The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-27 00:00:00

ur ruspoubtat.

rWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
4dentify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

When, year by year, the time approaches for the
prorogation of Parliament, and the days can be
counted for that event, thinner and thinner grows
the attendance in the House of Commons, and a
singular change comes over the spirit of a scene
which has been so long one of animation and often
of political strife and turmoil. Each day lessens
the number of members which can be induced
to remain in London; and this year, owing to the
length of the Session, this difficulty has been experi-
enced in a remarkable degree. Last year there
was no such trouble; the Parliament was new;
the work began on the 20th cf May, instead of on the
6th of January. In the matter of securing an attend.

ance, the Government for the time being always pos-
sesses a considerable advantage over iho Opposition,

for about thirty members of the Administration have
seats in the House of Commons, and as the questioning
of ministers is kept up to the last, they all find it
necessary to be at their posts to the end. As there is
no such obligation on the part of those who do not
hold office, the members on the Opposition benches
gradually disappear without any apprehension of a
peremptory summons on the part of the Government
whip to remain in their places for the requisite
business to be transacted.
The ceremony of Prorogation itself, while releasing
overworked Ministers from the toils of Parliamentary
life, is a weird and mournful one. It is, as a rule,
timed for two in the afternoon, and the House of
Commons meets at a quarter before that hour. Per-
adventure there are one or two inquiries to be
addressed to the Ministers, the desire for information
being kept up to the few expiring minutes
of the Session. These having been answered,
there is nothing to be done but to await the
arrival of the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod.
Sometimes the summons is delivered by the Gentleman
Usher; but usually it is the Yeoman. During the
short period of waiting, profound silence reigns in the
Chamber. The Speaker is in the chair, fully wigged
and robed, the mace is on the table, and as the Tiouse
Is fully constituted, and the solemn quietude which
now pervades the attenuated assembly is in strong
contrast to the stormy scenes which on occasions have
formed part of its history. The excitement, the wild
tumult, the suspensions, the triumphant shout of the
Ministerialists, and the ringing cheer of the Opposition
all are now at an end. If the members sitting there
are at all of an imaginative turn of mind, they might
call up amid the silence the ghosts of the massacred
innocents in the shape of abandoned bills which their
fancy can depict strewn upon the floor of the house,
which is this year literally paved with them. At
length the time of waiting is at an end, Black Rod
"desires the immediate attendance of this honourable
House in the House of Peers to hear the Commission
read," the Speaker, accompanied by the few members
present proceeds to the bar of the House of Lords, and
on his return the mace is carried away, there is a
general shake of the hand all round, and the long
drawn out session comes to an end.
The review of 40,000 Scottish Volunteers by the
Queen at Edinburgh, following so closely upon the
review of 50,000 by her Majesty at Windsor, cannot
but give a ereat impetus to a movement which has
assumed such importance in our national history.
What memories cluster around that castle cf Edin-
burgh, which, occupying so prominent a position at
the west end of the city, still looks so proudly
down upon the moving crowds in the Scottish capital!
Tradition has it that long before the Punic wars, and
considerably anterior to the time when the Roman
Senate voted the destruction of Carthage, there was a
King of the Picts, by name Camelon, who built this
castle on the "hill of Edir," as it was called, after
Edwin, a former king of Northumkia, Successive
kings of Scotland, Donald and David, Alexander and
blalcelm, with the six who bore the christian name of
James, all placed the highest value on the Castle which
for centuries dominated the metropolis of Caledonia.
The historical associations of Tolbooth and the Canon-
gate, of Greyfriars and the Grassmarket, mingled with
the reminiscences of scenes in the Palace of Holyrood,
and the records of struggles at Bannockburn and
Flodden, are singularly in contrast with the spectacle
of the Queen of England reviewing 40,000 volunteers
enrolled for the defence of the realm in its entirety,
and whose representatives, at the. English competi-
tions, have proved themselves so worthy of the gallant
clansmen of the N orth.
Well provided as London is with railway accommo-
dation, a proposition has been started still further to
improve it by constructing a central station near
Charing Cross, forming the terminus of the Great
Northern, Midland, and Great Western railways. At
present the only line at Charing Cross is the South
Eastern, and it has tapped the west-end traffic most
completely. The carrying out of the scheme would
involve an immense outlay, but this has not always
been a consideration in executing projects of rail-
way extension. Between the alternatives of high
level and underground lines as affording the
links of communication, the preference seems to
be in favour of the latter. It is only to imagine a
high level line between King's Cross and Farringdon-
street, and to contrast it with the present underground
railway, which is buried completely out of sight, to
recognise the great advantage of subterranean modes
of travelling. It is noteworthy that there are no
underground railways in London south of the Thames.
On the Surrey side of the river the lines are carried on
high levels, often above the roofs of the houses ; but
this, although a more pleasant mode of transit than
through a smoky tunnel, by no means adds to the
beauty of the scene.
The British Navy, besides being the largest, is un-
doubtedly the costliest in the world. A return lately
presented to Parliament dealing with the compara-
tive cost of the construction of vessels and their sub-
sequent repairs and alterations revealed some singular
facts. The Black Prince, one of the earliest of the
ironclads, cost £378,000 to build, and since that time
£213,000 has been expended on repairs. The sum
of £478,000 was spent in building the Minotaur,
and £171,000 in repairing her; the Warrior cost
£377,000 to construct, and £203,800 in repairs.
These are all armoured vessels, but in the list
of unarmoured ships the disparity between the
original cost and the expenditure upon the repairs
is even greater than upon ironclade. The splendid
troopship Himalapa, for instance, was built for
£130,000, while £327,000 has been swallowed up in
alterations. In this case two new ships at least could
iaave been produced for the outlay involved in the
repairs of one.

The encouragement of habits of thrift amongst the
working classes has become more and more an object
of interest with the statesman who thus carries out the
doctrine laid down by the political economist. In
this direction some interesting experiments have lately
been carried out by the General Post Office. On the
22nd November last year an Act of Parliament came
into force enabling persons with small incomes to
become owners of Government stock through the Post
Office Savings Banks. The statute empowered any
one to invest a sum between £lO and £lOO at a trifling
expense; and the annual report of the Post Office
shows the extent to which the public have availed
themselves of the facilities offered by the new
Jaw. Between November 22nd and March 31st
the sum of £150,465 was transferred, through the
agency of the savings' bank, and £230,674 was specially
deposited for investment. The aggregate amount
thus invested in Government stock was £382,139 by
about 6,300 persons, and the sales did not exceed
£7,500. At the same time the deposits in the savings
banks continue to show an increase. The distribution
of slips of paper to which twelve penny stamps could
be affixed, the sheet being then accepted as a dewsit
for a shilling, has resulted in the receipt of 576,000
such slips, and it is estimated that 223,000 new savings'
bank accounts originated in this manner.
In the metropolis there is a very useful organiza-
tion known %a the City and Guilds of London Insti-
tute, eetabli.Oed for the promotion of technical educa-
tion. No social tople has, during the past few years,
made greater claims upon the public attention than
this. Mr. Mundella, the Vice-. President of the Com-
mittee of Council on Education, seldom loses an oppor-
tunity of enlargh;g upon this matter of increasing
national importance. For this and other reasons,
while the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge
have, by the local examination system, en-
deavoured to raise the general standard of edu-
cation throughout the country, the City and
Guilds of London Institute has aimed at the
elevation of the character of technical instruction.
In 1879 there were 23 centres of examination, at which
202 candidates presented themselves. Last year the
number of centres had augumented to 85, with 816
candidates. This year there are 115 centres, with
1,563 candidates. The number of subjects in which
candidates reqnest examination has correspondingly
inereased. Facts like these fully warrant the belief
that the general institution of technical schools would
be highly appreciated by those most interested in the
question. In a few weeks a Royal Commission will
visit the Continent for the purpose of inquiring how
things are managed there in this respect, and ro
one can doubt that, more especially in Germany and
Switzerland, where technical instruction has reached
a high state of development, some valuable informa-
tion will be obtained.
Soratkof the elections,which gre now taking place
have illustrated a curious anomaly in the working of
our constitution. A junior lordship ef the Treasury,
being technically an office under the Crown, a member

J...

accepting it vacates his seat in Parliament, and has to
present himself for re-election. But the Parliamentary
Secretaryship of the Treasury, a much more important
post, seeing that its holder has charge of the votes in Com-
mittee of Supply in the House of Commons, is not held
direct from the Crown, but from the first Lord. In
like manner the Under-Secretaryships of the different
departments of State are, by a legal figment, filled by
the chief Secretaries, and the gentlemen holding these
offices do not, on appointment, offer themselves for
re-election, and thus get their constituents to affirm or
reverse the selection which has been made by the
responsible Minister of the Sovereign.