The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-08-14 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

than ever, and that there is a disposition on
the part ot both the Emperors, William and
Francis-Joseph, to remove farther from sym.
pathy with their neighbour, the Russian
potentate. This need not necessarily be.
however; for the presence of the German
and Austrian Foreign Secretaries notwith-
standing, the Imperial meeting may, after
all, mean nothing more than a pleasant
method of securing cordial personal inter-
course between the reigning houses of two
great, adjoining States. There is, to be sure,
some pomp and circumstance about the
Gastein dinners and soirees, and weighty
matters will doubtless have had passing con-
sideration, but no new treaty affecting the
balance of European power is likely to have
been under negotiation. The prophets of
the pen have not refrained from registering
their prognostications for all that.

TIIE King of Portugal, who has honoured
Londoners with several peeps at his Mon-
archial presence, is a good-looking gentle-
man of most affable bearing. He has been 1
amusing himself by seeing the night side of '
our capital, and is evidently a keen and ob-
serving man, taking a delight in coming into,
contact with people of every station, "Efe is
a liberal patron of the drama, his musical
tastes taking him frequently to the opera
house. People say England is indebted for
his visit to the negotiation of a new Portu-
guese loan; but the King's personal follow-
ing hold that Luis came here for pleasure
and sioltseeinc, only.

ELECTION petitions seem to be a very seri-
ous matter. In the Buckrose Division of
East York, Mr. Christopher Sykes was de-
feated by one vote in his contest with Mr.
McA.rthur, and the return is disputed by the
losing candidate. Mr. Syke's solicitors
had to lodge a guarantee of £lOOO to cora-
mence the proceedings, and, whatever result ,
may ultircately be arrived at, the trial will,
it is stated, cost each party at least £5OOO.
Mr McArthur's leading counsel took a re-
taining fee of £5OO on accepting his brief.
A new election would cost very considerably
less than this war respecting a poll involves.
The successful candidates for Northampton
oxpended over their recent contest less than
£4O each, excluding the expenses of the re-
turning officer. Their example might well,
lin this respect, be imitated by candidates
! for Parliamentary honoars of every shade of
opinion, for a great deal too much money is
spent at elections, though the matter has
undergone much improvement since the
passing of the Corrupt Practices Act.

ANOTHER old London landmark has lest
its historical aspect. The Horns Tavern at
Kennington, in the spacious assembly-rooms
of which many a hot political gathering has
been held, is no more. From is ruins there
will rise shortly a modern gin-palace, and
the passer-by will look in vait for the quaint
old by windows from which the vast Chart-
ist meeting under Feargns O'Connor was
witnessed one April day in 1848. Kenning-
ton-common, hard by, has long been con-
verted into a people's pleasure park, with
trim. flower-borders in place of the rough
turf of anti-Reform days.
• •

Tug Prince of Wales and his associates on
the Executive of the Indian and Colonial
Exhibition have done well in paying heed to
th 3 wishes of the school children. The ar-
range ments made for the admission of
scholars at a much reduced rate, and the
facilities offered for taking parties of little
ones to South Kensington, cannot but be
productive of excellent results. A good look
round the various courts, under competent
guidance, will do more to give the girls and
boys of Board and Voluntary Schools a
lasting acquaintance with our Colonies and
their products than weeks of mere reading
and instruction in the class-room. The Ex-
hibition is a delightful object lesson which
will imprint itself permanently on the
memory of the scholars. We would suggest
that the Executive offer prizes for competi-
tion among the juvenile visitors for de-
scriptive essays on the various sections and
the W bole exhibition. The prizes might be
arranged in grades according to the ages of
the children, or otherwise as seemed wisest
to the Royal Commission.

Tim Indian and Colonial Exhibition, as
well as the Liverpool Shipping Exhibition,
the Art Treasures Show at Folkestone, and
the Edinburgh Exhibition have excited an
interest of world-wide extent. 1886 can
surely be described as the exhibition year,
for not even at the Great World's Fair, in
which the late lamented Prince Consor.t took
such deep interest, did we have such an in-
flux of visitors from over seas as are now
pouring into the country. London and all
the big towns are full of foreigners and
British colonists, whose chief reason for
visiting our shores is the attraction afforded
by the exhibitions.