The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-03-24 00:00:00

- r foOon CorrtsvottDmt.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's ("pinions.]

The International Fisheries Exhibition, which will
be opened by the Queen at South Kensington on the
May 12, promises to be one of the most interesting
colleetions of its kind which has ever been brought
together. Of late years the Aquarium—speaking of
it as an institution in the abstract whether at Brighton,
at Westminster, at the Crystal Palace, or elsewhere,
has rapidly grown in popular' favour. The dictum
was once laid down that the proper study of mankind
II man; but a modern writer has changed this senti-
ment into one declaring that the proper study of man-
kind is fishes. Looking at the fact that the sea
covers three-fourths of the surface of the globe, and
that its depths contain a vast quantity of nutritious
ood which scientific means should- be able to recta,
blinamense importance of this stud/ is seen at a glance.
44raleitusts slaughtered for the • purposes of animal
food upon the land are bred and fed at considerable ex-
pense ; but given a thorough knowledge of the homes
and habits of fish it would be a very simple matter to
cast the net, and after the example of the apostolic.
fishermen, enclose a great multitude. Lands as far
apart as China and Canada, and differing in cha-
racteristics as much as Japan and the United States,
will be represented at South Kensington. Time was
when this quarter of London was regarded as a distant
suburb; but the District Railway now brings it
within a quarter of an hour of the City.
The recent spell of cold weather—Canadian in its
brief severity—and the fact that Easter falls unusitally
early this year has made some enthusiastic admirers
of the voluteers to fear for the weather on Ember Mon-
, day. The .truth is that the English climate is so
variable, the • observlirs of - .many" • a Bank
:Ulitlit•ba.vsidiscovered, that, Abe diffeeence between
EaA4r,and ,WhitAfonday,i! very, little, sa far as the
chances of weather are concerned.' Within the past
few years, on more than one Occasion Whit Monday
has turbiidaidtWorst thin Baster eMoadmi As a time
of
.recreation—tlpa4eret9rnie and- sirenching rain
- having Overtaken tbe holidayieisepers who have gone
forth in thi:MoiniiiOn'lght stiiiltir" attire. As to
the Volunteers themselves, the weather is to them of
-, considerable indifference, however important it may
be to the -spec-tators. Our soldiers, whether -citizen
or regular, not only make up their minds to fee(
casualty weather, but very much more serious con-
tingencies.

The explosion at the office of the Local Government
Boarain Vithitehill has naturally excited inch in-
dignation throughout the country. The searching of
the vaults beneath the Houses of Parliament prior to
the opening of every session has hitherto been regarded
more as a meaningless form which was bound to be
carried out rather than a serious business invested with
any particular significance. The custom has been
observed ever since the days of Guy Fawkes; but in
future more seriousness will perhaps be attached to
it, The modern conspirator need not resort to such a
clumsy expedient as barrels of gunpowder. Guy
Fawkes, Catesby, Percy, and Winter managed to
deposit thirty-six of these under the House of Lords,
so as to blow King, Lords, and Commons into the air
on the day that his Majesty opened the sittings of the
Legislature. But in our own times a more deadly
agency can be confined within a much more narrow
compass, and will require more care in the efforts f'r
Its discovery.

The exertions which have been made to raise a
memorial to the late Mr. Street, the architect of the
new Law Courts, are at length approaching completion.
The Prince of Wales has rendered his assistance in the
matter, and the object of the promoters is now likely
to be attended with success. Mr. Armstead, the well-
known sculptor, has been instructed to place the
memorial in the central apartment of Mr. Street's
principal work, which'will in future ages be so eon-
spicuous a feature of the Strand. The artist has
endeavoured to produce a monument which should not
only include a statue of the man, but shou'ed in its
artistic accessions signify why honour is paid to him.
It promises to be worthy of Mr. Street and of the
edifice upon which he devoted so much time and
labour.
The Easter Parliamentary recess is this year shorter
than usual, both in Lords and Commons. Their Lord-
ships generally take at least a fortnight, sometimes
more, now it is less than that period, while the
Commons have little more than a week. Par Ha.
ment met late, and Easter falls early; the result is
tho.offs... .hnpfanail ‘,..mtinn, with Perhaps a little
longer one than usual at Whitsuntide, if the state of
public business will permit. Up to this time very
little has been accomplished, and when Parliament re.
assembles after the recess nearly two months of the
ordinary session will have disappeared. The stagnant
condition of urgent legislation and the extraordinary
difficulty of getting on with practical work, is at length
beginning to attract that amount of attention which the
importance of the subject demands. Parliament is
regularly summoned by Royal. proclamation for the
despatch of divers urgent and important affairs, but
these are not despatched with anything like the ex-
pedition which used to characterise the transaction of
the legislative work of an empire of the widely-spread-
ing extent of Great Britain.

Our far-reaching dependencies must of necessity be
a never-failing cause of anxiety, and this has once
more been illustrated in the newly-found troubles in
South Africa. A remarkable incident was mentioned
by Mr. Gladstone in the course of the recent debate
on the motion of Mr. Grorst. The Premier stated that
when Sir Robert Peel's Government left office in 1816,
he, as Secretary of State for the Colonies, had an
Interview with his successor, the present Earl Grey, to
whom he described the condition of our Colonial
Empire. All was tranquil, except in one pprt, and
that was South Africa. That was nearly forty years
ago; the dependency had then been long in a disturbed
condition, and more or less it has so remained ever
since. Basutos, Kaffirs, Boers, Pondos, Zulus, and all
the rest of them have contrived to keep us in a per-
petual state of unrest.
Although Lord Wolseley took his seat in the House
of Lords some time ago, having returned from Egypt
immediately after the conclusion of the campaign in
that country, Lord Alcester, the commander of the
Mediterranean squadron, has only just arrived home
from the discharge of his official duties, having been
detained at sea longer than his distinguished compeer
was upon the land. illeanwhile he is being enter-
tained in all directions. His first visit was of course
to the Queen at Windsor Castle. Then, equally as a
matter of course, he was officially received by the
First Lord of the Admiralty, at Whitehall, and on
the following night he dined with the members of the
United Service Club at their fine house in Pall Mall.

The Prince of Wales presided, and was supported on
his right and left by the Duke of Ediuburgh, the Duke
of. Cambridge, Prince Christian, and a host of dis-
tiuguibhed repreientatives of both branches of the
service.

When the Marquis of Hartington, the new Secretary
of State for 'War, introduced the army estimates, he
made an announcement which, while creating some
surprise, has been received with but little protest. The
decision of the military authorities to abolish the
British soldier's red coat is one which is based upon
the principle that an enemy should not make him-
self too conspicuous in time of war; Perhaps no
colour could by any possibility be more plainly
discernible than that in which the great bulk
of our army is clothed. The Volunteers have really
prepared the way for this change. From the esta-
blishment of the force two-and-twenty years ago, its
members had sufficient discrimination to see that a
glaring hue in the way of dress would but render its
wearer a better object for the mark of an enemy.
Dark green and dark grey were the prevailing colours.
A red coat is, of course, very smart in its appearance;
but in time of danger it would be impossible for it to
possess the same utility as a more sombre-looking gar-
ment. Up to the brief campaign between Austria and
l'ruesia in 1866, the Austrian soldiers wore a very
smart and attractive-looking white tunic, but in
skirmishing this too clearly betrayed the presence of
the soldier, and immediately upon the conclusion of
that war the white uniform was abolished.
This is the time for holding the annual meetings of
many a philanthropic institution in London, when
people are in town and are full of engagements day
by
_day. One of the earliest to have its. annual
gathering has been the Royal National Lifeboat Insti-
tution. It took place at Willis's Rooms under the pre-
sidency of the Duke of Northumberland, and although
the Queen at the time was holding a Drawing Room at
Buckingham Palace, not far off, the attendance at the
Lifeboat meeting was happily a crowded one and testi-
fied to the public interest in an exceedingly good work.
One of the many statements contained in the report
showed the extremely valuable nature of the opera-
tiOne conducted by this society. It has been in exis-
tence thirty-nine years, and in that time claims to
have saved from shipwreck nearly 30,000 lives. This,
as wil be seen, is equal to the population of many a
flourishing English town represented by two members
in the House of Commons. The bare and naked state-
ment that so many lives have been rescued from the
sea does not convey the full idea of what it means.
This number of 30,000 has not remained stationary;
following an inexorable law it has increased, and has
added to the producing piower, the employment, tho
occupations, and the wealth of the nation. Yet the
nnual income of an organization which does its
utmost to save life is leas than ,one•tenth of the cost
of a single ironclad. Life is thus saved at a far less
expenditure than it is destroyed.