The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-12-04 00:00:00

COMMENTS ON CURIVNT TOPICS.

THE sensational mail robbery in Belgium
the other day has two lessons. The first is,
that however well our English letter parcels
are guarded in transttu, those on the Con-
tinent are practically unprotected. There
certainly should be mail a guard of adequate
proportion to prevent robbery. o:herwise
the registration of a letter is no better than
ensuring its ready selection as spoil by the
thief. The second lesson is, that there ought
to be a general system of letter insurance
covering every manner of packet or missive,
for without that registration has little prac-
tical value. Absolute loss, or damage by
misadventure or carelessness, would thus be
recompensed to the owner, and such an ar-
rangement would meet with general approval

KAIMBA.RS has been decorated by the Sal-
-.a. Hence it is inferred that the Sublime
Porte is prepared to play the Russian game
in the Balkan matter. Meantime the West-
ern Powers look idly on, while Bulgaria is
fermenting and stewing, and-St. Petersburg_
intriguing. No one seems to come forward
with any strenuous endeavour to vault into
the vacant Bulgarian throne, which would
almost appear to be going a-begging. King
Milan of Servia does not seem to be much
more firmly fixed at the head of his
people than was his conquering neigh-
boar Alexander of Bulgaria in the prince-
dom from which he has lately been driven.
The life of an East-European ruler is not
necessarily "a happy one." The Servian
monarch is in daily dread of a plot against
his life.

• a'
• JUSTICE HAWEINs had a ease before him
the other day from Eton, in which the father
of a lad of seventeen was sued for a large
sum by a tailor for goods supplied to the
boy. The father allowed his son £lOO a year
for clothes and pocket money, but the young
hopeful's expenditure upon apparel exceeded
that sum. That the tailor's bill did not re-
present necessities was an easy decision for
the judge to arrive at, and a non-suit re-
sulted Thereby hangs a tale. At public
schools, at military academies, and suchlike
institutions our rising youth sometimes con-
tract extravagant habits which their purses
are inadequate to maintain. Occasionally
the lads fall Into the hands of monylendir g
sharks ; but oftener they resort to a simpler
expedient. They order snit after suit ( f
clothes, for which the tailor has generally to
take his chance of getting payment in re.
• spect of from parent or guardian. The
garments are scarcely delivered at the lodg-
ings or quarters of the lads before they are
hurried off to the accommcdating "uncle,"
who "lends low" on the parcels, having little
ex,-6ctation of interest or redemption.- The
student or cadet gets ready cash, and for
his fathers pay at least threefold. If fatheis
—like Genl. Owen Williams has done in the
Eton ease —refuse to pay, tailors and othel s
will soon cease to furnish spendthrift boys
with the wherewithal to raise the wind for
their frequent frolicking. fradesmen and
parents please note.

- _

THERE is a war feeling smouldering in
Europe. Russia is seemingly belligerent, ns,
indeed, she always is. Germany is dissatis-
fied with, her armaments, and is devoting
herself straightway to raise more men, and
spend more money. France is in a fever
about England's ascendency in Egypt, and
full of envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness
towards this country. We trust that these
signs of hostile bearing will speedily pass
away. Britain is deeply desirous of preserv-
ing peace. We have the Irish uneasiness to
deal with, and we have our little troubles in
Burmah and ae Soudan still causing anxiety
so we can well do without entangling our-
selves in any European embroglio. At the
same time, if the call to arms should come,
England has all her old spirit.

OUR railway travel Eng is on the whole
very safe, and someone fond of figuring °nee
calculated that a man would have to live to
the age of seven hundred years before he
was injured in a railway collision, if things
always went by the average, and- natural de-
mises could by any means be suspended.
Still the railway system caused 6e deaths of
719 persons and injury to over 5,000 during
the twelve months past, in Great Britain
alone ; and as the bulk of the fatalities might
have been avoidable with reasonable precau-
caution, it behoves all travellers to exercise'
all possible care. Most of the _ accidents oc-
curred either through breaches of bye-laws,
trespassing, or other misconduct, a frightfnf
source of injury having been the dangerous
habit of joining or alighting from trains in
motion, a matter in which Londoners are
greater sinners than their provincial breth-
eren. There are also no inconsiderable
number of mishaps which have resulted from
falling out of the carriages when well on a
journey through the door not being properly
fastened. The relation of these facts should
inspire more care on the part of the public,
so that all avoidable accidents may be pre-
vented.

HAPPILY the fogs of a few days ago have
given place to sharper and more agreeable
weather. London especially enjoys the
change, for there the fogs vv ere densest.
There were at least four or five deaths from
drowning in the Thames and London docks,
the unfortunate persons having walked over-
board. Many others lost theii way amid the
all-pervading vapour, and one poor woman
wandered on to a railway track and was cut
to pieces. Another accident was that of a
man who slipped from a train ,at a standstill
in the fog, imagining it was at a station
platform. One foot was placed on the cop-
ing stone of a bridge, and the next step pre-
cipitated the poor fellow into a roadway
thirtyfeet below, injuring him dreadfully.
Scores of other accidents occurred, one
b:.ing• to the Bishop of London, who came
to 141ief over an unseen stone, and fractured
a iib. Violence was not the only way in
which the fog caused injury, for its density
proved disastrous to numerous sufferers from
asthmatical ailments. In consefinenee, the
list week in November has proved more
fatal than any experienced in London for
more than thee months back. In the
height of the for season, the poor, half-suffo-
cated Cockney sighs more than ever for the
delightful air of rural localities.

AePs's CoCoA —GaA'rgtruL AND COnFoRTING —"By a
therenerinowledge of the natural laws which govern
the operations of digestion and nutrition,and by a care-
ful application of the fino properti a of well-selected
ocoa. Mr- Vpps has o,ovided our breakfast tables with
a delicately flavoured bevcrav:e which may save us
is any heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of
such articles of det that a comstitution may be gradu-
ally built opttntil strong e. ough to resist every tend-
ency to disease Hundreds of subtle maladies ar,.
floating around us ready to attack wherever there is a
weak point We may escape many a fatal shaft by
keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and
properly nourished frame." 0114 --
Made simply with b9tling water or milk. Sold only i
9 ciiess labelled Jauss EPPS & Cu, hJmosopaill
Louthin."--Also makers of Epp; Al tern: 0,1
Crhucotate.Zasenie.j