The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-06-30 00:00:00

Our fon* Cutup°Amt.

[WI deem it right to state that we do net at all times
ieutify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The Queen generally returns from Balmoral, so far
as the summer trip to the Highlands is concerned,
towards the end of Jane, and this year there has been
no exception from the ordinary rule. The autumn
stay there is always the longer of the two; but it ap-
pears that within the ensuing few months her Majesty
will again seek the benefit of foreign travel, and
-Flcrence is amongst the places mentioned in this con-
nection. The sojourn of the Queen on the shores of
the Mediterannean in the spring of 1882 left behind it
many agreeable associations, and it is not, therefore,
surprising that the clear sky of Italy should again be
sought. Three days before her Majesty's return from
the north, she entered the forty•seventh year of her
rein; so that the country is now within measurable
distance of the celebration of a jubilee. Even then
Queen Victoria would be half a generation younger
than her grandfather, George 111., at the time of his
death.

The Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace has
once more passed over, and it has been a musical and
financial success. The Prime Minister was there on
the Selection Day, when an amusing incident occurred.
His elder brother, Sir Thomas Gladstone, of Fasque,
Kincardineshire, to whom the right hon. gentlemin
bears a strong resemblance, was mistaken for him and
was (leered tremendously, the enthusiastic audience
laughing heartily when the error wasAiscovered. Mr.
Gladstone scarcely looked at the orchestra or the
people during the whole of the performance. He
followed every note of the music from a volume which
he h,ald in his hand, and this was regarded as a singular
illustration of the thcrcughness of his nature.
Although there have been several Parliamentary
vacancies lately, the balance of parties has not been
affected, Many of the elections have been in Irish
constituencies, and the ramifications of Irish polities
are scarcely understood on this side of St. George's
Channel. With respect to gains and losses, it is note-
worthy that throughout the whole of 1882 neither side
gained any advantage from the twenty-four elections
which took place. One seat was gained and another
was lost; so that at the end of the twelve months the
rivalthieftains in the House of Commons stood exactly
as they were at the beginning, so far as the number of
their supporters on the benches around them was con-
cerned. This is very uncommon; indeed a parallel
case has not happened for many years.
The question of State-aided emigration is assuming
increased attention, and it has been brought before
the Secretary of State for the Colonies by an in-
fluential deputation. The Government was asked to
assist in the tranafer to our colonies of some of the
surplus population for whom there does not appear to
be room in the labour market. There is little doubt
that every trade and profession in this country is
overcrowded, and that some of our colonies would be
very glad of large numbers of those who find it so
difficult to obtain anything like constant employment
here ; but it is not every constitution that can stand
the climate of Canada, and the vast distance of
Australia acts upon many like a deterrent influence.
At present the principal flow of the emigration tide is
in the direction of the United States, where there is
every variety of climate and of soil.

It was about this time twelve months that the House
of Commons was busily engaged in working through
Corr mittee an Irish measure; now it is the Corrupt
Practices Prevention Bill which is under considera•
Hon. Its i.rogreEs does not give much hope that any.
thing like the expected amount of legislation will be
accomplished. Although the rules of Procedure have
l'een reform2d, it seems as though the House had

ti,uclied only the fringe of a great question. Many
cumbrous forms, which did very well in the days of
the stage wagon and the mail coach, are still per-
mitted to exist. Ordinal y men of bush ess adapt their
mode of conducting it to the altered circumstances of
the times, but this has not yet been done by the
House of Commons as a collective body.
The abandonment of the Criminal Code Bill has
been quoted as an illustration of the failure of the
system of delegation and devolution to Grand Com-
mittees; but on the other hand the Bankruptcy Bill
has been successfully worked thitsugh by the President
of the Board of Trade. The plan has not been long in
operation—only a few weeks in fact; but there is
likely to be a very formidable opposition to the system
of Grand Committees being made 3 standing order,
for it was agreed to last year on the understanding
that it was to be an experiment only, and that its
utility was to be discussed at the end of the present

ses,ion. It seems clear enough that the House of
Commons is overweighted with detail, and there ought
to be some means of obtaining relief.
The frien.l•3 of temperance are awaiting with much

',.terest the publication of the forthcoming quarterly
r-venue ret,rne, to see aihethEr the diminution in the
excise recelp's still bears out the assumption that tkie
aoko.A.Lc..,ing 11Litluta E....1...te11. 1. o
doubt a corbiderable change in this direction has taken
vlace only within ten yers. It was in the autumn of
1872 that we paid three millions and a quarter as com-
pensation for the damages inflicted upon the American
mercantile marine by the Alabama; and such was the
increase in the revenue just then that it was said we
had drunk ourselves out of the Alabama difficulty.
The an,mentation in the excise receipts gave rise to
that mhertion, which would not, however, be made
now.

The inter• University Cricket Match, which is
annually played at Lord's, is one of the events of
the season, although no doubt the Eton and Harrow
contest is mere representative of the rank and fashion
gathered in the metropolis in the first fortnight of
July. On the other side of the river Kennington
Oval is the famous trysting place for the devotees of
this popular national game. One of the latest of the
important matches played there was that of North v.
South, for the benefit of Pooley, the veteran wicket.
keeper of the Surrey Eleven. A familiar figure at the
Oval on the occasion of a great cricket match is the
Speaker of the House of Commons, who finds It an
easy distance from his official residence in the Palace
of Westminster.

The death of Sir William Knollys, the Gentleman
Usher of the Black Rod, removes a venerated official
from the Palace of Westminster. Sir William Knollys,
who for many years had the superintendence of the
Household of the Prince of Wales, was appointed
Black Rod on the death of the late Sir Augustus
Clifford, and was remarkable for the dignity of his
demeanour. A. singular inoident happened some
years ago in connection with Sir William's mode
of summoning de House of Commons to the
Upper House on the occasion of a Royal Com-
mission. The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod
announced that the Lords Commissioners " re-
quired " the attendance of the Commons in the
House of Peers. Attention was drawn to the per-
emptory nature of the expression, and thereafter it
was changed into " desire" or "request." The emolu-
ments of Black Red are £2,500 a year, with very light
duties and a residence within the precincts of the
Legislative Palace.

In the season the life of a Royal Prince who makes
an effort to fulfil his engagements must often be an
arduous one, On Satunday, Mr. E. N. Buxton, the
Chairman of the London School Board, invited to his
residence at Knighton, Epping Forest, a number of
ladies and gentlemen to meet the Prince and Princess
of Wales at the competition of the School Board chil-
dren in their annual drill. Mr. Brixton, in proposing
the -health of the Prince at the luncheon, described
him as one of the hardest-worked of her Majesty's
subjects. Two topics of late have commanded the
special interest of his Royal Highness—the Royal
College of Music, and the Fisheries Exhibition. On
the same day on which the Heir• Apparent was at
Knighton congratulating the school children on their
excellence of dl id, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught
distributed the prizes at the medical school in
connection with St. Thomas's Hospital, and the
Duchess of Teck performed a similar duty at the
Military Tournament at the Agricultural Hall,
An interesting statement has come from the Con.
t'nent to the effect that at a =satin of the King of
Denmark and the Emperor of Germany, their Majesties
would discuss a projected bethrothal of Prince Walde-
mar of Denmatk and the Princess Victoria, second
dAughter of the Crown Prince of tiermany, and there-
."' fore granddaughter of our Queen. The rumour has
since been denied to a certain extent, and it may be
that the objection to it is not so much that
it is incorrect as that it is premature. The mar
riage would unite still more closely the Royal houses
of England, Denmark, and Germany. The previous
inter•marriages have been of the happiest possible
character, and year by year during the twenty years
she has been in England has the Princess of Wales
grown in popular favour. To see the Princes 4 is
difficult to imagine that two decades have passed since
the sea-king's daughter came over the water; still
more difficult that she has a son old enough to go into
bachelor quarters, and that next year her eldest
daughter will undergo the process known as "corning
out."

An international exhibition of manufacture., Ene
ari,, and agric,lltvlre will be held at Nice from Dec. 1,
1883, to May 1, 1884.

At Limerick, on Friday night in last week' the back
part of a dwelling-house, built in the year 1618, fell,
killing a man and his wife. The front portion fell in
the early part of the year without causing any per-
sonal irj ry. In the face of the wall wbich fell on
Friday night waa discivered a large marble mantel.
p'ece erected in 1633. This had been removed as an
article of curiosity, and the operations probably caused
the wall to give way.