The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-02-03 00:00:00

fur yonlion Qlorrtspnlunt.
IS
ve. igzinth .
our c
tt a that
iwwet times
The.melubera other Majeuty's
_moat faithful Cow:

mom hsve severally been engaged in chewing the cud

_ - -
of sweet and bitter fancies, or, in other words, must
have been conning,ocer the circ sent out 4 the
lllik flintier, and the ter of the 0 ition ; w ' the,
rs
ii, giikal publitare beginning t I interest themselves
In the opening of Parliament. Whether her Majesty
the Queen will open Parliament in person now seems
doubtful, the Obserrer, generally accurate on such
matters, inclining to the negative. If the session be
notfrinaugurated by the Sovereign personally it will be
a great disappointment to the public, after hopes
had peen raised in the other ditaction. This
agreeable expectation has had its influence, and besides
this, there is a prevailing impressieeessthat the
coming session will be an active and stirriwg polal
campaign, not to say a stormy session. The election
of a successor to the retiring Speaker will be managed
----• efrithentirmeh difficulty, and it is not thought probable
that,there will,be any opicelthin to Mr. Brand, who
wilnace the entire support of the tiovermnint, and
-.will be proposed by Mr.- Gladstone.- flul there are
several nedders iloomipli ,in the future suggestive of
party liattlhi, among. them the appointment of Sir
Eubert Collier, the Eveline rectory preferment, and
41111111tilfhe AdMiralty, in reference to the Me!hrra, always sup-
posing that the official inquiry into this affair is
settled during the session. In the ordinary canoe
, -eli ffeetidation, too, there will be . two bilk brought
• derwatiel which we cannot expect .will be settled
without a good deal of Wilting—the Ballot and
the Licen!ling Bill. The lime Secretary is very
4614/1111.4...11A to the latter being of such a cha-
racter that it will be micepted by all parties.

C'esl possible but this remains to be seen. A matter
of certainly not less public interest than any of these
0,0 *the finahaal condition of the country, which is so
favourable that we may confidently look forward to
some reduction in taxation.
The Ballot Bill which* Government will introduce
next session will be something more than is indicated
by the title which is familiarly applied to it. It is said
that it will include proposals to abolish the existing
nomination system, and to shift the official expenses
Of elections from candidates to the constituencies. It
is worth noting also, that Mr. Winterbotham, speak-
ing for the Home Secretary, to a deputation who had
called attention to the present Registration Courts, the

Term of Residence for Vutem, and the conditions of the
• Loilger-riarichise, said that " the present state of
•. things is very unsatisfactory," and added that "some
of these matters have already been under the considera-
o, • Con of Government." There can be little doubt there
fore that the Parliamentary and Municipal -Election
Bill, if that is to be its title, will contain ample ma
; -taial for very exciting discussions.
When the Prince of Wales has happily so far re-
covered that a day can be appointed for his assisting
at the Thanksgiving Service, the Thanksgiving Day
will be fixed, and meanwhile, great preparations are
being made at St. Paul's Cathedral. It seems to be
a prevailing wish that Her Majesty should go in State,
and that most of the dignitaries of the Court and
'Government should assist, but many persons main-
tain, on the contrary, that this would be out
of character with the object of the Thanks-
giving Service. Whatever be decided upon, it is
highly probable that the day will be largely, if not
generally, observed as a holiday in London. Dr. Goss,
the organist of St. Paul's, is nowamgaged on are Deiinz,
to be specially composed for the occasion. Meanwhile
it is highly satisfactory to hear continued good news of
the recovery of the Prince. Few, very few of us, have
been so near death as he has been, and our rejoicing
therefore is all the more hearty ! While the Prince of
Wales has become snore than ever endeared to the
nation, owing to the narrow chance we had of losing
him, the Duke of Edinburg. h has acquired increased
and well-deserved popularity by giving to London and
its visitors a most interesting supplementary exhibition
at the South Kensington Museum, an exhibition which
is daily surrounded by sight seers. His Royal High
ness has, too, done a kindly act which is specially
pleasing to "all who music love." In connection with
the Royal Albert Hall, a society of amateur instru-
mentalists has been hauled, and Prince Alfred—we
like to give him that name occasionally—has become its
president. And lie worthily occupies the post. It is
a" fact not generally known," but fact nevertheless,
that the Prince is an able performer on the violin, the
piano, and the harmonium, and he his especially bud
claasical music.
That is aartling news from France, that H. niers
is prepared, if the Assembly will support him, to re-
vive the public gaming-tables of Paris, in order to raise
revenue to pay the Prussian indemnity. It is almost
impossible to exaggerate the evils and horrors of these.
public gaming saloons. It is pretty generally thought
that "play" goes on to a considerable extent nightly
In the private sub.,. of Paris and some other large
towns in France, but then this gaming must be chiefly
confined to a particular class, and the transference of
wealth from one to another, which occasionally takes
place, is if comparatively little importance to the
country at large; but it is no exaggeration to say that
the eetablishment of public gamiag-tables in Paris
would le a curse to the world. The French capital is
so easily accessible from our own shores that such a
dangerous attraction would certainly he injurious to
,u rsel v es. We should have our merchants, tradesmen,
and professional men "running over to Paris for a
few days," and coming hack ruined. Of course, people
.1. not always lose, but the croupiers, that is to may, the
Government are always the gainers in the long run.
Otherwise, bow would M. Thiers expect to raise
revenue from this pernicious source? But I do not
believe he will attempt to do so.
The P. etal Telegraph cards which are to be issued on
the sth ,4 February will undoubtedly be a great con-
% enienre to the public. At present the going to a tele-
graph.ollice and the formalities you necessarily have to
go through there occupy considerable time ; but buy
one if these cards (" an allowance made on taking a
quantity " does not seem to apply) for a shilling,
address it to the person to whom you wish to send the
telegram, write not more than twenty words, drop the
card in the nearest pillar-post or post-office letter-box,
and your message will be sent off in the order in which
it is received as compared with others. A saving of
time and trouble is thus effected, and there is no doubt
that telegrams will, therefore, be further increased, for
they are largely on the increase already. But while
on this subject let me express surprise that nothing has
yet been done, so far as I an. aware, towards the
cheapening of telegrams. When the Post-office took over
the telegraphic business of the companies, it was defi-
nitely stated by the µAltai authorities that the uniform
shilling rate for 20 words would in due timebe lowered,
and we were led to expect a sixpenny note for that
number of words; but we were also told that such a
alange could not be made at once, because the influx
of business would be too great for the Post-oflice to
manage. That was very reasonable then, but that
was a 100, time ago. Perhaps the Posttnaster-General
and Mr. Seudan tore will kindly see t., this little matter
for us.

The Ten Hours Movement among Railway Servants is
making steady, but decided progress in the metropolis,
and the moderation of the demands made— the differ-
ence between nine and ten --tends to make the public
generally favourable to the claims of these overworked
employs. Having carefully examined the whole sub-
jet, I will merely add the conclusion to which I have
come—that the interests of railway directors and
shareholders, as well as those of the public generally,
would be promoted by acceeding to the reasonable de-
sires of the men.

Attention is called by the Rork to a subject which
the Press has hitherto almost ignored, " the horrible
habit i.f profane swearing in the streets." It is well
"served that this habit is' only indulged in by the
Irrwrst and most ignorant classes, and it is not to be
tolerated that they should be allowed with impunity
openly to blaspheme the Almighty, and shock the
moral and teligious feelings of the greater portion of
the community." But unhappily this practice is
tolerated ! I think this subject, confessedly a most
difficult one to deal with, deserves more public attention
than it bas yet received. We are always being tohl
that we cannot make people moral by Act of Parliament,
but surely the Legislature could deal with open and
flagrant violations of publit. de.-orum.
The visit of that most observant and thoughtful
man, the Emperor of Brazil, to this country, seems !
likely to bear good fruit in opening up a new firld for
emigration. His Majesty bas given his sanction to a
scheme which Ls now being matured. In Southern Brazil
1,250 square miles iif very productive land are to be
devoted to alkalisation, and it is proposed to send out
10,000 emigrants annually, Bristol being the port of
embarkation. No decided opinion can be expressed on
this scheme till the details are known, but at present it
sseina feasible and desirable. A fine climate, a genial
soil, a well govern.' country, and enormous tracts of
uncultivated ground invite the surplus labour of our

over-isipulated country, and the working classes would
at all events to well to watch the progress of the
arrangements for carrying out this certainly im-
portant scheme.
It seems that no less than .11112, 4156—nearly £9,000 a day
-wgia contributml during last week to the London
charities. What an immense amount of good accom-
plished, of suffering and distress relieved, does this
represent ! But still the charities "supported by
voluntary enteaription " are him the horseleech's three
daughters; they still cry "Give, give 1" The fact is,
that in spite of the large amount of good that is done,
mismanagement and wasting of funds,

there

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