The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-08-13 00:00:00

Our fenbon gorrtsgenbtitt.

[We deem it right to state that we dc.. not at all times identify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

An umbrella-maker, who was summoned for a
debt in a London county-court a few days ago,
pleaded for delay, and with success, on the
ground that the brilliant summer through which
we are passing meant, in his line of business,
dull trade. "I've not earned anything,"
urged, "since February, though it has 'been
Jubilee year. It's been too fine for the umbrella
trade " ; and on his promise to pay "when we
have some different weather to this," he was
ilow d a month's grace. This veracious story
is only a minor example of the many inconve-
niences to a large portion of our population by
the prolonged and almost unbroken drought.
Na,'oirally the farmers and fruit-growers have
suffered the most, but really no class has been
exempt from the troubles caused by the lack
of rain. Householders have been put on
• st--• -sPrort COMMODS for water, and no one needs
to be told that that is a very serious
matter. There are those, among us who
do not make sufficient allowance for
• nattirals causes Tit a tie like this, and who
I.:slur-114e grievously at the water companies for
keeping' us short of the commodity in which they
eehisivsly deal, without reflecting that it is
given to no body of men to achieve the impos-
sible. Reservoirs of great capacity may be pro-
vided, and these when full may suffice for a
normal summer; but against such an extra-
erdinarily dry season as the present, it is almost
impossible to prepare. Not only does no water
enter the reservoirs, but more is required than
at ordinary times; and it is worth bearing these
• consideration in mind when we are inclined to
grumble concerning the water supply.
,No sooner had we entered upon the month of
August than the party whips ort both sides of
the House of Commons discovered that it was
impossible to keep all their" men at work, and,
though with much reluctance, they allowed some
of them to "pair," so that, though the total
number of members present in the Chamber
is diminished, the relative strength of the
parties remains the same. But oven when
these privileged persons had been granted
the:r holiday, a very large number of their
colleagues had to remain in town, and these
are sighing for the day of prorogation to
come. The Session which, greatly to the joy
of every member, is now nearly over, has not
only been a long but ari exceptionally tryingone,
and it is little wonder, therefore, that repose
should be ardently wished for. Although mem-
bers can sit on the terrace overlooking the
Thames, can repose in the libraries, or seek solace
s in the refreshment rooms, the constant demand
upon their presence at Westminster is a very
trying one. The marvel is, of course, that so
- many are willing to undergo so much fatigue for
so little personal result; but it must be taken
that patriotism buoys them up, and that a sense
of duty to their *constituents sustains them when
otherwise they would be ready to faint. But if
the electors only knew. how much their represen-
tatives suffered on the hot summer nights, they
would of a surety be more sympathetic than they
• at present are.
Housewives are little likely to have missed the
significance of the increased supply of Indian tea
which has been imported into England during
recent years, but the enormous growth which
has taken place in the production of this com-
modity is a fact also upon which the social
philosopher can ponder. The extensive cultiva-
tion of the tea-plant in Ceylon was mainly due
to the failure for some successive seasons of the
tobacco crop; and the Governor, Sir William
Gregory, is likely to be blessed by future genera-
tions of Cingalese for the forethought he dis-
played in suggesting tea as an alternative
resource. It may be hoped for their own
sakes that the people of Algeria will find an
equally sagacious ruler at what is for them
a very present time of trouble. The vines of
that French possession were beginning to re-
place as wine suppliers the common sort of
French ones smitten by the phylloxera, when it
was found that this dread disease had spread to
the most productive of Algerine vineyards.
This is a pitiable state of things, for the
phylloxera among vines is as rapid in its destruc-
tive faculties at is cholera among human beings.
The measures taken to get rid of it from
a dist rict which has once been at-
tacked have to be very drastic. In places
where the vines cannot be inundated in the
seasons in which the-eggs are lying to be hatched
by the sun in their roots, the plan is to uproot
them, phmigh the soil, and cover it with dry straw,
which will easily take fire, and continue burning
until all is destroyed. But this, of necessity,
involves a very serious loss to the vineyard pro-
prietors, and the number who have been ruined
by the phylloxera in France alone can only be
described as appalling.
Either residents or visitors who have occasion
to ride in London omnibuses are finding, as
summer succeed? summer, less and less to
complain of. Not only are the fares
lower than ever before, the vehicles more
commodious, and the seats more comfortable,
but vtithin the last week or' two even more
strikteit improvernents have been introduced.
Instead ,of a flickering, ill-smelling, and not
brillbint oil-lamp, with which we have had to be
"Content as a means of 'bus illumination so long,
some of the vehicles are now possessed of the'
electric light. This will be appreciated even
more during the coming darknees of winter, but
- summer- travellers have been considered also, for
Oth-irs of the 'busses have had their windows.
draped with curtains of cretonne, so that the
ire ide passengers shall not be unduly troubled
by the sun. Such luxuries as these would have
re.ade our fathers stare, but they are only
a portion of those which, are continu-
o,isly being added to the sum total
.of popular comfort. What to-day are considered
'`••• necessary for almost all would a generation back
have been deemed laxurth for the few, and a
further generation from us would have been
practically unattainable.
general feeling of relief has been caused by
• the more recent news which has reached UB from
the West Coast of Africa, and which has con-
vincingly shown that the rumour of Mr.
Stanley having been killed was untrue. The
African explorer, who found Livingstone for us
when almost all believed him dead, has a
very' diffiefilt task before him in his re-
solve to liberate Emin Bey from the
• perilous position in which the wild tribes of the
western Soudan for years have placed him; but,
as it is not a superhuman one, it may be hoped
tha.t in good time, and at no far distant
periods, it will be accomplished. But while it
is in- progress, it will be as well to be pre-
pared for frequent rumours of disaster and even
death: How many times Livingstone was re-
- ported to be killed before he actually died, it
Iluzzles even a good memory to recollect;
but the circumstantiality of some of the
narratives was astonishing. Those interested
in African exploration have not yet forgotten
one story which was told by sdme of his
fugitive followers in so graphic a fashion that it
was for years implicitly believed; and not the
least astonishing thing about it was that it was
so apparently truthful that an English illustrated
paper ventured to draw from it a picture of the
scene. It will, theiefore, be as well to take with
a good many grains of salt any further reports
.‘• -of disaster to Mr. Stanley's expedition which
. „sr* may come to hand. -
' . • ;Within the last ten days or a fortnight, there
have been -some Unusually serious fires in the
1...9.11,40.6...d,i5t.tic_t,,,nA the old question has conse-
• - quently been revived as teswitether the Metro-
politan Fire Brigade, as at present constituted,
is strong. enough to cope Wifh all the dangers
>Oat exist.- No, one who knows the brigade will
. hint a,doubt--a,s- to its capacity, as' far as it
. - hytt,Y as"4'eaPtain Shaw, Lt- excellent
.s chief .- Would hei. the first to state it is
-; .
s,
,rint enpygn to effectively cope with such
,* 'it "vast- slid_ vs,ttiftble area. It has often been
poioted out, and not the least strongly by 'the
head _officials of -the brigade itself, that if
two _large fires broke out on the same night
in • different portions of the metropolis---and
this, 3 all, Can, at
once see, is no extravagant
6,
—if would be almost impossible
. • to . iiro-vide men and machinery enough to
promptly subdue both. ...This is by no means
cf
CileAion in which Londoners . alone are in-
. , terested. For London is the capital of a great
• se "-•-Erripire, and centered within' its bounds are some
Of the most valuable recOrds and possessions
•• whieh that great Empire owns. Further, it is a
City which has attracted to itself representatives
from every town—it might almost be said, every
village—in the kingdom, and a calamity affecting
it
.would affect all quarters of the country. And,
• '*as matters at present stand, that calamity is
" ' '• • ever threatening us, arid it is earnestly hoped that
:.our rulers will not wait until it comes before
taking such measures as all acquainted with the
-- circumstances recognise to be necessary.
One result of the recent naval manceuvres v ill
' undoubtedly be to strengthen the demand for a
more efficient system of coast defence. It is not
pleasant to know that, even after ample warning
of the presence of a supposedly hostile fleet in
the English Channel, Falmouth could be seized
without a blow being struck in her defence. and

that, even after that untoward event, rite
enemy's ships could elude our defenders and
could place themselves in such a position in the
Thames that, before they could have been
checked, they could have bombarded London.
Allowing that matters might turn out very
differently in real warfare the fact stands that
the manceuvres proved that our coasts were far
from invulnerable, and the lesson is not likely ter
be lost upon our public men. We have not yet
reached the period when war shall be no more,
and we are bound to' take measures accordingly.
A- ContiOntal4complie*tion might involve even
us, and we are not now alone in the possession
of a powerful fleet. e wise in time is an excel-
lent,,,tnetto for nations, and it is on which, af,ter
recent experience, England is not likely to neg-
lect. A. 1% R.