The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-08-11 00:00:00

Our yonlion CorrtspoOent.

jiVe deem it right to state th:7.t we do not at all timel,
lentify ounelves with our correspondent's opinions.]

Mr. Gladbtone's indication of the hour of release
for wearied legislators was received in the House of
Commons with the same manifestations of welcome as
those which accompany the announcement of a break.
log up at a school. Saturday—the 25th at the latest
—is now the day fixed for the prorogation, and there
Is little doubt that every effort will be made to get
the business through by that date. What has not
been done then will remain undone, and that will be
practically a fortnight after the time at which
members of Parliament, like ordinary human
beings, betake themselves to the moors for the
slaughter of grouse. Philosophers have been

cynical over the fact that the legislation of
a vast empire is made dependent upon the time
of maturity arrived at by a bird of very mcderate
size. This, however, does not alter the fact that it is
so, and those acquainted with the inner life of the
House of Commons know how difficult it is to keep
hon. members together after the 12h of this month.
They have given so much money for the right of shoot-
ing over certain moors, and mourn the loss of every
day's enjoyment which is thus mined.

The session which thus draws rapidly to a close
began later than usual. It opened on the 15th of
February, Parliament having risen only on the 2nd
of December, consequent on the autumn sitting.
When the egislators asvtub!ed, in the middle of
rfrebruary, the Prime Minister was absent. He
had not recovered from the protracted fatigues of the
autumn session; and as a result had to abandon his
hope of addressing his constituents in Midl)thian in
January, betaking himself instead to the shores of the
Mediterranean. There the veteran Premier laid in a
stock of health which has carried him through the
fatigue and the anxieties of the session. No doubt
his voice is failing. Time was—and that not so
very long ago—when every note could be heard in
the remotest corner of the chamber where the right
hln. gentleman has been so conspicuous a figure
during fifty years; but now the newspaper readers
may often see in the Parliamentary reports
that Mr. Gladstone was "understood to say"
this, that, or something else. Frequently his voice
does not reach the gallery, to the manifest distress of
the reporters, who know the value of the utterances
of the Prime Minister of England, and that more
especially upon questions of foreign policy his declara-
tions ought to be given, seeing that within a few
minutes they are telegraphed to all the capitals of
Europe.

The Court will soon be leaving Osborne for Bal-
moral, the fashionable part of London will be out
of town, and, in common parlance, the great capital
will be empty. The Upper Ten Thousand will
have gone, but the millions will remain. The
drawn blinds in West-end squares will testify
to the departure of the occupauts of many

'a stately mansion; but so far as the business
part of the vast metropolis is concerned, no difference
will be experienced. See the space in front of the
Royal Exchange at noon, or London Bridge, or
Cheapaide, and no diminution will be observed in the
tide of the enormous traffic. It is ever coming, ever
going; indeed, the aspect of the busy streets of the
City of London is one which is unequalled in any
other capital in the world. Paris, Vienna, St.
Petersburg, Rome, Constantinople, New York, none
of these can present such a picture of business life and
activity as that in what has been described as the

heart of the nation, the empire, and the world.
The newsnaperreading public have lately had their
' al of sensational intelligence. The defeat and death
of Cetewayo, the drowning of Captain Webb, the
assassination of Carey, the informer, the ravages of
the cholera in Egypt, and worst of all the terrible
earthquake in Ischia, have crowded rapidly on each

.other, the record of one event speedily displacing the
rememl.;rance of its predecessor. The human mind is
not 'sufficiently capaciotits to retain occurrences of such

'momentous interest all at once; but certainly the
earthquake is one of the most terrible cilamities which
have been chronicled in our time. People like ourselves,
who do not live in volcanic regions, cannot understand
the inclination of those who take up their residence in
immediate proximity to a burning mountain. The
history of those climes is full of catastrophes, one of
the most terrible of the whole being the destruction
of Herculaneum and Pompeii, eighteen centuries ag3.
Yet as though nothing whatever had happened, the
people continue to build their cities at the base of the
volcano, happy under the blue sky and the splendid
fertility of the country, until a fearful disaster, sudden
and overwhelming, sweeps them from the land.
The railway companies are just now holding their
half-yearly meetings, these dealiog with the traffic
receipts up to the 30th of June last. As every one
knows, the second six months of the year are always
the best for the railway companies, because these in-
clude the tourist traffic. The great London termini

'tat now present very animated spectacles at the de.
parture of heavily•laden excureion trains, and
continue to do so for some weeks to come. The early
days of August, with their warm sunshine, and at
times their sultry air in London, very materially con.
tributed to the general exodus from the metropolis.
This is often as'aisted by the attractive advertieennents
at the railway stations, for these are turned out in the
very highest style of pictorial art, thp perspective
being admirably given.

The earlier working of the Parcels Post WAR a satis-
factory augury of it success, and its popularity was
sufficiently manifest from the amount of business al-
ready transacted. No one who has had experience of
the difficulty of sending a parcel into the country
will fail to appreciate the advantage of the revolivion
which has been initiated by the Postmaster-General.
Like other great reforms, it is said to have had its origin
in the purest accident. Mr. Fawcett was sojeurning
We' remote country place on a visit out of the
reach of the line of railway; and on his return
was anxious to send his host a remembrance of the
pleasure he had experienced. He found that
he could prepay the coat of the package only as far
as the end of the railway journey, and that its convey.
ance by the common carrier would have to be defrayed
a the other end. It is not meet to make the recipient
of a gift pay the cost of its being brought to the door;
but by the Post Office taking in hand the carriage of
parcel as well as of newspapers and letters, tie) prim
ciples of prepayment obviates such difficulties as that
which presented itself to the Poatma-ter-General
when he endeavoured to make an ordinary acknow-
ledgment of one of the courtesies of life.
The August Bank Holiday is that to which those
who enjoy it look forward to spending in settled
weather. Easter is too often cold and wet, the choice
being between bitterly cold east winds and drenching
rain. Whit-Monday this year was not much better,
for although the cold of Easter was fine, there were
the inevitable showers which alternate with thunder-
storms as an accompaniment of a Whit• Monday
holiday. People, however, expect better thing-) of
August, and so far as last Monday was ceneeined,
the day in London was not a bad one. It is true
there was an absence of sunshine, but there
was also an absence of rain and the temperature
was not too hot to interfere with the enjoy-
ment of those who would not care to live in
tropical climates. The aspect of the city streets of
London on a Bank Haliday is a remarkable one.
Shop, offieee, counting-houses, warehouses are all
closed, and even a considerable proportion of the
restaurants put up their shutters ; so that if the excur-
sionists to the metropolis for a day have not taken care
to bring their provisions with them, they are likely
enough to be sent empty away. Indeed, a Bank
Holiday in Fleet.street or in Cheapen() so much re-
sembles a Sunday in the aspect of these thoroughfares,
so far as the general suspension of business is con-
cerned, that it would be diff cult to distinguish the
difference, except for the Presence of the sound of
church bells on the Suntley and its absence on Bank
Holiday.