The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-04-24 00:00:00

Our Nonbon enruspoubtnt.

Me deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

When Easter is once well over and business
folk have again settled down to their several
avocatious it will not be long before many of
them will begin to be thinking of the longer
holiday which comes with summer. It is one of
the most striking social growths of our time, this
_ demand for an annual period of cessation from
work. In other days it was only men of wealth
or high official position who took or thought of
taking a holiday of the kind to which everybody
:-7-4136Ver-the ranks of - the. poorest now consider

-
themseLves entitled. This may be accounted for
in-vdrious ways, but the cause which must be held
to be strongest is the increased pace of the race
al run in present times. It is not only
the quantity of the work that has grown, it is
• the extra amount which has to be packed into
bur daily existence. Men cannot afford to be
slosveverything has to be done at high pressure;
and. the result is that, as each summer or
autumn„ 'comes round, we feel the absolute
• necessity. for rest and change. Perhaps the latter
element is as important afactor as the former.
e The brain becomes wearied as well as the body,
It needs fresh scenes, removed as far as
pOisibto from the daily routine, in order that its
t ng th and tone may be restored. An annual
• ; holiday has thus become a necessity of modern
• life to an extent of which our forefathers could
e never have dreamed.
• • Those among us who had made a point of in-
cluding the Social Sreience Congress among the
• attractions of the annual holiday will be' able to
do„no no longer. It is;true that the committee of
the Social Science Ifsibciation has formally re-
solved only to "suspend" and not to abolish
• • the customary autumnal gathering; but, seeing
that :it was similarly dropped last year, and
that it is in contemplation to amalga-
mate, .if possible, the Social Science Associa-
tion -:-"veith some kindred body, it miff be
taken almost for granted that we have seen the
last of the annual meetings which were always
fruitful in the enjoyment, and which, whatever
in the days of their decadence may have been
Said of them, were often productive of good. Un-
fortunately towards the end of the series it was
the social rather than the scientific element
which .appeared the best represented and tho
more attractive;, and it had long been evident
to watchful observers that the day of decline
and fall had come. For those who thought of
science, as it is usually defined, and of science
, elone, the annual meeting of the British Asso-
• 'tiation afforded sufficient mental food; and as
the sociarproblems which could fittingly be de-
bated at the Congress were necessarily somewhat
limited in number, the discussions, as year sue-
• ceeded year, were apt to become wearying and
• . •occasionally descended to the trivial. But this
should not blot out the recollections of
the useful work the Social Science Congresses
.1. • have accomplished in placing well before the
public certain problems which could not be as
thoroughly discussed in any other way. It is
easy to cast stones at a defunct institution, but
It is more worthy to try to find what good can be
said concerning it.
Not much surprise will be felt that the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, in his Budget statement,
had to admit that as yet the cheaper telegraph
system had not proved remunerative. Those
who might be disposed to draw hasty conclusions
from the fact are bound to remember that no one
expected that the system would pay within six
. • . Months of its establishment; and it was calcu-
, • • lated, even by those who were most strenuous in
••• • •
its advocacy, and most sanguine of its ultimate
huccess, that it would take at least a couple of
years for it to prove a profitable adjunct to:thePost
Office. Itis,therefon3 scarcely necessary to argue
that the Sgures quoted by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer do not in any way show that it was
a mistake to lower the telegraphic charges from
the old initial shilling to an humbler coin. Any ,
who- are interested in the question will know
that it takes a-long time for a change of this
kind to prove a paying one. It was tho same at
first with the penny post, and many were the :
taunte levelled at the promoters of that move-
inentkbecause, for some period after its adoption,
It was a source: of loss to the revenue. And it
surely should not be displaying two great hardi-
hood to prophesy that, just as the penny post
is now distinctly profitable, so will be the six-
penpy, telegram in the days to come.
One feature of the telegraph service which has
• been forced into prominence by the adoption of
the .claeaper system, is that of registered
abreviated addresses. These have existed for
a long . time, but until October last they
• were. very few and were practically confined
. to messages from foreign parts. When the
• addreises on inland telegrams were forwarded
• free.of-cost to the sender there was no particular
object in shortening the address to the smallest
possible limit, But when every word of the
• treessag,e, address and all had to be paid for, there
was an immediate rush on the part of business
.firnis to the Post Office to have their abbreviated
• • addresses registered. And although a guinea a,
year had to be paid for the [privilege the autho-
rities at St. Martin's-le-Grand are by no means
satisfied with the result. They complain that
• "'the adoption of the system on a large scale causes
them not only loss of time but of money; and
• the postmaster-General, when asked a short
..• time since- whether he could not see his way
• ]siar,tO lowering the fee to half-a-guinea or even
.'„ five shillings, replied that, on the contrary, he was
Oriously thinking whether it would not be Well
to do away, with the system altogether. This,
heiWeVer, is scarcely likely to come to pass. If
• the system be. beneficial to business, considera-
'Awls of Official comfort will not suffice to abolish
•'She 'Erskine May is known at least by name,
.intevery part in which English is spoken or free
legitlitiotie exist; and the regret which is felt
biparliamentary circles at his resignation of the
position of
•Chief Clerk of the House of Commons
generally entertained. If it were only
or the length of the service he has honourably.
,teriaered,.he.would deserve most of the compli-
anted& which have been paid him by the leaders
of all pitrti,e§ ; but it is for something more that
Sir Erskine May is distinguished. His treatise
on the ;law and practice of Parliament is a
standard , work, which has been studied by
politicians in eveiy country possessing a legis-
lature, and his history of the English Constitu-
atiorefrom the time of George 111. is to be found
in every well-ordered library. Habitual at-
tendants of the House of Commons' who
-scarcely' -even yet had grown accustomed
to ' the -Chamber, without the presence
of Captain Gossett, the late Sergeant-at-Arms,
will find it harder still to think of it as complete
Without Sir Erskine May sitting at the table, of
which -the has been an ornament for so many
years. It will be the hearty wish of everyone
connected.. with public affairs that Sir Erskine
svill long live to enjoy a retirement which he has
ii4;;;,thoropely well earned. Officials of his stamp
the glory of our English constitutional
system and,when opportunity serves, they merit
the !iiiteet
,recpgnition.
, deihas been noted that Lord Cottesloe, one of
thteradiSt.nienibers of the peerage, was present
in.tolasellouse of Commons a few evenings since
to hear a Budget statement for the sixtieth
time. The fact is so far out of the ordinary that
it deserves notice, for it carries back the memory
to a period. far different to that in Which we now
live.. Lord. Cottesloe—the Mr. Fremantle of
that day was returned to the House of
Commons at the General Election of 1826, and it
needs no particularly intimate acquaintance with
the recent history of England to remember how
xsiyeetl' eh altered our country has been in
niansf particulars since then. At that time the
present Queen, who will soon be entering upon
the fiftietli'year of her reign, was -a child just
seven years' old; railways were beginning to be
tailyed, about; but, except in the case of the
Stockton and Darlington line, were yet un-
realised; electricity was a force understood only
irAcieiftifid assemblies, and not yet put to assist
in -any 9f the bpsiness of daily life;' and many
of he comforts. and conveniences which now
seem_ almoat necessary to us were unknown.
Itglft•lorig stretch- of time that is thus covered
bypiblic eareer'of a singlo man, and perhaps
inVOrfie* 'res'pects L'cird Cottesloe can look back
over
,a'm.
,eventfill period than is contained
in.4yept aresix.ty. years of history.
Mo.st• of. those debating societies, which are
known as "Local Parliaments," have now closed
their session, for, •iinlike the great original at
Westminster,- it is during the winter that they
wo4and -during the summer that they repose.
LUaL2 such institutions, these societies have
-bcsmisribjectecl to a deal of banter, but as
thifetT'ayilfainlY good-natured, they seemed rather
to sgriveveitethan otherwise. • Whether the
sYmPtViu.,LlUs'efe pleasiii4cor of' (Wit omen, it will
be gstp..cs'A.dmittd that the art of speaking
011VWite'lie possessed in these days
by itiey:ivltes %Ara to take a prominent part in
public affairs; and those who wish to cultivate
that art, and who have neither the floor of the
House of Commons nor the University " Union "
on which to acquire it, may well be content with
euch ovuortunities dS these" Local Parliaments"

afford. It can scarcely be too often pointed out
as one thing which is distinctly to their credit
that they compel each side to listen patiently to
the arguments and, it may even be, the abuse of
the other. Men are apt to become narrow and
intolerant if they read or hear nothing but their
own view of a public question; and any institu-
tion which will force them to recognise that
others may honestly and reasonably differ from
that view, deserves support from those who wish
to see political affairs thoroughly and effectively
discussed and understood. A. F. R.