The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-15 00:00:00

Our no CorrtgrOent.

• [We+ deem it right to state that we do net at a'..!
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

Considering the ear„ly period of the year at which
Parliament was called together, and that Lords and
Commons really came to London before the Christmas
festivities were over, the Legislature has got into work-
ing order with commendable celerity. The session
w.^.s not twenty-four hours old before Bills were laid
before both Houses—the Lords', at the invitation of
the Chancellor, taking up the constitution of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; while to the
Commons the Attorney-General explained the pro-
visions of his measure for putting a stop to corrupt
practices at elections. The rust engendered by
the four months' holiday was therefore very
speedily rubbed off, and members have settled
down into the routine of an arduous and exciting
session. A foretaste of that excitement was speedily
furnished, and the special business which has caUed
Parliament together is likely to furnish more of it
before the legislative year is far advanced. Mean-
while, from the Prime Minister downwards, members
have come together full of energy and with the glow
of health upon their cheeks. They will not look the
same Rix months hence, amid the scorching heats of
July, and after the fatigues of half a year of Parlia-
mentary work ; but while they are fresh and vigorous
they may be expected to make the best of their
valuable time which lies before them.

The summoning of Parliament for so early a date
has given rise to the surmise that the principle may be
yet further extended in succeeding years, and that at
no distant day there may be a return to the practice
by which the Legislature met in November, and
by getting through some of the business before
Christmas, was enabled to terminate its labours in
reasonable time, and have the long autumn days for
its recess. The experience of last year was not a
favourable one. When the time for the prorogation
arrived—the 7th September, autumn had made con-
siderable progress; and even at the beginning of the
senatorial holiday the days were a third shorter than
they are at the period when most of the other legis-
lative bodies commence their vacation. . Say for
instance that, by meeting in November the Houses
could separate about the middle of July, the additional
daylight and cheerfulness of the holiday would be
worth a great deal to the jaded men who spend such
long hours under the brilliantly-lighted ceilings of the
House of Commons. A recess lasting from July to
November would be far more appreciated than one
from September to January.
Much has been heard in this country of the enter-
prise of the New York Press; and it may not be
generally known that the first editions of the journals
published in the Empire City eontain an ample digest
of the news which appearsin the London papers of the
same morning. The resident in the British capital
reads the Queen's Speech A his breakfast-table ; so
does the resident in New York. The aid of the
Atlantic cable, and the difference of time between the
two cities, enables this to be done. The London
papers go to press shortly after three o'clock in
the morning ; the representatives of the New
York journals, most of whom have offices in
Fleet-street, secure early copies, and at once set
to work to prepare an abstract of the contents.
Say this is completed by five, it is barely then
midnight in New York, so that • there is ample time
to get it wired under three thousand miles of ocean for
publication in the greatest city of the American
Union. This difference in time, therefore, places New
York quite on a level with London in this way.
On the other hand it operates disadvantageously to
the great London papers in getting news from the
other side. Midnight in London means seven o'clock
in the evening in the Empire City, a time when many
an engagement has not begun, and consequently cannot
he got through early enough for the London papers.
Even the New York prices, which are made.up at the
close of the business day, are often received so late as
to imperil either their own appearance or the early
issue of the journal which is willing to run the risk of
then putting them into type.

It is not often that a protracted debate takes place
upon the address to the Crown in answer to the Royal
Speech. An exception has, however, been made
this time in the ilouse of Commons; but so far as
the Lords are concerned, memory would fail to
furnish an instance in which the Address was
not voted to the reigning sovereign on the
first night of the session. It consists
of a series of paragraphs humbly thanking the
occupant of the throne for the information contained
in the Royal Message. A mere matter of form, no
doubt ; but one firmly engrafted on our constitutional
system. It is generally voted without delay; tor
though the mere fact ,of its being moved and seconded
give S any member ighe right to criticise the Minis-
terial policy, other and more convenient opportunities
arise for doing so in the course of the session.

East and west, in London the electric light is
gradually saaloing its way. Its pale flame has
long illuminate i the Thames Embankment and
given a more animated appearance to Waterloo
Bridge. One of the faces of the great clock at
Westminster shows the contrast between it and
the gaslight; Palace Yard now shows its advan-
tages, and in a few weeks every main thorough-
fare in the City itself, together with London, South-
wark, and Blackfriars Bridges will be brilliant in a
flood of concentrated moonlight, bright and cold as
the beams of that luminary when she is at her full.
Long ago we were. told that there is nothing new
under the sun; and there can be no doubt that, so far
as electricity is concerned, it is as old as the world itself.
It is the means of its application that are new—first
in the instantaneous conveyance of intelligence, and
more recently in the lighting of our thoroughfares.
Uses even more wonderful for this giant force will in
all probability be discovered.
Although Drury Lane has headed the list of panto-
mimes, so far as the London theatres are concerned,
there are many of them which do not step aside from
the ordinary representations of the best dramaticilrt.
At the Lyceum, for instance, a tragedietto entitled
The Cup, and written by Mr. Alfred Tennyson, the
Poet Laureate, has been produced with a magnificence
in scenery which has rarely been paralleled on the
English stage. Vie Corsican Brothers, at the same
theatre, has been mounted at a cost of several thousand
pounds, one curtain alone representing a value of £7OO.
In this also, 13 in The Cup, the gorgeous nature of
the surroundings, apart from the intrinsic merits
of the plot, form a very considerable attraction to the
theatre-going part of the community. There can
be little doubt that of late years the application of the
highest genius to the legitimate development of the
histrionic art has awakened an interest in the drama
which could not possibly exist without the accessories
of intellect and merit; and thus it comes to pass that
after the lapse of three centuries, the great works
of our immortal dramatist, such as " Hamlet " and the
"Merchant of Venice," are produced not only with
more splendour, but with more completeness of detail
than were ever at the command of the illustrious
author himself.

The changes made in the Authorised Version of the
Scriptures by the close revision which it has under-
gone during the past ten years, are in the hands of
many Biblical scholars, and will speedily be in the
possession of the public. The long-expected addition
to Biblical knowledge, which has been anticipated
with so much interest, will not much longer be de-
layed. Every care has been taken to make every
line, every word, and every stop complete; for a word
mis-spelt or a comma misplaced would be a blot on
the volume. In all probability the work as now
revised will be used for centuries to come. When
the revision was first undertaken, some objection was
made to it; but a general wish for an accurate repre-
sentation of the most ancient manuscripts has pre-
vailed; and the acceptance of the new version by the
unanimous voice of a committee representing all
sections of religious thought, has put an end to any
controversy which might have existed at the be-
ginning. Many of the changes known to have been
made are already in use in pulpits of various denomi-
nations.

The lawyers have speedily followed our lawgivers
to town, and the legal tribunals are once more at work.
Some important changes will be effected by an Order
in Council now upon the table of both Houses of Par-
liament, and which, if not challenged by an address
to the Crown in either House, will have all the force
of law in thirty days from the opening of the session.
It carries into effect the recommendations of a Council
• of Judges which recommended the abolition of
the distinctive offices of Lord Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas and Lord Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer, both now vacant, and the substitution of two
ordinary judgeships at the usual salary of £5,000 a
year. The holders of the two chiefships now about
to be abolished were accustomed to receive £7,000
year, and each of 'them had a seat in the Privy
Council; but a majority of the judges have now
• decided that there is no necessity for continuing these
titular dignities, and therefore they are to cease to
exist. The whole of the Common Law divisions of
the High Court of Justice will be consolidated into
one, under the presidency of the Lord Chief Justice
of England—a title of which the late Sir Alexander
Cockburn was so justly proud, for it had been in
existence a thousand years, and had come down from
the time of King Alfred.

The most lately issued BoaDd of Trade returns
furnish another proof, if such were required, of the
continued improvement in the commerce of the
couatry. The Revenue tables had shown that in the

first nine months of the financial year the receipts
were two millions sterling in excess of the sum in the
cerresponding period of the previous year; and now
it appears that in 1880 the imports were £109,000,000,
as against £362,000,000 in 1879. The exports in 1880
were £222,000,000, as compared with £191,000,000 in
the previous year. Thus our people had more to spend
upon the productions of other countries, and at the
same time other countries sent us more money for our
own produce. The _Revenue and Board of Trade re-
turns therefore come most opportunely at the opening
of the New Year to tell the people that the long
period oi depression whieh lasted very nearly from
1874 to 1880, has well-nigh run its course. As the
waves continue to roll after the storm which caused
them has ceased, so the eddies of a time of adversity
are felt when the current itself has long spent its force
and passed by. But even the influence cf the eddies
is fading away now; and upon every hand there are
the signs of the dawn of a brighter and a more pro-
sperous day.