The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-29 00:00:00

nx Fonhit CorrespOent.

[We deem. it right to state that we do not at a. 72
*entity ourselves with our Correspondent's opinion,

Often as the weather has been a topic of conversa-
tion in these islands, it has seldom occupied such an
all-absorbing attention as during the past few days.
The accounts with which the columns of the press
have been surcharged, give evidence of the almost un-
equalled severity of the storm which has visited the
whole of the United Kingdom. The wave of cold that
has enveloped these islands has broilight in its train a

heavy fall of EROW ; and, as if these evils were not
singly sufficient, they have been attended with strong
and dangerous gales, which have wrought havoc on

our long lines of sea coast. Moreover, the effects of
the weather have been aggravated by the accumula-
tion of renewal. The storm, which had lulled after
its first fury was spent, and treacherously seemed to

have passed away, was but renovating its strength
for a fresh onslaught on animate and inanimate
nature. Thus distressing scenes were repeated, and
when the further records of disaster and wreck which

have yet come to hand are superadded to those that
have gone before, the total sum of injury will be
swollen to almosttmexampled magnitude both on land
and at sea.

It is a noteworthy coincidence—if it be not accounted
even as a full and fatal realization of a forecast—that

a storm warning from America should have predicted
that an atmospheric disturbance was likely to deve-
lope energy, and arrive on the British, French, and
possibly affecting the Norwegian coasts between the
19th and 21st, attended by rain, sleet, and gales or
strong winds. That the rain and sleet should have

descended in the form of snow, and that the energy
of the storm was developed on the 18th and 19th—
anticipating by a day or two the period foretold—is
perhaps only to be regarded as "au accident of deve-
lopment not materially detracting from the reeliza-
tion of the prediction, 3,7:cording to the mere point of
view of its success. It may be worthy of observation,
however, that the storm warning was not by any means
given in such positive terms as some of its predeces-
sors. In some cases we have been told, without if or
but, that a dangerous depression or disturbance
would arrive on these coasts at or about a
given time. When we consider the vast extent of
aqueous surface over which such a storm must pass in
its hitherward course over the wide Atlantic, the enor-
mous volume of the atmosphere, the various aerial
currents, which it must sway, or by which it must be
swayed, in its ocean transit, there is little room for
wonder if the event differed in some degree from
the forecast. .

There can be no question that for a combination
•Df intensity and duration, strengthened and made
worse by lull and renewal, the like of the recent
'visitation has not been seen in the United King.
dom for many years. It may be that there
have been falls of snow as heavy, extending over as
wide an area,_ and that in particular districts even
heavier snowfalls have been known. No doubt wind-
storms of greater power at isolated points or over the
whole country have been too sadly frequent, as witness
onr wreck charts and records. But it seems to be
generally acknowledged that no atmospheric visita-
tion so severe in its combined effects has swept over
the British islands within a quarter of a century or
more. The circumstances of the time certainly lend
themselves to an aggravation of the effects of such
convulsions of the elements. The ramifications of our
lines of internal communication now permeath the re-
motest districts where they were formerly unknown.
Our vast fleet of merchant steamers and ships, ever
increasing; our ever-growing network of branch
railways, radiating from the great arteries of traffic,
our innumerable lines of telegraph wires, rapidly
extending year by year; the wide expansion of the
postal service, not to mention the more local
and humbler tramway lines—all these combine to
present a more extended field for the havoc
wrought by the elements. Most probably we over-
estimate the actual strength of the storm, judging
from its magnified disastrous results. To describe
these in the present instance—to tell of the
ships wrecked and the lives grievously lost, of the
piers and seawalls washed away by the surging
waves, of the telegraph wires blown down, the
railway lines blocked up, the traffic and inter-commu-
nications interrupted or entirely broken off, would be
to utter a twice told tale—a fruitless task that would
fill columns. The sum total of calamity already
known is painful to contemplate; and it will be long
bAore the grevious account is fully made up; but the
vigour and energy of the Anglo-Saxon will soon have
repaired the breach, and the innate recuperative power
.of the nation will speedily heal all wounds—except
those, alas! that will have left indelible scars upon
many a mournful human heart
It is a relief to turn from a scene of desolation such
as that presented by the Arctic winter in this hemi-
sphere to a land of sunshine and orange groves such as
that pourtrayed by a description of the city of Lima'
From time to time during the past three or four
years accounts have 'reached this country illustrative
of the progress of the war between the Republics of
.I;olivia and Peru upon the one side, and that of Chili
on the other. In the causes of this strife the people

here have taken but little interest; for it is impossible
tcr grow excited over events which take place several
thousands of miles away. Macaulay once declared
that more notice was taken in London of a broken
head in the Tower Hamlets than of a mutiny in Cal-
cutta; and if this be true of our own dependency,
it is even :more applicable to the South Ameri-
can Republics, which Mr. Canning once declared
had been called into emistence in the new world to re-
dress the balance of the old. But the very mention of
Lima amid the sufferings of our frigid temperature,
has directed man.y an inquiring mind towards those
descriptions of it which set forth its splendid position
on the banks of the Rimac, its architecural beauty,
its pleasant walks through double rows of magniiseat
trees, and its beautiful climate which produces all
kinds of delicious fruits, equally as fair to look upon
as they are agreeeble to the taste. Yet Lima, far
away as it is from frost-bound rivers and snow-clad
streets, has troubles of a far more serious chavacter,
for, as the capital of Peru, it has become the lawful
preyebf the conquering Republic of Chili.
So far as Parliament is concerned, although it was
called together at an abnormally early date for the
despatch of divers urgent and important affairs, thus
far very little has been done. The debate on the
Address has occupied a fortnight, and until that was
got out of the way nothing could be accomplished, or
even attempted. The Commons could send no -Bills
to the Lords, because none were before them; FO
that the peers have met only to adjourn. One
or two little measures have, however, been intro-
duced into their lordship's house, notably a Burials'
Act Amendment Bill, with the object of sub-
stituting the word "this " for "that " in the
original statute. The legislative achievements of the
Lords will come later in the session. It may be added
that while a quorum of forty members is required to
make a House in the Commoits, in th Lords three are
quite suffiLient to constitute a House for the despatch of
business. In the bitter weather of last week this

small number was more than once the only representa-
tion of the peerage of the United Kingdom. The
Lord Chancellor and a noble lord on either side of him
made up one of the estates of the realm for the time
being.

. Cyprus Is an island which, less than three years ago,
occupied a position of very considerable interest in
the eyes of the people of this country. Its autho-
rities, recognising the importance of irrigation, are
about to undertake experiments as to the practicability
of sinking artesian wells. Among the projects which
they have had under consideration, they have decided
to test this first; because if it succeeds it will imme-
diately come to the front. The question seems to be as
much of a problem as any in the annals of mining. The
French geologist, M. Gaudry, a perfectly competent
Man, came to the conclusion that the neighbour-
hood of Larna,ca was the only place where arteitian
borings were likely to find water. Mr. Russell, of
the Jermyn-streetllnstitution has lately made a report
on the subject which is full of interest. The Govern-
ment is encouraged to start these experiments lay the
abundant rains of ,this season, which have plenti-
fully overflowed the rivers of the central plain, swept
away upwards of fifty houses, and drowned several
.people at Limassol. The island is thus almost satu-
ratedivith water, and the grain and cotton crops are
now certain, if the locusts spare them, to be splendid;
the year's revenue will thus be high, and will afford
funds which would otherwise be wanting foc
these experiments. But it is equally certain that
during next summer and autumn the island will be a
hotbed of malarial fever, which will set in about May.
It is on record that in such a year, from Brodromos, the
-highest inhabited village of the Troodiis range, 3,600
feet above the sea level, down to the coast °marshes,
the whole population suffered. So much so, that
even when the succeeding winter set in, as many
at fifty people have been found still prostrated in only
seventy houses.

For some time the cause of the Submarine Tunnel
between England and France has slumbered and
slept. The project is one of such colossal rnagni.
tude that, even supposing it to be practicable and
carried out, it is not easy to see how the receipts
c-,uld ever repay the shareholders for the enormous
c)st a the Outlay. However, Sir Edward Watkin,
.31airman of the South Eastern Railway, has faith in
it, and thoroughly believes in the capability of its
adaptation to the wants of the travelling public. The
.T.orthern Railway Company of France, and M. 1,63 n
Say, a distinguished scientific man, are as sanguine
as Sir Edward Watkir, and borings are at once to be

taken by way of demonstrating the practicability of
the undertaking. The bed of the Channel is composed
of chalk, and if this is unbroken and continuous

between shore and shore, there would be no great
difficulty in running a subway through it of sufficient
size to accommodate a locomotive and its attendant
carriages. But if, either in mid-channel or indeed
anywhere, from the English to the French coast, there
should be a rift or a flaw in the bed of the chalk—a
gap of any distance caused by volcanic agency,—it is
not easy to see how this obstacle could be overcome;
and it isin order carefully to ascertain precisely what
is the nature of the bed of the sea, that the borings
are to be carried out which Sir Edward Watkin an-
nounced at the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders
of the South Eastern Railway.