The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-07 00:00:00

Our Eakin Corrtspottnt.

rife lciem it right to state th!lt we do not at all Una.
4ntity uu-seives with our Correspondent's Jpinions.l

It would almost seem by the experience of
every ye.ar as if the almanac makers ought in
their calendar to insert, at some date towards the
end of October or the beginning of November,
"Armed burglars' season commences," just as is
done in regard to the opening of the times for
shooting partridges or pheasants. Seldom a
winter now goes by without our being shocked
and startled by the report of some daring burg-
' larious outrage accompanied by the shooting cp
a policeman, and the recent terrible affair in
Cumberland has this season aroused public atter',
tion in a very high degree. The revolver is much
too commonly carried in these days, even by or-
dinary people, but when it is handled by despe-
rate men who, having come to rob, shrink from
no act by which they may escape their pursuers.
the consequences are terrible. It is urged by
some that it is only the inexperienced burglar
who uses a weapon which makes so much noise:
but not much
.consolation is to be ex-
tracted from this by the person who is.
rounded, and who suffers just as much whether
the pistol. was . pointed by one accustomed tc
penal servitude or by a: beginner on the road
which leads to the gallows. One way in which
the evil can be dealt with is for it to be clearly
intimated that any midnight prowler who h
found with a revolver in his possession will be
punished with double severity.
Whenever such a deplorable incident occurs as
that which has been referred to, the old con-
troversy is raised as to the advisability of arming
the police. There is very much to be said on
both sides, for although on the face of things it
is exceedingly awkward for a policeman, carry-
ing nothing hut his truncheon, to have tc
encounter a burglar armed with a revolver,
yet the risk of a constable shoot-
ing in some affray an innocent man
has to be borne in mind. If such a
catastrophe did occur, the public outcry would
be so great as to cripple the power othc police,
and :we can afford to do nothing which would
have that effect. The authorities who have con-
trol of the outskirts of London seem to have hit
on a very fair compromise upon the matter. In
the first place they have provided that in isolated
districts a system of double patrols shall be
established, so that the police by working in
couples shall have a better chance of coping with
the marauders who haunt the main roads leading
tO the suburbs. But as these aresof ten desperate
men, willing to do and dare anythingrather than be
captured;the constables are armed with revolvers,
onlyto be used in cases of dire necessity, but the
possession of which gives them power to cope
• with even the most determined of their oppo-
-nents. In the more quiet central districts of the
metropolis such weapons are not SO obviously
required, and the compromise upon the whole
seems to be a very effective one.
Those who live in the country, and who have
occasion to sometimes visit London for a day,
whether on business or pleasure, will have
noted with interest that at the beginning of
the present month a third great trunk lino
commenced the practice of starting a midnight
train from its metropolitan terminus. For many
years the Midland has done this from St.
Pancras, and some years ago the London and
North-Western adopted the same idea from
. Euston. With the beginning of November the
- Great Northern followed suit from King's-cross,
and it is now possible for dwellers in the
largest towns of the North of England to
come to London for a day, to stay sufficiently
long to visit a friend, a meeting, a theatre,
or a concert, and still be back at their own
home in time for business the next morning.
The amount of public convenience that is involved
in this change is larger 'than many would
think. There are a great number of people
living on the main lines leading to the North
who have occasion to run up to the metropolis
on business for a day, and to whom it is out of
the question for various reasons to stay the
night. These would wish to remain in town
long enough to visit some place of evening
amusement, but under ordinary conditions they
have not been able so to do. This will now be
avoided as regards very many, and the change is
only another illustration of how rapidly our
means of communication are being perfected.
With the opening days of November the Inter-
national Inventions Exhibition at South Ken-
ington closes its doors. No official return has
yet been issued, but it is generally understood
that the Exhibition has not been as great a suc-
cess as was that cf last year. The main reason
for this undoubtedly has been atmospheric. In
1884 the summer was very dry, and out-door
amusements were greatly in requisition; but
the same cannot be said of that of 1885. Many of
the nights which at the corresponding dates of the
previous year were balmy and serene were
this summer stormy and unpropitious. A bleak
autumn followed, and the terraces, from which
the people watched night after night the foun-
tains illuminated by electricity, were conse-
quently less crowded. And it must he remem-
bered that the chief attractions of the Exhibi-
tion, paradoxical as it may seem, were
.out door.
Comparatively few of the visitors were interested
in the machinery which filled the building, but
all liked to stroll in the gardens to listen to the
bands, and to watch the illuminations, while to
the male portion an. added attraction was to
smoke a cigar and drink a cup of coffee under
the trees. Such amusements are not compatible
with weather which is cold or damp; a stroll in
the open air is not pleasant when it is reflected
that rheumatism may follow; and, however ex-
- cellent a band may be, the dripping of rain from
the trees is far from an
_agreeable accom-
paniment.
One curious and far from pleasing result of the
Closing of the Exhibition lest year was the over-
running with rats of that portion of South
Kensington which is near to the building. As
long as the show was open, visitors were many,
and broken victuals abundant, so long the rodent
colony which had taken up their home under the
wooden floors were content to stay in the
quarters they had without invitation occupied.
But when the end of October arrived, the doors
were shut, visitors arrived no more, and the re-
freshment bars were empty, the rats began to
feel the pangs of hunger, and when they were
bordering on starvation they sought "fresh
woods and pastures new." As may be imagined,
this was far from agreeable to the residents in
the district, and they raised their voices in loud
protest against the invasion. But how could it
have been avoided? This was a question which
could not be settled off-hand, for it was
easier to bewail the nuisance than to
show some means:by which it need never have
happened. And it was also easier to complain
of the evil than to find a remedy, though several
were suggested and some tried. The consequence
is that dwellers in South Kensington are antici-
pating with some amount of terror a repetition of
the nuisance, and cats are at a premium.
Parliament will be dissolved on Wednesday.
the 18th, and the fires of partisanship will
burn fiercely for the next few weeks.
It is not customary to fix the dates of
nomination and polling before the writs are
actually issued from the Crown Office, but
already several have been settled in various parts of
the country, for it is known that the Cabinet has
decidedi
the actual date of dissolution, and
that this s not likely to be changed. After
the contests are over Parliament will not
be long i
in meeting.; but it is not considered
probable that t will be until the beginning
of next year that the new House of
Commons can assemble. The first business
to be disposed of will be of the most strictly
preliminary character. A Speaker has .0 obo
elected, members have to be sworn in, am new%
writs have to be issued in cases of doe re-,•
turns or Ministerial appointments, so thaS)ari
appreciable amount of time is consumed before
the House gets actually to work. Usually during
the first couple of sessions the attendance is
large. New members like the idea of being in
the House', and they make a point of participating
In as many divisions as possible. But the novelty
Wears off, and with it much of the eagerness to
attend. Session after session passes, and the
number of those present grow less, until, when
the House is moribund, it is difficult for the
party whips to get their men together, or to
keep them together even if they get them.
A difficulty which will be felt by a vast number
of voters at the general election will be that of
ik nowi n.
ig where to go to record their suffrages.
This will applynot only to those who have received
their votes by the operation of the Franchise
Act, and who, therefore, have never had
the opportunity of going to the poll before. It
affects a great number in our larger towns who,
because of the division of their boroughs by the
Redistribution Act, have to cast their votes in
buildings different from those to which they have
been accustomed. This will act with particular
force in the metropolis, for Londoners, as
.a rule,
have exceedingly little knowledge of their
.cosTn
locality. Many of thoseavho go daily to business
in the City, .eaving their home in the. sueurbs
in the- morning and returning at night, are
scarcely acquainted with the names of the roads

48,44 ti,

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in their own immediate neighbourhood. When
told, therefore, that they will have to vote in
some school-room in a street of which they have
never heard the name, many aro apt to think it
too much trouble to find the thoroughfare
required, and they lose their opportunity of
voting rather than hunt for the polling station.
It is the business of the political associations to
supply as far as possible the knowledge of where
to poll, and this is often done on a postcard
which is sent to evcry voter. But if the elector
will not avail himself of the information when it
is given to him, there is no power to compel him
to find his way.
Names of railway-stations are not particularly
interesting to any but those who have occasion
to use them, but one has been given to a new
station on the Great Northern Railway opened
only this month, which recalls the memory of a
very terrible accident, the recollection of which
has not even yet died out of the minds of pas-
sengers on that line. Nearly ten years • ago on
a wild wintry night, an express train from
London struck into a coal waggon which by
SOMO means was on the metals close to a
signal box. It was thrown off the line
and several passengers were injured. The alarm
was given and the signals were set at danger.
But the snow had clogged them, and they would
not act, with the consequence that another
express from the north dashed into the debris
left by the first accident, and killed and injured
several who were engaged in the merciful duty of
attending upon the sufferers. The place where
the catastrophe occurred was Abbott's Lipton,
and the signal box overlooking it has been pointed
out by thousands of passengers to one another as
they have been nearing Peterborough from the
south. This month a station has been opened at
the spot, and Abbott's Ripton' which has
hitherto been connected in the public memory
only with the terrible disaster of that stormy
March evening of 1876, vill henceforth figure on
the time-tables as a station on the line. G. R.