The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-04-14 00:00:00

Our fonban tEorttspolthnt.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all time
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Subjects of interest succeed each other BO rapidly in
Parliament that before one is twenty-four hours old,
it is often followed up by another of equally, if not of
even greater importance. There was the Budget, for
rtstance, embodying changes affecting our fiscal polieri
and in less exciting timed it would have been the tape
of the country for many days. One fact alone—thlt
it took off the extra three-halfpence of income-tax
impcmed last year for the Egyptian expedition, was
of a most gratifying character. Then again there
was the announcement of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer that the Government would accept
the recestly-pused resolution of the House of
Commons and reduce the minimum charge for
the transmission of inland [telegrams to sixpence.
Dr. Cameron could scarcely have anticipated such
successful result of his agitation quite so soon; and it
is all the more gratifying. The reduction of the rail-
way nusenger duty, too, was in ata extent quite as
much -as had been hoped for or expected. But more
startling events were taking place to engage the atten-
tion of the public.
The Budget resolutions will come up again in the
shape of bills for Parliamentary consideration; and
meanwhile it will not be amiss to point out that the.
income-tax even as it stood before Mr. Childers an.l
nounced the reduction was less than when it was in its
present shape called into existence by Sir Robert Peel
in his famous Budget of 1842. He made use of it in
order to relieve trade and manufacture, and fixed It.
at sevenpence in the pound. It will now stand
at fivepence. Its fluctuations have been numerous
during the forty years in which suecessive ministers
have relied upon it. It has gone up to sixteen pence
in the pound as a war tax when we were fightino
Russia, and it has gone down as low as twopence in a
time of fastidious prosperity such as that of eight or
nine years ago. As to the national expenditure,
which was the subject of debate in the House of
Commons on the night following the introduction of
the Budget, it is startling to find that in a little over
forty years it has very nearly doubled. At the time
of her Majesty's accession to the Throne, it was abouti
fOrty-sii millions sterling; it is now not far from
ninety. No administration, of whatever political
complexion, seems to be able to keep pace with the
constantly growing demands of the public service.
The Royal College of Music promises to be a suc-
cessful institution, thanks in a great degree to the
efforts of the Prince of Wales, who from the beginning
of the movement has worked most energetically. A
charter has been granted, securing for the college a
sound and comprehensive constitution. The college
will be founded amid the warmest sympathy of all
lovers of music, and also of a large class of persons
who, although perhaps not ardently devoted to it
themselves, look with considerable favour upon the
establishment of a national institution of such a calibre
and description as this. Competent judges declare
that high-class music is on the increase amongst us
and the new college will help very materially to
encourage its study amongst the class whom it is
especially intended to elevate and to improve.
Some time ago a committee was formed for the pur-
pose of securing Coree free means of communication
across the Thames below London Bridge, where at
present there is none at all. The movement was,
however, suspended pending the discussion in the
House of Commons of the Bill for the Reform of the
Municipal Government of London. As, however,
there is no chance of this measure being even intro-
duced just yet, the Committee have resolved to con-
tinue the agitation, and a number of district meetings
are to be held without delay in the east and south-
east of London for assisting it. The Metropolitan
Board of Works has expended a sum of about two
millions sterling upon the structures west of London
Bridge, but the unfortunate people living on eithei
bank of the river far down the stream have no
means except those of the rudest character for
communicating with their neighbours on the other
aide. This is in unfavourable contrast with the
facilities which exist for similar purposes in some
parts of the provinces. On the Mersey, for instance,
between Liverpool and Birkenhead, there is one of
the most efficient systems of steam-ferries in the
world.

The Grand Committees have begun work, and the
way in which these bodies operate will be watched
with great interest. The object is to relieve the
Howe of Commons of much of the routine which
Nta better he discharged by a delegated body of
--•,,Led for the special work which they
per torm.
of intricain detail such as
the Bankruptcy BiU &no tneteriulle...
ment Bill are discussed in the Grand Committees
by men chosen in view of the particular duty
devolving upon them. The theory is, that while dry
matter-of-fact details are thus dealt with in a business-
like way by a committee, the Imperial Parliament
' itselrean devote itself to questions bearing not upon
trifles, but upon the administration of a great empire.
The run of legal patronage which has fallen to the
disposal of the present Government is of a very remark-
able character, and there is no indication that it is
even yet exhausted. One of the latest was the
disposal of a great legal prise of the profession, one
ranking now next after the Lord Chief Justice.
The tendency of the Judicature Act has been to
diminish the number of those valuable legal posts
to which successful lawyers aimed; and two years
ago .two of these were abolished by order in
Council. These were the offices of Lord Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas and Lord Chief Justice Baron
of the Exchequer. Each of these was worth £7,000
a year, with a seat in the Privy Council, and carried
with it the presidency of a Court of Justice. They
have been held by some of the most eminent lawyers
of the day; but now that both are gone the Master-
ship of the Rolls is almost the only post that remains
above the level of the general run of judgeships at
£5,000 a year. The Master of the Rolls receives
£6,030; but the Judicature Act imposes the necessity
of going circuit on the present and future oc,.;npants
of the office. This Involves labour, fatigue, and
expense, for as a counterbalance to the constant
change of scene and of air, most of the judges have to
pay their own circuit expenses.
Considerable disappointment has been caused in
London by the decision of the Standing Orders' Com-
mittee of the House of Commons not to suspend those
Orders, so as to allow of the introduction of a Bill for
the purpose of removing the ventilators on the Thames
Embankment. The Committee take the ground that
a private Act of Parliament having been obtained
authorising the construction of these ventilators, a
private Bill taking away that power should be intro-
duced in the customary way, and with the usual
-notice, and that such notice not having been given,
no special facilities can be afforded. Meanwhile, the
travellers by the District Railway have taken a view
of this agitation very different from that generally put
forth in the metropolitan press, and have signed a
huge petition to Parliament praying that the venti-
lators may be allowed to remain where they are.
The Archbishop of Canterbury does not yet see his
way-clear to throwing open to the general public the
grounds of Lambeth Palace as distinct from the
garfqns of that time-worn ecclesiastical structure.
The gardens no one proposes to interfere with, so that
they may be kept as heretofore for the exclusive
enjoyment of the Archbishop and his household. But
outside these there are about nine acres of pasture
:and, which the late Primate kindly lent foi Sunday-
,- chool treats, cricket matches, rifle drill grounds, and
other similar purposes. His successor points out
that if he threw open the grounds indiscriminately,
they could not be used for the objects named, and of
the two he thinks the present use to which the grounds
are put, is the one best calculated to meet the views
of those who advocate the giving the greatest amount
of enjoyment to the greatest number of people. It
would be hard to prove that his Grace is not right.
At this period of the session the House of Lords,
nes very little work to do. It meets at a quarter past .
four in Vie afternoon, and sometimes sits for only a
quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. No Bills have
yet come up from the Commons; so for the present
the Lords have ample time to meet, transact all the
business they have upon the paper, adjourn, and take
a drive in the Park before dressing for dinner. But
by and bye, in the long days, when the Commons
will seek to make haste with their work so as to be
"away to the woods, away," there will be ample for
their lordship's to attend to; and we shall sometimes
find the Lord Chancellor upon the Woolsack after
the Speaker in the Commons has betaken him to his
rest. e.et ere
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