The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-10 00:00:00

SATURDAY, OCT. 10, 1874.

The Excise duty on brewers in the year ended the
31st of M rh amounted In gross to £482,54 14s. St, aud
net to 4:461,807 19s. 9.1

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A Chicago paper says of a contemporary that "It
has doubled its circulation. Another man takes a copy
now."

Only two men were killed at the late election in
Kentucky, and the people are c.inplekting 01 a quiet
election-

3amaiea has been ravaged by amall-pox, no doubt
because of the neglert of vaccination by the negroes ; hut
the latest tens from Kingston announces the abatement of
the disease.
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clerk in an Erie hotel has a magnificent scheme
In view. It is a circular hotel, to work on a pivot, like a
Locomotive turn-table. The object is to give every guest a
•. trout mum."
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The enthusiastic mlinirers of a celebrated American
racehorse Guldamith Maul- are actually wearing ail watch.
charms the nails taken from her shoes In shoeing —Pictorial
It is stated that an exceptionally large group of
spots is now visible oil the surface of the suit. They may be
perceived with smoked glass without the aid of • telescope.
Ai:cording to Mr. W F. Denning, of Bristol, the spots cover
an area of nearly 78,000 miles.
A public meeting on behalf of the Hospital Saturday
Fund was held in London hn Saturday idtemoon, in the
Guildhall, the Lord Mayor presiding awl a resolution In
favour of a general collection in workshops, factories, and
other industrial establishments, on the 17th of this mouth,
Was passed unanimously
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At the meeting of the Fife and Clackmannan
Miners Association on Saturday the men decided by a large
majority to resume work at the masters' terms of 15 per cent
reduction in wages, leaving the question of the contract
rules for future settlement. The strike has lasted live
weeks.

Time works wonders. The late Mr. James Gordon
Bennett. the father of him who sent Stanley to tint Living-
stone, was In early life a poor teacher. 113-and-by he started
the Herald. and now his son is said to keep twelve turnouts
at one watering-place—Newport—alone ; while his four-In.
hand is admitted by all to be the mo-t stylish thing of Its
kind in the States —Pictorial World

The directors of the Alexandra Palace Company
have decided to open the new palace with a grand musical
performance on Saturday, the lst f May, 1875. It is stated
that the building is now rapidly advancing, and the decora-
tions of the interior are nearly complete.

Professor Faber, of ('ologne, e disciple of the cele-
brated Jacques t)ros, haul invented. or perfected, what he
calls a speaking machine, whieh has been successfully en.
hibited before a scientific meeting at that city. The auto-
maton will shortly be taken round the capitals of Europe,
where it may prove a formidable competitor to ventriloquists,
although there seems to be no lack of live talking-machines
bland out of Parliament in any,of the well-known capitals of
the world.

"The city of Paris, which already owes more money
than any small Power, is about to raise £8,000,000 to pay off
pressing debts, and also to go on with some of the indispens-
able improvenieuts commenced by Baron Haussmann. In
the meantime there li. good deal of distress here, and we
have not entered on the cold weather. In the eighty quarters
of Paris appeals for charity have been posted up by that large
establishment called the Bureau de Bienfaisance. We are
threatened with a very severe winter, and, for the sake of
trade, it is to be hoped that there will be more festivities
than since the war." Paris Correspoulent of Pail Mali
Gazette.

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Warnings against Russian emigration to the United
States are being given front various quarters. The St.
Petersburg Gol. publishes a letter from a Russian clergyman
at New York which gives a terrible picture of the potation of
Russian immigrants. Bloat of them have found their ex-
pectations disappointed, and are in extreme wretchedness,
without the means of returning to their native country.
Mechanics get on very well, but other classos cannot obtain
• livelihood, especially if, as is the case with most of them
they cannot speak English.

Some days ago a tourist who made the lament of the
Sleuth (in Apperizell Inner Rhoden) by way of Wiesbad, fell
Into a gorge of the hecalp. Ilia body was picked up In so
horribly mutilated a condition that it was impossible to re-
cognise it. It is supposed that he was a schoolmaster of
Ileiligeriberg, in the Grand Gm-by of Baden. 111, guide
states that some time before the fall he remarked that be
felt unwell.

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Mary Queen of Scots' prison at Sheffield in now
restored and open to the public. The building was used as
a farmhouse, and it was only lately that some workmen dis-
covered behind some stucco a doorway and spiral staircase
which led to a guard-room and kitchen on the ground floor,
and above a large apartment used by the unfortunate Queen
as • State room.

The ravages of the phylloxera in the European vine-
yards are carrying terror even to the antipodes, as may ho
Inferred from the following official announcement :
" Victoria, Australia.—lmportation of Grape Vines or
Grape Vine Cuttings Prohibited. It is hereby notified for
general information that the Governor of the Colony, with
the advice of the Executive Council, and in accordance
with the provisions of the Act 37 Victoria, No. 457, ha. pro-
hibited the importation into Victoria of Grape Vines and
elrape Vine cuttings—Mß(l.l'l)am MICIIIR, Agent-General
for Victoria. N. I, Victionivelianibers, Westminster,
Oetober 1, 1874."

A statute of the Czechist national hero Ziska has
just been unveiled at BMWsha, in Bohenna, the spot where
he was killed in battle on the 11th November, 1424. A great
number of gymnastic and choral societies from all parts of
Bohemia assembled to do honour to the occasion, and M.
Gregr, the leader of the " Yound Czech" party, made a
speech, in which he pointed out the civilising and patriotic
tendencies of the Hussite movement, of which Ziska was ono
of the chief pronioters.

"It will be remembered that some two years ago
the Marquis of Lorne and the Princess I,ouise proposed to
establish a sustentation timid to increase the laconic. of the
poorer dem)y. The scheme, however, met at tint with a
very cold reception, and struggling clergymen who had
looked forward to getting a substantial addition to their
miserable pay became disheartened and cast down. The
scheme, however, has not been abandoned. It Is slowly
making way. Somewhat tardily the bishops are taking it up,
and the miserable sum of £14,0t0 has been subscribed
About £20,000 will be in hand by mat Easter. Cowl
Journal.