The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-05-21 00:00:00

,41,ur fonbon torrespubtni.

(We deem it right to state that we do not at all timel
identity ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]
After the most winteriy April of recent years
summer seemed to come upon us all of a sudden
with the commencement of May. As far as
London was concerned, a north-easterly wind
continued at intervals to blow, as if to warn us
that too much dependence must not be placed
upon the prospect of settled summer weather,
but there was an amount of sunshine that
cheered the heart after the long spell of winter
to which we had been subject. The effect of the
appearance of the sun from behind the winter
clouds was almost instantaneously manifest.
London is not merely a wilderness of bricks and
mortar, as so many consider it, for it has
several open green spaces and a multitude of
trees scattered throughout its length and breadth,
and it was upon these that the effect of the sun-
shine was apparent. The grass seemed to grow
and the trees to put forth their leaves and
buds almost under one's eyes, and the bare
aspect of a week before gave way as if
by magic to a pleasing bloom. And as
nature brightened, so did man. The dark gar-
ments of winter yielded place to the lighter dis-
play of the summer months; the streets, from
being given over mainly to men and those push-
ing eagerly along to their respective employ-
ments, were filled with ladies on shopping bent, and
. anxious to make up for lost time. The sunshine,
in fact, literally seemed to unloose the springs of
life which had been congealed by the winter,
and man rejoiced with Nature at the change.
It has previously been observed, at some time
or another, by most people:that royal personages
must become very tired of triumphal arches,
venetian masts, and bannered streets, and that
it must be in the nature of a treat to them to

casually visit a place which puts forth none of
these things. For all these decorations have a
- wonderful sameness, as anyone who looks at the
illustrated papers after a royal visit to some of
our English towns,ia bound to perceive, though
as indicating the desire of the inhabitants to look
at their very best when the sun of royalty shines
upon them' they are not to be condemned.
Sometimes the effect even of such hackneyed
decorations as banners and venetian masts is
more striking than ordinary, and this was cer-
tainly so in the case of Cheapside, when the
Queen passed through it last Saturday
afternoon, on her way to open the People's
Palace at Mile-end. The old thoroughfare,
despite all modern improvements, remains a
narrow one, and any one standing near the
Mansion House and looking down the length of ,
Cheapiide on that day, could not but be im-
pressed by the picturesque aspect of the street
under its wealth of flags and evergreens, a
',picturesqueness which was distinctly added to by
Its lack of breadth. It was like a scene from
some festivity in an old continental city, and
although all the houses in Cheapside are of
modern build, one could almost fancy that the
narrow street was the Chepe of ancient time,
decked out with banners to welcome one of our
early kings. All along the route from Padding-
ton to Mile-end the decorations were notable, ,
but, for sheer picturesqueness, Cheapside carried
off the palm.
A month hence it will not be so much decora-
tions as illuminations upon which Londoners will
feast their eyes, for on Jubilee night these latter
are expected to be upon a scale which has hardly
previously been seen. At every celebration of
the Queen's bikthday there is an illumination of
certain clubs and public buildings, as well as of
many trademen's shops at the West End, and
these always attract a great number of sight-
seers from other parts of London. But these
compared to theilluminations which will mark the
21st of June are "as moonlight unto sunlight and
as water unto wine." It has been suggested
that, in addition to the more formal and expen-
sive illuminations on that night, there shall be a
light-up of every house so that London may be
one blaze of glow, as she was accustomed to be
in the earlier part of the century when news of
some great victory reached our shores. If such
a display is recommended by influential news-
papers, it is exceedingly likely to be carried out,
and the effect would be picturesque in the ex-
treme. But, as far as nocturnal display is con-
cerned, London will not rest satisfied even with
such as has been here sketched, for it is
intimated that fireworks will b 3 let off on an
extensive scale; Primrose-hill, Hyde-park, Bat- ,
terseCpark, and Victoria-park being mentioned
as the probable scenes of these displays. Alto-
gether the day and night of June 21st promise
to be so filled with brightness and gaiety that
the remembrance will never fade from the minds
of the youngest who in any way participate in
the celebration.
Financiers have often- discussed the question
whether a very high price for Consols is a good
or a bad sign. On the face of it, nothing could
better testify to the popular belief in the
stability of a state than that its stock should
be selling above par: and it must be with a sigh
of envy that the Russian Minister, of Finance
contemplates the steady standing of the English
Three per Cents at over-the hundred. But, on
the other hand, this high price indicates that
financial belief in general mercantile enterprises
is not strong, or that the rate of profit from these
is comparatively small, and that certainly is not
a good sign when displayed by a mercantile com-
munity. These observations have been roused
by the fact that a week ago, for the first time in
history, Consuls touched 103+. Once before,
in IPBI, they reached 103, but this
is said to have been due to Stock Ex-
change manmuvring, whereas the price just
mentioned was legitimately paid in more than
one instance. This, as has been observed, is at-
tributed to the plethora of money and the
scarcity of good investments, and it is for finan-
ciers to say whether this is an altogether happy
symptom. Then there is one thing to which it
is not unlikely to lead, and that is to a conver-
version of the Three per Cents. Stock into Two-
and-a-Half, a gigantic operation which, in one
way and another, will affect tens of thousands.
Those who, when visiting our greatest
historic fortress, the Tower of London, have
finished their sight seeing by a view of
the Crown Jewels of England, have
sated their eyes with SOMA of the finest
brilliants the world possesses. So great is
the value attached to them, and so extreme is
the care upon them bestowed, that it is with
something like wonder that one reads of the
sale which has just been going on of the Crown
jewels of France. Ever since the Republic was
established, now nearly 17 years ago the ques-
tion of this sale has again and again been raised;
for it waaargued that, if the present system of
government was believed to be a lasting one,
Crown jewels, of all things in the world, were
the last that it needed. But, apart from
other considerations, there was one which
for a long time barred the way, and that
was that some of these valuables were of
great historic interest. After long debate a
compromise was arrived at to the effect that
such jewels as were historical should be pre-
served by the State because of their associations,
while all others should be sold and the proceeds
devoted to the national welfare. The step has
now been taken, and should Monarchy over
again gain the ascendancy in France, a new set
of erown.jewela will have to be procured.
The question of the coinage is one which
interests even the most humble of us,as the recent
dispute about the French "coppers" served to
shim. The Mint is now busily engaged in pro-
ducing a new set of coins of the realm, which
will be interesting upon more grounds than one.
It has been known for some time that among
the methods of celebrating the Jubilee would be
the production of a coinage b oaring a likeness
of the Queen which would be somewhat more of
a likeness than the one to which we have so long
been accustomed. For many a year the effigy
has not been changed, and although as a
portrait it was never particularly successful, the
lapse of years has now made it almost ludicrous.
It was, therefore, a happy thought that the
Jubilee should be marked by a new series of
coins which should bear a real likeness to her
Majesty; and when the idea was resolved upon,
Mr. Boehm' the well-known sculptor, was com-
manded to Windsor to make a special medallion
of the Queen for the purpose. Even when that
had been done it was only the preliminary to a
great amount of detailed work, for the cutting of
the dies for so large and varied an issue of coins as
was designed was in itself a task occupying a dis-
tinct a'mount of time. Now, however the new coin-
age is practically ready for circulation,and we shall
soon he able to judge for ourselves as to whether
it is an, improvement upon the old one. If it is
satisfactory; the public may be expected to sug-
gest that the Past Office should take a hint from
the Mint, and make the likeness on the stamps
resemble the Queen as much as that on the
coins. We do not ask that the effigy shall
follow every minute change in the Royal counte-
nance, as was done by the stamp-designers of
King Charles of Roumania and the late King
Alponso of Spain, by whom every accretion of
moustache and whisker was faithfully noted' but
a little more likeness than at present is obviously
desirable.
Itt these iliws the Snea Canal is so great MI

international highway for ships that any de-
velopment of its capacity is of general interest.
There have lciag been suggestions that it should
be widened, or that another canal should be cut,
for the block of traffic has sometimes been so
great as to be a serious matter to those sending
vessels from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
But these schemes would require a great deal of
money for their accomplishment, while .a plan
has just been adopted, whit almost doubles
the carrying capacity of the canal; inasmuch
as it will enable it to be used throughout
the twenty-four hours, instead of only by
day as heretofore. The company owning it
have lately greatly facilitated transit through
the canal by the premiasion given to vessels
properly fitted with electric light, to enter
and pass through at night; and this per-
mission, which at first was partial, has now been
granted to all ships properly equipped with the
new illuminant. It needs no demonstration that
the time thus saved will be of the greatest
importance. The transit through what sailors
know as "the ditch" is never a particularly
agreeable one, and the less time that is spent
about it the better for all concerned. Aisd
everything that facilitates traffic benefits trade
and brings the nations of the earth closer to-
gether. The Suez Canal has been, from its
opening, one of the most successful examples of
modern commercial enterprise, and this latest
improvement is calculated to enhance its pros-
perity. A. F. R.