The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-09 00:00:00

Our Fran &raspOW,

(We deem it fight to state that we do not at all times
tdentify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

With the arrival of the Easter recess there is a
general dispersion of politic& life from the metropolis
throughout the length and breadth of the provinces.
When Parliament is sitting, statesmanship, social
influence, and wealth are concentrated in the capital;
but no sooner has the Legislature suspended its work,
than the whole country reaps of the benefit of that
which in the London season converges on the metro-
polis. The 4ieen, considering it no longer necessary to
live so near London as Windsor so as to be able to
hold speedy communications with her Ministers, re-
moves to Osborne for the benefit of the sea breezes; the
representatives of rank and fashion, leaving our own
parks annquares, either go down into their own man-
sions amid the quiet scenes of our own rural life, or
seek a more genial climate for a time in the South of
France or in Italy. And many a member of Parlia-
ment whose votes have been questioned by exacting
constituents, seizes the occasion to pay them a visit,
and by explanations to set himself right with them
before 'returning to St. Stephen's and resuming his
legislative duties.

Those who go down to their country seats will find
vegetation in about the same condition as when
they left home to come to town just after Christmas.
Although Easter is late, the arrival of this holiday
time finds the land still in the grasp of winter. The
derivation of the word April from the Latin aperio,
to open, shows that when it was framed, spring had
arrived, that the buds were shooting, and tha foliage
was beginning to exhibit all its beautiful and varied
shades of greenery. But April is with us, whilst as
yet there are but few signs of the country being
able to bid farewell to the terribly prolonged and
severe winter. Charles Kingsley's welcome to the
fierce north-easter from its frozen home has been
lately accepted with a considerable degree of qualifi-
cation. The sun has, it is true, shone brightly over
these islands, but the sky has been a cold steel blue,
and if a cloud has crossed the surface of the orb of day
the temperature has grown icy cold. Seventeen
degrees of frost at the end of March is not quite what
we expect in Eugland at the end of March,
but it is what has been experienced. The long
continuance of east winds has parched the
ground, and more serious still, has had a most
deleterious effect upon the general health of the
people. "When the wind is in the east," an old
proverb tells us, "it is good for neither man nor
beast ; " and if any proverb ever embodied wholesome
truth it is this one.

The universal sympathy expressed for Lord
Beaconsfield during his alarming illness, presents
an illustration of one of the best sides of public life
in this country. It is inevitable that statesmen
and politicians should give each other hard
knocks when engaged in the parliamentary arena,
but when the hand of sickness strikes down
a distinguished and illustrious man, and it is known
that so critical is his condition that he lingers upon
the borders of the silent land, then is the contention of
party hushed and the voice of faction is no more heard.
The bitterest political opponents of the ex-Prime
Minister never failed to recognise his enormous intel-
lectual superiority and the energy and perseverance
which enabled him to rise, by sheer strength of brain,
from the rank and file of parliamentary life to the
Premiership, an earldom, the Garter, and thehead of
a great and powerful political party.
Our American friends, with characteristic utilitarian
and inventive faculties, have discovered a very im-
portant use for sawdust. By sheer compression it has
been found that sufficient cohesion is obtained to pro-
duce solid and compact blocks as durable and useful
as the strongest wood. The compressed blocks have
been subjected to a pressure of 23 tons to the square
inch, and have stood the tett admirably. As the sup-
ply of timber on the American continent is already
showing signs of an ultimatescarcity, a timely economy
is of the highest moment. If the millions of tons of
sawdust which are discharged into the American and
Canadian rivers, to the serious injury of fishing
interests, can be utilised profitably, it will be a
subject for general congratulation. A new market
will be found for a waste product, a troublesome
accumulation will be got rid of, and a supply of
artificial timber will in some degree retard the whole-
sale destruction of natural forests. But another and
even more startling substitute has been found for timber.
It seems that artificial wood has been made from straw,
capable of even more extensive application than the na-
tural material. It is confidently asserted that planks can
be manufactured at less cost than that of the best
pine, that the new material will neither shrink nor
warp; that it will take a higher polish, and will hold
a nail more firmly than wood. In the absence of
knots and decayed portions it has another advantage.
It is clear that the utilization of things hitherto re-
aarded as useless is becoming a characteristic of the
age, and the fact that matter is indestructible is more
forcibly presented to us every day.

The experimental operations in connection with the
Channel Tunnel are being vigorously prosecuted, and
so far with satisfactory results. A circular trial tunnel,
seven feet in diameter, is being excavated in a direct
line with the South Eastern Railway ; and has already
attained a length of between 300 and 400 yards.
The chalk, of which the geologicA strata consists, is
drilled by means of a circular disc of steel cutters,
driven by a compressed air-engine, and the rate of
progress is half-andinch to the minute. In addition
to the trial tunnel, vertical,shafts have been driven to
a considerable depth on both4ides of the Channel, and
have revealed no defects in the strata, which is
believed to be unbroken and continuous from the
county of Kent, underneath the sea, and on to the
opposite shore.- The engineers who have the project
in hand declare it to be feasible enough, and are con-
fident of success. The difficulties of lighting, venti-
lation, and pumping, though serious, are not insuper-
able, and will not stand in the way if the more
important obstacles can be overcome.
The Wild Birds' Protection Act is now in force, and
there is no longer any danger that some of the most
popular species of birds belonging to the British Isles
will become extinct. This statute absolutely forbids
the capture or slaughter of all native birds whatever,
from the smallest to the largest, between the Ist of
March and the Ist of August in each year. A
person who destroys a wild bird not named in
the schedule may escape with a reprimand and
the payment of costs, while one who takes
or kills a bird included in the list is liable to a
fine of £l. Exceptions are, however, made in the
case of farmers, and embrace rooks and sparrows, but
they must not touch sea or water birds, such as
gull and wild duck, or even the curlew or cuckoo.
There are exceptions to protection of a more general
kind, which comprise the hawk tribe of all kinds and
the black-backed gull, probably because the former
are more dangerous to other birds than snares or gun-
powder, while the latter are the deadly enemies of
young salmon and feeble lambs. In cases where
special exemptions can be claimed, they can be
afforded by the Home Secretary, and the close time
in particular districts may also be extended or varied
under exceptional circumstances.
Some time ago an organization was described as
having been formed in London under the title of the
Bread Reform League. Among the patrons and work-
ing members of the Association are now many eminent
persons, including some of the foremost medical men
of the metropolis. The object of the League it, to pro-
mote a knowledge of the advantages of pure wheatmeal
bread, and since its formation much useful work has been
done by influencing public opinion in the matter, and
diffusing a knowledge of the dietetic advantages of
bread reform. Information has been disseminated by
the circulation of publications bearing on the question,
and containing instructions for grinding the wheat
and preparing the bread, as well as through honorary
travelling teachers, nho give practical demonstra-
tions of the processes as recommended. The League
is entirely uncommercial in its object ; and its
funds, which are largely dependent on the subscrip-
tions of those interested in the movement, are
devoted exclusively to spreading a knowledge of the
adv antages of pure wheatmeal bread. The economic
of bread-making form a subject of national im-
portance. It concerns, in the first place, the health
and physical vigour of the community, and in the
second the material prosperity of the nation. Bread
reform is, however, but a small part of a much broader
question. It is admitted that in the preparation of
food generally we are behind the age. Our system of
cooking is both wasteful and unwholesome, and not
to be compared with that of some other countries.
The extraordinary success which has attended the
application of the electric light to the parts of the
City aif London selected for the experiments has sur-
passed all anticipation. Three sections of the City
have been portioned off for twelve months for the
trial of the Brush, Lonbin, and Siemens systems of
electric lighting respectively, at a cost of 2,8,000.
The plans of illumination by Brush and Siemens
were put into eperation on the 31st March, Black-
friars-bridge being lighted by the former, and
London-bridge by the latter. The Lontin system
will not come into work until the end of the
month, and will be carried over Southwark Bridge, so
that each of the three strug,tures affording communica-
tion across the Thames within the jurisdiction of the
City authorities will be differently lighted. The
experiment, lasting as it will through, all weathers
for a whole year is thus to be made thorough and com-
plete. Thus far vast crowds have turned out nightly