The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-02-12 00:00:00

Our fnbou Contspodent.

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

The public life of London at this season neces-
sarily centres around the Houses of Parliament
and the Government Departments, although the
fashionable season in the metropolis is not yet
in full swing. The most noticeable feature in
Parliament up to the present is the prominent
part played by members new to its halls, if not
to public life. There was a time when young
members were chary of taking a leading part in
debate until- they had sat for several sessions,
and become well-known, personally, to the
House. That, however, is changed. The young
members nowadays have generally been elected
because of their public services outside Parliament ;
they are therefore already well-known in political
circles, and as they come to their duties with
plenty of enthusiasm they do not allow any
unnecessary time to elapse. Most of them have
some pet theory or project which they desire to
push forward, and the consequence is a remark-
able and almost appalling increase in the speech-
making power of the House. This is the only
drawback; but in the present state of public
business it is a serious one. To those accustomed
to Parliamentary life for many years the altered
characteristics of the present House seem very
strange.
There is little doubt that the success of the
Jubilee Institute scheme, which at first seemed
to hang fire, is now well assured. But of all the
national movements for celebrating the event, the
tribute from the women and girls of the United
Kingdom is likely to be the most popular and
interesting. In the country there is compara-
tively little difficulty in deciding on the form the
local celebration should take and in enlisting
support for it. But in the metropolis, where
there is no local centre, a very indefinite local
area, and next to no local feeling, the circum-
stances are different. In some instances, how-
ever, advantage is being taken of the occasion to
inaugurate some work of practical good. The
Directors of the Waterloo Industrial Dwellings'
Company, for instance, have decided to endow
some beds in a convalescent home for the use of
the inmates of the houses belonging to them. In
the crowded district of the East-end, where most
of these industrial dwellings are situate. such an
endowment will be of incalculable benefit. Much
is heard of the over-crowding of the Door, but
what it would be if these artizans' dwellings had
not been erected, small in proportion to the
population as they are, it is impossible to con-
ceive. Some idea of the extent of the operations
in this direction may be gathered from the fact
that one of the industrial dwellings' companies
uses on an average no less than one thousand
pieces of wall-paper per week.
Talking of the Jubilee is a reminder that joy
must reign in the artist centres at Kensington
and inthe north of London. It would be into-
restinglto know how many towns have already
decided to erect a statue of the Queen, and still
more interesting, if the work has to be done in
marble' how it can be accomplished within the
year. The easiest way to get over the difficulty
would be to agree on one design and have all
the statues cast in bronze from the same mould.
This, however, is hardly likely to be done, and
the few sculptors of eminence which we have
are anticipating more orders than they can
possibly accomplish. There is, however, some-
thing known as a " ghost " in art circles and
the latter is likely to do the work, while the
artist lends his name and takes nearly all the
money.
The annual report of the chief medical officer
of the Local Government Board is not of that
order of literature which ensures many readers,
but the volume just issued contains some very
important statements affecting Londoners. The
existence ot small-pox hospitals in certain
loali-
ties has long been a cause of complaint to the
property owners and occupiers concerned, and a
bone of contention between them and the autho-
rities. The latter urged that the objection was
a purely sentimental one, and that the contiguity
of the hospitals was not in any way a source of
danger. Nowithstanding this, the value of
houses in the several districts has been sensibly
affected, and it would now appear that the dislike
to the institutions was not without cause. With
the aid of diagrams the report in question seeks
to prove that the outbreak of individual cases of
small-pox is much more frequent within the area
comprised by a circle drawn around the hospitals
than in the district outside. At present there is
no great cause for alarm, for although in the
metropolis the disease is always with us in the
shape of a few isolated cases, these can
be easily dealt with. But the serious
feature in connection with the case is
that experience shows epidemics of small-pox to
recur at certain nearly regular intervals; one of
these cycles is due to close in two or three years,
when it may be expected that the now un-
_tenanted hospitals will be largely used. In the
face of the present report, the dwellers in the
several vicinities will then have good cause for
dread, and oweers of houses will have good
reason to complain when a proposal is made to
depreciate their property without compensation,
by erecting a smallpox hospital in their midst.
It seems that another attempt is to be made
to turn the ill-fated Alexandra Palace to its
original design of offering a place of amusement
on the lines of the Crystal Palace, f9r the dwel-
lers on the other side of the Thames. With a
brief excepti9n, the place has been closed going
on for five years, and apart from the loss on the
invested capital it costs two thousand pounds a
year to keep the building from falling to decay.
~ It is expected that in the coming year there will
be a large influx of visitors into the metropolis,
-and as there will not be the great rival to out-
_ of-door places of entertainment—an exhibition at
-South Kensington—it is hoped that there is a
chance of making the palace pay its way. It would
be a great pity if the grounds should fall into the
• hands of the speculative builder, and if for no
other reason it is to be desired that the project
. will be successful. The great difficulty in the
way'is the provision of a cheap and convenient
" train service. If that can be arranged the
Alexandra will have a chance. Even now,
thousands of people can be drawn there to wit-
ness trotting, cycling, and other matches; but
the sporting public is not enough to keep the

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palace going.
Strange and sad as it may sound there are a
great many people in this City who would not be
sorry—in fact, would be delighted—to hear of
the outbreak of hostilities between France and
Germany. Their hope is that the patriotism of
the French and Germans would induce them to
• obey the orders of their Governments and return
to their native land. In that case the English
members of many overcrowded trades and occu-
pations would reap a decided advantage. In
some industries the Continental competitor, by
accepting lower wages, ha S almost driven the
Englishman out of the field. In the hair-dress-
ing line, just to take one instance, there would
not be sufficient native first-class hands to fill the
situations which would become vacant if the
Germans returned to the Fatherland. As waiters,
and in other callings the foreigner, who will live
on what: to the Briton, are starvation wages, is
obtaining almost a monopoly. But a reliance
on Teutonic patriotism is trusting to a very frail
reed. Most of the German clerks and assistants
would probably prefer to sever their home ties to
giving up their present situations. Each
foreigner who settles in this land is the cause of
bringing over more, so that the cry is always
"Still they come."
Although nix weeks have elapsed, the effects of
the snowstorm on the eve of Boxing Day are
still painfully apparent. Telegraph and tele-
phone wires in many places are still broken down,
with the result of causing grave inconvenience
in commercial circles. The telephone especially
has grown to be such a necessity to the rapid
transaction of business that it is difficult to
realize how the multifarious affairs of this great
city would have been conducted so long without
it. Apart from the inconvenience and loss of
time which the public suffer they are directly
losers in pocket, for the rentals of telephone wires
have to be paid in advance. The agitation in
favour of underground wires is consequently
likely to grow. It is satisfactory to know that
the Government have under consideration the
advisability of connecting the chief towns of the
country by under-ground wires. With railway
lines blocked and telegraph wires broken, it
would be a serious thing if a foreign invader
should obtain a footing on our coasts.
Sir Charles Warren is steadily introducing
some much-needed reforms in the government
of the Metropolitan Police. Among the latest
of these is the publication and circulation among
householders of notices giving the spots in each
district at which constables are placed on what
is known as "fixed point" duty. In cases of
emergency, therefore, it cannot now be said that
a policeraan is not to be found. At the same
time, seeing that London adds to itself some
thirty to forty miles of streets every year, the
force of police is totally inadequate. Another
reform for the benefit of the constable himself
is the mode of carrying the baton. Instead of
being strapped in a case behind, where it could
better be seized by an assailant than by the
policeman himself, it is to be carried loosely in a