao committed on Wednesday morning, inlaid
week, at Versailles (at the time the three Communists
were being shot on the Plain, of Satery). A young
man emploved in a c nfevtionere shop in the Hue
Roche, in a fit of madness or jealousy, immediately on
awaking took • hatchet, and almost cut to pieces a
silos, workman who was sleeping in the same mom.
After having hacked the body about in a moot atreci,itia
manner, be proceeded to set tire to the bed, and then
gave himself upto the police, to whom he nariated all
the .1. t tile of his crime. Assistance was immediately
s,nt to the house, whi ih was already in flamea. and the
conthigratiou wis with some ditficalty goturider ; the
body of the unfcrlumits young MAU was cumpletrly
carbonised.

'THE PURCHASE OF RAILWAYS BY THE GO.t
VERNMENT. —The Birmingham Poe Rays
_

We have reason to believe' that the aegu'ialtion of the rail.
way. br the State Is now irriously engaging toe attention of
the Government ; and that an iiivestigatieu is in program—
conducted by a member of the Cabinet, In conjunction with
one of our ablest permanent officiate—to collect the Informa-
tion teceseary to er able the o.,vernnient to ewe to a con-
clusion auto the opportunity and the terms of purchase It
Is not improloable, we are told, that a beginning may be made
next year with the Irish railways; and our information leads
us to believe that, if this neotiation proves at all sags.
factory, it will probably be followed by the larger operatial
Involved in the acquisition of the Eliglieh line.. Of coolie
we are not in a poeition to sty how far the project is yet is.
veloped ; but we are assured that the initial steps of inquiry
and calculation are being taken,

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ACCIDE.ST TO A PRINCESS. A letter from
Vienna says that a very serious accident ban juet hap-
pened to two ladies of rite of the tint families in
Austria. The PrinceasSarolta Auersperg, nt'e Countess
Sr etia,y, widow of General Prince Alexander, brother
of Prince Adolplina Auersperg, President of the Cite
'Althea Ministiy, lives at Presburg with her family.
A few days ago her Highness and her daughter, the
Princees Anna, twenty years of age, were preparing to
go to a ball when the latter let an ornament tall. The
femme de elm mire placed a light on the fluor to look for
it, and the younger lady, unfortunately turning round
wbhout noticing the act, placed her dress in contact
with the flame and set fire to it. The mother rushed
forward to tesiet, but her gown also became ignited,
and both ladies were speedily enveloped in flames.
The injuries of the elder one are extremely grave, het
neck and arms neing deeply burned, while the wounds
of the young Princess are comparatively slight. How.
ever, her state although less alarming than that of
her mother, is state,
such as to cause anxiety.

THE PRESS IN PRANCE . . —The states
that the Blinitter of the Interior has adopted a new
method for preventing anti-Republican writings Iron
being circulated in Paris. It is well known that
under previous regime foreign journals were prohibited
from pawing the frontier, when containing articles of
an objectionable character. The Republican govern-
ment, however, not only continues to exerctse this
species of tyranny; it interdicts the circulation of
certain French leadieal prints altogether; and others
are only permitted to reach their destination after
having bad the Gffensive articles cut out with scissors.
It was in this mutilated state that the Gazette du Valais
reached the office of the Lamle the other day.
SUMMONSES FOR SCHOOL RATES. —At the Shef
field Police-court, on Tuesday, Mr. Rawson, -_utlery
manufacturer, and Mr. Sharman, merchant, were sum-
rnoned for non-payment of School Board rates, the ground
of objection being that part of the rate WM applied to
denominational teaching. The stipendiary magistrate
said that aU he had to do was to inquire into the due
levying of the rate, and that having been admitted by
the defender's; he had no discretion, but must make
an order for payment, with costs. People who had
what they called conscientious soruples must take their
crotchets to the Court of Queen's Bench, and not
attempt to get the rate set aside in a local court. There
was a large attendance of Nonconformists, minister;
and others.

MR. BRIGHT AND THE CONING SESSION.—At
the dinner of the Market hall Ward Liberal Com-
mittee, at Birmingham, on 'Faraday night, which was
p. stymied fro.n the 14th inst int, the ton. secretary,
Mr. James Freeman, rea I the following letter from
tire Right Hon. John Bright

Rochdale, Jan 6, 1,73 —Sly dear 61r,—1 must ask you
to thank your committee on my bchalt for their kind in-
vitation I wish I could accept R. If I excuse myself
from coming, I AM sure you will not attribute my absence
to a wrong cause. There are none e f my hien la in Bir-
mingham who would be more glad to see me than I
should b., to see them. I hope to be able to give a fair at-
teudance in Parliament during the coming session, and in
soon nil dare venture to meet and to aehlrees a large Salem-
lily. I goal be &oaten/ to meet my constituents in your
Town-12111. I hope the sesslyn which is about to open may
be as fruitful no the,last, and notwithstanding shortcomings
and disappoiromenta,lhe country may be semi de of its in-
teresta in supporting the Liberal party and a Liberal adminis-
tration. lam sorry I cinnot be with you on the 14th inst
Believe me always sincerely yours, JOHN BRAPIIT.—James
Freeman, EN , 86, New -street, Birmingham.
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