The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-04-16 00:00:00

Our youbon Corrtspouttnt.

rws deem it right to state that lee In not at all times
i entity 000elve3 with our correspondeut's uliiuiolit

Personal rumoors relative to high life are plentiful.
On (lit that the Princess, Louise. her Majesty', fourth
daughter in to be married to the Prince of Orange, heir
apparent of the Netherlands; that Sir Bounden
Palmer, with the title of Lord Selhorne of Selborne, is
to become Lord Chancellor, Lord Ilatherley resigning;
that Mr. Chichester Fortescue is to have a peerage,
and the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, rice Earl
Spencer, who is to resign; and that Mr. Denison will
resign the Speakership at the end of the session, with&
peerage of course, and that Mr. Cardwell may proba-
y be the new Speaker.
Some correspondence has taken place with regard
to the decay of the houses of Parliament, from which
it clearly appears that something ought speedily to be
done. Many parts of this noble pile of buildings are
absolutely crumbling away. It is very strange that
nothing has yet been discovered to stop this premature
decay. Temps., eds.e rerun, of course causes every-
thing to decay, but Westminster Palace is too modern
to attribute this marvellous decay to this cause. A
very few years after the building had been cimmenced,
and long before it was finished, it was found that the
stone War decaying. At the present time on the
river front the decay is perceptible. Projecting cornices,
plinths, and mouldings, have been gnawed and cracked;
the fine tracery of panels and other ornaments has
been corroded, and even on the Hot surfaces patches
of the outer skin, as it were, of the stone have peeled
off from utter rottenness. More than twenty years
ago Professor Faraday and Sir Roderick Murchinson
reported that a remedy had been found, and parts of
the building having been washed over with a prepara-
tion this was found to arrest decay, hut it is strange
hat no eff-ctual preventive has yet been discovered.
It would be essay to moralise on the decay of our
Palace of Parliament, but I leave the reader to do his
own moralising.
While public attention is being directed to the exterior
of the Houses of Parliament, the members are con-
templating improvements to make themselves more
comfortable. It is intended to form a splendid
dining-room for members of the two Houses, and
from a reply by the First Commissioner of Works to
a question, it appears that it is intended to make con-
siderable improvements in the ladies' gallery in the
House of Commons. The little gilt barred cage in
which these pretty birds are confined, does not deserve
the name it bears, for not more than a dozen ladies
can peep through the bars and see and hear anything
of what is going on. But Mr. Ayrton throws out
pleasant hints of not only a tea-room but a toilet.
room. What a delightful place the ladies will then
find it ! The ladies dearly love a cup of good tea
(and that the tea is unexceptionable in the House of
Commons I can personally vouch), and of course they
also dearly love to make themselves "look nice"
through the arts and mysteries of the toilet-room.
Another improvement, more important to the public
generally, is contemplated in the House of Commons
.—or, at least, a member who is known as the pro-
prietor of a newspaper has taken preliminary steps to
bring about such an improvement—the enlargement
of the Press gallery. Considerable alterations have
been made for the better of late years, and the mem-
bers of the I'ress have no reason to complain of the
desire to accommodate them as far as exiting arrange-
ments will permit; but still the accommodation is not
adequate to the requirements of the members of the
"fourth estate." All these suggested improvements are
eo many indications of the desire to bring Parliament
and public into more friendly relations.

The first of an annual series of International Exhibi-
thole will be held in London next year. The Prince of
Wales presided th other day at a meeting held for
the purpose of organising arrangements for the educa-
tional department of the exhibition. In this matter
he follows in the footsteps of his father, the late Prince
Consort. In the same room in the Society of Arts in
which this building was held, the Great Exhibition of
1851 and the International Exhibition of 1862 were
planned. Subsequently to this meeting there has been
held, in the same room also, a conference on the repre-
mentation of the fine arts in the forthcoming series of
exhibitions, Prince Christian presiding. When royalty
leads the way there will always be plenty to follow,
and there is every prospect of the International Exhi-
bition of 1871 being worthy of the name. Other nations
will no doubt cordially co-operate. Already in France
a committee has been officially nominated to adopt
measures for facilitating the participation of French
exhibitors. As far as can be at prevent seen the pro-
posed Exhibition will not be quite such a holiday show
as previous Exhibitions have been, but it will be per-
haps more instructive.
In many towns, and certainly in London, it will
have been remarked that the older places of Dissenting
worship are situated in very out-of -the-way corners,
but that the newer chapels are both more pretentious
in their architectural character, and in their situation.
Of late years great progress has been made in this way,
and many Dissenting chapels are splendid structures.
I noticed that at Exeter a Congregational church of
'more than ordinarily ornamental character," with a
spire 155 feet high, has been opened. We, too, have
Dissenting chapels with spires, and why not A very
fine chapel, it has been stated, is to be built at Penton•
ville, for Dr. Parker, the minister of the Poultry
Chapel. The latter building (near the Mansion House,
and therefore standing on most valuable ground) is to
be sold, on die, for 1:70,000. This is an enormous sum
for even a large chapel which is "up a court."
A wilful attempt to upset a railway train is certainly
one of the most horrible crimes that can well be ima-
gined. The extent of the loss of life and injury to
property cannot be foretold. To say nothing of the
train itself, several people may be killed, and several
more may be injured. It is not fmrprising, therefore,
that the Home Secretary has been questioned with
regard to a sentence of only a year's imprisonment on
a man found guilty of this offence. Mr. Bruce says I
that the sentence complained of was inflicted by a
learned judge, and it had never been the practice of the
Secretary of State Ps call a judge to account for any
sentence he may pass. And no doubt Mr. Bruce is
quite right ; no doubt, also, that the learned judge
acted in strict accordance with the law. But, if so,
this law is certainly not stringent enough. The crime
is most serious, and the punishment ought to be
proportionately heavy. Few people, perhaps, would
think fourteen years' penal servitude too much.
In contra-distinction to too light a punishment or
none at all, first let me note a case where punish
ment is deservingly inflicted. Two persons are I
found guilty of forging the trade-mark of an eminent
firm of pianoforte makers, and sending out pianos
ostensibly of that firm's make when they were really
not made by this celebrated house. Thus the legiti-
mate profit of selling pianofortes is to some extent
taken from the well known house, and their reputation
is injured by their name being placed on inferior instru-
ments. I certainly think that two months' imprison
meet is not too much for this offence. There is no doubt
that this sort of thing is done to a large extent. I
remember some time time ago selling a piano to a
dealer. The instrument was not exactly the kind of
piano that Mies Arsbella Goddard would choose bra
sonata, Op. 45, at Hanover-square Rooms; in fact it
deserved the classical epithet of a duffer, and for that
reason I sold it. hut happening to be in the dealer's
shop a few weeks afterwards I fancied I saw my old
piano, I looked, and looked again. Yes, it was my
old friend with a new face; it bad been furbished up,
and a "Broadwood " label bad been placed on it.
Such occurrences cannot be uncommon, and they
ought tobe severely punished.
What strange tasks some people set themselves!
Here is Mr. Elihu Burritt, "the learned blacksmith,"
reckoning up the expense of the letter u, in such words
as labour, honour, itc. He comes to the conclusion
that if we take into account ink, pens, the wages of
compositors, copyists, itc., the letter u costs English-
speaking people £lO,OOO annually. How be arrives at
this result he does not tell us, but nobody can con-
tradict him unless the same amount of trouble in taken.
Mr. Bunitt might go into still nicer calculations, and
tell us how much it costs to dot our i's anti cross our
t's ; and then perhaps he might tell us of hat use are
such calculations.

Early next month Mr. Allen intends to move that it
is desirable that the British Museum and the National
Gallery should be open on the evening of week days.
I hope the abstract resolution may be passed, so that
ultimately so desirable a result may be attained. It is
a question that interests the provinces as well as the
metropolis. "Where shall we go this evening?" in a
frequent question among visitors to London, who per.
hap, object to theatres and music-halls; and the open-
ing of these national institutions would afford a ready
answer to the question. The week-day opening would
also do much toward, meeting the views of the
National Sunday League while it would strength.. the
bands of those who are opposed to the views of that
association.