The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-03-17 00:00:00

-;:-i_)nr 'Kuban Coutspoitbnif,

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all Cams
identify ourselves with our C'orreep•ndent's epinienS.]

Seldom has public attention in the 'metropolis been
aroused to such on extent as by the proposal of the
District Railway Company to erect ventilating shafts
pon the Thames EmFankment and in Queen Victoria-
street. The Embankment was reclaimed from the
river at the cost of the London ratepayers at an ex-
penditure of two millions sterling, but a part of the
foreshore, over which the tide ebbed and flowed, was
technically Crown property. Although it had been
made into solid ground out of the Metropolitan rates,
the Crown claimed it ,notwithstanding, and thirteen
years ago the Treasury proposed to erect a new
Mint upon a part of this land. Parliament, how-
ever, interfered and interdicted the scheme on
two gounds—first, that the chemicals employed in
the work of the Mint would disseminate dele-
terious fumes, and, secondly, that the land having
been reclaimed from the Thames by the inhabit-
ants of the capital in equity to them it belonged, and
the Legislature therefore resolved that as much of it as
possible should be devoted to gardens for the recreation
of the public.

Thus far well. The Parliament of 1870 had refused
a demand of the Crown and had decided in favour of
the body politic. It was, therefere, with considerable
surprise that the residents of London discovered that
the District Railway, which runs under the Em-
bankment from Blackfriars to Westminster, had
obtained powers to ventilate the line by construct-
ing ventilators in the gardens as well as in the
roadway. Fnrther east than Blackfriars the line
passes beneath Queen Viotoria - street to the
Mansion House, and in that splendid new
thoroughfare, made only within the past few year?,
shafts are also to be opened. Anything like the
amazement with which this intelligence has been re-
ceived has seldom been experienced. The President
of the Board of Trade is earnestly besought to "do
eorcething, but he replies that the Company have ob-
tained Parliamentary powers, and he does not see
what is to be done. The Railway Company contend
that their line is a great public convenience, of which
there is not the slightest doubt, and that they are
bound to take every precaution for the comfort of
their passengers. This proposition also is incontro-
vertible. As the matter stands, it is n very pretty
little quarrel, and there can be no question that a
great deal will be heard of it in Parliament this
Session.

The financial year, which closes on the 31st instant,
will show whether that decrease in the Excise duties
which has previously been noted, and which un-
doubtedly marks the falling-off in the consumption of
intoxicating liquors, is progressive in its continuance.
The national expenditure is now ninety millions a
year, and there is ne longer that elasticity of the
Revenue which enabled Mr. Gladstone, twenty
years ago, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, to
congratulate the House of Commons on the fact
that the prosperity of the country was increasing
by leaps and bounds. The tendency of modern
finance has been in the direction of the repeal of
taxes upon Exciseable articles, and if the Revenue
from these gradually but surely falls off, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer will have to turn his
attention seriously to the question as to how the money
is to be raised. A century ago the House of Com-
mons pained a famous resolution declaring that the
power of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and
ought to be diminished. Its terms might well he
applied to the national expenditure. This is a matter
totally independent of party, as will be seen from the
fact that from the year 1866 until now—a period which
ha seen two Liberal and two ConEervative Govern-
ments in power—the expenditure has gone on from
sixty-six millions te eighty-nine.
Intimately associated with the growth of tem-
perate habits amongst the people of this country
is the question of thrift. Mr. Bright has laid
down the dictum that "thrift is a virtue which re-
quires cultivation," and it is one which is indisputable.
The word is perfectly well understood; people in the
higher walks of life commend it to those who do not
stand in the same degree in the social scale; but those
who suggest and these who listen thoroughly know
what is meant. Yet if LI dozen or more persons were
asked to define it, it ie doubtful whether any two of
their definitions would agree. The derivation of the
term is from the word to thrive, and a modern writer
has been careful to point out that in its Scandinavian
original it means to clutch, to seize, to grasp, and to
grip. Modified, however, in the course of centuries, it
haa come to be almost synonymous with the verb "to
prosper." In a large and comprehensive sense, there-
fore, thrift embodies all those principles of life and
rules of action which contribute to the prosperity or
success either of an individual or a nation.

Authors with an eye to the imaginative, and to a
certain extent steering between the sombre and the
beautiful, have told as that men die as pebbles drop
into the ocean. The world rolls on all the same,
society bearing no sign of loss, just as the waters of the
sea ebb and flow, and leave no trace of the tiny object
which they have engulphed. There are, however,
some men who drop lute the tomb that are not quite
forgotten precisely in this way. For instance, there is
the late Mr. Green, the author of a "History of the
English People," who has just died at Menton', and
has apparently left nine to ell his pleat, His °rig!.
nality and capability were palpable to all who knew
anything either of himself er of his works, and a tone
suggestive of the eleva.tiou of his sympathies and of
his loftiness of thought pervades the works which he
has left behind him.

The Postmaster-General bay returned to his duties
at St. Martin's-le-Grand amid the oongratulations of
friends and opponents alike. The greetings were all
the warmer because it was known how seriously ill he
had been. All sides rejoiced that the attacks of
fiercer diseases had been beaten off sums/dully, and a
valuable life spared to the service of the country.
Mrs. FAwcett has sent out a very handsome little card
containing a few grateful wercle printed in gold, ex-
pressing her own an tier hnsband's acknowledgements
of the " unbounded kindness and sympathy" shown
during the right hon. gentleman's illness. This has
been forwarded to all who sent messages of kindness in
such a terrible time of anxiety.

The Prince of Wales, who ereturned from Berlin on
Saturday morning, whither he had gone to participate
in the festivities eensequent upon the celebration of
the Silver Wedding, took part in a meeting later in
the day the associations of which were of a very dif-
ferent character. Attention has often been drawn to
the condition of the British cemeteries in the Crimea,
and a gathering took place at the United Service
Institution on Saturday afternoon with a view to
taking measures for removing the discredit which
has so long attached te ear care of the graves of the
soldiers who fell in the war with Russia eight-and-
twenty years ago. The resting-places of these men, who
fell in the service of the eountry, have been greatly
neglected, and exposed to all the bitter weather which
sweeps over the bleak steppes of the Crimea. The
Heir-Apparent suggeseecl that the etones and memo-
rials should he collected from the various cemeteries,
and a mausoleum built over them, and a resolution
was passed affirming the desirability of such a step, to
which Lord Wolaeley was one of the seeakers.
Owing to the long debates on the Address, private
members had very few opportunities of bringing
forward their notices of motion, and, remarkably
enough, on the first night which they had to
themselves, the Reuse was counted out at half-past
eight. Dr. Cameron had, however, in hand a
question of considerable commercial importance,
and will take an early opportunity of repeating
his motion of last session declaring that the time has
arrived when the minimum charge for inland postal
telegrams should be redueed to sixpence. The prin-
ciple advocated by the member for Glasgow is that if
a man wanted to send only ten words inetesd of
twenty he ehoeld be charged only sixpence instead of
a shilling. At present the minimum rate is a shilling
for twenty words ; but, as is well known, in a consider-
able proportion of messages transmitted, It is no
neceeeery to use twenty words or anything like it. As
however, the shilling must be paid, the sender of the
message usually has his money's worth out of the Post
Office, and spina it out to twenty worth accordingly.
For instance a man wires to another :—" Meet
me at five," the recipient perfectly understanding
where, and what it means. Under Dr. Cameron's
plan this would be sent for sixpence; but under the
present tariff, which makes the shilling rate indhe
peetable, the render elaborates the message into
twenty words, so as to have value received, and it runs
thus: " I shall be extremely obliged if you will make
it convenient to meet me this afternoon at five o'clock
precis_ly." True, it is a form of address more suited
to a letter than to a telegram; but there are many
pereons who having been compelled to pay a shilling,
resolve to have a shilling's worth for the investment.
All such, and indeed the public generally, will wish
well to Dr. Cameron in his efforts to bring about a
long hoped-for and desirable fiecal reform.

A fire broke out on Sunday afternoon in the Calton
stables of the Glasgow Tramways Company, Tobago.
street, Glasgow. The building, which was • a very
large one, and was formerly a cotton mill, contained
at the time 20 horses and a number of ears, whilst a
vreat quantity oi fodder wa.. stored in the upper floors.
The flames spread with great rapidity, and the build-
Wil3 nOOll ClallO:ettly gutted. All the horses and a
greater portion of the cars were saved. The damage,
estimated at about RlO,OOO, is covered by insurance.

THE CREATION OF A MINISTRY OF
AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE.

The Daily News claims that Mr. Gladstone's reply
to Mr. Monk does not pledge the Government to
the creation of a new Ministry of Agriculture and
Commerce. It does not go further than a promise
to separate the incongruously united functions of
the Privy Council Office, which combines supervision
over cattle disease and the direction of primary educa-
tion. The creation of a Ministry of Agriculture and
Commerce would, perhaps, be most readily brought
about by bringing the former subject under the Board
of Trade. Agriculture is as mulch a trade as any other;
and in most foreign countries it forms one administra-
tive department with that of commerce.