The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-03-13 00:00:00

Our fanbon 6orrtSpOttlte
Ore deem it right to state that we do not at all tinUNI
Identify ourselves with our Correapondenre opinions.]

Visitors to the Strangers' Gallery of the House of
Commons, representing as they do the sovereign
people of England, see around and before them ac-
commodation of various kinds, all being better than
their own. Right in front of them is the Speaker's
Gallery, into which admission is obtained mostly by
an order from the right hon. gentleman who presides
over the deliberations of the assembly. Fronting these
again is the gallery for peers and distinguished
strangers, who are able to look directly down
upon the House, and to take in all that is
passing. The side galleries, right and left, are
for members, who prefer this position to the
body of the House. or who, on crowded evenings, are
unable to find room there. Immediately opposite is the
gallery for the Press, placed so that the Speaker may
not see it. The Speaker himself, in his canopied
chair, with the mace on the table before him, and
attired in wig and gown, seems the very embodiment
of Parliamentary authority. A very dignified office
is that of the First Commoner of England; and it may
be noted that when the British colonies in North
America were granted their independence, and set
about creating a Constitution, they retained the term
"Speaker," while changing Parliament into Congress,
and describing, the two Houses of the Legislature as
those of the Senate and Representatives. Taking the
term in its literal meaning, its original selection seems
a singular one; as the Speaker only speaks when he
is spoken to, appealed to on a point of order, or rises
to put the question. Yet possibly owing to our Par-
liamentary traditions, we associate with it a meaning
which it would be impoesible to convey in the word
ehairman or president. There is many a chairman
and many a president of a host of organizations around
us; but throdghout the United Kingdom there is
only one Speaker, who has a furnished residence in
the Palace of Westminster, a salary of £5,000 a year,
a peerage on his retirement from office, and a pension
of £4,000 a year for himself and his direct suc-
cessor.

The Bill now before Parliament for the purchase of
the Water Companies of London has given rise to
much speculation in what is known as "the City,"
that is to say, in the little radium devoted to the sale
of stocks and shares. The Capital of the eight
companies supplying London with water is about
nine millions sterling, but the purchase mosey
agreed upon is thirty•one millions. During the
last few months the shares have run up far above
par; and it has therefore been felt that it would
not be equitable to appraise the value of the
rights and properties in negotiation by the nominal
amount of the capital. The wealth of the New River
Company has again been marvellously illustrated. On
the day after the bill was introlltuceel, its £lOO shares
stood at £393, and the price proposed to be given for
its two miilions of capital is, £9,146 000. There is no
other company in London which approaches the New
River in the magnitude of either its engagements or
its income. Brought to London from Hertfordshire
200 yesrs ago by Sir Hugh Myddelton, its con -se
through the northern part of the metropolis was then
amongst green fields and by country lanes. It is now
surrounded on every side by an enormous population,
which finds water one of the main neaessaries of life.

A burst of political sunshine has lighted up the
horizon of Continental politics during the past few
days. While the most gloomy forebodings have
sometimes been drawn from the relations of Ger-
many towards France upon the one side and Russia
on the other, two items of good news came
from Berlin. One was contained in the letter of
congratulation addressed by ,the aged Emperor
William to the Czar, congratulating his nephew
on the twenty.fifth anniversary of his accession to the
throne. Assuring the Russian Emperor of his un-
alterable friendship, the language is looked upon as
being undoubteoly sincere, for it proceeds from a body
of feeling deeply rooted and imperative in its opera-
tion. Yet more reassuring has been the cordial lan.
guage in whictx the Emperor of Zermany has addressed
the French Ambassador st Berlin. His unreserved
expressions of goodwill towards France and her
government were probebly emphasized by a con-
sciousness of the prevailing anxiety on the sub-
ject and a recollection of its origin. The origin
of the anxiety was the increase of the Ger-
man army; but the Emperor's assurances will go
far to remove all uneasiness. He was careful to asso-
ciate Prinee Bismarck with his expressions of good-
will and regard for the head of the French govern.
ment, adding that the Prince, no leas than himself,
wishtd for peace and nothing but peace, especially
with France. After a long and victorious life the
venerable monarch, now eighty-three years of age,
wishes to pass to his rest in a time of peace.
may seem strange to many minds that the de-
scriptions of the practice of the University Boat
crews, which appear in the papers day by day, should
be so widely read. For instance, who would consider
it of world-wide interest to know that "there is
nothing 'Montt the matter with No. 6," or that the
"crew have now got to work on a more buoyant
volume of river," or that "their bodies swing
well together, but curiously enough their oars
are in indifferent time," or that "there is less
feather nEdell water then there was a fortnight
ago," or that "there is some, but not enough
grip of the beginning," or that "the stroke is
hardly so long as it should be?" Yet tilt,' details
are full of interest to tens of thousands „ persons
who follow them daily with far more avidity than
they would road of a ministerial crisis in Paris, or of a
revolutionary ontbreak in Russia. And the fact that
when the crews come upon the Thames' water for
practice, this is daily witnessed by large and eager
crowds on either bank, shows the powerful hold which
this annual aquatic contest still retains upon the
attention of a great body of the people of this country.

Although many Belgians long ago came to the con-
clusion that their separation from Holland wet+ a mis.
take, this will not prevent them from celebrating the
forthcoming jubilee with considerable spirit. It will
be fifty years in August next sinoe the revolution
which was to expel the Dutch from Brussels began
with some riot a at a theatre in the present capital of
Belgium; and that which was effected in 1830 is to
be fittingly commemorated in 1880. The Chambers
have voted the large sum of 2180,000 for divers
rejoicings. A series of grand historical cavalcades
are to be held in Brussels, and all the principal
cities cf the kingdom are to tend corteges in
fancy costume, to enact some well known scene in the
history of Belgium. The cavalcade from Ghent will
be compesed of about a thousand persons, and those
from Bruges and Louvain will be almost equally im•
posing. There are Mowing pages enough in the
histories of the principal Belgian cities to furnish
forth gallant and picturesque scenes ; and if the cities
will but work in unison the display will be unique.
The King of Holland will visit Brussels as King
Leopolo'e guestkluring these remarkable celebrations.
The Parliamentary vote taken for the Volunteer
force this year is £539,600, being at the rate of
£2 11s. 3d. per bed. From the annual returns
relating to the Volunteers istsued by the War Office, it
seems that there has beea a gradual decrease in the
strength of mounted corps. The dwindling away
of this important arm of the service is to be re..
gretted when the Loyd• Lindsay contests. at the
Wimbledon Rifle meeting are remembered, for
these have shown how serviceable mounted riflemen
may ba made. The strength of the artillery has not
changed materially since 1870, when there were
33,063 efficients ; the present number is 35,891. Most
of these corps are in a high state of efficiency and
discipline. The engineers have increased from 2,326
in 1863 t 8,792 last year, and the proportion of
efllcieeve l,aa ris-n during the same period from 62 to
96 per cent. The steady increase in the Mites daring
the past ten years is also remarkable, because it
has taken place within a period when there has been
no excitement to titnielate recruiting. Between 1860
and 1870, it was not uncommon to hear of the posli
bility cf a quarrel with France; but since 1870 cer-
tainly no such contingency has bad any effect on the
public mind; yet there has been a very percept:ble
augmentation in the number of enrolled rifle volun-
eeers.

The marvels of the electric light are net exhausted;
and of all its applications that have yet been hit upon,
perhaps that to which attention has been drawn
by Dr. Siemens is the most noteworthy. That plants
kept in the dark die for the most part is a fact well
known outside the study of the naturalist. Gas light
does them no good, but rather injures them. Dr.
Siemehs has carried out an extensive series of experi-
ments which go to prove that plants exposed to run.
light in the day and to the electric light at night
flourish far better and faster than these that have
daylight only. In an address delivered before the
members of the Royal Society, Dr. Siemens exhibited a
pot of tulips in bud, which the electric light
brought into full bloom in about three-quarters of an
hour. More curious again is the fact that under the
'influence of the electric light a greater amount of stove
heat can be borne by plants than they would other.
wise endure. How far such a stimulus would in the
long run be beneficial, is a point yet to be decided.
At the same time flowers and quick-growing vegetables
are fair subjects for experiments, and if mechanical
power oould bo cl,caply obtained, a profitable business
might be done. Fiovfer and vegetable farming for
town markets, especially for the great world of
London, is a very extensive and growing Industry;
yet the supply by no means does more than keep pace
with the demende.

The addition of the Doter.' to the ships of the Fleet
comes at a very opportune time, when the Navy Esti-

mates are under discussion in the House of Commons.
This is one of an important class of unarmoured sloops
which have for the past four years been under con-
struction. With a hull of steel, a light draught, and
a speed of about fifteen knot'', she forms one of a
serviceable fleet of vessls belonging at the present
tine to the British navy, She represents a consider-
able advance on the sloops which were built only a
few years ago. With a steel hall far more powerful
machinery can now be used than was formerly
possible; and more powerful machinery means in-
creased speed. Arnioured ships, so far from having
superseded unarmonred, have rendered them all the
more indispensable arid so far from our being able to
pause in the task of providing the navy with =-
armoured vessels, it is now more than ever imperative,
Last ,ear thc.re were no less than 307 vessels of this
description in various stages of efficiency, of which 28
were, like the Doterel, in course of construction or
completion. Vessels of light draught and great speed
are most valuable for the protection of our consmerea,
so far as that can be done by keeping the high seas
through which our ships pasi open and free from
molestation, should it ever he our misfortune to be
involved in war with a great Power.