The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-11 00:00:00

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LONDON CORRESPONDENCE,

We deem it right to state we do not at all tires idititify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinion.s.

It is understood that the Queen, on the occa-
sion of her approaching visit to the Continent,
will be away for at least a month, and if the
weather and other circumstances be favourable
the stay may be prolonged over that period.
From the fact that the official who always has
the making of the arrangements for her
Majesty's journeys on the Continent has lately
been to San Remo, it is believed that the Queen
will carry out the intention attributed to her some
time ago of visiting her eldest daughter and the
Crown Prince of Germany for a day or so.
Following the course adopted when she last
visited the south, the Queen will not break her
journey in France. She will sleep on board the
Royal yacht and go direct to Florence in the
special train, which will not even enter Paris, but
be taken over a loop line around the city. There
is a magnificent Throne-room in the residence of
the British Ambassador in Paris, but it has never
yet been occupied by her Majesty.
There is mourning and desolation among the
shopkeepers of the West-end. They hoped that
what otherwise promised to be a dull and un-
profitable season would be enlivened a round
of festivities in connection with the celebration
of the silver wedding of the Prince and Princess
of Wales. It appears, however, that the event
will be observed without any State function, and
in the quietest possible manner. The gift
which certain ladies in society will make to
the Princess on the 10th of March will
be a magnificent and costly specimen of
the jeweller's art. It will take the form of rays
of large diamonds shaped to what is known as a
Russian diadem. It will be accompanied by a
book bound in white and silver fitting into a
drawer and having a case of royal purples. It
seems difficult to realise that nearly five and
twenty years have elapsed since the Princess
first passed through the streets of London amid
the cheers of countless thousands of people.
To habitues of the House of Commons there is
always a peculiar feeling on the first and last
days of a session. At the commencement there
are so many greetings between members of all
parties, and all seem to be so fresh and hearty
and glad to be back again, mingled with which
are mournful reminiscences of colleagues who
have died or have resigned since last the House
was sitting. At the end of the session weary
and worn members seemed pleased to get away.
and not to care much whether they ever
come back again. But the House possesses
a wonderful fascination for all of them.
Not many familiar forms are missing this year.
Mr. Denning, the late Chief Inspector of Police,
is among the most prominent of the absentees.
It was Ins duty before the opening of Parliament
each year to make a tour of the vaults under the
Houses to see that no Guy Fawkes was con-
templating the wholesale massacre of our legis7
lators.
The proposal which has been in contem-
plation to get the House of Commons
to meet earlier in the day and to go
to bed at something approaching a decent hour
has caused a flutter amongst certain honourable
members, mostly those engaged in commerce or
connected with the legal profession. To them it
would be almost impossible to take their seats
at anything like so early an hour as two in the
afternoon. Amongst other members, too, there
would be some dissatisfaction. The fashionable
dinner-hour in London is getting later and later,
and after dining leisurely and well there is
little time before midnight. At the same
time it seems strange that while Parlia-
ment passes measures to prevent people from
working at improper hours its chief labours
should be conducted when most people are in
bed.
The experiment of running an early morning
train for the convenience of the small army of
men connected in various departments with the
London morning newspapers has so far been
attended with a considerable measure of success.
The train which leaves St. Paul's Station, which
is close to Fleet-street, at 3.15 a.m., goes south
as far as Beckenham, and, on an average, carries
about 150 passengers. This number is sure
to grow as the convenience becomes better
known. The improvement has its moral side
as well as its useful. It enables men
to get home instead of having to wait
two hours later at some of the public-houses
which, by special arrangement, are permitted to
open in the neighbourhood of the newspaper
offices at two o'clock in the morning.
It has become quite common of late for titled
and other ladies well known in the fashionable
world whose circumstances, owing to the depre-
ciation in the value of land and other causes,
have become reduced, to go into trade. Of
course they naturally select the occupation into
which their experience has given them the greatest
insight, that of millinery anddressmaking. Their
establishments must not be confounded with the
ordinary shops. The surroundings are artistic
and the trade what is known as select. The
ladies as a rule make admirable women of busi-
ness, and although they lose some of the plea-
sures of fashionable life, they have the recom-
pense of a spirit of independence. The number
thus engaged is by no means small, and is con-
stantly increasing. This is certainly a very
singular sign of the times.
Although cases of smallpox are gradually
creeping from town to town in the provinces,
London has so far escaped the terrible epidemic,
but as the disease comes around in pretty well
defined cycles an outbreak is expected m the
coming summer, and the sanitary authorities
are taking steps to meet and minimize it. They
direct the attention of householders and em-
ployers of labour to the necessity of increased
sanitation and the free use of disinfectants. At
present the most serious visitation here is that
of whooping-cough, which numbers something
like 130 to 150 victims weekly. Spread over the
metropolis this is a small proportion of deaths.
This has been a remarkable winter in one
respect—the unusually low rainfall. We have
not suffered here so much as some of the large
towns in the provinces, where even at this period
grave fears of drought are being entertained.
The water supplied to London may not be of tha
purest, but at least there is plenty of it, and to
this must in a large measure be ascribed the com-
parative healthiness of the population. The
absence of severe weather has been a great dis-
appointment to the lovers of skating. There is
no more animated scene than the lakes in the
parks, crowded with young people, on a bright
frosty day. They give a lot of trouble to the
authorities' for they will insist on going on the
ice when it is too thin or has become rotten.
An earnest attempt is being made to deal with
the " sweating " system in the East-end. Readers
of "Alton Locke" will remember the terrible
pictures there pourtrayed of the scenes in the
sweaters' dens. The description would hold
good now of many places in Shoreditch and that
neighbourhood. The factory inspectors confess
that they are practically powerless, the business
being conducted with so much secrecy. The con-
stant immigration of pauper foreigners,i,vho have
dreams of London streets being paved with gold,
is ever increasing the evil. The population
% becomes more congested and prices lower and
lower, it is necessary that something should be
done to save the poor people from themselves, in
addition to which their insanitary surroundings
are a source of danger to the whole population.
Many good and disinterested people are taking
up the matter, but it is to be feared their success
will not be commensurate with their
hopes or
deserts. A. F. R.