The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-10-09 00:00:00

Our Fonhn Otorrespoubtut.

(We deem it right to state that we de mot at all Et-4$
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

These who had the fortune to be living in London
in February last ca* hardly have forgotten the pheno-
menal fog which lasted a week and did so much harm.
With a high barometer and not a breath of wind, the
fog hung over the city, not only metaphorically, but
literally, like a pall; for the death-rate for that week
was just double the average. It will, therefore, be
with no feelings of pleasure, but rather with muck
apprehension, that dwellers irt the metropolis will hear
that all the indications so far are in favour of the
coming winter being an unusually soggy one. Twenty
years ago, when first the scheme for a Thames
Embankment was beginning to take tangible shape, it
was prophesied by the sanguine that when this magni-
ficent work should be accomplished, the probabilities of
log in London would be greatly lessened, owing to the
abolition of that sheet of mud on the Middlesex shore
which used to be at once a nuisance and a daiger.
But the Embankment has come and the fogs have not
gone, and the we4k-chested have still to bewail that
those whom business or pleasure calls to England's
capital are condemned at oertain periods of the year
to breath a compound of coal smoke and exhalations
from Thames mud and Essex marshes. If science
could supply a remedy, it woulil have surely been
called in ere now; as it is London has to growl and
bear it.

The reference to the Thames Embankment serves as
a reminder that the success of the electric light upon
it has been so great that it is now only a question of
time as to whether it shall be adopted in the main
streets of the metropolis. Aliready the "city fathers"
are planning the extensim of the electric light to the
principal thoroughfares between the bridges of London
and Blackfriars ; and the Metropolitan Board of
Works, encouraged by its success on the Embankment,
is not likely to lag behind in the race for "more
light," As it is, the appearance of the river has been
vastly improved by the, reflection on the water of the
long line of brilliant light from Westminster to Black-
friars, and the row of electric lamps across Waterloo
Bridge serves the double purpose of illuminating the
river and making what was the dullest of thorough-
fares into one of the brightest; but when, added to
what has already been done, the three bridges of
Blackfriars, Southwark, and London, are similarly
caused to shine, the metropolitan public, or, at all
events, that portion of it which travels by road or
river, will have reason to rejoice that night is so much
being turned irrto day.

The memorial which is being erected to mark the
spot where Temple Bar once stood will serve to
remind many of the fierce fight that raged around
that now departed piece of architecture before it took
its final leave of Fleet-street and the Strand. When
the building of the new Palace of Justice was decided
upon and the Carey-street site chosen as that upon
which the courts should stand, many were the pro-
jects put forward by zealous antiquarians by
which the Bar might be saved. None of these were
adopted, and the Bar was doomed; but those
who have seen how in Paris the old gates of
St. Martin and St. Denis have been preserved,
cannot but think that, had it been so wished, Temple
Bar might have been siMilarly saved to posterity. The
two Paris gat ea were built, as the inscriptions upon
them testify, by that " Ludovicus Magnus "—better
known as Louis Quatorze—whom Thackeray satirised
so bitterly, and were, therefore, of about the same age
as our own Bar, Mit, it must be confessed, more im-
posing lit appearance. They, however, still stand,
and are no obstruction, because, instead of the houses
being built up close to them, as was the case with
Temple Bar, he road runs around as well as throu
them; had this plan been adopted in London, Temple
Bar might still have stood.

It seems probable that one of the last acts of *official
courtesy of Sir Francis Truscott, whose Lord Mayor-
alty will be over on the ninth of next month, will be
the entertainment at Guildhall of the members of the
Paris Municipal Council. That body, though con-
trolling all the internal affairs of the French capital,
has by no means the large powers of the London Cor-
poration, for, what with the Prefects of the Seine and
of Police, with an occasional interference from the
Minister of the Interior, it very often finds that it can
by no means do as it likes. The choice of a suc-
cessor to Sir Francis Truscott has fallen upon
one of the members for a metropolitan borough,
whose colleague has already paised the chair; after
this year, therefore, Lambeth will be able to claim
with the City itself the honour of having furnished
two colleagues as past Lord Mayors. The City, how-
ever, will have the better of the argument in three or
four years, for the jt4rikly zmember is one of the recently
elected aldermen, am, litust succeed to the dignities of
mayoralty in the time mentioned. It is an interesting
problem in longevity whether at any time the alder-
men live so long that, there being no vacancies, and,
therefore, no new aldermen, the list of those whO
have passed the chair has to be once more scanned
4, in order to elect a chief magistrate

When Mr. Macadam conferred a service upon man-
kind by inventing the roadway to which he gave his
name and by which that name has become immortal,
and when macadamised roads were hailed as the
Ultima Thule in that direction, it was little thought
what a strain would be put upon the system by the
increasing weight and speed of the traffic. And, al-
though no one would deny the advantages of " ma-
cadam " when applied to country roads, or even to
the streets of provincial towns, it is obvious that in
London at least, a substitute must be found. Last year,
for instance, Waterloo-bridge was relaid in, a most
satisfactory fashion, and for a time, • the macadam-
ised roadway earned the praise of all passing over it.
tut since this bridge has become freed from toll, the
traffic has grown in a somewhat startling ratio, and
the old system has not been sufficiently strong to with-
r,tand the strain. The consequence has been that, within
the last few weeks, the bridge has had to be totally
closed for vehicular communication, in order that the
carriage way may be paved with granite. This causes
much more noise and strain than macadam, but as it
is less likely soon to require renewing, the lovers of
quietude must give way before the worshippers of the
practical.

Perhaps none of the questions which torture vestry-
men give greater anxiety than that relating to paving.
The relative virtues and values of macadam, and of
wood, of asphalte, and of granite, have been discussed
zu/ nauseam, and yet there seems no way of arriving
at an exact estimate. No one can walk through the
ctreets of London without being struck by the fact
that neighbouring vestries are hopelessly opposed in
this matter; and the difference between them
wears a ludicrous air when it produces such
results as a street one-half paved with wood, and the
other with granite. The amount of experimentalising
that goes on with the various systems is bewildering
and somewhat annoying to the average citizen, who
has a certain reasonable objection to frequently finding
that the streets are undergoing repair. But even the
wost inveterate grumbler would be inclined to forgive
the troubles he had undergone from this cause if, in
some happy moment, Hy one supreme experiment, the
combined vestries could agree as to which was the best
form of paving and cling to it ever afterwards.
Thong% even as it is, Englishmen have little cause to
repine if they could once compare their roads with
those of the United States they would be more
inclined to rejoice.
The discovery of the last relics of the ill-fated
Franklin Expedition will probably for ever set at rest
the long-debated question of the fate of the Erebus and
Xerror. No one whose recollections do not carry him
back from thirty to thirty-five years eon imagine the
abate of anxiety into which this nation was plunged,
while it was still open to hope that Sir John Franklin
and his band of Arctic explorers had braved the frosts
and snows ,of a Northern winter, and only awaited the
return of a more genial'season to again come back to
their friends. The hope deferred which maketh the
heart sick was felt by so many that it may almost be
said to have been universal ; but even when it was
gradually dying away from all else, Lady Franklin
clung to it with a fevered desperation which com-
manded every sympathy. The telegrams from New
York announcing the discoveries by Lieutenant
Schwatka have seemed to most like the dim echo of a
_ _ _

long-forgotten tale; but to many, who lost friends or
relatives in the expedition, the bare narration of facts
must have been as the last stroke of a funeral knell,
the last sod falling upon the coffins of those they have
loved Ao well and mourned so long.

DEATH FROM HTDROPROBIA.-At the latter end of
July, Mr. J. G. Taylor, add forty-three, a law sta-
tioner, resraing at Wandsworth, went out for a walk
with his dog. Changing is mind about taking the
dog with him, he ordered him to go lime. The
animal, instead of obeying, snapped viciously at its
anuster, and bit him rather severely. As the dog
was a quiet animal, Mr. Taylor took no notice
of the occurrence, and the wound healed; but
five days afterwards . the dog died with strong
symptoms of hydrophobia. This fact had such
an effeot on Mrt. Taylor that he fell into a
a very nervous and depressed state, in which frame of
mind he reraained until the 30th of last month,
when he goirew worse, and was ultimately admitted
into the George Ward of St. Thomas's Hospital.
IsTothwithstanding the care and attention he received
he grew worse, and on 11. st Saturday morning the
.patients of the ward in which he was lying were
awoke by noises similar to those of a dog barking.
The nurses then discovereeMr. Taylor foaming,at the
mouth, and barking and struggling in a distressing
manntr. Thehouse surgeons iselae immediately sum-
moned, but, after a scene of the most terrible nature,
the patient died in great agony.

THE PORTE'S NEW PROPOSALS.

The Times of Wednesday published the following :
CONSTANTINOPLE, Oct. 4.

In the Note communicated to the Ambassadors to-
day the Porte declares that, in order to put an end to
the eontinued 'pressure of the Powers it has deter-
mined to deal with all the outstanding questions
simultaneously, and it then proceeds to indicate the
solutions which it proposes to adopt.
With regard to the Montenegrin question, it will
endeavour to persuade the Albanians to hand over
Duleig,no, povided that the Powers shall accept the
conditions already stated in the previous communi-
cations.
For the solution of the Greek question the Note pro-
poses a frontier line starting north of Volo, proceeding
south of Larissa, Metzova, and Janina, and terminat-
ing at the mouth of the river Arta. •
The third question dealt with is that of the reforms
in Armenia. After describin certain reforms, already
sketched in the psevious sote on this question, the
Porte declares its intention to introduce them within
three months.

The fourth question is that of reforms in the Euro-
pean provinces. These will be carried out in so far
as they do not endanger the integrity of the Empire.
Lastly, for the solution of the financial question,
the bondholders will be invited to send delegates to
Constantinople to consider the best means of arriving
at a satisfactory arrangement, and certain revenues
will be affected to the payment of the interest on the
foreign debts.
The Porte insists, however, as a condition of taking
the measures above indicated, that the Powers should
abandon the Naval Demonstration.