The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-09-05 00:00:00

:Our Tertbon Corrtspoint.
[We de us it right to state that we do not at all tbj
identity oursalves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

of such a number of provincial "dailies" being
now to be seen posted up in Fleet-street.
The authorities at the General Post Office are
graduallv perfectirg tb ir arrangements for the
introduction of the cheaper telegraph system,
but they do not eoi:ceal their apprehension
that a little confusion may at first be
expected to result from the change. It is to be
hoped, however, that noting like the same
amount will be seen as was the.,3ase in February,
1870, when the Government took over the tele-
graphs from the old companies. The difficulties
which are almost inseparable from an enterprise
of such magnitude were enormously increased
on that occasion by a storm, which wrecked the
wires in all directions, and rendered the efforts
of the officials, already distracted by the rush of
new business, almost useless. The introduction
of cheaper telegrams, however, ought to be
a much simpler affair than the taking over the
whole concern proved to be. There will be, of
course, a great increase in the number of
messages•sent, but additional wires have been
provided, and an extra staff is being trained,
and there ought to be no overwhelming difficulty
in coping with the public demand. G-. R.

It would scein to those who take an occasional
stroll down the Thames Embankment that the
visitors from the country, who flock to the
metropolis in their tens of thousands at this
season of the year, do not appreciate as fully as
it deserves London's greatest promenade. Such
visitors are to be freely met in the parks; they
are easily distinguishable in the streets; and if
one wanders into St. Paul's or Westminster
Abbey during the afternoon they are to be
counted in large numbers. But if a stroll be
taken down the Embankment only few are to be
distinguished. The reasorifor this is not obvious.
The place is easily accessible, it is distinctly
one of the "Sights of London," it is fringed with
pleasant gardens and seats are far from scarce.
It is just the spot—Close to the main artery of
commerce from east to west, possessed of
various railway stations and several steam-
boat piers—upon which one might expect to
meet a large number of obvious strangers to
town. But this is not so, and the fact is to be
regretted, because it means that a vast propor-
tion of those who come up from the country,
-: bent on inspecting all in London that they may
- think worth seeing, go away without having
realised that they have missed one of the finest
pieces of engineering England can show.
It may be that many who would have wished
to take a stroll alon,g the Embankment, espe-
cially of an evening, have been deterred by the
doleful tales which used to be told of the abso-
lute danger of such a proceeding. The most
alarming stories were published some three or
four years since as to "the dangers of tho
Embankment." Robberie3 with vio!enee were
declared to be common, and dark hints were
added that the victims were frequently tossed
over the parapet into the rushing stream
beneath. The police were implored to be
more careful, the public were prayed to be
on their guard, and the matter was put in
such a lurid light that the innocent reader
might have thought that law and order were
extinct in the capital, and that chaos had come
again. And yet, during the whole time that
these dreadful tales were afloat, hundreds of
respectable folk were accustomed to walk
down the Embankment from Westminster to
Blackfriars every night, and were never once
molested. That occasional robberies took place
on the Embankment no one would deny; but
so they do in every thoroughfare in London, and
it is pitiable that the outcry which was raised so
long ago, should even now be giving the
promenade a bad name, and deterring folks from
walking upon it.
+ A hint has been thrown out to the officials of
the various Parliamentary Debating Societies, or
"Local Parliaments," as they are more com-
monly called, which are scattered throughout
the length and breadth of the country, which
they may find it worth while to listen to.
The majority of these institutions get into
working order at the end of September
or the beginning of October, and by November
they are all in full swing. But it happens that
the November of this year will be occupied by
the general election, and that the previous
month will be largely talo,p up with preparations
for that event. The attention of politicians,
both imperial and local, will therefore be directed
during that time to more serious work than is
involved in the delivery of speeches before Par-
liamentary Debatino. Societies; and it is sug-
gested that it would be vise on the part of these
organisations to suspend operations while the
more practical side of politics is being attended
to. The hint is such a good one that there does
not seem much doubt that it will be taken.
The growth of such societies as those to which
reference has been made is a sign of the times.
"Local Parliaments" had existed at Liverpool
and Glasgow, and a few other great towns before
they struck root in London, and it is less than
half-a-dozen years ago that the first important
society in the metropolis was formed. This was,
however, such a success that imitators sprang up
in all directions; their fame spread, and country
towns, which had not known them before,
adopted them now. It was all very ludicrous,
no doubt, to those of the onlookers who were
disposed to cavil, to see young men assuming the
titles of members of Parliament, with their
Speaker, their Prime Minister, and their leader
of the Opposition. But the idea at the bottom
of these institutions was one which was com-
mended by men of all parties, and that was that
debates should be regulated according to the
practice of the House of Commons, but which
each side would have its fair chance. In the
old-fashioned debating societies, questions of
every-day politics were tabooed lest they might
breed strife, with the consequence that
these, institutions earned a character for
dulness which kept away many who
might otherwise have joined, and lessened their
influence in a material degree. But in the
" lobal Parliaments," questions of daily moment
in the political world are eagerly welcomed as
topics for discussion, and, so far from driving
members away, they induce them to come in and
keep them together, because of the practical
instruction which they contain. There is one
further advantage in this, the value of which is
very great, and that is that each side is forced to
hear, and to hear in patience, the arguments of
the other. Nothing tends so much to prevent
a man from being a mere partisan as to compel
him to listen to both sides.
Autumn is the chosen meeting-time for socie-
ties which combine social pleasures with scientific
pursuits, and although this year there will be
no Social Science Congress' the British
i
Association will meet n Great Britain
instead of as last year at Montreal, and
will furnish intellectual pleasure to a great
number of very worthy folk. Aberdeen is
the place selected for this assembly of the
scientists' and the "granite city" is determined
to do full honour to the occasion. There are, of
bourse, the usual premonitory growlings as to the
price which is to be placed upon lodgings by those
Aberdonians who have lodgings to let; but any
-who expected to find a cheap resting place in a
Highland city at this part of the year, must have
had a touching faith in the guilelessness of the
Gaul, which is not shared by the average tourist.
Those who are willing to brave the charges will
certainly enjoy their trip to the far north. The
most abstruse speculations of modern science
will be comparatively easy of digestion amidst
the surroundings of their delivery; and the fine
bracing air of the north of Scotland will
materially assist towards the cultivation of that
anew sana in corpore sane which all true scientists
ought to desire. At the Lambeth Police-court, on Tuesday before
Amon(' the autumn excursions which are
Mr.
a Ir. Biron, John Doyle, twenty-three horse-dealer,
always enjoyable are those promoted in various living in Branscombe-road, was accused of obtaining
'
parts of England by the archmological societies, money from Eliza Hunter, a young woman, by false
which are now to be found in almost every pretences. The prosecutrix, a servant, met the
county. There is a popular, but altogether prisoner at Brixton railway-station. He was quite a
mistaken, notion that antiquarianism is stranger. He spoke to her, and asked her if she was
a dry study, and that all who follow it are apt to "engaged," and she told him no. He observed,
become fossilised. Nothing could be further "Well, I want a young lady and lam not engaged,
from the truth, and it may be recommended to and I think you will just suit me." She then in-
those who would dispute this statement to seize formed him that she was going to the Dogs' Home,
the very first opportunity which presents itself to and he said if she liked he would come with her, as he
their notice of joining an antiquarian body upon was a dog-fancier. They went, and he afterwards
one of its excursions. There are several
proposed a walk in Battersea-park, and told her he
spots
was sure she would make a nice little wife. He added
around London full of beauty as well as of his-
, that be had given up another young lady, as she did
torical interest, which can be visited under these not suit him. She told him she hoped he was not
conditions conditions which are the most deceiving her. He declared he was not, and said he
favourable which can be imagined for such a pur- intended making her a present of a sealskin tippet,
pose. And for those who do not live near the , long cloak, and dress, which had been presented to
metropolis there are many such places which him by a friend who had just arrived from abroad.
local arehseologists go to study, and which are well On another day he stated that he had been to the
worth inspection. There is a sublimity about tailor's about having the sealskin jackat made up, and
the old ruins of castles and abbeys, which are to said it wuald cost a guinea. He then asked her if
be met in every part of the country which she had any money saved up. She told him £3, and
afterwards, by his persuasion, she drew it out and
nothing but an actual visit can make rightly
. band;;Ll it to him. He said he would pay the guinea
understood.
It is no uncommon thing to overhear in Fleet-
out of it for the making of the jacket, and would take
i reat care of the rest
street the remark of one country visitor to g Mr. Biron: Were a* ny more money matters talked
another, "What a number of newspaper offices about? Witness: No, sir.
there are here ;" and it has always seemed some- Mr. Biron: All the rest, I suppose, was about love?
what singular that journalists should have dis- Witness: Yes. (Laughter.) He said he intended to
played such a longs-continuous fondness for this have me, and no one else should have me. (Renewed
one particular thoroughfare. The fondness, laughter.) The witness added that prisoner told her
indeed, has seemed to grow of late years rather to leave her situation as soon as she could, so that they
than to diminish, and one of the most striking could get married. She said she had given notice
sYrnptoms of it which is now to be noticed is the because she refused to wear a cap. (Laughter.) On
number of offices of provincial newspapers which the last occasion they walked together he asked her
are to be seen in Fleet-street. The old idea of a for a shilling, as he had run out after paying his men.
country newspaper She gave him a shilling, and he afterwards wanted
intelligence was that it cut all its general
from the London press, but that is her to treat him to a pipe. She said she could not do
that. He then asked her to buy him ioz. of tobacco
altogether exploded now. e chief provincial
and she did 80. (Renewed laughter.) In answer to
The
journals vie with their metropolitan contempo. Mr. Biron she stated that she believed the statement
raries in every branch of newspaper enter- of the prisoner, or she should not have parted with
prise. Many of them give longer reports of her money.
the Parliamentary debates than are to be Mr. Biron said it came to this, that he gained her
found in most of the journals published almost heart, three sovereigns, one shilling, and half an
in the very shadow of Westminster; if a great ounce of tobacco. (Loud loughtsr.)
political speech is delivered anywhere in the three Witness said that was so. She would never believe
ldngdoms, they issue their verbatim report another " chap " again.
Detective-Sergeant Vagg said he took the prisoner, - simultaneouslir with their London brethren; and
if a war breaks out in any part of the world into custody, when he offered to give the proseoutrix a
sovereign. The prisoner was a married man, and his
which is of interest to England, theysend special and
wife child were now in court This was not the
- Correspondents to its seat, determined to give first transaction of the kind the accused had. been
th
'-"-- -- , rcUatr9Pili.as. f 411 an 4 as early an.account of its _Fettgaged in and he had been convicted.
•I, to toluullp...ttui..tottoixil
lournirs. To aid in these various enterprises, a 11 iif itee- * -I'.-Bt;eordered a remand
The wife applied for bail.
: . :
London office is found by many such papers to Mr. Biron required two substantial bail in AO, and
t necessary, and that will account for the names two in £25. with notice to the police •