The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-10-11 00:00:00

Our loubtra tarrtspahrnt.
Mu doom It debt to utoto dist um do Dot at A Sus
Oddity obiselveo with our Oorrropoodoote otbdanul

The Ministerial holiday during the present recess
has been the shortest for many years past. Parliament
was prorogued on the sth of August, and on the 3rd of
October, lees than two month. afterwards, the find
Cabinet Council was held. This is fully • month be-
fore the nand time, for even at such • period of absorb-
ing interest as thattof the Continental War, three yenrs
ago, the Cabinet did not assemble until the 24th of
Octci,er, and as a rule it. sittings do not begin until
November. Ministers have, then, three months in
which to frame their memoir.' and to prepare their
estimates for the coming Parliamentary year, for the
Session does not usually open until the first week in
Feoraary. Now they will have four month% for the
idea that the House of Common, would be summoned
for a pre-Christmas sitting, in order to vote the sup-
plies for the Ashantee war, is now abandoned in
• quotes of the appearance of • R ,yal pro-
clamation further proroguing Parliament to Tuesday
the 161 of December. As the words " then to meet
for the despatch of business," were not included in the
proclamation, it is now generally assumed that the
I ,eg suture will not be convoked until the customary
Gine, Vs., the first week in February. Loos practice
I al gi,en to thet date,, kind of precoriptive authority,
tor it hal been i, nod that to 6U oucort, our senators
it ember is of very little creak:al avail. SADO
esinc ago Lord Palmerston aseembled Parliament on
the 24,h of January, but no appreciable advantage wee
gained by it, for our senators, seeing an additional
fortnight before them, did not settle down to work as
speedily as they would have otherwise done. Returning
for • moment to the Cabinet, I may say that as Mr.
Gladstone now combines the offices of Prime Minister
and Chancellor of the Exchequer, that select body cone
elate of filetn members, instead of sixteen, as before
the Ministerial reconstruction in August. Their de-
liberations are kept • profound secret from the sober-
dinette members of the Administration, no official
record of their proceedings is kept, and it is considered
a breach of political etiquette to divulge anything which
transpires without the permission of the Sovereign.
Who has not heard of Guy's Hospital, one et the
noblest institutions of the kind in the metropolis? It
is • vest building, hard by London-bridge, and Ur •
century and • half it has afforded assistance to tens of
thousands of suffering humanity. Comparatively few,
however, of the immense numbers who daily travel
past its walls know anything of its origin. It was
founded by Thomas Guy, who, during the reign of
Queen Anne, was one of the most famous stockbrokers
in the city of London. Guy was in every respect •
self-made man. He wee the eon of a lighterman, was
apprenticed to a bookseller, and for many years stood
behind the counter in a dingy city shop. Of a naturally
penurioua disposition, he soon became powered of
• little ready cash, and having launched it in
• modest speculation in 'Change Alley, It made an ex-
cellent return. Guy was a keen man of business,
thoroughly acquainted with the market value of rocks
and shares, so he left the bookselling trade, became •
member of the Stock Exchange, and, like Midas, of
heathen mythology, everything which he touched
seemed to turn into gOld. Even in the South Sea mi.
trios, which rained thousand', and set half Europe
by the ease, Guy was • successful speculator. I have
already spoken of his penurious; habits, and one illus-
tration will give some idea of the careful nature of the
One evening, when Guy was in the fall tide of
his prosperity, • gentleman called to see him, and found
him sitting in a dark room, dreamily looking into the I
fire. Guy, in order to be sure who hie visitor wee,
lighted a farthing candle, and having satisfied himself
of the nature of the call, which was merely one for con.
versation, said, "Oh ! if that is all, we can as well talk
it over in the dark." So the rushlight was
extinguished without the slightest ceremony, and the
two friends carried on their colloquy by the light of
the flickering rays of the fire. The remits of these
careful habits were, however, embodied in • noble pur-
pose, and we see them to-day in one of the moet
splendid institutions; in London or indeed in the world.
He died in 1724 at the age of 81, leaving by will a
quarter of a million sterling for the foundation of the
hospital which bears his name. That wits e vast sum
150 year. &TO; no wonder, therefore, that the name of
Th-mas Goy was enshrined am tre,t the merchant
princes of the city. His body lay in state in .711-rcer's
chapel, and wee intetred in an fn.) lirn which he had
raised; and here, ten years afterwards, a otatue wee
erected to his memory. When the proceeds of the
first London Hospital Sunday were dietributed three
montns hose any share in it.
f r the very simple reason that It did not want the
money, so enormously has the value of its endowment
increased. A proportion to Guy's like that awarded
to the smaller institutions would have absorbed bet seen
.24 010 and £5,000, • sum which did a great deal more
good when divided between • number of poor hospitals.
In some of the more humble quarters of London ,
auge placards are pored upon the walla, calling attxn,
tom to the provisions of an Act rased in the reign of
Charles IL for the suppression of Sunday trading, and
denouncing the statute 163 tending to oppress the poor
trader. The Act in questi .n imposes a penalty of live
shillings on conviction, and the contentian of the email
struggling shopkeeper is that such • fine is oft. n •
very serious matter for him, whereas to the thrivag
tradesman the penalty bears no proportion whatever
to the profits made by keeping his place of businens
open on Sunday. Without entering into the merits of
the controversy, I may say that the vast majority of
respectable people in the metropolis would be heartily
glad to witness the abolition of Sunday trading. Long
lines of open shops and the stentorian cries of coder.
mongers do but ill accord with the sacred nature of the
duties associated with the day.
An experiment in the employment of paupers has
lately been tried by the Islington Board of Guardian.,
with results which may be regarded in different lights,
The services of • number of the most intelligent
workhouse inmates are utilised by the relieving officers
In visiting out-door paupers, and in making inquiries
respecting the statue of applicants for relief. Three of
them are sent out daily, to keep in order the grounds
attached to the Chapel of Ease in Liverpool-road, and
for this service they receive El s week between them.
Paupers are also employed to remove bodies to the
mortuary, to moist in the offices of the vestry clerk,
and in other war, for all of which they receive
gratuities. Many of the ratepayers, however, object
to this system, on the ground that it has • tendency to
render the workhouse too attractive to a clam which is
always ready to take advantage of such little indul-
gences. As a matter of tact the numbers of both in
and outdoor paupers have increased In Islington,
whereas, taking the metropolis m a whole, pauperism
ham largely decreased during the past year.
The seventeenth annual Congress, of the Association
for the Advancement of Social Science, which has
been held at Norwich, has been aa successful and
Instructive as these meetings usually are. To the
visitors who went to the Congers in search of the
picturesque, Norwich must have presented many
points of interest. Its grand old Norman castle, evi-
dently built for strength and not for beauty, its
cathedral, its old intertwining intricate streets, its
ancient overhanging houses—these would be sufficient
to repay the traveller any trouble he might have taken
In reaching the place; but, besides these, the historical
reminiscences and the lovely pieces of scenery scat-
teredj without the town are well worthy of a visit.
Those, however, who attended the Congress with a
view to learning valuable lessons on various subjects
of social science must have been amply satisfied with
this year's meeting. The president, Lord Houghton,
in his splendid and highly-finished inaugural address,
explained the utility and value of a study of nodal
clime. His definition of what it consists is one of
the most practical I have seen for some time, and he
proves that social science is the making the best we
can of the materials before us, in the simplification of
law, and in the integrity of their execution; in
making knowledge of try Rice., and of effective
communication; in diminishing to a minimum the
'sanitary dangers incident to an agglomeration of nano.
of men, and to the exercise of ocetipsobtut either it,
theineelves perilous or exposed to noxious influences,
and in facilitating to the utmost the perticipstion of
the Isrgest number in the produce of human labour
and invention. Such being the objects, it is no wonder
ti at so much good ha, been Aecomplishel by the 806.
scientists; and the iocreaaire popularity and sopport
gi,eo to the aneociati in which promotes thole view,
show that the people rightly undevitatol the b .nefits
which by its action hue been conferred upon them.
There was one subject wt,j I. Lord H ought ot re
ferried to in his addles. which must cause regret. He
feared that GO practical progrees has been made in the
way of sanitary reform. We all remember how that
nearly two yeses since, when the Prince of Wales lay
dangerously ill at Sandringham, there arose • demand
throughout the country for an efficient mencnre of
sanitary reform. But this vexed question require.'
deal of time and labour to settle, and the conseqeence
is that we are no nearer sanitary prier:Um' now than
we were two yews since. In the commencement of
the last session of Parliament a bill was introduced
Into the Hoar of Commons dealing with this matter,
and which, among other useful enactments, would
have given to rural sanitary authorities the powers of
making brelaws and of compdlsory purchase, which
are at present only premed by the urban authorities,
aed would have enabled the Local Government Board,
be cedar, to supersede the sanitary authority in caw
o imairef....s or neglect. On the need of such 1
▪ sarres I need not dilate but, unfortunately,