The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-14 00:00:00

61ur Yonbon torrtsponbent.
(We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspoudent's oplui.m6.]

Probably the proportion of persons who habitually
read the column in the London papers headed
"Money Market and City Intelligence" is not a very
large one. Many pass it by as being of no consequence
to them, and prefer to read the newest railway acci-
dent, the most exciting police can, or the mist recent
coroner's inquest. Yet if this part of the newspaper is
not of interest to the general reader, the tale which it
often tells is fraught with grave results to thousands
of the population. The money markets of the whole
elvilieril world are ruled to a great extent by the
quotations upon the Loudon Siock Exchange. Hour
by hour these are flashed by telegraph to the Bourses
of Paris, of Vienna, and of Berlin, and three times a
day they are known, through the agency of the
Atlantic cables, upon the Exchange at New York.
Our own Stock Exchange, although making no out-
ward or visible sign, i. a far more weighty institution
than many a State Department. Its number; assemble
in a little court n the very heart of the crowded city ;
and there are regulated, from the impressions of the
'Aiming hour, the prices of all descriptions of public
securities. Thousands who have not access to the
Exchange itself, obtain a livelihood by the purchase
and sale of shares through the brokers. They come
into the City in the morning at ten, and they leave in
the afternoon at four, having in half-a-dozen hours
made or lost scores, or it may be, hundreds of pounds.
If for instance, a man has been watching one of the
metropolitan lines, goes to his broker, and tells him to
buy fifty shares then quoted at 83. A favourable
traffic return conies out, and sends the shares up to
85, an increase of I:2 upon every one of them. There
is a rush for this particular stock, our friend sells out,
and finds himself better off by £lOO, less the broker's
commission on the transaction. But, on the other
hand, an unfavourable traffic return might depreciate
the shares 2 per cent., and then there would be a loss
of 1:100, to lie increased, of course, if the stock con-
tinued to fall in the market. Sometimes a class of
securities becomes so rotten as to be utterly unsakableat
any price ; and in seasons of financial panic this feeling
spreads like wildfire. All are eager to sell out; none
are anxious to buy. Property which a week before
was looked upon as a sound and safe investment, is now
comparatively worthless; there is a crash; thousands, as
In 1866, are ruined; trade is paralysed for years ; and
a terrible lesson is learnt as the result of over specula-
tion. The world is truly made up of contrasts, and no
greater one can be imagined than the anxious and
exciting life of a man who obtains his living by
the purchase and sale of public securities, and
the mechanic or the artisan who plods his
steady way through life in any department of industry.
The latter, at all events, knows his regular income,
and manages accordingly. But this it is impossible
for the former to do. In troublous times they leave
their homes in the morning not knowing whether they
may be reduced to bankruptcy before they return in
the evening. Such is one kind of life in London.
As regularly as the month of November comes
round, the Benchers of the Inner and Middle Temples
throw open their gardens in order that the public may
be enabled to inspect the show of chrysanthemums
which it is the pride and glory of the Template to
display. In fart the fame of this exhibition of winter
flowers is not at all confined to the metropolis. En-
thusiastic gardeners from the country come to see
them ; and as no time, labour, or expense is spared to
bring them to i orfection, those who take an interest in
floriculture invariably go away delighted. When all
the long and bright array of summer flowers, which
have gladdened the eye in warm sunny days, are faded
and gone, the chrysanthemum kindly and considerately
opens its leaves when the hours of daylight rapidly
become fewer, and winter is close upon us. No
wonder that people crowd to the Temple Gardens to
see them, aml admire their perfection in form, size,
and colour. More especially the Japanese varieties
are wonderfully curious and beautiful, and the
gardeners may well be proud of their nest little ex-
hibition.

Those who have hail occasion to "go down to the
sea in ships" must often have noticed the (request,
printed in large, bold letters at the stern, not to speak
to the man at the wheel. Now, the nationality of the
helmsman is a matter of the most material conse-
quence. Considerable danger cannot fail to result
when such a responsible office is filled .by a foreign
seaman possessing but an imperfect knowledge of the
English language. At a time of danger it would be
difficult for him to communicate intelligibly with the
officers of the ship. In a moment of alarm he would
be almost certain to make use of his native tongue, and
precious time must inevitably be lost before his mean-
ing can be discovered. Many of no can remember the
days when the wheel was entrusted only to trained
quartermasters, who did no other work on board. But
of late years undue competition upon the sea has had
its result in the employment of a large number of
foreign sailors, each of whom is is able to take his turn
at the wheel. This subject is as important that in col-
lisions at sea a point in the official inquiry instituted
by the Board of Trade is to ascertain the nationality of
the man who is entrusted with the steering of the
vessel.

It is sometimes said "They manage these things
better in France," and although the truth of Viis is
mot of universal application, it holds good undoubtedly
in some things. Take as one instance the money-order
system. In France the telegraph wire is always used
by the issuing office, so that, long before the payee
presents the order, the liability has been notified. It
is not unfrequently the case at an English Post-office,
that when a person holding an order presents it for
payment, be is informed that the letter of advice has
not yet come to hand. This involves a delay until the
arrival of the next post, which is, to say the least, in-
convenient. But in the French offices you may pay
a sum of money down to the credit of a person in a
-distant town, telegraph the fact to him, and thus the
mosey may be received without even the delay of
transmitting the order through the post at aIL The
Frencn Post.otlice Savings Bank system, too, differs
in some respects from our own. in England the
artisan pays in just the sum he intends to save ; the
interest is computed from the first day of the month,
notice of withdrawal must be given, and the money
can be had only at a specified place. In France it
is considered that if greater facilities are given
for withdrawals, this must lead to an increase in the
number of deposits. So when a man lodges a sum of
money, he is in future to be supplied with a cheque
equivalent to the sum he had paid. This will be
cashed on presentation at any of the branch money
order offices throughout France. A Parisian artisan
who deposited fifty francs is entitled to interest
reckoned from the moment he pays the money in.
There is no necessity for him to give notice of with-
drawal, and he could take out his money in any town
in France, if necessity arose, on the production of his
circular note. Under this plan he can pay in the
whole of his earnings, and not merely the amount
which he means to save. Efforts are being made by
the French Government to extend this arrangement to
Italy and Switzerland, for the benefit of Frenchmen
re-I if.fg in those countries. lam not holding up the
French ,t.stent of money-orders and post-office savings
banks Et,l the beet in every detail, and have simply
compared them with our own for your readers to
judge whether our own plan is not capable of being
improved upou the bad i of that in force across the

Paris has often been called the political centre of
Europe, so far as the Continent is concerned, but
whether this be as true now as it once was, it certainly
remains the fashionable centre. The enterprising
millions of the French capital have lately introduced
the novelty of trimming ladies' dresses with birds'
feathers, the value of the adornment being, of course,
anhanced by the value of the bird. A commencement
wee made by decorating a tunic with the feathers of
the jay, only the blue ones which form part of the
wing being used. Now, the jay is not a very common
bird, so that a goodly number of his species must have
been slaughtered to obtain this single trimming. But
even he has been outdone, for a rich French lady, to
whom money could have been no object, at once
ordered a black silk dress to be trimmed with canary
feathers an ornament of attire which up to that
moment bad never been heard of.

Since the Home Secretary returned to town, one
deputation after another has waited upon him to point
out the importance of placing some stringent restric-
tions upon the storage and transit of gunpowder. The
public appear to think that they are imperfectly pro-
tected at the hands of the Legislature; at the same
time there can be but little doubt that the means
of protection which already exist have not been
generally or adequately made use of. There
can be no question that in the case of gun-
powder considerable laxity has been permitted,
and that much lArger quantities have been stored than
the law allows. By the Act which regulates this
traffic, no person is permitl..d to have more than 10Ibs.
of powder in his house, but tin:, this provision is too
often set at nought recent investigaLions have proved.
Legislation upon this question is very 14kely to take
Lt.
although "

eiou

Parliament.