The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-26 00:00:00

OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Not for twenty years had been witnessed in
London the spectacle which the police-courts
have presented during the past few days. It was
when the explosion took place outside the HOCIS6
of :Detention at Clerkenwell, just two decades
ago, that the last demand was made for special
constables to be sworn in; and although it is
admitted by the authorities that the emergency
now is not so grave as it was then, it is c?n-
sidered by those responsible for the preservation
of public order sufficiently serious to warrant a
similar call to-day. A large number of citizens,
both young and old, responded to the summons,
a good proportion of whom had volunteered for
a like service in 1867, and a smaller number,
though still an appreciable. vantity, had done
the duty in that "year of revolutions,'- 1818 c
Some of those who wereswerrn in could testify'
by personal remembrance to the presence in the
special force of 1848 of Prince Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte, so shortly afterwards to be known
as the Emperor Napoleon III.; and various
interesting reminiscences were narrated before
the attesting magistrates of the, incidents
attending previous formations Of a force -Of
special constabulary. Those who may ~be dis-
posed to think that it is an easy thatterto
a member of such a body should be advised not
to try it, for it is a position entailing much incon-
venience, and even the possibility of danger ;
and although we all. must tope that the latter
will not be encountered, Wein is n'ot"likl' to
be much doubt as to the realitysof the former.
The " Specials" had their first taste of duty :`on
Sunday in and about Trafalgar-sctitare,' and
happily had nothing more eneroua or heavy to
do than by their presence act as a preventive
force, for no attempt was. 'inade to repeat the
previous week's rioting. . , ,
It happened that on the very day the Epithot
rities issued their appeal for 'special. constables,
London was enshrouded in such .a, fog *ts its
citizens had not been troubled with for the year.
Persons who do not dwell within the area 'called

in old-fashioned phrase "the bills of
,mortality,"
cannot be expected to sympithfisi with • the
annual groan which Londoners emit concerning
the prevalence of fog, for to the nninitiate` its
sheer horrors are unimaginable. It is not an
honest mist, composed of nothing but watery
vapour, though a dense specimen of that kind
would be sufficiently discomposing in so
crowded a city as ours; but it is a thick,
sulphureous mass, full of particles of smae
and other impurities, noxious to the taste,
horrible to the smell, and destructive to health.
It varies in colour from a deep orange to a rich
purple or an impenetrable black, and its com-
ponent parts leave such a deposit on the window
panes as to appal one, when he considers that
that is the kind of thing he has beea breathing.
for hours. To those who have any affection, of
the lungs, such fogs as thorse whicir visit London
are absolutely hurtful; and the death-rate is
always increased at the period of their prevalence.
As for the traffic in the streets and •the river
(though the latter is much leas in certain direc-
tions than it has been for many a long year), a
November *entails an almost complete stand-
Aid ; and those who would ordinarily ride in cabs
and omnibuses are compelled to walk, with the
added danger caused by the extreme slipperiness
of the streets and the impossibility of seeing
exactly where they are going.
But, as the old proverb tells us, it- iez an 511
wind that blows nobody good, and there are one
set of people who always have reason to rejoice
at a fog, and to rejoice the more the denser it
proves, and that is the shareholders in the
various metropolitan gas companies. On the day
which has been described, for instance,' Me- of.
these companies disposed of the enormous quan-
tity of 103,664,000 cubic feet of gas, or thirty-
-fivezaillons, t, hEtn.. on the same day of last
year. The mere statemerne figures will
not convey the same impression to the ordinary
reader as to exactly what they mean, as the fact that
many towns in the kingdom having a population
of from ten to twelve thousand, do not use more
gas in a year than thirty-five million cubic feet—
the amount that was burned in excess of an
ordinary November day because of a fog in the
district covered by one of the great gas com-
panies of London. On the face of it this means
a heavy pecuniary loss to those 'Rho have to pay
for artificial light when the natural light is
temporarily withdrawn; and, put into figures,
on the assumption that the total make for the
day in question was sold at three shillings per
thousand cubic feet, it repvesents £15,500,
while the value of the excess alone would be
£5250. These are startling figures, and no one
who studies them can wonder that many a mind
has been bent to the solution of the great fog
problem. So far all such efforts have been with-
out result. Science has been invoked to no
effect, but we Londoners go on hoping against
hope that some means will yet be discovered to
rid us of a costly nuisance and a periodical

danger. _ _
When wintry weather sets in, it seems natural
to greet the " Christmas numbers " of the various
periodicals and magazines. Most of us by this time
—or, at least, we have been told it so often that
it ought to be fastened on our memory—know
these are prepared in the summer, and that tales of
frost and snow, and pictures of winter's gloomiest
hours are written and engraved to the accom-
paniment of bright sunshine and the singing of
birds. Perhaps that is why it is that the winter
depicted in such productions is of the "good
old-fashioned type, which exists in imagination
rather than reality, and which is certainly more
life-like than true. But, despite this drawback,
and despite also the very general feeling that the
whole business has been more than a little over-
done, the "Christmas number" continues to ho
popular. It brings bright pictures and pleasant
stories into many a home, and adds a " Christ-
massy " touch to Christmas itself, which most of
us would be loth to lose. For, talk as the cynical
will of the grossness of the "goose and plum
pudding ideal" of the festive season, the fact
remains that for the majority of us Christmas is
a time of increased pleasure in our family rela-
tions—a period for the reunion of friends, and
that we cannot but sympathise with folk who
either see no enjoyment in the season, or who,
from their circumstances, are unable to join in
the general joy.
While we are talking of the pleasing side of
winter, there is another which ought not to be
ignored, and that is the danger that always
accompanies the stormy season, a danger which
had awful exemplification on Saturday night in
the terrible shipping disaster by which so many
of our fellow-creatures found a watery grave in
Bight of the lights of Dover Harbour. Shipwreck
Is one of these which must be present to the minds
of us all, and no one is likely to turn a deaf ear
to the appeal that has just Iscies issued On .
behalf of the society which does so much to
mitigate the horrors of storms along our coasts.
The National Lifeboat Institution has 291 life-
boats at various stations, and though its revenue
would have sufficed to defray the current, yet
necessarily heavy, expenses, more funds are
required to replace a considerable number of the
old craft by boats of the newest type and
possessing the latest improvements. The cost
of a fully-equipped lifeboat, with transporting
carriage, life-belts, and other necessaries, is
£700; and if is, therefore, not greatly to be
• wondered at, though 'much to be regretted,. that,
the Committee of the Institution, impelled by
the necessity of providing fresh craft at various
stations, have had to draw on the society's
capital to the extent of over -.C18,000, which
amount is not unlikely to be increased by the
end of_ the year. In' snot. circumstances it is
,
'absolutely necessary foit'alrfriends of the life-
boat service to do something not only to make.
up the deficiency, bilt:Vrisrovide for a continu-
ance of so excellent's work; and it may. be
taken for granted thatoss Boon as the want is
generally known; it will than supplied.
November is the mobile in which Parliamen-
tary agents smile and' solicitors unbend =itch of
their customary rigidity, for, it is that in which.
notices of "privateX•illa." tutt'e to he given.; 'The"
advertising columns ,of- the ",variola neiispapers'
bear testimony: to -the .desire- that exits in
certain breasts for' sivailway-ihere, -or a
' there, or a trAmiiiyin-aartie other: lac; ,
intricate 'creliciiptions of 4Line No. 1 " and
- • "Section, N.o_2 ' lists_ of roads
_t_o be diver td,
and schedules of. Acts to bepeiled, fill the-
space—to the increased profit: of-thenewspaPett,
proprietorM not to-the greaterc,liking f . the
i,.
newspaper _ reader—usually
_devoted to ratters
more strictly coming under the head of" ews.:'
As far as cart at ',present be judged, no scheme of.
great magnitude—suCh as a ship canar resembling
that of Manchester, for instance—is Ito be-
brought forseard ;'but there are plenty of Elmaller
bills, which promise to 'occupy theasttention of
select - committees of Lords snd'Commons, and
members of the Parliamentary bar. NCiw t at,the
great trunk lines have beel4.epmpletod,a ost'
il
m
of our towns have been. connected. w' h the
railway system, the barristers who devotottheir
professienal lives to the committee-rooth have
Dot the same chance of makin4 themselves
"rich beyond the dreams of avarice" that they
once hal. But there is sufficient still dcing in
the wsy of promoting various railway and canal
3cliemeA to -"lake the work a profitable one; and

canal
*and.•