The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-06-12 00:00:00

COMMENTS ON CURRENT TOPICS.

JUST as men's minds were being given to
pleasant thoughts of their annual rest-time,
which usually follows on somewhere beyond
Whitsuntide, or when Partlament has risen
for the summer and autumn, the political
crisis has broken disagreeably in upon them,
and obtruded its disturbing presence into
all their calculations and arrangements.
Ere we have had time to draw breath after
the electoral battle just before Christmas, we
are again plunged into preparations for the
fray. The worst of it is that thereby busi-
ness is so badly upset. As these lines are
written no one can say with certainty when
the elections will be taken, but is augured
that the impending dissolution will occur on
one of the closing days or June. For a
month to come, in consequence, shop, ex-
change, and street will ring with the test-
question of the conflict, and there will be
nothing in the newspapers, figuratively
speaking, but utterances on Ireland. Before
, the matter is disposed of it will be ad nau-
" seam ; but it is no use shirking any longer.
Irish Government and Law must be defined
sharply and justly, and we must insist on
their observance to the letter. There are
admitted flaws in the existent constitution.
Let us grasp them and pluck them out, and
then stand firmly for a proper regard of
right. We want no coercion, where coercion
means injustice, even in the slightest degree.
And we -would give no concession where con-
was unfair. Why do not Whig,
_
-,servative' and Loyalist join
Radical, uu
-lution of the difficulty.
hands for such a 8.._
If the Nationalist party honest patriots,
If not, a
they would thdreby bo satisfieu.
combination as su„o•gested, and its
of solid power, would render any
action on the part a the Nationalists ot.
other bodies quite futile.
We ale all in
terested in the accomplisimit of Ireland's
tn
-
permanent pacification. Let us ,211
sinking our small divergencies, and sewn? ty
set ourselves at this favourable time to br:Tig
about the end in view.

Wm are entirely at one with the objects of
the National Association for Promoting
State-directed Colonisation, whose leading
spirits appropriately held a conference at the
Indian and Colonial exhibition the other
day. Ef colonisation and emigration were
directed and overseen by competent and
specially-informed Government agents, we
should have far fewer cases of poor people
going out hopefully in search of a new home
returning to the old land with broken spirit
and empty pockets. The Colonial Exhibi-
tion Rhould be a good means to the end of
obtaining so desirable an arrangement as an
efficicnt and practical Government emigra-
tion and colonisation bureau. All will wish
vel 1 to the eighty men, women, and children
who are going out just now to found a new
settlement in South Africa on temperance
principles, to be called Wolseley colony.

IT will be noted with general satisfaction
that the blockade of the Greek ports has
been raised on the one hand, and that Greek
prisoners have been given up by the Turkish
troops on the other. Greece, under the new
Government, seems to have recovered her
lost head. Many of her recent hot and ill-
considered acts in despite of European
councils were altogether indefensible; and
it is pleasant to find reason returning again
to its sway. For the attack of war fever
which has thus just subsided, Greece will
have a heavy physician's bill to pay in the
way of taxes. It is as well so, perhaps.
The disease was wilfully contracted, and
those who are headstrong and erratic in the
face of wise advice must expect to pay the
penalty of their folly. •

WI: are to have forthwith an addition to
our defensive forces drawn from the ranks
of the juveniles. The War Department has
sanctioned the formation of cadet battalions
of Volunteers, between the ages of fourteen
and seventeen. Battalions may reach a
strength of from 240 to 600, and each will
have the name of the Line regiment of its
respective district. The development of the
new departure will be watched with interest.
Doubtless there are many smart youths who
will hail the opportunity of an early military
training thus offered with great satisfaction,
and hasten to enrol themselves as volunteer
cadets.

MANY will lament, for the sake of the fair
fame of cricket, the sad police-court episode
in which W. R. Gilbert, of Gloucestershire
fame, figured the other day. Once a gentle.
man of high reputation personally, as well
as very considerable proficiency as batsman
and bowler, he recently fell into financial
troubles, which brought him many incon-
veniences. Gilbert resolved to drop the
" Mr," when the world went so hardly with
him, and with the commencement of the
present season came out as a professional
cricketer. He had the goodwill and wishes
of all interested in cricket, and their sym-
pathy in his changed position, and every-
thing was auspicious for an honourable and
successful future. But Gilbert was unable
to resist the temptation of petty thefts from
those who had befriended and consorted with
him and has proved himself a most unworthy
p9rson. Even in his disgrace his fellow
cricketers consideaed the feelings of one who
had stood well in the west, and had him
conveyed to the look up quietly in a cab.
Gilbert pleaded hard and ineffectually to be
spared the indignity of imprisonment, and
allowed to go to Australia with the hope of
there obtaining a livelihood in honesty, and
appeared to feel his position keenly. He
should have thought of the consequences—
his own ruin and a blot upon a sport sin.
gularly free from disgraces ere he com-
mitted himself by such a dishonourable and
reprehensible action. His friends and con-
nections have every sympathy.

ANOTHER death of a Pasteur patient in
great agony from hydrophobia shows that the ,
famous Frenchman's method of injection is I
,f, an infallible specific. It is undeniable,
liu wever, that he hag succeeded in saving
many lives, and improvements in his mode
of treatment may yet be made, rendering it
more certain in effect. Why cannot the
faculty here in Britain discover the secret of
this eminent foreigner's skill ? The healing
art should know no propriel rights or
narrow nationalism/ but sh( be spread
far and wide for the benefit of our race. We.
have wealthy medical societies and colleges
in plenty. Let the savants 3tir themselves
to remove the reproach that rests upon them
by reason of their fellow countrymen having
to go abroad for the medical treatment of a
terrible malady which has of late been very
prevalent, comparatively speaking.

THE success of the University Extension
movement, especially in connection with
Cambridge, is most gratifying. New centres
are being formed in many important places,
and the senate of the northern seat of learn-
ing has now assented to a scheme which
makes regular attendance at the local
lectures in connection with the movement
equivalent to a portion of the University
career. Thereby many now kept buck from
college by financial considerations may be
enabled to obtain the inestimable advantage
of a University education. The movement
deserves every support.