The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-28 00:00:00

ear Pnbon Gorrtspotut.
[We deem It rf;ht to state Llist we do not at all dam
LLentUy outselvea with our Correspondent's opialonLl

Notwithstanding that London is the centre
politically and commercially speaking, of the
country there is no doubt that the election ex-
citement is much more intense in the provinces
than in the metropolis. But in this respect
London has shown a great advance on-the subject
of its local politics since the last General Election,
and the reason is undoubtedly the sub-division
of the larger boroughs. In 1880 the borough of
Lambeth reached from the Thames nearly to the
Crystal Palace, and comprised a population of
half-a-million with about fifty thousand electors.
One effect of the old system was that the area
for the selection of candidates was necessarily re-
stricted as few but very rich men could afford to
contest such a constituency. Some idea of the
expense may be gathered from the fact that a
penny postage on a circular to each of the electors
cost something over £2OO alone, whilst the
billing and po9ting of such a district amounted
to a very serious sum. Even then the electorate
could not be brought into "touch" with the
candidates. Now, however, signs of personal
interest and activity are everywhere apparent,
chiefly in the form of wall and window literature,
in the diverse colours adopted by the same
political party in different parts of London, blue
being the Liberal hue in one district and orange
in another, and the Conservatives adopting
variously red and blue.
The motley class of vendors, who line the foot-
ways of London with their novelties, generally,
furnish by their wares an indication of the
amount of interest taken by the public in the
question of the day. If this be accepted as a
standard the present election has proved "fiat,
stale," and consequently " unprofitlble " to
the hawkers. So far the only publication which
seems to have any sale is a penny book of
cartoons on the subject of the GLidstone Go-
vernment. Perhaps it is a healthy sign that the
personal element does not enter largely into the
contest. Caricatures of public men in picture
and in model, which on previous occasions were
so common, are not in supply, and the humours
of the contest are certainly few and far between.
Perhaps the most amusing incident was the com-
plaint recently made in all seriousness that the
London papers did not devote sufficient atten-
tion to metropoitan politics and fully report
local candidates. When it is remembered that
London has about 130 candidates, and that on the
eve of an election each candidate often addresses
as many as half-a-dozen meetings a day, as Pro-
fessor Stuart did on the last occasion in
Hackney, it will be seen that it would take
about fifteen hundred newspaper columns a day
to deal with them at all fully. It is a sad con-
fession, but three out of every four newspaper
readers in a train to the City in the morning
will be seen to turn to the sporting intelligence
before reading a speech by a political leader.
With the exception of the Stock Exchange
and banks and firms engaged in Eastern busi-
nesS, the wars in the Balkans and Burrnah
have been crowded out of public atten-
tion by the elections. Servia has a Legation
in London, and the Servian Minister has been in
frequent attendance at the Foreign Office. lie
has shown his value of English opinion by im-
mediately communicating to the press the intel-
ligence received from the front, and although
his English is somewhat imperfect, he has a very
keen insight into English character and an
equally sharp appreciation of the force of public
opinion. Bulgaria has no direct representation
at the Court of St. James; but a short time
since, it will be remembered, M. Gueshoff,
a Bulgarian Deputy, came to this country in an
official capacity, and was in communication with
some of our iQading public men on both sides
of politics. I had an opp3stunity. of moot-
ing him on two or three occasions, and,
save for a very slight accent, ho could
have been mistaken for an English diplomatist
He spoke in very high terms of Prince Alex-.
ander as a ruler, who has devoted himself to his
country with an energy and intelligence which
could scarcely have been expected of the some-
what roysterina German Prince, as he was said
to have been before he was unexpectedly called
to the cares of a crown. _

"Prince Henry of Battenberg went out shoot-
ing." So runs the announcement in the official
Court Circular two or three days a week, and
one cannot help wondering if he ever wishes he
i were engaged n the more exciting and dan-
gerous warfare in which his brother Prince
Alexander of Bulgaria was at that moment
taking such an important part. After deer-
stalking in Scotland, Prince Henry is now shoot-
ing over the well-stocked breserveisk
yrinusor. _tie is reported to be a very keen and
successful sportsman, but after the active service
of the German army such sport must become
-monotonous. The story is that it was during
Prince Alexander's visit to this country, on the
occasion of his brother's marriage to the Princess
Beatrice, that the scheme was arranged which
has led to the present troubles in the East. It
is said that owing to the opposition to the mar-
riage in certain quarters, the Queen was anxious
that her youngest daughter should be the sister-
in-law to a kin.- and that with that object Prince
Alexander should annex Roumelia and become
King of the United States. Of course there is
no truth in this, for the Queen is much too con-
stitutional a monarch to embroil the country in
a difficulty of this kind; but the story is worth
remembering, as, perhaps, explaining tho hostility
which Prince Alexander's action unexpectedly
evoked at some of the European Courts.
The absence from town of the large numbers
of leaders of political and social life in connection
with the elections has made the West-end even
duller than usual at this time of the year; but
the theatres and other places of amusement
have some compensation by the closing of the
Inventions Exhibition, which used to take
over twenty thousand people a day. The
Albert Palace has furnished an attraction in
the shape of the Indian village, of which so
much has been written. Another reliable form
of entertainment, both for paying the caterers
and pleasing the audiences, are the better class
of concerts; and lovers of music may take heart
from the fact that every winter these concerts are
increasing in number and improving in quality.
Whatever be the prospects of public legislation
in the next session, there is a promise of plenty
of private bills and the committee-rooms at
Westminster will be 'as fully occupied as of yore.
Tramways seem to occupy the first place in the
published notices' but so far they have been
kept out of the City of London on the well-
grounded fear that they would constitute a
danger to traffic. In the suburbs, however,
they are increasing, and in the North a
departure has been made by running
trips in the night. The South will pro-
bably follow to the' great convenience of a
large number of people. The conditions of life
are so 'different in London to those of the
country that hourly trains and trams through-
out the night will soon become a necessity. The
number of men connected with the newspaper
offices alone would constitute a considerable and
certain amount of traffic, while the people
whose business takes them to the early markets
are by no means inconsiderable. "The night was
as bright and busy as the clay" will no longer
be a poetic fancy but, given proper facilities, a
prosaic reality.
The servant girl question is at the best of
times a perpetual cause of trouble to the London
matron, and just now the difficulty is aggravated
by the effects of recent statements as to the
dangers to which girls are exposed in the metro-
polis. Ladies who prefer servants from the
country state that they experience greater
trouble than ever in inducing respectable parents
to commit children to their care. The fear is
a pardonable, and, indeed, proper one; but it
constitutes a very serious inconvenience. At the
same time, it should be borne in mind that a
girl in service has very little time at her own
disposal and is under more constant and strict
supervision than many girls living with their
own families. London is certainly a sink of
iniquity in many respects, but its very size, and
the unsociableness arising therefrom, are safe-
guards; and there are few families in the country
but have Some relatives in town who could assure
themselves as to the character of the particular
households, and exercise some sort of care over
the young people sent from the country.
So far as can be ascertained at present the
prospects of
,trade for the winter are not dis-
couraging. Some disruption of business is ne-
cessarily caused by the political preoccupation of
the country, and at this time of the year there is
always a large amount of want and suffering
among the poorer classes of a great city whose
livelihood at the best of times is precarious. It
is hoped, however, that there will not be that
intense depression which has marked some recent
years. The building trades seem fairly active,
and other departments of labour affected thereby
are hopeful and struggling, if not exactly
flourishing. The small shopkeepers are generally
the first who feel the effects of bad trade, and
they do not complain more than usual. This is
a somewhat negative form of comfort, but it ia
satisfactory to be able to give even that.
_ A. "It