The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-04 00:00:00

LONDON CORRESPONDENCE.

We deem it right to state we do not at an timed went*
onrselree with our Correspondent's opinions.

It will not be long now before the plans for
finally disposing of the Women's Jubilee Fund
are settled. The committee appointed by the
Queen to advise her Majesty as to the disposal
of the surplus of the fund which remained after
providing for the replica of Baron Marochetti's
statue of the Prince Consort, erected at Windsor,
announce that they are desirous of receiving
information from all parts of the United
Kingdom concerning the various institutions for
nursing the sick poor in their own homes; and
upon the reports thus received they will be
able to base their recommendations. There
will be general agreement that a better way
of disposing of such a fund than in the
relief of pain and the succour of the suffering
could scarcely be devised. The institutions
already in existence for this purpose are doing a
vast amount of good, but they need supplement-
ing. Hospitals are deserving of every support,
but there are a very great number of cases in
which their services are not required, and the
idea of establishing a system by which the sick
poor can be nursed in their own homes is a most
excellent one, and one which every subscriber to
the Women's Jubilee Fund will heartily endorse.
Talking a day or two since with a gentleman
who has long been engaged in philanthropic
work in the metropolis, I asked his opinion as to
the unemployed question—a point upon which,
from the very nature of his benevolent enter-
prises, he was certain to be well-informed. He
assured me that, as the result of his investiga-
tions, the number of unemployed in London at
this moment is far less than it was a twelvemonth
since, just as the total then was distinctly less
than in the winter of 1885-6. The period last
referred to was the worst from this point of
view he had experienced in the course of
many years, and he considered that the number
of unemployed now was no greater than the
normal total in such a vast city as our own.
This testimony, as coming from, not only a well-
informed but an impartial source, is worth re-
membering. It is certain that at winter-time
there must always be a large number of persons
out of work in London, but when that is reduced
to the normal level it is worse than useless to
exaggerate the symptoms, and to talk as if times
had never been so bad. before. There can be no doubt
that trade is distinctly on the mend; the corner
of the long period of depression has been turned,
and although we cannot expect to see our pro-
sperity once more increase by leaps and bounds
—a condition which almost inevitably tends to
reaction—we have now the reasonable hope of
trade so improving as to comfortably provide for
all our people who are both able and willing to
work.

Not much wonder can be felt that savage
tribes should give so much heed to the pheno-
menon of eclipses, whether of sun or moon,
when one sees the attention paid to such
when visible in our own country. The total
eclipse of the moon, for instance, which
was witnessed last Saturday night, created
as much preliminary talk in the news-
papers as if it had been a new play, or a
new book, or a new Cabinet crisis; and as night
drew on speculation as to whether the sky
would be clear waxed almost intense. In London
the sky was practically cloudless, and it was
strange to see the eagerness with which many
awaited the time when the first shadow of the
earth's surface should fall upon the edge of the
moon. People as they walked along the streets
seemed genuinely "moon-struck ;" star-gazing
was almost literally the principal pursuit of
the population; and there was something
almost ludicrous in the spectacle of persons
staring with open eyes at a spectacle which,
although not common, can scarcely be called
rare. One remark which might be heard not in-
frequently as the time approached for the eclipse
to be seen, and which indicated what very hazy
notions many people have concerning the pre-
cision which now marks the study of astronomy,
was, 'What fun it would be if it shouldn't
happen to-night, after all." If such folks had
only been a little wiser, or, at any event, better
acquainted with the facts, they would have
known that such a miscalculation was simply
impossible.
Parliament opens next week, and many
members are already in town awaiting the event.
The principal of them have, by the rest allowed
during the recess, recovered from the fatigue
which was so plainly marked at the eind-of last
session. The Speaker, who had probably suffered
the most from the strain of the prolonged sit-
tings, is now all right again, and the affection of
the right eye, winch visited him as lately as a
few weeks ago, has disappeared. Mr. Smith has
derived very great benefit from his yachting
cruise in the Mediterranean, and he will take up
his position next Thursday as Leader of the
House without a trace upon his countenance
of the almost jaundiced look he wore
when the session closed. Mr. Gladstone also
has been much benefited by his trip abroad, and
he comes back from Italy reinvigorated for the
Parliamentary work of the next few months.
And beyond these, the three most prominent
figures in the House, theie is a multitude of
minor members who are all the better for their
rest, and who are as eager to throw themselves
once more into the midst of the political fracas
as they were anxious so short a time since for
Parliament to be "up" and for the doors of
the Palace of Westminster to be closed to all
comers.

No long time will now elapse before
artists and their friends will have a never-
failing topic for conversation in the pictures
which are being prepared for the spring
exhibitions. This year there will be three of
these, for, in addition to the accustomed shows
at the Academy and the Grosvenor, there will be
one at the New Gallery, as it is to be called,
which is to be the outcome of the " split " at the
second-named institution. Picture-lovers will,
therefore, have almost a surfeit of good things
this spring, but their number is increasing, and
they are not likely to complain. As to what
will be the principal works exhibited at the
various galleries, nothing very definite can yet
be said. The leading artists have not up to now
decided for themselves as to the works they will
have finished, and although they doubtless have
a very shrewd idea upon the point, they
will not make it public until they
are practically certain. Dull weather,
which makes it impossible to paint properly, is,
of course, the excuse pleaded for not saying pre-
cisely what pictures will be forthcoming, but the
January of this year has not been duller than,
if as dull, as that of most years. We may live
in hope, however, that from the increase of
competition some striking results may be ob-
tained.

A most disquieting rumour is in circulation to
the effect that the Post Office authorities have
some reason to suspect that the extraordinarily
numerous thefts of postal orders in this
country are the work of a regular confederacy,
among the younger members of the ser-
vice, the head quarters of which are in
one of the larger cities in northern
England. It must most earnestly be hoped
that the rumour is without foundation, or, at.
the very least, is greatly exaggerated, for if the
confidence of business men in the internal
administration of the Post-Office were shaken,
it would be a very serious matter. Everybody
knows, of course, that individual officials are not
infrequently convicted of fraud, and, as long as
human nature is constituted as it is, that may
unhappily be expected. But isolated cases of
theft are a very different matter from a con-
spiracy to rob, and it is scarcely possible to
compare the amount of evil resulting from
the two. Should it be proved that such
a conspiracy exists, it would seriously affect the
extension of the postal order system. So far
that system, which in its simplicity is a great
improvement upon that of the old Post Office
order, has worked admirably, and with ever-
growing success. But any who study it can see
that o the cunning its very simplicity, which to
the public is its chief recommendation, affords
opportunity for fraud; and although compara-
tively little damage would be done if that oppor-
tunity were availed of only in isolated cases, the
imagination almost fails to grasp its extent if
once it were in the hands of a conspiracy. And
until the revelations hinted at are forthcoming,
one will hope they do not exist.
In the Government offices at and around
Whitehall a storm is just now raging, of which
the public ought to be made aware. The Chan-
cellor oc the Exchequer, it appears, has directed
that tha clerks in the service of the Crown shall
work seven hours daily instntl of six (or really
about five and a half) as heretofore. but
although additional pay is to be given for the
extra hour, many of those concerned are far from
satisfied, and are loudly protesting against the
innovation. It is not to be understood that all
the clerks are doing so; the young among
them have not the east objection to
the extra work, seeing that it brings
them extra pay, but their elders, who for
a number of rears have been accustomed to take

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official lite with remarkable ease, are exceedingly
vigorous in their denunciation of the change.
Popular sympathy, however, is scarcely as likely
to be on their side as on that of the Treasury.
There is not a business man or an artisan in the
country who will not perceive that no trade
could pay if those who followed it worked only
between five and six hours daily; and they will
emphatically fail to see why the State should in
this particular be worse served than private firms.
And victory, therefore, is certain to remain with
the Treasury. A. F. R