The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-08-15 00:00:00

Ottropolitan 6ossip.

BY OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

(The remarks under this head are to be regarded as the
expression of independent opinion, from the pen of a gentle-
man In whom we have the greatest confidence, hut for which
we nevertheless do not hold ourselves responsible.]

If we may trust the leading medical journal, her
Majesty's trip to Switzerland was not undertaken
without good cause. "We stated some months ago," :
says the Lancet, 'that the ,lueen had been subject to
fainting fits, accompanied by distressing attacks of
sickness. Though these to a great extent have abated,
she has felt very much the hot weather, and Ode,
with the unusual fatigue site has recently undergone,
have produced a degree of weakness which the change
will, it is expected, remove." Everybody will be
sorry to hear that the Queen has suffered, like the rest
of us, from the beat, and more than most of us; but it
is not easy to reconcile the statement about "unusual
fatigue" with our memories of the quiet and partially
secluded life that her Majesty has for a long time led.
We can all, however, heartily wish that she may
return with renewed health and strength, and that the
flesh bracing air of Balmoral may perfect what it is
to be hoped Switzerland will partially accomplish. In
the meantime, it is pleasant to readthe account of the
interview between Queen Victoria and the Empress of
the French, but more alllllBillg than instructive to
read what the French papers say about a subsequent
visit of the Queen to the Empress, which never took
place, and of an imaginary banquet which equally had
no existence. Several of the French journals tell tie
that the Queen visited the Empress at the Patois
Elyse; and the Prease says that the banquet was
served on s splendid service of plate which had never
been used before ! On the other hand, the Figaro,
knowing that no such visit and no such banquet took
place, tells us that the public outside of the Palace
demonstrated their dissatisfaction at the Queen not
going, which the Paris correspondents of the London
papers either deny or do not mention. So much for
the accuracy of the French press.
Candidates for Parliamentary representation and
their agents and friends are now pretty busily at
work, preparatory to the general election. Day by
day it becomes clearer that the new Reform Acts are
somewhat complicated, and that many of those who 11
are legally entitled to a vote will not possess it, either
from their own apathy or negligence, or from not pro-
perly understanding what is necessary to be done as a
prebniinary. Some people argue that this will be a
very great advantage. They say that it will render
the change from a restricted to a greatly enlarged
constituent laxly more gradual than it would otherwise
be; while it is also maintained that we now see, what
has been often asserted, that the working classes do
not care for a vote. Without arguing on these sup-
positions, it is tolerably certain that the coming general
election will not add so large a number to the actual
voters as the framers of the Acts have reckoned on.
It will, indeed, probably take two or three general elec-
tions before people get thoroughly used to the new con
ditions of a vote. As to the constitution of the new
House of Commons speculation is rife, and the pre-
vailing opinion is that it will more widely differ from
that which is about to be dissolved than a new House
generally differs from its predecessor. Perhaps the
proportion of new men in the House after a general
election may be fairly set down as one-fourth, but the
proportion of "fresh blood" this time is likely to be
larger. As to genuine working men in Parliament, it
is doubtful whether we shall have half-a-dozen.
Working men generally do not like to send their own
class to represent them, whatever the theory may be.

We were not long ago threatened with a cab strike,
and now we are suffering front a railway coup d'Etat.
Three of the southern railways having combined, the
public have for upwards of a week been smarting
under a revision of fares, which simply means an
increase of 20, 30, 40, or even GO per cent. There is,
no doubt, something to be said on both sides. The
railway companies maintain they have a right to
do what they like with their own; that they have a
right to charge their own prices; and that if the public
do not like them they need not travel by their lines.
On the other hand, the public assert that if these lines
do not pay it is through mismanagement; that Parlia-
ment has granted them privileges and powers, not for
their own benefit only, but for that of the public;
and that an implied contract has been entered into by
these companies with the residents along the line that
fair and reasonable rates shall be charge]. At present
there is immense excitement among those who have
hitherto been regular travellers, many of whom are
seeking other modes of conveyance, while others are
determined to walk, or do anything, to have their
revenge on the railways. The dispute will have the
effect of increasing existing omnibus traffic, and of
placing several others on the southern suburban routes;
but next Session this sudden and united attack of the
railways on the public will not be forgotten, and it
will afford a strong argument in favour of Government
supervision of the entire railway system.
I happened to be in a position to witness, the other
day, the embarkation of a number of emigrants from
Millwall, for Canada, and an interesting sight it was.
I find there were sixty-four persons thus intending to
leave the country, but at the time it was rather diffi-
cult to say who were going, and who not. In
many cases, however, there could be no mistake. The
packages told a suggestive tale. Men, women, and
children were among the emigrants, and the men
I. oked healthy, hard-working mechanics and labourers,
while the women and children were mostly very
neatly dressed. 'Parting," says Romeo, "is such
sweet sorrow, that I could say good night till it were
morrow ;" and there were eminent signs of sorrow
among friends who were leaving and friends
who were left behind; but there was also observable
on the faces of ithe emigrants hope and gratitude.
IN early every one of them—perhaps all, without ex-
ception unless it be the little children, whom
maternal love shields from all but unavoid-
able suffering had endured bitter privations
during the past winter, and had had many
unsatisfied wants even during the subsequent
milder weather. Who amongst us did not hear much
of "East London distress 1" It was a stock topic in
the papers, and happily the public came forward
generously to relieve it. The money that has been
spent in sending out to Canada suitable workmen has
been devoted to the best possible purpose. No less
than 861 men, women, and children have been sent to
that country during the past year, and the accounts
from Canada show that there is room for many hun-
dreds more. It would be well, I think, if some more ex-
tended organisation were set on foot to carry out a
systematic dispatch of working families to Canada
and any other country where it can be proved that
certain trades are in want of "hands." But in no
case, I think, should single men be sent out. The
very best class to send out by subscription, or by public
funds, would be single young women, seeing that we
have too many here, and that they are much wanted in
the colonies. And the dispatch of unemployed, but
healthy and respectable, working men, with their
wives and families, would be a great boon to the work-
ing classes at home. But single men should be chosen
last. They are better able than others to fight the
battle of life.

The Marquis Townshend, like other mortals, makes
mistakes, and, as he is continually exposed to the tricks
and deceptions of self-made martyrs and people with
inaginary grievances, the only wonder is that he
thee not oftener make mistakes. One of these lately
wa rather curious. The St. Pancras guardians were
sitting in solemn conclave, when up drove the kind-
hearted marquis " big with the fate," not of Cwsar
and of Rome, but of a woman, who had told him how
cruelly she had been used by the workhouse autho-
rities. The case, however, being at once called on in
presence of his lordship turned out to be a mare's nest.
There was no cruelty at all, unless of the woman
towards herself in getting drunk. I hope the Marquis
will not often be taken in in this way, for he really
does great public service, though sometimes in rather
an odd way.

Another batch of tradesmen have been fined here for
short weights and measures. We must not hastily
conclude that all of them are dishonest tradesmen, for
the mysteries of weights and measures, and the un-
certainty of even the standards, aresuch that honestly.
inclined traders are themselves deceived; but the great
majority of these persons, it is to be feared, knowingly
cheat their customers. What an absurd farce, there-
fore, to fine seventy-three persons an aggregate of
£54 Ps. The pecuniary loss is nothing to them, seeing
that they have, perhaps, been gaining by their dis-
honest practices for a twelvemonth. We shall have
no cure for this sort of thing till there is some dis-
graceful punisluhe t --the names of the convicted being
posted up at the police-stations, for instance; or im-
prisonment on a third conviction; or, best of all, till
cheating tradesmen have to post up in their own shops
notification of their having been so fined. Mean-
while, it is a remarkable fact that the publicans are
always the greatest offenders. Among the batch of
seventy-three tradesmen now tined at Islington, thirty.
pin, or one half, are publicans. Teetotallers, perhaps,
will say that Ow shorter the measure the greater the
benefit to the parchiser, but at least there ought to be
no deception as to a legal quantity. As to the quality
of public-house wares, the less said the better.

A curious defet in the Code Napoleon is noticed in
the French paper, A poor woman having been assaulted,
thida that she ran have no remedy till she deposits the sum
of fifty francs. As she is very poor, she cannot raise that
amount, and consequently the penion who has assaulted her
iota oft tree.
_