The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-09 00:00:00

(Our Tonbon tEarrespaitlnnt.

Me deem it right to star:, that we do not at all times
kleimify 4fturaelves with our c-,rrespondent's opinions.]

The Ministerial Banquet at the Mansion House in
the first week of August always takes place a few
days before the close of the Session. It affords to
Her Majesty's chief advisers an excellent oppor-
tunity of rerriewing the Parliamentary work of the
legislative year which by that time-is so near its end,
and also furnishes a text for the speeches of the
rank and file of the Government supporters during
the recess. In the session something is constantly
turning up in Parliament as a peg on which a
candidate before any constituency can bang a
speech—questions to Ministers, the answers thereto,
and stirring scenes of political conflict amid the
debates. But when Parliament is no longer sitting,
and no information respecting Ministerial policy can
possibly come from the great talking-house at West-
minster, it is a very different matter, and the latest
official declarations are thou taken due note of. This
banquet at the Lord Mayor's official residence in early
August is one of the moat important political gather-
ings of the year. For weeks thereafter the Cabinet
Ministers, wearied with six months of exacting
duties, enjoy the recreation which they have so
richly earned, and their utterances in public
are few and far between. They do not assemble in
council in Downing-street again until the end of
October, and on the 9th November once more attend
a civic banquet at Guildhall. After such a prolonged
silence the speeches of her Majesty's Ministers are
then looked forward to with great interest; it is just
the time when they will be read—in mid-recess; for,
as a rule, there are then no more official declaratione
of policy until the opening of the Session early In
February.
As to Parliament itself, the short spell of summer
weather that came so tardily after weeks of rain had a
wonderful effect in expediting the progress of public
business. Bills to which their promoters had stead-
fastly adhered through a comparatively low tempera-
ture were reluctantly abandoned when the height of
the thermometer showed that a blaze of heat was at
length passing over the land. The late hours kept by
the House also contributed to the feeling of lassitude
which was seen generally to prevail. When a jaded
assembly, after sitting twelve hours, rises at four
o'clock in the morning, it is not in very good
working trim to meet again at twelve at noon,
or even at two in the afternoon. Members of
Parliament, like ordinary mortals, find it im-
possible to combine great mental activity with ex-
treme physical prostration. Work cannot be well
done under such circumstances; and many an obscure
passage finds its way into acts of parliament which
would not be there if a little more time were allowed
for revision. As to time, an assembly which meets in
February and sits until August, could do a great deal
of practical work in the six months if it went about it
systematically. But if the session lasted nine months,
or even twelve, the results would be very nearly the
same. The talking powers of the assembly would be
in requisition for five-sixths of the period at its
disposal, and the real amount of legislative work would
be crowded into the last few weeks.

As the Ascot race week is the signal for the waning
of the glories of the London Season, the meeting at
Goodwood really sees its close. The rank, wealth,
beauty and fashion, represented in the Duke of Rich.
mend's splendid park in one of the most beautiful
parts of the county of Sussex, have at the end of
the Goodwood week no further inducement to
remain in the capital. The Queen at her marine
residence, Lords and Commons getting through
the business as fast as possible, paragraphs ap-
pearing in the papers giving the prospects on the
moors—Who, in the face of such facts, would care to
remain in the close and stuffy town when the seaside
and the country are available? And so it comes to
pass that after Goodwood is over, the west-end squares
gradually show a display of empty houses, the Opera
brings its season to a close, many of the principal
theatres no longer keep their doors open, for the fash-
ionable life of London virtually stands still for several
weeks. Intellectual and social activity is for the
time transferred to the provinces, where the British
Association, the Social Science Congress, the
Church Congrers, the Baptist and Congrega-
tional Unions, and many other organisations hold
their annual gatherings. When the days grow
shorter, and the intermittent bursts of heat have
passed away, London will begin again to refill, many
a wayfarer in the streets betraying unmistakable
evidence, in the bronze upon his features, of the
change to country life which he has been recently
enjoying,

The August Bank Holiday should be one of the beat
appreciated o! Ole whole four, by those who delight in
out-door recreation. Seldom has it been more looked
forward to than in the present year. The experience
of its two predecessors was mournful in the extreme.
When Easter-Monday came, with a cold, relentless
rain, those who had anticipated a few hours of relaxa-
tion, made the beat of a very poor holiday by
indulging a hope that Whit-Monday would present
improved atmospheric conditions. Fifteen or sixteen
weeks had elapsed from Boxing Day, and a pleasant
April holiday would have been most acceptable, but in
the seven weeks which intervened between Easter
and Whitsuntide, the weather would have time
to improve, the sun would be longer above the
horizon, and a fine July day would certainly com-
pensate for a cheerless April one. When Whit-
Monday came, the weather was, if possible, worse
than at Easter, and the recreation of tens of
thousands was completely spoilt by a pitiless down-
pour of rain. It is therefore no wonder that the
August holiday was so anxiously looked forward to,
for now that it has gone there will be no more until
Boxing Day. Practically there had been none since
the last, on account of the disappointing weather.
Between the associations of August and those of
December there is a very marked difference. Outdoor
enjoyment in December is almost a impossible as
indoor enjoyment in August, but when all kinds of
provision are made for the latter it is disheartening to
have their effects marred by unpropitious weather.

Whether or not there is to be a dissolution of Par-
liament during the present autumn, one election will
then take place which cannot fail to command much
interest throughout the country. The term of office
of the London School Board expires in November, and
the entire body of fifty members will be reconstituted.
In our municipal corporations, one-third of the coun-
cillors go out of office by rotation every year; in the
School B mrds the whole body is dissolved every three
years; and without passing any opinion upon the
merits of the respective plans of removal, there can
be no doubt that the latter affords a very
complete and effectual opportunity for a simul-
taneous expression of public feeling on the merits
of the policy which has been pursued. Of late
there has been a great deal of controversy re-
specting the expenditure of the School Board for
London, and there can be little doubt that the cry of
economy will be raised at the elections. It will be
curious to note how the ratepayers receive it. The
Board possesses parliamentary powers to levy a rate
of 6d. in the pound for educational purposes; but when
it was formed, a statement was made in the House of
Commons that it was improbable any demand would
be ralde for a rate higher than 3d. It is, however,
now 5d., and will therefore in all likelihood reach its
limit, The growth in the coat and dimensions of the
plan of that educational structure, of which the
foundation I were laid nine years ago, is a question
well worthy of attention from more than one point of
view.

The storm which swept over London and a largo
part of the kingdom on Saturday night, was one of
the severest that has been experienced for some time.
True, the tempests of this summer have not been so
numerous as those of its predecessor; for it will be re-
membered that last year bursts of tropical heat were
almost invariably followed by violent thunderstorms.
The heat of the present season has not been so intense,
but in this Clifie there were other conditions of the
atmosphere favourable to the gathering of the forces
which burst upon the land in the very early hours
of Sunday morning. A remarkable feature of
this outbreak was its total unexpectelness, the
forecaste of the meteorological department having
given little if any indication of that which was in store
for so many of the shires of England. It is satisfac
tory to know that, co far as London was concerned,
the electrical disturbance had the result of effectually
cleat i the air, and that the Bank Holiday was the
most enjoyable of the year.

The presentation of colours to a regiment is always
an interesting event, and when the ceremony is per-
formed by cne of the members of the Royal family,
the occasion is one which, from its associations, is
long remembered, not only by the soldiers, but by the
spectators as well. In December last the King's Own
Regiment, before it started for the Cape, went
to Windsor Castle, and received new colours from the
hands of her Majesty; and the Twelfth Regiment has
just been presented with new ones by the Duchess of
Connaught. The military profession of the Duke, and
the parentage of her Royal Highness—her father
being Prince Frederick Charles, the famous "Red
Prince" of the Franco-German war—made the part
taken by the Duchess one of singular appropriateness.
Her Royal Highness has, in the few months since her
marriage, made herself thoroughly at home with the
people. of her adopted land, and has shown that she
can dise.h.arge with grace, dignity, and success, the
duties which fall to the lot of princesses of the reigning
It is not often that occasion arises for the presents.
and
f late n of tlhaetb;enakrea..inofPdaeorld, swo h
iam= toacvicttoo war riowusarwmiyth;

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