The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-03-24 00:00:00

LONDON CORRESPONDENCE,

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

There is little cause for Wonder that the
romance attaching• to the recent marriage on
English sal of Prince Oscar of Sweden to Miss
Ebbs, Munck has attracted much interest and
roused general sympathy. Nothing can be con-
Y:dved more likely to do both than a wedding
between 6, Prince of Royal blood and one of
humble birth, in which the former has had
to lay aside much of his position in order to
secure the latter's hand. In a novel sometimes
this kind of story is set forth at length, but
olthough it may be read with a pleasurable sen-
sation there c feeling at the end that such en
event is no at all likely to occur in real life; and,
01..trekt,,when one such does take place, it is made
tiao it_>tost of. As a rule, when marriages of this
kifihd are arranged, the friends of the one party
who is higher in position than the other,
actively oppose it; but this has not
been the case in the present instance,
for, although by the statutes of the Royal
family of Sweden, Prince Oscar Charles
Augustus, Duke of Gothland, has, in order to
win his bride, had to abandon for himself and his
descendants, any claim to the throne, and has
had to forfeit other privileges which to one of
Royal birth must be dear, the Queen, his mother,
has actively assisted his suit, and his family have
been most kind and considerate throughout.
Under these circumstances, the romance was all
a pleasurable one; and the good wishes of the
British people will go out towards the newly-
wedded pair, who have thus braved the world for
love.

Evidences are continually forthcoming of the
tendency of the times towards more complete
technical education, and the Society of -Arts has
just issued a notification which furnishes yet
another. With a view of rendering its commer-
cial examinations more practical and technical,
the society has decided to examine candidates
who have passed the general examination for
commercial certificates in special subjects relative
to different branches of commerce. For the
present year it is proposed to hold an examina-
tion in two divisions, the first relating to the
commerce of food and the second to the mn-
nteree of ebthing, and it is intimated that
tether divisions will be added as experience
May show to be desirable. Candidates
or the divisions just specified will be expected
to answer questions as to sources of supply of the
various products, the countries producing them,
their nature, method of preparation for market,
characteristics, methods of testing, substances
used in adulteration, values, methods of importa-
tion, cost and methods of transport, foreign
markets, discounts, trade allowances, shipping
Insurance, customs duties, &c., and when possible
they may be t'.equired to examine and report on
samples of the goods, while they must be
familmr with the technical terms used in their
branch of commerce, and will be expected to
Make out bills of lading and invoices. It is
evident from this synopsis of the requirements
that the propcsT2d examinations will be far from
easy, and it may be fairly anticipated that they
will do much good. If England is to preserve her
Commercial supremacy, it will only be by the
extension of technical knowledge among those
bt her sons who are engaged in trade, and every
effort which makes for that extension deserves
cordial welcome.

The House of Commons has appointed a select
committee to "inquire into the rules and regula-
tions under which strangers are admitted to the
House and its precincts, and to report whether
any alterations in the same are expedient."
The mason for this step admittedly is that
It was shown at the recent dynamite trial
that certain persons having presumably
dangerous designs had obtained admission
to the House ; but as it was also shown
that they were known and were consequently
" shed'owed " by the police during the whole
time they were within the precincts, the testi-
tiony in favour of any further restrictions being
placed upon the admission of strangers was of an
exceedingly negative kind. It is rumoured that
one of the proposals to be laid before the select
committee will be that no person shall be in-
troduced with whom a member is personally
unacquainted; but a very little consideration will
show that this would be tantamount to the ex-
clusion of nearly every person who now
enters. Even in the days of small boroughs,
when members might have been presumed to
know all their constituents, such a rule would
have worked harshly against the dwellers in.
counties; but now that there is scarcely a con-
stituency which does not number fifty thousand
inhabitants, any regulation of the kind would be
practically prohibitory. The broad fact stands
that no outrage has occurred owing to the
admission of strangers under the present rule,
and that being so the general public will not
have much sympathy with any movement for
further restricting a privilege already far too
grudgingly granted.
What a change there is between old trade
customs and those which exist to-day is abun-
dantly shown by the discussions upon the
apprenticeship system, which have recently taken
place in the Court of Aldermen and Court of
Common Council of the City of London. The
old form of indenture which provided that a
master should board, lodge, and clothe his
apprentice is felt to be out of date in these days
when scarcely a City tradesman lives over his
shop, and it is also thought that the old-time
prohibition against an appeentice marrying is
tow out of date. For these reasons, and in
order that the term of service might be reduced,
if mutually thought desirable, from seven year 3
to four, a new form of indenture is being con-
sidered by the City authorities, and appears
likely to be adopted. One facetious member
of the Corporation, who contended that,
under the present system the apprentice for the
first three years of his time swept out the shop,
and in the next four years fetched his master's
beer, submitted that apprentices in this country
should, like those in certain Continental
countries have to appear once a month before
an Education Committee, in order to report pro-
gress, and, if none had been made the master to
be sent for and the deficiency called attention to.
Perhaps we are not likely to reach that stage of
development yet, but the apprenticeship system,
valuable in itself, will have to be greatly modi-
fied in order to suit the ideas of the time.

Within the past few weeks English readers of
newspapers have become very familiar with the
name of a "blizzard," though in this latitude
they can scarcely realise what the visitation
really means. The terrible snowstorm which
swept across Dakota some weeks ago aroused
general attention in this country, and the more
recent one in New York has deepened the inte-
rest. What has drawn particular notice has been
the number of deaths arising from the "blizzard,"
this behg the more remarkable because evidently
they did not occur from cold, but from suffoca-
tion. The medical explanation of this, as now
given, is that the unparalleled suddenness and
extent of the fall of temperature converted the
snow into ice crystals, which were ground by the
gale to a fine, dry, ice-dust, the air being urns
rendered quite unfit for respiration, and thus
making the effect of the "blizzard" exa.3tly analo-
gous to that of the deadly sandstorms of the Sahara.
Anything more terrible can scarcely be imagined,
and, although America is a great country, and
its capacity for expansive prosperity appears
almost illimitable, many of us would prefer the
old country with all its climatic faults to one in
which the weather risks are so fatal.
The final proposals for disposing of the
Women's Jubilee Offering have now been
approved by those most interested. More than
£B4 000 had been raised, and over three millions
of females had contributed; £70,000 was devoted
to the Queen's Nursing Fund, £lO,OOO was
reserved for the replica of Marochetti's statue
of the Prince Consort, to be erected, by her
Majesty's wish in Windsor Great Park, and, after
providing for all contingencies, it was
resolved hy the General Committee that the
surplus should he devoted to the purchase of
some personal ornament which it is hoped will
be worn by the Queen as "an ever-present testi-
mony of the loyalty and affection of her women
subjects." In order to emphatically mark this
as an expression of the opinion of women of all
shades of feeling and in every part of the United
Kingdom; the motion thus disposing of the surplus
was supported by Lady Salisbury, Mrs. Glad-
stone, the Duchess of Baccleuch, the Dowager
Marchioness of Londonderry, Lady Mara, and the
Countess of Stafford; and it will be generally
agreed that, taken as a whole, scarcely a better
disposition of the whole fund could have been
made. Queen and people alike are satisfied, and
the special nursing fund which has now been
established should prove of lasting good effect to
those in need of aid. A more worthy memorial
for all five of the Jubilee could scarcely have
been imagined than the linking of the Qiieen's
name with an institution which will be of advan-
tage to the sick and the afflicted long after the
Jubilee itself shall be but a matter of far-past
history.
The hundreds of artists who are in hopes oi
having their works exhibited at the great spring

exhibitions at the Royal Academy, the Grosvenor
Gallery, and the New Gallery, are just now
engaged in putting the finishing touches to their
pictures. For only a week or so will now elapse
before will come the appointed days for "sending
in," and then there will be a period of suspense
until it is settled by those having authority what
pictures shall be hung. Upon the whole, the
winter has not been a bad one for those painters
who live in London. We have not had the suc-
cession of fogs which some recent seasons have
seen, and although the days of winter are usually
dark, those we have just gone through
have certainly not been darker than the
average. Already those interested in the
matter are beginning to talk of the works which
Sir Frederick Leighton and Sir John Millais, Mr.
Tadema and Mr. Orchardson, Mr. Burne-Jones
and Mr. 101 l intend to put forward at the
various exhibitions, and the gossips of the
studios is in full swing. For although it is a
commonplace of conversation that the English
people have no care for art, it has to be admitted
even by those who use it that more popular
interest is displayed in the subject than has ever
before been the case. And whether the interest
is deep or not, it suffices to fill the exhibitions,
and that is something for the artists, after all.
A. F. R.