The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-10-07 00:00:00

Our yonbon o:ottrsponbnit,

(We deem It tight to state that tie do not at all tinlea
.Centily ourselves with our correspondent's minion/I

\

Readers who are interested in the affairs of France
have plenty 4.4 material to occupy attention, in the
shape of news and rumours, relative to alleged Royalist
and Imperialist intrigues. Such intelligence, of
catrse, is what, we might reasonably have expected,
and it will be long, indeed, before such intrigues
can be recanted as highly improbable. But,
meanwhile, " I,a belle France" amssus to be weary of
external and internal strife ; and the great mass
of the country 1,01.11L4 willing to accept existing
institution,‘ Whatever be her form of
government, France at any rate makes steady progress
towards a condition of internal priksperity which bids
lair 00011 tt Is ;Is great as it was before the war. tier
commerce and trade are reviving rapidly ; her credit
still stands high among European capitalists ; and
the thrifty and economical habits of her population
give a solid guarantee for the continued stability of
the country.
_ .

It is really very kind of the ladies anti gentlemen of
the Social Science tigress to assemble at a time id the
y ear when Parliament is scattered bi the biol. winds,
and when, in a word, " things'' are dull. Th.. pro-
.2eaingsof thi,,Congres.s from its oinitueneement, if fully
reported, would perhog, fill many ponilenms volumes,
lint they would be very interesting reading, and as in-
Arnetive perhaps as interesting. The immense variety
• if sulijects with which the writers an.: speakers at this
congress have dealt, and will yet deal, is remarkable.
lbit there may possibly lie many an inquisitive. and
" dubious little Peterkin" Who is anxious to know
" what good has come, of it at last ?" Readers of these
proceedings have probably often regretted that so
many sound theories, no 1 practical wisdom, so
many valuable suggestions for improving our social
condition, should pass away unlimited, • a moment seen,
then lost for ever." But is it so? True, the Social
Science Congress possesses no machinery for effecting
the reforms which they propose, but the 014111011 S thus
enunciated do not fall flat on the dull cold ear of an
inattentive society. " Opinion," soul Lord Palmerston,
"is stronger than armies," and where olinilu IS in-
trinsically good and sound it must, sooner or later,
permeate society and pnaluce good fruit. In this re-
spect we may not only read with interest the views
enunciated by our social reformers at Birmingham, but
we may fairly hope that this Smial Science Congress
will do a good work, though that work may not be at
• ince apparent.
Now that the Infornational Exhibition if IS7I is
"Em sorry I didn't go'' is a very common
iibmrvatim. From official returns it appears that from
the opening day, the 15t of Max', till the Exhibition
doors were shut on Saturday last, the number of visits
(which of curse is not exactly the same as the number
of persons) made to the building was 1.142,151. This
is a very small number for twenty-two weeks, and far
less than the intrinsic merits of the Exhibition ought
to have commande.L Why, the picture-galleries
had the Exhibition consisted of nothing else, ought
I o have brought two or three minims of visitors during
the five finest months of the year and the Exhibition
contained thousands of objects of interest beyond these
artistic treasures. It is therefore not at all surprising
that people who did not see it are now expressing their
regrets, and their determination at all events, if possible,
to see the second of the annual series.

Mr. ('ardwell, it is said, has given ',emission for the
band of a regiment of Guards to visit Boston next
summer for the Musical Festival. Brother Jonathan
will, doubtless, give a hearty welcoms to our red-coated
musicians Among the many severe remarks which have
been made by army reformers, I have never r.-ad any
directed against the management or performances of
our military band-c. Perhaps no War Seetetpry ever
existed who did not, in some form or other, meet with
his full share of vithisTation, and scarcely anything in
the army, or g,tinected with it, has escaped castigation,
bat the bands 14 tbs. British Army have, I believe,
wiolly escaped, and are certainly received with
enthusiasm wherever their enlivening strains are heard.
Boston, of considers herself honoured by the
first peaceful invasion of soldiery which she ha=
evir had, and we may hope that this friendly visit may
tetul to promote good feeling sdween ourselves and it
town which was so strikingly prominent in the war of
American Independence.
A very distressing and suggestive item of news
comes from Kielf, a Russian town of some 30,0,X) in-
habitants. The outbreak of cholera there was; so bad
at the beginning of September, that a scientific eon-
,,ress Which had assembled there, was compelled to
rem., c. -di 0r1:- z s i 7157.0. The death., intli
this li,wribio• malady tv. ;0 t 110., 3 day ; •g.= at
I. eNi•tcl fate! and

, of tb• .....thor.ti.s in to .gleeting
-unitary an .l" the rowers that be,- were at
Lest induced to N.ltl• li,) roubles to disinfect the two.
May not some .4 our local authorities learn a whole-
some lee-on from this? Mr. Simon, the head of the
medical department of the Privy Council, some time
since instituted rigid enquiries into the sanitary condi-
G a> "fa large munber .4 bums and districts, andii, n..t
,•ne instc.nee nt ne,U.ll,efxul these candit .• .
Lctory. r'orne of Lis details moreover, were
at painf.il cluiracter, and w.,utel really tend t. ti,
eonclusion that scores of our towns are severally in
viting the cholera. Would it not be well for our 1. cal
'wards of health, or any other boards that have to deal
with such matters, to do what the authorities of Kieff
have done, and to do it bef 're this awful disease breaks
out, instcadof after?

I:he extraordinary railway tragedy which naturally
excited m much interest, a man and his wife being
found dead in a railway carriage has terminated in a
verdict and in a i commendation by the jury, neither
of which will surprise anycne who has read the details,
as far an they can be known of this horrible case. It
is decided that Wanless was insane when he committed
the double crime -the fact f his having murdered his
wife, and then committed suicide being taken for
granted, and the jury strongly recommend that avom-
tnunitation between passengers and guards irrespective
a distance or stoppage, be established. It is evident
that the present arrangement that such a communica-
tion should exist when a train travels twenty miles
without stopping, only partially meets the require-
ments of railway travellers.

It is satllart,,ry to hear that Vieel:haueenor

Wickens has issued an injunction to restrain one of the
eneroachers, if the wt-trd be permitted, from plowhing
up a portion of the great avenue at Wanstead, forming
part of Epping Forest ; awl satisfactory, too, is it to
bear that this injunction is due to the energy of the
Corporation of London. If the Forest is to be saved,
we shall, probably, have to thank the Corporation for
the boon. As to that unhappy Venlerers' Com t
which met with such fuss and formality some short
time since, they who expect the least frsan it are likely
to be the least disams tinted. The jurisdiction of this
antiquated and anomalous Court may, perhaps, he
proved from musty parchments ; but practically, awl
in fact, its power seems to be infinitesimal.
It is stated that the North London Railway Com.
patty has for the last few months had the business of
station advertising—and I presume the carriage adver-
tisements also - in their own hands ; that the Metro.
politan railway directors are about to adopt the sante
comae ; and that the North Western and Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railways likewise intend to take the
advertising business into their own hands, while it is
rumoured that several other companies will follow
snit If railway directors have reason to believe that
they can make more money this way than by the eon
tract system— awl very probably they can - -they of
coorse will do well in the interests of shareholders to
try the system. In this case, I suppose we shall be
also bored by an extension of the plan of advertising on
*the tickets. At any rate I hope the directors will
effect one improvement which under the present system
is much needed. The stations are often is, plastered with
athcerti-seinonts that the traveller has a great difficulty
in descrying the name of the station. At the very
least we have a right to hoist that these names should
be large, clear, awl isolated, and that they should be
illuminated at night.
It is now wany years since the Pamir!, He raid
stored a small sheet of the deaf not dumb alphabet
This sheet, from the idioms-am circulation which the
periodical then enjoyed, found its way into numberless
homes and conferred a great bent lit to the poor afflicted
creatures for whom it was specially intended, inasmuch
as thousands of people learnt the signs and thus became
companionable to the speechless. Anther attempt to
spread this knowledge Las just been made by the au-
thorities of the original deaf-mal-dnoth asylum.
They
have issued a large awl well-execute 1 sheet of the signs
in use. It is thought the engravings may please
children, and so cause them to acquire voluntarily the
silent language; but be this WI it may, the attempt ix
praiseworthy, as seeking to alleviate 'one of the direst
ills which flesh is heir to." Looking at the matter
from another point of
_view no doubt a family know-

--
ledge of the sigisi would save much tongue waggling
awl scolding. This is a very noisy world of ours, and
the tongue, that unruly rwember, contributes not a little

of that Tinian. In how many circumstances of life
would it be a merciful arrangement for unwilling
listeners -let 1171 say for example when two cf the fair
sex are quarrelling if people would talk by Agra in-
stead of in the ,irdinasy way ! How convenient, too,
would finger-talking be in offices, &c., where time clatter
of tongues frequently retard business. How useful,
too, in the sick room, and, in fact, on thousands Of ocoa-
si4 ow where quiet 114 desirable! lint, after all, this iii but
Utopian dreaming. People who can talk with their
tongues are not very likely to use finger speech unless
fmrn kind-heartedness towanla their afflicted fenny/-
ore:4oM

That narrow strip of water which divides us from our
once natural enemies is sufficiently wide and generally
sufficiently boisterous to be very prtsluctive of dis-
comfiwt to those who cross it; indeed CaPtak Hasi
Hall, who had been all round the world, spok • of the
passage between and( 'alai:, W. thew. st t match-
disturbing bit of sea that he knew of. Add to this the
great delay in transferring luggage from train to boat,
and then from boat to train, and it is no wonder that
projects have been frequently contemplated for effect-
ing some speedier communication between the shores
of England and France. A channel bridge between
Dover and Calais has been seriously talked of, an],
indeed, has been brought to perfection on paler; a
railway tube lying on the bed of the Channel has
also been advocated ; and a railway tunnel has
been iwojected by several engineers. As to the
Channel bridge, the hloa seems somewhat I'topian,
thialgh, relintp,, as Robert Stephensm
said of a railway to the neon, it is only a question
of money ; but the tube and the tunnel appear to have
no inherent difficulties that capital and enterprise
WoUhl not overcome. I have no doubt that some of us
will live to pass under the lied of the Straits of Dover
comfortably ensconsed in a railway carriage, for
more difficult engineering us irks the 'Mont Cenis
Tunnel, for example have been accamplistc.l.
Mr. Ecunningt m, an eminent civil engineer, is the
last projector of a Channel railway tunnel. He
proposes that this communication should be male
between Dungeness and Cape I frisnez. His idea
is that this great submarine way should be a hundred
feet below the bed of the sea ; and he says the
tunnel could be constructed with as much ease and
certainty al ti,' tunnel sewer under Oxford-street.
No doubt of it ; it really is but a question lif capital,
labour, and time. The direction of the proposed sub-
marine pass.;ge, Mr. Itemmington says, would be cen-
tral as regards existing railways, and in the direct line
between London and Paris, while be mentions other
advantages of his scheme. I should not be at all sorry
to see an Anglo-French company started for effecting
, this desirable project.

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