The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-11-02 00:00:00

Tonbou Torresponbent.
w. 4... I Ight le Mato that We de not at all thee.
1111Ultilt edelL .su tAhrre•prietloul.'4

I doubt whether the British ',oldie care much about
lb* daciahh of the Emperor ~f I,crinany with regard
to the interpretation of the San Juan treaty of 14'6.
That decision is arai wit us. and we lose and the Unite.i
:kat* gain • small portion of disputed territory.
Many who have paid attention to the subject dispute
-the justice of the decision ; many others consider the
venikt thoroughly just ; but the majority of 13ritish
subjects care very tittle about it, and at all events
willingly submit to the independent decision of au
arbitrator to whom the matter was referred.
Amerkans generally appear to "accept the result an a
crumb ..t c onfort in indication of American rights,
sad an a tribute to the peiceful settlement of interna-
mit I troubles:" and if we cannot regard it as a
crumb of curd art in the first respect, we cans in the
other.

The reaction in the Iron and Coal trades is imrdirtant
and significant. Colliery proprietord, taking a firm
Auld against the continued demands of the men,
threaten • locirout, and the men give way, and soon
stuff this we have from vaxious quarters the welcome
news of a fall in the price of coals— not t 4, a great extent,
it is true, hut still there' is a downward tendency. And
with regard to the iron trade we hear 1 'hort time,
foreign orders falling off, home trade depressed, hard-
ware annufacturers holding back in the lope of prices
f &JIMA and aime mills and forged dtaniling still for
want of orders. All this is symptomatic. Prices have
been freed up to an unexampled point, and masters
and men have alike been going ahead too rapidly. The
era of moderation seems setting in, and the public at
lire will get the benefit of it. If prices in the coal
au lir ,u trait fall, prices elsewhere will have a tendency
to fall also.

Now and warn we hear items if news relative to the ;
'progrTear of the International Exhibition at Vienna
next year, and there is every reason to expect that this
exhibition will be more like the famous Universal !
Exhibition in Paris of 1567 than any other exhibition
has been. Great preparations are already being
made for the great show in the Austrian capital; and !
the purveyors of public amusement are on the qui vire
in expectation of an enormous influx of visitors. Vienna I
is little known to tee British public, but the city and
ifs suburbs are very interesting, and will well repalf !
the tsoubte and expense of a visit. Having the ;
Exhibition to contend against, the third of th a Belies
of International Exhibitions in London is to be !
has attractive than it would otherwise be, ar.of indeed !
is beginning to be felt that an e".hiliition every !
year is rather too much of a good +...ning. The first of
the series left a surplus of P 20,01, but it is to be
feared that the second has beer. far less successful.
The original design of the Crystal Palace has never
been wholly carried out, am? for a very good reason.
It is not here only that it has been found that scientific
and artistic education is not sufficiently appreciated
by the general public to pay, and therefore more
popttlar, but still wholly unobjectionable means have
been resorted to, the success of which the daily crowds
at the Palace, in all weathers, attest. But the direc-
tor* are to be congratulated on now determining to
develops, as an ina portant adjunct, their School of Art,
Science, and Literature, by founding claxses for
gentlenna, mechanics, arc. Arrangements are being !
mask for esiablishing a foundry, • smithy, an i floting
and pattern-makers' shops, and! need scarcely say that
regulations will be adopted to prevent any unniebdions
blacksmith minglinr; his noise with the sweet strains
that emanate fuse, the Hamlet orchestra or the concert
room. Thia new movement on the part of the l'rystal
Palace Directors deserves public support, as it is now
,generally cyinfeseed that one of our weakest national
points is our def active technical education—a point which
foreign workmen take run advantage of. Another effort
•Idth the same object is highly to be commended.
Who council of the Architectural Museum, West-
minster, have decided to open that institution free to
workmen on from Saturday af teruoons next month. Still
.another pleasing fart in connection with the increased
attention paid to the technical education of working
men may be mentioned. The members and friends of
the London Association of Foremen Fregitteers and
Draughtsmen are about to meet tnimar a paper read
by a well-known civil engineer, "sn the promotion of
practical science and technical tducation by museums
. . . .

-uf inventions established mu% maintained by the sun
plus of the investors' fer, fund." It is especially
gratifying to find the attention of working men
directed to these subteets in the present agitated state
of the labour martiet.

It is said that more than 83,000 copies of the house-
hold edition of "David Coppertield " have been sold
daring the last three wed's. The ft speaks well for
the tobtie taste. The late Mr. Charles Dickey, con-
rid de,-.1 this his best work, and meet thoughtful readers
perhaps will agree with him. 'rile great novelist was

Slot remarkable; for good plota, but that of this novel is
generally regarded aa superior tv that of any other of
Me productions. But independently of any soft con-
siderations, the enormous sale of Dickens's vriu-ks is an
encouraging feature of our age. When we consider
what an immense amount of seimational, immoral,
and namlYyl.auaby literature in sold, the im reasing
popuL.l ity. of the works of the "modern Fielding
(without Fielding's faults), is matter of gement com
gin tulation.

A large meeting has been held here tu consider the
propriety of opening the Itethnal•green Vuseum on
Sunday afternoons, and the result was the passing of
an amendment that such opening was neither omen.
aary nor desirable. With the arguments pro and cos
your readers are donbtleit familiar, and I shall not
dwell upon them, but the passing of such an amend-
ment in a orowded meeting of inhabitants of the dis-
trict is certainly noteworthy. The question is one of
general interest, inasmuch as the Government has
already stated that if this museum were to be opened
'sanction must be given for the opening of numerous
others, and this would undoubtedly make a consider.
able difference in the observance of our good old
gaglish Sunday. That the majority of working
classes want museums opened on Sunday I do not be-
lieve. The agitation is got up by a comparative few.

After spending two or three millions in the main
drainage of London and its suburbs, it has continued
to be a matter of public surprise that towns on the
banks of the ever should still be allowed to drain their
sewage into the mighty stream; but reform is to be
slowly elf ecteiL The Thames Conservators have noti-
fied to be Twickenham Local Board that legal pro-
ceedings will be taken if that Board continues to dis-
regard a notice on the part of the Conservators to
divert the Bow of sewage from the river. This looks
healthy, and it is to be hoped that not only will
the pleasant village of Twickenham take warning
and obey the behests of the Thames Conservators
—which indeed is about to be done—but that
other tows and villages on the banks of the
river will do Ifke wise, so that the Thames may once
more deserve the praise which Sir John Denham be-
towed upon it sorce two centuries ago—" Though deep,
yet clear; though gentle, yet not dulL" Apropos of
the Thames, the continuation of the embankment to
Chelsea is making rapid {mamas, as well as the gigantic
works for the northern low-level main sewer, and two
"gangs" of then (I don't like that word gang, as ap-
plied to free labour) of 500 each, are at work night an-1
day in effecting these iLlllllellfie operations. With a
battles-ant from Illackfriars to Chelsea, and the river-
way well lighted, this magnificent work will be some-
thing for Londoners to be proud of.
The second trial in the great Tichborne case will be
full of interest, and its progress will be watched and
its result looked for with eagerness. On either side
some of the most eminent counsel have been engaged
- or at least decided upon, if not In all cases aelually
retained—and vigorous preparations are lasing made
boa, for the attack and the defenct

After
,Tears of writing and talking about improved
thannel communication, and after negotiation between
the English and French lloverntnents, as well as en-
,a;ineering researches on the respective coasts, the
leaked reform is at last tube undertaken by a limited-
liability company, which it is to be hoped will effect
what Goverattuatta have failed to do. We are pro-
mised vessels :educing to a minimum the pitching and
rolling rnoticiti, fine airy saloone on deck and spacious
cabins, and facilities for landing luggage without
removing it from the vane, while the vessels will be
.of inch light draught that existing harbours on both
sides of the Channel will be available. If such
promises can be fulfilled—though they seem to be
almost too good to be true—they will prove a great
Kzieto the travellers to and from the Continent, and
seems nothing to prevent the system being
*piled to sea-going vessel&