The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-25 00:00:00

TO BUILDERS AND OTHERS

DERSONS willing to CONTRACT for the
ERECI lON of a BOARD ROOM and OFFICES,
at the Workhouse, at Kingswinf ord. are requeatod $o paid
Sealed Tenders (properly endorsed) to me, on or botore
the 7th May nest.
Tee Work will have to be done according to Plans mei
Sp. ctlications which have been prepared. and seer be
.eol on application to Mr. tetualman Smith, ardrilort
Stourbridgc, any day hetweeu the hours of MIN 111114
Sas. .

The Party whoae Tender may be accepted will be re-
quired to complete th'. work within a liwaitedstimme, sal
to enter into a Contract with the Guardians, and Eire
,meh sectuity for the due performance of the Work me
shall be required.
lhe Guardians do not bind themselves to &reap{ the
Lowest, or any Tender.

By order,
_ Gko. HOLLOWAY Clork,

1, Church-street, Btourbridge,
24 April, 1874.

CORN EXCHANGE, BTOUR3SIDO3.

WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL Mb.

R

HOWARD pAtIL'S

FAREWELL

ENTERTAINMENT AND CONCERT.

For this Tour Mr. Howard Paul has speelalls .nissal
SIX CELEBRATED LONDON ARTISTES.

For Psrdealers see Bills.
Doors Open et 7 30. Commence at S. Carriages IS
fen.

Prices es Aumunow.—Reaerved Seats, 2.; Sem&
14;IThirdan .ed
PSpat. and Tickets to In bad stilts. W adoon.
..alit, High-street. •

CORN EXCHANGK, EJTOURBRIDOR.
WILLARD'S WANDERINGS TO-NIGHT

AT EIGHT.
WILLARD will introduce a SKETCH from
eve•y part of the luhabited DIAL with howl.
Dance, or Musical Sketch peculiar to the country of the
character persouified. Prices : Prout Seats, Is; Vans
-
'erred, is; third, 6d. Doors open at 7.30. Camas.'
tt 9.55, for 10.

WILLARD'S WANDKRINGS, on Monday Night,
Right o'cleek, will be repeated. Come early.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.

BRIDGNORTH PLEASURE FAIR.
On Friday May Ist, a cheap ezearaion train fer
BE WOLF: Y, and BRIOGNORTH, will Rave Ellr
mingliam (Snow Hill), at 8 20, Moakley 8.11, Bands
-
worth 8.30, Bmethwiek 8.40, Oldbury 8.48, Rowley,
8.54, Old Hill 9.0, Cradley, 97, Lye 9.14. Wolver-
hampton (Low Level) 8 30. kidskin 8 40, Daisy Rank
8.45, Princes End 8.49, Tipton 855, Dudley 9.9.
Netherton 910. Round Oak 9.15, Brettle Lane SW.
Btourtiridge 9.30, Bagley 9 38. Kiddermidater 9.1111,
liartlebury 10.10, Stourport 10.17, and Betrdley 10.1111,
a.m. and return from Bridgnorth at 8.10, and Bowdlig
8.50, p.m. the same day.
For fare. and full partieulars sae hand bills.
J. GRIERSON, General lihmege•
Paddington Terminus.

STOURBRIDGE CRICKET, QUOIT AND

_

1

Our font= Cortesponbent.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all time.
identity ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.)

The Budget, the great financial event of the year,
has been well received, and there is De ' every promise
of a quiet and uneventful session. - surplus with
which the Chane.ipor of the - • was called
•
, to deal was ' e almost lit ipie.
r . ago, when . Gladstone the t
..s lied by Sir rd Nord
• ''i s • such
a • .-.
t ems l general con,„ . ; nqw, Mr.
A
GI tone's old puild- for Sir Stafford was once Private
Secretary to the present Opposition leader -has been
called upon to give away a sum half as large again.
Indirect taxation is relieved by the remietion of the
wager duties ; the claims of direct taxation are acknow-
ledged by the reduction of the income tax; contributions
are made to local charges; and altogether the Finance
Minister seems to have done his work in away which,
although declared by vane to be open to ceAticism4 has
upon the whole given general satisfactiOn.
The office of Solicitor-General, which has just been
_tonferrgd upon Mr. Holker, 9c is one of great ins-
ortanee. T.t.a holder is tlielegal adviser of the Crown,
- next in rank to the Attorney-General, whom he (re-
. ' quently succeeds. Tile Solicitor-Generalship is looked
Upon 84 a safe stepping stoqo to high judicial honours,
and the !frees:it great dignitaries of the law--the Lord
Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of 'England, Lord 1
,•• Coleridwar attil the Loral Chief Baron havwall, at ontl
r. time or another, fillenhie at. The crusesin Which a I
.. • 861Icitor-Geri4rtithlis- failed to reach the Bench are,

very few, and during the peat-GI:Wye:1; tTieTsTha—v.ar
. been oi
.three or four such instances. iiir William
• 'XOTlettd ' tiWilliiim Atherton broke AA through
At.
ii "lo bl,llr-or -1 Ir Stewart-Wortley "referred political to
judicial life ; sod Sir John Karslake's retirement has
,Imeo *afteect threugh ill-health. The mattes, of the
.i'..e—SoliCitorYoeneral is £6,000 a year, with additional 1
' fees when he appears in what are called "contentious"
Caefs.
~
What is called the Thames boating season is now
gradually awakening into active life. On a fine after-
noon and evening craft of all descriptions, from the
stiorting screw yacht to the re-varnished little punt,
appear upon the stream, manned by numerous young
men, habited in suits of white flannel. Business
abliunde in those quaint inns which dot the margin of
the river upon either shore, and that singular race of
beings known as Jacks-in-the-water again swarm at
Richiniond and other points of aquatic interest, touting
for custom, and pushing off or receiving the boats of
awkward oarsmen. There are excursions to Hampton
Court by steamers which very often stick in the mud
directly in the centre of the river when the tide is low,
to the loudly-expressed chagrin of the unlucky pas-
sengers. On a Saturday afternoon the Thames
between Battersea and Kew is all alive, for clerks
and assistants both in the City and the West End
have of late years taken wonderfully to the
water as in means of healthfully spending their
half-holiday; and it must be confessed that, con-
sidering their few opportunities of cultivating the
art of rowing, they make excellent oarsmen. This
wholesome recreation is highly appreciated by the
young fellows who are closely confined to business
during on many working hours of the week, and the
effect 4 the healthful practice is certainly apparent in
the build of those clerks and drapers, and so highly is
the exercise thought of that many a large establishment
, supports a boat club of its own. Indeed, the annual
race between the representatives of the clubs belonging
to The l'imes, Daily News, Standard, and Telegraph
offices is one of the aquatic events of the year. The
proprietors of each paper charter a steamer, which
accompanies the competing crews up the river, and as
each boat IOWe to win, and the victorious crew receives
£5O from their employers, the contest is a keen one,
and, with fine weather, thoroughly enjoyable.
The people of North and South Woolwich are agi-
tating for the construction of a subway between the
two banks of the river, where there is no bridge within
!several miles. The idea has been originated by the
unfortunate drowning of nine workmen one foggy
morning]Jaat October, whilst passing to their work to
the other side of the turbid stream. The estimated
cost of the new subway is £60,000. At the point
where it is proposed to construct it, a million and a half
of passengers cross theThanies annually, and it is believed
that, after paying all expenses, the return to the share-
holders would be at the rate of tit per cent. Its
length would be 600 yards, it would be lighted by
gas, well ventilated, and would enable three persons to
walk abreast comfortably. At present the only subway
is that between Tower-hill and Vine-street, South-
wark; and one great objection to it is that the approach
to it necessitates a descent of nearly a hundred steps,
with a corresponding ascent on the other side. On a
hot summer day the journey is a toilsome one. The
Woolwich subway would have this advantage—that on
the north it would be approached by an incline which
would obviate the necessity of steps at all, and on the
south side the number would be limited to 25 or 30.
From a paper which has just been presented to the
Houses of Parliament, it is clear that, whatever may be
the price of coal in our own country, we must not look
to the United States for the future supply of our fuel.
The suggestion for importing peat from America at-
tracted the attention of the late Government, which in
January 1873 issued a circular to the British Consuls
there, asking for information upon the subjegt. The
answers have just come back, and show that, although
the existence of peat is undoubted, it would coat more
per ton to transport it to our shores than we now pay
for coal. Our Consul at Baltimore has been unable to
find that the article is used to any great extent in that
district. • The story from Boston is the same ; and,
indeed, throughout the State of Massachusetts, since
the fall in the price of coal, the production of peat
has been abandoned as being too costly, and in other
parts its manufacture has proved a financial failure.
The importance of connecting the northern fishing
grounds with the Scottish railway system, so as to
bring the produce of the seas more speedily to the
London market, is being brought under the notice of
capitalists here. When the Dutch had command of
the North Sea, they are reported to have drawn two
or three millions sterling from the Shetland fishery
alone. This valuable industry now languishes for
want of capital ; and owing to the absence of facilities
for bringing the fish to market, vast quantities, which
would find a ready sale in the metropolis, are either
used aa manure or cast back into the ocean. Con-
sidering the privations which thousands in our midst
daily undergo from a scarcity of food, it is lamentable
. to hear that himdrede of barrels of herrings are often
returned to the sea in the Hebrides, and that on the
Aberdeenshire coast boatloads of the same fish are
given away ess manure. There is little doubt
that the supply of wholesome and nutritious food to
be obtained from the depths of the sea is practically
unlimited. It has even been estimated tube equal to
our entire Importation of foreign stock. Improved
means of transport are only wanted to utilise tons of
good material which are now wasted.
Some interesting facts relating to London have just
been issued by the Registrar-General. It occupies an
area of 78,000 acres, or 122 square miles. The esti-
mated population in the middle of last year was
3,336,000, living in 417,000 houses. In the course of
the twelve months there were 121,000 births and
76,000 deaths. The average daily supply of water
exceeds heg st Million tons. Of women there are
630,000 wives, daughters, and others engaged in house-
hold duties, or aiding their husbands and parents ;
there are 226,000 domestic servants, 4,800 school-
mistresses, 11,200 teachers and governesses, 5,100
bookbinders, 4,500 artificial flower makers, 58,500
milliners and dressmakers, 14,800 tailoresses, 26,800
shirtmakers and seamstresses, 4,800 bootmakers,
10,800 sensing machine workers, and 44,000 laundry
women. What a vast hive of female labour! London
contains eleven hundred thousand children under fif-
teen years of age. There is no means of computing
the daily consumption of food, but the figures above
cited show that the quantity reeehed every morning
from the provinces must be enormous.
The Thames Embankment has been truly called the
noblest boulevard in the wcrld. In the place of un-
sightly banks of mud, giving forth unhealthy exhala-
tions with the receding of the tide, we have at an im-
mense cost a splendid roadway, with broad and ample
side. walka,send occasional pieces of ornamental gardens,
The pedestrian is enabled to obtain wholesome air, a
river scene, a comprehensive land view, and com-
parative quiet. In place of the hoarding on
the north ,:sicle, which 'has hitherto shut in
the Temple Garden-s, a graceful iron railing is now
substituted; so that on a summer evening there will
Is. no more pleasant place for a promenade than the
Embankment. Hitherto an absence 'of seats, which
are plentiful enough in the metropolitan parks, has
somewhat marred the attractiveness of this riverside
resort, for to many constitutions, more especially at
the close of the day, a walk from end to end is
fatiguing without any means of rest. The matter has
been brought under the notice of the Government,
but meanwhile Mr. W. H. Smith, M.P. for West-
minster, is supplying a number of seats to the Em-
bankment at his own expense. The F.arl of Harrowby
has sketched out a plan for providing suitable cafes
and restaurants at intervals along the route, after the
fashion of the Boulevards of Paris. The atmosphere
of London *not so well suited to out-door recreation
of this sort as is that_ef the gay French capital ; still
in the hare b: icf an enterprising contractor this scheme
might doubtless be made a remunerative one in the
long evenings of summer time, when we have day-
light up to him o'clock.