The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-05-15 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

Her Majesty's first State ball is appointed for the
27th inst., at Buckingham Palace.

Tke Times says that more than 40 Parliamentary
election petitions have arisen out of the late general election.
Up to Tuesday 525 members of the House of Com-
mons have taken the oath of allegiance, while ten Quakers
have made the usual affirmation. Thus a total of 535 mem-
ber have completed the necessary preliminaries to entitle
them to exercise Parliamentary privileges. •
The Queen has presented to Mr. Bambridge, of the
Windsor Post-office, a complete copy of "The Life of Prince
Consort,' in recognition of his services as teacher of the
evening class at the late Prince Concert's Shaw Farm, Old
Windsor, which was founded many years ago.
- -

Extensive repairs and improvements are about to
be undertaken at the Hofburg, or old Imperial palace of the
Hapsburg family in Vienna. The palace enclosure em-
braces an extent of 78,500 square metres (about 10i acres), of
which 38.052 metres (or about k acres) are actually covered
with buildings.

It is said to have been decided that in future all
officers who have commuted their retired pay must, in order
to ensure the retention of their names in the " Navy List,"
send annually to the Secretary of the Admiralty a notifica-
tion of their being alive.

The French Socialist papers having proposed a de-
monstration over the tombs of the Communist soldiers in
here la Chaise on the 23rd inst., the Government has issued
a warning that any such proposals, if repeated, will be pro-
secuted,

The Globe undergtands that a meeting of the Con-
servative party will be held in London on the 19th inst. at
Bridgewater-house, the residence of the Earl of Ellesmere.
Conservative members of both Houses of Parliament will be
present, and the invitations will extend to Conservative
members of the late Parliament who do not sit in the present
House of Commons. Lord Beaconsfield will address the
meeting upon the present aspect and duty of the Conserva-
tive party.
The Peruvian 'Charg4 d'Affaires at Washington has
received a telegram from the Peruvian Consul-General at
Panama, stating that Callao is blockaded by the Chilian
fleet, and that the Peruvian Government has decreed that
the inlets on the Peruvian coast shall ..be considered as
as major ports, and the ports between Casona and risco as
minor ports.

It will be interesting to many Englishmen intending
to travel in Germany this summer to learn that after the
15th of July next a restaurant wagon is to accompany all the
mail trains between Frankfort and Berlin.

The festival at the Trocad6ro, Paris, on behalf of the
Italian Benevolent Association, was a great success, and
produced a sum of 89,000 f.
The Versailles fountains played on Sunday last, for
the first time this season. These waterworks cost the State
nearly £2,400.

The London correspondent of the Manchester
Guardian says that during the excitement of the election
contest in Midlothian Mr. Gladstone found leisure to
execute a Latin translation of Toplady's well-known hymn
beginning "Rock of Ages." This was sent by the Premier to
General Grant Wilson, of New York, who has had the manu-
script suitably framed.

While working at a large boiler in the dye-house,
Victoria Mills, Oalashiels, the other day, a young man
named Davidson made a fal se step and fell into the boiler.
By clutching the rim he saved himself from falling head-
foremost, but was immersed from the shoulders downwards.
He was immediately taken out by his comrades, but was
terribly scalded. He was not expected to survive.
Cake made from the seed of the sunflower is coming
into vogue in Swede l, Denmark, and America for feeding
cattle upon. It is said to be cheaper and better than linseed
for feeding purposes. "Sheep, pigs, pigeons, rabbits, pnd
poultry of all sorts fatten rapidly upon it, and prefer the
seed to any other. It increases the quantity of eggs from
poultry fed upon it."

General Turr, the Hungarian patriot, has addressed
a long and interesting letter to Mr. Gladstone. Ile winds
up by saying :—" You have rendered, Sir„immense services.
to liberty, and were one of the warmest promoters of the
reunion of the lonian Isles with Greece. I take the liberty
of sending you my works on Nationalities and on the Eas-
tern Question, in which you will see that Hungary has fre-
quently assisted oppressed nations and endeavoured, as a
member of the great European family, to make herself useful
to Europe."
A monument in memory of the late King of Ilanover
Is about to be erected in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. It
is intended to be placed between the Princess charlotte's
cenotaph and the north door. It will be remembered that
the late King was interred in the Royal vault at St. George's
Chapel.
A telegram from Geneva says that eighteen persons
have been killed by the explosion of t dynamite magazine at
Faisto belonging to•the St. Gothard railway contractors.
A Swiss correspondent of The Times states that an
American lady and gentleman last week crossed the Weng9rn
Alp to Lauterbrunnen on horseback without any more diffi-
culty than in the month of Auglist, and two gentlemen
arrived at Grinclelwald from Meyringen who had crossed the
tripheir
Gr e a
itnStchhee ilde eags
tg. w t...oll,lTheseol
ud itga
isnnpo lays
:cos treer fferree4
uwelitiht
yt
practicable for tourists until the middle of July.
The late House of Commons, at its dissolution, ,
differed by nearly a quarter of its members from its personnel
at the time of assembling six years and one month before.
Either by death proinotion, or other causes, 149 changes had
been made, while dui= the same period 187 changes OS.
currod i 04 Route of ardo.

Over £1,700 have been subscribed towards the erec-
tion of a statue to Sir Rowland Hill in his native town, Kid-
derminster, and the memorial committee have now deter-
mined upor the size and shape of the pedestal, and the site
upon which the memorial will be erected.
Thomas Todd, a servant of the Great Western
Railway Company at the Eastern deptit, Swansea, was
crushed to death 011 Monday afternoon between the buffers
of some trucks in the goods yard. He leaves a wife and
eight children.
At Barrow-in-Furness, on Monday, the Anchor
Line steamer Castelia arrived with 219 cattle, 195 pigs, and
915 sheep, all in good condition. The Castalia will be the
pioneer steamer of the Barrow Line to New York.
The Liverpool School Board has resolved to give
instrpction ink. rActical cookery in the schools under the&
charge. A specially qualified teacher is to be appointed, at
a salary of £BO, to superintend the classes.
A public meeting was hdd on Monday night at
Parkend, Forest of Dean, Sir James CanIVITII presiding, for
the purpose of organising measures for the read of the dis-
tress prevailing in the district.
Hans Makart, the celebrated Austrian painter, has
opened his studio at Vienna to his friends and connoisseurs
to let them see his new colossal picture, " the Hunt of
Diana." The picture represents Diana and her companions
brought to a sudden halt by the object of their pursuit, a
stag, having taken refuge in a lake, the nymphs of which
spring from the waters to defend and shelter it. The picture
is not yet quite finished.

The Great Eastern Railway are about to adopt a
service for supplying salt-water at any house within the
ordinary cartage delivery of the company in London or the
country. The water will be conveyed from Lowestoft and
delivered in three gallon cans at od, each, to include de-
livery and the collection of cans when emptied.
Lord Fitzhardinge has given his tenants a quantity
of linseed cake, to the value of 10 per cent. on each one
half-yearly rent, with the view of assisting them to put
their.cattle, especially the mirking cows, into better condi-
tion after the late severe season.
British Military titles have in several eases been
adopted by the Afghans, who have turned Adjutant into
"Adjodan, " and Major into " Medgir." Thus a Russian
Colonel, tr.velling "through Afghan-Turkestan, when intro-
duced to a. tive potentate, found that his hest could not
understand his rank either by its Russian or Turkish name,
but when told in English, he at once exclaimed, "-A.h,
Kernel, Kernel; I know."
- -

According to the last census, there were in 1876
rather more than 300,000 European residents in Algeria, of
whom about 92,000 were of Spanish nationality. It is
estimatea that the population is now 350,000. The rate of
increase quite disproves the fears previously expressed that
the climate of Algeria would be unfavourable to European
occupation.

A great Federal Singing Festival will be held at
Zurich in July, beginning on the 4th and terminating on the
11th. Seven hundred of the best vocalists Switzerland can
produce, assisted by singers from various parts of Germany,
will take part in the proceedings, and a building capable of
accommodating an audience of 6,000 persons is in course of
erection near the lake. •

- -
It has been decided by the directors of the Midland
Railway to raise the wages of all the servants of the company
who, fifteen months ago, had their pay reduced by a shilling
per week.
Notwithstanding that the Frenchman is reputed to
be a giddy creature and living mostly for pleasure, he still
contrives somehow to lay by "a tidy sum for a"a rainy
day," that proverbial "rainy day" which we all expect to
see putting in an appearance some time in the dim future.
The deposits made last year (1879) iu the savings' banks
of this country amounted to the enormous sum of
7'60,034,688ft. . _

The Goethe monument at Beilin will be unveiled
on the Ist of June, in presence of the German Emperor and
Empress. They both knew Goethe intimately, the Empress
being a daughter of Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-
Weimar, the patron and friend of Goethe, and their court-
ship aid marriage at Weimar having occurred during the
latter years of Goethe's life.

M. Lon Say, the French Ambassador, as also the
Peruvian Minister, were introduced on Monday to her
Majesty by Earl Granville, and presented their credentials.—
The Daily News, in a leader, remarks: "The arrival of M.
Leon Say at the French Embassy in London is naturally an
event which engages the special interest of political econo-
mists, of manufacturers, and of traders. M. Leon Say comes
of a family in which economic science is hereditary. Even
as astronomy seems the natural occupation of the Ilerschels,
or as painting appeared to be the appointed calling of the
successive members of more than one Italian family, and
statecraft descends in more than one English house, so the
Says have now for three generations proved themselves
political economists."
Lady Victoria Villiers died at Adisham Rectory,
near Dinghant, Kent, on Sunday, at the age of forty-one.
wilmaeosrn ltbaa
odg
ruyns 1
Nlin
lwilels os vraaesnc at
od
rdnal
of
frgrt
et eadri
sin
nltihB.
6elTf lhtrhes te
dEneacerelva.
se
Henry
Russell,elandry
y
leaves a large family.
-

The Paris Journal Officicl publishes the following
information on the number of scholars in the lycies and
colleges of France :—Up to April 15, 1880, the boarders num-
bered 31,465, the day-boarders 7,177, the non-boarders 46,297,
forming a total of 84,909 scholars; showing an increase for
the year of 1,652 boarders and day-boarders, and 2,321 non-
boarders, or 3,983 scholars over the number registered last
year on the same date.

The Chief of the Abernacke tribe of Indians situated
at St. Fgancois du Lac, county Iberville, has lately presented
to Priritress Louise in the name of his tribe an address con-
gratulating her Royal Highness on her safe return to Canada.
The composition is that of the chief himself, and embodies
strong proof of loyalty. Accompanying the address is a
handsome basket made of splints of elm.

On Tuesday night a mass meeting was held at
Blackburn, which was attended by more than twenty thou-
sand weavers. The deputation which had met the masters
at Manchester gave in their report, to the effect that the
masters would not advaffce wages, nor fix a time when they
would do so, nor would they submit the wages dispute to
arbitration, nor run short time. Still the weavers were
urged to stop at work until a better opportunity offered.
An amendment urging a strike was, however, put ib the
meeting and declared carried.
Under the head of " C6nscience Money," the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in The Times the re-
ceipt of £205 in bank-notes from " Alpha " for income-tax.

Strikes on a large scale have recently broken out
among the operatives in the weaving and spinning industries
in the north of France. The Journal de Roubaix states that
In the district of Roubaix sixty-six mills have been brought
to a standstill, and 15,000 hands thrown idle. In some cases
the strike hands demand an increase of wages, in others a
reauction of the hours of labour.

Mr. Gladstone, in an address of thanks to the
electors of Mid-Lothian, bears testimony to the complete-
ness of the organization by which the recent victory was
won. The right hon. gentleman points out that the time for
words has gone, and the time for the beginning of action is
now come. Of the political professions which he made
before the general election he has only to say that they
have now become in thOir general sense and spirit honour-
able engagements which he shall do his best as occasion
offers to redeem.

At Wolverhampton, on Tuesday, at the Town
Council meeting, a resolution was passed authorising the
Free Library Committee to expend a sum of £3,000 in the
enlargement of the buildings, so as to provide more accom-
modation for members of the arts and science classes and the
general readers.
On Monday Lord Landsdowne presided over the
seventy-fifth annual meeting of the British and Foreign
School Society. A resolution was passed declaring that the
meeting, holding firmly to the unsectarian religious prin-
ciples of the society, rejoiced in their snore general adop-
tion, and believed that the educational efforts of all classes
will increasingly conform to their liberal and progressive
Spirit.
The strikes in France are rapidly assuming a very
serious aspect.
Loud complaints are beglnning to be heard of the
backwardness of veketation and the consequent scarcity of
keep for sheep and cattle. Favourable as the spring has
been for tillage, it has been the very reverse for grass ; and
as last year's hay crop was excessively bad, the means of
feeding are running short, and, therefore, clovers and arti-
ficial grasses have to be fed down. Unless there is a speedy
change we have thus the prospect of another short hay crop,
and of dear beef and mutton.—Pall Mall Gazette.

After a long debate, the Dunfermline town council
have, by fifteen votes against three, rejected a .proposal to
open the public baths from seven to nine o'clock on Sunday
morning. The Postmaster-General has been petitioned in
favour of closing Dunkeld post-office on Sunday forenoons.
Sir N. de Rothschild, M.P., on Friday in last week,
opened at Aylesbury the new buildings which he has just
erected, at a cost of from £2.000 to £3,000, and conveyed to
the existing Mechanics' Institute on lease for 1,000 years at a,
peppercorn rent. A luncheon was given in the Corn Ex-
change, at which complimentary speeches were made.

On Tuesday morning forty-eight workmen, engaged
in the Mont Cents Tunnel, were nearly suffocated by the
smoke from a passing train. Fortunately an alarm was
raised, and the victims were carried to the mouth of the
tunnel, where the fresh air revived all but one man, who
died a few hours afterwards.

Mr. Forster, Chief Secretary for Ireland, received a
t
Depution representing the Dublin Mansion House Relief
thoughldpre prevail
li4 in
p ed Irelandt h till
e
t h
Committee on Saturday last, and in reply to their request
that the Government would take steps for dealing with the
dii2esitrrersesepwolniiscihbliititwy
in the
as
believed would
u o
the harvest, said the Government were fully sensible of
t
steps already taken and private efforts would prove suffi-
cient. •

At the annual meeting of the Salford Conservative
A.ssociation, a letter was read from the Common Serjeant of
London, Sir W. T. Charley, QC., in which he stated that the
new Reform Bill would not be introduced until 1882, and
that a dissolution must follow soon afterwards. In view of
this, the Conservatives, he added, must address themselves
with vigour to the important work of re-organization.

The recent additions to the Zoological Society's
Gardens (Regent's Park, London), include a common ocelot
from South America, presented by Mr. Stephenson Clarke;
two Elliot's guinea fowls from East Africa, presented by the
Rev. Thomas Wakefield; two American barn owls from
Jamaica, presented by Mr. G. E. Dobson, C.M.Z.S. ; a koala
from South-East Australia, a grey squirrel from North
America, two blue-streaked lories from Timor Laut, two
Prince Albert's eurassows from Columbia, purchased ; two
common foxes, four Chilian pintails, bred in the gardens. •
The arrival .of the Orient on Sunday at Adelaide
was announced in London by telegraph, the voyage having
been made in less than 35 days' apparent time from
Plymouth, including all stoppages. As the difference Of
time between Plymouth and Adelaide is sine hours, the
Orient's passage has been made in about 34i days actual
time, or, deducting her stoppage of 36 hours at the Cape, 33
days' steaming time. The distance is 12,000 miles. This i
tli fastest passage on record.
According to a telegram from Moscow intelligence
has been received to the effect that the Asiatic traveller,
Colonel Prjevalski, with his companions, as to whose safety
tears were beginning to be entertained, have spent the
winter in Tibet, and are in the enjoyment of good health,
t 3781 to America, to
foreigners,
From returns made uirat the Liverpool Emigration
Office it appears that during the month of April no fewer
than 29,419 persons sailed fronrthe Mersey as compared with
13,303 in the previous month, and 10,917 in April, 1879.
These figures are the largest ever known, and indicate how
elestittation nearly all the emigrants have gone. The emi-
wave
gTants re ofle all
o of na gsr,
English, 151 Scotch, and 6,027 Irish.
puring the year 1878 the number of ships that
entered and left the Italian ptrts with cargoes were 189,151
ia
sailing vessels, 23,510 ; steamers, 7,910—0 f 25,253,102 tons,
and manned by 411,023 sailors. Of this number, 171,658 were
Italian and 17,496 of foreign nationality. In addition to
nationalities,
li3o being i
ign, 9h,i3c11
01
these there were 128,237 coasting vessels and 29,479 steamers.
The deep-sea fisheries employed a fleet of 3,132 sailing
vessels, of 29,783 tons, and manned by 20,292 men. Includ-
ing ships that touched at the various ports en route, the
total number for the year was 229,796 of all kinds, with
crews amounting to
great s tile
2,231,347, and carrying 833,093 pas-
seugers._

The United States relief ship Constellation sailed
from
.Queenstown on Tuesday on her return voyage to
America. On Saturday the American officers invhed ii
large party of ladies and gentlemen on board the Constel-
l4ion, in return for the kindness shown to them. As the
frigate was towed down the harbour on Tuesday the flags on
the different Consulate flagstaffs were dipped, and the people
who lined the shore gave cheers for the Americans. The
Constellation was also saluted by the Ensign from Spike
Island and the forts. The wind was favourable, and it was
expected the Constellation would make a rapid voyage.

The WUrtemberg Official Advertiser announces :
" The marriage of the Duchess Pauline of Wtirtemberg with
Dr. Wallin of Breslau took place on the Ist of May, at earls-
ruhe, in Silesia. The King of WUrtemburg considered that
lie should not oppose the openly announced wishes of the
Duchess, and has given his consent as head of the Royal
house, subject to certain conditions concerning her future
position. The Duchess renounces the title and position of
a Princess of the Royal house, and has assumed the name of
'Von Kiebach.' "—The bride was born on the 11th of April,
1854. She iethe yoimgcst daughter of the late Duke Eugene
of WUrtemberg. An elder sister is married to her half-uuele
Duke Nicholas. Another half-uncle, Duke William, is the
AthArian Cenunwider-in-Chlef Lad Clovauo in

A telegram from New York says that an old shell
has exploded near Fort Macheny, Baltimore, causing the
death of six workmen standing near at the time.

-
At a meeting of tinplate workers' delegates at
Swansea, it was resolved to .reduce the work by one-third,
the men having,generally agreed to the proposition to do so.
The Cunard steamer Tarifa, which arrived off Cork
harbour an Monday, reports having passed in the Atlantic,.
on May 3, three icebergs in succession, one of which was
about 80ft. high by 400 ft. long.
The amounts transmitted to Ireland for the relief
of distress up to the present time may be stated, in round
numbers as follows :—New South Wales, £25,000 ; Victoria,
£26,000; South Australia, £12,000; Quee4sland, Tasmania,
and Western Australia, about £10,500; grand total, £72,500.
—Sydney Morninj Herald.
Tie Prime Minister has appointed his son, Mr.
Herbert Gladstone, M. P., to be one of his private secretaries
without pay.—Mctnday's Times.
The Marquis of Lorne, in his speech proroguing he
Canadian Parliament, said that the recovery of the Do-
minion from the recent commercial depressionvas steadily
prdef.ssing, and that, owing to this improvement and the
Banking, Currency, Tariff, and other laws passed by the
Parliament, a ptc•sperous year might be confidently expected
A telegram from Rome says that Etna is again
manifesting signs of activity. on the north side smoke and
ashes, in considerable quantities, are rejected from aper-
tures about half-way between the eruption of last year and
the summit.
The Queen and Princess Beatrice paid a visit to the
Royal Academy about ten o'clock on Wednesday morning,
and remained in the exhibition for upwards of an hour.
The death of Sir John Goss, Mus. D., coirmoser to
her Majesty's Chapels Royal, and late organist of At, Paul's
Cathedral, took place on Monday, after a long illness, at his
residence, Lambert-road, Brixton-rise, in the 80th year orAf his
age.

Intelligence has been received at New York from
Ilavana of the destruction by fire of the village of San Luis,
near Santiago de Cuba. Several persons lost their lives, and
3,000 people have been rendered homeless. Three hundred
horses also perished in the flames, and a large quantity of
Military stores was destroyed.
An eltplosion occurred on Saturday at the Rottweil
Powder Factory at Geesthaeht, near Hamburg, when four
men were killed.
- - -: -

-------
Mr. Gladstone has issued invitations to about 40 of
his leading supporters to a Parliamentary dinner at his
residence in Downing-street, on the 19th inst. Lord Gran-
ville has issued similar invitations for the same date at the
Foreign Office, as also has Earl Kimberley for the Colonial
Office.
- - - - - - -

-------
A telegram from Teheran says that the famine in the
Province of Aderbaijan is increasing, and the harvest pros-
pects are bad. The greatest suffering prevails in the district
of Urimia, where there have been six hundred deaths from
starvation since the mouth of January. Twelve hundred
Christians have left the country. The price of wheat is £6O
per ton in the famine-stricken districts, but it is cheaper in
other places.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports ware 26,000 bales ; ditto since Ist September, 4,676,00(.1
bales; shipments to England, 47,000 bales; ditto to Con-
tinent and Channel, 26,000 bales • total shipments since let
September, 3,240,000 bales; stock at all ports, 560,000
bales.
A fire broke out on Sunday in the Forest of Fon-
tainebleau, at a short distance from Barbison. The grass
and the wood being very dry, the flames spread rapidly.
Two detachments of the sth Hussars were sent for from
Fontainebleau, and with the help of the peasants succeeded
In limiting the fire by live o'clock in
.the afternoon. About
four acres of the forest were burnt.
Last week 2,823 births and 1,416 deaths were
registered in London. Allowing for increase of population,
the births exceeded by 210, whereas the deaths were 133
below, the average numbers in the corresponding week of the
last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes,
which in the five preceding weeks had steadily declined
from 241 to 19-8, was equal to 202 per 1,900. During the
past five weeks of the current quarter the death-rate in
London has averaged only 207 per 1,000, against 25•5 and
251 in the corresponding periods of 1878 and 1879.
Egypt looks a large country on the map; but the
fertile region is merely a narrow strip bordering the Nile..
A recent letter in The Times shows the whole cultivable
land of the country only amounts to 4,800,000 acres, or 7,500
square miles—that is, equal in area to a tract of land 100
miles long by 75 miles broad, which is about two-thirds the
size of Wales, or the same size as New Jersey, one of the
smallest of the United States of America.
The consecration of Bishop Ryle to the new see of
Liverpool will take place in York Minster on Friday, the
11th of June (St. Barnabas Day). There has been consider-
able feeling in Liverpool that the consecration should be
either there or at Chester, so that the people might witness
it. The Archbishop of York was willing to consecrate in
Liverpool if a suitable church could be found, but it was
thought undesirable .to visit Chester, in the domestic afflic-
tion of the Bishop and in the absence of the Dean. York
was at last decided on, at the wish of the Bishop himself.
Prisoners in Prussia who have means will, ill
future—according to a recent decree of the Minister of the
Interior—have to pay for their board and lodging in prison.
The decree fixes the cost of prison residence to be paid by
such prisoners at 6d. a day from the 16th of April to the 15th
of October, and 60. from the 16th of October to the 15th of
April.
Mr. Herbert Gladstone, youngest son of the
Premier, was, on Saturday, nominated for Leeds, in the
place of his father, who was returned for the borough at the
fraddressed a large
as.
amlaednsitboenr_efivorasMid
de-
claredmgenthe Lothian.
nl election,au lyT h
eelree c btbeeudi
gwanhnood
ot
paakpie, ses
ifosanrs
,del;t
gathering of the constituency.
A Japanese National Parliament is the latest inno-
vation demanded in the Mikado's Empire, where within the-
last few months there has been gradually springing up a
strong feeling in favour of popular representation. Indeed,
according to one Japanese journal, at Trouwano, in the
province of Idzoumo, the women have sold their dresses and
jewels in order to send a deputation to Tokio in support of
the scheme.

Holy Thursday is always rigorously observed by the
men employed at the Bethesda Slate Quarries, not, however.
from any reverential feeling, but consequent upon an old
superstition which has prevailed many years, that working
on that day will be attended with an accident A few years
ago the management prevailed upon the men to disregard
the superstition, but, strange to say, there was always a
serious accident; and therefore, in the present year, the old
custom was observed, and the quarries were at a standstill.

The Revisers of the Authorised Version of the
New Testament met on Tuesday in the College-hall, West-
minster, for their 99th session, and, sat for seven hours.
There were present, the Bishop of Glocester and Bristol,
who presided; the Deans of Westminster, Rochester, Lin-
coln, and Lichfield ; Archdeacons Lee and Palmer • Canon
Vi estcott ; Principals Angus and Brown ; Professors
Moulton and Roberts; and Prebendaries Humphry and
Sciivener, in all 14 members, with Mr. Troutbeck, the secre-
tary. The company were engaged in a consideration of
proposals made with a view of securing harmony of render-
ing.
Sir John Eardley Wilmot, addressing his constitu-
ents at Leamington, expressed the opinion that Afghanistan,
should be retained for the protection of India, and com-
mended the Government for resolving to enforce the Berlin
Treaty. He had no hopes of the Conservatives returning to
power, and disapproved of lowering the county franchise,
unless accompanied by a redistribution of seats. He was
determinedly opposed to the disestablishment of the English
Church, and hoped the Burials difficulty would be settled by
adopting a religious service acceptable to all denominations.
Some very successful ey,Leriments have been lately
made in Krupp's manufacto7 at Essen with a divisible
mountain gun. Like all Krupp's ordnance, the piece is a
breechloader, and weighs, including the breech-closing
apparatus, a little less than newt. The gun can be separated
for purposes of transport into two parts of about equal
weight, each of which can therefore be conveniently carried
by a pack animal; the operation of taking it to pieces occu-
pying from fifteen to twenty seconds, and of putting the
parts together again thirty seconds.
A sad accident, resulting in the death of two young
men, and the narrow escape of two others happened on
Saturday; in the Floating Harbour at Bristol. A party of four
hired a small boat and rowed from Bristol Bridge towards
the Hotwella The party comprised Walter Moss, 19, and his
brother, Oliver Moss, 15, George Dunn, 15, and George Bate-
man, 17. Halfway down the harbour they met the steam
collier Druid-coming up in tow of a schooner. The boat got
in front of the steamer, and although the peoplo on board
shouted to them, the lads are supposed to have mistaken the
directions, for they pulled the boat right under the bow of
the steamer, apd it was immediately capsized. A rope was
thrown from the steamer, and Dunn and Oliver Moss caught
hold of it and were rescued. The bodies of the other two, in
site of all attempts to rescue them, were not recovered.