The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-12-11 00:00:00

IA ur Nln6on Grrespoubent.

-We deem it right to state that we de not at all UMW
-.;ntify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

The summoning of Parliament for the 6th January
has been the subject of much comment so far as the
date is concerned, marking as it does all the difference
between the present busy stirring age and the more
quiet life of the past. It was the custom, in former
times, to observe Christmas until after the Twelfth
Night. In the provincial towns the shops were closed
not only on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, but
for part of each of the other days until Twelfth Night
was pulsed and gone. Business was supposed to be
transacted in a very quiet and dull way in the mornings.
In the afternoons the shops and offices were shut; and
even clerks and shop lads, like their social superiors, en-
joyed Christmas. This great festival season proverbially
came but once a year, and it was considered a Christian
and patriotie duty to keep it up to the Twelfth Day,
when the glories of Christmas Day itself were almo e
eclipsed when the holiday season at last expired.
Ordinary business may be transacted in these days of
railways, electric telegraph, and telephones during
the first week of January. But so far as Lords and
Commons are concerned, after a week in London
before Christmas, the country might have been all the
more enjoyable until the second week in February.
To be, however, summoned to London for the regular
ordinary work of Parliament on the 6th January, is
without precedent within living memory. Still, it must
be remembered that, in the good old times, Parliament
was accustomed to meet for the dispatch of business in
November, and then the Christmas recess could be a
long one and thoroughly appreciated. The Houses
had nearly two months of legislative work before the
new year, and by May both the fashionable season and
the Parliamentary session were upon the wane. After
all, however, it is better for the two Houses of the
Legislature to meet in January than to sit into
September; and by assembling a full month earlier
than usual there is every prospect of the work being
pushed on to a more speedy and satisfactory termina-
tion.

So far as London is concerned, the week of the Cattle
Show finds the metropolis full and busy. From all
parts of the kingdom farmers come up to the capital,
often accompanied by their wives, their sons, and their
daughters. The visit to London has been long looked
forward to, and in a financial sense provided for. A
good deal of shopping is done, and the places of busi-
ness have already put on a Christmas aspect. There
is no greater proof of an influx into the metropolis
than is supplied in the experience of the keepers of
restaurants and refreshment houses. These, during
the week of the Cattle Show, find the demands upon
their resources very materially increase. The agricul-
turists bring with them to London the keen appetites
which render life so enjoyable by the quiet oountry
side; and amid the busy crowds which throng the
footways of the capital, the jolly and good-humoured
countenances of those who follow agricultural pur-
suits are always distinguishable, and it may be
added, at all times welcome.
Winter settled down upon the land early this year,
and the snow, which was general throughout the
country in the middle of October, was an unwonted
spectacle that had not been witnessed in England,
except on bleak Dartmoor, and the exposed wolds
of Yorkshire, during more than forty years.
Occasionally the cold wave has for the time been
broken into and for the time dispersed by a tierce
storm from the western main ; but whether frost or
tempest has prevailed, the out-door sports of lawn
tennis, archery, croquet, and other recreations are
over for the next few months, and many must be
content to have their pleasures by the fireside. The pre
sent month, notwithstanding the traditional promise
of frost and snow, has its agreeable associations
for young and old. Christmas, with its unri-
valled enjoyments, its holidays, good cheer, and
happy faces, comes to speed the long hours away.
There is certainly no sign of falling off in the attrac-
tions provided for the entertainment of the people.
The shops everywhere make a gallant show, and the
theatres are busy with the preparations for the coming
pantomimes. Fortune is not, however, even-handed
in her favours; and if this is a hard winter for all of
us, it will be a still harder one for the poor. To many
of the labouring population frost and snow mean loss
of work and consequent privation. But the hardest
of weather cannot dry up the springs of charity in
this country ; and the wants of the poor will certainly
not be forgotten in celebrating the most joyous anni-
versary of the year. The appeals which are made for
the contributions of the benevolent afford ample
opportunity for the exercise of that spirit of Christian
kindness which is supposed to pervade all classes of
the community at this season of the year.
The inability to subdivide the Electric Light has

hitherto pro ved the am great difficulty.to its application
for the purposes of domestic use. But the accounts
published respecting an English invention recently
submitted at a meeting of the Society of Telegraph
Engineers indicate the probability of a success in
that direction. By the incandescence of a wise or
other suitable medium, a light can be produced which
is small enough • for domestic purposes, and can be

indefinitely subdivided. With a constant current
equable incandescence is generated throughout the
entire length of the element, and the only condition
to be observed is to proportion the electro-
motive force to that length. The practical diffi-
culties which had to be overcome arose from the
thickness of the carbons requiring a very strong and
expensive current and from their non-durability. In
the invention before the Society of Telegraph En-
gineers, however, success was obtained by means of
some very extraordinary filaments of carbon of extreme
tenuity, being only the hundredth part of an inch in
diameter, and weighing only one grain for fifty inohes
in length. The material is both hard and elastic, re-
sembling more a steel wire than one of carbon. Such
an element, with a superficial area of only one-tenth
of an inch, had been found to give a light superior to
that of thirty standard candles and endure for several
months. The durability was greater when the heat
and light were maintained at a moderate degree than
when forced to a higher point. But there are still
many minor difficulties to be overcome before any
scheme of electric lighting can be substituted for gas,
which for a long time must hold its own in private
houses.

Postal reforms follow each other in rapid succession.
The scheme for the encouragement of thrift amongst
the poorer classes has already been of great benefit to
those for whose advantage it was applied, and that
enabling the public to invest small sums in Govern-
ment securities is yielding satisfactory results. A
system of sixpenny telegrams, which has long been
asked for, is under consideration, and a plan of postal
parcels, such as has long been in operation on the
Continent, is also receiving attention. At the
beginning of the year an important experiment is to
be tried in a matter which has long been urged. The
Postmaster-General has sanctioned the adoption of a
scheme of posting proofs by which any person may ob-
tain for a halfpenny a certificate of the fact that a letter,
telegram, or packet has been handed to the Post-office
officials. The address of the letter must be written by
the sender on a form for the purpose, and when the
ordinary post office date stamp has been affixed, the
form becomes an evidence or " proof " that the letter
has been duly posted. Thus positive proof of posting
is obtained, the honesty and punctuality of messengers
are ensured, and delays in the transmission of import-
ant letters may be traced. Every professional and
business man is aware that absolute knowledge and
proof of posting are frequently of the utmost import-
ance. Should the scheme prove practicable, it will
probably be extended so as to include the service of
writs and summonses.
The Order of the Garter is the most coveted of
all the distinctions which fall to the nobility of
this country. The number of knights in it is strictly
limited to twenty-five, exclusive of the Princes of the
blood royal, who possess the Garter by prescriptive
right. In this it differs -from the other orders of
knighthood, all valued and prized in their way, such as '
the Bath, St. Michael and St. George, and the Star of
India. There is another difference, and a most essen-
tial one. There are no distinctions about the Garter
,---the magic letters K.G. representing the whole sum
and substance of the matter. But in the other three
there are degrees, these being those of Knight Grand
Cross, Knight Commander, and Companion. The
first two, as the words signify, carry with them the
honour of knighthood; the Companionship does not.
There is one advantage in the elasticity of numbers
which distinguishes the orders of knighthood apart
from the Garter. Her Majesty is thus enabled to
Fecognise at once the claims of those who have
rendered high service to the State without having to
wait for any vacancy in the ranks of the knights
through death. Thus Sir Garnet Wolseley, on his
coming back from the Cape, and Sir Frederick Roberts,
on returning from Afghanistan, were immediately re-
warded with the Grand Cross of the Bath. They had
no occasion to wait in order to meet with a due recogni-
tion of their services. But the Garter cannot be dis-
pensed in this way, and sometimes years may elapse
before the Sovereign has an opportunity of bestowing
it. It may be interesting to add that in heraldic
parlance, the Garter is always described as the "most
noble" order, the Bath as the "most honourable,"
St. Michael and St. George as the "most distin-
guished," and the Star of India as the "most
. exalted."

In the place of more exciting topic, the prevention
of smoke in our great towns continues to command
gte t deal of Attention. Why not, it is asked, burn
AntluAcitc ox AU491958 coal lAsteacl of that which is

bituminous and fills the air with coal-soot? The reply
in many cases would be that it requires a great deal
of coaxing to induce it to burn in the first instance.
The city merchant is anxious for his breakfast in
order to be off to business, and a fire of bituminous
coals is very speedily kindled. But anthracite utterly
refuses to ignite except after more attention than can
be devoted to the kindling of a fire at an hour in the
day when time to the head of the house is of the
utmost importance. The usual receipe for making
hard smokeless coal burn is to mix a certain proportion
of more inflammable coal with it. This, of course,
implies some smoke, but not much; and the anthra-
cite, when once ignited, can be replenished without
much difficulty. It is, however, important to re-
member that this hard coal must not be used in large
blocks. In the cities of the United States, where it is
used, the coals are always broken up in small nobbles,
and so they must be here if they are to be brought
into general use, and thus relieve the atmosphere
from the dense clouds of smoke which invariably hang
over great towns.

One of the subjects which will occupy the attention
of Parliament next session is the navigation of the
Thames and the seCement of what are called riparian
rights. Time out of mind it has been the custom of
Londoners to fish freely in the metropolitan river.
Very often, of course, the actual fishing is merely
accessory to the main purpose. Those who are never
happy unless they are doing something find content-
ment with a rod in hand, and feel satisfaction in re-
flecting that idleness is not in their way. As a
general rule the soil of a navigable river is the
property of the Crown, and the public have, sub-
ject to certain rights, sometimes claimed, on the
Crown's behalf, the right to fish therein. But the
law in regard to fisheries is of a complicated kind;
and with regard to rivers which are not navigable, their
beds belong to the owners of their banks, each owner's
right extending to a moiety of the stream. The
Thames is not really navigable far above Eynsham, a
few miles above Oxford ; and it is in regard to these
parts of the stream that many disputes have arisen,
the difficulties requiring an amending Act of Parlia-
ment in order to their removal.

When the Session opens a change will have taken
place in the construction of the reporters' gallery of the
House of Commons which will be a strong testimony
to the growing power and influence of the provincial
Press. Ten additional seats have been added, for the
accommodation of that number of first-class country
newspapers whose energy eutitles them to . sueh
recognition. Time was when the London journals
alone had seats in the gallery, but that has gone
Hitherto the provincial newspapers that take direct
reports of Parliamentary debates have had to depend
upon the news associations, and although only ten
out of so many can now be, got in, it must be remem-
bered that the capacities of the gallery are limited,
and that ten will make a fair representative number.
The enterprise shown by the country Press in report-
ing the Parliamentary debates at length is shown by
the fact that every line of the matter has to be tele-
graphed to its destination, while the copy of the
London papers has to be sent merely from West-
minster to Fleet-street. The reports of the former
are in most cases much more fully given than in the
metropolitan Press; and every one who knows any-
thing of the energetic character of provincial journal-
ism will admit that it is fully entitled to the recogni-
tion which it has now' received at the hands of the
High Court of Parliament.