The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-09-02 00:00:00

Our ()Alin outsponbtnt.

llVe deem it right to Mato that we do not at all thoet
.dontity ouranlvos oith our Corretpcodeut's opinional

A carefully-worded paragraph, evidently a Comm
awe, appears in sonic of the paper, redttive to her
Majesty. We are told that "the stateof her health is by
it° mean, calculated to create solleitude," and that
"there is no reason to anticipate that the health of her
Majesty will not, as on previous occosi, me, be mote-
re-v,tablisbed by a reAdenee of come duration in
her nighland home." As I write, further satisfactory
fliCWd arrive 3 with regard to the health of the Sovereign
it continues to improve, and though the improve-
ment is slow and 17:elnal, it 11,4 tolltillll,lll,l, a!
bensions of a relapse no longer exist. c.,• .• • 1,•
disappointment hoe been felt throughout the
hut especially hi the North, that the state of her
:Majesty's health precluded her assisting at the hearty
rejoicing-a at lnvtrary, on the occasion of her bridal
daughter conting to her new home, but it is pleasing to
find that the Queen's visit is only wstponed, nut aban-
duped.

An Order in Council, just issued, will not be very
Goo ourably received by that numerous class -too
numenmo, it is to be feared-the clerks. Formerly the
extra clerks in Government offices -taken on for
a job, as workmen would express it-were 'mid a uni-
form rate of tia. a day. The tinter referred to ale Itches
these clerkships, and establishes a new tinier of
servants, under the title of "writers," who are to re-
ed% e Se. a day only. Considering the temporary
character of this employment, and that it can only be
obtained after proof of ability to copy correaly- - not
too easy a thing as many people imagine the new rate
of pay is certainly very low. This will be another
lea.sou for the public depreciation of Govermuent
employment, which is now looked up in in a very dif-
ferent light front that in which our fathers and
grandfathers used to regard it. high pay, few hours,
certainty of employment, and a pension in prospective,
went then the characteristics of employment "under
Goo eminent ;" but we have changed all this, or rather
this only applies bow to the few, while the many work
quite ati hard as do clerko in mercantile offices, on the
ao erage perhape get no better pay, and cannot look
forward, art their predecessors could, to certainty if
ontinut tus employment, and to the haven of roper-
animation. But while those whom this Order in
Council will more immediately affect will grumble
consumedly at it, the country will have the benefit of
rethwed expenditure for the public service.
At host we have the official notice that the new Post
fflice regulations will conic into use on the sth of Oc-
tObtlf. S., far as the general public is concerned the
oriel alterations will be that we may rend a letter
under one ounce instead of under half an ounce for a '
penny, and comparatively few will find that this makes
tiny difference to their correspondence. Still, however,
tins will be a boon to many, and we must be grateful
for small mercies. But these new regulations will
not give to ruannfacturers and traders what they have '
been so long asking for, a cheap samide and pattern post.
But it is absolutely certain that if this were
granted some section or other of the public
would avant something else, and adduce very good
argornents why they should have it. "Take what you
,an get, and then try to get more," seems to be a pretty
generally adopted motto. With regard to the sample
and pattern post, however, there is now not verymuch ,
to eomplain of, seeing that we may send a packet not
ear-soling eight ounces for 31, not exceeding ten ounces
for Wel., and not exceeding twelve ounces for 4.1.
Practically this is a sample post.
I think any one who reads impartially written ac-
counts of the recent Scott Centenary celebra-
tions, and then turns to the reports of the
celebration of the Beethoven Centenary festival
--the two taking place nearly simultaneously- -must
admit that the Germans menage this sort of thing
better than we do. The Scott celebrati el.s have been
wordy, inflated, and yet dull affairs ; but the
Beethoven Centenary festival it Bunn seems to have
been it thereughly enjoyable affair, not the leaa in-
teresting feature of it being its intern Ltional character.
I hope the inhabitants of the good town of Wood.
wish will not permit themselves to he frightened out
of their seven sen-sea, by the facts ant rumours
'relative to hidden wells in the locality. Cer-
tainly some of these facts-supposing them to
be facts, as relate 1 in the papers --are rather
alarming. A fatal aceident cwt.:are:l some time
since to a woman, who fell into a hidden well in
her garden. linen We hear of a trait-swan, who was
standing on the paved foot-path of his garden, finding
flag stuns sink under him, and a yawning gulf 2ff ft.
deep suddenly appear on the Clothe being barely able
to make his es tape. Antl then an application is made
tt,thteW,eilsvieh police-court by an inhabitant of almuse
in the town, at bo says that she "bas fonnd a little in
her garden, Whieh, o; mating with a clothes-mtp, she
limbs ti be go deep that she cannot teach the bottom."
All this. I repeat, is very alarming, awl it is rather
a wit:ward that the Metropolitan Boanl of Works, the
body who, it seems, has to deal with the matter, will
not re-assemble for six weeb to Mlle. The following
startling statement, however, would tend to show --
always supposing that the reader believes it -
that London altogether is very unsafe ! "From
the immense number of communications which
have is-en addressed to the parish authorities all over
the metropolitan district, it might he infernal that
London is honeycombed with secret wells and cess-
pools, and it is the opinion of competent persons that
the completion of the main drainage scheme has left
ery many of these hidden pitfalls insecurely pro-
tected.- What a horrible state of things ! But is it
trite? of (nurse not. It might be interesting to know
who are the e.tmpetent rersonA, and Iwo- they became
competent.

The tramway cars which are now so largely coming
into vogue in London have one very unpleasant
characteri.:tic, if peadiar interest to working men.
The majority of them appear to be built either in New
York or t',.peuhrigen. They are chipped whole, the
wheels being taken off, and the interior tilled with cargo.
They are certainly very admiral tly constructed, but our
coachbuildere could of course turn out vehieks equally
well-built. The inducement must be cheapness of con-
struction. It is sail that they are built of a peculiar
kindof timber which it is cheaper to use in the con-
struction if these cars, thus to be shipped bodily, than
it would be to export Ole timber and have the cars
built here. Be thistles it may, the reflection that Eng-
workmen ant, in this new branch of manufacture,
being undercald is not a pleasant one to oar noshanies,
-Apropos of the labour market, I am glad to find, from
trveral reliablecourceg, that there is a continuous de-
mand for navvies, labourers, and that class f men who
are employed in rough road and railway work. The
work of improvement —which, of course, means a good
&al of I lemolition - goes ,in in London, and the adap-
tation of our mats to the tramway system is in itself
creating a great deal of heavy work. A good many
Swim are employed in the latter braneh of industry,
but WU English and Irish labourers just now can
eearcely want employment without easily obtaining it.
In the higher departments of labour " things" are
flat, but this is mainly owing to the season of the year,
and, with afa harvest, there is reason to hope for at
least average activity in the labour market during the
ensuing winter.

It is rather curious to note how at this season of
6h* year the municipalities or authorities of autumn
resort.; rush into print to show how specially healthy
their localities are. I hear nothing of the original
reports on which these manifestoes are founded, but
•annot affirm that such reports never have existed !
The thought occurs, however, that a castle may have
bAfil erected merely for the pleasure of demolishing it;
Sr in other words, that somebody has started a
report that small-pox prevails at such and such a
bathing-place or fashionable town, just to enable the
town council, or burgomaidem, or authorities of some
sort, to meet in solemn conclave and assert that there
has been only one case of reported small-pox reported
during the last twelvemonth, and that turned out to
he a mistake, awl that Oder-Floppenheim was never
so healthy as it is now. The number of such announce-
ments that have appeared during the last month or
so suggest the consoling reflection that the happy
travel-grounds of the Englishman are wondrously
favourable to longevity and freedom from sickness of
every imaginable character. Where there are wimany
peculiarly healthy places, tourists can only be troubled
with an enlister/is de richt:saes.