The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-04-21 00:00:00

Our (Eanbon Coutspoubcnt.

(Wedeem it right to state that we do not at all times
(dentey ourselves with eur correspondent's opinions.]

So far as the Grand Committees have gone, the

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work which they have performed seems to have given
satisfaction. These bodies meet when the House is
not sitting, taking such heavy and complicated mea-
sures as the Criminal Appeal Bill and the Bankruptcy
Bill, and the progress of their operations is described
as steady, and hnsiness-like. The chairmen of the two
Grand Committees now constituted—Mr. Goschen and

Mr. Eiclater-Booth, have both held office under oppa
trite partlea—the same office in fact, that of President
of the Local Government Board. As the bills referred

to these committees are not of a party character,
there has been no reason for interposing those tactics

of delay which have sometimes- characterised the
prooeedings of the Howse itself, Of course the proof
of the value of the work of the Grand Committees

will be when they report to the House the Bills of
which they are in charge. If the House, as it has the
power to do, re•discusses the amendments and practi•
cally insists in doing all the work over again, no time
will have been saved.

The grants recommended by the Crown to
Lords Wolseley and Alceater for their services in
Egypt last year follow the precedents set in recent
periods in similar cases, In modern times it has

been the custom to grant pensions for two lives
only, whereas in the case of the first Duke
of Marlborough a pension of £4,(00 per annum was
passed by Parliament as long as there was any heir
to the title of conqueror at Blenheim. In the cases of
Lord Napier of Magdala for the Abyssinian_expedi-

Lion, to Lord Gough after his success in the Sikh war,
and to Lord Raglan, consequent upon the prominent

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part which he took in the;Crimean struggle, the course
pursued wae the same as that towards Lords Wolseley
and Alcsster, namely, £2,000 a year for the present re-

cipient and his eldest son after him.

Some interesting calculations have been published
Elbowing the effect of the remission of a portion of the
third-class passenger duty, as proposed in the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer's Budget. It appears that
the company which benefits most is the Great Western,
and next in order come successively the South-Eastern,
the London and North-Western, the Brighton, the
Chatham, the Great Eastern, and the South-Western,
The readjustment of the Silver Duties has naturally
excited some attention in the trade; but the greatest
and most comprehensive fact of the proposals of
the Minister of Finance has received but little notice.
That is the cancelling of 173 millions of the
National Debt in a term of years and without any
perceptible pressure upon the taxpayers. Somehow
or other there has always been a reluctance to deal in
an extensive way with the English National Debt,
partly it may be assumed on the ground that the relief
would go mainly to posterity, and would, to no
material extent, be participated in by the present
generation. At the same time the example shown to
us by the United States at the conclusion of the Civil
War was a most excellent one. The great Republic
of the West at once began to pay off its debt,
and went on with it at a marvellous rate of
speed. England, on the other hand, pays annually
twenty-eight millions sterling as interest on her
National Debt, and this is more than the charges for
the Army and Navy combined. Years come and go,
and no serious effort is made to diminish this heavy
incubus, which is more weighty than that borne by
any other European nation. One is, however, to be
put forth at last; and it is not only political econo-
mists who will commend the wisdom of such a step.

Intermittently the question of the Transvaal appears
upon the Parliamentary arena to occupy for a few
fleeting hours the political stage, and then to be suc-
ceeded by a topic of more urgent interest nearer home.
It seems like a subject which can be taken down from

a shelf, dusted, and put back again. The question
slept horn the 13th March to the 13th April,
many important events happening between these
two dates, the debate was then conveniently renewed,
and adjourned to some future day, not fixed at
the time. The truth seems to be that the Trans.
vaal is too far off to form the theme of much

political excitement in this country. A distance of
eight or ten thousand miles acts as a wonderfully cool-
ing influence in the consideration of a disputed ques-
tion. If events similar to those recorded to have
taken place in the Transvaal had occurred within the
limits of the British Islands, Parliament and the
country would have been full of the news; as it is
the sound of the swell of a vast ocean seems to
deaden its interest to the people of this country.
Notwithstanding the fine weather with which London

bee been favoured- blow
_ur thy

public parks do not yet give many indications of May
Powers, the lateness of the season being unmistakable.
The gardeners have been busy, however, in making
preparations for the floral displays for which they are
hoping later in the season, and a very much wider circle
than those who are thus directly concerned f eel a person al
Interest in the matter. No better evidence of the value
which is attached to open spaces by
.the dwellers in

the metropolis can be afforded than the sense of pro-
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prietorahip which the inhabitants of the different
suburbs display in the parka for their respective dis-
tricts. Year by year there is a growing com-
petition in the show of flowers, and it is satis-
factory to know that the park which can be moat
truly described as the popular one is generally the
most successful in these friendly rivalries. The taste
for flowers thus engendered has also the effect of
inciting to personal efforts in the same direction, and
provincial visitors would frequently be astonished at
the successes which can be achieved in a few yards of
ground with a minimum of sun and a maximum of
soot.

The settling down of the Houses of Parliament to
regular business means a great deal more than the
resumption of public debates. Members of both
Houses who have the honour to sit on the many
Select Committees which have to deal with private
Bills know this to their cost, From twelve to four
for five days of the week these members are engaged
In listening to the uninteresting but essential details
of proposals for the construction of docks and rail-
ways, water works, and ship canals. At the
moment their lab3urs in this direction termi-
nate, the sitting of the full House commences,
so that for the most active and prornirent members
there is little or no surcease. This Session there
is an unusually large number of opposed Bills
for consideration, and the Hall at Westminster and

the corridors of the Houses of Parliament are now

daily thronged by barristers, witnesses from the
eountry, eminent engineers, and agents engaged on
one side or the other. Many thousands of pounds
are often spent in promoting or opposing a Bill
In a single stags; and, as the leading barristers
are often engaged in two or more cases which are pro
ceeding simultaneously, it can be imagined that not
only can they draw, perhaps, some hundreds a day in
fees, but that it requires the possession of exceptional
physical and mental powers to stand the strain even
for the few months of the session.
There is one thhig of which the Metropolis never
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seems to tire; indeed, of the promotion of
.exhibi•

tions there is no end.. The annual picture exhibitions
will soon be engrossing the attention of the art world.
But of all the collections that which has been brought
together for the International Fisheries Exhibition
will probably prove the most generally interesting. The
venture now shows to be of a much more ambitious
character than was at first supposed. Consignments
of exhibits illustrating the various forms of the
fishing industry have already arrived froze the
uttermost parts of the world, and are in a for. '
ward state of arrangement. The Chinese Court
promises to be one of the most inte:esting in
the building, but the Colonies will be largely repre-
sented, and the opportunities for comparison and im-
rovement should make the Exhibition both popular
and useful. For the metropolis, however, the ques-
tion is nit so much as to the catching of fish as the
Japrovement of the means for bringing the fish when
caught speedily and sheaply to the centres of popula-
tion
The Green Park Arch :in Hyde Park with the
equestrian statu4of4 theiDuke of Wellington has at
ength been removed to makeleroom for the new road
which is intended to relieve the traffic which now
surges around that centre of fashionable resort
during the season. London can afford to spare
one statue of toe great Duke. The colossal
figure of Achilles was raised by English ladies in
honour of the Duke of Wellington, and the front of
the Royal Exchange has another equestrian statue of
the General. The latter is one of the most effective of
the public statues of London, but unfortunately it
represents the Duke as riding without stirrups,
an omission, however, which is not of serious moment.
But a motionless figure seems almost out of place in
the heart of the great city, with its ceaseless traffic
and noise, save for a few hours of the night when the
giant horseman better harmonises with the gloomy
and massive buildings which surround him.
It is difficult to give an idea of what is involved
in the government of , the "city of great distances,"
but, as it wart pointed out at the annual dinner of the
Metropolitan Board of Works, the duties of that
authority affect the well-being and happiness of a looms-
lation as great as that of many foreign states, and larger
-than that of -the whole of the Australian colonies.
*I • • .
The Board, which was appointed for the single pus-
poss of purifying the river Thames, has been entrusted
by Parliament with the control of nearly one hundred
Acts of Parliament, so that if legislation tend to
happiness the divellas of the metropolis ought to be well
Inhale, It is a eathfactory feature that the DtElik of

a municipality spending such enormous sums of money
should stand so high that it can borrow money without
Government guarantee at three per cent. This can be
said of the capital of no other country.