The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-02-09 00:00:00

at fe6on gornspubent.

[Wu deem it right to state that we do not at all tale'
ideotify ourselves with ou: Correspondent's opinions.

Tie I,ealth of a public, man is a national po4ReealoD,
and whoever may happen to fill the poaition of Prime
3.1.11,a,ter ot Engl .ud, no Matter to what political
party he may LLatpen to belong, is a subject of interest
all round. Many of those now in middle life can re-
member the Premiership of Sir Robert Peel, of Lord
John Ram'', of Lord Palmerston, of Lord Derby,
and of Lord Boaconefield. We all know how eagerly
are listened to any anecdotes illustrative of the life of
such eminent men, and how ordinary human nature
hearkens to any little story showing that they are of like
passions and similar weaknesses to ourselves. The states-
man now at the head of affairs has for more than half a
century had a seat in the House of Commons, and has
been a member of twelve Parliaments—two of King
William, and ten of Queen Victoria. Lit na 883 how
the Premier enters upon a session of Parliament
certain to be stormy, sure to be laborious, and
which may possibly and not enly in the dissolution of
Parliament, but in the destruction of the Government
as well.

A few days before the opening of the legislative
year Mr. Gladstone received several deputations, one
of which was from some natives of Hindoetan to
scngratulate the Prime Minister on the completion
Df his seventy.fourth year. The Oriental mind is
othing if not dwelling on the gorgeous, and-so it came
to pass that the Indian deputation was habited
in splendid attire, gold lace and pearls occupying a
very prominent place in the ornamentation of their
habiliments. While Mr. Gladstone was receiving the
Ilinduos, a large deputation from the Trades Unionists
had assembled in the Foreign Offioe, and the right
hon. gentleman had to cruel the street and mount a
lofty staircase to reach them. Now, to marl, a man
in his 75;h year the task of going upstaits is net an
easy one, hut the Prime Minister took them two at a
time, and wal as lithe and active at the top as at the
bott( in r.f the aFcent. This looks well for the vigour
and elsaticity of a cozatitution of which undoubtedly
the greatest care has always been taken.

One of the results of Fenian and dynamite scares
is the opportunity which it gives to practical jokeis
3f giving an infinite amount of trouble and annoy.
ance to the police. It is so easy to write an anony.
mous letter breathing out threatenings and slaughter,
and although the authorities are convinced in nine
zases out of ten that the communication ia a hoax
and so meant to be, on the other hand they well
know that if they Leg lected any precaution there is
just the possibility that corn ething might happen
which would cause them to repent it for the rest of
their lives. The pleasure of the Prince of Wales's
visit to Leigh Court was marred by an outrageou.s
threat to destroy the Clifton Suspension Bri3ge, over
which his Royal Highness would have to pass; those
;vb..: had fabricated the absurd menace all the time
laughirg in their sleeve at the trouble whioh they
had given.

There a-e generally !eve ral writs moved for at the
opecing of a new smion of Par liament, for although
the Speaker has authority to fill up vacancies during
the recess which arise from various causes, he has no
powcr to issue a writ on the acceptance by a member
of the Chiltern Hundreds. Since the prorogation,
Meath, Cork, West Somerset, and Paisley have all
been vacated through this Cause, but they all had to
wait for the assembling of Parliament, the House of
I.;ozr. mons reserving to itself the power to grant a
writ on the occasion of a member withdrawing from
the service of the people. As these vacancies are
in all three kingdoms, the filling up of the seats will
be watched with some interest.

Recent political discussions have sometimes turned
upon the constitution of the House of Lords, and
upon the necessity of its reform. Without going into
controverted questions, it may at the same t:me be
pointed out that the constitution of the House of
Lords differs from that of the House of Commons as
widely as it is possible for one chamber possess.
lug co-ordinate authority to vary from that
of another. Let us take the case of the
newly - created peer, Lord Tennyson. The
Queen directs letters patent to be passed under the
Great Seal adding the Poet• Laureate t the roll of the
House of Lords, and he has only to hand in his patent
to the Lord Chancellor to be sworn in and take his
seat. Bat the Crown, which can create in reason as
many peers as it likes, has not power to add a single
member to the House of Commons. A representative
of the people must have a constituency, which the
Crown cannot call into e xistence, and can be created
only by the will of Parliament. The House
Commons keeps in its own hands the power of
issuing writs, and no mandate from the Sovereign
to send out any particular writ would be obeyed.
The only time when the Crown cm n issue writs foe
the election of members of the House of Commons is
when it exercises its right to dissolve Parliament, and
then only for the number prescribed by the Con-
atitution. The wide difference between the two
august assemblies is, that the one is the creation of
the Crown, and the other is the elect of the people.
With two interests apparently so diametrically
opposite the wonder is that collisions do not more
frequently occur.

The month of January just ended was the warmest
experienced in this country for half a century. There
is a tradition that in these latitudes no snow remains
long np‘n the ground after Candlemas Day; but a
proverb exists that tells us not to sing loudly until we
are out of the wood. It is far better to have winter
at its proper season, which is the month of January.
We had it beautifully then three years ago, and
singularly enough just six months afterwards, again
in its proper season, we had the hottest July weather
we had experienced for years. That was as it should
be. A mild winter is very often followed by a cold
spring and an equally unseasonable summer;

The Parliament of the Church always meets at
Westminster at the same time as the Parliament of
the United Kingdom. The Convocation of the Pro.
!lilies of Canterbury assembles in the Jerusalem
Chamber, close to Westminster Abbey, the Bishops,
constituting the Upper House, under the presidency
of the Primate, and the Deans, Archdeacons, and
Proctors, which make up the Lower House, delibera-
ting in the presence of a chairman elected by them-
selves, and designated the Prolocutor. Very grave
are the discussions in Convocation, as different as pos-
sible in tone from those which take place over the way
in the Legislative Palace, where, amid wild tempests
of political excitement, the suspension and sometimes
the expulsion of a member has to be ordered. It may
be mentioned that the practice of the Convocation of
York is different from that of Canterbury. In the
northern province there are not two Houses, the pre.
iates, deans, and proctors all sitting together.
Any one passing through the streets of London on
the day of the opening of Parliament, may, at two
o'clock—the hour fixed for the ceremony—purchase a
newspaper with the Queen's speech in it, Now, as a
rule, the reading of the document in the House of
Lords is not completed until about twenty minutes
after two, so that the ordinary wayfarer is actually in
possession of it before the assembled Lords and
Commons. The speech is supplied to the newspapers
on the understanding that it is not to be published
until two o'clock; any breach of this would be
followed by the' withdrawal :if the privilege of an
advance sheet in future. This is well known, and the
regulation is therefore duly observed.
The growing expenditure of the London School
Board is attracting considerable attention in the
metropolis. When Mr. Forster's Education Act of
1870 was before the House of Commons it was under_
stood that the school rate was not to exceed 3d. in the
pound; it is now Ski. in London, with no prospect of
Its remaining stationary even at that figure. This is
a serious addition to the burden of local taxation,
which in other directions as well as in this has shown
a tendency to increnle, and is likely enough to be
used at the next triennial election as a lever foe
working the principle of economy, It may also pro.
babty be employed as an argument againstthe
creation of a muniolpility for the whole of London,
on the ground that hu3e central bodies are charac-
terised by a vast expenditure against which the
ratepayers may protest, but find it impossible to
check.

The Meath steamer,mbich arrived in the Ei3t India
Docks, Llndon, recently, brought, amongst othez
cargo, the first coneignment of meat shipped from
Crbmpans, on the Parana River, Buenos Ayres. Thls
consignment consists of 1,571 sheep. They have been
most carefully refrigerated, and have arrived In cofl.
dition equal to anything which has been seen from
either Australia or New Zealand.

GREAT FIRE Is Pams.—ln Paris the other night
great fire broke out in the Citt3 Joly, near the
Cemetery of Pere la Chaise, by which a lace and
trimming manufw.tory, several coal depots, ard some
shops coLtaining scrurc decorations for several of the
Paris theatres vier destroyed. Five workmen's houses
were also burnt down. Two women jumped from
the window of a hou4e to save thL:mselves, and were
serioni.ly imjared. Ain/It 100 families were rendered
homelese.
GRAIN' SHIPMENTS AT I`,IONTLIEAL —The receipts of
grain at Montreal for the pant yt...ir to the middle of
December last show a satiffa,..;tory increase c.mpared
with those of the previous par : Flour, barrels,
938,413; oats P.nri cornmeal, barrels, (8,371 ; wheat)
bushels, 6,001,224; ecru, buThels, 4 625,896 ; peas,
bushels, 1.507,688; oats, bushels, 468,175 ; barley.
bushels, 226,L2; rye, bu.frels, '220,88t; making 3
total a 13,1C0,983 bushels received, as compared with
12 094 785 in 1882. The shipments aggregated
11,332 91Z baslaels of grain, as compared with
10,415,798 the previous year.