The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-08-26 00:00:00

A SOUTH AMERICAN PARADISE.

Mr. Rntabold thus df scribes the capital of Chili in his
Official Report :

"A. first visit to the city of Santiago cannot but be
matter of agreeable surprise to an intelligent
European; but after a more lengthened stay, the
ambitious growth and luxury of the town will pro-
bably seem to him out of due proportion with the
power and resources of the country of which it is the
capital. One is, indeed, scarcely prepared to find, 90
miles inland, at the foot of the Andes, a city of some
160,C00 inhabitants, with such handsome public build-
ings, stately dwelling-houses, and exceptionally fine
promenades. What, perhaps, strikes the stranger
most—next to the marvellously beautiful situation of
the town—is the atmosphere of aristocratic ease and
exclusiveness pervading it. Long, quiet streets, of
private houses, mostly built after the fashion of the
Parisan petit hotel, with some of far more ambitious
style, their drowsiness now and then broken in
upon by the clatter of a smart brougham or well-
appointed barouche that might figure with credit in
the Bois de Boulogne (the models of Chilean irkanee
are all French) ; well-dressed, refined-looking women
gliding along the well.swept pavement; numerous
churches, and long, low' whitewashed convent walls;
the absence of bustle, the concentration of all trade
and shopping in is few central thoroughfares—all com-
bine to make one ask one self if this be not the resi-
dence of some dreamily-quiet, orthodox, luxurious
Court sooner than the centre of a small, stirring, hard-
working Democratic State. The phenomenon easily
explains itself to those who know that modern Santiago
is a creation of class-government ingrafted on one of
the great strongholds of Spanish orthodoxy. Un-
fortunately, it is an absorbing place, drawing to
itself too much of the wealth of the country.
The dream of the provincial Chileno is to make
enough money to build or buy a house in Santiago
and there live at ease. It has thus became an idle,
expensive, and, so to express it, artificial capital of a
busy, thrifty country. It is also a place of ugly con-
trasts, for, cheek by jowl with palatial structures, the
most dismal hovels are to be seen there, poverty
flaunting its rags at every step in the broad sunshine,
instead of being relegated to remoter suburbs as in
European great cities. It is termed by its inhabitants
'the Paris of South America, but is more like slices of
Paris dropped down here and there in the midst of a
huge, straggling Indian village. Of its increasing
luxury some idea may be formed from the statistics of
the private buildings commenced einoe 1872. In that
year the aggregate value of those buildings was esti-
mated at 4,338,100 dols. It fell in 1873 to 1,439,430
dols. ; rose slightly in 1874 to 1,497,248 dols., and in
the present year sank, under the influence of the
crisis, to 806,130 dols. This gives a value in round
numbers of 8,000,000 dole., or £1,600,000, for
the four years. Considerably over 1,000 houses
were built during the period, some of these being
residences of considerable pretensions. In 1873 the
most expensive of them were put at 80,000 dole.,
65,000 dole., and 55,000 dols, each. In 1874 permission
to build was obtained for one house estimated at
200,000 dole., and for nine others ranging between
100,000 dols. and £50,000 dols. each. Notwithstanding
this additional house accommodation, the cost of
house-rent still goes on steadily increasing, for the
simple reason that most of the new houses are built to
be lived in by their owners and not to be let for specu-
lation. The number of private carriages and other
vehicles affords, perhaps, till more striking evidence
of the style of living at Santiago. The carriage licences
taken out in 1875 show that there were altogether
1,284 private carriages, with 471 public conveyances,
and 2,750 carts and drays. Besides these, the principal
streets are traversed by numerous American tramway-
csrs, which carry several millions of passengers in the
ccurse of the year, and, besides being a great conven-
ience in a town covering an immenseextent of ground,
have proved an excellent investment to the fortunate
shareholders. The sums expended by the Munici-
pality of Santiago on public works and buildings have
doubled its debt in four years, raising it from
1,134,291 dols. to 2,229,491 dole, For this, the town
has to show an extremely handsome opera house
(which, unfortunately, seldom pays its expenses), some
commodious markets, and numerous embellishments to
the pretty parks and gardens which are such attractive
few ures of the place. The large amount of money
i expended on the remarkable, although somewhat fan-
! taqic ' paseo ' of Santa Lucia (442,173 dole., or over
1 £88,000) mostly procd-eded from private subscriptions,
- but might, perhaps, have been applied to more pro-
-1 fitable purposes. Certainly a poi tion, at least, of the
sums absorbed b 3 purely ornamental expenditure
would have been usefully employed in repaving and
thoroughly cleansing the streets, and making thew
I
safer than they are with the existing small and
wretchedly-paid police force."

THE NEW EDUCATION ACT. Considerate
Landlord: "Are you wanting anything done to your
cottage, Mrs. Grunsle ? "—Mrs. Gransle : "Well,
sir, I was a goin' to arst you if you 'd build a little room
for our J'mima. The children do disturb her so when
she's a studyiu' I I "—Punch.

A PREVENTIVE OF SUNSTROKE.
The exceptionally high temperature of the last few
days has naturally producei a plentiful crop of sugges-
tions tor mitigating the effects of excessive heat. It
would almost seem that a certain class of Poilantbra-
plats keep a supply of these stock specifics on hand, so
regularly do they appear in the papers whenever the
thermometer registers more than 80 degrees in the
shade. It is therefore, all the more refreshing to come
across a somewhat novel recommendation in the
Columns of a Leeds journal. The writer, a local me-
dical man was recently summoned to attend a mason
who had been struck down by sunstroke when working
on a scaffold. In spite of all remedies, the sufferer
died in the course of a few hours, another victim to
our insular habits of clothing ourselves as if an Arctic
temperature prevailed all the year round an the Uni-
ted Kingdom. Impressed by the absurdity of this
national custom, the doctor exercised his wits to discover
a practicable preventive of sunstroke. After profound
meditation it occurred to his mind that summer heat
in Italy is much greater than we experience in Eng-
land even during exceptionally hot seasons. Hence it
follows that English labourers would enjoy the same
Immunity from sunstroke as their Italian brethren
if they would only consent to adopt the same means.
These are very simple, and almost costless, every cab-
bage garden providing them in abundance. The
method practised by Italian agriculturists consists in
"forming a large cabbage leaf into a skull cap, and
then pinning it either within the ordinary hat, or
directly upon the head." The former mode is already
in use among English agricultural labourers, but we
are inclined to prefer the latter. A lining of cabbage
leaf inside a hat prevents ventilation, and might per-
haps permanently impart a disagreeable odour to the
article. These objections do not obtain to the other
plan, which has the additional advantage of being more
artistic. One only has to picture Hodge ihatched with
cabbage leaf, to appreciate the msthetic superiority of
this Italian fashion. A little misgiving occurs to us,
however, which it might be as well to remove. The sug-
gestion is, it will be seen, to pin the cabbage cap "directly
upon the head." Would not this be likely to prove
disagreeable to English labourers, whatever it may be
to their class in Italy ?—Globe.