The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-03-19 00:00:00

EAfLTIWXY, MARCEI 1, li.

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Nana Small-pox Mask was the cheerful novelty
of the Viennese Carnival.

The Grocer-4' Company have sent a donation of
£l.OO to. the Mechi -Fund through the Mader Warden, Mr.

Edward Helme.

The funeral of the late Sir Henry Mather Jackson
took place on Monday in the family vault at Haybrick Hill
Cemetery, near Birkenhead, The chief mourners were the
two sons of the deceased, Sir Henry M. Jackson and Mr.
William B. Jackson.

"Everybody keeps a few postage-stamps by him;
hardly anybody not in business has a receipt stamp at hand
when one is wanted. Mr. Gladstone, therefore, is entitled
to the thanks of the public, for his promise to make one
stamp for the future available both for postage and re-
ceipts."—Globe.

According to the official returns, the exports of
Swiss products to the United States in 1880 were greater than
in any year on record, exceeding those of 1879 by 15,000,000 f.
Watches alone showed an increase of 5,000,0001.

In addition to the Government reward of £lOO for
the discovery of the murderer of Lieutenant Roper, Royal
Engineers, the officers of the Royal Engineers have an-
nounced an additional reward of £.lOO. The police do not
appear to have any clue to the murderer.

Mr. Bradlaugh addressed his Northampton con-
stituents on Saturday, on his position in respect to the
recent legal decision against the validity of his seat in
Parliament. A vote of confidence in him, and a pledge
again to return him to the House of Commons, were passed.

Three sailors belonging to the Greek brig Orpheus'
in Plymouth Sound, have been poisoned by eating hemlock,
which they mistook for wild celery, when sent ashore for
water. One man is dead, and the others lie in an almost
hopeless state.

On Sunday, Father Ignatius commenced his eight
day's mission at Bournemouth. At his opening service in
the morning there were about 500 persons present. He
observed that he was not a Protestant, and never should be;
but he was a Christian, and whether a man belonged to the
Catholic or to the Protestant Church, if he was a Christian,
he was equally his brother. At the afternoon service the
hall was crowded.

At the annual meeting of the Mid-Cheshire Liberal
Association, held at Altrincham last Saturday evening, under
the presidency of Mr. G. W. Latham, the Liberal candidate
at the general election, a resolution was passed expressing a
hope that at an early date the Government will legislate to
remedy the grievances under which at present all tenant-
farmers in England are suffering by the granting of better
land laws and the power of self-government.

A festival to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
birth of George Stephenson, the inventor of the railway loco-
motive, will be held at the Crystal Palace on the 9th of
June.

A curiosity of journalism is mentioned by the New
York Herald, which describes the Hurricane as a "well
printed little paper published in Charlestown, South
Carolina, by its editor, Miss Eva E. Britton, a girl 'who is
only twelve years old."
A Bill amending the law relating to leases has been
brought in by Mr. M'Cullagh Torrens, Mr. Gregory, Mr.
Lewis, Mr. Chitty, and Mr. Davey, providing relief against
the forfeiture in leases, under certain conditions, and also
for preserving in law suits the mutual right of several
tenants under the same lease.

The oldest officer of the Militia Force is Paymaster
Churchill, retired list of the Royal Carnarvon Regiment.
He received his first commission in the Radnorshire Militia
in 180(1. '7Ol

Numerous meetings in support of the Irish Land
League were held on Saturday throughout the United States.
Mrs. Parnell, mother of Mr. Parnell, was among the
speakers at an assembly at Brcoklyn. At Lincoln (Nebraska)
the meeting resolved to telegraph to Mr. Parnell encourag-
ing him in his efforts in favour of the Land League and
promising financial aid. A movement has been set on foot
at Philadelphia with a view to the formation of a Central
Union of the Land League.
- -

Fifteen slight shocks of earthquake were felt
on Saturday at Fogligno and Perugia. No damage was
done.
An estimate was issued with the parliamentary
papers on Monday showing that half a million will be re-
quired in the year ending the 31st inst. as an instalment of
the grant of the Indian Government upon the Afghan
war.
Coal appears to be cheap in New South Wales. At
Newcastle the Colonies tells us, it sells for Bs. per ton.

It is now definitely understood that Mr. Gladstone
will not bring forward the Irish Land Bill until after the
Easter recess.
-

In consequence of the death of the Emperor of
Russia, the Drawing Room announced for the 18th mat. has
been postponed for the present.

Dr. Hardwicke has held an inquest in London on
the body of Rihn Dowsett Harrison, aged eighty-five, a
retired upholsterer. On the evening of Saturday, the sth
inst., the deceased, who was very weak, fell while trying to
get from his chair to bed, and in his endeavour to save him-
self upset a table upon which a lighted paraffin lamp was
standing. The bed-curtains were set on fire and the deceased
was very much burnt. The medical gentleman who attended
him, stated that he died on Sunday last from the shock and
the injuries he received. The jury returned a verdict of
Accidental death."

acre,

In the inscription on the monument to the late King
of Hanover, in Bt. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, the
words, "the sit King of Hanover" occur. Exception
having been ti en to these words, it is intended to erase
"the last," am to make the inscription read as follows :
"Here has come to rest among his kindred, the Royal
Family of England, George the .Fifth, King of Hanover.
Born at Berlin, May 27, 1819. Died at Paris, June 17,
1878."
It appears from a return just made to the St.
Pancras (London) Board of Guardians by the clerk to the
board, that the expenses incurred on the farm attached to
the schools at Leavesden, near Watford, consisting of 18
acres of land, amounted, for the half-year ended at Michael-
mas last, to £2Ol, and the value of the produce re2eived was
as follows :—Pork, £166; vegetables, £154; milk, £105;
eggs and fowls, £4; and ether produoe, £32—making a total
of £461, against an expenditure of £2ol—showing a profit of
£260 on the half-year.
On Tuesday afternoon the children of the Duke and
Duchess of Edinburgh left Clarence House on a visit to her
Majesty. The little prince and princesses, who were dressed
in deepest mourning for the late Emperor of Russia, were
driven to the Paddington station of the Great Western
Railway, and travelled by the five o'clock express to
Windsor, where they arrived at twenty minutes to six.
Their Royal Highnesses were conveyed in one of the Queen's
carriages to the Castle, and it is understood will remain
with her Majesty during the absence of their parents in
Russia.

On Tuesday a warder, whilst in charge of a party of
convicts in the Portsmouth Dockyard Extension works, was
attacked by a convict with whose work he had occasion to
find fault, and so severely beaten with a shovel that he will
be permanently incapacitated from duty.

The shipments of wheat from America to Europe
during the past week amounted to 319,000 quarters, of which
199,000 were for the United Kingdom and 120,000 for the
Continent; and of maize to 212,500 quarters, of which
152,500 were for the United Kingdom. To the same destina-
tion were also shipped 115,000 sacks of flour. The visible
supply of wheat in the United States is now 24,400,000
bushels, and of maize 15,700,000 bushels._
- _

,
Early in May the Lord Mayor of London intends to
give a banquet at the Mansion House in honour of the vener-
able Dr. Moffatt, whose missionary labours in South Africa
covered a period of 50 years.
There were 2,831 births and 1,590 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
he births exceeded by 106, while the deaths were 168
'below, the average Lumber in the corresponding week of the
last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes,
which had been equal to 215 and 230 per 1,000 in the two
preceding weeks, was 22'4.
At the Central Telegraph Office in London about
500 female clerks are employed. The Government is
evidently of the opinion that married women should find
quite sufficient to occupy them in their home duties, and
that the task of providing an income should rest solely with
the husband, as directly a lady clerk marries she is com-
pelled to resign her situation, and only single women are
eligible for appointment.
Addressing a meeting at Derby on Monday night
Sir Wilfrid Lawson contended that his demands upon Par-
liament were simply just and rational. He proposed, when
the opportunity offered, to move in the House of Commons
that it was the duty of the Government to pass some very
short, simple measures which would give the people the
power of protecting themselves and their families from the
great evil. His policy, in the words of Mr. Gladstone, was
to make it difficult to do wrong and easy to do right. That
was the policy which educated people would hereafter main-
tain.
A memorial has been addressed by residents in
Newcastle•on-Tyne to the Misses Bewick, to induce those
ladies to revoke their bequest to the British Museum of
their collection of woodcuts and drawings by their father
and uncle. The memorialists plead that this collection
should be placed in the museum of their native town.
According to the Irish World, published in New
York, the Land League Organisation in America sent £1,200
to Ireland last week. The total receipts are over £14,000,
and it is expected that by St. Patrick's Day they will reach
£20,000. There are now 919 branches of the League in
America.
Her Majesty the Queen has forwarded, through
General Sir Henry Ponsonby. an annual subscription of £5O
to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
On Tuesday a deputation representing the whole
body of Telegraph Clerks employed in the United Kingdom
waited upon the Postmaster-General, with the object of set-
ting forth their grievances and obtaining redress. The
Postmaster-General was assisted by the First and Second
Secretaries and a number of divisional surveyors. The inter-
view was strictly private, and lasted upwards of six hours,
the result being that the case is still "under considera-
tion."

The textile manufacturers of Philadelphia have
decided to establish a school of learning and practice in the
textile arts, similar to those which have long existed in
France, and more recently in England. Of the necessary
, capital (100,000 dole.) between 12,000 dole. and 15,000 dole.
' has already been subscribed ; a charter will be applied for
early in the coming month. Instruction is to be given in the
new school in the arts of designing, spinning, weaving, dye-
ing, and finishing.
The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, during the past week include an Indian
leopard from India, presented by the Duke of Buckingham and
Chandos ; an entellus monkey from India, a greater sulphur-
crested cockatoo from Australia, a blue-fronted amazon from
Brazil, deposited ; four Indian rat snakes from India, a
matamata terrapin from Upper Amazons, purchased; two
calandra larks, European, a Chinese quail from China, two
fire-tailed finches from Java, received from Paris.
The Plymouth Liberal Working Men's Association
recently forwarded to Sir Henry James a resolution in which
they expresFed an opinion that clauses should be inset ted in
the Corrupt Practices Bill to prevent the indiscriminate dis-
tribution of gifts of possible candidates, and the use of private
of voterset
canvassing
closingt o provide
et
suppressionfcciair.ritahgeest,fto,,rl
conveyance
public-houses during polling. A reply was read at a meeting
of the association on Monday night, in which the Attorney-
General said the suggestions would receive full consideration,
The Geneva Correspondent of The Times says :--
"Earthquake shocks continue in Switzerland to an extent
that, in view of the terrible disaster at Tani , is causing
considerable apprehension. A very strong 0,-illation was
observed at Heniveil, in Zurich, early on Mond, y morning in
last 'week, and about two o'clock on the folios, ing morning
two separate shocks were felt at Lausanne.- Two deaths
resulted in a rather singular way on 'Friday last from the
earthquake of the preceding day. The shock loosened a mass
of r,)ck overhanging a quarry at Oberlurg; in Berne, and 24
hours afterwards it fell, literally grinding to powder two
unfortunate men who were workingthard by.
Among the presents offered by Mr. Leopold Roths-
child to his bride was found the most curious piece of
mechanism ever produced, consisting of the silver gilt figure
of a negro bearing a tray of tropical fruit. The figure, on
being wound up, was made to discourse in most eloquent
music, while the fruit on the tray, opening one by one, dis- -
closed exquisitely modelled little figures, who danced with
the most consummate grace until the music ceased.—Court
Journal.
The Local Government Board has issued a Circular
to the Sanitary Authorities throughout the country, suggest-
ing that special precautions should be taken in regard to
foreign pork and bacon, with a view to avoid the disease of
trichinosis, of the present existence of which in Great Britain
the Board has no information. The report says :—" The only
known means of avoiding diseases in man from this danger-
ous quality of meat from pigs is by very thorough and effi-
cient cooking. .If there is reason for thinking a particular
sample of meat to contain the parasites, it ought not on any
account tcebe eaten, no matter how it is cooked." No infor-
.mation has reached the Local Government Board of the
existence of trichinosis In any part of Great Britain. Atten-
tion is called to Sections 116-119 of the Public Health Act,
18Th, relating to unwholegome meat, which the Inspectors
are enjoined to use special vigilance to carry out

Over 150 new butter and cheese factories will be
erected in lowa this year, making 400 in all.

A return jut issued shows the acreage of commons
and waste lands in Wales belonging to the Crown. The
acreage of all such lands was 85,150 acres.
Up to Saturday regiments representing nearly
20,000 men had applied for permission to take part in the
operations at Brighton on Easter Monday, and it is under-
stood that this number will probably be increased to 7,000 or
8,000 more.
Washington telegrams say that the Danish Govern.
ment would like to sell to the United States the West India
Islands of St. Thomas and St. John.

Mdlle. Sarah Bernhardt last week appeared at
Grand Rapids and Detroit (Michigan), and Toledo and Cleve-
land (Ohio). The week's receipts amounted to 15,879 dole.
The subscription bust of the Earl of Beaconsfield for
erection in-the hall of the Beaconsfield Club in is
now nearly completed, and will be exhibited by the sculptor,
Count Gleichen, at the forthcoming exhibition of the Royal
Academy.
A great fire occurred on the I.3th at the Wakefield
Rattan Works in Waketled, Massachussetts, destroying pro-
perty to the value of 500,000 dols.—Six persons have been
killed and seven others injured by the explosion of a boiler
at Buffalo.
-

The telegraph clerks, numbering nearly 8,000, have
now been joined, in their remonstrance to the Postmaster
General, by the inspectors of the engineering branch of the
service. This body, though small, is unittd, fifty out of fifty-
six possible signatures having been given to a petition which
Mr. Maoliver, M. P., has received for presentation to the
Postmaster General. The petitioners complain of long
hours, scanty pay, and other disadvantages calling for ad-
justment.

The arrivals of live stock and fresh meat at Liver-
pool from the United States and Canada last week show a
very large increase on those of the preceding week. There
were totals of 753 cattle, 340 sheep, 8,988 quarters of beef,
2,276 carcases of mutton, and 1,847 pigs.
- -

The large arrivals of emigrants at Ne w York already
indicate a total greater than that of last year, the belief
being that half-a-million will enter the country during
1881.
-

---
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports have been 138,000 bales, and since Ist September
4,786,576 bales. Shipments to Great Britain 69,000 bales,
and to the Continent and Channel 32,000 bales; total
since let September 3,072,765 bales. Stock at all ports
905,000 bales.
"My constant thought. My wishes are entirely
for your happiness. Shall endeavour to comply with yours
when you are able to ask me. I think we shall easily under-
stand each other.—H., 12th inst."—Advertisement In Ties
Times.

The Gove-nment have resolved to transform Chester
Castle from a civil to a military prisqn ; the county prisoners
will be removed to Knutsford Gaol, accommodation only
being provided at the Castle for prisoners awaiting trial.
Belgian smokers are threatened with a new tax.
The Government proposes to institute a license for
smoking.
The following telegraphic despatch from the Hon.
Graham Berry, Premier of Victoria, giving the names of
those who were killed by the torpedo explosion at Melbourne,
on the sth instant, has been received at the Office of the Agent.
General for the Colony :—" Killed—Robert Samuel Groves,
William Barnes, Henry Hunter, Harry Timberley, James
Wilkie."

Mr. H. W. Eaton, the Conservative candidate for
Coventry, was, on Saturday, returned by a majority of four
hundred and forty-three votes over those polled by Sir U.
K. Shuttleworth, the Liberal candidate, his election repre-
senting the loss of a seat to the Ministry.

The Bishop of Worcester had a narrow escape last
week at his residence, Hartlebury Castle. Over the doer of
the library was a massive marble tablet, erected there about
seventy years ago by Bishop Cornwall in memory of his pre-
decessor, Bishop Hurd. This suddenly fell to the ground
upon the very spot where Bishop Philpott was standing but
a minute before. Happily his lordship had just moved out
of reach of the falling mass and sustained no injury.
A number of bands assembled on Sunday outside
Kilmainham Goal, where the prisoners arrested under the
Protection Act are confined, and played selections of
national music. There was a large force of police present,
but there was no disturbance, and the police did not inter-
fere.

British heads are gradually growing smaller.
Within the last quarter of a century the dimensions of; he
head have shrunk on an average one-seventh of an inch, at
least so says a paper recently read before the Bristol Na-
turalist Society.

Mrs. Twells, widow of Mr. -Philip Twells, late
M.P., for the city of London, and a magistrate at Enfield,
has contributed £5OO to the Police Orphanage, as a mark of
her appreciation of the sympathy of the police in that
district in following her husband to the grave.
All eports agree, says a Vienna telegram, that both
flukey and Greece are pushing on their war preparations
with increased energy. At Athens and Constantinople alike
the last vestiges of hope that war may yet be averted ap-
pear to be rapidly disappearing.
An inquest has been held at Wednesbury as to the
death of a youth named James Jewkes. On Fridaythe deceased
was engaged with several boys in playing football. He was
very excited when playing, and at the termination of the
game complained of being unwell, and died before medical
aid could be procured. It was supposed that death was the
result of apoplexy, caused by excitement. A verdict in
accordance with the evidence was returned.
A panorama representing the taking by storm of
the village of St. Privat—an" episode from the battle of
Gravelotte, in 1870—has lately been exhibited at Berlin. It
has been painted by Professor Emile litliaten and Simmler,
and is said to be an extraordinary work.

It is expected that there will shortly be a creation
of new peers.

From a report recently published by the Minister of
Justice in Prussia it appears that there has been a great in-
crease in crime within the last few years, for the number of
cases brought before a jury has risen from 8,198 in 1872 to
14,022 in 1878, this being equivalent to an increase of about
a thousand cases each year.
- -

Lord Chief Justice May was thrown by the sudden
starting of his horse while he was in the act of mounting it,
on Saturday, at Sandymount, near Dublin, and broke his
collar-bone.

Under the head of "Conscience Money" the
Chancellor of the xchequer acknowledges, in The Times, the
receipt of the first halves of two £.20 and one £lO note, sent
anonymously for income-tax ; also of the second halves of
notes for £.30. from " P.L.," and £5O, sent anonymously, both
for income-tax.

It is pointed out by the Registrar-General that of
the 58 persons Who died from small-pox in London last
week, 22 had resided in the south, 15 in the east, 12 in the
north, 6 in the west, and 3 in the central groups of registra•
tion districts.
It is officially announced that for the convenience of
persons corresponding with India, China, and other places,
it has been decided to adopt postage stamps of the value of
bd., which will shortly be issued for sale to the public.

At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society,
held in London on Monday night, it was announced that
Stewart, one of the Livingstonian Mission, had found that
the distance between Lake Nyassa and Lake Tanganyika is
only 222 miles. The two waters are connected by a nearly
level country, and it was stated that £ll,OOO had been pro-
mised for the formation of a good road thr'ough the plateau
for trading purposes. •
The Texas Live Stock Journal estimates the home
consumption of cattle in the United States at ten million
head.
The following cable message was received at
the London office of the New York Herald from the Herald
Weather Bureau, New York :—" A dangerous storm is cross-
ing, will arrive on the British, French, and Norwegian
coasts between the 16th and 18th, attended by south-east
backing north-west gales, rain, sleet; another following
closely. Atlantic very stormy north 40 deg."
The rapid development of the Bessemer steel trade
is one cf, the most remarkable features of American in-
dustry at the present time (remarks the Pall Hall Gazette).
The total amount of steel produced last year was 1,203,173
tons net, against 928,972 tons in 1879, and 560,587 tons in
1877—the increase being 30 per cent. for 1880 over 1879, and
115 per cent. over 1877. When we reflect that only eight
years ago the American production of this class of steel was
only 120,108 tons, and is now over a million, it would seem
as if the United States manufacturing power, young as it is
in age, would soon be a match for any other country in the
world.
The smack Esther has towed into Yarmouth the
smack Apostle with the dead bodies of two of her crew on
board. By a sudden lurch of the vessel while the fishing
gear was being hauled in at sea, all the crew, with the excep-
tion of the boy, w .ue thrown into the water. Two men hung
on to the net, 131.3 were unable to reach the boat, and in
this condition tb ,y were fallen in with on Friday in last
week. When tain out of the water, one man was found to
be dead, and the other died soon afterwards.
Lenten parties in Paris are held under certain re-
strictions. Operatic music or strains of a frivolous cha-
racter are prohibited, and only classical music or oratorios
are allowed, nothing but harmless syrups or tea may be
drunk, and the sole games at cards approved of are a quiet
rubber of whist, or of piquet.
"Archibald Forbes writes me from Cobourg,
Ontario, to tell me the pleasant news that he has been doing
splendidly in the East and Western ~,tates of the Union and
in Canada. I knew full well that in every section of
the States and of the Dominion this brilliant writer, brave
soldier, and good fellow, ,would meet with an en-thu-
siastic welcome. At Cincinnati he lectured to an audience
of two thousand persons in a house designed to seat only
about eighteen hundred; so that as the ladies were sitting
d in Turque all about the platform the lecturer could not
tramp about ' while he was lecturing. 'Tramping about
Is a great relief under these eircumstances."—" Echoes o
the Week" in the Illustrated London News.