The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-28 00:00:00

Our Nolthan Corrtspoubent.

riVe Jeena It right to state tir.t we do not at all Vme9
ientify ourselves with our correspondent's vinions.]

In one respect the summer which is now gradually
passing away resembles that of five years ago. The
months of sunshine in 1878 were alter,ated by torrid
heat and tropical tempests. Tne old saying dtbcrip-
tive of an Errash summer—" three fine days and
thunderstorm," was verified then, and it has proved
nearly as correct now. The broken weather of July
is once more tilling the agricultural mind with anxiety.
A day or two of hot growing weather, ripening the
grain, and forcing forward the kindly fruits of the
earth, has been speedily succeeded by violent storms
and electrical disturbances all over the land, covering
the sky with vast banks of cloud, shutting out the
sunshine, and drenching the soil to an abnormal ex-
terA, to the incalculable injury of the growing crops.
Many of the discussions on the Agricultural Holdings
Bill in Committee have been conducted in the House
of Commons to the sound of the roll of thunder, and
amid the patter of drenching rain, reminding honour.
able members of the anxious nature of the calling
which in the case of a great national interest like that
f agriculture depends so much on favourable atmos-
pheric conditions.
The twenty-fourth prize meeting of the National
Rifle Association at Wimbledon was brought to a
close on Saturday amid one of those storms which
have been so common in the month of July. The
match between Great Britain and America, which had
been begun on the previous day, was concluded amid
the crash and rattle of thunder and the sweeping over
the camp of sheets of pitiless rain. The marvellous
way in which the home team pulled up at the 1,000
yards rouge-234 points as compared with 219—elicited
geneml admiration, and the Americans were quite as
generous in their cheers for their successful competitors
as any of our own Volunteers were. The prizes were
distributed by the Princess Mory amid the same un-
avouroble circumstances as th se which had marked
the pregress of ths meeting; but these did not inter-
fere with the honours which are always paid to the
Queen's Prizeman, who once more hails from "merrie
Scotland by the sign of the bluebell."

The Local Government Board has lost no time in
issuing a cinular calling attention to a memorandum
pre4aced by its medical officer on the precautions to be
aken against cholera. Copies have been f orwarded to
the Vestries and District Boards of the metroaolis.
The auth,rities of the City of London, no less than
those outside the civic precincts, are also on the alert.
In the face of the dread spectre of cholera upon the
shores of the Mediterranean, it is well to guard
in every way the coasts of Britain against the in-
vasion of such a fearful scourge; and in the face of
such apprehensions as have been excited perhaps the
recent low temperature and wet weather may prove
blessings in disguise. Those in middle life who find it
impossible to carry back their recollections to 1832,
can yet remember the devastation caused by cholera
in 1849, again in 1854, when the hot sun which filled
the geanaries of the farmers also filled the graves,
and more lately in 1866, when the returns of the
Registrar. General were eagerly looked out for every
week in London, some of the figures bearing strong
testimony to the ravages of this plague in the eastern
part of the metropolis.
The church of St. Margaret's in which the memorial
window to Lord Frederick Cavendish has just been
erected and formally dedicated, was subscribed for by
members of the House of Commons, and has appro-
priately been placed in what may be regarded as the
official church of the House. Down to 1858 it used
to be attended four times a year by the members in
state, and on Ash Wednesday is still officially visited
by the Speaker, the hours of business in the House
being altered for the purpose. The church is a not
very ornate structure to the north of Westminster
Abbey, but apart from its antiquity, having been built
in the reign of Edward the First, on the site of an
edifice raised in the time of Edward the Confessor, it
is interesting on account of its hietorial associations.
It is here that William Caxton, who set up the first
printing press in an adjacent chapel, is interred, and
the body of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was executed in
front of Westminster, lies in the chancel.
It may have been noticed that the House of Com-
mons is now able to prooeed with public business
almost immediately after assembling, the reason being
that the private bill legislation, which occupies so
much time in the earlier months of the session, is
pretty well disposed of. The House of Commons'
Committee on Private Bills have concluded their
laboura, and such of the proposals as have survived
the first ordeal are now being considered by com-
mittees of the Upper House. As an instance of the
great coat involved in these preliminary proceedings
before a sod can be turned, or a stone laid in connec-

similar works which are being promoted, it may be
worth mentioning that the expenses of carrying the
Manchester Ship Canal Bill through the House of Com-
mons was £36,000. It has Net to pass through the
Lords, and as every clause of the measure will again
be fiercely contested, it can be imagined what the total
cost will be. The Barry Dock and Railway Pro-
moters, however, have been still greater sufferers.
This occupied the attention of a Committee of the
Lower House for nearly six weeks, and the cost to the
promoters alone was something like £30,000. It is now
passing through the final stages of the Lords, where
has taken about half the time. The scheme, which
Is intended to furnish facilities for bringing the pro-
ducts of the Welsh coal fields fer shipment at a new
dock on the Bristol Channel, has been opposed by the
Marquis of Bute, whose costly docks at Cardiff are
threatened with loss, the Taff Vale Railway and
Penarth Docks Company, the Pontypridd and Caer-
philly Railway Company, the Rhymney Railway
Company, and various landowners, as many as twenty
counsel being daily enraged on the case.
To those whose duties call them forth at dead of
night (and there are thousands such in London), the
dreary stretch of one mile three hundred and fifty
feet—as the obelisk at the bottom of Blackfriars-road
tells us is the distance from Fleet-street—is about one
of the worst walks in the metropolis to the nervous
minded. The homeless ones lying huddled in the
recesses of Blackfriars Bridge suggest the reverse of
pleasant thoughts, while the night-prowlers who
emerge from the various streets parallel with the river
are apt to give rise to alarming apprehensions. A
positive danger has now been added. During the past
few days two cases of garrotting have occurred in this
indifferently-lighted thoroughfare, and emboldened by
success it is possible that further attempts will
be made. In the last case a gentleman who
is professionally engaged in the House of
Commons was the victim. He was walking from
Westminster after a late sitting in the House, when
he was suddenly set upon by four men. He has
the reputation of being a powerful athlete and was
able to render a good account of two of his assailants,
but the odds were too many, and he was left minus
his watch. Although the practice is an unpleasant
and dangerous one those who are thus abroad by night
may have to carry defensive weapons of some sort.
This is not a pleasant reflection in the city which is
supposed to be the most civilized in the world.
Despite the feet that no Channel Tunnel has yet
been constructed to reduce the discomforts of Ccuti,
Lentil] passengers to England, the number of foreign
tourists in London this season exceeds that of any
previous year. Guide-le ohs in hand they may be met
in the sulphurous regions of the "Underground ; "
seen surveying the rapidly rushing streams of humanity
from the elevated position of outside seats on road-
cars, and noticed examining all the objects of interest
in the great national fangs, galleries, and museums.
Most of these are Americans, who, after making a pil-
grimage to Paris—the Mecca of all good Americatres—
rush across to do the "old country," in periods
ranging from four-and, twenty hours to seven days.
A great many French visitors, however, have this
year come across the Channel, and despite their
ignorance of our language, contrive to get about with-
out much difficulty, owing, in great measure, to
the fact that in all the large hotels and most of the

restaurants there are now henoh or Swiss waiters
who oan understand the wants and wishes of visitors
from over "the silver streak."