The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-10-07 00:00:00

Our YOithil Correspanbent

• [We deem It right to state that we do not at all times
(dsntlty ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

At last the London Court of Common Council have
decided to remove a long-standing eyesore and nuisance
to many passers-by, the much-talked-of Temple Bar.
For years has this topic furnished many discussions
among the members of the ruling body of the metro-
polis. The subject has been threshed bare again and
again, both by the Council and in the Prees, and many
have been the suggestions thrown out by which it was
Loped that a compromise might be arranged in the
matter. Those who were for the extinction of the
Bar have continually satirised the awkward ap-
pearance which it has presented sinco it has had to be
supported by props, and since policemen have had
to be stationed on each side of it to prevent car-
t iages going through it at any but a foot pace.
On the other hand, it has been urged that it
would be something very little short of vandal-
ism to destroy such a remnant of the past, ugly
though it undoubterry was. At the last even some
sort of a compromise has been made, for the northern
and southern walls are to remain, for how long has not
been said. Outsiders might think that it would be as
well, while the thing is in hand, to get rid of the
erection altogether, but perhaps the Common Council
have some special reason for wishing to retain the two
waUs of a gate which marks the boundary of the City.
The indifference which is being shown by this
country to the election for President now pending in
the United States contrasts strongly with the interest
which has occasionally been felt at a similar occurrence.
No one who read the newspapers of that day can fail
to remember the excitement which was caused
by the presidential election of 1860. The disastrous
civil war which ensued as a part consequence of the
return of Lincoln as a successor to Buchalian illustrates
the importance of that occasion. In 1864 the contrast
was much hollower and naturally more limited, as the
Confederacy was in existence, and therefore, only the
Federal portion of the States could take part in it. It
was at that time that Lincoln gave his celebrated and
oft-quoted advice to his people, "Don't swap horses
when you're crossing a stream," and, seeing at that
time the war had not closed, sound wisdom appeared
to lie in the policy of re-election. In 1868 not much
interest was taken in the election, and very little more
in 1872, at the second return of Grant, for Greeley was
scarcely looked upon as a strong opponent at any
time. At the present election there seems so little to
choose between the Republican Hayes and the Demo-
crat Tilden that but a very small amount of excite-
ment can be expected to be stirred.

During last winter many must have been the
thoughts which were bestowed upon those sailing in
the Arctic expedition by relatives and friends in all
parts of the kingdom. When these started, some fifteen
or sixteen months since, it was stated that no news
could possibly arrive from them until from April to
June, 1877. Despite this, however, whenever a de-
spatch from the Pandora, another Arctic exploration
ship, is received, it is eagerly scanned to find whether
any rumour of the success of the voyagers in the Arctic
and Discovery have reached inhabited laud. As yet,
as might have been anticipated, no news has come,
but, provisioned and equipped as they were, there is
not much reason to doubt, but every reason to hope,
that SUCC€B3 will await upon the gallant men who
volunteered upon such a perilous service. The
zeal for Arctic exploration might almoat have
been expected to—Eave died out after the sad
fate which attended Sir John Franklin and his
Erebus and Terror, but the longing of the English
to be the pioneers in all great discoveries has
over-ridden that. In the case of the present expedi-
tion the Government have offered no reward in case
it should meet with success, but it has not always been
thus. Oa February 27, 1821, a premium of £15,000
was ordered to be given to the first ship which should
explore the Arctic circle, viz., £5,000 to the first ship
which Bhould reach 130 deg. W. longitude, £IO,COO to
the first wh'ch should reach the Pacific by a north-
west passage, £l,OOO to the first which should reach
83 deg. N. latitude, £l,OllO to 85 deg.; £l,OOO to 87
deg. ; £l,OOO to 88 deg. ; £l,OOO to 89 deg. On March
28, of the same year, Captains Parry and Lyon sailed
to discover what most now look upon as asmyth—the
"northwest passage "—the former returning two years
and a half later, and starting again on May 8 of the
following year. •On October 17, 1825, he returned
again, having totally failed. It is to be hoped, how-
ever, that a similar run of ill-luck will not attend upon
the present voyagers.

The trials of the 81-ton gun at Woolwich have been
followed with much interest by the reading public, and
even by those who do not care much for gunnery ex-
periments ordinarily. The immense weight of the
weapon, coupled with the fact that it is the first of its
concerning it and the experiments upon it to be perused
with avidity. Naturally etch an enormous gun re-
quired ppliancea in connection with it to assume a
corresponding magnitude and power, and it stands to
reason that if thia were not complied with the gun
would he a cumbersome nuisance, costly and useless.
In order to make a crane capable of lifting it—or even
larger specimens of artillery-800 tons of iron and
some two or three tons of bronze will have to bo use
The general structure of this immense piece of
machinery—to be called a "sweeping crane"—will con-
sist of two groups of culumns, about fifty feet high,
including the capitals, supporting a compound girder
75 feet in length. Upon the latter there will travel to
and fro what is called a chain carriage, from which the
weight will be suspended. The space over which this
will Le able to oa_erate will have an area of about
11,370 square feet, or neatly a quarter of an acre. Of
course, the machinery of the crane will be worked by
steam, but the motive power will be under the control
of one man, who, by simply laying his band upon one
or the other of a set of levers, will be able to direct all
the movements of the machine, lifting, if necessary, a
couple of 81 ton guns at one time, with the addition of
a 38-ton gun to make a frill load. It is interesting to
note, in connection with this, that, as recently as
twenty-six years since, there was not a single steam-
engine in Woolwich Arsenal.
It is very seldom now-a-days that there is a contest
for the high and honourable office of Lord Mayor of
London. Since 1869, when Alderman Besley was
elected on a poll above Sir James Lawrence, M.P. for
Lambeth, the retiring mayor, there has been no oppo-
sition offered to the next on the list of aldermen. It
had been expected by some and in fact, so stated by
several newspapers, that Alderman Cotton would be
proposed for re-election, partly on the ground that Sir
Thomas White was assumed to be too unwell to take
rtEce, which the illness of Alderman Owden placed in
his reach. As Sir Thomas White proved that he was
in good health, any eacuse for objecting to his election
on that ground was taken away, and accordingly he
was returned unopposed. The ceremony of election is
rather quaint, and, in some respects, might be con-
si.lered picturesque, The command uttered by the
Common Crier that all present, who were not liverymen,
should "depart the hall on pain of imprisonment," pre-
sumably did not apply to reporters, for the speeches de-
lye-red at the ceremony faithfully appeared in the
newspapers of the next morning. Whether the enter-
prising representatives of the Press ran a risk of having
their bodies seized because of disobeying the order,
can scarcely be said. It is likely, however, that if
the fiction that no one but who belonged to a livery ,
was present wereiattsempted to be made fact, there would
be such an outcry as scarcely ever the City authorities
could withstand.

The progre2s of science and art in this country,
fraught as it is with such influence upon the mental,
social, and moral condition of the people, must always
be an object of interest to thinking persons. The
Szience and Art department of the Committee of
Council on Education, who have their head-quarters
at &nth Kensington, have done much valuable
service in this direction, and their report for the year
1875, is of great interest. Although there was a slight
decrease in the number attending science schools in
that year, as compared with the previous one, there
was a large increase in those at Art schools, the net in-
crease being 108,430, or more than 27 per cent. The
expenditure of the department during the financial
year, 1875-76, exclusive of the vote for the geological
survey, amounted to £262,651 153., a sum which is not
at all too large for the great benefits conferred upon
society by the operations of this department. Upon
this subject it may be mentioned that after May, 1878,
physical geography will no longer be reckoned as a
science by it, but the outlines of the syllabus of a sub-
ject to take the place of this are under consideration,
and due notice will be given when they have
been settled. The subject (physiograPhY) will
embrace those exterr al relations and conditions of the
earth which form the common basis of the sciences of
rau,'t al astronomy, geolopy, and biology, as treated in
the S,ience Direci,ory, This will make a considerable
difference to those teachers of physical geography who
just know that science and no other.
One of the great trunk railway lines to the North
of England from London, has just ieened a new book
of rules to its servants, One of the new regu-
lations provides that no one employed by it shall
enter a railway refreshment-room whilst on duty, on
pain of dismissal. There is no doubt that this resolu-
tion has been come to owing to the larger number of
accidents which occur to railway-servants, many of
which are due to carelessness, induced by drinking.
In 1875 no fewer than 4,383 of those were killed or in-
jured, and of this number the Companies asserted that
only 39 were killed and 514 injured from causes beyond
their own control, whilst 726 were killed and 3,104 in-
jured from their own misconduct or want of caution.
Although these returns were furnished by interested

parties it would be useless to deny the moral which
they point. Increased means must be taken to pro-
tect the railway-servants against themselves, and if
the regulation above quoted be one of these, it should
be hailed not only by servants but by the passengers
for the latter have to depend very much upon the
former's sobriety and caution.