The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-03-20 00:00:00

Our Litionbon Gorresvontritt.
['Vire deem it right ef., state that we do not at all tiZ!le,
Identity ourselves Irish our Ccrrespondeut's options.

In the midst of the cold winds which for weeks
have swept over us, as if to remind us in the
most feeling manner that winter still holds sway,
it is difficult to believe that spring is so near.
Yet a consultation of the almanack will tell us
that that which has been often considered the
loveliest season of the year commences at Lady
Day, and the almanack is an authority not to
be treated lightly or in any doubting
spirit. But a glance at the vegetation seems to
show that this year the calendar is not as safe a
guide as of yore. Everything is backward, and,
unless the sun speedily asserts once more its sway,
everything will remain in a backward state until
a later period than for many past years. There is
the consolation that it is better to have growth
checked at the beginning of the season than
blighted at the end; and a frost in March is far
from as serious to the gardener as a similar
visitation in May. Yet the extraordinarylateness
of the season this year can hardly
but have its effect upon the net produce,
and lovers of fruit in particular will scarcely
be able to look with equanimity upon the con-
tinued severity of the weather. But there is
plenty of time vet to make up the leeway, and,
for the sake of. both producer and consumer, it
may be hoped that a change will soon take
place.
The hydrophobia scare which recently visited
London as a consequence of the increased number
of deaths from that dread disease, has not yet
passed away, and the discussion as to whether
it is necessary to renew the police regulations
concerning the muzzling of dogs has gone mer-
rily on. As in all such matters, there is a great
deal tobe said up on both sides, and what there was
to be said has been related at great length.
Experience of the regulations has not reconciled
Londoners who own the "friends of man" to the
necessity for muzzling or chaining them. They
object as strongly as ever to such treat-
ment of their pets, and, as it is exceed-
ingly difficult for those in authority to
prove that these precautions have had
a directly benefiting effect, the opponents
of them have crowed loudly as they have
adduced fresh arguments against the renewal.
But whatever may be the fate of the obnoxious
regulations, the scare has had the effect of
largely adding to the fame of M. Pasteur, the
eminent French scientist, who has of late been
making hydrophobia his speciality. In these
times, whenever or wherever a man is bitten by
a dog supposed to be mad, the patient is
hurried to Paris and M. Pasteur, whose system
of inoculation of hydrophobia virus is being
tested in the completest manner. Not only
from London have the English sufferers gone,
but from several parts of the kingdom, and it is
trusted that the benefit they will derive from
M. Pasteur's ministrations will be great. But,
great or little, honour should be given to the
man who is endeavouring with all his might to
stay the progress of so felf a disease.
A friend of mine who has just been to Paris
tells me that the devotion of M. Pasteur to his
studies is almost inconceivable. He is so absorbed
in them that it is with difficulty that he can
be dragged from them to his meals, and
with almost as much difficulty that he
can be induced to seek rest in sleep. Whatever
may be said as to the true value.of his discoveries,
all must admit that this is the true spirit of the
scientific explorer; Unless a man is prepared to
sacrifice ease and live laborious days, it is useless
for him to attempt to wrest from Nature her
most cherished secrets. Dilletanteism is of no
avail in such a pursuit; a seeker after science
must be determined to live his life to the full,
and to work his hardest in the time allotted
him; and, if he cannot resolve upon this, he is
not likely to discover anything of value to man-
kind. Faraday, whose lectures many yet living
in London can remember, was a man of this per-
severing stamp; and, to come to a much more
recent specimen of a scientist, Edison, the
American discoverer, is a man who has never
shrunk from sacrifice in the work he has under-
taken. It is a good omen for the future of
science that men, such as Edison and Pasteur,
should be found in this day ready to carry on
with vigoar that which their predecessors in dis-
covery had already done so well.
Sir Charles Warren's appointment as Chief
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, in
succession to Sir Edmund Henderson, is a matter
of interest not only to those who dwell within
the area under his command, but to the inhabit-
ants of the whole Kingdom. The peace of the
capital decidedly affects the peace of the nation
at large; and, although it might not be true to
say that if London is quiet Engand is at rest,
yet the converse is accurate that if London is
disturbed England cannot but be uneasy. Sir
Charles Warren comes to the metropolis with a
brilliant record of hard work well done. He has
seen service in all parts of the world, and, acting
in the spirit of the well-known text, whatsoever his
hand has found to do, he has done it with his might.
. .

A large field is before him in the management
of London. The task allotted him is as delicate
as it is difficult, and if ever there were a case
in which a man found it necessary to cover the
ir m hand with a silken glove it is in that of the
Chief of the Metropolitan Police. It is not a res-
ponsibility lightly to be accepted by any man,
and from what one knows of Sir Charles
Warren's antecedents it has not been lightly
accepted by him. And dwellers within the
metropolitan area will indmge the earnest hope
that the new Chief Commissioner may be as
successful in the discharge of his duties as his
closest friends could wish.
Such difficulties as every London Chief of

Police has to encounter cannot be but added to

by the distress which continues to prevail in the
industrial portions of tho capital—a distress
which is not likely to shrink to any appreciable
&gm as long as wintry weather lasts. The
bitter blasts with which we so long have been
visited have had almost as much to do• with the

intensity of the suffering as the trade depression
itself, and the pinch of hunger has been the more
keenly felt because of the cold that has accom-
panied it. The Mansion House Fund has done
something to relieve the extremity of distress;
but no mere charity, no admitted palliative, can
be considered sufficient to meet it to the full.
What is really wanted is more work; and more
work is the very thing which, under present cir-
cumstances, cannot be provided. The dead-
weight of industrial depression is at this moment
hanging around the neck of every civilised nation,
and that which is affecting the whole globe can-
not but have its influence upon England. Philo-
sophers may dogmatise and political economists
may argue as to what is the cause for this extra-
ordinary and much-to-be-lamented state of
things; but while they talk thousands starve,
and at the end of the discussion we appear no
nearer to a solution of this most pressing
problem. Seemingly, all we have to do is to
proceed in the hope that something will turn up
to once more set the stream of commerce rolling
to a flood.
One of those projects which are always being
talked about and never getting adopted, is that
of providing a central railway station for the
various lines which run into the metropolis.
Within the past few days, yet another plan for
this purpose has been put forward by one who
claims to speak with authority on the subject;
land it would be of interest if someone with a
large amount of leisure were to search with the
idea of finding how many such plans had pre-
ceded it. Even those of no great
memory can remember several similar
schemes, and many years ago, before
Holborn Viaduct was built, and Farring-
don-street laid out in its present fashion, one of
the most favoured of these proposed to occupy
the Holborn Valley with such a central station
as has been thought to be needed. The latest
scheme of all would place the building in Oxford-
street, abutting upon TottenhaZ-court-road
and, as the new thoroughfare from Charing-cross '
will debouch upon this site a better one could
scarcely be found if such a scheme were to be
seriously contemplated.
It is, of course, easy to see why an idea like
that of a central railway station for London has
been so fres, uently entertained. All visitors to
the metropo_ss , who have wished to change from
one trunk line to another, must have felt how
convenient it would have been to have the
baggage carried from one platferni to another
instead of having to hire a cab and be conveyed
half across the metropolis. But, like many other
good notions, this one is bound to bc, held
impracticable because of its cast: In matters
of business, the old question "Is the
game worth the candle ?" is always to. be
put; and great as the public convenience
might be from the adoption of the idea to which
reference has been made, it is a matter for serious
deliberation whether the enormous cost it would
j entail would be conlpensated for by the comfort
it would give. The price of land in ii,ondon has
risen to a height which those of a previous gene-!
ration would have considered fabulous, and it,
shows no sign of falling. And if an expert in!
such matters would only be at the trouble ofe,
reckoning what would be the expense entailed!,

by the erection of a central station and the con-
struction of the various lines leading to it, the
total arrived at would be sufficient to appal any
but the very hardiest speculator.
There is abundant evidence from the temper
of the present Parliament that before long the
question as to whether the taxpayers of the
nation or the ratepayers of the metropolit shall
pay for the maintenance of the London parks,
will become a burning one; but while it is yet un-
settled and even, in fact, when once and
for all it is decided—the best thing for lovers of
these open spaces, who have time and opportu-
nity to indulge that love, is to enjoy their
beauties to the full. It is not only the London
resident who revels in the many charms of Hyde-
park, for instance, since every visitor from the
provinces who wishes to participate in all the
pleasures of the metropolis does the same; and
each person who has seen the Zoological Gardens
has been compelled to enjoy a sight of Regent's-
park on the way. It is a question for politicians
and Parliament men how these institutions shall
be kept up; the great point for the general
public is that, whether by taxpayer or ratepayer,
there is no doubt in these days that they will be
maintained in all their beauty, and what a
beauty that is let each who has ever seen them
tell. A. F. R.