The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-08-22 00:00:00

Our Fonbon gorresgmbent

[We deem ft right to state that we do not at all tirlal
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

There could, in one respect, scarcely have been
a greater contrast between two mouths than
that which might be instituted between August,
1884, and August, 1835. Last year London was
sweltering under a temperature higher than had
been known for years. At Sydenham—one of
the most pleasant of the southern suburbs-97
in the slthde was registered. In the present
month nothing like this has been reached. On
the Twelfth a day looked forward to for
months by many sportsmen—snow, hail, and
rain swept over the Scotch moors, the latter
being a most unwonted accompaniment after a
drought prolonged almost without parallel. In
fact, the dry weather continued week after
week, month after month, began to raise
doubts whether the regular distribution of
the forces of Nature had not suffered some
disturbance. Many wise saws and old sayings
get their wisdom questioned as time advances.
Here is one: "Drought never bred dearth in
England." But it does breed dearth and to say
nothing of the ruined root crops, a dearth of
water in our large towns would be one of the
most terrible calamities which could befal a
community.

Parliament has been prorogued, and the
general election will have taken Place before the
Speaker again takes the chair and sees the mace
before him. The result of the impending appeal to
the newly-created and divided constituencies, no
man can predict. There are two millions of new
voters, who certainly will not all go one way.
The large towns have been so chopped tip into
districts, that it .is impossible to say whethfr
local or imperial influences will prevail.
The Home Rulers have always hitherto been
classed by the compilers of the new Parliament
-in their tabulated statements as Liberals; but
they are really a party to themselves. If by the
aid of the Home Rule vote the Conservatives
can obtain a majority in the new House of
Commons, there is little doubt that they will
,elect their own Speaker. Sir Staflord Northcote
'gave a hint of this last year when he congratu-
lated Mr. Speaker Peel on his election, signifi-
cantly adding that it .did _ not bind a future
Parliament.

- The Royal Commission on the Depression of
Trade will find ample occupation if it adheres to
the memorandum presented for its guidance by
the Earl of Iddesleigh. When the Conservatives
were last in office they sent forth a Royal Com-
mission to investigate the condition of agricul-
ture. Assistant-Commissioners went through
the United States, and there is little doubt that
the inquiry was a searching and exhaustive one.
It cost the country £&I,000. In the present
instance there can be no question whatever as to
the deplorable state of British trade, and if the
Royal Commission does its work so as to suggest
ways of improvement, the country will not
begrudge the money, and Lord Iddesleigh's
object will be accomplished.
Ministers have left town in a body, Lord
Salisbury enjoying the sea breezes of the Channel
from the Chalet Cecil at Dieppe. The Prime
Minister has been in office two months, and
has already begun to show the traces of State
cares. Yet he is 21 years younger than Mr. Glad-
stone, who must have been in office the larger
part of his Parliamentary existence. Mr. Glad-
stone is one of those men described by the late
Mr. Bernal Osborne as a glutton for work, and
when at the Treasury laid it down as an axiom
that work should be sought out when it was not
obvious to ordinary observation.
Those who bring their families on a visit to
London during the autumn must assuredly regret
the gradual but evident diminutionin the number
of four-wheeled cabs. It is speaking a good word
for the much-ridiculed and often-scorned vehicle to
say that its extinction would be a cause for
public sorrow • but unless something better can
be put in its Place than at present seems likely,
the metropolitan world will awake one day to
the fact that it has lost a valuable servant.
Hansoms are all very well in their way, but what
can be imagined more ludicrous than an attempt
to stow a family, with all the necessary baggage
into or upon one? As for the railway companies'
private omnibuses, there is not only the bother
of having to make elaborate arrangements for
them beforehand, and having to pay heavily for
the privilege, but there is the fact that, if the
visitor wishes to go a single yard beyond the
four-mile radius, he is forced to have two horses.
Those who desire to have as little to
do with red-taped officialdom as possible will shun
such vehicles, and will content themselves with
the common cab. _