The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-05-26 00:00:00

COMMENTS ON CURRENT NEWS.

Tar. splendid weather made the Whitsnn.
tide Bank Holiday this yesr a very enjoy-
able one for the myriads of =mos who dis-
ported themselves at the various pleasure
resorts, London and provincial. Fewer ac-
cidents than is usual at such a time occurred
and the magistraltes had no abnormal acces-
sion of business on Tuesday on account cf
Bank Holiday exuberance of spirits. The
behaviour o! the vast crowds congregating
at, such places as the' Ci•vstal Palace in Lon-
don, Bellevue Gardens in Manchester, and
at the G!asg )w Exhibition, was commendable
in the extreme,

VOLPNT;ZEP.IN3 seems destined to become

as much a featnre of Whitsuntide as it is an
institution associated with Easter. Lar.7e
numbers of on' • citizen soldiers have been
under canvai -this week, both in the London
district and elsewher3, and many inspections
were held on Whit Nronday. B.i.nk Holidays;
possess attraction 4 in the eyes of the authori-
ties as suitable dates for the annual off oial
examinations, becluse then there is !Hie
difficulty in mnstering on parade the two-
thirds streng,di of the regiment requite 140
secure the Government grant. But some ot
the volunteers are grumbling a bit at the
increasing demands which drill and other
duty is making upon their leisure. It is not
well to thrash
,a willing horse.

JERUSALEM is becoming more a city of the
Jews than for centuries it has been. In 19-30
there were only some five thousand of the
ch6ser. people within the confines of the
capital of the land of promise," now there
are six times that nnmber. Prophets are at
work telling us that the end of the world is
at hand, because the Israelitish race is re-
turning thus to Jerusalem, as it was pre-
dicted they wonld do in Holy Writ; but the
most feasible explanation of the circana-
stance of the new Semitic migration Pal-
estinewards ;s to be found in the driving
away of Jews in shoals from Russia and
some other Continental countries.. The
pocr outcasts must find a home somewhere,
and in desperation they tuna to the snot
endeared to them by historic association.
But this flocking of poverty-stricken Jews to
Jerusalem opens up a prospect of impending
privation not at all pleasant to contemplate.

THE cheering reports of a zrot inarrove-
ulent in the health of the Emperor Freder:ck
•)f Germany are received in this country
dmost as gladly as in the Fella:.land ; but
.‘ove7 all tbere hangs a cloud of fear" thnt
rela,pso may come, and that the illuAtrious
sufferer may succumb to his perplexing
malady, the skiil of Sir Morell Mackenzie
and h;s coadjutors notwithstand:ng. The
avirked reduction of pain and prostration
raises high hope, but the hope is inter-
mingled with an ever present dread ; for
there ate few who, with any conalenee, look
forward to anything like a complete recovery
a'ter what the Kaisn has Lim called on to

Tux farmsrs are already begining to wail
for rain, though we can scarcely be said to
have entered on the dry season yet. E:t
that there is truth in the agricultural alleg-
ation that the ground in many places is As
parched as in autumn may be deduced from
the fact that niiderwond is being fired hero
and there by sparks from passing locomo-
tivrs ; and th.s with the spring greenery
crowding up at is th'ckest. A tw,mity-five
acres fire, like that on Lord Gerard's estate
near St.ll3lens Itst Sunday, is happily not
often reported in May. There can be but
little doubt that a few warm anti gen;al
showers would benefit the country ranch.

We are to have a plethora berry fruit
of every kind, sc.) say the reports from dif-
ferent parts of Kent and elsewhere where
currants awl thew kind r( d garden pr.)duct--
chiefly come from; hut it is predicted that
the pear crop will be almost a blank
Cherries, gooseberries, strawberiiea, rasps,
and .all kinds of currants will be late in
ripening, and the splendid yield which
abundant blossom prnnises should give
hlusekeepers an opportunity of replenishing
ta!ir jam capboa,rds this year at comparat-
ively little cost.

THE backwardness of spring has had the
effect of making market-garden stuff so far
both scarce and costly; but a week or two
hence, when every grower's lettuces, oninins
and radishes are ready at once, as they will
be, the dwellers in large towns will be able
to buy vegetables as cheaply as they like,
almost. Green peas, now potatoes, and
French beans of English outdoor growth will
be considerably later than usual in reaching
the market this year; and as by the time of
their arrival in bulk the first demand will
have been pretty fully met by imported stuff,
the proceeds to the market gardeners will
scarcely be satisfactory.
• •

VERY considerable uneasiness is teing dis-
played as regards the safety of Mr. H. M.
Stanley. the adventurous African explorer
and opener up of the Congo country. It is
now a long time beyond the date at which.
he was expected to reach hmin Pasha, and
yet we have no relithle news of his where
abouts or what he has dwro. Those in au-
thority in the Free State in which Stanley
had a chief band in founding profess to
have every confidence in the great travefler's
ability to overcome all obstacles, but the
g(-neral public is far from being as optimisci,
We are glad to note that search parties ar,
to start on the trail of Stanley, for we should
be sorry if the life of such a man were sacti-
ficed if precaution could prevent it.

THEM are few men who have risen to
eminence in political life who have dune so
with less ostentition than Mr. W. L. Jack-
son, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury;
and tis not surprising to find his name as-
sociated with One of the highest administra-
tive otlice.i tinder Government as its probable
future occupant. The member for Leeds is
nn loubtedly progressing towards the first
rank of Gaisrvative statesmen ; his talents
are more solid than brilliant, and it is in the
arduous wo:-k of legislation that he has
achieved cna.ked snccess and indicated his
fitness for any post where business sagacity
,ii an omen iaL I Mr. ;:aikea receiv*
a Uo mial Uovernorship there will heno dit-
fere:.ce of opinia.lasto thôsaitabi?.i of Mr.
Jackson [or the L'ustmaster-GeLciu.lship.
• •

Vir;iA r may hc.: called the official reply to
the Reki,;ript has establitthed certain
ioliß which can only have the effect
cif la .111.... r I astening the downfall of the
Alan Revolutionary party, and doubtleee it
riali taw autioipativa of buch a malt wiiivu

led Mr Parnell to endeavonr to prevent the
promulczation of such a reply. The propo-
sitions are the anti-religions and anti-Catho-
lic character of Parnellism ; the complete
unscrupulousness of its leaders ; the 'growth
of dissension among its sapporters ; and the
increasing feeblenesa of its efforts. In its
reference to to Ole system of boycotting the
reply i really Gladstoneacine in both its in-
accuracy and its casuistry. Here it is; "The
public, feeling which in some extreme cases
has resulted in the denial of social inter-
course to those who rain families by unjust
evictions, or those who encourage harsh
landlords to such evictions by taking farms
so vacated, is a feeling excited in the mind
of the people by their love of natural justic,
and their desire that Christian eharity should
mould the law of the land and prevail in
the relations of life," Was it a "love of
natural justice," and a desire that Christie'
cl,arity should prevail, that gave the subject
for till. powerful Ilicture in last wooles
Graphil—thlt irnp4el tl,e people of Lix-
naw to boyentt Fit7.•naurice even unto
death, to try an.] s'iiel 1 his mnrdarers, and
to drive h;s orahan dan'T.ltOr fro-a th ?. very
altar of G )1." Nonemformist (Gladstortian)
Ministers please reply.