The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-05-17 00:00:00

snr Yoution Correspoubtut,

' haism .t right a st_te that we do not ai all
• s• 41y odreeives with our C.Treepondes '5 opWlOßai
To & large number of residents in London, the
announcement that the Queen intends to hold a
Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace is one full of
Interest. True, the spectators who, on these occasions,
throng the park roads leading to the Palace, see
nothing of the Sovereign herself, but they witness the
arrival not only of the ladies who are to be presented,
but also those illustrious personages who acconapany
Her Majesty into the Throne Room. Take for
instance the Drawing Room of last week. The Princess
of 'Wales drove down to the Palace from Marlborough
House, accompanied by a detachment of the Royal
Horse Guards. Her Royal Highness (who was loudly
cheered by the people) was followed by Prince and
Princess Christian, the Duke of Cambridge, the Fria-
,ess Louise, the Duke and Duchees of Trek,
Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, the Maharajah
Duleep Sing and the Maharanee, the Nawab
Nasim of Bexgal and Prince Suleiman, Prince
Adalbert of Prusda, and other Isevears of It.
NVithin the Palace were her Majesty, the
King am. Queen of the Belgians, Prince Leopold, and
Princes., Beatrice. The scene was lighted up by the
summer sun, and was a very animated one. Carriages
containing the Foreign Ambassadors, the Ministers of
the Crown, the great officers of State, and the
gorgeously.dreissed ladies who had come to pay their
respects to the Queen, came in quick succession; and
as many of the 'Ministers were recognised, there was
something at times approaching a demonstration on
the part of their political adherents. I may say that
when the Prince of Wales holds a lerCe on her
Majesty's behalf, the ceremony always takes place at
St. James's Palace, Buckingham Palace being reserved
exclusively for the reigning sovereign and for guests of
a similar high status whom she may entertain. That
Is where the Sultan of Turkey remained in 1867, and
the Shah of Persia will be lodged beneath its roof a few
weeks hence.
The scenes in Westminster Hall and in the lobby of
the House of Commons present all the characteristics
of a kaleidoscope. The nature of the crowd, and the

component parts of which it is made up, vary with
the subject under the consideration of the Legisla-
ture. Should the topic happen to be a religious one,
thesiumber of clerical gentlemen present is unmistak.
able. A debate upon Mr. Ja,ob Bright's Women's
Suffrage Bill invariably brings down to the Palace of
Westminster a large body of ladies, and as these more
than fill the gilded cage allotted to them by the Com-
mons, they may be seen in detached groups in the lob-
bies, eagerly discussing the probable results of the con-
trusersy. The Budget is chiefly attractive to com-
mercial men, and sugar retinershave this year appeared
to take the most interest in the proposals of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Permissive Bill,
which mune on List week, brought to Westminster a
more than usually numerous contingent of the ad-
• ocates of the United Kingdom Alliance.
The reports from Vienna speak of the gradual
progress which is being made in the completion of the
Exhibition, which, like our International eleven years
ago, was opened before it was fully ready for inspection
by the public. Most of the Special Correspondents in the
Austrian capital advise intending visitors to postpone
their journeys until the finishing touches have been put
to the display of beautiful objects, lately inaugurated
with so much pomp and ceremony by the Kaiser. I have
no means of knowing whether, as the summer advances
and the traffic increases, the prices if the railway com-
panies are likely tube lowered, but meantime I will give
your readers a few of the figures as they stand at
present. The cost of either the South-Eastern or the
London, Chatham, and Dover Railway is the same,
and for return tickets the charges are as follow :
via Calais, Paris, Strasburg, and. Munich, £l5 SP. 61
first-el/see, and £ll Ils. second ; via Calais,
Brussels, Cologne, and Pasoan, £l3 Os. 61. first-
class, and £9 los, second ; via Calais, Brussels,
Aux-la-Chapelle, and Leipsic, £l2 Ws. 9,1. first-class,
and £9 Ph. 31. second; via Ostend, Brussels, Cologne,
and Passau, El 2 14i. tirst.elass, and £9 3s. second;
via Ostend, Brussels, Aux la-Chapelle, and Leipsic,
£l2 Ils. 6,1. first-class, and £9 3s. 3d. second. Tickets
by the Calais route, whieli, it will be seen, is the more
expensive of the two, are available for forty-five days,
and by the Ostend route for thirty days. By the-Great
Eastern Railway a return ticket via Rotterdam would
cost £l3 3.. 24. first-class, and £9 6s. 2d. second. The
estimated coot of living in Vienna is 16s, per day. Any
of your readers who are inclined to spend a few days
lu that city will, therefore, from the information here
given, be enabled pretty nearly to calculate the neces-
sary expenditure upon a trip so far in the eastern part
of Europe. •

Captain Tyler's report to the Board of Trade noon
the Railways of the United Kingdom is a very in.
tereating document. It appears from this that on the
31et December, 1871, the latest date to which the
figures refer, the number of miles open was 15,376, and
that the total capital raised by shares, stocks, and
loans reached the enormous sum of £552,000,000
sterling, or nearly eight times more than the rum
annually paid by the people into the national ex-
chequer. The aggregate receipts during the twelve
months were a little over .C 47,000,000 while the work.
Mg expenses were twenty-two millions and a half, or a
proportion of 48 per cent. Of the ordinary share
capital, 31i millions received no dividend at all, while,
at the other end of the scale it is seen that a quarter of
a million paid 13 per cent. The average dividend on
the ordinary share capital was a little over S per cent.
To spend a short time opposite the White Horse
Cellar, in Piccadilly, is almost enough to make one
overlook the imtortance and the magnitude of the
railway system in this country. The old coaching
days seem to havereturned, and it would almost appear
as though the jolly old fashioned way was preferred
by many to that mode of travelling which has been
immortalised by Brunel and Stephenson. Coach after
coach is despatched, each with a full freight of
passengers. The run of 50 miles to Brighton is evi-
dently a favourite one, an also is the route to Tunbridge
Wells. Then there are also the coaches to
Westerham, to Reigate and Dorking; to Sun-
bury, Richmond, and Hampton Court; to Wat-
ford, to High Wycombe, and Windsor; while one for
Aldershot Is in contemplation. It is curious to note
the crowd of grooms and stablemen who gather round
the coaches, and who look upon railways with quite as
much contempt as one of Nelson's eailore would regard
an iron-clad of the present day.
For some time past a warm controversy has been
going on between the Corporation of London and the
Endowed Schools Commissioners respecting the future
management of the system of charities knew as
Emanuel Hospital, which is situate in Weatmineter.
The charities of the City of London, it should be re-
membered, amount to about £114,000 a year, and those
df Westminster to £25,000 a year. Hitherto a large
proportion of the scholars upon the "Foundation" of
Emanuel Hospital have been nominated by the City
Corporation, whereas the Commissioners wish to dis-
pense the benefits of the achoole according to the capa-
city of the children as tested by examination. The
Aldermen and Common Councillors have a strong
objettion to surrender their patronage; hence the
strenuous opposition which has been brought to bear
against the Commissioners' scheme.
A number of influential persons have resolved to
take active steps for the improvement of the
government of London, and a memorial has lately
been exteneively signed, asking the Home Secre-
tary to "correct admitted ills" by inroducing a
bill for the development of mttnicipal institu-
tions. Doubtless, there in great room fir improve-
ment in the precept mode achniniatral ion. The only
part of the capital which pdsdeMell a corporate existence
is the city proper, but outside the civic boundaries
there is a population of more than three millions, who
have neither mayor, alderman, nor councillors, and
whose allairs are managed solely by the parochial
authorities. The vast mu j nity of the residenta in
Lambeth or Marylebone are m ignorant of the quali-
fications of those who make and levy the rates are cat
possibly be imagined. Occasionally a paper is left at
each house, containing a list of candidates for the
osce of poor-law guardian or of vestryman, with
directions to fill in the requisite numbers oppoaite the
names of those for whom the orcupier desires to vote.
The chances are that the householder has never heard
of any of these gentlemen before, and render
such circumstances he declines to exercise the
franchise. The consequence is that the man-
agement of local affairs falls into the hands of a
comparatively few persons. and although I do not say
that the system gives rise to any great amount of die.
satisfaction, it is obvious that them immense popula-
tions have no representative body. How Ibng would
the large borough of Liverpool, with its 443,000 inha-
bitants. be content without municipal institutions?
Yet Marylebone, with a population of 436,000, pm-
same nothing of the kind. I often read in the country
papers that such and such a town has just obtained a
charter of incorporation, and that the important event
has been celebrated in a fitting manner. But 'the
masses of the metropolitan population make little or
no complaint The movement of which I have speken,
however, is in very good bands, and if Parliament haa
time, next seesion, to extend the benefits; of corporate
government to the whole of London, the result would
be a more healthy public feeling and a greater interest
o the transaction of local affairs.
A short time ego a Committee of the Rouse of Com-
mons decided against a proposal for laying down
tramways over the metropolitan bridges. The Court
of Common Council has now declared against any
further extension of the system within tbe city, at all

erects for the preeent. It was urged before the i'ar
lianentary Committee that the disturbance of the
'roadways of the bridges necessary for the placing of
the rails, would tend materially to weaken those strut
tures, and it was also shown that this result would be
accompanied with an increseed amount of heavy
traffic. The principal objection to bringing the tram-
ways into the city is that they would cause consider-
able inconvenience in the already crowded thorough-
fares, and this doubtless had its weight with the
Court of Common Council.