The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-13 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A schooner has founded in Lake Ontario and her
crew, numbering eight men, were drowned.
Prince Gortschakoff, who is reported very ill, and
not likely to recover, has been, if is said, insensible several
times lately for an hour and more at a time.
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The American monument to the memory of Edgar
Allen Poe will, it is said, be a bronze bas-relief representing
the scene of " The Raven," with the poet as the hero, life size

The result of the poll in the Edinburgh University
Rectorial election was as follows :—Lord Rosebery, 1,024
votes • Sir Robert Christison, 985 votes. Majority for Lord
Rosebery, 39.
Mr. C. S. Wortley, the junior member for Sheffield,
has been presented with a wedding gift, subscribed for by a
number of his constituents. The presentation was made by
Mr. E. Barker at the Cutlers' Hall, and consisted of a Broad.
wood piano and a magnificent cabinet of ivory-handled and
plated cutlery, the value of the whole being about £250.
Mrs. Wortley, who was present, was presented with a splendid
bouquet of flowers. Lord George Hamilton, M.P., was
present, and proposed a vote of thanks to the presentation
committee.
While shooting in Martindale Forest a few days
ago Sir Richard Musgrave, M.P., at a distance of 380 yards
fired at and killed a "Royal" stag with twelve distinct
points on the antlers, and weighing after being dressed
17st. 101 b.

The Berliner Tageblatt, in a leader on the corn laws
remarks that Germany would do well to follow the example
of England, and not to forget the teachings of Cobden and
Bright, otherwise famine and distress will shortly be at the
'door of the German peasant.

Milling is said to be the largest separate manufac-
turing industry of the United States. The United States
census in 1870 gave the value of the five leading industries,
in round numbers as follows :—flour and grist mill products,
445,000,000 dole. ; iron and manufactures of iron, 347,000,000
dole. ; lumber, 250,000,000 dole. ;.boots and shoes, 182,000,000
dole. ; woollen manufactures, 179,000,000 dole.

Mr. John Hodson, coal merchant, of Lincoln, who
had an office in the Midland Railway Station yard, was
found on Monday evening lying under a train on a siding
in the goods-yard, Lincoln, quite dead. It is supposed that
he was knocked down and run over by a train. The body
was much mutilated.

A largely attended meeting of licensed victvallers
and others interested in the trade was held at Barnsley, on
Monday, at the Public Hall, when resolutions condemning
the action of Mr. Gladstone, in increasing libences and taxing
spirits, were carried.
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_
Viscount Cranbrook, on Tuesday night, presided at
the annual soirée of the Leeds Church Institute, held in the
Victoria Hall, and delivered an address on the work, posi-
tion, and prospects of the Church. After maintaining the
paramount value of the Church's teaching to society, he re-
ferred to the question of disestablishment, and described
the consequences of such a separation of the State as simply
revolutionary. This being so he warned the supporters of
the Establishment to be fully prepared to resist the
threatened attack, and to take the greatest care that their
adversaries obtained no unfair advantage over them.

Official returns show that the revenue of the Domi-
nion of Canada for the past four months reached 9,650,216
dols., or 2,579,448 dols. in excess of the amount for the
corresponding period of last year.
• Tuesday the 9th, being the birthday of the Prince of
Wales, the occasion was celebrated by -the ringing of bells
and in other customary ways at Windsor, Sandringham,
Cambridge, and elsewhere.
It is stated that the French Government intend to
adopt the system of Quadrennial Parliaments, the legislative
period being determined according to dates, and not accord-
ing to sessions. The next general election would thus take
place after October 14th, 1881, the present Parliament having
been returned on the 14th October, 1877.
A telegram from Geneva says that an extraordinary
accident has happened at the dynamite factory at Isleton in
Uri. Two workmen were breaking some frozen fragments of
dynamite from the sides of a vessel when the substance
exploded, blowing one man into the lake, where he was
drowned, and throwing the shattered body of the -other so far
that no part of it can be found.
Otto, the son of a Mr; Perce, Indian Chief, is now
astonishing the world at San Francisco, on his way to
London. His talent. as a sharp-shooter is unrivalled, sur-
passing anything ever yet beheld. One of his great feats is
that of hitting a mark blindfolded. A glass ball is suspended
twenty feet away, and the boy is allowed to gaze at it. Then
his eyes are bandaged, and he is turned around several
times; but he usually breaks the ball, though how he
manages his aim is a mystery.
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The actions brought by the Earl of Zetland against
certain publicans in Grangemouth have been decided by
Lord Rutherford-Clark in the Scotch Court of Session. The
question raised was whether his lordship had the right to
enforce a condition in his feu contracts forbidding the sale
of intoxicating drinks on his property. The Lord Ordinary
found that Lord Zetland had "not set forth any interest to
sue the action ; " in other words, that he has no such title
as he claimed, and the cases were therefore decided against
him with costs.

The officers of the 80th Regiment are about to erect
a stained glass window in Lichfield Cathedral to the memory
of those officers and men of the regiment who lost their
lives during the recent campaign in South Africa.
About half-past sir o'clock on Tuesday evening a
luggage train, while being shunted over a bridge on the
Great Northern line at Bradford, got off the metals and ran
against the parapet of the bridge, a portion of which was
knocked down into the road below. A woman named Sarah
Laycock was passing under the bridge at the moment, and a
stone fell upon and severely injured her foot.

The private seeretary of the late Viceroy of India
having forwarded to "The Princess Alice (Darmstadt
Memorial Fund" the sum of £8,660 from residents in India,
her Majesty has been graciously pleased to express " her
sincere appreciation of this gratifying mark of loyalty to
herself and of sympathy with her iu her grief."

Another dreadful -mining accident has occurred in
the coal mine of the Grand Machine it Feu, at Dour, near
Mons. Thirteen men were being conveyed up the shaft,
when the return cage coming down empty broke loose from
the guides. A violent shock took place, the chains of the
loaded cage snapped asunder, and the men were thrown to
the bottom from a height of 250 metres and were all killed
on the spot.
- -

William Brownless, the man now lying in Durham.
Gaol under sentence of death for the murder of his sweet-
heart, Elizabeth Holmes, at Evenwood, has written to his
victim's mother, expressing his deep regret for the murder
and asking her forgiveness.
The Six Day's International Pedestrian Champion-
ship match was decided on Saturday evening at the Agri-
cultural Hall, London. Rowell succeeded in retaining the
Astley belt; which gives to its possessor the title of long-
distance champion of the world." The scores were as
follows :—Rowell, 566 miles; Littlewood, 470 miles; and
Dobler, 450 miles 3 laps.
A friend who visited Mr. Thomas Carlyle recently
describes the venerable philosopher as lying calmly in the
valley of the shadow of death.— Whitehall Reviete.
At a conference of elementary teachers and school
managers; representing the counties of Bucks, Beds, and
Herts, held at the County Hall, Aylesbury, Mr. Russell,
M.P., said there was a vast deal too much theory, and any
one in authority at the Education Department would do well
to take the opinions and experience of those engaged in the
practical work of education. He regretted the necessity of
changing the Minister of Education with a change of Go-
vernment, because that very often resulted in round men
being put into square holes. :Ile oftener school teachers
called Mr. 3lundella's atttention to •evils in the present
system the better for education.
The Toronto Mail (Canada) points out that Liver-
pool will, in a few years, cease to be the market for the
purchase of United States grain for European consumption.
Formerly American breadstuffs were carried to Liverpool
and thence distributed to France, Germany, Holland,
Belgium, and the other European states, but of late years
this trade has been growing more direct. Less thlin half
that now exported to Europe finds its way to British
markets. French merchants now buy directly in Chicago
and there most of the purchases are made for other ports en
the Continent.

In the last ten months the value of printed books
exported was £787,436, against £766,966 in the same period
of 1879.
Russian forests bordering on the Dnieper have been
destroyed so recklessly of late that the neighbouring dis-
tricts have become arid steppes, many of the important
feeders of the river drying up. Thus the volume of the.
Dnieper has sensibly diminished, rocks and sandbanks in its
bed have been laid bare by the lowering of the water, and
the navigation is already interrupted—a serious disaster, as
the river traverses nine provinces, materially contributing to
their prosperity.
House rent in Paais varies from a yearly rental of
£352 for a suite of apartments in the most fashionable
quarter round the Elyse, or £174 near the Grand Opera, to
a modest rental of £l2 10s. for rooms in the poor and work-
ing classes resorts, such as the Faubourg St. Antoine, Belle-
ville, &c. There are now 75,000 houses in Paris, bordering
more than 3,000 streets and boulevards, and their total
revenue amounts to £23,200,000.

From the decennial Catholic census for 1880, just
issued, it appears that the Itonaan Catholic population in
the United States gpounts to 6,143,222. There are 67 arch-
bishops and bishops and one cardinal, 5,989 priests, and
5,606 churches and chapel. There are 40),000 Catholic
children in the schools, and 375 charitable institutions ex-
clusively devoted to Catholics.

Dr. B. W. Riphardson delivered a lecture on Mon-
day evening, at the Free-trade Hall, Manchester, on "The
Physical Action of Alcohol, as Tested by Scientific and
Every-day Experience." The teaching of science he held to
be that alcohol fed no natural structure, produced a
craving for itself, disturbed natural functions, produced a
definite mortality, produced a definite lunacy, caused pre-
mature death and premature old age, and transmitted its
effects to succeeding generations, Common experience,
whilst it might not in detail understand so much, admitted
most of this, and frankly suggested that it were better if
the young were not taught to indulge in so nefarious a
practice.

The latest reports of the labour market in London
all show an upward tendency in the state of business. In the
large staple trades considerable buoyancy is obiervable. As
for„the smaller industries, they appear to have passed their
worst point, and seem to have before them a period of fair
prosperity. Much' activity prevails in the London meat and
provision trades. It is interesting., to observe that for two
years there has been a steady increase in the number of
cattle brought to the Metropolitan and Foreign Cattle
Markets. During the last two years the increase in the home
supply has been 25, and in the foreign 16 per cent. The
home supply of sheep has also increased, but not so rapidly
as to keep up with the supplies from abroad. •
The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, during last week included a Sykes's
monkey from West Africa, presented by the officers of the
Rcyal Yacht; a green monkey from West Africa, presented
by Mr. A. Haynes. a Rhesus monkey from India, presented
by the Rev. J. Saunders, B.A. ,• a two-toed Sloth from Dema-
rara, presented by Mr. G. H. Hawtayne, C.M.Z.S. ; .an
Egyptian jerboa from Egypt, presented by Major Money;
a common trumpeter from Demerara, presented by Mr.
Stovell ' • two silver pheasants from China, presented by
Miss C. Hallett ; an Indian gazelle from India, deposited;
an Ursine dasynre from Tasmania, a common widgeon, a
grey plover, a knot, a greenshauk, British, a horned cera-
tophrys from Sana Marta, purchased. _ .

_ _ • _
The Home Secretary has written a letter on the
subject of juvenile offenders to a Lincolnshire magistrate,
in which lie gives expression to his opinion .on the general
subject of dealing with this class. He says he has never
desired that the imprisonment of young criminals should
suddenly cease, being aware that such a course would be
fraught with strious evils. Sir W. Harcourt thinks that in
the 'ease of a first offence, the smallest term of imprison-
ment, three days, would be the best ; and he suggests
whether in all these cases of small offences and petty fines
it would not be more in consonance with the intentions of
Parliament if the fine alone were levied and no order made
for costs, except under special circumstances, as the aqua-
vated costs in most instances accounted for the imprison-
ment of childish offenders.