The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-20 00:00:00

Our Fenban Corttspoubc.t,,

rWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

The emptiness of London during the month of
August is often noticed in the newspapers, where it is
made the subject of elaborate and graphic descrip-
tion ; but after all this is a mere figure of speech. The
;stbth'attc and fashionable part of the capital is
allirded to as the Upper Ten Thousand; but London,
according to the recent Census, contains a population
of nearly four millions. The Clubs are empty, it is
true, and many west-end mansions have the shutters
closed and the blinds drawn; but the further the
traveller moves towards the east in the metro-
polis the more he is brought face to face with
energetic life and thorough activity. Cheapside and
London Bridge vary not in the full tide of their
enormous traffic, whether it be August or any other
month ; there is the same amount of shipping in the
miles of docks; and the great ocean steamers make
their way up and down the Thames whats.ver may be
the length of the hours in the day, the name of the
month, or the season of the year. It is impossible, in
fact, for London to be ever empty. If it is true o
nations that westward the course of empire takes its
way, it must be said of London that it is in the east,
and in that part which stretches away towards the
rising sun that its trade and commerce are concen-
trated. Its principal business is transacted in its
heart, which is also the heart of the nation, the
empire, and the world.

The Queen, accompanied by Prince Leopold and
Princess Beatrice, generally leaves Osborne for Bal-
moral in the third week of August, and returns to
Windsor in the third week of November. Her
Majesty has told her subjects in the "Leaves from
the Diary of Our Life in the Highlands," how com-
pletely the purS mountain air of the far North
is appreciated, and how thoroughly .the rest from the
cares of state is enjoyed. From the upper towers of
Windsor Castle on a clear night the halo of light
can be seen outspread over the metropolis, marking
the spot where the great capital has the benefit of
artificial illumination; a-nd although Osborne is
further away, it is not more than four hours'
- distance from London. But at Balmoral the Sove-
reign is far away from the business and the worry
inseparable from the duties of an exalted position; and
although of course the work of the State must go
on, and a vast number of official documents looked at
and signed, her Majesty, at all events, has the relief
which quietude brings, and the knowledge that although
the roar of the great world is undiminished in its
volume, it is a long way from the Highlands of Scot-
land.

When the Queen is at Balmoral, it is customary for
a Cabinet Minister to be in attendance, to lay before
Her Majesty the despatches which arrive daily from
the various departments of State for signature and
approval. The members of the Cabinet who are
youngest in years generally have this duty assigned to
them; for Balmoral, being 600 miles from London,
the journey is a long one for overworked men of
seventy years of age, and to whom the high latitude
may not be altogether agreeable. For many years
past our Prime Ministers, unlike William Pitt, have
not attained to that position until late in life; Lord
Palmerston was more than 70 years of age before he
arrived at the coveted goal. Lord Russell was Premier
at 74, Lord Beaconsfield at 75, and Mr. Gladstone
is now 72. It has never been the custom of
the First Lord of the Treasury to go to Balmoral ;
he passes the recess as quietly as possible after
the fatigues of one session, and preparing for
the work of the next. But the younger spirits in the
Cabinet, who have not had so much of Parliamentary
and official life, relieve each other in attendance on
the Queen, a fortnight or three Weeks being the
average of time allotted to each amid the calmness of
Deeside. The Minister who receives the largest num-
ber of despatches when in the Highlands is the Home
Secretary, and the letter-bag of the local postman is
always several sizes larger when the Secretary of
State for the Home Department represents his col-
leagues at Balmoral. Officially there is no distinction
between one Secretary of State and another, the
assignment to different departments being merely a
matter of arrangement.
The Board of Trade returns do not show that
elasticity in the commerce of the country which we
should all be so glad to see. The total value of the
imports during July showed a decline at the rate of
three-and-a-half per cent. upon that in the correspond-
jug month last year. In the first seven months of
1881 the exports showed a decline of five-and-a-half per
cent. when compared with the figures of ISSO. In the
same period the imports fell off, while on the other hand
they were more by nearly 28 millions sterling than dur-
ing the first seven months of 1870, which was however
an exceptionally unfavourable year. The greatest fall
ing off in the imports of new manufacturing material
during July was in silk, and next to that was raw
cotton, while foreign flax, timber, and hemp exhibited
an increase. The value of live animals imported was
greatly reduced, but there was a substantial growth in
the quantities of corn, rice, cheese, and fish. The
quantity of unmanufactured tobacco sent into the
country in the month of July was £218,000, or more
than twice as much as the import twelve months ago.
But this, however satisfactory to the Custom house
authorities, by way of adding to the national revenue
in the shape of duty, can scarcely be regarded as an
indication of national prosperity.
After a long series of negotiations and disputes
the inner circle of the Metropolitan District Railway
is to be taken in hand. The advantages which will
accrue from adding the missing link to the railway
girdle round the metropolis are not easily to be
over-estimated. The blank which has hitherto
existed between the Mansion House terminus and
Aldgate has to a very great extent interfered with
its usefulness as a means of local traffic ; and this
link being once supplied, the company will be enabled
to run a better service of trains than has been hitherto
possible. Ano less important feature in the project
is the construction of a wide street leading to
Billingsgate market through a portion of the City,
where a new thoroughfare is an absolute necessity.
Not only will this highway relieve the general traffic,
but it will give facility for ingress and egress to the
great central fish market of London. - 7
The Metropolitan Board of Works have secured
power by Act of Parlia,meat to institute an inquiry
into this matter, which is one of interest not only to
London, but to every fishing port in the kingdom
which possesses. the facilities for the speedy transit
to the capital of the produce of the sea. Some
time ago the Corporation appointed a Committee
of Inquiry into this subject, and this committee
has reported that Billingsgate is inadequate to supply
the wants of four millions of people. Fish salesmen
were called from the country to prove that with better
accommodation more fish would be sent into London,
and that a nutritious article of food would thus be
rendered -cheaper. The Corporation has adjourned
the consideration of this important matter until the
Bth of September, as so many of the members of that
body are just now absent on their holidays. Mean-
While the Metropolitan Board of Works will not be idle.
Vaving secured the necessary powers to conduct the pre-
liminary investigation, there is little doubt that this
will be of a searching character. The fact that London
as out-grown its market accommodation having been
admitted by the civic authorities, and the Board of
Works being anxious to supply it, a long-felt want will
now be attended to.
The Cricket season has still some weeks to run, and
although the whole of the county matches have not
been plsyed out, the principal part of the great ones
are over with the closing contest between the Gentle-
men and the Players. The season in spite of, or
perhaps in consequence of, the extrernly hot and dry
weather has not been favourable to very long scores.
In amateur cricket some very good scores have been
made; and although there have been no special
features in the lists of competitors, such as would be
represented by the presence of the Australians, the
season appears on the whole to have been a satisfac-
tory one to the best judges of its results. There
used to be an old arrangement that might again pro-
duce a good match, and which would now at least
separate bowlers now always found on the same side.
Not many years ago it was the custom to play a
match between the slow and the fast bowlers, and the
revival of this institution would have its interest
now.

Princess Frederica of Hanover, the daughter of the
late King George, and the wife of the Baron von Pawl
Rammingen, manifested the interest which she feels
in the Volunteer service of this country by distributing
the prizes to the successful detachments at Shoehury-
ness at the close of the fourteen days' competition
there.- The National Volunteer Artillery is a body
which, although not so prominently before the public
as the National Rifle Volunteer; is an eminently useful
adjunct of the military service. The scene of its annual
ozontests is not so accessible from London as Wimble-
don, consequently those ars witnesied by fewer spec-
tators, add not so much impression is made upon the
popular mind. But at the War Office the existence
of the Artillery Volunteer force is regarded as a
matter of the highest national importance. It would
be this body and not the riflemen that would be the
6rst to receive the call to meet an advancing foe,
Beeing that it must be the guns of an invading fleet,
and not,themusketry of an invading army that would
have first CO be dealt with.
That there should have been 450 members in the
rouse of Commons on the eve of the long-anticipated
Twelfth was a strong testimony to the efforts made on
both sides to bring honourable gentlemen together for