The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

TOttropolitan 6nip.

BY OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

e.rhe remarks under this head to be regarded as the ex-
/Minton of independent opinion, ',on the pen of a gentleman
in :shot° we have the greatest confidence, but for which we
deVertheiess do Cot hold ourstrlveb rewunidblej

Politics have of late been dull, and even now there
ie no great amount of political feeling animating society.
The Irish Church question is the topic that creates the
moat interest of all public questions, and the action of
the House of Lords is still apeculated upon with more
or le n interest, Whether their lordships will or will
not reject the bill on the second reading is a disputed
point, but the balance of opinion appears to be on the
side of the negative. On dtt that Lord Derby will
move the rejection of the measure and the Irish Pro-
testant Defence Association are urging the Conserva-
tive members of their lordships' house to throw out the
bill; but whether there is to be a discussion on the
second reading, and if so, with what result remains to
be seen. I incline to the opinion that the bill will pass
the House of Lords, and that this session we shall be
rid of a very troublesome subject.
- •

- .
The commercial community especially, and society
generally, are much interi-sted in the improvement of
the Bankruptcy law, which will shortly engage the
attention of Parliament. The bill which, as amended,
wW be urged forward is a great improvement on the
law as it stands. One grand reform will be its econo-
mical working. Eight district commissioners, eleven
registrars, and several official assignees are to be
abolished; £14,000 a year will be saved in the Lon-
don court alone ; and the entire saving will be some
£70,000 a year. The way in which bankrupt's estates
have been eaten up by official cormorants hitherto is
disgraceful, and the reform will not come a bit too
soon. Though the Attorney-General is answerable
for the bill, it is not a party measure, and it is
earnestly to be hoped that it may pass.
It had been rumoured that her Majesty intended to
pay a villa to the Isle of Man, but it seems the rumour
was without foundation. Had the Queen paid the
island a visit how fashionable the quiet little place
would have become! Tourists would, no doubt, have
flocked there from all parts, and hotel and lodging ac.
commodation would have been at a premium. I wonder
whether there is also no truth in the rumour that her
Majesty intends to pay a visit to Germany in the
autumn. There is always some rumour or other re-
lative to the probable movements of the Queen, but
very little dependence can be placed upon them. The
affection with which her Majesty is regarded will fully
account for the fondness of people for speculating on
her possible, or probable journeyings.
It is now rather more than three years since that
terrible crash, the failure of Overend, Gurney and Co.,
created such a panic in the commercial world, and
entailed such severe losses in many a domestic circle;
and the effects of that and other failures are still felt.
But commercially we have been for some time in a
state of what we may call slow convalescence, and we
are, it is to be hoped, approaching a condition of
perfect health. Merchants and tradesmen still com-
plain that commerce and trade are dull, and the
directors of limited liability companies almost uni-
versally refer to the difficulties they have had to pass
through. But undoubtedly trade is slowly improving.
With regard to the labour market the emigration
movement is having a good effect, but it is to be
lamented that greater efforts are not made to
mend out the really poor. There are families, who are
pauper families here, who would do well in
Canada or Australia if they could be sent out and only
get a fair start. But nevertheless the labour market is
being gradually relieved of some of the presstire by the
steps which have already been taken. Some people are
very fond of talking of sending out "the bone and
sinew of the country." But we have plenty more bone
and sinew left. Apropos of emigration, it has long been
a common complaint in England that young men do
not "propose" as young men used to do, and the rea-
sons assigned are the increased cost of living, the greater
fierceness of competition among the employed class, the
more luxurious requirements of girls of the period, and
so on. Probably the complaints of this kind are exag-
gerated, though there is no doubt some foundation for
them. It cannot be too widely known therefore that
giils who desire to marry—and those who don't are of
course the minority—can find husbands in Canada,
Mr. J. A. Donaldson, the chief emigration agent in
Canada, writing to a friend here gays, "Even the better
class that are receiving high wages in England would do
well to come here on the chance of getting married to the
young farmers and tradespeople. I have had no less
than nine girls married out of my own house, in five
years, to farmers' eons, and all of them are now doing
well. Now then, young ladies, who wants a hus-
band ?

At a time when horse•racing and the consequent
betting occupies so much attention as it now does, it
is satisfactory to find that in wary places the keepers
of betting-houses have been fined, and thus a severe
blow dealt to the pernicious system of betting. That
betting is a social evil I think cannot well be denied,
for its ill effects are too patent to be ignored; and, if

so, our laws ought certainly to aim at its suppression.
It is very easy to say that betting is not immoral, or
that, even if it is, it is not possible to make people
moral by Act of Parliament; but Parliament never
theless can make just laws and enforce them. That we
cannot do all that we could wish, is no argument for
not doing all that we can towards a desirable end. We
cannot prevent betting at Tattersall's, at the clubs, or
In private houses, but, in conjunction with the licensing
system or without reference to it, we can put down
betting in public-houses, and the more the Act of Par-
liament in that case made and provided is enforced, the
better for the public at large.
The arrangements for the great Metropolita• Horse I
Show are progressing satisfactorily, and it is likely to
be an unusually interesting exhibition. The hiPPO-
- where the horses will be exhibited and called
to show their powers and good points will be larger
than usual, while there will be larger accommodation
for us bipeds than ever. But the leading attraction
for many visitors will probably be the velocipedes and
velocipedists, and it is expected that some very clever
performances will be gone through. There are to be
also a large fancy bazaar, a promenade concert, and 3
fine display of carriages, domestic inventions, kc., so
that altogether the Agricultural Hall will probably
have an immense number of visitors during the five
days it will be open to the public.
Paper has, ever mince its invention, played an im-
portant part in the world—what vast influence has
been exerted by what has been written or printed on
paper !—but it would seen. that it is now about to
receive a new development. Paper collars and cuffs,
shirt-fronts, etc., are common enough; but now paper
of a peculiar kind, called felted paper, has been em-
ployed in the manufacture of ladivs' petticoats, either
printed in imitation of the fashionable skirts of the
Period, or stamped with "open work," as the ladies
call it, of such beauty and delicacy as no fair worker
could rival. You can have a paper petticoat, my
lady reader, for Gd., but I will not say where, for that
would be a puff. We can also have imitation chintzes
and cretonnes for bed furniture ; table-cloths (if cloth
is the proper name) embossed with beautiful designs;
and even table-napkins. But this stuff won't bend,
it may he objected. Yes it will, it is quite flexible—
so auch so that yen may twist up a table "cloth"
made of this felted paper, and shake it out again, and
it will positively show no more creases than if the
material were linen or chintz. Why this will ruin the
linen trade some one may exclaim. Not so, it is to
be hoped; we shall have s new industry, that is all.
People are particularly interested just now in the
partial ascents of the monster balloon, in the Ashburn-
ham grounds, and some are gratified by the new
sensation of a seat in the car as the monster rises as
high mite masters will permit it to go. It is a Brob-
dignagian toy, that is all, as balloons still are, though
it is a century since the first balloon made an ascent
Bo long ago as MI a balloon was made use of to recon-
noitre an enemy's army, and I am not aware that we
have now, in this year of grace 180, got beyond this
practical use of ballooning. It is sixty-six years since
• man descended in a parachute from a balloon, and
even now the experiment is too hazardous to be made.
Some day, perhaps, ballooning may be made a science,
but at present we are just as far off as was Gallen,
who wrote on aerostation in 1755, with regard to navi-
gating the air. All the sails and rudders, all the wings
and oars, have failed, and the aeronaut is now just as
much at the mercy of the winds as he ever was. It is
indeed marvellous that we know so little about the
winds. Geologists can tell us, or they say they can
tell us the nature of the ground miles and miles below
us ; the heavenly bodies are mapped out, it is to be
presumed, with accuracy, and at all events an eclipse
can be predicted to a second a century or Po before it
occurs; it is said that the exact weight of the planets
can be determined; and many other wondrous triumphs
of science have been Greeted ; but the winds are still
our master. It is as true now as when the words
were uttered by the Divine Teacher, "tie wind
blowet where it listeth, but thou can't not tell whence
it cometh nor whither it god's.*

A SENSIBLE VIEW 07 IT —The New York
Times, in an editorial on the Alabama question, con-
clude, se follows:

We see nothing that ran be more wisely done at present
than to let the whole matter drop—take its place among the
things of the past, which cannot be reversed or remedied,
and which no amount of discussion can make any better.
When we ac.ually get ready for war with England, this may
aerie to swell the tide of national hostility, out 1.1 which su,h
a war may grow. But for that result we can afford to wait
—as we must wait—a good while longer. Meantime, the
wisest thing the government can do is probably to instruct
Mr. Motley to do nothing, and to say just as little as possible.
We presume the wi4doni of the Administration will dictAte
h a:disposition of the c.tse,

miscellaneous ainttiliotna,