The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-06-12 00:00:00

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Committee which has been sitting at the War
Office under the presidency of Lord Airey has urged upon the
Government the advisability of abandoning the present short
service system ix the army, and of extending the period of
service with the colours from six years to nine years.

Excavations for a railway
.at Elbeuf have brought
to light the remains of a dinethenunt gigantsum, Fragments
of the tusks are 15 centimetres in diameter.

The Municipal Statistical Bureau of Berlin an-
nounces that the population of the city at the end of 1879
was 1,081,230 persons, of whom 1,060,057 were eivilians and
21,173 military persons. _

- -
The Marquis of Ripon arrived at Simla on Tuesday
in excellent health and was received with a Royal salute.
His Excellency at once resumed office, but no speeches were
delivered on the occasion. His reception, both here and
along the route, was most cordial. Major White, the Mili-
tary Secretary, officiates as Private Secretary of the Viceroy,
in consequence of the resignation of Colonel Gordon.
A telegram from Lisbon says that the remains of
Vasco de Gama, the celebrated navigator; and of Camoens,
the illustrious poet, were conveyed by water on Tuesday
from the Arsenal to the church of the ancient monastry of
Belem. The church at Vidigueira and, indeed, the whole
city of Lisbon was thronged, the weather being splendid.
The Cortes adjourned for the occasion. In the evening there
were splendid illuminations.

The Queen, Princess Beatrice, and the Princesses
Victoria and Elizabeth of Hesse were present at divine ser-
vice at the parish church of Crathie on Sunday. Principal
Tulloch officiated. In the evening Principal Tulloch dined
with the Queen.—According to the most recent arrange-
ments, the Queen will leave Balmoral for Windsor on the
25th inst.

Sir Stafford Northcote, writing to a gentleman at
Bristol who had sent him a Conservative pamphlet, says :
"It is only by hard work on the part of all true Conserva-
tives that our late defeat can be retrieved, but Sir Stafford is
glad to be able to believe that in Bristol—a city in which he
takes a warm interest—our prospects are brightening."

Anything that is kept seven years comes to use.
There were those Spanish saddle-bags, for instance, that
had gone all over Europe, and had done good service at the
mountains and the sea-shore, and had been in seclusion for
a year or two, but when drawn out and made into two big
square cushions, and bordered with plush, they made a
Turkish chair that was the envy of all beholders.—Court
Journal.

A telegram from Paris says that a tremendous hur-
ricane burst about five o'clock on Monday afternoon upon
Saha Gaudens extending to Montrejeau, Boulogne, St. Mar-
tory, and Auvignac. Vines, fruit trees, and plants were
literally cut to pieces, and the losses occasioned by this
misadventure are very serious.

Mr. Dickenson, the Mayor of Dover; intends enter-
taining at his own expense about 8,000 Sunday school chil-
dren and teachers in celebration of the Sunday School Cen-
tenary.

When on Saturday a miller named Hall was trying
to tighten a belt at some Chemical Works at Crewe, connect-
ing the machinery, his arm was drawn in between the cogs of
two wheels revolving at a rapid rate, and he was drawn high
up off the ground. The side of his head also got between
the wheels and was fearfully torn, his jaw being broken and
skull fractured. Death ensued instantaneously. At an
inquest held subsequently the foreman of the works stated
that deceased ought not to have touched the belt until the
machinery was stopped. Verdict, Accidentally killed.

- -
A return of corporal punishment in her Majesty's
navy, published for ten years ending 31st December, 1878,
gives a summary of the numbers flogged and of the number
of lashes awarded and inflicted in each year. The number
to whom corporal punishment had been awarded was in
1869, 61; 1870, 66 ; 1871, 51 ; 1872, 16 ; 1873, 19; 1874, 8;
1875, 15 ; 1876, 8' - 1877, 6; 1878, 7. Total 247. The number
of lashes awarded 9,824 inflicted 9,173.

The Home Secretary has consented to present to
her Majesty a memorial from over 200 mayors and ex-mayors
of England and Wales in favour of the abolition of the re-
strictions to marriage with a deceased wife's sister. The
memorial, which is in the form of a large album bound in
morocco, each signature occupying a distinct place, is
headed with the signatures of the Lord Mayors of London
and York, and prays the Royal countenance to the removal
of the restrictions complained of.

The Master of the Rolls, during the hearing of a
case, on Tuesday, incidentally referred,to trial by jury. He
said that nearly all questions were decided by the majority,
mid he could never understand why juries' decisions were
not given by the majority. True unanimity among twelve
men was impossible.
Twelve thousand five hundred and eleven emigrants
landed at New York daring last week.

A Boston firm of publishers has hit upon a novelty
in offering the sum of £4OO in prizes for four original designs
for Christmas cards, painted in water-colour or oil. The
designs are to be eventually exhibited.

AT dog club has been established in Paris, whose
members consist exclusively of lovers of the canine species,
while no one is admitted to the club rooms unless accom-
panied by a bull-dog, a King Charles, a terrier, or a setter.
Sabbatarianism is causing great excitement across
the Atlantic, where at Louisville, in Kentucky, the police
recently made a raid on the newspaper offices directly after
midnight on Saturday, and indicted all persons at work. Al
public-houses were closed, and cabs and tramoars sent to the
stables; while later in the morning the churches were visited,
and the names taken of all sextons and organists, the law
punishing all persons who receive pay for services of any
kind on Sunday.

An inquest has been held at Newholm, near Whitby,
on the body of William Easton, a publican, who on the pre-
vious Saturday was eating his dinner when a large piece of
unmasticated animal food accidentally became wedged so
firmly in his gullet that it was impossible to remove it, and
he was choked. A verdict in accordance with these facts
was returned.

On the application of the Court of Quarter
Sessions, the Home Secretary has, under the provisions of
the Wild Fowl Preservation Act, made an order varying the
close time for wild fowl in the Parts of Lindsey, in the
county of Lincoln, so as to be from the 15th of March to the
15th of August inclusive in each year.

There were 14 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making a total for the present year
626, or a decrease of 92 as compared with the corresponding
period of last year.

• Mr. Tennyson, for his poem "De Profundis,"
which appeared in the last number of the Nineteenth Century
was paid £3OO. It was sixty-five lines long.—Court Journal.'

The German Government has issued invitations for
a Conference at Berlin on the Greek Frontier Question, the
first meeting to be held on the 16th instant. England will be
represented by Lord Odo Russell, assisted by General Sir
Lintorn Simmons.

A claiinant, it is said, has just turned up for a
considerable portion of the best land in Cyprus. He is
Count Mocenigo,• the head of one of the most ancient
families in Venice. The Count has already been in com-
munication with the British Government on the subject.
He is said to base his claim upon the fact that he is the
direct lineal descendant of Catherine Camaro, a daughter of
the then Doge of Venice, who, in 1468, married Lusignan,
thereby becoming Queen of Cyprus, and of Cardinal Marco
Camaro, the original purchaser of the lands from the Ancient
Order of Knights Hospitallers.
News is said to have been received at St. Petersburg
that the Chinese are massing large bodies of troops on the
Russian frontier, and that an attack is expected without the
formality of the declaration of war.
On Saturday a fatal accident occurred at Messrs.
Cockey and Sons' iron foundry at Frorne. While a man
named Nunn was working at a lift he accidentally kicked
one of three props that were supporting a large piece of iron.
The iron fell upon him, crushing his head between it and an
Iron el:linden
Mr. Staveley Hill has introduced a Bill for rendering
It no longer competent for a landlord or a tenant to withdraw
himself from the compensation provisions of the. Agricul-
tural Holdings Act of 1875 unless there be some agreement
which will give to the tenant a compensation at least equal
to that provided by the Act. To insure the adequacy of the
compensation so provided, every tenant is empowered to
give notice that he will proceed to make his claim under the
Act as though no agreement were subsisting.
The New York Herald telegram, after the first re-
presentation of the "Passion Play," cost between £.40 and
£.50, that of The Times of a thousand words, at least half
that sum.— Court Journal.

During the performance of Divine service on Sun-
day a church at 3%lount Carey, Ohio, was blown down by a
hurricane. The preacher and several of the congregation
were fatally, and twenty others seriously injured by the fall
of the building.
Professor Curtuis has just returned to Berlin from
Olympia. The temples and sculptures of the sacred city
that have been discovered under his superintendence at the
cost of the German Government are to be preserved in a
museum to be built on the spot.
Orders came into force at Folkestone on Monday;
which prohibit hackney carriages and Bath chairs plying
for hire on Sunday, so that a person wishing to hire a con-
veyance must engage one on the day previous.
• The fountain erected by command of the Queen in
memory of the late Sir Thomas Biddulph is now finined, and
forms a prominent object on the road between the Victoria
and Chain Bridges over the Dee at Balmoral. The fountain
Is in the form of an arch, and a constant supply of water
from the Dee runs into a trough of polished granite.

The emigration from Queenstown during the last
three months has been unprecedented. It has now ap-
parently reached its turning point. The returns show that
the number of emigrants that have sailed by the different
steamship lines for New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and
Halifax during March, April, and May have amounted to
24,510 adults roughly estimated.

Amongst other public institutions which derive
much of their income from landed property, the City Press
says that Christ's Hospital (London Blue-coat School) is just
now suffering from the depression in agriculture. So many
farms remain unlet that the difference in returns cannot fail
to be appreciated by even the largest of institutions.

A cormorant was discovered the other day in the
nets of a boat fishing off the Northern Scottish Coast.

Mr. C. H. Dowling, a Dublin dentist, has been
awarded £1,750 as compensation for personal injuries sus-
tained by him in a collision on the London and North-
Western Railway at Menai Bridge last December.

French botanists have been investigating the growth
of various cereals, with the object of ascertaining : what
species and genera attained maturity in the shortest time.
It is reported that a species of Japanese wheat, sown in mid-
April, matures at the beginning of August; that the yield
equals that of the best known European varieties; and that
the plant itself is hardy, and would probably grow well in
England and Prance.
At a public meeting held at Bristol on Monday a
resolution was proposed expressing deep regret that Roman
Catholies had been nominated for the important offices of
Governor-General of India and Lord Chamberlain. 3lr. Rose
moved an amendment, the terms of which, he said, were
those used in the Berlin Treaty :--" A difference of religious
beliefs or confessions shall not exclude or incapacitate any
per son from the enjoyment of civil and political rights,
person
to public appointments, functions, or honours."
The original resolution was, however, carried by a large
maioritY
A deputation from the Church of England Temper-
ance Society waited upon the Home Secretary at the House
of Commons on Tuesday evening to confer with him respect-
ing the Licensing Law Amendment Bill. Among those
present were Canon Ellison, thetllev. C. E. Brook, the Rev.
Ny. Allan, the Rev. Styleman Herring, the Rev. W. L. Black-
ley, and the Rev. Harry Brooks. Sir W. Harcourt said that
it would not be respectful to the House of Commons to enter
upon a public discussion upon a measure within a short time
of its coming before the House, but he offered to hold a
private conference with them. The conference was accord-
ingly held with closed doors. •
Mr. Forster's Bill for amending the Relief Of Dis-
tress (Ireland) Act provides that another £lO,OOO shall be
advanced out of the Irish Church suiplus for public works,
and that 4,30,000 shall be advanced by the Treasury for
fishery piers. The Bill also authorises the advance of money
for the construction of railways, on the security of gua-
rantees given by the Baronial Sessions.
The Bishop of Manchester, preaching on Sunday
evening at Manchester Cathedral, said he thought there
never was perhaps more excitement about questions of the
hour and of the surface, and less seriousness about questions
that went down into the depths of every matter affecting the
welfare of the Church or of society for centuries. He urged
the necessity of unity amongst Protestant churches, but said
he had no scheme of -union to produce. Men's minds were
'hardly yet in the temper to entertain schemes.

A singular accident, though fortunately not of a
fatal character, happened the other
.4,ay in Pevensey-road,
Brighton. Two workmen were proceeding to examine a
sewer in that thoroughfare, dad one of them had descended
a shaft in the road for that purpose. Whilst the other was
doing something at the top, a girl fell into the hole upon the
man at the bottom who had not entered the sewer. The
poor child was sadly cut about the head, her nose and
mouth •being badly_ injured and her. arras and legs also

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