The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-05-16 00:00:00

Our rolthit CorrespoOtnt.

Ve deem It right to state thnt. We do not at all time,
tfiztify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The Redistribution of Seats Bill, after great
perseverance on the part of Sir Charles
Dike, got through the House of Commons at
twenty minutes to four on Saturday morning, this
. late hour representing the absence of any necessity
for a Saturday sitting, which Mr. Gladstone had
threatened must be held if the Seats Bill was not
completed on Friday. When the list of con-
stituencies comes to be published, the body
politic will be amazed at the extraordinary
names by which some of the places are described.
The custom in the House of Commons of not
speaking of hon. members by their names, but by
the constituencies which they represent, is a
pedantic one, and often leads to confusion. But
this is mere dust in the balance as compared
with the confusion worse confounded which will
arise in the new Parliament if the present system
is adhered to. To have to particularise the hon.
member for Radcliffe-cum-Farnworth, amongst
more than GOO others,will be a little too good, and it
is doubtful whether any living memory will be
able to master anything like what will be re-
quired under the present rules.
Mr. Russell Lowell, the American Minister,
who
.is just now leaving London amid universal
regrets, has described the month of May as "a
pious fraud upon the almanack—a ghastly parody
on early spring, shaped with snow, and breathed
with eastern winds." It is remarkable how
within the memories of many in middle life the
once beautiful month of May has lost its reputa-
tion. In the days of our boyhood it was re-
garded as the fairest of all the year; but it has
a very different character now. It is all that Mr.
Lowell says of it, and snow and hail in various
parts of the country have testified to the fact that
May is more a reminder of a lingering winter
t bar; of nn arrrnnolling Tt wcmici 1-so
.an interesting study could it be ascertained what
causes have combined to produce the change for
the worse in the temperature of May.
The marriage portion to Princess Beatrice is
the last application of the kind which her
Majesty will have made to Parliament. The first
was in 1857, when Lord Palmerston was Prime
Minister, and the Princess Royal, at the early
age of 17, left . her home for a foreign land.
These grants have therefore been spread over a
•period a nearly thirty years. The vote to the
eldest daughter of the Queen was a dowry of
.10,000, and an annuity of £BOOO, but the
younger sisters—Princesses Alice, Helena, and
Louise—have each had £30,000 dowry and
£6OOO a year. Previously to the application in
the case of Princess Beatrice, there had been
none" for a marriage portion for one of the
Queen's daughters since February, 1871, when
the Princess Louise was about to become Mar-
chioness of Lorne. Applications have, however,
been necessary in the cases of the Dukes of Con-

naught and Albany. Through the death of the
latter, the Parliamentary allowance has dropped
from £25,000, the sum voted to the duke, to
1:6000, which is now paid to the duchess for the
benefit of herself and her children.

• The House of Commons is looking forward to
the Whitsuntide recess, which will bring longer
days and it is hoped more agreeable weather than
the holiday at Easter. That, indeed, was very
short, for Parliament did not assemble until the

19th 'February, and had not got through suffi-
cient work in six weeks to justify a vacation of
more than a few days. Now, however, the
aspect of legislative affairs is changed. The work
is being got steadily through, math() House will
be entitled to all that the Prime Minister has
promised it, which represents nearly a fortnight.
The Lords always take a longer holiday than the
Commons on the principle that the less work
performed, the more relaxation is required.

The time of the May meetings in London is
always a busy one for the Earl of Shaftesbury,
Between Exeter Hall and Willis's Rooms he pre-
sides over several gatherings a day in the
busiest time of those meetings, and looking at
the fact that the noble earl is 83 years of age,
his activity and energy are amazing. As a
, matter of course, he took the chair at the
British and Foreign Bible Society's gathering, at
which some highly interesting statistics were
given. It seems that the circulation of the Bible,

o-r
parts of it, during the twelve months, was'
more than four millions, while since the estab-
lishment of the society over a hundred million
copies of the Scriptures have boon printed in
various languages and scattered through AVP-ry
quarter of the globe. The platform on the occa-
sion of a Bible Society's Annual -Meeting, can
never fail to be an in_ to_rbelt
jintsAKlnv al-nlitnFs
e
Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr. Spurgeon can
very well meet on a common level.
When Mr. Irving commenced his season at
the Lyceum, after his return from America, he
introduced what he thought would be an agree-
able reform in that theatre. This was the booking
of seats for the pit and gallery. On the opening
night, when Hamlet was produced, the
tragedian received a tremendous ovation; yet
there were persons among the audience who gave
vent to their feelings unmistakably regarding
the new arrangement.i
The result s that Mr.
Irving has announced that after May 18th, next
Monday, the pit and gallery will be carried on in
the old form. This was in accordance with
a generally expressed wish on the part of the
public. On this night "The Bells" will be pro-
duced. At the Princess's the last nights of the
"Silver King" are announced, and the "Lights
of London" will be revived. "The Last Chance,"
at the Adelphi, draws vast crowds nightly, and
will very likely have as long a run as its pre-
decessor, "In the Ranks." The popularity of the
"Private Secretary" at the Globe is undeniable,
as it has now been played 420 nights. At the
Opera Comique "The Guv'nor " is the attrac-
tion. A good night's amusement is offered at
Toole's Theatre in the shape of the following
three pieces: "A Fool and His Money," the
"Great Tay-Kin," and "Namesake's." Mrs.
Langtry is still appearing nightly in " Peril " at
the Prince's. It may be mentioned that recently
this lady appeared at the Crystal Palace in the
"School for Scandal," and drew together the
largest audience that has ever assembled at that
theatre. The "Mikado," at the Savoy, is a com-
plete success, as most of Messrs. Gilbert and
Sullivan's undertakings are. Drury Lane is at
present occupied by the Carl Rosa Opera Com-
pany.
That a hundred thousand persons should have
gone to the Inventions Exhibition during the
first week it was open says a very great deal for
the faith of the public in flocking to see a collec-
tion which is as yet necessarily incomplete.
There need be no doubt as to the popularity of
- the exhibition after this fact. It is, of course,
useless to protest against the slang which calls
this the Inventories, as though an invention, the
- product of a man's brain, could be placed on a
level with an inventory of towels and table
covers. The " Healtheries" was sufficiently
• slangy, but the "Inventories" has not a single
relieving feature. G. R.

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DEATH OP SIR WATIKIN WILLIAMS
WYNN, 'BART, M.P.
Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., M.P., died at
his Welsh seat, Wynnstay, Ruabon, at an early hour
on Saturday morning, after a long and painful ill-
ness. The death of the hon. gentleman has cast a
deep gloom over the whole Principality, where he
was everywhere known as the Prince in Wales. Sir
Watkin was born in London in 1820, and was
educated at Westminster and at Christ Church,
Oxford. He was afterwards gazetted to a cornetcy
of the Ist Regiment of Life Guards. At the death
of his father in 1840 he succeeded to the title and
estates of Wynnstay and Ituabon. At the time of his
death he was Deputy Lieutenant of the counties of
Denbighshire, Shropshire, Merionethshire, Mont-
gomery, Steward of her Majesty's Manorial Courts of
Denbighshire, Provincial Grand Master of North
Wales, Aide-de-camp to her Majesty, Master of
the Wynnstay Hunt, Colonel of the Montgomery
Yeomanry Cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal
Denbigh Rifle Volunteers and had sat in the House
of Commons for Denbighshire forty-four years. In
1832 the Queen, then Princess Victoria, was enter-
tained at Wvnnstay. Mr: Herbert Lloyd Watkin
Williams Winn, who recently married Sir Watkin's
eldest daughter, succeeds to the title and estates.
. , Sir Watkin throughout his life was a keen sports-
man and always kept a fine stud of horses and a large
pack of hounds, known as the Wynnstay Hunt. Of
lahad years he
been a great sufferer, and was con-
fined to his room for
he had to under weeks together. Two years ago
go an operation upon his left foot
owing to disease; • d latterlyie w
he hasff su, :.ed from an.
• •
affection' of the alunngs. s
atkin wa- patron of
. seven livings.

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