The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-28 00:00:00

Cur fonDon orrtspoubmt.
Me deem lt right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The announcement that the Government intends to
, quip a new Arctic expedition has given great satid-
faction in scientific circles. The recent appearance of
Lieutenant Payer, of the Austrian Polar Expedition,
at the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society,
revived the flagging interest in this question, and the
fait that the Austrian ships had penetrated to a higher
latitude than the vessels fitted out by Great Britain

had ever reached, filled the souls of our veteran Baligators with a spirit of emulation. The lives which
have been sacrif3ced, and the treasure that has been
lest, in the buc“es.,l ve attempts to explore the mysteries
aurromuling the Pole, seem only to add to the desire
to penetrate those extraordinary regions. The dio-
covery of vast beds of lignite proves that at some time
there must have been tropical vegetation near the
Pole, by what convulsion of natme, -then, has the
fierce heat of long summer days been transformed
into the eternal snows of perpetual night? What kind
of • land is that which lies beyond the everlasting belt
of ice that has now for ages said to the spirit of enterprise
—" SO far n'nalt thou come and no farther." Are the

—„.—
waters warm like uuto those of the Gulf Stream ?—do
commercial navies move to and fro upon their our-

face ?—are the kande pe ipled with busy cities possessing
Courts and Parliaments ?—are there peaceful villages
and well-cultivated plains, smiling valleys and

energetic populations ? Such are some of the ques-
tions which geographers are constantly putting; and
seeing that we know almost as little of the Pole as of
the moon, I do not wonder at the curiosity manifested
to increase our information respecting those far-ill
northern Clillleit, and at the gratification with which
the resolve of the Admiralty has been received. At
present our knowledge of the Pole is almost restricted
to the fact that enormous icebergs weighing millions of
tons are generated thcre, and that many an unfortunate
ship has been caught between two of these colossal
mountains as their vast bulk has Orifted southward,
and has been crushed to atoms like a piece of card-
board. Therefore, let us all wish success to the new
Arctic explorers. We do not expect them to find out
new hunting grounds for the tourist, who will hardly
care to venture beyond Spitsbergen, but we shall all
be interested in their deacriptions of what they have
seen, for we may rely upon it that all will be picked
men, and well able to write about the singular scenes
which they may happen to witness.

- - _
I wish that some of your readers who never having
been to London, imagine that it is "an awfully nice
place" to live in, could be here during one of our
November fogs. Marley they would be very glad indeed
to get away from the dense and suffocating vapour. To
nay nothing of the disagreeable sensation of a thick
smoke-laden atmosphere causing the eyes to smart,
and forcing its way down the throat, the pecuniary
loss caused by a London fog is incalculable. The
trains on the metropolitan and suburban lines are
delayed, the river steamers are stopped, vehicular
traffic in the streets is suspended, and as no one stench
a time goes out who is not compelled to do so, the
tradesmen regard the visitation with anything but
complacency. The people, as they flit to and fro,
seem like that army id phantoms whom Longfellow
describes as having onci beleaguered the walls of

Prague—
" White as a sca-fog landward bound,
The spectral host was seen,
And with a sorrowful deep Bound
The river flowed between.
No other voice nor sound was there,
No drum nor sentry's pace;
The mist-like banners clasped the air,
As clouds with clouds embrace."
Longfellow's phantoms, however, disappear at the
proclamation of morning prayer from the old cathedral
bell, but the chimes of St. Paul's ring out in vain for
the dispersion of a London fog. Such a time has its
ludicrous incidents, as, for instance, when a gentleman

enthusiastically embraces a lamp-post under the im-
pression that he has got IF bl of a friendly policeman ;
but thsie is often a serious side, for, independently of
the people who are killed and maimed in the streets,
many fall into the docks, and walk unsuspectingly
into the river. I need scarcely say that when there is

" a mighty rushing wind" we get no fog,. The latter
visits us only when the air is stagnant ; when the
exhalations from the Erith marshes, rolling. in great

atinosP•heric billows towards London gradually become
impregnated with the smoke ascending from the homes

. _
of a vast population.

What is to be done with Temple Bar? It would be

idl;;;;"de4—that at present it is'a considerable obetruc-
thin to the traffic in one of the main thoroughfeses of the

capital. Even at its best it allowed room for only one
line of vehicles eastward and another westward, but of
late one arch has been so frequently closed for
Maim, that the whole of the traffic both ways has
to pass Pmoligh the other, thus occasioning a
constant block, and a nmst serious waste of
time, which to the great majority of Londoners
means toes of money. If a pedestrian in Fleet-
street wishes to trawl by a certain train from
the Charing Cross or Victoria railway station, and is
in • hurry to get there, it does not contribute to his
cheerfulness of temper to be detained ten minutes
inside Temple Bar. Nor does a Strand tradesman,
anxious to get to Ludgate Hill station, or to Cannon'
street, London Bridge, or Feuchurch-street, care to be
kept waiting in a cab near the same old structure
bile a stream of traffic is passing through the ancient
gateway, bound in quite the opposite direction. It
has been suggested that Temple Bar should be re-
moved to the civic boundary of the Thames Embank-
ment, but as the splendid roadway there is at least
three times the width of the Bar, the traffic would
roll round instead of through it, which to practical
men would seem rather incongruous. Meantime, while
the junction between the cities of London and West-
minster is compelled to be content with a roadway
little broader than a good-sized country lane, London
Bridge accommodates four rows of vehicles—two going
north and two south, and even this is totally in-
adequate to the wants of the traffic which is poured
across the 1 homes at that point. So keenly is this felt
that petitions for widening the structure have been for
some time past in course of signature, for the con-
sideration of the Court of Common Council. London-
bridge at mid-day is an extraordinary spectacle, and
such as can be witnessed in no other city in the World.
The life and energy of the British capital are nowhere
presented in a stronger light than there, and as one
contemplates the mass of human beings constantly
hurrying over it, and reflects that, after all, this is but
a single point in the vast area of London, a feeling of
wonder naturally creeps over the mind at the
enormous magnitude of the place and at the number
of avocations which it supplies to the millions of its
people.
Mr. Tom Hood, whose death was announced a few
days ago, was well known in the literary circles of the
metropolis both as the editor of Fun and the author of
many humorous works. Ile was a tall, handsome man,
and with a cast of features altogether different from
his father, the author of the "Song of the Shirt,"
whose grave lineaments are pourtrayed in a bronze bust
which surmounts his tomb in Kensal Green
Cemetery. The father was great in tragedy ; the son
delighted in comedy. Certainly of the two the elder
Hood made the more lasting impression as a writer ;
his "Dream of Eugene Aram " is a composition to be
remembered, which can scarcely be said of the
son's "Loves of Tom Tucker and Little 80-Peep."
Yet the lone of Hood the younger will be felt,
for he was a genial, kind-hearted man and a
writer whose works if not profound, were pleasant
The elder Hood's resting place in Kensal Green is not
for from that of Sir William Molesworth, who, like
himself, was cut off before the full development of his
great intellectual powers. Within a stone's the itv
at both is the grave of his Royal Highness,
the Duke of Sussex, the sixth and youngest
son of King George 111. "We know no dis-
tinctions here !" you seem to read upon the massive
marble, as clearly as though the words had been
twgraven deeply into it. An hour spent among the
solitudes of I(ensal Green suggests very different
reflections from those which rush upon the mind of •
spectator who gazes mem the bustling throng on
London Bridge. There the broad acres are tenanted
by silent hosts of all ranks who have had their day,
and their day is gone.

When money upon the Stock Exchange is abundant,
as it is now, joint stock enterprise flourishes to an
exceeding degree, and I see that last year the number
of registered companies was 1,221, with a required
capital of £152,000,000 sterling. In the twelve months
also an immense sum was contributed from this
country to foreign loans, railways, and mines. Judg-
ing from the list of companies every opening for
British enterprise would appear to be fully occupied,
and all conceivable wants would seem to be in a fair
way of being supplied. Some of these companies
pay a very fair rate of interest, but others promise
results which are utterly incapable of performance.
The holders of British railway stocks have of late wit-
s' ,sed a good many fluctuations in the value of their
p. rty. The determination of the Midland Com-
pany to reduce tout-class fares and to abolish second-
class altogether, was the greatest revolution which has
yet been witnessed in the railway system, and it is to
be persevered in, notwithstanding the remonstrances
of the other great companies. For weeks the home
railway market has been in a highly perturbed state,
consequent upon the uncertainty as to whether the
Midland would be induced to withdraw from its posi-
tion, but 113V7 that it has fully resolved to proceed,
the public have nothing to do but to watch with in-
terest the result of this daring innovation. A Canadian
paper has been predicting that this step is but the pre-
lude to our following the example of our cousins across