The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-06-20 00:00:00

ROWLEY.

LOCAL BollaD.—Mr. Walter Bassano, J. P., pre-
sided on Monday at the monthly meeting of this
Board.—The Med cal Officer (Mr. Beasley) reported
that in No. 1 district there had been 38 deaths
during the past mouth, the death-rate being 17 per
1,000. Three deaths had been caused by zymotie
diseases. He was glad to report that there was no
case of small-pox in the infections diseases hospital
or in the parish, but as the disease was prevalent
in the adjoining parish of Tipton he recommended
that the services of the officers engaged at the hos
pital be retained for a further- period, s.) that in
the event of the disease again appearing in the ,
dis`rict the Board would be.in a position to lin-
mediately isolate the cases —The Cnairman said lie
considered it very necessary that the recommenda-
tion of the officer should be carried out, as ther,3
were a large number of cases at Dudley Port, which
:was in the parish of Tipton, Mr. Round considered
the Tipton authotities ought to take further steps
to stamp the disease out of the parish,—The report
was adopted.—Mr. Denne, assistant-Medical Officer
report -d that in the Cradley Heath and Old Hill
dittricts there had been 19 deaths, the de,V)--rate
being 16.4 per thous:mi.—On the recommendation
of the Sanitary and General Purposes Commi tee
the B. ard arproved of the plans prepared by the
Surveyor for tie erection of an infectious disees
hospital at cost of £1,580. it was also decided
to erect stables to accommodate six hor.4es.—Th3
' Finance Committee reported that £0 had been paid
for Magistrates' Clerk's fees for summonses issued
for the non-payment of r tes. but in consequence
of their being "no effects" upon the pretnisJs dis•
trained upon the oniy Sllll received by the collector
was 3s. 741.

PROPOSED CLOSING OF PUBLIC ROADS
IN KIN VER PARISIL

A vestry meeting was held at Kinver Schools on
Monday, relative to a proposed
,stopping-up by Mr.
IL W. Foley of certain roads in toe parish of Kin-
rer, and for other bu,iness. There was only a small
attendance. A deputation from the Stourbridge
Main Drainage Board was present. The first brt,i•
ness was as to the repair of a road leading from
near the Stourbridge and Upper Swinferd Cemetery
to the sewage farm ; and a resolution was passed
instructing the parish surveyor to repair the road.
--,-The roads proposed to be stopped by the chair-
man were a road leading from the Sugar-loaf farm
to Mr. publichouse at Iveriy, and also a
road leading out of this road towards Cortisuali.
The lengtn of these roxls is said to be about a mile
ania quart-r, and someone a the meetinz state
that they contained abut seven acres of land,
The Chairman propose I, as a a 1•off t) closing
the-e roads, .Lo undea take the repair of a road lead-
to Suga,r-oaf Farm which we are informed, would
be only ift repair of a cal &! sac. A resolution wos
proposed that the sanction of the vestry de given
to the closing of the roads.—Mr. Morris, Kinver,
proposed that the matter st Ind adjourned in order
to give time for the public to become acquainted
with what was proposed. On a division, there were
3 for the amendment. and 4 for the reso:ution which
was declared carried.—lt is stdd that the roads
proposed to be closed are a favourite walk, and a
strong feeling is likely to be aroused when it be-
comes known that steps are being taken with a
view of stopping up such a length of road, to
which the public have always hithei to had free re-
sort.

COMMENTS ON CURRENT THINGS.
AT a mo:nent when a change of Government has
been occasioned by a proposal to add to the t ,xati, n
ef whiskey and beer, it is pleasant to be brought
face to face with the statement, backed by au ir-
resietible array of fieurcs and statistics, that Great
Britaie is not the le•aviest consumer of alcoholic
among tie nations Tee c ,untry ic indebted
to a Foreienoffice paper just pulilished for this
vindication of the national character from a charge
too frequently brought against it—a charge wirica
had a long lease of life cenferred upon it by Shake-
speare. and which has been reaeetl with less pots er
by many a zealous advocate of abstinence in ow
own time the charge that Englishmen are the most
"potent in potting" of all mankind, and the greatest
drunkards under the sun.
A HUMILIATING indictment truly, and all E •glish•
men with any sense of respect for thtir county ant
its fame will be glad to know that the charge call-
not be sustained. Dr. Baer, a German physician
in high t like in the Empire, has accerdint t , the
Foreign Office paper above alluded to, recently erCe-
lished some remarkable utterances on the "Drialt
traffic in Germany." Out Government rightly
regard the matter as a subject of "Commecni and
General Interests." and deal with it as Bich. Dr,
Baer gives some interes jug drink sacsies if the
various cc:entries of Europe, arrived at after ea .e-
-ful calculation, based up.n well sc rtai ed and
authenticated fact. Denmark is that among the
spirit-drinking poples consuming 18 lit ts or
something under four allons a-heal oi te popula-
tion. Russia comes next with 16 I,tr s Int then
follow Sweeden vith 11-2, North Germany with 16•1
Belgium v ith 0,67, Switzerlaul i ita 65, Great
Britain with 6, Austria with 4, France with SI,
Norway, with 3'4. Brita:n then, ha equto a tem-
perate posit ion SO fas as spirit can u npCon is con—
cerned.
BUT what of beer which has eften been call d
the English national beverage ? Oeu wouid reiuk
that at any rate we drank correspendinely more
beer than dos any foreign country. Not so, how-
ever. The German Statis ician robs its of even ti at
doubtful honour. &denim is an biggest beer
drinker, consuming 160 litres, or be ,veen 30 or 40
gallons, a head of the population Our oin ceuntry
comes•nc'xt with 117 li roe, North Germany with
98-5, and France with 23. England dientcs le 5 ein •
than any other enumerated nation, the caesumption
heie being but 25 litres per head, while in France
it is 74, and in Switzerland as high as 100 litres
No on will deny that the abuse of iatoxicauts is
sadly too prevalent in Great Britain but it is some
consolation to know that instead of being wors 3 than
our neighbours, we are so much better than the
majority of them.
A Caoteene scourge is working dire devastation
in Seain. In mery of the cities numbers of deaths
have occurred, and the capital has not escaoed Ii
the provincs of Cestellon the epidemic assume.]
terrible prop eeieeis, an I nothing I,ss than a panic
hat obtained. This dreadful disease is one of those
visitations which dii all men wiih fear so leng as
tbey lat. We iii Eeg:and have only to leo': into
our own annals, or refer to our old well still living
to Lain of cholera and its dest,ustive ac ion on our
own shores. With the contagion spreading in south
of Europe, it behaves us t on our /.ett-ird and
exce cies all viligence with regard ti cleanliness
and dietary, so as to ward off any outbreak at home
'Phe authorice s will do their best to prevent the
impertation of cholera germs, but we on our part.
must 100 to our drains, vigorously rib dish all 'dirt
stern)7 eschew un-ipe fruit. With such pre-
cautions we need not fear cholera, ror any other
terrible malarious epidemic of c :gnate character
Filth, neglect. an] overindulg nee are answerable
for much of the di-ease ant death ateenlant up, n
the Bummer season.
A Gneee man in his own way was Thomas Hol-
loway. The medical profession sneered at Lim as
a quack. Lut, despite their contumely, he had faith
in the pills and the ointment compounded, and
he made them known to all men by such extensive
advertising as was el his day a wene,er. When he
died, more than a mildouare, because of his goal
business capacity, and it may have been also, though
that we know n it, because his eer dive concoetiens
had all the virtues claine•e fer thew, regular me
cal practititioners stil looked upon hun as lit-la
eetter titan a sharp unprincipled- pretender. Bat
his naa,e and Lai fame were faerilier r.s houehold
words through all tha civilised world. And the
oulk of the enormous wealth atnmassed by this
Emperor of all -he pill makers was d.,voted to the
alieviatiou of the ills that flesh is heir to. Only
this week an immens , sariateium has been opened
in the delightful district of Vireinia Water by the
Prince and Princess of Wales which owes its origin
and endowment t 3 the ch4rity oc Thomas Holloway
The friends of those who will hereafter then be
cured of a terrible disease not stop to que,tioa
whether tee pioneer in extensive advertisements of
patent medicines was a quack, or whether his claim
to distinction ia connection with the healing alt
was as irreproachable as that of the autocrat of tee
medical professio ~ who holds the eheir for the
time being in a Royal College.
_How quickly we change with chaneing tim,s I
It seems only yesterday that all our interest and
sympathies were absorbed in the actions of our mil-
itary expedition in the Sou lan. Now its leaders
are coining quietly home one by one almost tine
. noticed and we are well nigh forgetting those who
'fil in the fight. And still later the country was
on the tiptoe of exciteannt in view of the danger •
of war with Russia. and we were arming ourselves
at every point in preparation for the conflict. Now
without anything that was done having been since
undone, the war fever has abated. There has been
no arbitration on the point respecting which Russia
gave England such serious offence—only a promise
Even the definainatiou of the
.disputed Afghan
rontier is indefinitely pestpowcl, uatd weather
permits its resumption with comfort. Now the
change in Government fills the mied of every
Englishman an ho :place of Eeypt and Afghanistan
having paramount clorii•ierat. oa we are occupied
with thoughts of sai,Sury and Northcote, and all
pertaining to tueir.apsamption of office on the one
baud, and of Gladstone and he; retiring Ministers
on the other, Truly as reeards our public life, W 6
live Mau atmosphere of fever heat, and it is well
that an overruling Providence sometimes wisely
delays the settlement of momentous crisis in the
affair, of nations until men's passions and excite-