The Weekly Gazette for Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and Cleveland District. — 1880-10-02 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

TER BDIEOP OF LIVERPOOL MOBBED AND STONED.—It is stated, on the authority of the Liverpool Albion, that the Bishop of Liverpool. upon driving away from the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Sunday evenif.g, was mobbed by a crowd of roughs, several of whom threw stones at the carriage. The Bishop's coachman was struck by one of the misaiLs. The Albion ascribes the discreditable conduct to the Roman Catholio inhabitants of the populous district of St. Martin's.  The Neva on Monday afternoon presented an extraordinary spectacle. I barge laden with hay caught fire, and the weather being remarkably fine and warm the flames spread with great rapidity. In the course of half-anhour more than thirty blazing lighters were cut adrift. One after another they went floating down the river. There being no fire engines on the Neva, there was no possibility of extinguishing the flames, and the pontoon bridges were only saved by: being Revered and allowed to drop dot% n alongside the plays. In the meantime a number of steatutuga kept charging into the burning mass in order to keep them away from the shipping -which lined the banks, and the Neva is, happily, broad enough to allow of such proceedings, Of the vessels anchored in mid-stream some slipped their cables and had very narrow escapes, but up to the present, seven o'clock, no serious casualties have occurred, and most of the barges are now well on the way to the Gulf of Finland. The majority of "them were loaded with hay. The loss must be enormous. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, speaking on Friday week at Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, iu response to the toast of the House of Commons, said the Burials Bill had now been passed, and, as one who had persistently opposed it, he was prepared to accept it as a settlement of a difficult and trying question. Turning to agricultural questions, he concluded that the farmers could, if they chose, by freedom of contract, have secured for themselves compensation for all unexhausted improvements, and therefore that legislative interference was not necessary. He advocated the retention of the law of distress on the ground that, especially at these times, it enabled landlords to retain tenants who, owing to bad times, could not at once pay rent, the landlord knowing that by the law of distress he would be secure. He agreed that there should be oouuty representation in quarter sessions, but said it would be unfair to throw half the taxes on landed property, as proposed. Ile advocated a revision of taxation, so that land should not bear all new burdens, iucludiug education charges; and he would impose a new charge to maintain roads in place of turnpike toil. An important ceremony, the gathering together of the Smith family, takes place annually in New Jersey, United States of America, and was held, as usual, at the beginning of September. The original New Jersey Smith settled at Peapack, N.J., over 135 years ago, and so considerably has the family increased that it is calculated there must have been nearly 3,000 Smiths present at the late festivity. The name of Smith shows little sign of becoming extinct with us ; but should the familiar patronymic fad, it is comforting to reflect that New Jersey can supply any reasonable quantity of genuine etock. The Browns, Joneses, and Robinsons will be pleased to hear that the Smiths had a fine day for their owing. The roads lead. big to Peapack for 40 miles around were alive with people, all in holiday garb, moving toward the one great point of attraction in vehicles of every imaginable kind—buggies, carriages, soda-water waggons, and even trucks fitted up for the occasion, and the reporter—a Smith, of course—gives a desoripLion of the scene. "The name of Smith filled the air and echoed through the woods," we are told. "No zephyr wafted through the trees but fanned the faces of a dozen Smiths; no home hitched by the roadside fence but claimed a Smith for an owner; no apple falling from the overladen trees in the grove but fell on the head of a Smith. It was Smith here, there, and everywhere." The original Smith had 17 children, 9 boys and 8 girls, and all the 17 -had families ranging from 3to 13. What, at this rate of progress, the sum total of the Smiths will be in 135 years' time is s question which it willrequire the capacity of a Coleus° to calculate.  Mr Chamberlain is making a 9.Bit of,inapee tion of the lighthouses on the out coast of England.  James Cox, a, fish dealer. whilst in custody at Lynne Regis on a charge of stealing two soles, committed suicide by hanging himself with his pocket handkerchief, which he fastened to his cell do,r, Mr Higgin, Q.C., in holding an enquiry at Berwick on Monday respecting alleged outrages by foreign upon British fishermen, stated that the Fishery Convention did not extend to the North Sea. The men in women's clothing, arrested at a ball at Hulme on Saturday morning, were brought before the Manchester Magistrates the same day and remanded. It lb said some of them are "respectably connected." The Chairman of the Bradford magistrates, m dealing on Monday morning with a twice-previously convicted youth of 16, who was charged with gambling with cards on tFunday, said that notwithstanding the interference of the Home Secretary, and the general difficulties in dealing with juvenile offenders, the Bradford Bench should continue to do their duty. This being the boys third appearance be was fined, in default to he imprisoned.