The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-09-25 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A competition for prizes for the destruction of wood
pigeons in Peebleshire for the year 1874-5 has just been con-
cluded. The total number of birds killed was 2,529.

The Judicial fees in the Privy Council Office
amounted in the year ended 31st of March to £2,619 12s.

According to the census returns of New Zealand,
there are 127 denominational distinctions In the colony, the
appellations of some of which are very quaint, as for in-
stance :—'Bible Thumpers," "froressionists." "Old
Identity," "Evolutionists," and " Calathumpians."

Under the Act 12 and 13 Victoria, cap. 72, in the
year ended the 315 t of March last, the fees amounted to
£34,430 lls. 11d.

Last year the receipts from the sale of waste, per-
centages, Ctc., of the Stationery Office produced £29,022 13s.

It was resolved, at a meeting of the Dundee opera-
tives, held on Saturday, to form a male and female opera-
tive association, and a sum of £330 was appropriated for
that purpose from the surplus fund collected during the
strike. It was stated that nearly £5,000 had been expended
during the dispute.

A free library at Stockport was opened on Monday
by the Mayor of the borough. The library will contain
30,900 volumes, and a large portion of the space is already oo-
cupied.

The Parisians have always been known as an "out-
door people," and are in no wise losing their claim to this
appellation. A statistical tableau has just been published,
showing that 152,000 persons travelled last Sunday between
Paris and the neighbouring villages, while the small steam-
boats on the Seine conveyed no fewer than 48,000 persons. -

The fees received from the public in the year ended
the 31st of March last for visiting the Jewel-house in the
Tower of London amounted to £3,313 is.

A Renter's telegram from New S ork states that in
consequence of a reduction in wages 15,000 operatives are on
strike at Fall River, Massachusetts. Forty cotton mills are
idle.

At Neutitschein, in Silesia, Count von Vetter, whilst
on a shooting trip, inadvertently killed his son, who passed
through a thicket at some distance, and thus was mistaken
by his father for game.

St. Louis now proposes to pay off the national debt
at the expense of the dogs, which are said to represent a
waste of 80,000,000 dols, a year.

After a very hotly-contested international velocipede
race in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris, in which fourteen compe-
titors took part, Mr. Moore, an Englishman, was proclaimed
the winner.

Newnbam Hall, Cambridge, which is being built
at a cost of some thousands of pounds, by gentlemen inte.
rested in promoting the higher education of women, will be
opened next month. There are several exhibitions and
scholarships open to competition.

Foot-and-mouth disease is greatly on the increase in
all parts of the county of Kent. The returns for the past
week show that the total number affected is 6,473.

The Forest and Stream newspaper, acting in behalf
of American sportsmen, has secured 1,200 feet of space at the
Philadelphia Exhibition for the display of sporting articles
of every description, and rare birds and other animals.
Statistics have just been published showing that
there are in France 324 Government schools, including alto-
gether 69,500 pupils ' • 657 private lay schools, comprising
43,000 pupils; and 278 clerical establishments, containing
34,000 pupils.

Whilst a detachmuikof the Second Administrative
Brigade, L. A V., under Captain Langsdale, were practising
at the battery at Altcar, a 40-pounder breech-loading Arm-
strong gun burst close to the muzzle, but the men fortunately
eEcaped injury. The gun is said to be the Brat of its class
that has burst. It had been in use for three years.

With the aid of a moderately good tide, but the dis-
advantages of lumpy water and an adverse wind, Miss Emily
Parker, of natatory fame, succeeded, on Saturday afternoon,
in swimming from London Bridge to North Woolwich Gar-
dens, a distance of considerably over ten miles, in two hours
and twenty-three minutes.

The Paris Bookbinders' Corporation have resolved
to send a delegate to the Philadelphia Exhibition, and have
opened a penny subscription for that purpose amongst their
members. The paper manufacturers and the skin and leather
manufacturers have come to a similar decision.

Chili contemplates the introduction of salmon into
her rivers, and will, when the Government makes an appro-
priation for the purpose, purchase a large quantity of salmon
eggs from the breeding establishment on the Mculoud river,
California.

Last week a delegation of ladies connected with the
management of the "Free Training Schools" in New York
visited President Grant's cottage at Long Branch, and pre-
sented Mrs. Grant a testimonial signed by two hundred girls,
who had received aid from the institution, and desired thus
to express their appreciation of the kindly interest taken in
its welfareiby the wife of the nation's Executive.

The youthful American female missionary is always
an enthusiast. In making preparations for her departure
she often indulges in such memoranda as this on the fly-
leaf of her New Testament :—" Take half a dozen crimping
Irons, three or four additional hair braids, and as many extra
bustles as possible."

Prince Bismarck's health is reported to be excellent,
his neuralgia having entirely disappeared. The Prince is
still withdrawn from public affairs, and engaged in home em-
ployments, managing his estates and increasing them by the
addition of the surrounding farms.

Presiding on Tuesday night at a meeting in the Not-
tingham Mechanics' Institution, the object being to promote
the extension of university education, the Marquis of
Ilartington said he believed the great national universities
were thoroughly awakening from their lethargy, and were
now anxious to further education, so that it might be of
practical benefit to every class. Mr. Goscl..n and Mr.
Stansfeld also spoke approvingly of the movement.

Good music is rapidly becoming more widely appre-
ciated by the lower classes. A Birmingham correspondent
says that the other ,day he was in the shop of a music pub-
lisher when a man of the "factory class" entered. "ills hob-
nailed boots were thick, clumsy, and dirty; his moleskin
trousers were old and patched; his linen was not of the
cleanest; tie he had none; and his face and hands were as
dirty as his hat—but he asked for Schnbert's Mass in F, which
he wanted to look through.' "—Court Journal.
A letter from St. Petersburg in the Schlesische
Zeitung says it appears from official statistics that between
the years 1822 and 1872 no less than 500,000 persons have
been banished to Siberia; yet there has been scarcely any
perceptible increase in the population, and now, as fifty
years ago, there is nat one inhabitant per square vent. The
reason of this is that the number of persons who make their
escape from Siberia continues to be very great.
_ _

A case of sudden death, caused by the thunder-
storm of Friday morning, is reported from Hampstead Mr.
John Henry Rohrs, of Christ Church-road, who had gone to
bed apparently in good health, bekog suddenly awakened by
the thunder, was attacked with palpitation of the heart and
died after three or four hours' illness. Mr. Rohm was for-
merly a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, where he gra-
duated in 1843 as twelfth wrangler. He was about fifty-three
years of age.
-

Foot-and-mouth disease being greatly on the in-
crease, a meeting of West Sussex agriculturists has been
held, for the purpose of considering the advisability of pre-
senting a memorial to the Privy Council to have fairs and
markets prohibited for a time as a means of preventing the
extension of the disease. The several speakers were opposed
to this course, but various remedies were suggested, among
which those of isolation, uniformity of regulation, the exten-
sive use of disinfectants, and rigorous supervision of the
foreign cattle imported were the chief. A unanimous vote
against the proposition was adopted.

The other day, says the Builder, it was discovered
that a portion of the chief mast of the Erebus, in the recently-
erected Franklin monument, had been broken off by some
mischievous person. It is stated that this is not the first
monument which has been injured in the Abbey. The head
of Major Andr6, who fell during the American War of Inde-
pendence, has been removed no less than three times from
the marble slab erected in his honour, and no clue has ever
been found to the guilty party.

A Berlin correspondent reports that oificisal repre-
sentations have been made to Prince Bismarck respecting
the mischievous effects which have been produced upon the
horse-breeding industry by the decree forbidding the export
of horses from German territory, and efforts are being made
to induce the Chancellor to rescind the decree.

A pretty and witty young lady at a fancy fair offered
a prize of a five-shilling pair of old gloves to subscribers of a
guinea each to the gentleman who eould solve this riddle,
"When will the alphabet have only 25 letters ? " F rtunately
r her it was solved by a rich young fellow, who seemed
inclined to follow up the first original idea of his life. It
was "When U and I are made one."—Court Journal.

A French correspondent, in a letter from London,
says that he was run over by a hansom while attempting to
cross Victoria-street The wheel of the vehicle passed over
his arm, and was within an inch of crushing his head. With
great difficulty he managed to scramble on to the pavement,
when the driver disdainfully called out, "What are you
doing under my cab ? " and drove away, evidently out of
temper.—Court Journal.

There was a bicycle match at Sheffield on Saturday
for the Championship of England and £lOO, the competitors
being J. Keen, of Surbiton, the champion, and F. Cooper, of
Sheffield. The latter had the inside position, and led all
the way until the last round, when he was passed by Keen,
who won by sixteen yards. The mile was done in three
minutes.

Mr. Alfred Sampson, one of the oldest citizens of
Duxbury, Mass., died lately at the advanced age of eighty-
four years. Ills widow still lives. Several years ago they
celebrated their golden wedding, and had her husband lived
a short time longer, they would have cerebrated the sixtieth
anniversary of their marriage. It is a remarkable fact that
during all this period the family circle has never been broken,
and all of his seven children were with hiin at his last
hours. Mr. Sampson was one of the few remaining pensioners
of the war of 1812.

An equestrian statue of William the Conquerer was
unveiled on Sunday, at Falaise, his birthplace.
Shoes made of rattlesnake-skins are becoming fashion-
able in Alabama.

A number of Lyons dyers have just struck, demand-
ing an increase of twenty-five centimes per day in their
wages.
The Agricultural Labourers' -Union has commenced
an agitation in Wiltshire and Somersetshire in favour of
emigration.

Great activity is being displayed at the Paris Mint,
and twenty-franc gold pieces are being struck by the bushel
to replace bank notes.

A Munich window, the gift of Madame Lind-
Golchmidt, has been placed in Holy Trinity Church, Wim-
bledon, in memory of the late Bisfion Wilberforce.

The last orange crop in Louisiana amounted to
16,250,000 dollars, and realised a net profit of 810,000 dollars.
The custom there is to sell the fruit on the trees at 10 dollars
a thousand. _ _ _

- --
It is stated that a citizen of Paris, just dead, has
bequeathed the sum of three hundred thousand francs to the
Minister of Fine Arts, on the condition that a colossal statue
of France, in marble, be executed by M. Bartholdi, the re-
nowned sculptor, and placed at the summit of the Triumphal
Arch. It has not yet transpired whether this offer will be
accepted.
The suicidal mania is somewhat abating in Paris.
Only eight deaths by self-destruction were announced
between September 1 and September 12, while twenty-nine
were recorded during the corresponding period last year.
There exists in St. Mark's Library, at Venice.' a
MS. in the handwriting of John Locke, coneistinz of notes on
medical subjects, which is the more eurious if, as has been
said, Locke was averse from allowing it to be known that he
once intended to practise medicine.
Major Jones gives a little bit of interesting informa-
tion about General Grant that is not generally known. He
was christened " Hiram Ulysses," but by a mistake on the
Dart of his nominator his name was entered at West Point as
"Ulysses Simpson." In vainclid he endeavour to have the
blunder rectified; both his diploma and brevet commission
styled him "Ulysses S," and so, after a fruitless struggle, he
at last gave in, and accepted initials to which his sponsors
gave him no claim!

During the present year there has been an increase
in the exportation of the military stores. The value of
small-arms exported was £383,709, against £248,221 last
year; gunpowder, £269,378, against £265,685 last year ; and
all other kinds of military stores, £653,876 this year and
£581,679 in 1874.
-- • - -

A deputation, headed by the Mayor of Birmingham.
has waited upon the council of the Queen's College with re-
ference to making provisions at the college for the education
of women students in medicine and surgery. It was under-
stood that the deputation would endeavour to obtain the
consent of the hospital authorities, and also to guarantee a
sufficient amount to cover the fees in those cases where the
professors declined to lecture to double classes, and would
then have another interview with the council on the subject.
An inquest was held in London on Monday, at St,
Thomas's Hospital respecting the death of Charles Hardman,
aged eighteen years, who died of hydrophobia. At the com-
mencement of this month he complained of feeling unwell,
and as he began to suffer very much in his head and refused
to take his meals he was removed to St. Thomas's Hospital,
where he got worse, refused to eat or drink, and began to
bark like a dog. Everything was done for him, but he died
!ri af e w_days. A verdict was returned in accordance with

this evidence.
An oysterman while following his vocation in
Newark Bay some time ago, while working with his tongs,
struck some heavy substance which,
of a Young child in a perfect which, on being lifted into the
boat, turned out to be the bo
state of petrefaction, with the exception of one arm, which
may have been broken off by being struck with the tongs.
The front part of the body is quite natural, but the back is
slightly sunken, and the mass has the gravity of chalk. It is
to be presented to the Hudson County Medical Society.
- A very singular lawsuit is pending before the Paris
tribunals. An insane gentleman recently bequeathed half
his fortune to the Paris hospitals. Immediately after his
death, the Public Relief Board appropriated the legacy, but
the relations of the deceased now claim that it should be
restored to them, on the plea that the will was written in a
lunatic asylum The Public Relief Board contend, on the
other hand, that the will is quite legal, as the insane gentle-
man headed it with the usual sentence, "Being sane in body
and mind." But the adverse party retort that the testator
was still suffering from aberration of mind at the time he
drew up his will, as he concluded with the following Words:
" Quelle bonne blaque /" What a good joke.
Speaking at a meeting in Exeter in support of the
movement initiated by the Universityof Cambridge for ex-
tending education, Mr. Mills, ILP., said it had struck him,
as a member of the London School Board, how important
and valuable it wonld be if there were some connection
between the ehTmentary schools of the country and the Uni-
versities. He hoped that the objects at which the present
movement aimed might be attained. The existing state of
matters was largely due to shallow, imperfect, and unsatis-
factory education. Education should be made as perfect as
possible, and means should be given to thosewho have the
inclination to proceed somewhat further than is provided
for in the elementary schools of the country.