The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-21 00:00:00

THE FORESTERS FETE.

'..
- ----
Tue.day was the Foresters' Pyle lay at Norwood (near '
London ~ awl, as usual it drew a gloat gatherbig .if visitors„
though it so many by ucar'y 20.000 as have come down on
so iie previous oc,salons. The day at the outset was certainly
threatening, lint, as a role, the weather, whether good or
bid. makes very little dittetence to the attendance at these
working-men', faes, Mat because the ticket are generally
il ilit ill ativai.ce, and nest because when the ar. isan has
arr.-Vol tor his holiday &MI dey's °Mug at the Palace he
,eldoui lets is. t weather interfere with Ills totendtd pro-
gramme ..1 ainusemen tot.
Tueality was not a bright day, hut it at least was all that
was wished, for the rain appeared so ',eminent at many
times that the only wish wound to he that it weal keep
IT, and this at least it did do throughout the day and .
night The road to the Crystal Palace was not nearly so
crowded as formerly.
The great mi.jority of the visitors went down by rail, and
went down very early and very fast, which m iy lie gathered
from the fact, that more than 40051 had arrived before
two o'clock. awl as they co . tin LIPli to Collie in for sometimes
afterwards there could not before event g have been much
less than 00.1)00 people at the OW.
As is generally the case, the visit ri were left to amuse
themselves In the grounds (brie were, It le trite. Plenty of
other a. tractions prtoitied, hilt the Foreiters' Fe's, is essen-
tially an out-door fe, ai the crowds as they arrived
swarmed out into the gardens Here there was a perfect
;ettibotras de ,chraes. Thire were plenty of hand., so
: dainit g was IIIIIITOY ISt it in all 11,TVC,1.,1113, even before the
procesamo from the cricketer. unit was f °ruled at One ealCk ;
' hut Oa less that Is cainl about this procesaion, ant }truces-

sion, the bet' er
The Foresters' Ftlte, as seen in the gardens when some
CO tOO or 70,004 i people are all lia-ntlestly and thoroughly en-
joying tneinselve , is a great sight, not only worth seeing
but worth c-ming far to :et, as a kind of impromptu festival
among a people least given to such displays. hilt it must he
owned that the procession Is not worth seeing. 'the eta'
melts of processional grandeur among the Foresters ;de few
and very small A few in the green velvet doublet and
. plumes and yellow jack boots which. according to traditbn,
fortiied the every-day COSI ume of Robin Hood headel the line.
Some cat tied long titian, and were painted. Mit in spite
of all cod .r evidence to the contrary, these union tousles
were perfect!), harmless mud tit to be at large. After th, Be,
or sometimes mix d with them, acre menMers of the oi del
reamnably attired, and ,my wearing the, wishes and
Invites. The rear Wia brought up by any who clime
to j .in the line, which was very much cheered .11 very
much laughed at as it pasted along the grounds 'the
sooner (remarks The Times; the For,sters keep the harm-
less i dote it, c ethnic mit id their spun il celebrations the
better it will be for the belief of the public in the general
sanity of their aseociation.
After the procession tile games in the gardens went viral
before. There was, of course, 'kits in the ring," which ta
quite an institution of these days, and which, like the veloci-
pede races or croquet games, requires study to hoc-Ole a pro-
ftoient 0,. Dieselas some of the favourite young women to
weitim the handl:el chief wa o. ten thrown had a hard time I.f
it, and were iticewainly occupied in puesuMg or being our-
sued. The latter was nf ten riot an easy task, for IMMO ot them
ran l-k" tee,', and a great deal of pidgment was riqtrired ill
the chase. If the swain ran too sio iy lie was c ital to
lose his prize iii the crowd, while if he ran too last UMot his
capture he was almost equally cert .in to come to earth and
grief together amid roars it laughter. Beside this very
popular game there was the dancing of which nothing
more need be said than that the music played, and very
many scores of viunies essayed to keep Lillie GO it wi is mnre
or less success There wse almost a plethora of balloon
ascents, no less than three genii up with people in the cars,
to say nothing of the pilot halloolm, or rhea-engem which
were sent heft re, and the departure of which kept some
40,000 people staring up into the air with as much apparent
int, rot as it each little fragile hag of gas gOlititiiinti the
' members of both nooses of the Legislsture Still these
, were only temporary Oistractions ,r,m t-,e great business of
' dancing and playinu in the grounds. This was kept no till
'., dusk, and eve, after it, and it was well into night before
,alt visitors were seat away.

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH IN
AUSTRALIA.
The Aus•ralians aie not in good humour with the
Prince. They felt annoyed that the costs of the pr.
gents made by him on his first vi-it was charged upon
the public purse of the United Kingdom, and now his
viidt to New Zealand is regarded as in, pportune i, he
was not to inter ere in the struggle that elgros-e. all
men's thoughts in that colony. The Hobart Town
Mercury writes as follows :
'• There was reason to believe, and events showed, that the
natives—friendly. neutral, and ho,tile--looked fmward
ti
the visit of the Prince as in some way calculated to bring
about a settlement of the unhappy differences that have
been distracting New Zealand For their meeting with
the Prince the chiefs node great preparation, but there
was in return no consioeratmit shown for their hunt s ;
no pains were taken to conciliate the waverirg, to streugtt en
the attachnteut of the friendlies, stud no nolo,
Roil
held out to make them the ambassadors of peace to
the hostile Ni, effort was made to tern the meeting to
moonlit or to bring about a peace. The Prince threw away
a golden opp Ttuttity. With a little toct and patience he
misty have conferred a great boon on the colony aml made
for himself a datingnished name. But he was ballot utterly
wanting ; he sacrificed the duties of his p•.sitioti to the sew-
g,ws and diapla3s of a gay laud frivolous life, in which the
excit,ment of the chase, the 'ascii ation of the race,ourse,
anti the attractions of the ball-room and theatre occupied the
chief ploce
" The meeting of the chiefs the Prince seems to have looked
on as meant simply fig his glorification, and he ad re-and to
them a few of those inflated sentences bp which we have
Ibtened twine ad moan., .d which. however adapted for
an after dialler speech in some city hall, were utterly int-
Silnel tea palaver with the rode Main lee Devoid of Mind y,
and wanting is conciliatory bearitig, the Duke insulted the
native chie.s. The loquacity of the Maori irotors overcame
the patience of the Prince, and he had not the courtesy to
conceal his impatience. They presented adder see, made
speeches, sang songs, until his Royal Highness b. oke Imi upon
the privileges and customs on which they set a high value.
Ile told them, through the interpreter, to put an mot to
the speec!tes and not let every one speak, as he had other
engagements
" What these engagements were we may easily Imagine,
hut for the sake of such frivolities the Prince sent away all
disgusted, and very probably converted into ecenties,only
waiting their opportunity, those who, by his inipatience
rind rudeness were prevented from being heard. A iew days
devoted to humouring them and seeming their confidence,
slid the exercise of their ifilloence Pi 'singing into sulijectlim
the rebellions natives, would have Imen a labour of love to
one less given up Si, the gratification of his own pleasures,
and have laid the colony outer a debt of gratitude. As it is,
his suit has done no good with the Ma,uties ; all we dare to
hope for is it may have done no harm The Fri cc might
yet to some extent repair his pant Whitler, but we have little
faith in his discretion or tact.
" In like manner the holyilay employment of a ship of war
in New Z shard waters while the C demists are engaged in a
dewily cot fitct has created hitter feelings among the latter.
This is the tiring of is retrenching Imperial Government,
erbium core for the amusement of a Prince contra to unplea-
santly with their care for the honour and safety of British
colonista There was • want of conaideralion, a 5 nie-
thing approaching to an insult to New Zealand, to send
Shire one of the fittest specimens of the British navy,
fully equipped in men and maternal, to lie idly in their
waters in holyday trim, with aho play crew, while within a
few miles of where the Galatea 1.0 the colonists were pro-
hali,y erg ,gell in a hand-to-hand fight with the feroc•ous
chief whose atrocities hive devastated nomy a home; or
they may have been camped oat in the bw-h, cold, half-
naked and hnt•gry, seeking to protect their h..mett and those
dear to them from massacre and outrage The money spent
in a raree show on their waters, while cot one pen.•y is
spent in aiding the colonists in the deadly stsurgle, with the
contrast between the conditmn of the colony's forces tel
that of the G,llatea's crew, are too marked to he pleasant or
graiifying to the colottists. Hail that ship and crew been
occupied in alit of the colonists half the time devoted to the
Duke'e pleasure trip the colony would before now have been
at peace."
ww-a-e-wws•-••••••