The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-14 00:00:00

Alisallantons

PREPARING FOR THE RESTORATION OF A CHURCH.—
A very unusual scene has just been witnessed in the
village of Shapwick, Dorsetshire. The parish church
has lung been out of repair, and steps have been in
progress for some time to raise funds to restore it; but
difficulty has been experienced in getting sufficient
money for the purpose. With a view of partially stir-
mounting the financial obstacle, it was proposed and
agreed that the unskilled labour in connection with ti
restoration should be done by the able-bodied men of
the parish. Consequently, the other evening all
the Shapwick men, under the leadership of the vicar
and the superintendence of the architect, assembled to
perform their part, and they worked with such eager-
ness that at dusk everything had hien done to prepare
the building for the incoming of the restorers—all
traces of gallery and pews had been destroyed, the
flooring and paving stones carried out of the church,
and the whole edifice reduced to the necessary

skeleton-like condition.
A FRIVOLOUS OLD THlNG.—School Board Visit°
May I ask the name of the tenant ?—Tenant. Mrs.
Gubbins—that's me. But what's in a name ?--Vi,itor
(noting the fact in his mem..book). Gubbins Thank
you. Have you any children 7—Tenant. One son.
—Visitor. Does he attend school ?—Tenant. No.—
Visitor. Dear me! What is the excuse 7-01 d Ls.dy.
He's married, and his wife thinks he can be better ern-

ployed.—Judy.
THE FIRST KISS.—In a late German story the hero
gives a rhapsodical description of the "first kiss"
in
these ebullient words (says an American paper) :
Am I really dear to you, Sophia ?" I whispe: ed,
and pressed my burning lips to her rosy mouth. She
did not say yes; she did not say no; but she returned
my kiss and my soul was no longer in my body; I
touched the stars; the earth went from under my
feet." All of which is very pretty and very poetic,
but v ,ry indefinite. What the practical reader wants
to k row is, if that is the transcendental German of
saying that he was at that particular moment lifted by
a paternal boot-toe.
THE ADVANTAGES OF BICYCLES OVER PEDES•
TRIANISM. A scientific bicyclist gives us (Court
Journal) the following statement, —There are 5,280
feet in a mile, and, if we take regulation steps of 28
inches each, we should lift the body 2,262 times in
accomplishing a mile, which, we may say, occupies
20 minutes. Now, if the body weighs 160 pounds,
and we lift it 113 times a minute, as we must to
cover a mile in 20 minutes, it is easy to find that we
have done work equal to, say, 1-20th of a horse
power, reckoning the rise of the centre of gravity as
equal to one inch. If we could walk without lifting
the body that expenditure of power would be saved;
but we cannot, and each step we take means so
much expenditure of nervous energy. But the
bicycle rider expends his energy merely in driving
the treadles of his machine; he does not lift his
body, which is resting firmly on the saddle. If the
driving wheel is three feet in diameter, roughly cal-
culated, 528 revolutions would be neceseary to cover
a mile, and the crank, allowing for slips, will make
about 26 turns per minute. If the crank is four
inches long, and the vertical stroke eight inches, the
thigh lifts only the length of throw of the crank, and
the work done is equal to. say, 476 foot-pounds, which
is all utilized on the downward thrust of the cranks,
whereas in walking the fall of the body is wasted.
The bicyclist has thus practically no lifting to do, and
his energy is all expended in driving his machine
forward, and, as there is less strain on his muscles and
his nervous energy, is able to keep up the exertion
much longer, and consequently cover more ground than
he could do on foot. If the problem is looked at in
the most rudimentary manner, it is easily seen that
the walker has to lift his weight at each step, while
the bicyclist is supported, and expends the whole of
his energy in driving his machine.
WANTED TO KNOW. —lf an artificial florist who
lives upon the second floor new be called a second
Flora ?—lf, when you send a shilling telegram, you
are making use of " flash " language?—lf it is really
true that fiery men are easily put out!—lf the man at
the wheel should be correctly described as a "stern
necessity ? "—lf buying asparagus at ten shillings a
bundle can be called dear stalk-leg ?—lf the imperence
of a member of the corps de ballet should be snnamed
up as caper sauce ?—lf winking is really and truly eye
art? And lastly, but not leastly,—lf quarter-day
may not, with a due regard for the fitness of things, be
described as a "regular nuisance?"—Judy.
HE WAS THERE I—" Sir will you give five dollars
or so, to a veteran who escaped all the great and
desperate cavalry charges at Gillyeburgh." "Did you
escape?" we asked. "I did." "You escaped? But
you were wounded?" "No, sir, I was not touched."
"You were not even wounded?" "Not much."
"But certainly your clothes were pierced with bul-
lets?" "Not a bit of it. Nary a bullet." "And
yet you want money. No, sir! Had your head
been shot off, or a cannon ball torn you in bits, or 229
bullets been lodged in your body, we might have given
you ten cents, but as it is charity, must begin at home.
John, bring us a five cent. cigar." "But Pm the only
survivor," persisted this veteran. "Then go and hire
a hall and charge ten cents for the exhibition." "Exhi-
bition be hanged," said he. "Give me ten cents and
tell you how I didn't get killed." It was tempting
bait and was taken. Then he sidled towards the door
as he remarked, "I was on the very spot where that
charge was made, I stood where the bullets fell like
rain, but—'twas a month after it happened."
ANALYSIS. —Lady: "Why did you leave your last
place?" Cook: " Timper, m'um.' Lady : " Temper !
But when I'm put out myself, I show that I'm
annoyed ! " Cook "Oh, I don't mind a m'rose
timper, m'um—a revingeful timper I likes; but a
timper as goes a nag-nag-naggin' mornin', noon, and
night, won't do with ma! "—Punch.
THE BRIsTOL BUILDING TRADE. There were on
Monday more than 2,000 men out of work in Bristol
in consequence of the strike in the building trade in
that town. All large werks in hand have been brought
to a standstill, the men being more determined than
was antieipated in resisting the reduction of one half-
peeny per hour. On Monday the masters resolved to
advertise for men from other districts.—The painters'
dispute has been referred to the arbitration of the
County Court judge, but no overtures for an amicable
arrangement have been made by the masons, car-
penters or plasterers.
A LUCID EaereeNATioN.—Henry (newly married to.
Maria : "I am afraid you are displeased with me.''
Maria "No, dear Harry, I am not displeased with
you; I am only displeased at your displeesing of my
displease of your displeasing with me."—Fun.
WEATHER FORECASTS.—The following telegram
from New York has been received at the London
office of the New York Herald :—" Disturbance, at-
tended by rains, gales and lightning, will arrive on the
British and Norwegian coasts, affecting the French
coasts, between the 11th and 14th inst. Low tempera.
ture will follow."
ANOTHER AMERICAN EXHIBITION. —A project has
been started at New York for holding in that city a
"World's Fair" or "International Exhibition of arts,
manufactures, products of the soil and mine," The
year 1883 has been suggested as a period, but an
executive committee have resolved that it is not advis-
able to fix a date until a site has been selected, and
that it should be a spot on New York Island, where a
part ef the buildings may be permitted to remain as an
enduring remembrance of the exhibition.
VENERABLE PENNIES.—The Pall Mall Gazette re-
markes :--" A penny saved is, according to an old
proverb, a penny gained. This, however, is not in-
variably the case ; and those who are holding old copper
coin will do well to take note of some observations made
on the subject of too venerable pennies by the Deputy
Master of the Mint in his report for the past year.
Notwithstanding the decrial of the old copper coinage
in 1869, and the decisian of 'My Lords' at the
Treasury, of which due notice was givea to persons
who havebeen in the habit of collecting the old coin,
that it could not be received at its full nominal value
after the 30th of July, 1873, applications have con'
tinned to be made at the Mint even during the
past year from tradesmen and others, living chiefly
in the country districts, to be relieved of, trifling
amounts of copper coin remaining in their hands.
Some of the applicants appeared to have collected
pence of a particular reign or year under the mistaken
impression that the coin possessed some special value;
but it was necessary to reply to all such requests that
copper coin had, under proclamation of the 13th of
May, 1869, ceased to be a legal tender from thee end of
that year, and could not be received at its nominal
value. Such applications afford additional evidence
of the length of time required for the complete with-
drawal of a large coinage which has been for many
years in circulation."
SYMPATHY—LIMITED.— City Gent (bursting into the
counting-house on Wednesday afternoon, May 28th.)
" Have you heard? Sir Bevys, Palmbear'r, and
Visconti !" Second ditto
,(man o' business—the sport-
ing partner wasn't in). ' Beavis, Palmer, an' Vis-
conty ? Beavis, Pal— Sorry for 'em. But we
don't do business with 'em— Never heard o' the
firm ! "—Punch.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS IN THE ARMY, —A re-
turn as to the religions persuasions of the non-com-
missioned officers and men of the British army shows
that of a total of 94,842 men, 62,860 belong to the
Church of England, 20,872 are Roman Catholics,
7,125 Presbyterians and 3,985 are Protestants of other
denominations. OF the Church of England men
21,314 were in receipt or good conduct pay, and
9 790 held third-class school certificates; 5,63 Roman
Catholics received good condrict pay, and 2,418 held
third-class school certificates ; of the Presbyterians,
2,224 were in receipt of good conduct pay, and 1,141
had third-class school certificates. Of the other de-
nominations 1,205 received good conduct pay, and 610
held third-class school certificates.
TARING IT OFT.—Jolies (who had made an elaborate
charcoal study for a grand historical picture) : "Why,
what the— Why, what have you been doing? "--
Mary : "Oh, I ain't touched nothin', sir; I was only
redustin' it a bit, sir, and—."—Pun.
A LESSON IN HUMANITY. —The Japanese are very
kind to animals, Professor Morse tells us that a boy
is never seen to throw a stone at a dog or a bird, and
crows come into the city of Tokio and lodge on the
houses. They pay for their kind treatment, for they
act as scavengers, picking up what rice or fish may fall
to the ground. In a crowded thoroughfare he has seen
a dug lying asleep in the middle of the road. No one
disturbed him, but carefully turned out from him. Ile
once threw a stone at asdog to see lidev he would act.
The animal rose to his feet to let the stone pass, and
looked surprised, and took only the same notice of 0
second assault—quite different from the way a Christian
dog would be likely to act. By the sides of the roade,
at the foot of hills, stone monuments are placed, and
have been there for hundreds of years, bearing verses
tifiat teach consideration f r the dumb beasts. The
unregenerate Anglo-Saxon may here learn a lesson of
practical humanity.
EXTENSION OF THE HOURS IN POLLING.—A peti-
tion, signed by up werds of 17,000 householders and
electors ef Thrminghane, in favour of Mr. Charn-
berlain's Bill fur the extension of the hours of polling,
was forwarded to the hon. gentleman on Monday for
presentation to Parliament. The petition set forth
"That iu the opinion of your petitioners the present
polling in Ferliamentarl
rae
large
at
rr
gi cet ino
ms upon the hours of
ber of
ct
working ns (e ecrlaatse
sunfairlyvoterswihu
or eel aa
nt i oonn
ard minieh e.o to
exercise their electoral rights at considerable personal
sacri dee. Your petitioners, therefore, earnestly praY
that the Bill introduced by Mr. Chamberlain for the
extension of the hours of polling in boroughs niel
receive the approval of your honourable Howe.)).

_

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
The HOUSE OF COMMONS re-assembled on Monday, June
'9, after the Whitsuntide recess.
The 0 Donoghue gave notice that on Mr. Chaplin's Reso-
lution on Agricultural Distress he would move the following
aMendment ;—" That while this House fully recognizes and
eDly deploresd the wide-spread distress prevailing among
ers ol land throughout the United Kingdom, and
!most earne
this distrP4o.,
"AY desires to do all that can be done to remedy
'ctie House thinks right to place on record its con-
viction tie..tt no attempt can ever be made to alleviate distress
„al,"ectl3ng Poe occupiers of land by imposing any restrictions,
" or indirect, upon the importation of food in any
suave.

lln answer to Sir G. Campbell, Mr. Bourke said that in
on_secittence of the representations of Sir H. La3ard, the
°",e had intimated its intention of submitting the re-
o,rgenization of its European provinces not separate'y pro-
vided for by the Treaty of Berlin to local commissieners ;
!_ind the organic statute recently completed for Eastern
Rolunelia was under consideration with a view to its appli-
cation to these provinces.
colonies Sir W. Lawson asked the Secretary of State for the
Whether the latest deTatches from South Afrisa
IZntiened any fresh overtures of peace from the Zulu
"m_.e the2ll3, and, it so, whether the right hon. gentleman could
gress. Purport of any negotiations that might be in pro-
Sir 31. Ificks-Beach in reply, said—lt appears that
Ineasengers from Cetewayo reached General Crealock, under
circumstances described in the telegram published by
tn
._ 3' right hon. friend the Secretary for War in tbl4 morning's
mewspap
ere, expressing Cetewayo's strong desire for
,146,Zn! ,but that they were not empowered by the King and
Ll 4 Council of the Zulus to treat for any particular
of peace, nor, indeed, were they of the rank of
Al_flehgers who would have been sent for such a purpose.
~1-'_rd Chelmsford directed General Crealook to tell them
1."4t he had informed the King's messengers at Ekowe that
tylltinessage must be sent to him at Colonel Wood's camp,
butt ready was ready to receive any message under flag of truce,
takiah,that something more than words would be required,
Dosefi g, I conclude, to the fact that Cetewayo had not pro-
any terms of peace in reply to the demands originally
"'° UPon him in December. (Hear, hear.)
4kt half-past four o'clock the House went into Committee of
Up ply, and was engaged until past midnight on the Civil
___,P
ee Estimates. At nine o'clock five votes in Class 3 (Law
Justice )had been agreed to, but the next vote—the
ts_cotch Prisons Vote—occupied nearly two hours and a half.
.T2.Parnell, Mr. O'Donnell, Mr. O'Connor Power, and other
11,72 members spoke frequently and at ler.gth against it, and
,T,lliitgar moved an amendment to reduce it by the salary
ine Scripture Reader at Perth Prison, which was negatived
DI 152 to l.
Ou reaching the Irish Votes some time was consumed in
deb
be atiog the precise extent of a pledge supposed to have
On given by the Secretary of the Treasury, that they should
be taken until a future evening, but the dispute was
!s,L!‘Lolately settled by the postponement of all the opposed
~:,h413. When the remainder, four in number, had been dis•
ip-ise4 of, it was proposed to commence Class 6, but Mr.
Al• landshltwell objected, and, supported by Mr. Monk and Mr.
, moved to report progress.
e motion was negatived by 120 to 30, but further oppo-
in„• Lnon was offered by Mr. Itylands, and after the first Vote-
- 'oPerannuations and Retiring Allowances—had been
agreed to, progress was reported.
sn'tur, Customs and Inland Revenue Bill was considered
_'ornmittee, and some other Bills having been forwarded
the House adjourned at twenty minutes to three

sh!ll the HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 10, at the Morning Sit-
'4g, amongst other business,
It4r,. Bourke stated, in answer to Sir J. Goldsmld, that
oeR Virolseley had, before leaving England, resigned his
c,`,',lee as Governor and High Commissioner of C3prus, and
""40nel Biddulph had been appointed to succeed him.
84,8„t}t Peel asked for information as to the situation in
Magee, and asked whether there was any limitation
to be
Tw, „Put on the number of troops sent out to the Cape. -
ee "aortsand men had lately been sent out, and there were
;7%000 troops on the frontier of Natal, under a commander-in-
4"ei who had been superseded in the field before the enemy.
_Colonel Stanley said he had taken the earliest opportunity
anaaking known to the public, through the newspapers, the
2rerruation he had in regard to the situation at Natal. He
Zee not aware of any necessity for further troops, but if
:Fther troops were required it would be his duty to advise
they be sent out. (Cheers.)
rePIY to Sir-J. Goldsmid, the right hon. gentleman said
the latest accounts stated that the health of the troops
"" yin
o g.
11e
P Ying to a question by Mr. Gourley, Colonel Stanley
to a the object of the inquiry into the state of the Army was
10,",certain what points in the short service, reserve, and
ion eystems required amendment in order to make
'tein work properly. The committee would consist entirely
(2_+oerflicers serving in the regular forces, but some of them
e intimately acquainted with all the requirements of the
an, branches.
Got,hie statement led to a discussion initiated by Mr.
}air eY, in which Sir 11. Havelock, Sir A.. Gordon, and
?'Beirne also took part, a motion for adjournment rnment--g ueen made to put the speakers in order.
The Secretary for War replied, and remarked that he had
endeavoured to secure an impartial inquiry.
splother short discussion arose, in which Mr. 3. Holms
All.'„Cerelibell, and Mr. Parnell spoke.
ri'eta Point the Chancellor of the Exchequer protested
net the practice of moving the adjournment of the
mrlise oider to raise unexpected discussions, after which
mentGoulleY offered to withdraw his motion for adjourn-
vita_ , but, Mr. Parnell objecting, it was ultimately negatived
"ellt a divisioa after the House had been cleared.
T
ciahe. remainder of the sitting was occupied in discussing
nii4se 44 of the Army Discipline Regulation Bill in corn-
he flogging question being again discussed at length
.0 n anaendment of Mr. Hopwood.
41dr At the Evening Sitting Mr. R. Yorke drew attention to the
IY-increasing expenditure of the London School Board,
earl .
lmited a resolution to the effect that it required the
s, attention of the Government, with the view of im-
wsidall
P on it some more effectual checks than appeared at
reaent to exist. The voluntary schools, he said, were being
egreadr„,ll,el,l37 extinguished by the Board schools. Mr. Yorke
eli—vielned also of the unnecessarily expensive character of
e education given at these schools, of which he gave some
cult
tlthg examPles, contending that the public should only '
'or " the three It's," and if any extras were taught it
tact be at the expense of the parents.
tir B. Leighton seconded the Resolution.
,„:'„r• W. E. Forster, who defended the School Board, re-
.—d that if the accusation of extravagance were well
"`Mded the constituents of the Board would have the
ratver -to control them without the intervention of
,rilaraent. With regard to the general work of the
(71?"4' he pointed out that the proportion of chil-
ea actually attending now was much larger than
under the old system, and, notwithstanding the
'Al:Maher of schools built, there still remained a con-
Huerable number of school places to be provided. As to
re amount of the rate, 61d. was but a small proportion of
Hie Metropolitan rates, and, defending the expenditure of
he Board seriatim, he denied that the cost of the sites had
been excessive, and pointed out that the Board, having an
entirelY new work to take in hand, had naturally numerous
that the Board would in future look to economy, he ex.
preened a decided opinion that nowhere in the kingdom
I"Mid it Money, be found that better work had been done for the
4eLord G. Hamilton said he was not surprised that the sub-
tiocubbeed been brought forward, because the motion un-
quietu l'edly represented a vary irtiversal feeling of dia-
.._
t de. While admitting the great work which had been
rat'Peand the ability and devotion of the Board, he ad-
hat the expenditure, which he analyzed in detail,
townyeerY considerable, especially when compared with other
that • Discussing the various remedies suggested, he said
eig_.,the Education Department had been considering the
"etrof laying down the rule that the maintenance of
h.„,_ehild should not exceed 42 chitlins, underpenalty of
7.7...•Tg the excess deducted from the annual grant. This
...3td be direct incitement to economy, and in London the
'Xing would amount to £lOO,OOO a year, or one penny per
Enact ba the rates. With regard to the motion, he hoped
Certv,_!t would not be pressed, as the Government could
vote for it nor against it.
sjisr.y. Mundell:. moved the adjournment of the debate, and
O seine conversation it was accordingly adjourned until
endaY next.
Sir a
m.t, • ~Giarel Hogg brought in a Bill to authorise the
4201itan Board of Works to defray expenses incurred
Wati"igMg certain Bills into Parliament relating to the
r Bupply of the Metropolis.
Thou
-.ollie adjourned at twenty minutes past one o'clock.

GLADSTONE AND HIS VISITORS.

• fL...allt Saturday a party of nearly a thousand members
4i"l"e Liberal Associations of Hawcroft and Spotlaud ,
uehdale, visited Hawarden Castle, near Chester, the
Zlire ad dence of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, and
etLedraitt
to the park and grounds. Mr. Glad.
f Waill 4l not at home, being on a visit to Lori Strat-
se°l 2:10 Redcliffe, but had written as follows to the
!re, 47 of the Spotland Association :
lon't doubt the day for your visit could be arranged,
of gt,rere been obliged altogether to abandon the practice
Was fng largo Parties of visitors personally a welcome, as t
or ound to involve in an inconvenient way the character
Political address,"
dePutation of the excursionists were received by
thr. Gladstone, and in her presence passed a vote of
rreillts to Mr, Gladstone for throwing open the park.
41 14e resolution was acknowledged by Mrs. Gladstone,
111.5' said the kind expressions made use of towards
husband were more gratifying to her than those
wsed towards herself.

SALMON AND TROUT AT THE
ANTIPODES.
The 2,;
damea 44.8 liss published the following letter from Mr.
A. Yonl Waratah-honse, Clapham-park :
Sir
I lea. rota the latest files of the Melbourne papers
11l that Captain Payne, Inspector of Fisheries,
▪ (It awn the attention of those engaged in fishing to
4 te fact that accounts have been received that several
1140 ala
feat • of small fish, varying from nine inches to one
in length, have lately been seen going down the
arra river, which are supposed to be the Californian
to 111°11 on their way to sea. Fishermen are requested
extra precautions, and should they catch any
Wm:r• e." Young fish to return them at once to the
The Argus newspaper remarks :
" It
reach„ encouraging to learn, from information which has
trace: Inspector of Fisheries, that
Ltharme Samuel Wilson,
are
at
last
at to Californian salmon which _
to
river. Lica cost and trouble, introduced n the Victorian
their then then 12 months ago; the young fry have escaped
taidlin:lt,Perits, and, in accordance with instinct, are now
their way to the sea."
s "n the 24th of March last some 20,000 ova of the
Za_ll eoutb and north of England trout arrived
laud 77 in Melbourne. They were from Camber-
and shipped to the order of Sir Samuel
b The people of Melbourne do not appear to
_e satisfied with the trout I sent them, which
ZIT, from the Itchin, Wey, and Wick, and are, I
Vice", as fine as any in the world; but the rivers of
d toria, being very lightly stocked, they get abun-
:lee of food without much exertion, and, therefore,
Icb great size, lazy, and do not rise readily to the
15;,,, le Tasmania, whence they obtained all their ova
aver streams Mailer there, they rise beautifully, and
s,fromo three-quarters of a pound to a pound
101 b. weight.
P
in the erwent they attain from
to " b

TIIL WEATHER AND THE CROPS.
hall,

11,

ei-.••••• ....techl, writing to The Times from Tiptree-
•mvedon, Essex, on June 9, says:—
1 Sir 1-Three weeks of repeated downpours, with a
:°w temperature and want of sunshine, have con-
tier
"LI, darkened our prospect for cereal crops,
Da°l3derett3:l on our colt', stiff, glutinous clays; where
, their mudiike condition has excluded air
Irwn the plant roots and ha, caused the crops to look
yellow and unhealthy. Pulse, green crops, and
fi:atures have been improved by the rains, but all now
r a warm and dry time to riptm them, even on
t por •
0114 ends, which have suffeied much less than
44ftolays.
,
butgeneral opinim is that harvest cannot be early,
zauch will d pend on the summer weather.
?heel) have had too nauc4 of "wet jcket" and
clamp bed."
OW to labotirt the impossibility of hand hoeing,
have lost much time, and the we'd e are
I. 41221444,

SIR ROWLAND. HILL AND PENNY
POSTAGE.

A deputation of the Corporation of the City of London,
accompanied by the Town Clerk and the Chamberlain,
waited on Sir Rowland Hill at his residence, Hampstead, on
Friday in last week, for the purpose of presenting him with
the freedom of the City in a handsome gold casket. Sir
Rowland Hill, now 83 years of age, though in the enjoyment
of his mental fauulties, was not able to visit the City, and
It was thought best to let the ceremony be of the simplest
kind.

Sir Rowland Hill, in replying to the deputation,
spoke with deep feeling of the gratification with which
he and all the members of his family received the
honour which it had pleased the corporation of Lon-
don to confer upon him—an honour rendered all the
more gratifying by the very generous manner in wlich
the Chamberlain had been pleased to speak of his ser-
vices. Like every one else who endeavoured to effect
Improvements in existing institutions, it had been his
lot to encounter misrepresentation, injustice, and
strenuous, though doubtless often honest opposition ;
but, on the other band, there were probably
few innovators who had had the good fortune which
had been granted to him; to live to see his plans crowned
with a success far exceeding his most sanguine ex-
pectations; to find former opponents converted into
zealous friends; and, above all, to know—as he did by
that day's ceremony and by other tokens which from
time to time had reached his hands that, though
nearly 40 years had passed since his plans came into
Operation, the public still retained a kindly remem-
brance of his services to their common country, and,
as had been kindly said, to the world at large. The
present generation, fortunately for itself, had no
practical acquaintance with the evils of the old
postal system. Probably few even of those assembled
around him were aware that a lower rate of
postage now carried a letter from Egypt or the
furthest parts of Europe to San Francisco than
was charged in 1839 on a letter corning from Guildhall
(which they had left scarcely an hour ago) to that
house, though the latter distance, as the crow flies,
wasetcarcely four miles. The uniform penny postage
system seemed, perhaps, now to many persons to be so
natural and proper—so thoroughly in accordance with
the fitness of things—that they were probably unaware
how incredulous many people were 40 years ago as
to its propriety, and how narrowly the plan more
than once eszaped total shipwreck. It might,
perhaps, be interesting to them to know that when he
tirst turned his attention to the practicaeility of re-
forming the Post Office—though he was confident that
the existing rates of pest?ge were in many cases too
high—he had no idea of unifopmap of rata. and, .a
BB he was aware, no one else had ever even suggested
such a thing. Before making up his mind, however, as to
what simplifications of arrangement and reductions of
charge were practicable, he set himself to analyse care-
fully each item of cost in the service performed by the
Post Office as regarded letters committed to its charge.
In the course of the investigation he found that the
chief items of cost were what he might call the terminal
services—i.e., those of collection and delivery; and it
was then he discovered what was to him the astonish-
ing fact that not only did the cost of conveying a
letter from the town in which it originated to its place
of destination bear no proportion to the distance it had
to be conveyed, but that that cost was so insignificant
(only the ninth part of a farthing even for carrying a
letter the 400 miles between London and Edinburgh)
that it might be ignored. and that a uniform rate of
postage, with its manifest advantages in simplify-
ing and still further Cheapening the postal
arrangements, was in truth absolutely fairer
than any other. So little, however, were many
people prepared at that time to accept the
principle of [uniform postage—a change even more
inconsistent with their established usages than a
uniform rate for passengers and goods by railway
would probably be considered at the present time—
that, even after all the evidence had been submitted
to the Parliamentary Committee of 1838, that corn.
mittee, when the principle of uniformity of postage
was put to the vote, was equally divided, and this
question—the very essence of his scheme—was only
carried by the casting vote of the chairman—the late
Mr. Robert Wallace, member for Greenock, a gentle-
man, he might add, who had then already distinguished
himself for many improvements which he had effected
in the details of Post Office management. When the
further question was put that the uniform rate should
be one penny, this was rejected by the committee—
only three voting in its favour and six against
it—and instead of the penny rate a twopenny
rate of postage was recommended, He would not
enter into a long explanation to show how this
difficulty was ultimately overcome, and how in the end
penny postage vr conceded by the Government of
the day, not so much, he feared, from any real con-
viction as to its merits, but as a means, he believed,
of securing, on a coming division, the votes of certain
influential members of Parliament, whose opposition,
on a question wholly unconnected with the Post
Office, had become dangerous to the Government.
In conclusion, he begged the [deputation to convey
to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London
his most earnest thanks not only for the honour
they had conferred upon him, but for he kind con-
sideration they' had shown in sendigg a deputation of
their body to present the resoluti7Sn to him there,
his feeble state of health (which had kept him a
prisoner in those roams for nearly four years)
preventing him from going into the City to re-
ceive the freedom at their hands. In the fulness of
time, when those who could still remember the incon-
venience of the former postal system should have
passed away, and the public, as years rolled on, should
have forgotten, as necessarily they would, everything
concerning hineeelf and the reform which it had fallen
to his lot to effect, his son and his eon's sons would still
be able to point with pride to this permanent and visible
token of the full and generous manner in which the
corporation of the greatest city in the world had been
pleased to express its approval of his labours for the
public welfare.
Sir Rowland Hill then signed the roll of honorary
citizenship, the Chamberlain observing that the
archives in the City Library showed that he was the
third of that name and family who had become con-
nected with the city of London. The first was a direct
ancestor of his and bore the same arms—viz., Sir Row-
land Hill, citizen and mercer, who was Lord May or
in 1549, a benefactor of Christ's Hospital, and founder
of the Grammar School at Drayton, Salop. He was
buried in the church of St Stephen Walbrook, and
his epitaph is in Stow's "Survey of London." The
second was General Sir Rowland Hill, who in 1814 re-
ceived the honorary freedom of the City for his ser-
vices at the battle of Vitoria.
This brought the ceremony to a conclusion.
The casket presented by the Lord Mayor and Cor-
poration is of 18. carat gold and weighs twenty ounces.
The front panel is ornamented after, a design by the
late Mr. Mulready, R A., for the first penny envelope
issued by the Post Office. It represents Britannia as
sending forth her meesengers to all parts of the globe,
and beneath the figure of Britannia is a fac simile in
enamel of the penny stamp. At the back is an in-
scription, at one end the monogram of Sir Rowland
Hill, at the other end the family crest, and on the lid
the arms of the city of London. It is lined with
:Aragon silk velvet, and stands on a block of coloured
marble. There is a base covered with silk velvet, and
the whole can be enclosed in a Morocco case lined
with satin and velvet,

This interesting and well•deserved recognition of the bene-
fits the country has derived from the adoption of the system
of uniform penny pocitage, and which has its abiding testi-
monial in the gratitude of every class of the community, was
the subject of the following leader in The Times :

Many years ago, at a time which to the present
generation will seem like the middle of the dark ages,
though it was within the memory of men still
the poet Coleridge was making a solitary tour through
the Lakes. He stopped one day at a wayside inn for
refreshment, and while he was there the rural postman
came by, bearing a letter for the waiting-maid. The
charge for postage was a shilling—no exorbitant sum
in those days, Bo distant and yet so near. The girl
looked wistfully at the letter, and then returned it to
the postman, saying that she could not afford to pay
for it. The tender-hearted poet at once proffered
the necessary fee, which the girl reluctantly ac-
cepted • but when the postman was gone she ex-
plained' to her benefactor that he had spent his money
in vain. The letter was only a blank sheet of paper,
but on its oatside were some apparently insignificant
marks, of which she had carefully taken note before
she returned the missive to the postman. They had
told her all she wanted to know, for she and her
brother, from whom the letter came, had agreed upon
this mode of communication in order to evade the
exorbinate demands of the Post Office. "We are so
poor," she said, 'that we have invented this manner
of corresponding and franking our letters." We re-
call this once well known story because it illus-
trates, better than a pile of statistics could do, the
contrast between the postal arrangements of to-day
and those of less than fifty years ago. It can hardly
ho nooointary for uo to a.r Co whom Cho mnmontniig
change is mainly due, The illustrious author of it,
Sir Rowland Hill, is still living, and at the patriarchal
age of eighty-three he received a tardy recognition of
the services he has rendered alike to his country and
to mankind by the proffer of the freedom of the
City of London, unanimously voted by the Court of
Common Council. The health of Sir Rowland Hill,
unhappily, prevented his attending at the Guildhall
and receiving the gift of his franchise in perssei, and it
was therefore presented to him by a deputation at his
own residence. If the distinction thus lost some of its
prestige it will lose none of its true significance in the
eyes of the public. It has not, however, been necessary
for the veteran reformer of our postal system to wait
thus long for his appropriate reward. That has long
since been accorded in the gratitude of his countrymen
for an emancipated Post Office, and in the practical
adoption of his system throughout the civilised world.
Nevertheless, it was fitting that the City of London,
the official representative of the first commercial com-
munity in the world, should, even at this late hour,
record its sense of benefits conferred by the efforts of
the originator of the Penny Postage, not only on com-
merce, but on society at large.
When Sir Rowland Hill first set himself, now more
than forty years ago, to the task of postal reform, the
communications of the country, though officially re-
garded as a model of efficiency, were, as compared with
what we are now accustomed to, in a very rudimentary
state. Letters ac a rule were not prepaid, and could
be refused by those to whom they were addressed.
They were charged according to a tariff increasieg
very rapidly with their weight and with the distance
they were carried, so that the briefest communication
had to pay several pence for conveyance from one
part of the kingdom to another. The inevitable con-
sequence was that, although the Post office enjoyed a
legal monopoly for the conveyance of letters, all kinds
of expedients were adopted for the independent and
illicit transmission of correspondence at a cheaper rate.
Members of Parliament and official personages enjoyed
' the privilege of franking letters under their signature.
Them o was a large traffic in these franks, for it was the
common perquisite of dependents of great personages
to procure and sell them, and, besides this, they were
forged to am enormoue extent. Letters were sent in book-
sebere' parcels, in bales of goods, in parcels by common
carriers, and all kinds of ingenious modes were devised
for evading the exactions of the Post Office. In those
letter was a costly affair, and thrifty
days a
io, in consequence, had recourse eo many devices
to avoid the expense of even necessary con-upon.
d
Bankers hesitate to transmit
dance,money,
i:vgb6Wesia.ta, hell%
lawyers to conamrdunerlacaotre
two ithforwtshesdir
chants to send o

private friends were either eilent altogether, foe
fear of taxing their correspondents unduly, or waited
for the precarious chance of a friendly frank. In many
large towns four-fifths of the commercial correspondence
was illegally transmitted by private enterprise at a
much lower cost than that of the official tariff. Never-
t eelese, the Post Office system was regarded as amarvel
of organization, and, in answer to all criticisms, it could
point to a large sum annually earned for the
Exchequer. Herein lay the strength of the early
official resistance to Sir Rowland Hill's efforts. He
could not impugn the organization of the Post Office,
which worked well in detail, though, as subsequent ex-
perience has proved, its system was incurably vicious;
but he could and did prove that its mode of levying
its charges was unjust and obstructive. He pointed
out that the cost of transmitting letters was in-
significant as compared with that of their collec-
tion and delivery. Hence he argued that if a uni-
form rate, sufficient te cover the necessary expenses
were levied on all letters, the distance to which
they were conveyed might be left out of amount
in appraising the charge. By fixing the rate as
low as possible, he calculated that the increase of
clrrespondence and the extinction of illicit modes of
conveyance would speedily recoup the revenue for its
immediate loss, and in the meanwhile the correspon-
dence of the country would be relieved from a burden-
some and unjust tax. In the light of eubsequeut ex-
perience, Sir Rowland Hill's argument loi ks so irre-
fragsble that it is difficult to see why it was at one
time so vehemently opposed. But we can all be wise
after the event, and it would be unjust not to acknow-
ledge that the superior wisdom with which we re-
gard the matter after forty years' experience is due
in the main to Sir Rowland Hill's courage and sagacity.
He fought the battle and won it,hopeless as his enterprise
seemed at first, and we enjoy the fruits of his victory.
What those fruits are, in almost every relation of life,
It is difficult to estimate and almost impossible to
exaggerate; they are a part of our daily life and almost
as natural to us as the air we breathe; and yet they
are of such recent growth that the author of the reform
is still among us to witness the benefits he has con-
ferred on all classes of his fellow-creatures, and the
story of Coleridge and his wasted shilling is only an
illustration of what might have happened any day in
distant parts of the country less than fifty years ago.
A feie figures, taken partly from a memorandum
drawn up by Sir Rowland Hill himself on his re-
tirement from the Post Office in 1863, will afford some
measure of the extent of his reforms. During the twenty
years from 1815 to 1835 there was no increase whatever
in the Post Office revenue, whether gross or net, and,
therefore, the inference is fair that there was no in-
crease in the number of letters annually transmitted
during the same period. In 1838, the last complete year
of the old system, the number of chargeable letters de-
livered in the United Kingdom was 76,000,000. In the
first five years after the reforms had come into
full operation the number increased threefold; in
1863 it had mounted to 642,000,000; while in 1877-8 ,
it reached the astonishing number of 1,057,732,300, or '
an average of 32 per head for the whole population of
the British Isles. Thus while the number of letters
remained stationary at three per head of the popula-
tion for the twenty years before mentioned, it has
increased more than tenfold in the last forty years. In
the face of these astonishing figures it is hardly neces-
sary to consider what was the immediate financial
effect of the revolution wrought by Sir Rowland Hill.
That has long since become an insignificant question
in comparison with the social results produced. As a
matter of fact, the profits of the Post Office fell off
considerably for come time; but the gross revenue re-
turned to about the old level in less than ten years,an d the
net profits had arisen in 1863 from £l,66o,ooo—the
figure at which they had stood before the change—to
about £1,790,000. In 1877-8 the net revenue was
officially returned as £2,057,000, showing an increase
of £llO 000 upon that of the preceding year. As there
is a reverse side to everything, some may be disposed
to question whether this portentous increase in the
amount of the country's correspondence is, after all,
an unmixed advantage. If those who supported Sir
Rowland Hill in 1836, and the following years could
have foreseen that the time would come when
London would have more than a dozen ,deliveries
a day, each bringing its burden of correspond-
ence, always troublesome and too often trivial,
they might have thought, as some of us
certainly think now, that it is possible to have
too much of a good thing. The plague of circu-
lars, for instance, must be attributed, at least in-
directly, to the reforms which were completed in 1840,
no less than the innumerable benefits of cheap and
uniform postage. Nevertheless, it would be prepos-
terous to doubt that the benefits of the system im-
measurably outweigh its inevitable disadvantages. Sir
Walter Scott could tell of a time, within the memory
of his own friends, when the mail bag from London,
which took ten days in transmission, had been known
to arrive with only one letter in it. Now-a-days, if
the mails between London and Scotland are delayed
for only a few hours, business is dislocated and whole
communities are inconvenienced. If we owe it
to the Post Office itself and to its elaborate organisa-
tion that we receive our letters with regularity, it is to
• Sir Rowland Hill that we owe it that there are letters
to receive and that the cost of sending them from one
end of the kingdom to the other is what to our fathers
would have seemed an insignificant trifle. Nor has
this priceleee been been confined to our own country
and colonies. In cheap postage, though not in free
trade, the example set by Great Britain has been all
but universally followed, so that, as the veteran postal
reformer reminded us, a lower rate of postage now
carries a letter from the extremity of Europe to
San Francisco than was charged in 1839 on a letter
sent from Cheapeide to Hampstead.