The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-10-23 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Information has been received of the death, by
being thrown from his horse, of Major Edward Sidney
Burnett, in command of C Battery, B Brigade, Itcoyal Horse
Artillery, at Secunderabad, Madras.

At a largely attended meeting of miners connected
with the South Yorkshire and other associations, held at
Silkstone on Monday night, it was stated that most of the
pitmen were not earning more than 15s. weekly, with which
they had to support their wives and an average of four
children. Resolutions affirming that advances of wages and
the price of coal were necessary were passed.

Mrs. Jellicoe, lady superintendent of Alexandra
College, Dublin, died on Sunday at the house of her brother,
Mr. J. W. Mullen, of Birmingham. Mrs. Jellicee was one of
the original projectors of the college, 'which was founded
after the meeting of the Social Science Congress, presided
over by Lord Brougham, in Dublin, many years ago. After
that she took an active part in promoting the higher educa-
tion of women.

An order for buckshot cartridges has been received
at the Royal Arsenal for the use of the troops and constabu-
lary in Ireland.

The Leeds Musical festival was brought to a close
on Saturday evening, when a people's concert was given, at
which Mr. Arthur Sullivan conducted. The Festival has
proved a great success, more than 15,000 persons having
attended the performances. The profits are likely to exceed
£2,000, which will be distributed amongst the different
'medical charities in the town.

On Monday in London a conference of the Farmers'
Alliance took place at the Westminster Palace Hotel, at
which several subjects were discussed, and especial attention
was drawn to the want of security for the capital of the
tenantry, upon which a resolution was passed.

-
The miners of West Lancashire have given notice
for an advance of 10 per cent in wages, and they will request
the masters to meet this advance by raising the price of
coal.

The Archbishep of Canterbury and Sir Bartle Frere
drove on Monday afternoon to Chiselhurst and visited the
Empress Eugenie. Subsequently his Grace and Sir Bartle
Frere inspected the mausoleum containing the remains of
Napoleon 111. and Prince Louis Napoleon.
A new Town Hall, which with police pemises ad-
joining has cost about £BO,OOO, was opened on Monday at
Wakefield by the Mayor.
The Liverpool Journal of Commerce states that the
Northern Pacific Railway Company has disposed of upwards
of 100,000 acres of its land, grant, on its Pend d'Orielle divi-
sion, to a German colony.

The fire in the Maudlin seam at Seaham Colliery
has now proved to be more serious than at first contemplated.
It will be three months before the stoppings are pulled out
andthe remaining bodies recovered. The miners will not
resume work until all the bodies have been brought to the
bank.
The Sultan of Zanzibar has bought the screw-
steamer l'yanza for 375,000 rupees. Some of the Nyanza's
officers and engineers have remained in the vessel, and are
satisfied with the contract with the Sultan. The latter
talks of making a trip to Jeddah and Mecca, and, before
long, to England—the vessel meanwhile going to Bombay
with cloves, &c., and bringing back a cargo of rice. Seyid
Burghash is reported to be greatly pleased with the
vessel.
On Saturday afternoon a colossal statue of Robert
Burns was unveiled in Dundee by Mr. Henderson. M.P., in
presence of some 30,000 persons. The statue, which is in
bronze, was erected by Sir John Steell, Edinburgh, and re-
presents the poet sitting on the stump of a tree.
Cheese nas recently been fetching high prices, but
holders are now getting a little alarmed over the diminished
consumption, and it is not improbable that prices will go
down before the end of the year. Working men are the
chief consumers, and when cheese gets above a certain price'
they turn to fish, bacon, and other substitutes.
Dr. Lawes, the famous scientific farmer at Rotham-
stead, believes that, for the cereal year beginning the Ist
September, fourteen million quarters, or 57 per cent, of our
total supplies of bread-stuffs, will be required from abroad.
The markets have recently been advancing, and unsettled
weather has been far from iruprovi:..g samples.

A sailing railway has been introduced in Austria.
Instead of the ordinary locomotive, sails are attached to
each carriage or truck, and with an ordinarily good wind a
speed of four miles arLhour is usually attained.
A Congress of Brewers at Brussels have arrived at
the following conclusions :-1. Legislative interference with
the manufacture of beer has a marked effect upon the pro-
duct manufactured. 2. Such influence is necessarily in-
jurious. 3. The fiscal regulations should be appropriate to
the circumstances of each country.

Monday (the 18th) was the anniversary of the battle
of Leipsie, or of " The Nations," and also the birthday of the
Crown Prince of Germany, who has now reached his forty-
ninth year. The day was observed in the usual way by the
Imperial family at Baden Baden, while Berlin was decked out
with all its official bunting, the Austro-Ilung,arian standard
among others being hoisted over the Embass3.

The Constanze Theatre now building in Rome
will be one of the largest in the world. The audtiorium is
intended to hold 4,000 people, while the stage will contain
an area of 800 sq. metres; the edifice, besides, being pro-
vided with a number of subsidiary scales for rehearsals, &c.
The orchestra is to be invisible.

A disastrous fire has happened at the seaport town
of Christiansand. Fully two-thirds of the houses have been
destroyed, and it is reported that some hundreds of fami-
lies are homeless. The fine Gothic Cathedral, which as an
ecclesiastical edifice ranked second only to that of Dron-
theim, has been completely burned out. It may be recol-
lected that this once considerable town was taken by the
English in 1807, and in more recent years a good shipping
trade has been done between that port and England.

There were 26 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, snaking a total of 1,000 for the present,
year, or a decrease of 226 as compared with the correspond-
ing period of last year. The approximate value of pro-
perty lost was £850,000, including British £640,000.

More satisfactory trade reports are now being
received from the chief commercial centres. From the iron
and coal districts advices concur in stating that an Unproved
feeling prevails, and that prices, though they have moved
little, are inclined upwards.

In London, en Monday, the Lady Mayoress was
presented with the portrait of her husband, as a small token
of the respect in which he was held by the citizens of the
Ward of llowgate. The ceremony took place in the saloon
of the Mansion House, in the presence of about a hundred
friends. Amongst those present was the Burgomaster of
Brussels, who took advantage of the occasion to present the
Lady Mayoress with a handsome bouquet of flowers.
The electric light on Mount Vesuvius has a very
grand effect, according to Engineering. Eleven lamps are
placed along the Vesuvian railway, and three between the
upper terminus of the line and the crater itself.

The Algerian Aldtbar says that the corpses of two
European travellers, who, according to all probability, have
(lied from want of water, have been discovered lying in the
desert fifty miles southward of Wargla, the most remote
oasis occupied: by the French in the Algerian Sahara. The
names and nationality of these two unfortunate travears
were not ascertained.

The state of the trade of tile country was the sub-
ject of the Bishop of Manchester's sermon on Sunday morn-
ing at Burnley.. Ills lordship expressed s strong hope that
during the coining winter the happiness of the nation would
not be placed in peril by threatening rumours of strikes end
lock-outs. He urged the operatives if times were reasonably
good and the necessaries of life reasonably cheap to e.xerctie
a little patience until the good times came round again,
which he had heard would be the case.

Admiral4Seymour informed all the admirals of the
fleet on Saturday that he bad received a message from
Smyrna stating that the Turks were concentrating a large
number of troops in that city, and were also preparing to
close the port of the city by torpedoes.
A Historical Exhibition of Portraits' from 1780, to
1820, is to be opened on November 15th, in theKUnstlerhaus
at
Vienna. The paintings will be chiefly lent by the Austrian
nobility, and the collection is expected to furnish a complete
gallery of the Hapsburg family, as well as likenesses of the
celebrities of a most intesting epoch.
An Italian barque arrived at Newport on Tuesday,
having on board the captain and crew of the brigantine
Stern'Claue, the property of Mr. George Watson, of Sunder-
land, which sprang a leak and foundered in the Bay of
Biscay on the Bth inst. When taken on board the Italian
ship the crew were much exhausted, having been working at
the, pumps for three days.
The Russians nourish a special grievance against
Prince Alexander of Bulgaria. Ile does not speak a word of
Russ, and he will net be at pains to learn it. Bulgarian he
is rapidly acquiring, and already possesses a vocabulary of
little phrases that touch the heart of the simple-minded
Bulgar. In his intercourse with the officials of state aud
the numerous Russian officials commanding his army he
uses either French or German, or even a little English.—
Whiteloill Review.
"The year 1881 will be an eventful one for the
Imperial Amines of both Austria and Germany, as its first
three months will not have elapsed before the heirs to the
thrones of both Empires have entered into the bonds of
matrimony. Prince Wilhelm, the eldest son of the Crown
Prince of Germany; who is engaged to the Princess of
Augustenburg, is, I hear, to be waffled in the moxth of
March next year, and therefere, about a month later than
the Crown Prince of Austria."—Vienna Correspondent of
the Standard,

A large whale, measuring 45ft. in length, has re-
cently been driven ashore at Lambness, Stronsay, Orkney.

An explosion has occurred in a brewery at Chicago,
by which seven persons were killed and four others injured.
The trustees of the advowion of St. Leonard's
Church, Bilston, near Wolverhampton, being unable to
secure an offer of over £3,000, which they consider too small,
have decided to dispose of the living by public auction.

Great damage has been caused to the Egyptian
Government Railway at Suez and in the vicinity by a storm.
Traffic on the line was entirely stopped. The embankment
was cut off in places to a depth of five yards, and to an
extent equal to the length of rails.

Mr. F. Rawlings, one of the masters at Eton Col-
lege, broke his leg the other day while playing at football.
The Queen attended diviVine service on Sunday in
Balmoral Castle. The Rev. Dr. Lees officiated.
The Ober-Ammergau Passion Play, when played
160 years ago, cost the village Cs. and brought in no
profits whatever. This year the expenses have amounted to
£3,000, and the receipts are estima ed at £3o,ooo.—Graphic.
It has been estimated that there are now no fewer
than 148,G00,000 copies of the Bible, as against only 5,00,000
copies in circulation at the commencement of the present
century.

•
Jewelled lace is to be a novelty of the winter season
in Paris, the outline of the design on valuable old point
being studded with diamonds or other precious stones.
This lace will be chiefly used for collarettes and bracelas
from which will hang the hetaldic emblem of the wearer,
such as a griffin, dragon, lion, &e., in the jewels to match.

On Tuesday morning the fishing-boat Venire Stan,
of Cellardyke, Scotland, arrived at Whitby, and the master
reported that on the previous evening, six or seven miles off
that port, one of his crew, William Anderson, fell over-
board and was drowned. The deceased leaves a wife and
four children.

The receipts on account of revenue from the Ist
April, ISSO, When there was a balance of £3,2730428, to Oct. i
16, 1880, were £40,320,160, against £39,175,796 n the corre-
sponding period of the preceding financial year, which began
with a balance of £6,916,756. The net expenditure was
£46,523,814, against £48,258,115 to the same date in the
previous year. The Treasury balances on Oct. 16 amounted
to £1,575,827, and at the same date in 1879 to £1,020,986.

Poultry are being imported very freely from
Belgium. During September four London houses imported
8,184, 5,270, 4,370, and 2,293 pounds' worth respectively.
A telegram from the Cape says that a diamond,
weighing 225 carats, has been found at the Du Jolts Pan
mine, and a very fine white stone of 115 carats in :lagers-
fontein mine in the Free State.
A letter from Kingston describing the damage done
by the Jamaica hurricane, says the number ot deaths does
not exceed six, blit the loss of property is estimated at from
£150,000 to £.1,000,000. This loss is borne without munaur-
ing, and great energy is displayed on every hand in the re-
sumption of business.

At a meeting of the committee of the Truro
Cathedral Fund on Saturday last, the Earl of Mount Edge-
cumbe presiding, the treasurer presented a report, showing
that the amount actually promised was £43,200, of which
about £12,000 had been spent.

The health of Prince Bismarck is causing the
greatest anxiety in Berlin.

During the past few years there has been a very
considerable alteration in the system by which the hop crop
is brought into consumption. The Brewers' Guardian says
that brewers now buy as they require to use, and not, as
formerly, the greater part of their year's consumption at the
commencement of the season.

It has been estimated that New York emplays
50,000 hands in the oyster trade, during the season. Eastern
oysters thrive well on the rocky bottom of the Pacific on the
Californian coast, and during the past year 15,000 barrets of
spat oysters were sent from New York' to San Francisco for
stocking the oyster beds on the Pacific coast.

Mr. W. T. Roden, of Birmingham, has received a
letter from Mrs. Gladstone thanking him for a replica of the
portrait of her husband painted by Mr. Roden for the Bir-
mingham Corporation, and now hung in the council house
Mrs. Gladstone says that the replica is an excellent work,
and that the family valves it highly.

The Siamese Embassy, which was lately in England,
has left Batavia for Siam.

The Vienna Correspondent of the Dahl Telegraph
says that Prince Alexander of Bulgaria has received from the
Russian diplomatic agent at Sofia a casket containing three
antique rings which belonged to the late Empress of Russia,
three letters he had addressed to her, and a portrait of his
grandfather. He has also received intimation that the
Czarina bequeathed him a legacy of two million roubles.

In Paris, the other night, M. Jules Ferry narrowly
escaped a serious accident as he was returning from a dinner
at the British Embassy. While passing down the Rue
Casimir Perier, the horse in M. Ferry's carriage bolted, and
after being dragged for a considerable distance tt tremen-
dous speed, the vehicle was overturned. The coachman, who
had jumped from his box, ran to his master's assistance, and
found that M. Ferry had fortunately received no injury.

Sunday was the 27th anniversary of the birth of her
Royal and Imperial Highness Marie, Duchess of Edinburgh,
who was born on Oct. 17, 1853. The preceding Friday was
the sixth anniversary of the birth of her eldest son, Prince
Alfred of Edinburgh, who was born on Oct. 15, 1874, her
marriage with the Duke of Edinburgh having been solem-
nized on Jan. 21 of that year. at St. Petersburgh.

The financial condition of France continues to be
most prosperous. The revenue returns for the first nine
months of the present year show an increase of 11,291,000
francs in indirect faxes over the estimate, and an increase of
62,364,000 francs over tile same returns for the corresponding
period of last year.

The Jewish Chronicle announces that Dr. Butler,
the head master of Harrow School, has, with the authority
of the Goveinors, licensed the Rev, Dr. Chotzner, minister of
the Jewish congregation of Belfast, to keep a small house
at Harrow tor Jewish boys educated at this great public
school.

The New Free Press publishes some details respecting
the Austrian War Budget for 1881. The ordinary expendi-
ture of the War Department is estimated at 19,500,000
florins, and the extraordinary expenditure at 6,900,000
florins, while the amount required to meet the charges of the
occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is set down at
6,300,000 florins. The total increase in the war expenditure
for the coming year will be 5,800,000 florins.
The flag-ship Inconstant, Rear-Admiral the Earl of
Clanwilliam commanding, and other vessels of the Flying
Squadron whill is about to make a cruise round the world,
left Portsmouth last Saturday. On their arrival at Vigo the
Bacchante will join them, with the sons of the Prince of
Wales on board.

General Hancock, the Democratic candidate for the
Presidency of the 'United States, has written a letter ex-
plaining his views on Protection, and expressing full sym-
pathy with the American industries. All parties, he says,
agree that the best way to raise money for the revenue is to
a great extent by means of the tariff; therefore all talk about
Free Trade is folly.

It is proposed: to hold in 1882 or 1883, at Berlin. an
international exhibition illustrating the history and develop-
ment of railways and the various systems of railway con-
struction, together with rolling stock and ai way material
of all descriptions.

Mr. W. H. Long, M.P. for North Wilts, has given
his tenants permission to kill ground game in any way tney
please save by the use of steel traps. The number of persons
which may be employed is not limited, and they may be
friends or servants of the tenants. Mr. Long reserves to
himself the right to put an end to this arrangement; and
revert to the law should he deem it necessary.

An alarming accident occurred on the North British
Railway on Monday morning. The 8.15 train from 31i1n-
gavie to Glasgow ran into a goods train from Carlisle about
400 yards below Cowlair's Station, Glasgow. The engine of
the passenger train was thrown off the rails and six goods
waggons were smashed, but neither passengers nor officials
were injured.

A meeting of the Birmingham branch of the Church
of England Temperance Society has been held. Lord
Lyttleton, who presided, said that unle2 in the tempeiance
movement Churchmen worked in unity with Dissenters,
unless the moderate drinkers worked with the total
abstainers, and the rich with the poor, they could not
expect to reap success. Sir Richard Temple said, tliou.ln in-
temperance might be on the increase in England, he Could
assure the meeting it was on the decrease abroad. Nowhere
were Englishmen more temperate than our fellow-coLntry-
men in the East, while the Army had shown a very great
improvement.

The Cesarevna has done a very thoughtful act (
kindness towards the officers of the Turcoman expedition,
worthy of a sister of the Princess of Wales. Blearing,
through M. Abaza, the president of the Red Cross Society,
that the Russian officers under Skobeleff were suffering ft o n
a want of warm leather jackets to keep off the severe nig It
frosts that alternate with the hot sunny days at Krasno-
vodsk, she ordered 100 to be quietly made by one of the St.
Petersburg tailors and seat them off herself on Friday,
"with the Cesarevna's best wishes."— Whitehall Review.

Miss Maria Louisa Charlesworth died on Saturday
last at Nutfield Surrey, at the age of 61. The deceased
lady, who has written so many works of fiction intended to
illustrate the application of religion to every-day life, was a
daughter of the late Rev. John Charlesw3rth, B. D., for-
merly rector of Flowten, Suffolk, and afterwards of St. Mil-
dred's, Broad-street, London. Her most popular work is
"Ministering Children," which has passed through many
editions, the sale being numbered by hundreds of thousands,
and a second series of which she published under the title
of " Ministering Children: a Sequel," in 1867. Besides
these she has written many other books.

A curious visitation of the horse distemper, of
epizooty," which passed over the United States a few
years ago, has again come down upon us (says the Corre-
spondent of The Times). It first appeared in Boston, and
afterwards spread to Albany, New York, Brooklyn, and ad-
jacent towns. The disease is of a mild type, coughing and
bronchial disturbance incapacitating the horse for labour.
but not as yet showing any dangerous symptoms. This
"epizootic wave" is expected to pass over the country as the
preceding wave did.

A dense yellow fog bung over the city of Liverpool
on Sunday morning. But in the neigubourhood of the river
the atmosphere was as clear as on ordinary occasions, So that
not the slightest inconvenience to cross-river traffic was
occasioned.

Maria Pia, Queen of Portugal, was born on Oct. 16,
1547, thus completing her 33r1 year on Saturday. Her
Majesty is the youm,er of the two daughters of the late
Victor Emmanuel IL, King of Italy, by his 'marriage in 1542
with the Archduchess Adelaide of Austria. Her marriage
with Luis 1., King of Portugal, was solemnised on Oct. 6,
1562, the issue of the union being two sons, named Carlos
and Alfonso. Queen Pia's elder sister is the rriIICOSS
wife of Prince Napoleon, her two brothers being King Lium-
bert, the present sovereign of Italy, and the Due &Aosta, ex-
King of Spain.
Sir John Holker, speaking at Preston on Saturday
evening in connection with the laying of the foundation
stone of a new church, said there was one eharacteristio of
the present seething and throbbing age of excitement, which
was a very marked and alarming one. It was the great
spread and advance of scepticism upon religious subjects.
This was an appalling feature of the age, for if it continued
to advance it must destroy the Church itself so dear to them,
and in so doing break all bonds by which society xvitB held
tottether. There might be many causes for this evil, but
what had cleated and fostered it as much as an:. thing was
Indignation in the minds of thinking men when they reflected
upon the bigotry and intolerance of religious sects in
bygone times. They must combat these evils by earnest
teaching of a comprehensive and liberal theolov.
The foundation-stone of the Liverpool Home for
Aged Mariners was laid on Saturday by Mrs. William Cliff,
the wife of a Liverpool merchant and shipowner, who has
himself contributed the munificent sum of t.:8,5 0 towards the
edifice—an amount which is practically sufficient to cover
the cost of erection. The home will have accommodation
for about fifty inmates, and the scheme also embraces the
erection of a number of cottages where old sailors may live
rent free with their families or relatives. After the stone
had been laid, Lord Sandon, the Bishop of Liverpool, Mr.
Whitley, and others delivered addresses.

There was large increase in the number of live stock
and the quantity of fresh meat landed at Liverpool last week
from the United States and Canada, the total importation
being 2,735 cattle, 1,223 sheep, 1,072 pigs, 5,798 quarters of
beef; 355 carcases of mutton, and 125 dead pigs.
A Lloyd's telegram says that the British steamer
C/ymene,-from Cardiff, which arrived at Malta on Sunday, re-
ports having picked up from a raft at sea, off Cape Finisterre,
on the Oth October, Evon Johnson, the sole survivor of the
Alma, Norwegian barque, of Arendal, bound from Cardiff to
Barcelona, which vessel foundered on the sth inst. The
Alma was a barque of 630 tons, owned by 0. B. Sorensen,
of Arendel. '

As Mr. John Ferraby, a wealthy gentleman, who
resides at Wooton Flail, tilceby, Lincolnshire, and has been
staying at the Grand Hotel, Scarborough, was in the act of
going to church on Sunday morning, he dropped down'
dead. He leaves a large famils,
In London last week 2,606 births, and 1,405, deaths were
registered. Allowing for increase of population, the births
exceeeled by 128, whereas the deaths were 19 below, the
average numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which had
been equal to 19.3 and 19.9 per 1,000 in the two preceding
weeks, further rose to 20.0.

The latest journalistic novelty in Dresden is a four-
net for Idiots,a journal for considering the best way of treat-
ing idiots. _ _ _

-Earl Fortescuein speech the other day said the
difference between tiVolrouses of Parliament is this, "The
majority of those who speak in the Rouse of Lords speak be-
cause they have something to say. But in the House of
Commons many speak, not because they have something to
say, but because they have to say something.

An iron bridge in course of construction on the
Pontferrada Road, in Galicia, broke down on Tuesday, kill-
ing the engineer, who was superintending the works, and
five workmen, and injuring six more.

There are now thirty-three Volunteer Corps in
India, with a total enrolled strength of upwards of eight
thousand men.

A miner named Henry Manghan was killed on
Monday afternoon at Croxdale Colliery, Durham, by a fall of
stone weighing several tons. Two hours elapsed before the
body could be recovered.

The Bradford engineers' strike, which commenced
in March of last year, has terminated, the last of the =en
who have been on strike returning to work on Monday
nvirning. Two hundred of the strikers are now in AmPrice.

A "whip" has been sent round even to Lond,r. to
persuade the American residents here to go home and take
part in the Presidential campaign.
The Electrician. understands that the new station
the North British Railway Company, Queen-street, Glasgow,
is to be lighted by the electric light on Crompton's system.
This station is 900 feet long by 180 feet broad.

Dr. Tanner has been outdone by two fasting frogs,
(says a New York paper). Placed in a jar with a little water
and a stone in the centre, the lid very close-fitting, the frogs
remained without food from the middle of October, 1879,
until July 15, 1880. On opening the jar the frogs leapt ont
in excellent condition after their nine months' abstinence.

---
Four electric lamps of a new construction have
been fixed in the reading room of the British Museum.

Parisian Society is at present discussing a question,
as perplexing as that of the Oriental: "a young couple when
married: ought they to set out to travel, or go directly to
their home': "

A Swiss postillion, named Mayer, was overtaken by
a snowstorm last winter. He and his vehicle were hurled
over a precipice; the horse was killed, and carriage smashed.
The man escaped with some contusions, yet in this piteous
plight he contrived to scramble to Neufchatel with the mail
bags. On his arrival it was found necessary to amputate both
his legs and both his jrost-bitten arms. The Post Office
requitted this heorio sacrifice somewhat grudgingly, but a
national subscription has just rewarded him with 200,00
francs.

The system of training, teaching, driving, and
riding the trotting horse of the United States is an art of
itself peculiar to the country. They are superior by at
least forty seconds in the minute to any trptters Europe cau
boast. "The English had the stock all along," says Hiram
Woodruff, "but it is our method of cultivation and per-
severance that has made tlib difference between their fast
trotter of a mile in three minutes and ours in two minutes,
twenty seconds, or less."

Potatoes, like apples, have the proper season for
the use of different varieties. For summer the Dalmahoy ;
autumn, the Regent; in winter, the Champion; and in
spring, right on till the end of May or June, the Victoria.
On the Bth inst. Lady Caroline Gordon-Lennox
landed a salmon of 191bs and a grilse of Sibs. from the Spey.

On Tuesday night severe storms, accompanied with
snow and rain, prevailed throughout the country generally.
In many places the telegraph wires were broken down. In
London and the neighbourhood the weather was bitterly
cold, and rain began to fall about ten o clock on Tuesday
night, continuing until an early hour on Wednesday morn-
ing, when it was followed by sleet and snow. The housetops
were covered with snow to the depth of an inch or more,
and the whole city presented a wintry aspect.
The Grand Duke of Hesse and his children arrived
at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday from Balmoral. They
lunched with the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marl-
borough House, after which the Grand Duke left for Bagshot
to visit the Duke and Duchess of Connaught.

The Emperor of Germany, before leaving Cologne,
handed over to the chief architect of the Cathedral a sum
of 10,000 marks, or about £5OO, for distribution among the
masons and others employed on its construction' each man
receiving 30 marks and otherwise gratified by a hearty
supper at the expense of his Majesty.

Carrier-pigeons are to be trained to fly backwards
and forwards between Strassbnrg. Cologne, and Metz, the
German Government intending to establish a regular pikeon
post.

Cincinnati will shortly have an art museum, Mr.
C. W. West, one of the wealthy merchants of that city,
having headed a subscription for that purpose with the
munificent sum of 150,000 dollars.
Joseph Skipsey, a Northumberland miner, author
of several lyric poems, and now residing at Backwork
.Colliery, near Newcastle, has received an intimation from
one of Mr. Gladstone's private secretaries that in considera-
tion of his literary services an annual pension has been
awarded him.

Among the passengers who embarked on Saturday
at Liverpool in the Scythia, for the united States was Lord
Lymington, 3f.P. for Barnstaple, and son of States,
Ports-
mouth, who has extensive estates in Ireland. The noble lord
has expressed very strong, and/ indeed, ultra-Liberal,
opinions on the working of the Land Laws, and it is said
that one of the objects of his visit to the States is to study
the land system and the agriculture of that part of the world.

There are companies in the United States who send
out blank forms for the purpose of taking bets on the price
of wheat and cotton at future dates.
The Lord Mayor of London gave a banquet on
Tuesday evening to the municipalities'iif Paris and Brussels,
and to the mayors of several provincial towns in England.
In the course of his speech the President of the Municrpal
Council of Paris, referred to the sympathy shown by Eng-
land during the siege of Paris, and remarked that the en-
couragement thus given had led to the beginning of happier
days for Paris. The Burgomaster of Brussels said that
when free and independent Belgium was founded, England
was more than an ally—an instructress—v ho, in lie person
of Leopold 1., gave them a constitutional king.

Early on Saturday morning a workman, named
Alfred Excel!, employed at the new pier extension works at
Hartlepool, met with fils death in a shocking manner. He
was assisting to take down sore gearing at the pier end, at
a height of nearly 35ft. above the level, and, missing his
foothold, fell headlong on the stone work of the pier. He
thence fell into the sea, from which he was taken out, dead,
a few minutes after. Deceased was married, but leaves no

In distributing the prizes in connection with the
Scarborough Board School on Saturday, 31r. Dodson spoke
of the necessity of making children understand that the
education they were now acquiring was to be their aid and
support in after life. In a few years hence an uneducated
person would be one who would fall below the ordinary
standard of the community, and would be held in scant re-
spect. In acquiring education they would find that it added
to the value of their services in whatever position in life
they might be placed, and if they were sufficiently educated
to enjoy a book they would never be obliged to attend a
public-house on a holiday or wet day.
A gale raged with violence on the east coast of
Scotland on Monday night. The Fleet of fishing boats off
the Kincardineshire coast ran into Stonehaven for safety.
The Broughty.Ferry fleet of fishing boats was overtaken by
the gale eight miles beyond Bell Rock, and had to cut
adrift their fishing gear and run for shelter to the Tay. The
weather was more moderate on Tuesday and the Brouglity
Ferry boats went out to endeavour to secure their fishing
gear valued at about £4OO.

The other day a simultaneous broadside of the big
guns of 11.31.5. implacable, fired by electricity, startled a
pair of fine horses standing on Devonport-quay. They backed
suddenly and fell over the side, dragging with them a waggon
to which they were attached. The whole fell upon a boat
loading with bread for the training brigs, and sunk it, a boy
who occupied it having a very narrow escape. The horses
struggled desperately, but owing to the height of the quay
above the water no help could be rendered, and they were
both drowned.

On Sunday Dr. Hardwicke, the coroner for Central
Middlesex, received intelligence of the death of Captain
Montague Whitmore, aged 50, which occurred at an early
hour that morning, and immediately after a double amputa-
tion had been performed by Dr. Rose, one of the medical
staff, in one of the wards of the Royal Free Hospital, London.
It appeared that the deceased, who resided near Elfield,
between nine and ten o'clock on Saturday night strayed un-
Aserved on to the line of the Great Northern Railway
between the Hornsey and Wood-green stations. The drivr
of an approaching train saw him on the line, and, noticffig
his perilous position, sounded the steam whistle and at °nee
put on the brakes. Captain Whitmore, however was knocked
down and some of the wheels went over him.
The weekly return of metropolitan pauperism shows
that the total number of paupers on the last day of the
second week in October was 84,422, of whom 48,264 were in
workhouses, and 36,158 received outdoor relief. Compared
, last rnPaen oi
the ed
with the corresponding weeks 1879, 1878, and 1877, these
figures show an increaseofowhom
vagrants
ieelrB3w7iee‘d
,4n,1e17e,
no ,andn27toll,3l‘7, 34
t daye:
t i lee week was 1 The number
,
51 children under sixteen.