The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-08-06 00:00:00

Onr Tonbon Corragenbtut.
[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The August Bank Holiday has passed once
more, and now those who depend upon the
statutory bank holidays for a cessation from toil
will have to wait for nearly five months—that is,
until Boxing Day—before they get another. In
the midst of the enjoyment which the general
good weather of Monday ensured, it was curious
to see that our legislators were at work. With
a sort of Spartan sternness which was delightful
to witness, both Houses assembled at their usual
hour and proceeded to business. But legislators,
exalted though they are, remain mortal after all,
and a good many of them failed on Saturday to
find their accustomed places on the green or red
benches they usually favour. As for the rest of
the English nation the method of keeping the
holiday was much the same as is customary. A
tremendous number rose early in the morning to
catch excursion trains for their favourite water-
ing-places, worked harder all the day than they
are accustomed to do when, at home, and re-
turned late at night exhausted by the un-
accustomed toil. That this method of spending
a holiday has its attractions is provided by the
fact that as each recurring bank-holiday comes
around it is so extensively followed; but quiet-
going folks may be excused if they think that an
easier fashion of disposing of the day would be
more conducive to health, comfort, and enjoy-
ment, But the best way to spend a holiday is
just one of those things that no man can settle
for another. Enthusiastic mountaineers, for
instance, cannot understand why there are many
persons who would as soonthink of going to prison
as climbing the Alps; but the fact remains that
it is so, and, in the matter of holidays, we must
allow people to do as they like, so long as they
do not interfere with their fellows. ,
It has been noted that the two Houses were
sitting on Bank Holiday, and it may be added
that this is an extra proof that the session now
drawing to a close has been an unusually trying
one to members of the Commons. That House
has, indeed, kept very bad hours; and legislators
sa conscientious, or so obedient to the 'party
. whips as to remain within the walls from .the
hour of Meeting to that at which the Sergeant-
at-Arms has raised in the lobby the' tithe-
honoured cry, "Who goes home ? " have had a
hard year of it. It must not be imagined, of
course, that they have sat all the time in the
people's chamber, listening intently to every
word that has been said, and labouring with the
greatest care to form a correct and impartial
judgment upon each question that has arisen,
31embers may deserve sympathy, but they
do not work quite so hard as that. There are
agreeable lounges attached to the House—such
as the tea-room and the library, the smoking-
room, and the terrace, which are much more
attractive during the ordinary courses of debate
than the Chamber itself; and though there
may be between three and four hundred
members scattered about the precincts ready to
rush in immediately the bell sounds the
signal for a division, the actual discussion
often takes place in the hearing of less than a
score. But confinement to the precincts is in
itself a trial, and common report has it that
never have the whips been more stern in insisting
upon the presence of members than during this
session, and that is why even the most con-
scientious of them are looking forward to the
prorogation with an eagerness only to be paral-
leled by that displayed by a lot of schoolboywon
the eve of their holidays.
So seldom is it that an eclipse of the sun is
visible in England that the announcement that
the one which is to take place on the 19th inst.
will be able to be seen in this country is of un-
usual interest. But those who wish to see it for
themselves will have to get up very early in the
morning, for at Greenwich the sun will rise
partly eclipsed at seven minutes to five and all
will be over by seven minutes after that hour.
It is in Japan that the eclipse will be observed
at its best, for there it will be total
for four minutes, and American astronomers
disappointed that nothing of the spectacle can
• be seen at home, have despatched an expedition
to Japan to report upon it. The shadow of the
moon will first strike the earth at Berlin, and will
pass eastward acress Russia and Siberia to the
Sea of Japan, a little south of Vladinostock, and
thence cross the main Island of Japan above
Tokio, to disappear about a thousand miles
further east in the Pacific Ocean. As is always
the case on such occasions, astronomical
parties will be stationed, at the best places
in various parts of the globe, for taking correct
observations. The Imperial Observatory at
Pultowa, in Southern Russia' will be the head
of the Russian astronomers, but there will be
scattered stations all along the track of the
eclipse throughout the Empire, from Moscow
to Tobolsk. And as astronomical science is con-
tinually progressing, much valuable information
may be expected to be gleaned from the coming
eclipse.
No one could have passed through the London
streets during the last few years without being
struck by the large increase that has taken place
in the sale and wearing of flowers. During the
present summer the quantity of roses which
have in this way been disposed of, has been
simply enormous; and the wonder has been
where they can all come from. Of course,
a very large proportion are grown around
London, but France supplies, especially in the
winter and early spring, a great number. Nice
is the centre of an extensive industry of this
sort, and flower gardens are stated to have
snperseded olive groves in many places in that
district since the five years' failure of the oil
crop up to 1885. Large companies have been
formed for the growth and exportation of
flowers to supply the markets of the northern
ca si'als during the winter months. Special
facilities have been granted by the railways for
this frasrant traffic, and the latest returns of it are
most favourable. It is strange how more and more
dependent we are yearly becoming upon foreign
nations not only for necessaries but for luxuries
as well. Foreign competition in corn, butter,
laggs, and meat we have been subject to for a long
time; and now that we are subject to it for
flowers as well, an Englishman may fairly be
tempted to ask, "What next and next ?"
With regard to one sort of importation, a very
strong feeling is arising in the East of London
which may yet have important political results.
During the past few months more and more has
been heard concerning the unrestricted admission
of foreign labour, and much more is likely to
be heard of it in the immediate future. But
this is just one of the questions upon
which it is easier to declaim concerning
its evils than to demonstrate a remedy. Hard
as it may seem for Englishmen dwelling in con-
gested districts to see their chances of constant
work and good wages continually diminished by
the growing number of foreigners in their midst,
they can scarcely forget that, up to very recent
times, the English was the most emigrating
nation on the face of the earth, and that much of
the prosperity of the race would have been lost
had other countries prevented us from entering
their ports and settling among them. If the
protest is directed simply against the importa-
tion of foreign paupers_, it has more to justify
it, for other nations have passed enactments
Preventing the very same thing. The United
States, for instance, absolutely refuses to allow
paupers to land, and insists upon sending them
bask in the same steamers. Continental
countries have very similar regulations, and
what these can do England certainly can without
infringing any sound principle or rule of fair
play.
Considerable discussion continues to take
place concerning the proposed further changes
in the assize circuit system, and it may be hoped
that as a result it will be placed upon a more
satisfactory footing than has been the case for
several years. The cardinal mistake has been
that the arrangements have been made "by
lawyers for the benefit of lawyers, and with
no special regard to the public; the
high legal authorities engaged evidently for-
getting that, the lawyers were made for the
public and not the public for the lawyers. It
doubtless is the fact that it would be both more

comfortable for the Bench and. more lucrative

for the Bar if the assizes, instead of being held in
every county at specified seasons, were held in
places representing groups of three or four
counties; but the point is whether it is better
for the people at large. Even as it is, the ex-
penses of going to law are so heavy as
.to deter many persons from asserting
their rights for fear of being ruined
by the costs; and these ought not to be
, added to by sending cases from one county
to another, and thus multiplying the expense
in every way. It is even harder in criminal
eases than in civil suits, for a man who has been
robbed or half-murdered has to pay the additional
penalty, with his witnesses, of being dragged to
some distant town outside his own county, in
order to secure redress. This is a view of the
case which is far too greatly neglected by those
distinguished lawyers who make the assize
" arrangements; but it is one which affects the
whole body of the people and ought never,
therefore, to be left out of sight.

Just as the summer never passes without a
number of bathing fatalities to mar its enjoy-
ment, so it never far proceeds without several
boating fatalities to add to the dread total. The
more ignorant people are of the difficulties and
dangers of boating, the more reckless they appear
to be. The pranks of foolish persons are suffi-
ciently dangerous when indulged in on river
boats ; but when to these are added the pre-
sumptions of ignorance on boats at sea, the peril
is multiplied. Not a watering place but can tell
the tale orpersbns, almost absolutelk ignorant of
navigation, who have hired a boat, put out to
sea, and then hoisted a sail. No more dan-
gerous a practice can, in such circum-
stances, be imagined. A smart - pull '-of
wind may overturn, the boat, and those
on board it have little chance of escaping
with their lives. It may be answered that there
.re so many foolish persons in the world. that, utter
as many warnings as we will, a certain propor-
tion of them will always be running into obvious
danger. But this consideration ought not to
prevent such warnings from being given and fre-
quently repeated. We know, and the knowledge
is saddening, how often they are neglected, but
we cannot be aware of how often they do good ;-
and it is the duty of every one to caution his
fellows azainst practices which are full of danger,
and which frequently bring death. A. F. It.