The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-28 00:00:00

THE STOURBE iDGE OBSERVER.

COMMENTS CURRENT NEWS

" ADVAs;CIE Ansttalia" is a motto the use '
of which has been abundantly justified by
the enterprising dwellers in that wondei•fnl
Antipodean world where now so many of
British Lirth or descent are settled. The
hundred years which have passed since Cap-
tain Philip went with his convict fleet into
Botany Bay, and initiated what was destined
to become the chief city of the newer. Eng-
land ",under th.J world," have been years of
mar7ellooa progress, the record of which is
a veritable romance. *Australia's hundredth
birthday, Thursday, was celebrated with
fitting rejni3ing, Sydney and the rest of New
South Wales being especially festive in
honour of the centenary. Australia's wonder-
al advancement could not, perhaps, be better
brought to the mind's grasp than by the
brief statement, as a representative instance
of the growth of Antipode3,n cities, of the
statistics of the population of Port Philip. in
1835 a return gave the number of dwellers
there an only 14. Thirty-six years later there
were 731,52 S inhabitants. Port Piilip had
increased five thousandfold in a short gene.,--
ation. At the next census, in 1881, the
increase was shown to continue, another
seventh having been added to the population
in the ten years intervening. All Australia
to-day is prosperous, and as instinct with
energy ad life at five score as ever. Many
happy returns of the centenial celebrationl

ANOTIng dreadfully fatal fire in London,
wia'ch is, or should be, studded thick with
"all appliances and means to boot" for coun-
teracting the fiery progress of devouring
flame. No one can say how the Houudsditch
conflagration arose, we have an "open ver-
dict; "but, watched as London is supposed to
be, the alarm ought in every case to be raised
sufficiently soon after an outbreak to get aid
to the spot in time to prevent fatality. When
the wrotc,.ll who was sent on Saturday to
twenty years' penal servitude for arson set
his shop in the London Strand on fire, hi
two boys were done to death within a stone's
throw of a fire escape station. Aud fatal firs
are constantly occurring, not only in the me-
troplis, but in other populous centres w(atre
much public money is expended in preven-,
tive appliances, which, however, are ra7cly
on the spot with that smartness which should
in such a ease be displayed.

IF Isul2.ii has not got his own at last,
claims have, at any rate, been settled in
manner as satisfaotory- as it is surprising.
31E-Khedive made big demands, and has per-
sistently pursued them for years, never with.
out hone of success, and never with much
disposition towards abatement, and tnere
were many who thought he would go or.
through life importuning for a heariat and
scheming for help to get " his rights." Ou ;-
Judge-Advneate-General, Mr. Marriot, has
helpod Ismail out of his t...6nble, and lannee-
forth, instead of a yearly allowance oi ;
to a hundred thousand pounds, the ex-Khe•
diva is to have a grant of Egyptian lands
worth bet.wean a million and a million aild
3 half eifrlirg, three palaces of the Ohl
villa° of half a million, and a hundred thous-
aai ;,Jounis in hard casii. Now Ismai will be
abla to repay many of those here in Engltuid
and iu France the sums with which they
have accommodated him during his advet.sity;
and ho may also return to the extravv.:,:ances
which in years gone by gained
him more notoriety than reputation.

Tata was a costly jerk, for the railway
company, which awhile ago throw a lady
passenger against a carriage door, and thonco
violently on to the platform of a South Wes-
tern line. She has recovered £BOO compen.
sation for the personal damages sustained on
that occasion, the jury holding that they
aroso through no fault of the sulerer. It
was rather a difilenit point to dseide, but the
company were considered liable, hence tha
award. Probably the lady would rather have,
wore that posiible, linr former condition 01.
loalth restored and return tho solatium to
the railway people, for a'oc!ito tho syse
such as she seems to have rfeeived can V0L;..3
t,e adequately compensate A. word of coun-
sel, a props, never ri.le to 101 v...! a rai!w74,y
-:arriat:e until the trall i cinito at a stand-
or yol !na- ruculv.3 't mreiy a disa-
n-peable j.- r!;.• wi• h pnrlrbos a contused ft
,r a inn forward, which at-e
sry cni. uvrencos, but sueh a Fadden
t•us fli itrow noun thit coo. of your
• npai-tm - -eei,litate you on to the
• LI wny or pi.tdorm, and seriously, p:.:rhaps
inkiro yea. Better rioiay a minute
s,tbjec.
~-)nr4elf to so grer.t a

ERDINAND OP COBURS rla3 been roakiu s
Balg-tr:p,
•-• ig inoth'er, and crowdof
ho hi 3 grNay m•lde vehein;ilv_
-ationa of fiieliti by to way ; brit ;le
w-sli to ontemall trurit in salgarian
A.nother Prince before reer3,-
~r.,and h-id more tham one triamphai march
hroug.4.4 the I.3plkan State, bat the Bulgars
f.lb.ve no vy quite; forgotten their enthusiasm
:or exiled A.laxander.

M. Home SECRETARY Mkrrninvs has con-
firmed at Birmingham the piior announce-
nent of a collnagne that, in the coming
iession, o are to have an attempt by the
government to obtain a much-needed lessen-
ing of the chances of swindlers to success-
float sham limited liability concerns ;
and other chief items in the Ministerial
legislative programme are reforms in the
Employers' Liability Act, the Railway Rates
Bill, the relief of local taxation, a meainre
to provide efficient technical education, and
a comprehensive attempt to amend local
government. May Parliament speed the
progrees of inch highly requisite law tasking.