The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-20 00:00:00

Orr Fonban CorttspaiNnt.

Ell'e &era it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Visitors from the country who are just now in
London find no lack of places of amusement with
which to while away the time. To many the ever-
varying panorama of the streets, the ceaseless rush
of the traffic, and the constantly changing aspects of
the shops, furnish sufficient amusement. Others
prefer a trip down the river to the Tower or to
Gravesend, or up the river to Kew or to Richmond,
while there are many to whom the parks, with their
expanse of green and well-kept flower beds, are never-
failing sources of interest. Then, again, there are
museums and picture galleries, which contain
abundant material for contemplation to the studious
or artistic. But beyond all these there are the
Crystal Balace at Sydenham, and the Health Exhibi-
tion at South Kensington—a visit to each of which is
well worth making, and without which the list of
London's amusements would be perceptibly
diminished. Age does not stale nor custom
wither the attractions of the former establishment,
the one relic which is left to us of the Great 'World's
Fair of 1851; and on fine nights its transepts are
almost as thronged and its grounds as liberally dotted
with visitors as ever.

The chief centre of out-door attraction just now in
London is, however, undoubtedly, the Health Exhibi-
tion, or " Healtheries "as it is more popularly called,
It is only in wet weather that the interior is at all
thoroughly explored by those who visit it. In the
hot days, with so many of which we have been
favoured this summer, the thousands who are always
to be seen at South Kensington find their way mostly
into the grounds, there to watch the fountains, look at
the flowers, and listen to the bands. If a sudden
shower happens to fall a stampede is made to the
Albert Hall, where a couple of concerts are daily
given gratis to those who have entered the Health
Exhibition; and when evening comes and the grounds
are illuminated, the thousands throng the walks
and terraces, presenting a strangely picturesque
appearance under the twinkling stars and amid the
thousands of coloured lamps which hang in festoons,
or are dependent from the trees.
Though it has thus to be admitted that the main
attraction of the Health Exhibition, paradoxical as it
may seem, is to be found outside the building, there
is much in it which repays inspection, and lessons
from which, if taken to heart by the general public,
could not help effecting much good. In the various
sections are many points of interest as affecting the
popular health. Models of sanitary and insanitary
houses are, perhaps, the most striking of these, but it
is from the multitude of small things that most is to
be learnt. Every department of daily life is touched
upon by these, and one must be difficult to teach who
cannot extract some instruction from the many facts
Presented to view. The science of sanitation has
made wonderful strides within the past few years, and
every effort to encourage its spread deserves a warm
welcome. And though now, three or four months
after its opening, it may seem late to speak in praise
of the Health Exhibition, it has to be remembered that
itis continually being added to and that, as the annual
stream of country visitors to London is as yet far
from beitag exhausted, it cannot be reckoned too late
to spend a moment in contemplation of an establish-
ment which is as instructive as it is full of interest.

There is one point about the metropolis which can
scarcely fail to strike even a frequent visitor, and that
is that, between the time of each trip, something
more has been dcne to increase the facilities of
communication between one part of the great
city and another. Efforts in this direction are
just now even more apparent than ever, for in
three different portions of London are contractors
busily engaged in carrying out plans for the extension
of railway accommodation. The swiftly-growing
South of London (and it is in this direction that the
metropolis is expanding the quickest) is being pro-
vided for by two new railway bridges across the
Thames—one at Blackfriars for the London, Chatham,
and Dover Company, and the other at Charing-cross,
for the South-Eastern system. It is solely the sub-
urban traffic for which this is being done, the main
line traffic not expanding in anything like the same
proportion; and when these bridges are finished much
will be done to increase the comfort of the myriads
who, working in Middlesex, have their homes in
Surrey. With regard to the works at Charing-cross,
it is interesting to note that the new lines will lead to
the old Bricklayers' Arms Station, now chiefly re-
membered as the one at which the Princess Alexandra
arrived on Saturday, March 7, 1863, three days before
she was married to the Prince of Wales.
The mention of this date is a reminder of how
rapidly time flies. The Princess, who was greeted
with a roar of acclamation on the part of the populace
which in its truest sense has never died away, but has
gone on increasing from that time until the present,
is now the mother of two sons, both of them, by an
unexampled exercise of favour on the part of the
Queen, Knights of the Most Noble Order of the
Garter. The young Princess, who then came to a
land of strangers, but a land in which her fair face
won troops of friends immediately she reached our
shores, is now familiar to us not only in the metro-
polis, where on a fine afternoon she may be seen
driving her ponies in the park, but in every important
centre of the kingdom, where both the Prince of
Wales and herself are always to be found
when a great work of public utility is to be
inaugurated, or any project for the general
advantage is to be set on foot. Since the Queen,
owing to her great and never-forgotten bereavement,
has been unable to take that share in popular affairs
which she was accustomed to take in happier days,
the Prince and Princess of Wales have striven their
utmost to fill the vacancy, and have secured thereby a
popularity which, for the sake 32 the country, it may
be trusted nothing will ever be found to shake.
Although the summer can scarcely yet be said tc
have ended, preparations are already being actively
made—asfar, at least, as London is concerned—for the
reassembling of the "local parliaments" which meet
weekly during the winter months. It seems singular.
considering that institutions of this kind had been
established at Liverpool and Glasgow for a dozen
years or more, that none such was to be
found in London until just four years
since. Immediately that one was started how.
ever, it struck root and speedily had an abund-
dance of imitators. The old quiet-going debating
societies had had their day as far as London was
concerned, and the more general interest in politics
which had been displayed during the past few years
had its effect in making young men wish to infuse
more party feeling into their organisations. The
establishment of societies which allowed exciting
debates on all the burning topics of the day, con-
ducted according to the rules of the House of
Commons, exactly fitted the popular taste, and the
consequence has been a success for these "local
parliaments" which even the most sanguine of their
founders had not ventured to anticipate.
Even those who are not such enthusiasts in all
matters appertaining to cricket as to diligently study
the record of every match that is played and the table
of averages which is published concerning each
county team at the end of the season, can hardly fail
to have felt some degree of interest in the fourth
visit of the Australian team to England, which has
just been brought to a close. This has not been
attended by the sensational incidents of the first visit
in 1878, or with the striking success won by the
colonial team in that year, in 1880 and in 1882, but it
has been full of interest nevertheless. All those who
make a study of the game agree that these repeated
visits of the Australians have done much to improve
the position of English cricket. A few years ago it
seemed as if the general public were beginning to
lose all interest in the game, and this was re-acting
upon the play. But any who visit Lords' Ground or
the Oval in these days when a representative match
is being engaged in, cannot help seeing that the case
is very different now.
Those policemen who have to patrol the outskirts
of London can now, if they wish it, be provided with
revolvers, /Ind thus a controversy which was very
keenly conducted in the public press last winter is
for the time laid at rest. Perhaps, if any accident
occurs, by wilich an innocent man suffers from a
constable's fire, we shall hear a great deal of the
matter:again ; but at present it may be hoped that
those burglars against whom these dangerous weapons
may Peradventure be used, will be so terrified by the
faet of•their*session kv theY, -wias
not give occasion a their employ' -nt. It must
never be forgotten in connection with liis matter that
the constabulary have a very onerous and a very
dangcious duty to perform in patrolling 4' lower

portions of a city like the metropol'a ; and although
too much zeal on their part in the employment
of weapons is to be highly deprecated, the doctrine
of "put yourself in his place" has always to be
remembered in estimating their conduct.