The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-10-11 00:00:00

'0) ur yonb on Correspoittnt.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
!dent* ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

One after another the regiments which have been
employed in service at the Cape have returned to this
country, and with them the officors whose names were so
prominently associated with the campaign against the
forces of the captured Cetywayo. The men have been
welcomed, and the officers have been feasted in a way
which shows how the British public appreciate the
efforts of those who go forth to a distant land to
fight in the cause of their country. The banquet
given to Sir Evelyn Wood at Fishmongers' Hall
brought together one of the most distinguished as.
semblies which that hospita:ble roof has sheltered
for a long time past. Fishmongers' Hall is a large
building which stands at the north-west corner
of London Bridge, directly overlooking the basy
tideway of the Thames. The guild is one of the
most rich and flourishing in the City of London,
and it performs essential service to the health
of the community by keeping a vigilant eye upon all
the fish which is landed in the port, and ordering the
destruction of any that is manifestly unfit for human
food, Colonel Buller, too, whose force of irregular
horse di i such good work at -Ulundi, when entertained
on the following evening in the city of Exeter, had the
satisfaction of seeing the Lord Lieutenant of the county
in the chair, and of being surrounded by the best
known public men of that great shire. Next day the
reception given to Major Chard, the defender of
Rorke's D:ift, also a west of England man, showed
the high estimation in which his countrymen hold that
gallant and successful exploit.

A war upon one Continent has been brought to an
end, and a renewed conflict upon another is beginning,
The campaign in Zululand is completed, while that in
Afghanistan i 3 being prosecuted with all vigour. The
utter lack a civilization in the savage lands of Africa
was brought out in strong relief at Ulundi, when it
was found that the capital of King Cetewayo's king-
dom was nothing but a military kraal, or stockaded
encampment, after the fashion of the North American
Indians, thus offering a strong contrast to the barbaric
splendours of Eastern cities, some of which impress
the visitor to Cahill. Yet the Afghans, in some
respects, are described as being almost as savage
and is bloodthirsty as the Zulus; why then such
a difference between Asia and Africa in the
gathering together of people in towns upon
the one continent, and their wandering over unculti-
vated wilds in the other? It is not too much to say
that the vast cities of China and Japan, if not of India
Itself, have been in existence thousands of years; and
for nnnumbered ages crowds of worshippers have as-
sembled in Moslem mopqne and Pagan shrine, Yet
when we chastise a race of savages upon the adjoining
continent—a continent whicis, thirty centuries ago,
witnessed the civilization of Egypt—we find upon
reaching its capital that it is one of the rudest and
most primitive creations that ever human beings
put together. Between the Porcelain Tower of
Nankin and the rude stockades of Ulundi
there was such a difference as could not be measured
by the distance between Asia and Africa, and could
only be accounted for by causes which in diverse
directions affected the civilization of the people.
The fine autumnal days which have lately passed
over the land have confirmed the predictions of those
who, in the midst of the pelting rain and the driving
storms of the hapless summer, declared that the fall

of the year would be a great improvement upon either
of the two preceding seasons. In winter we expect,
of course, wintry weather; but we do not expect such
a temperature as that of the so.called Spring of this
year, or such humidity as that which characterised the
Summer. In the mist of the drenching floods which
continued week after week, and almost month after
month, there were those who, remembering the ex-
perience c f 1860, prognosticated a better autumn, when
the inundations should disappear from the saturated
land. These forecasts have been verified. September
gave us far less rain than July or August had done;
and October came in, so for as London was concerned,
beautifully clear and calm, with splendid moonlight
nights, and clear sunshiny days. It was the same in
1860, when the assuaging of the water left us a few
weeks of dry autumnal weather. There is another
point of resemblance between those two years of
excessive rainfall, and that is the diminution in the rate
of mortality. Since 1860 the death-rate has not been
so low as this summer. If the hot sunshine has not filled
our granaries, neither has it filled our cemeteries;
and if the rain has destroyed our agricultural produce,
it has also contributed in a wonderful degree to the
complete success of those sanitary arrangements
devised to secure the health of our populous corn-

ram i ties.
With the opening of this month closes the Cricket
season, which from all accounts seems to have been
one of the most unsuccessful experienced within
recent 5 ears. Here again may be instituted a com-
parison with 1860, both years having been unfortunate
go far as this popullr recreation is concerned.
,The contrast in the present instance iP, however,
all the greater coming after so busy and exciting a
year as that of 1878, when the Australians were
over here, and their deeds were watched with
interest by many who had never before paid much
attention to the game. Reaction always follows
excitement ; and, therefore, under the most favour.
able circumstances, the cricket seasoz of 1879
was certain to be a trifle dull. Still, no prophet
of vii could ever have guessed at anything like
so bad as it proved to be. There was scarcely
a match of importance which was not inter-
fered with by the rain. It ruined matches by the
dozen; and washed all the pleasure of the season away.
That spectators had a very bad time all who went to
Lord's Ground in the north of London, or to Kenning-
ton Oval in the south, will rea lily admit. Few places
are na:re apreesing in their influences than a cricket
ground la a wet day; hour by hour the people stand
huddled under the best protection they can get, watch-
ing the driving banks of moisture as they move
heavily across the sky, hoping for that break which
never comes, and for a sight of the sun which has been
so long a stranger. However, it is scarcely possible
again to have such a year for a very long time; so
• cricketers may well take heart and courage for the
more immediate future.

40. The Agricultural Hall at Islington is famous as the
„ scene of many an exhibition, more especially in con-
nection with the cultivation of the soil. The Cattle
ee Show in December has a national reputation, and the
Horse Show in June attracts scarcely less interest.
The exhibition of materials and appliances in con-
nection with the manufacture of fermented liquors was
one of the latest in this huge building; and now
arrangements are being rapidly pushed on for the
Dairy Show, which opens on the 13th instant. This
*--= will be the fourth collection of its kind, and the display
appears likely to be more than usually successful.
Prizes are offered to the value of £ISCO; and
In the department allotted to butter and cheese the
entries are more than usually numerous. From
the continent as well as from America will come
a large number of specimens of dairy produce, Ger-
many alone contributing no less than 140 samples.
One of the most novel and attractive features will
come .rom the United States, in the shape of a com-
plete collection of every kind of dairy appliance used
in that country. The Americans have long possessed
a reputation for ineenuity ; and it appears likely
enough that for the gold medal offered for the
best milking machine there will be a stoat competition
from both sides of the Atlantic. Fcr many years
Londoner have been accustomed to the annual exhi-
bitions of cattle in December; but this Dairy Show
is only four years old; yet it has already succeeded in
drawing to itself an interest far beyond its age.
Amid the rumonrs which now recur with every
autumn of an approaching dissolution of Parlirm.nt,
one remarkable fact stands out as characterising the
prceent year, and that is the extraordinary political
quietude which has prevailed so far as bye contests
are concerned. Last year forty vacancies took place
in the House of Commons from various causes,
and rendning necessary fresh elections. This year
there have been but fifteen in the three kingdoms
—seven in England, five in Ireland, and three in
Scotland. We have not had an election in
England now for five months—not since the first week
;A May. Five counties and two boroughs—those are
the only constituencies which, between the Land's
End and the Tweed, have been called upon to select
new representatives this year. Public men do not re-
member such a singular calm for many- years. Some
declare it to be the precursor of that general appeal to
the country which the Septennial Act must bring
about at last; but whether this be so or not, the fact
is fairly open to notice, as showing the disparity
betweil one year and another so farnig the number of,.
I,Nolitical changes is concerned, which give an oppoi-
tuni!,v at the polling booths for the expression of public
opinion.
This is a time of year when London does not see
much of RoyaiV ; for after the duties of the season
are over the members of the reigning House seek rest
and recreation elsewhere than in the crowded capital.
It is not often that the sun shines out upon London in
October, for generally in that month it is one of the
greyest and gloomiest of cities. Certainly, while the
London season is at its height, nothing can be more
assiduous and exemplary than the way in which the
Prince and Princess of Wales perform their duties.
These arc manifold and exacting—from the holding of
lev6es and drawing-rooms to the promotion of the cause
of benevolence and charity in all conceivable forms. It
is not long since the managers of the London Hospital,
which supplies the wants of an enormous population
in the poorest part of the metropolis—the east__