The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-01 00:00:00

officers for the loss of the vessel was opened at Devon.
port, and presided over by Rear-Admiral Lord John
Hay, second in command of the Channel Squadron,
the result of which will be fresh in the recollection of
our readers. An occurrence which created a painful
impression at the time was the running down of the
sailing yacht Mistletoe belonging to Mr. Heywood, of
Manchester in the Solent on the 18th of August
by the—My al" roht —Atberta,--which- was conveying
the Queen and the Princess Beatrice th Gosport.
A young' ls,cly on board the yacht, and two of
the crew WereTlrowned ; and, as lately as. the 7th of
December the question as to the responsibility for this
sad disaster was before the presiding judge at the Win-
chester assizes, but the jury, being unable to agree
upon a verdict, were discharged. _ _

Wheka the year opened a coroner's jury at Oxford
, was inquiring into the awfu càlamity of Christmas
Eve,at, Shipton' by which a heavily ladezi train on the
Great :Western line'was 'thrown off the 'rail*, 31
persons being killed, and upwards —of ' wounded.
Happily 'there has 'been no counterpart to this in
1875;
,for the railway casualties of the year, although
of an average number, have not been heavy in the loss
of life. The metropolis has been free from great fires;
and, with one exception, from extraordinary crimes.
That exception, which will long be known as the
" Whitechapel Tragedy," has in its full details been too
recently before the public to require more than this
bare mention hue. . 'h-
Wjth no war upon her hands, the commercial and
trading prosperity of Great Britain hae suffered little
material diminution. Capital and enterprise, though
in a more restricted degree than was the ease two or
three years ago, still find scope, and the demand for
labour, except in one or two departments of industry,
Is upon the whole good. Demands for higher wages
have generally ceased; indeed, in some trades a reduc-
tion of remuneration has had to be submitted to. The
price of coal has ceased to be the subject of so much
comment as it gave rise to in 1872 and 1873, and there
have not been those startling fluctuations in the market
which characterised those years. .The price of another
necessary of life—animal food—has now been a toric
of discussion for months, with apparently little chance
of its becoming lower. The monetary world has not
had to bear up under a high Bank-rate. On the 7th
of January the rate was reduced from 6 to 5 per cent.,
on the 14th it was lowered to 4, and on the 28th to 3.
On the 18th February it was raised from 3 to 3, and on
the Bth of July it was again put back to 3; on the 29th
it fell to 2, and on the 12th August it was as low
as 2 per cent. On the 7th October it was raised to 2i,
and on the 14th to 3. Fluctuations like these, how-
ever, do not affect in a great degree the general
financial condition of the country, however they may
agitate the Stock Exchange, chere there have been
considerable changes in the prices of foreign securities
,of late—firstly through the default of the Turkish
Government to pay its creditors in full, and secondly
through the purchase, by our own Cabinet, of the
Khedive's interest in the Suez Canal. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer, speaking in the Free Trade Hall,
Manchester, on the 6th December, expressed no con-
cern as to the prospects of the Revenue, and anti-
cipated a balance on the right side when he pre-
sents his Budget to the House of Commons next
April, even though the amount to the good may be
a comparatively small one.
Death, as usual, has been busy in the Legislative, as
well as amongst the less favoured classes. We have
already given the list of members of the House of
Commons so removed; and now turning to the House
of Lords, we find the chronicle to be as follows: The
Earls of Huntingdon, Ranfurly, and Yarborough,
Viscount Hill, Lord's St. Leonards, Westbury, Trede-
gar, Lovat, Grantley, Dorchester, and Fitzwalter.
The oldest of these was Lord St. Leonards, who was
94, the youngest was the Earl of Ranfurly, 26. Of
men otherwise distinguished in various walks of life,
our obituary must include the Rev. ChaTles Kingsley,
Canon of Westminster Abbey; Sir W. Sterndale
Bennett, Professor of Music at the University of Cam-
bridge, the Deans of Chichester, Lichfield, and
Worcester, Sir Charles Lyell, the eminent geologist,
the Hon. G. C. Norton, for many years magistrate at
the Lambeth Police-court; General Sir Hope Grant,
distinguished for his services in India and China; Sir
Arther Helps, Clerk of the Privy Council;
Field Marshal Sir William Gomm, Constable
of the Tower; the Comte de Jarnac, French
Ambassador to the Court of St. James's; Sir Joseph
Hawley, fuur times winner of the Derby; Sir Gillery
Pigott, a Baron of the Exchequer; Mr. Stevens and
Mr. Phillips, sculptors; Mr. H. L. Bateman, theatri-
cal manaLzer ; Rear-Admiral Sherard Osbo7n • Pro-
fessor (Jai rues, political economist; Sir Frederick
Arrow, 21 tster of Trinity House; Lady Franklin,
widow of Lhe eminent Arctic explorer; Sii Francis
Head, formerly Governor of Canada; Sir Charles
Locock, physician to the Queen; the Right Rev. Dr.
Thirlwall, formerly Bishop of St. David's; Sir
Edward Ryan, Vice-chancellor of the University of
London; Commodore Goodenough, R.N. • Sir George
Honyman formerly a Judge in the Court Common
Pleas ; arid Sir Charles Wheatstone, the welknown
electrician.

Mortality's roll is, naturally, the sequel to a review
of the year. It tells us of the transitory basis upon
which rest all earthly things. These years, as they
fly past, each apparently fleeing away more rapidly
than its predecessor, while departing seem to leave
behind them footprints on the sands of Time. Thou-
sands of them have rolled over the heads of the children
of men since the creation, and as the stream of Time
flows steadily and unrestingly on, mankind is often
disposed to place a lower value upon it than its im-
portance should always command. Yet, in looking
back over life's changing story, we do not find a single
year which, once fled, we have the power to bring back
again. They.have gone—gone whether with chances
stized, opportunities lost, hopes realised, pleasures
enjoyed, or sorrows endured; and oo human strength
can recall them. .It is recorded of Queen Elizabeth
that, when she found her life fast ebbing, she declared
that she world give a thousand pounds for. every
minute that her existence could be prolonged. Time,
however, was not to be purchased in this way; and,
seeing how priceless it is, well may those who believe
in the earnestness of life endeavour to make the most
of it. Indeed, Time itself is continually telling us
in its own emphabic language not to waste
it. Listen to the church bells as the midnight chime
tolls solemnly out the last hour of the old year. Stroke
after stroke seems to fall like a knell as it is caught
by the fitful breeze, wrapped in its airy folds, and
carried far up into cloudland, lost for ever amid the
boundless realms ct space. The sound has barely died
away, before the wail for the departed one is turned
into a son.. of joy-at the arrival of its successor. The
bells, which clanged out mournfully the last flickering
embers of the dying year, are now heard merrily ring-
ing in New Year's morning. Its turn, too, will come
to be tolled out, like all the rest which have one
before it ; but there, at the moment of its birth, it is
fresh and vigorous, rejoicing in its newly-formed life,
and inviting the busy millions upon the surface of the
earth to lose no time in vain regrets over the past,
which has gone for ever, but to make the best of that
living present in which they have their being.