The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-11-01 00:00:00

Our forchn gontsponhtut.

We dam It eight to state that wa do not at all Maas
dwatity [suasive. with out Gorrespondeat's opinions.)

Another 'Long Vacation"— a professional term for
the legal holiday which extends from the first week in
Augutt until the 2,01 November—is nearly at an end,
and on Monday the 3rd inst., all ix:a courts of common
law and equity will once more commence their sittings.
The legal ear, as many of our reaiirs are aware, is
divided into four tennt—Michaelmas, Hilary, Easter,
and Trinity; and the Lord Chancellor of the day,
according to immemorial usage, invites the Judges and
Queen's Conned to breakfast with him at the opening
of the terms of Michaelis:ea rind Easter. On each of
those occasions a procession is formed to Westminster
Hall, where the judges take their seats io their re-
spe:tive courts. In addition to the breakfast, how-
ever, the first day of Michannias Term it always
marked by tint presentation of the Lord-Meyonelect to
the Lord Ohan-ellor, who then formally signifies the
assent of Her Majesty to the choice which the citizens
of Londoi have made for their chief magistrate
during the ensuing twelve months. This, whilst •
mere matter of form, is invariably a stately ceremony,
and although the reigning monarch never refuses to
ratify the selection which is made, the formalities are
gone through with all the precision which characterised
them centuries ago. While speaking of the approach-
ing opening of Term, I may add that it is the last in
which the courts will assemble under the circum-
stances which have so long been familiar to those who
take an interest in legal affairs. The Judicature Act
of last session comes into operation in November, 1874,
and according to thhr statute the House of Lords, as
far as England is conceruesi, will cease to be the ulti-
mate appsllate tribunal It creates a new court of ap.
peal, and &knishes two intermediate courts—those
known as the Court of Error In common-law cases,
and Chancery Appeal Court in cases of equity.
This wia Le an enormous saving of time and
money to suitors. Hitherto, if a man has
been unsucce,sful in a court of common law, he was
enabled to al peal first to the Court of Error (or as it is
otherwise called the Court of Exchequer Chamber),
and again to the House of Lords. An unsuccessful
equity suitor could appeal first to the Lords' Justices
in Chancery, and also to the House of Lords Now,
by the *weeping away of these intermediate appellate ,
tribunale, and by the transfer of the juliediction
hitherto exercised by the peers to the High Court of
Justine, one appeal only will be necessary and that
will be decisive. The distinction between common
Lw and equity will also be obliterated, and altogether
our system of legal procedure will be cheapened and
simplified. Considering the revolution which the
Judicature Act will effect in the constitution of our
Courts of Justice, it is remarkable that such an iropor.
tent statute should have created comparatively little
public attention. Perhaps, however, twelve months
hence, the matter will be viewed in • very different
aspect.

I suppose that few country visitors come to London
without going in to St. Paul's Churchyard, and looking
at the handsome shops which are ranged along on the
north aide of the vast Cathedral. Stretching across
the roadway they will have noticed a wooden bar, a
facsimile of some of those which may be seen in many
an agricultural district. All around, you can hear the
roaring of the city traffic, but along the thoroughfare
north of St. Paul's no vehicles are permitted to travel,
and every one of them proceeding from east to west,
or eite versa, is compelled to roll round three aides of
the in.menee building. The roadway belongs to the
Dean and Chapter, and many have been the efforts
made to throw it open, and so relieve the block which
now so frequent'y occurs in crowded Cheapside and
Lo.6,ate HilL The whole question is now under the
consideration of the Metropolitan Board of Works,
whi h 6 willing to enlarge the area of the churchyard
by setting back the houses on each side if the Dean
and Chapter silt consent to relieve the traffic by prac-
tically giving the City one more roadway, and throw.
ing down this bar. It in generally felt that, sooner or •
later, such a desirable relief is bound to be granted.
A deserved tribute to the memory of Sir Edwin
Landeeer is to be paid by the Royal Academy. At
the approaching winter exhibition of old masters, epee.
will be set apart for the works a the great animal
painter, and those who possess examples of Lis art are
ins i.ed to contribute to the collection. This will serve
to sxLi the change and progress of artistic taste
since the time when Sir Edwin Laudeeer first won his
fame, and it will be Interesting to observe how far his
best works will secure the approval of the latest phase
of crhical taste. The public will thank the Royal
Academy for brining a comprehensive number of
Landseer's works beiore the public. Socueti.nee the
beet of pictures pass out of eight, and become buried In
private collection', not easily accessible even to the
student.

The London Ladies' Educational Association, work-
ing in accord with the Csliege of the Faculties of Arta
and Sciences, has within the past few days opened its
sixth session at University College for evening lectures,
art well as for mousing courses of instruction. Last
autumn the number in attendance was 278. The
presence of ladies in and about the college is now taken
as such • matter of course that it excites no particular
observation, and has never given occasion for an act of
discourtesy. In the Fine Art department ladies are
enrolled as regular students, and to one or two of the
ordinary college claws they have on special grounds
been admitted; and now and then they have earned
distinction at the annual distribution of prizes. In
180/, University College obtained from Parliament •
modification of its chartrr, which, amongst other things,
removed that defiuitim of its work by which it was
originally reetricted to the teaching of male students;
consequently, ladies who wish to advance beyond
school knowledge have at their call the service of its
staff and its great educational appliances.
Captain Shaw, the chief of the Metropolitan Fire
• .gade, has written a pamphlet in which he illustrates
the difficulties experienced in dealing with conflagrations
under the present system of water supply in London.
There are three kinds of water pipes—the mains,
which run under the prinJipal thoroughfares, and are
always under pressure; service ;dims, which are laid
In side streeta, and where the water is turned on only
an hour or two in the day, and supply pipes, running
Into the cisterns of the houses. Now, when the water
it tamed on from the mains into the side streets, it net
only fillip the service pipes, but every cistern in the
neighbourhood at the same thus; consequently, with
such a distribution of force, it is generally some time
before • fill pressure can be obtained. A system
that allows the water which is urgently required for
the extinction of a fire to pour in all directions
into hundreds o cisterns must be a defective one. Let
us suppose, fire to break out in • district containing
200 houses, each with • 250 gallon cistern. If it should
happen just at the time when the cisterns are replenished
from the ursine, and when, therefore, most of them are
empty, the firemen would fail to get a full and proper
supply of water until 50,000 gallons had escaped into
the cisterns. Captain Shaw is of opinion that better ar-
rangements ooght to be male, an most peeple will be
Inclined to agree with him.
In addition to the church of St. Antholine, In Watling-
street, In which • farewell service was held • short
time ago, preparatory to its removal, two more of
these sacred edifices in the City are marked for des-
truction at no distant day. One Is the church of
liread-street, with its beautifully-carved
• iece. It is of ancient foundation, for we
are toll in He chronicles that a priest was
instituted t s she living as far back am 1284.
The structure was burnt down in the great fire,
and was subsequently rebuilt. There are now but few
residents in the parish, which is chiefly filled with
warehouses, all of which are, of course, locked on
Sunday. The congregation usually does not exceed
nine or ten. The other doomed church is that of St.
Martin s, Outwich. This is situated at the east end
of

, *district which contains very
few residents on Sunday, for then the m3rchanta who
congregate In the busy thoroughfare daring the week
are scattered far and wide over the suburb.. Many
will regret on antiquarian and other ground., the
necemity for removing venerable °Offices which have
rung out their chimes for centuries over the City of
London, and the fact that this should be so only shows
that if institutions are now to exist, they must prove
their right to live by being of some tuse in the world.

The want of • Municipal Government for the whole
of London has often been deplored, for while it is
divided, as at preeent, amongst& large number of loca
bodies, each acting separately, and none knowing
of the requiremente of the other, any general agitation
for the removal of purely local grievances is out of the
question. Within the City boundaries we have, of
course. the Lord Mayor, Al termen, end Common
Council; but north, south, east, and west of the City,
the entire control of local affair,, is in the hands of the
vestries. The contrast between the civic institutions
and those outaide the walla is at times very great, and
It was eepecirlly striking when the Princess of Wales
Snot entered London some yeses ago. Her Royal
Highness had to traverse a pert of the borough of
Southwark, which having no representative body, was
obliged to be content with its high bailiff. But when
the Princess came to London Bridge, there was the
Lord Mayor at the head of the Corporation, and a
more imposing procession than that formed by the
equipages of the civic rulers has rarely been witneseed
It wee of such a character as to attract into the
narrow streets and ways of the City • multitude
estimated at a million people. But this splendid dis-
I lay could not pen beyond the predate ad shy tent.

tory. It could go no further than Temple Bar, outside
of which lice the city of Westminster, and this, like
Southwark, having no representative municipal body,
we. also compelled to be satisfied with its high bailiff.
Now, I venture to say, that in Southwark and West-
minder comparatively few persons knew the name of
this officer, what functions he dischareed, what salary
he receive-I, or by whom he was appointed. Compare
this indifference with the 1 cal in'erest displayed in
any provinceel town, however large it may be, respect-
leg the name of its chief magistrate. Ask a reeident
in Birmingham, Manchester, or Liverpool the name of
the Mayor of the borough, and in all prol-ability he
will be able to tell you. The ratepayers of the Metro.
palls often complain of the way in which their local
burdens are inereasine ; and no one can doubt that our
111?1111.1 of iviseessirg an tffieient control over the ex-
peediture would be the estebliehnemt of a c ,mpre-
heniive eyhtern of municipal government.
The transit of the planet Venus scree., the sun's
disc, whice wi I take place a few months hence, in an
occurrence of great rarity, and is eagerly lo iked for-
ward to by witrecomen of d fferent countries. The
phenomenon is of importance as furnishing the best
means of ascertaining the stm's distance and volume,
and of supplying data for determining the dietauces
and magnitude of the plaints. It is, in fact, an
universal standard of astronomical measurement. It
was with a view of solving great problems that many
European Governments fitted out expensive expeditions
at the let transit of Venue, in 1769, and amongst
these may be included the celebrated voyage of
Captain Cook to Otaheite. The next transit, after
that of 1874, will be in 1882. Both will be observed
• 'th far better instruments than could be procured a
ceLtney ago, and will be watched with an interest
ne re widespread than has been excited by any other
natural phenomena°, except, perhaps, • total solar
eclipse. The tint transit ever known to have been
recorded took place on the 4311 December, 1639
Tin place of observation was an ote cure village
in the orighbourhood of Liverpool, cud the curler's
ae roam:nee of that day was a young man named
llorreeks, who died at the early age of twenty-two,
and left memorials behind him which efficiently in-
dicated that hail his life been prolonged, he would have
become one of the most eminent men of his day. With-
out much aesistance from books or instruments, he
found that • transit might be expected at the time
mentioned; and confident of the result he prepared
himself to watch it with all the enthusiasm and earnest-
ness of a scholar. His expectations were realised, and
the planet appeared upon the sun's disc preciiely at
the time calculated. But it happened to be Sunday;
and Herrocks, true to his religious belief, devoted a
portion of the day to higher duties, which, he re-
marked, "may not be neglected for thoee pastimes,"
After the close of the present century there will be no
transit of Venus until the Bth of June, 2004; there
will be another on the 6th of June, 2812; again on
December 11th. 2117 ; on the Bth of December, 2125 ;
June 11, 2247; and June 9, 2255. How strangely
these fax-off dates look to us now?

Any one who has happened to look foal Palace-yard
and Westminster Hall for several months putt will
have noticed • crowd of greater or lees dimensions
waiting there with the utmost apparent patience. The
constituent parts of this amenably seemed to vary but
little, if at all, with the changing Demons. Whether
you passed there amid the east winds of April, the
scorching heats of July, or under the chill gray skies of
October, there was the crowd, composed mostly of res.
pectably dreamed persons, anxious; to catch a glimpse
of the Tichborne Claimant. The monotony of their
existence has, as • rule, been broken 0-1 y by the cheer-
ing which has greeted the Claimant on his emerging
from the Court of Queen's Tiencb, but about half past
one o'clock on Monday aftemoun, an expreadon par.
taking of thrprise, and borderirg upon relief, ran
through the throng when It was announced that
the ease for the defendant had been brought
to a clew. "It will soon Le at AM end now," thought a
good many, but the terminetion will not arrive quite so
apee_ii7y ,iiieoine may bar. imagined. Mr. Hawkins at
ow>) intimated that he must can rebutting testimony ;
then Mr. Kenealy will be entitled to reply on the text
of the defendant ; next we shall have Mr. Ilawkine's
review of the whole CMISP, after which the Lord Chid
Justice will sum np. The two other judges have also
the right to do so, but it is Thad 1, that they may
not ex •rise their ri,ht to soy Lrgt