The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-11-07 00:00:00

Wttropolitan gossip.

BY 01:" R OWN rORRESPONDENT.

remarks under this head are to be regarded as the sic-
sior oi Independent opinion, from the pen of a gentlenopi
'hon we have the greatest corilidence, but for which we
wtheleas do rut Mid°l.:noires responsible I -

With the expected return of her Majesty to
Windsor, the period of the dissolution resolved upon,
and arrangements made for the issuing of the election
writs ,m the 11th of this month, political activity may
now he said to be at high-pressure pitch. Here, there,
and everywhere there is scarcely anything talked
about but "the election," that election of course being
that particular one which most interests the speakers.
We shall have some six weeks more of electoral excite-
ment, and then will come a still more exciting time.
The general election may be regarded as the enrolment
of soldiers in two great armies who will have to do
battle almost as soon AN they meet on the old arena of
political warfare—the floor of St. Stephen's. The great
question which will have to be decided is whether the
present Ministry shall retain office, or whether—so
the proposition is generally put—Mr. Gladstone shall
be called on to form an administration. However this
question may be decided, the commercial and trading
classes will be very glad when it is decided, and mean-
while complaints are general that electioneering
makes it very bad for the trade of the country.

Everyone will have been glad to hear that the
Princess of Wales is about to accompany her husband
on a long foreign tour, because it proves that her
health must have been pretty wall established, but
many persons must regret that Egypt is to be one of
the countries visited, for the climate will probably
present a severe trial to her Royal Highness. The
Lancet tells us that it presents great and rapid changes
of temperature, the thermometer frequently marking
a difference of fill or GO de4rees between day and night
with heavy dew at nightfall. "Under the zonstant
care of Sir Samuel Baker," it is said, and of Dr.
Minter, who also accompanies the royal party, we feel
sure that the health of the Princess will never suffer in
her journey from evils which judicious foresight can
avert." Of course not, but, considering the still rather
delicate health of the Princess, it seems rather a
hazardous voyage.

The next great International Exhibition will be held
in that charming "little Paris," Brussels. The year
1870 will, in all probability, see a monster gathering of
all nations on a portico of ground which is even larger
than the well-remembered Champ de Mars, in Paris.
In the following year we, too, are to have our nomi-
nally, but not strictly decennial Great Exhibition, the
site being not far from that of the International Ex-
hibition of 1882.

A case is now under investigation, the preliminary
facts of which show once again what a pernicious in.
fluence is being exerted over lads by what may be
called the "highwayman literature' of the present
day. Two boys, the oldest of whom is only seventeen,
being charged with breaking and entering a house,
and stealing money therefrom, severally make state-
ments which show that this wretched and scandalous
species of literature present to them the temptation
to crime. On one of the boys was fimnd " Tales of
Highwaymen, or Life on the Road," with coloured and
other illustrations. Confessing his crime, he added,
"I have been tempted to do this by reading these
tales." On the other lad was found not only the
proofs of his vuilt, but an article which had in all
probability been suggested to him by the coloured
illustrations aforesaid. "I also found on him," says
the policeman, 'a black cloth mask, folded up in his
pocket-book." On the policeman making the natural
remark that that looked very badi the lad replied, "I
have been led into this by reading bad books." Can
anything more clearly show the direct pernicious in-
fluence of this :Lass of literature? It is sad to know
that these tales are very largely sold, and sad to doubt
whether there is any remedy for it. I am not aware
that there is any law under which the concoctors of
this unwholesome garbage can be prosecuted, but
surely something might be done to repress it. We
glory in our free Press, and justly so, and we con-
gratulate ourselves with equal justice that all the
lugubrious prophecies an to the removal of restrictions on
the Press resulting in "a rabid and licentious Press'
have been falsified ; but we have a licentious press,
nevertheless, which existed before these restrictions
were removed, and exists stilL A censorship of the
Press would never be endured in this country, but if
some law could be proposed by which we could shield
the youth of this country from printed temptations to
robbery, the public would undoubtefily support such a
ProPoml-

The literature of trade has made wonderful strides
of late years, and books or pamphlets are now occa-
sionally issued by well-known houses which really de-
set ye to rank with more ambitious literary productions.
As illustrating this remark, two cleverly written little
books have just been issued by Mr. .T. W. Benson,
the watchmaker and jeweller. One gives an interest-
ing account of the rise and progress of watchmaking,
and describes such a variety of clocks and watches as
few people could imagine were in existence; and the
other gives a valuable description of the sci•mtific and
artistic processes brought to bear on the mcnufacture
of jewellery. I will not add the hackney al remark
that no gentleman's library will be complete with-
out these little books, beCause no gentlemen's library
ever is complete under any possible circumstances ;
but all who are interested in the progress of art manu-
factures should read them.

A bill will, I have no doubt, be brought forward
oext session for removing the Gas Works from the
metropolis to the suburbs. It has long been felt that
their presence here, surrounded by densely inhabited
houses and valuable property, is an anomaly that
ought not to lie continued. A suggestion has been
'thrown out that gas should be made near the collieries,
where labour and ground are cheaper than here, and
that the gas should be conveyed in pipes to London,
instead of bringing the coal by rail or collier. There
would be no difficulty perhaps in such an undertaking,
and the objection that it would throw a great many
men out of employment is one that seldom prevents
any new idea from being carried out. Supposing that
gas could be conveyed in pipes from the north, why
should we not have sea-water brought in pipes from
the south From Brighton, for example. We might
then have veritable sea-water baths without going to
the sea-side for them.

Some well-meaning but, as it turned out, not parti-
cularly strong-minded persons some years ago got up
a Play-ground Society, the object of which was to
secure such little bits of play-ground that London
children might already possess, and to obtain more;
but I believe the society has gone the way of many
other good intentions. It would be well if we had
some such an organisation still, as the suburban play-
grounds are fast disappearing. Were any such society
in existence, it might very reasonably oppose Sir
ilichard Mayne's new edict —that boys shall not bow
hoops in the streets. It is said that "some thousands
of boys' and girls' hoops are now to be found at the
different police-stations in the metropolis." What
alarm and terror this edict will spread among the
juvenile population ! It is very hard upon them ;
but, on the other hand, when paterfamilias is on his
way to the City, for instance, it is also very hard that
he should get his legs entangled in an iron
hoop; it is hard that materfamilias should
have her "love of a dress" made in a horrid
mesa by a dirty hoop sweeping against it, or
that a cab-horse should be startled by an iron hoop
rattling paßt him. A good deal can be said on both
sides—where children shall play, and what they shall
play at, are very difficult questions, even involving
religious difficulties one day in every week ; it is as
hard to decide such knotty points, as it appears to be
to decide the conditions under which Spain shall be
governed, or the Alabama claims settled. Shall we
have a Play-ground Congress, with the children fairly
represented' Or will Mr. Diaraeli be good enough
to bring the matter before the Cabinet?

The legislation of foreign Parliaments seldom has
much interest for the English public; but a little
matter that the Chambers in Florence are about to
consider must have no little interest for many large
towns, and certainly for London. One of the first
measures to be brought under their consideration is a
bill to prevent the exportation if Italian organ-boys.
If the Italian Legislature will hut accomplish this
task, they will confer a great boon on the Metropolis.
The nuisance —but that is not strong enough- -the
affliction of organ-grinding is as great as ever, and its
abolition would not only be a great benefit to the in-
habitants of our quiet littic humid, but would really
be a boon to our common humanity.

The City Press records a very curious and, it may be
added, an intensely stupid ceremony, which has been
perpetrated at the office of the Queen's Ilemembrancer.
Proclamation was made for the 'tenants and occu-
piera of a piece of waste ground called the Moors, in
the county of Salop, to come forth and do service, upon
which the City Solicitor cut one faggot with a hatchet
and another with a bill-hook. A second proclamation
was then made, having reference to the occupiers of
a certain tenement called the Forge, in the parish of
St. Clement Dane., upon which the City Solicitor
counted out six horse-ahoea sad sixty-one nails." It is
to be hoped that the City Solicitor felt better after this
ridiculous performance. Of course we may be told
that the tenure, of certain lands depends on this tom-
foolery, but the more's the pity. The relics of feudal
tenure do not recall menu ries of a period of our
history of which we can at all feel proud, and be
Doom& such absurd monkey-tricks as these are

abolished the better; and, with a little alteration, the
same remark is applicable to that annual absurdity, the
Lord Mayor's Show, which this year is to be well nigh
as stupid as ever.