The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-05-07 00:00:00

EPrromr,.-oriNEws

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A fire orseurred on Sunday morning at the works of
Messrs. Charles EWA and Co., Forbes-street, Aber-
deen. The flames were not extinguished till damage to
the amount of £15,000 was done.
Francis John Davies was charged on Saturday at the
Dorking Police-court, and was committed for trial for
attempting to murder a woman named Margaret
Cumings by stabbing her in the throat. The parties
were living together, and had been drinking throughout
the day when the offence was committed.
A reception was given on Saturday night by the
Council of the Royal Colonial Institute in honour
of the Delegates from the Colonies to the
Imperial Conference, at the galleries of the Royal
Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Piccadilly,
London. The guests, numbering about 1000, were
received by the Duke of Manchester and other mem-
bers of the council.
At the Society of Arts, Adelphi, on Saturday, the
fourth annual meeting of the managers of the
London Board Schools was held, and was presided
over by Mr. Sydney Buxton, M.P., who was supported
by Sir W. Hart-Dyke, M.P. (Vice-President of the
Council), the Rev. J. R. Diggle (Chairman of the
Board), and others. The report was presented and
adopted.
The Russian Ambassador at Constantinople is said
to have insisted upon the nomination of a Regent who
would be Russia's candidate for the Bulgarian throne,
Ind would afterwards offer himself for election as
Prince. The Grand Vizier has, however, refused to
entertain the proposal, while M. Vulkovitch has
officially informed his Highness that any arrangement
adverse to the Bulgarian Government will be rejected.
The Earl of Onslow unveiled on Saturday a statue
of the late Earl of Beaconsfield, placed in the principal
park at Bolton, and presented to the Mayor of tho
borough on behalf of the Bolton and District Conserva-
tive Working Men's Association. Later a public
meeting was held, at which many thousands were
present. An address of welcome was presented to the
Earl of Onslow, and in reply he said her Majesty's
Ministers were satisfied that the problem which they
had to cope with in Ireland was not one of strong deep-
rooted political feeling amongst the people. They
believed the source of all discontent there was agrarian
and not political, and to relieve that Government had
introduced one measure to remove that discontent.
But there was something more to be done than merely
remove agrarian discontent. The Government were
determined, at whatever risk or whatever cost, to main-
tain law and order in Ireland. Mr. Gladstone was
endeavouring to persuade the country that there was a
fresh issue before the country; but he (Lord Onslow)
held that there was no new issue, and that the opinion
of England was the r grne as it was last July. A resolu-
tion of confidence in her Majesty's Government was
passed.
Meshack Lees, a gipsy, was brought up on remand at
Brentford on Saturday, charged with assaulting Laura
Linstead, aged eight years, on the 12th ult., at Ealing.
common. Mr. Simms prosecuted on behalf of the
Treasury. The injured girl corroborated the previous
evidence as to the outrage, identifying the prisoner as
the man She said that he stopped her cries by tying
a red handkerchief round her head and over her mouth,
and also struck her several times on her face with his
fist, causing her lips and nose to swell. Some further
evidence was called to prove that the canes found at
the scene of the outrage were similar to those which the
prisoner was seen to have in his possession on the 12th,
and the evidence taken at the previous hearing having
been read over, the prisoner was committed for trial at
the Central Criminal Court.
Mr. T. Bass, coroner. held an inquest at Westerham,
Kent, on Saturday relative to the death of Charles
Robert Thompson, a medical practitioner, which
occurred on the previous day. The deceased, who had
been in practice at Westerham for many years, was
returning from a drive in company with his daughter
when the horse ran away, and both were thrown out of
the carriage. Dr. Thompson's injuries were of such a
serious nature that he died a few hours afterwards,
never having regained consciousness. The young lady
was not seriously injured. The medical evidence went
to show that death was due to a fracture of the base of
the skull and concussion of the brain, and the jury
returned a verdict to that effect.
A determined attempt to prevent angling in one of
the few remaining public waters near London was made
on Saturday on that prat of the River Wandle known
as the "Long Water." Londoners as well as local
residents fish the stream during the first few weeks of
the season. On Saturday, however, the utmost
astonishment was caused to the early visitors by the
appearance of a police-inspector, who warned all the
anglers that if they threw their lines across the road
he should (take their names and addresses and summons
them. Two or three London visitors, however, told the
Inspector tnat they had fished for years, and intended
to do so. Two score rods were seen at work casting the
fly.
A public meeting, which was attended by about a
thousand people, was held on the Level at Brighton on
Saturday night, to protest against proceedings daily
carried on at the Assembly Hall, Edward-street, which
is tenanted by "the Army of the Lord." A resolution
was carried, to the effect that the proceedings were
blasphemous, anti-Christian degrading to public
morals, and injurious to those who come under the
mesmeric influence of Mr. Woods, alias "King
Solomon." A late member of the Army supported the
resolution, and the proceedings were most enthusiastic.
At Oldbury on Saturday Henry Oliver, 26, a bank
porter, was brought up charged with stealing at various
times sums amounting in the total to £72, belonging to
his employers, the Lloyds' Banking Company, Limited.
When the case was called on, one of the magistrates,
Mr. B. T. Saddler, said he had received an intimation
that it was not right for him to aljudicate in the ease,
being a shareholder in the bank. The prisoner twice
requested Mr. Saddler to deal with the case, and
pleaded guilty ; but as the magistrate declined to to.
main on the Bench, the case was adjourned to see if a
disinterested magistrate could be found.
At Clontarf, Dublin, on Sunday, a meeting was held
under the auspices of the Irish National Labour
League. About 503 persons attended. Several
speakers stated that branches of the league were about
taa be established in every town in Ireland, and that it
would do as much for Irish labourers as the National
League had done for the tenants. A resolution was
passed calling on the Dublin Corpo-ation to start some
public works and disapproving of the unfair apportion..
merit of wages dealt out by that body. A force of
police atreeded to urotect the Government reporter.
Further-reports received in Bombay from Afghan-
istan bre that the Ameer's troops have been routed near
Jellalabad, that Ghuzni is surrounded, &c. It is added,
however, that the losses of the rebels have been very
severe.
The Chief Constable of Cheshire announced on Tues.
-day morning that the anthrax outbreak on the farm of
Messrs. Percival, at Aston, Cheshire, had been stamped
out. The outbreak has, however, cost Messrs. Percival
the loss of 100 head of stock of various descriptions.
On Tuesday evening Prince Henry of Battenberg
presided at the 81st anniversary dinner of the Society
of Friends of Foreigners in Distress, held at the Hotel
Metropole. Subscriptions to the amount of £3OOO
were announced during the evening.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed the Rev. Newton
Howe, rector of Luckington, Wilts, to the vicarage of
lawindon.
The committee of the St. Stephen's Club have
arranged to give a non-political banquet on Wednesday
evening, the 18th instant, in honour of the Colonial
delegates. The Right Hon. E. Stanhope will preside.
At the meeting on Tuesday of the Royal Commission
on the Education Acts the Rev. Charles Williams
Accriegton, chairman of the Baptist Union was
examined, and Mr. G. J. Sim, chairman of the School
Attendance Committee, Tendring Hundred, Essex, gave
evidence as a representative of voluntary schools from
Colchester.
The Earl of Derby on Tuesday presided at the general
meeting of the Art Union of London, held at the
Adelphi Theatre. The first prize, the original painting
by Mr. B. W. Leader, R. A., value £3OO, was won by Mr.
A. Winiden.
George Walters, a porter, was charged at the
Worship-street Police-court on Tuesday with assault-
ing John Marshall, ticket collector, who had refused to
allow him to leave the station at Coborn-road. His
ticket was to Stratford, a station beyond. The collector
said prisoner had a workman's ticket, and it was a
regulation of the company that these tickets were only
available to the station marked on them. Mr. Bushby
said it had been decided years ago that a passenger
had a perfect right to leave a train at any station short
of the destination on his ticket, even if he saved money
by doing so. He dismissed the charge.
The revenue received from the Ist to the 30th ult.
amounts to £7,889,609, or £371,137 less than the
£8,260,846 received in the corresponding period ending
May 1, 1880. The expenditure up to the 30th ult. was
£9,158,615, being £76,135 less than the expenditure for
the similar period of 1886-7. The balences on the 30th
ult, amounted to £3,619,130, and on May 1, 18E6, to
£4,654,946.
Lloyd's agent at St. John's, N.F., cabled on Tuesday
as follows: "Steamer John Knox, of Glasgow, was
totally lost May 1 in South-West Island Channel. Crew
numbering about 30 drowned." The John Knox was a
steamer of 2069 tons gross, built at Newcastle in 1883,
and owned by Mr. N. M`Lean, of Glasgow, and was on
a voyage from the Clyde for Montreal.
It was officially announced that the Royal procession
to the People's Palace in East London will start from
Paddington on Saturday, the 14th inst., instead of
Buckingham Palace, as previously arranged. Accom-
panied by a captain's escort of the Household Cavalry,
the procession will move from the Great Western
Station by way of London-street to the Edgware-road,
and thence along Oxford-street, Holborn, Cheapsicle,
Leadenhall-street, Aldgate, Whitechapel, and Mile-encl.
The return route will be Mile-end-road, Burdett.road,
Commercial-road, Whitechapel, Aldgate, Leadephall-
street, Cheapside, Holborn, Oxford-street, Edgware-
road, and London-street. The military arrangements
for lining the route are not yet completed.
The tour of the English professional cricketers in
Australia was, from a cricket point of view, eminently
Fuccesaful, but financially it was a failure. Cricket in
Melbourne no longer attracts as it once did, and nearly
every important match in Sydney was interfered with
by bad weather. In all the team played 29 matches,
winning 12, losing only two, and leaving 15 unfinished.
The 10 first- class matches comprised three against the
Melbourne Club's Australian team, two against Com-
bined Australia, two against Victoria, and three against
New South Wales, and of these the Englishmen won
six, lost two, and drew two. Curiously enough the two
defeats were both suffered at the hands of New South
Wales. Scotton quite failed to sustain his reputation
as a batsman, but speaking generally the men did
splendid work, and proved themselves at all points one
of the best English teams ever banded together for a
tour.aTktee Cleveland ironrnasters' returns showing the
ma
ke end
h disposalof Englando f pig. iron
issued
et associatedhdeat
Middlesbrough w orks
in iile
on Tuesday night. Fifty furnaces were working on
Cleveland
iatgon-ndi psr
oi
tgaha.
ei
decrease
oen
make
Theekae andsoet
of other
t4ofa2:3hlooelnrf6kohti einoemndv
:ea
woai te, speig el, and
0313 e
10a086n,i5t h 341:
nna
sd the9l:lBi
,gsp9rr3eeavtciohoneusds.
oTfh4e4t9o7tatlomnsaikne
March.all inTdshew asst o2cok7s, 182
h 7 two
en
ds ,
aa decreasep
r esB
of 16,357 tons,