The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-06-27 00:00:00

yagbor. (forrtsponbent.
AleVu7tettyalolattl rveisefk osurtati::or powitlttlin°otpitoaal"

That part of the Parliamentary Session which has
-saicceededithe Whitsuntide Recess has been a great
.leid more lively than the weary weeks which preceeded
it. For this vivifying influence we have to thank the r
I.ieensing Bill. The lobbies of the House of Commons
have beeu thronged with deputations of licensed
ictuallus from all parts of the kingdom ; the benches
I the House itself and the bar have been crowded
with members awaiting the constant ringing of the
division bell. When one of the nutsble public wishes
eetionntrieate with a member of the Lower Howie,
I,' hands his Card or a note to the doorkeeper, who
pae,es it to the nearest M.P. inside, and it is thus
transferred from one to another along the seats until it
caches its destination. The doorkeeper himself Is a fia-
t ure, so far as the inside of the House is concerned, for
1.0111: but members are allowed within its portals when
assisfahly is sitting. Its the House of Lords the
arrangements for the delivery of messages are much
less informal. There the doorkeeper marches about
the Hoyt- uf the chamber, and threads his way
in and out amotigst the red-leather benches with as
little ceremony as though the first legislative assembly
in the world were Exeter Hall or the large room at
the London Tavern. The Lord Chancellor fills up his
time by writing letters, placing a portable leek upon
Ii s knees for that purpose, and when he has com-
pleted his task, signals to a messenger to fetch them.
The idea (if such au official marching straight up the
floor or the House of Commons to the chair, and
eis illy walking away with a packet of letters for the
pmt, would be such an act iif rank heresy that the
Speaker's wig would be lifted off his head in astonish-
ment, and the 111,11 i of the Sergeant-at-arms would be
moved that the offender would be at once carted
away to prison without the benefit of clergy. But
although there is no Sergeant-at-arms attached to the
Howie of Lords, the peers are in some respects more
inclined to follow ancient ways than the Commons.
Up to within a few years ago the (lays of the week,
and of the month in the records of the pro-
ceedings of Parliament were printed in Latin,
until pne day some hon, member suggested that
no far as the Commons were concerned, it might
just an well be done in English, and this was
at once agreed to. Not so with the House of Lords,
however. Glance at their journal on any day you
please, and you will see at the top of every page the
slate printed in the Latin language, and whereas the
Commens are signed" 11. Brand, Speaker," at the
bottom of the Lords' you will see, "J. G. Shaw
Lefevre, (ler. Parliamentor.," or in other words,
lerk of the Parliament. Curious little facts like
these are not generally known, but they show how old
and long-established customs still cling about some of
our institutions. If we were now engaged, as our
French neighbours are, in discussing the propriety of
forming a Second Chamber, no one would dream of
hinting that the official record of its proceedings should
be introduced and closed in a dead language; the ques.
thin "Why?" would be asked with unanswerable
force. But as the practice has existed for centuries, I
suppose it is not considered worth while to disturb its
While upon this topic I may add that the Royal
assent to a bill which has passed both Houses is given
io the time-honoured tongue of old Norman-French.
The School Board for London is gradually and
quietly performing the giant task which it was corn-
miesioned by Parliament to carry out by the Act
passed four !years ago. Loose assertions are often
made that the Board has "done nothing but talk."
It must, however, be borne in mind the work is one of :
great magnitude; and that to organize a competent
and adequate staff, to decide upon the basis of instruc-
tion to be given to hundreds of thousands of children,
and to provide sufficient Awl accommodation is to
a -complish one of the most momentous undertakings
which wad be entrusted to any body of men. The
Board officials are constantly sweeping into the schools
large proportion of the waifs and strays who prowl
...bout the streets apparently without home or oecupa-
ion. 'rake an omnibus at the Mansion Heise and
ride to Piccadilly (Irons, and at intervals along the
-Jute you will see street arahs in twos and threes,
• sessed in rags, with pinched countenances and eyes
as sharp as needles, running alongside the vehicle,
and turning summersaults in the hope and expec-
tation of getting a few coppers thrown to them
from the outside passengers. Whether it be a
blazing hot day, or whether the streets are inches
deep in mud, it is all the same to these poor little
wretches. I have often shuddered when I have heard
their both hands go splash into a dirty peddle as a
preliminary to the elevation ef their heels in the air,
,nd have seen their grimy faces streaming down with
muddy water. What a marvellous change fur urchins
like these to be diverted from the path of evil, and turned
into a channel in which, instead of becoming felons,
they may be taught how to live as useful and honour-
able members of society !

The low price of money is not a eubject of satisfaction
in the City just now. You can be accommodated at
eS per cent., or even less, while the rate of interest on
deposits at joint stock banks is 11 per cent. This is
not a very good return for an investment ; but,
after all, the quietness in the money market is
preferable to a rage for speculation, and the
bank rate continually being put up for the protection
of the more sober portion of the investing community.
Me cause of the present depression is unquestionably
found in the fact that disputes are incessantly arising
between capital and labour ; for it is impossible that
when thousands of men are on strike or locked out in
Wales, in Staffordshire, or in the north of England,
trade can be so good as when every department of in-
dustry is in full working activity. Nor has our i
foreign commerce during the past few months been
what it was, although it is likely enough that this
falling off is merely temporary in its character. The
restless state of France, and the unsatisfactory condi-
tion of the relations between that country and Ger-
many, has pulled down the value of many good foreign
stodge, and their holders shake their heads over the
departure of their nice little dividends, amounting in
so me caries to ten per cent. This rate of int-rest on
1:100hond is equal in ten years to the invested capital;
but it may possibly happen that in the eleventh year
the shaky foreign Government which has had to pay
such a price for its loan, either tumbles to pieces or re-
pudiates its liabilities, and the lender finds himself not
much the gainer after aIL
When purchase in the army was abolished three
years ago, an end was put to the system of paying and
receiving money for exchanges between officers on
active duty. It worked in this way. An officer
ordered to India, or elsewhere, and not caring to leave
England, was at liberty to exchange with another
officer in a regiment at home for a consideration. The
War Office authorities in 1871 held that this was a
vicious arrangement, and that as the common soldier
had no choice but to go to the uttermost parts of the
earth if he were ordered to do so, the mere accident of
an officer possessing a larger share of this world's
goods ought not to secure him a favour denied to the
rank and file id his army. No doubt Private Smith
would rather peas his time at such a jolly place as
Plymouth or Shorneliffe, than be drafted off to Kur-
rachee, but, if duty commanded, he must obey. The
regulation With respect to the officers, however, was
looked upon as a great grievance, and having with
others heels referred to a Royal Commission, the re-
port of that body describes the abolition of the
exchange system as a hardship, and recommends a
return to the old practice. Something is very likely
to be said about this in Parliament before the close of
the session.
This is the time for the summer fetes of charitable
institutions, and to glance at the columns of the
London papers, one might suppose that the streams
for the outpouring of British charity are well nigh
endless in their number. You conic across asylums
fur almost every conceivable beneficent purpose, all
,upported by voluntary contributions, and appealing
to the public for help. But there is one institution
which, however praiseworthy its object, is anything
but welcome in the neighbourhood where it has been
planted. I allude to the Rome for Lost and Starving
Dogs, at Wandsworth, one of our pleasant southern
suburbs. Just now, when the members .f the metro-
politan police make a raid upon every stray member
of the canine species, the home for the lost brutes
is well tenanted, and there have at times
been as many as seven hundred within its walls at
• once. The howling of these disconsolate brutes must
aometimes be awful. We all know what one dog can
do at night if he is at all inclined to be a barkington,
lint fancy a chorus of seven hundred yelping house-
lees wretches! I am thankful to say that I live at *
considerable distance from this gathering of unclaimed
quadrupeds. I wonder how many householders in the
district contribute to the bazaar which is occasionally
got up in aid of the funds of this worthy institution.
Most country visitors to London know something of
the Temple, its church, and its gardens. It is the
trynting place of a large number of barristers, who
have their chambers there, some of them four storeys
high, and approached by dingy, creaking staircases.
The church is one of the most beautiful in London,
and is a great resort during the season. The gardens
form an oasis in the great desert of the city; they are
looked after with great oars, for the Templars are ex-
ceedingly rich, and begrudge not their money in tusk-
ing the grounds look nice. A stranger passing
p Fleet-street, would little think that one
of thaw old-fashioned doorways on the Routh
inde leads to a retreat all the more calm and pleasant
by reason of its contrast to the eternal traffic of the
streets. At the southern extremity of the gardens Is

iho Thames Embankment, then there is he line of the
river, d aft ei that the far 01l houses ón the Surrey
shore, ,listirat to allow the hum of their busy pu-
latiou kik& Thera are tern moo in year
in which the Temple Gardens are thrown open to the
public, and this is done between the 18th of June and
the ridddle of August. These long summer evenings
are the delight of hundreds of children from a wide
cireumfetense - fi.rthere is no other open space woes-
sible—and they can play merrily enough here, the only
condition being good behaviour, for any damage to the
trees or flowers brings with it a sentence of exclusion.
The grounds are new open, and it is easy to see how
the privilege of entry is appreciated and enjoycol.
Why the Templar, should wait until the liith of June
joAkew ~on this lsaidifal spot is not ;tip:trent, f•ir
flic Jai, verc speediS- turn. But that is their burn-
rie•-+, 411'1 I think the feeling generally is one of thank-
fulners that the place is Accessible at all, even though
it may be only two months silt of the twelve.
This is the week of the Handel Festival at the
Crystal Palace, end to all lovers of the art of music
throughout the country the treat is a great one. The
vast rehestra alone, with its 4,000 performers, is a
s'pectacle north a journey to London, and the melody
in some of the finer passages of Handers Orate,rios is
rendered in emir a way that it is never forgotten by
those who hear it. Just 11,1 w, when the Palace grounds
are looking their best, a few hours spent at Sydenham
may be employed very pleasantly; but when to other
attawetions is added buch a feast as that of this extra-
ordinary collection of the best vocalists and instru-
mentalists of the empire, the visit is likely to be
associated with happy memories for many a day.
The HOUtle of Commons is heartily glad to be free
from the discussions on the Licensing Bill, which in its
later stages through that assembly may be said to have
occupied nearly the whole of last week. It is likely
enough that to some extent there may be a renewal
of the debates when the measure is returned
from the Loris, where it is not improbable
that further amendments may be introduced,
for it will not have been forgotten that the bill of Mr.
Glaristoue's Government in 1872 was introduced into
the Upper House by the Earl of Kimberley, and that
before it emerged from that assembly, it had undergone
many serious alterations. There has been more con-
tention over this question than over any other social
subject that has demanded the attention of Parliament
for many yearn I think that if it can be adjusted this
session with any degree of satisfaction to the licensed
'victuallers and to the public, neither the Government
nor the Legislature will be inclined to touch it again
for some time to come. Both havelound it an ex-
ceedingly difficult matter to handle, and you may de-
pend upon it that, once closed, the controversy will
not be re-opened unless very strong reasons can be
shown for taking such a course. Even now it has
taken up much more time than had been anticipated,
and there iv no possibility of the ssssisu being brought
to a close at so early a date as was anticipated some
weeks ago.