The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-31 00:00:00

Our /Unbolt aarrtspodent.

fWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
khntify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The departure of the Queen for Balmoral on the
eve of the Whitsunside recess indicates that there
will be for a little time a suspension in the life of
what is known as the London season. Not that her

Majesty is much in the metropolis, for now almost the
only occasions of this kind are when accompanied by
Princess Beatrice the Sovereign comes up from

Windsor for an hour or two of an afternoon to visit
ther venerable lady whom she describes in her diary
as "Aunt Cambridge" at St. James's Palace. The
Duchess of Cambridge, it may be stated, is now
85 years of age, and has long been an invalid. Her
Royal Highness was married in 1818; the year before
Queen -Victoria was born. Her son, the Commander-
in-Chief, is two months her Majesty's senior in age.
It is not given to many men of 65 still to possess a
,mother, but such is the good fortune of the Duke of
- 'Cambridge. As to the venerable duchess, on many a
Queen's birthday celebration has she gazed from the
window of the palace of St. James's upon the
favourite military spectacle of the people known
as "trooping the colours," abandoned this year in
consequence of the lamented death of the Duke of
Albany.

It was said of the late Lord St. Leonards, who
lived to the amazing age of 94, and who retained all
his mental faculties to the last, that he could scarcely
believe he was living in the same world when the
snows of ninety winters were upon his head as that
which he had known in his childhood. What
changes had been witnessed between 1781, when he
was born, and 1875, when he died! Well, here is
2, 'her Majesty's aunt, who was the Duchess of
Cambridge in 1818, and is still the Duchess of
Cambridge in 1884. She enjoyed her title when
----George 111. was King, and since his time we
have had three sovereigns, one of whom has reigned
forty-seven years. The incidents of early life must
seem more like a dream than a remembrance. The
wedding of the Duchess of Cambridge took place very
_ nearly midway between the national grief at the death
of the Princess Charlotte, only child of the Prince
Regent, and the national scandal caused by the
quarrels of the princess's august parents, which ulti-
mately culminated in what was known as the trial of
Queen Caroline. Happily for herself the Princess
Charlotte never lived to see these troubles o to wit-
ness the prosecution of her mother by her father.
But the Duchess of Cambridge, who yet remains with
us as the last of the royal links immediately connec-
ting the present with the far-off past, must have a
recollection vivid enough of such exciting times as
those were in the annals of the House of Brunswick.
The Parliamentary recess comes at a time when
the country is at its freshest and its greenest, and our
law-givers may well appreciate their temporary
release from the heat of London. Truth to say, they
have not done very much since Easter; but the holi-
day is a standing institution, and it is taken under
any circumstances. So slow is the progress of
legislation in the Commons that the Lords have met
night after night to have a little conversation
on promiscuous matters and then adjourn. The
foremost Ministerial measure of the session—the
Franchise Bill—takes a very long time to get through
committee, a stage at which, as is well-known,
members can speak as often as they please. Very
few have now any hope of the London Municipal
Reform Bill. Sir Charles Dilke has prepared a
measure for thoroughly overhauling the local
administration of the counties, which has not even
been introducet Mr. Chamberlain's Merchant
Shipping Bill has raised such antagonism that its
supporters have little expectation of passing it.
The members of the Houses of Lords and Commons
who go to their country seats this week after an
absence of six or seven weeks in London, find a very
different picture from that presented at Easter, when
the cold ungenial spring had left the shrubs bare and
the trees leafless. They now see nature clothed in
its freshest and most inviting garb, when vegetation
is at its newest anCts best. What a strange fate it
seems that they should, after a few days' enjoyment
of splendid scenery and pure air, have to return to
smoky London, and in the sultry atmosphere of
the Houses of Parliament have several weeks of work
without any furthei break now! It has often been
asked why, if the Legislature must sit six months in
the year, it does not select November to May instead
of February to August, which would leave by far the
best half of the year for holiday and recreation. The
vacation of a large number of persons in London is
absolutely governed by the time of the rising of
Parliament, and when this does not take place until
the end of August or the beginning of September,
some holidays are actually driven into November,
when atmospheric conditio and short days render
them practically worthless.

The rejection of the scheme for constructing a rail-
way under the London parks between Edgware-road
and Westminster was regretted chiefly by those who
had an interest in carrying out the work. The
people of London are very naturally jealous of
any interference whatever with the parks, so
rightly described a,s the lungs of a vast and
busy population. The plan of carrying a subter-
ranean line' under them was not popular, and
neither surprise nor grief was expressed when Colonel
Stanley's committee threw out the bill. The
people of the capital point to the parks as the pride
of London, and just now they are seen in all their
glory. How these breathing-places are appreciated
may be seen any day, but more especially at the
meetings of the Coaching or Four-in-Hand Clubs, an
attractive spectacle which never fails to draw together
tens of thousands of sightseers from long distances, a
large proportion of whom, judging from a superficial
glance, might be supposed to have the smallest
possible interest in the principal engagement of the
day.

It is probably difficult for residents in the
country to understand the fierce nature of the
controversy over the removal of the Wellington
statue. Many a visitor to London must well re-
member it, as it represented the victor of Waterloo
on horseback on the arch of Constitution Hill, at the
entrance to the Green Park, and directly opposite
Apsley House, the duke's residence. It was found
necessary to throw a slice of the park inta the road-
way at Hyde Park-corner, and this involved a shifting
of. the arch, and the removal of the equestrian monu-
ment, which has been deposited on the ground. There
it certainly has not been a thing of beauty, and both
Houses of Parliament have discussed the question
as to what was to be done with it. After a long time
it was resolved to remove it to Aldershot; and the
Commons by a majority of more than two to one, has
voted £2OOO towards a new statue. Suddenly the
House of Lords reversed its former decision, and ex-
presed an opinion by resolution that the statue ought
not to be taken away from London. To this the
Chief Commissioner of Works replies that business
is business, and that no alteration will be made in
the arrangements, the vote of the peers notwith-
standing. It is well known that the Queen, when the
Court was kept in London, disliked this equestrian
statue exceedingly in its position on the arch on Con-
stitution-hill.

- ,
The celebration of her Majesty's birthday on
.fiaturclay was favoured by splendid summer weather,
*d the illuminations in the evening were witnessed
by enormous numbers of spectators, who were
tgiarnto admire the transparencies and devices in
the ab.sence of moonlight and of rain. It happened
oon made its appearance that night at
that the pale glimmer of the thin
gcl not in the slightest degree interfere
with the succe
1„i4E1,31:-A.,1 _BB of the evening's engagements.
esigotaary4tincii,dB--b the Ministers
sftre;s:,:nr ,R,tstel tvE e and great
44thottleatlivof the Duke 0116,8i:en,
andoconhsequence
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iiiißoginouszatE m.,svamuntwoe-Irrom a report at
fta•:ilatti,oultaralt 32epartro..ent of _;_th e : reecnt Zurich
Exhibition it appears tha,tathtfintißicirPg4MHllit.lal
value of the horticultural products in gwitzerland is
as follows: In 1002 hotels: Preserved fruits and
vegetables, 1,025,000 f.; fresh fruits and vegetables,
1,200,000 f. ; in 606,723 private houses—preserved
fruits and vegetables, 60,672,000 f. ; stove plants,
flowers, fruit trees, seeds, bulbs, Ice., 30,380,000 f.
Total, 93,283,000 f. Less the excess of imports over
exports; 1077,400 f. Total, 90,205.600 f.