The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-05-30 00:00:00

Oar lionboa Corresponbrnt.

;We deem it right to state that we do not at all
Identify ourselves with our toiresp4ollllnst's opinions.]
I,
bip, Wla Peril at re-assemblesi
ithe lot of J ,
after t l Whi 'de Recess, i I have aAO" t
run it e end oilistlio 'on, withottiany
more holidays, except the usual adjournment over the
Derby day. It must be confessed that in the matter
of vacations the new House of Commons has not done
badly. It met nominally on the sth of March, but
really for the despatch of business on the 19th; it had
scarcely settled down before Easter arrived, and with
it a fortnight's cessation from business. Now at
Whitsuntide there is another week. Thus far, fully
one-thietof the existence of the -present Parliament
has been spent in recreation, and there is nothing
before the Legislature to prevent the prorogation
taking *tee in the middle of July. True, the details of
the Licensing Bill have to be discussed, but it is not anti-
cipated that these will occupy any considerable length
of time. So that, according to present appearances,
there are only about six or seven weeks between Par-
litunentary work and half a year's holiday. In some
former sessions members have looked terribly fatigued
at the end of July and the beginning of August, for
the Speaker has been in his chair from four o'clock in
the afternoon until four in the morning, and in his place
again at noon on a Wednesday, or at two o'clock on a
day appointed for a morning sitting. There will be none
of this heavy work this year. By common consent it
is to be comparatively fallow, and as the soil yields
more abundantly after a period of rest, so next session
the country will expect, and the Legislature will pro-
duce, more results from thei sittings than it has been
possible to show 'this year. It has been in every way
an ereeptional time, and as the Government construed
the verdict at the polls to mean a desire for a periodof
peace, that period the nation is likely to have.
Visitors to the Strangers` Gallery of the House of
Commons- have often been surprised at the freedom
with which members keep on their hats in that as-
sembly. I have just seen soine strong comments upon
this practice in an American newspaper, which con-
demns the habit as a breach of decorum, the more
glaring as the world grows more civilized. Certainly
at no town council meeting in the kingdom do mem-
bers sit with their hats on, and it does seem strange
that the custom should prevail in an assemblypresided
over by such a dignified personage as the Speaker of
the House of Commons. The American paper to
which I have referred, tells U 8 that ancient Rome did
not give us a precedent, nor did ancient Greece, and
suggests that in all probability the example was first
set by the Goths. Mr. I fisraeii, I may say, never sits
in the House with his hat . n; nu sooner does he reach
his seat than he removes his head covering, and care
fully stows it away.

The National School for Cookery seems to be making
some progress, although it must be confessed of a
rather slow nature. Its establishment was resolved
upon at a meeting held at Grosvenor House in July
last, and a gathering has now been held at the Society
of Arts, under the presidency of the Duke of West-
minster, to receive the report of the Executive Com-
mittee. Lord Granville was one of the weaken', as
also was Mr. !duodena, M.P., Mr. Cowper Temple,
M.P., Mr. Leveson-Gover, M.P., Lord Barrington,
M.P., and others, who all testified to the deficiencies
of the English nation in the culinary art. The Duke
of Westminster, who amid the management of his
immense London property finds time to take an active
part in movements of real awl practical importance,
forcibly pointed out that if the English housewife could
be instructed how to cook her husband a better dinner,
he might be kept from the public-house, and thus a
material contribution would be made towards solving
one of the most pressing social problems of the day.
There is a class of learners already attached to the
school, and the committee appeal for subscriptions to
enable them to carry out the work if training on a
scale commensurate with the importance of the subject.
About twelve months ago the conclusion of a treaty
with the Sultan of Zanzibar, having for its object the
suppression of the East African slavery trade was the
subject of much congratulation in this country. The
disappointment is consequently great at the discovery
that this monarch, although able to prevent the ex-
port of slaves coastwise, has no power to interfere with
it within his dominions. Sir Bartle Frere's treaty,
therefore, promises to become in some degree inopera-
tive. From some papers which have been presented
to Parliament, the same result will, it is feared, follow
the ratification of similar covenants with other semi.
barbarous potentates bearing sway over the eastern
parts of Africa.

The collections for the Metropolitan Hospital
Sunday Fund are to be made this year on the
14th Juan, and ministers of religion belonging to
all denominations have again promised to give
their assistance. The whole of the nun gathered
is placed at the disposal of a Committee sitting
at the Mansion House, and as the members of
this body cannot always possess a knowle Igo of the
wants II local institutions, it may happen that com-
plaints arise in some isolated instances. I was at the
distribution of lint year's fund, at a meeting held at
the Mansion House, and heard the manager of a local
Dispensary declare that under the old system, upon a
Sunday being set apart for the purpose in the places of
worship in the neighbourhood, a sum of £lOO was
raised, while out of the Hospital Sunday Fund the
Dispensary had received barely a fifth of that amount.
The Lord Mayor reminded the speaker that the local
appeal was still open to him, but the other held that
practically this was nt so after a collection had been
made for a general object. Most people will be in-
clined to agree with the latter; still it would be a sub-
ject for regret if the success of a great and comprehen-
sive scheme were to Is. marred because of one or two
cases of incidental hardship.
The immensity of London has often been a subject
of graphic description, and there is no doubt that
vast numbers living in the east never visited Bel-
gravia, and that the dwellers in the west seldom give
a thought to the fact that there are such places as
Bermondsey or Whitechapel in existence. Drawing a
comparison between seven parishes at either of these
extremities, it is seen that while there is a larger
population in the east by more than 150,000, the rate.
able value of the property in the west is more by two
millions sterling. The poor-rate in the rich district
is Is. 6d. in the pound, while in the needy
neighbourhood it is double that amount. There
is one institution from which the poor are comparatively
free, but which is very flourishing at the other end of
the town, and that is the profession of mendicancy.
The solicitations for alms are ten times as numerous in
thewest as in the east of London. I see that the Charity
Organization Society have been quoting the condition
of the poor residents in the east, as the foundation of
an appeal to philanthropic effort on the part of the
wealthy members of the community. Most of the
population belong to the working classes, whose em-
ployers do not reside amongst them or hold any social
intercourse with the people who work for them. It is
only at times of a visitation like that of the cholera in
1866, or of a severe frost, that the attention of the
well-to-do classes is really directed to the condition of
these people.

Those who contemplate a visit to the United States
will have an excellent opportunity of doing MO when
the Centennial Exhibition is held at Philadelphia in
1876. The gathering will take place appropriately
enough in the City of Brotherly Love, and the Ameri-
can nation will then have been in existence one hundred
years. Excursions to Philadelphia will be organised
not only from all parts of the United States, but from
England as well, and as the great steamship companies
will offer to convey passengers at very reasonable rates,
many will avail themselves of this chance of crossing
the Atlantic, and of spending a short time m the
wonderfully vigorons comdry which has risea up on
She western continent.

As the Income tax is now at a lower rate than it has
been since its re-imposition by Sir Robert Peel thirty
years ago, it is likely enough that the number of
appeals against high assessments will not be so ntuue-
rows as they have hitherto been. Last year, for
utance, there were 20,429 f these appeals, and of ,
these 14,418 were either Bush:tined or partly allowed.
It is curious to note the fluctuations which have
taken place in the amount of this impost.
remember when it was fourteen-pence in the
pound, but that was at the time of the war
with Russia in 18.55. The fact that the Income-
tax has always been a convenient machine
for raising additional money in periods of great
national pressure leads many to doubt whether any
Minister of Finance will readily consent to part with
it. Once gone it would not be easy to revive it, and it
would be equally difficult to resuscitate the dutiea on
tea, sugar, and a host of other necessaries which have
been swept away by successive Chancellors of the
Exchequer. We cannot always expect such seasons
of prosperity as we have enjoyed of late years, and if
the Income-tax were totally abolished in a time of sun- ,
shine, its re.imposition would be doubly obnoxious and '
irritating during a period of adversity, whereas by
retaining it at a low rate, the Finance Minister pos.
luau a lever which can be adjusted to the varying 1
circumstances of national vicissitudes as they arise.
Amongst the suite of the Emperor of Russia during
his brief sojourn in this country, was one of the best
known of Mucosite.Adirtirals —Popoff by name. It
is not generally known that this officer has invented
• new clue of ironclads, of which there are three now'
in course of construction in the Arsenals of the Czar.
These are perfectly circular in shape, having a
diameter of 100 feet; they will have a very small

draught of water, and are to be armed with two 26-ton
guns. As batteries for coast d-fence these extraor-
dinary structures will be very useful, but naval archi-
tects se rsthv,disposed to t their ,haaditkess at
sea. lir, how ,the object,' val witfare is to he
fm
the bat out of si ;-I Min.'s' l'opo •
has thorougl ly ting thi, p .
N. o is the ore I ifelgag i le yeas
whin u os ooked furarat Ito and enjoyed by the
working classes. It is thee that large numbers don
the only new suit which they afford during the twelve-
months, and with fine weather Whit-Monday wit-
.
nesies-sa maniples-8w ost in lie Boxing-day aees.in
the winter. This time, however, the Fates were
against the makers of holiday. The morning was
beautiful—deceitfully 5,,, for about midday heavy
Illalfliea of cloud Ghia-vied the light, and such a
thunderstorm as we have not had since last August
burst over London. I shuddered to think how the
pelting, pitiless rain must have drenched the thou-
sands who stood thickly upon the decks of the river
steamers, absolutely with,•ut protection of any kind,
and clad in the lightest ,if summer garments. But
the discomfiture of the recreation seekers was the joy
of the market gardeners, for there had been no rain
worth ape dciug of for weeks, and every hour's down-
pour seas woith its weight in gold, more especially as
they remembered the predicthm that this summer is
to be the driest since that of ISio.

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