The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-06-18 00:00:00

Our yonhn Corrapoubent

fWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
_slez,lV-ty ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

One of the most remarkable features of social life in
this country is the readiness with which the upper and
the middle classes lend their assistance tii"th,e cause of
charity and benevolence, and cheerfully give their help
towards ameliorating the condition of those who, in
the language of Holy Writ, "Shall never cease out of

the land." This is as observable upon the steps of the
throne as in the numerous distinctions descending in
succession from that high position. In the London
season the various members of the Rcyal family are

busily engaged in works suggestive of charitable actions
and philanthropic deeds. If a bazaar is to be opened
for any of those thousand and one good purposes

which are to be found all over the metropolis; if the
memorial stone of a new wing to a hospital is to be
laid ; or if encouragement is to be given to the progress
of education, there is generally a prince or a princess
ready to accord the all-important condition of the
Royal presence. The Prince of Wales and his
brothers are most often found at public dinners which
take place in aid of the funds of worthy institutions ;
and the subscriptions never fail to manifest a sub-
stantial increase when Royalty is there.
A very noteworthy illustration of the alaciity with
which such help is rendered was shown in the case of
the Old English Fancy Fair at the Albert Hall. This
vast building must be well known to many a country
visitor as being hard by the Prince Consort Memorial
in Hyde Park, very near the Horticultural Gardens,
and in the immediate neighbourhood of the national in-
stitution at South Kensington. Its handsome and capa-
cious interior is well adapted to the purpose to which
it was put. It had been decided to hold a Fancy

Fir for the benefit of the fonds of the Chelsea Hos-

pital for Women; and the novel and interesting at-
tractions of the fair contributed materially to its
success. The dresses of the ladies who presided at the
stalls, the quaint and pointed gables of the houses in
which the sales were carried on, and indeed every
accessory of the display, seemed to bear the mind back
three centuries of time, when good Queen Bess was
upon the throne of this kingdom. The Prince and
Princess of Wales, Princess Christian, Princess
Beatrice, Princess Frederica of Hanover, and other
. members of the Royal family were there on the open-
ing
day, when the maypole was set up in the midst
of London by the lords and ladies of England;
and peereses of every rank, from the duchess to
the baroness, pressed their wad-es upon the acceptance
of the gay and brilliant throng which crowded the
arena of the hall. There is no doubt that people
thoroughly enjoyed themselves at this fancy fair. The
market-place was a great success, the stalls were
beautifully and artistically designed, and the dresses
of the stall-keepers were all that could be desired. A
point was made by combining the Georgian styles
with the styles of the Tudors; and taking the affair
as a whole it is certain that nothing so popular has
yet been attempted in London.

The electric light has been applied to the interior of
the House of Commons; and meanwhile Sir William
Thomson has come forward to tell the curious and the
inquiring that in a few years they will be able
to have the light delivered at their doors, as many
pounds as they require, just as their fathers were
wont to have candles. Instead of the obsolete candle
box they will have the new electric force box.
Instead of lighting a candle, they will be enabled to
affix a wire, and the light will blaze in their rooms.
Sir William has made experiments with some stored
electricity brought to him from Paris, a million pounds
or more in quantity. It lost nothing in transit, it
yielded its force regularly to the last pound without a
perceptible diminution of its regulated energy, sup-
plying light and moving machines at the same time.
The invention of a lamp which will illuminate without
dazzling seems to he the only thing now required to
enable electricity to be applied to the lighting of
private houses just as it has been to open thorough-
fares.

While the centenary of George Stephenson's birth
has been duly celebrated, scientific men have specu-
lated whether 1981 will see such a revolution in the
means of locomotion as compared with the present
day, as we now see as compared with that of a century
ago. Electricity long since superseded steam as an
agency of communication between one country and
another; and the question now occupies many minds
as to its power to discharge all the heavy work which
is now thrown upon the locomotives. The world is a
very different place now from what it was in 1781,
which may be described as the very essence of the
"good old times when George the Third was King;"
and the constant application of giant intellects to the
powers of electricity may effect a marvellous revolu-
tion long before the lapse of another century, although
to our finite vision it seems scarcely possible to make
such progress in the next hundred years as has been
witnessed in the last.

The death of a member of the Court of Aldermen
once more brings to notice the peculiar character of
the composition of the London Corporation. Unlike
the boroughs which came under the operation of the
Municipal Corporations' Act of 1835, where the alder-
men are elected for six years, those of London are
chosen for life. There is another difference, that
whereas in the provinces politics often affect the
chances of the mayoralty, in the City of London
there is no such consideration. The rotation rule of
taking the aldermen next below the chair, irrespective
of his political views, gives all a chance of civic
honours; and a Liberal Lord Mayor one year is thus
often succeeded by a Conservative Lord Mayor the
next. The City of London is divided into twenty-six
wards, each of which is represented by an alderman.
The ward of Queenhithe, in which a vacancy has
arisen through the death of Sir W. A. Rose, occupies
a portion of the north bank of the Thames, almost im-
mediately under the shadow of St. Paul's, and is to a
large extent composed of a portion of the wharves and
warehouses which, stretching for miles along both
shores of the river, make up in such a large degree the
wealth of the metropolis.
Next month the International Homoaopathic Con-
vention meets in London, and the principal honsceo-
paths in the world will assemble in the British
capital. Canada, France, and Germany will be
especially well represented. Most of the visitors
are to be entertained privately by the friends of
homceopathy in this country, and particularly in
London. The opening meeting is to be held on
the evening of July 11th. Dr. Hughes, the Pre-
sident of the Convention, will then give a reception.
Next day he will deliver his address, and reports on
the progress of homceopathy will be received from all
parts of the world. Even Russia is to be represented
at this metropolitan gathering.
French art is again prevailing on the English stage.
At theatres varying so much in tone as the Gaiety,
the Princess's, the St. James's, the Criterion, and the
Adelphi, French pieces are now the order of the
night. Indeed, exactly one-half of the West-end
theatres are at present occupied in the representation
of foreign plays. sight after night boxes and stalls
are full, and the idea conveyed is, that the lightness
and vivacity of the French histrionic art are for the
time preferred to the more solemn characteristics of
the English stage.
The Board of Trade returns for May, forming as
they did such an agreeable contrast to those for April,
probably took many business men by surprise. The
trade of the country, as represented by the gross
figures in these tabulated statistics, was shown on
the whole to be very satisfactory. Despite the
depression at home and abroad, and in the face of
hostile tariffs and increased competition, our foreign
commerce makes substantial progress. In particular
the export cotton trade seems to have undergone
a decided change for the better. It is only
right to bear in mind that the Whitsuntide holidays
occurred last year in May instead of June, and that
this ought to be remembered in comparing the returns
of those of May 1,980. The slight allowance which
should be made for this circumstance, however, will
not affect materially the improvement manifested in
almost every item of the returns.
A series o lectures on colour-blindness, a subject
which is now beginning to attract the attention it
merit, has been delivered before the Society of
Arts by Mr. Brudenell-Carter. It has been
known for many years that certain persons
labour under a defect of sight which prevents
them from distinguishing colours; but it is only
within a comparative recent date that the
danger which arises from this impel fection
of vision, has received the notice it merits.
The safety of travellers by train and steamboat
depends nowadays to. no small extent on the prompt
t, cognition of colour signals; and mistakes through
inability to distinguish colours are liable to lead to very
serious results. It has been found that the proportion
of colour-blind persons to the whole male population is
about four per cent. It is singular to note that the
defect prevails more largely amongst hien than amongst
women, the proportion being ten to one. So import-
ant is this matter deemed that some of the English
railway companies now insist upon a colour examina-
tion in the case of candidates for the posts of drivers
and signalmen.
The Registrar-General's annual summary of births
and deaths in London last year shows that the
English metropolis is one of the healthiest cities in
the skingdgm. Further, the ten years which closed
with 1880 was one of lower mortality than any of the
preceding decennial periods; moreover, the second
half of these ten years had a lower mortality than the
earlier one. These facts are strong evidence that
sanitary efforts have not been unfruitful; especially

when it is borne in mind that the natural tendency of
a large and still growing town, if left to itself, is not
to become healthier, but to deteriorate, owing to the
increasing density of its population, and the con-
sequently augmenting pollution of its air and soil.
The baneful effects of the dense aggregation of people
and its resistance to sanitary improvement are shown
in the fact that in that part of London in which the
mortality shows the smallest decline, is that wherein
the density of the population is the greatest.