The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-09-10 00:00:00

our fonbon gorrtsponbent.
rWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

One of the most commendable and successful
movements of recent years is the London Hos-
pital Saturday Fund, an extension of the Hos-
pital Sunday idea. Established only four years
ago, with
.a few hundred firms upon the booka
the working classes h 3ve so generously embraced
the proposal that this year something like
twenty-four thousand industrial establishments
In the metropolis have been appealed to.
Generally small weekly collections are taker
during the summer months, when the men are
more likely to be in regular and full employ, but
in some cases the collections are continued
all the year round. Although the in-
dividual subscriptions are small, the aggregate
makes a large sum, even when divided amongst
the hundreds of institutions which rely chiefly

on voluntary contributions. The Hospitril
Saturday. Fund has
.proved a very welcome
- addition to the revenues of many institutions.
which for some years have been seriously affected
by the depression of trade and the loss in the
value of their endowments. Guy's Hospital, for
instance, has had its usefulness greatly impaired
by the state of agriculture, the lands from which
it drew a large portion of its maintenance having
had to be let at reduced rents, or in some cases
remaining altogether idle.
One of the most interesting papers, according
to the popular taste, at this year's meeting of
the British Association, was that describing the
process of constructing the new underground
railway, which goes from the City under the
Thames to the suburb of Stockwell, passing
Kennington Oval, the scene of so many memor-
able cricket matchss, The peculiarity of, and
the improvement in, this railway is that the
engines will not draw the trains, but the motive
power will be stationary about the centre of the
line. The atmosphere, therefore will be com-
paratively pure. At the stations the passengers,
instead of having to mount a long succession of
steps, can be drawn to daylight by hydraulic
lifts. The works are now in progress, and it is
expected that the first section will be opened to
the public before long. Since the first under-
ground railway was constructed the system of
tunnelling has been greatly simpli2ed and
cheapened, so that a great extension of under-
ground railways may be expected.
In theory the shipping on the Thames, and the
wharves and warehouses, with their contents, to
the value of several millions of pounds, were lately
destroyed by the enemy's fleet under Admiral
Freemantle. A proposal hasnow been made by the
Government itself which might result in a calamity
nearly as great. Extra storage room being re-
quired for the enormous additional quantity of
gunpowder now kept in stock at Woolwich
Arsenal, it is proposed to put it in floating
barges on the Thames..• Representatives of the
shipowners, however, have pointed out to the
War Office the peril to which this would expose
passing ships if an explosion should take place,
and remembering the great explosion of shells at
Woolwich bhe fear is well grounded. The point
has not yet been decided, but it is to be hoped some
other scheme will be adopted. Father Thames
has enough to answer for as it is. A correspon-
dent has drawn attention to its state by writing
his letter from the sediment left by a small quan-
tity of river water. If ink can be superseded so
easily and cheaply, a new industry is likely to
spring up.
This year will be memorable for the number
of Royal visitors to our shores. In addition to
the Royalties who came to London expressly for
the Jubilee celebrations, the Empress of Austria
has been staying at a quiet seaside resort for the
benefit of her health; the Crown Prince of Ger-
many has just left a hotel in the suburbs of
London, where he had been sojourning for the
same reason c, and the Crown Princess of Austria
is now visiting the Channel Islands. But a more
interesting personage than any of these is now
residing in the metropolis. This is the famous
West African monarch rejoicing in the peculiar
name of -Ja Ja. This sable potentate some
rears ago was one of the most sanguinary
Sovereigns on that dreaded coast. He and his
rival King Oko Jumbo were continually on the
war-path, but contact with Europeans and the
civilising influence of commerce have made_ a
wonderful change in both. Ja Ja has developed
into a keen and peaceful trader, whose sons were
sent to England and educated like gentlemen.
The King himself, who is now with us, is an
intelligent and altogether an interesting in-
dividual.
A remarkable illustration of the growth of tho
metropolis is furnished by the extension of the
Metropolitan Railway, which has just been
opened to Riekmansworth, a small town outside
Middlese4 and well into Hertfordshire, which
now enjoys the advantage of .a half-hourly ser-
vice of trains.. London is like a gigantic octopus,
over stretching forth its tentacles and drawing in
victims from fresh fields and pastures new. The
metropolitan district already covers an area of
four hundred square miles, twenty miles by
twenty miles, and it is depressing to calculate
what an area of bricks and mortar will exist, at
the present rate of increase, in another century.
Rickmansworth at present is an old-world
place, consisting of one street, with
a few quaint public-houses, remnants of the
old coaching days.; but the speculative builder
will soon be on the spot, and the merchant and
the clerk, who can go direct from their City
counting-houses to their homes, will be sure to
follow, Notwithstanding our vast aggregation
of human beings in such a limited area, it is as
satisfactory as it is Suprising to find that the
rate of mortality will more than favourably com-
pare with some of the smallest towns of the
kingdom. The joke may become a reality that
people in search of health will leave the country
for town.
THE annual report of the Local Government
Board is not generally esteemed fascinating read-
ing, but much interesting information is hidden
away between the pages of this Blue-book. From
the report just issued it appears that the mean
number of paupers relieved in the parochial year
1887 was smaller in proportion to the population
than in any year since records are published, with
the exception of the years 1884, 1885, and 1886.
The proportion, in fact, is exactly the same as in
1884, which was the lowest up to that year. No
more conclusive evidence of the growth of the
population in material welfare can be furnished
than the fact that while in 1849 the
proportion ef paupers to the population was
one in sixteen, it is now one in thirty-five, or
rather less than half. The report, moreover,
deals with other subjects of general importance.
The necessity for the recent Act of Parliament
dealing with the adulteration of butter and the
naming of butter substitutes, is shown by the
fact that out of 2322 samples of so-called butter
which were examined no less than 401, or over
17 per cent., were reported against. On the
other hand it is satisfactory to know that the
adulteration of sugar, which was rife in the days
when the duty which raised its price made adul-
teration profitable, seems now to have been
entirely abandoned. The 222 samples analysed
during the year were all pure. •
From time to time accOunts appear of prize-
fights in London, generally in the East-end.
These have been given ram) frequently of late,
but the published reports bear no comparison to
the number of combats Which take place. It is
doubtful whether, in the days when the prize-
ring wbs a fashionable and legal as well as
popular institution, did more fights take place
than at the present time. The police must be
very apathetic or easily blinded, for in 'sporting
circles the times and places are well known. It
would be a mistake, however, to think that the
East-end is the only or the chief scene of these
degrading encounters. As a mattar of fact, the
West-end is equally the ,resort of the " fancy,"
the reason being that it 'pays better to have the
tights in the district where.there are plenty of
patrons of what is misnamed the "noble art of
self-defence," who are ready to pay their half-
guinea or guinea for the pleasure of seeing two
creatures batter one another almost beyond re-
cognitim. The promoters endeavour to keep
within the law by advertising these encounters
as glove-fights,but the gloves used are more cruel
:hail the naked fists, for while the latter make an
abrasion on a particular spot, the former are so
nar-,1 that bruises are developed over a large area.
The defiance of the law is becoming so flagrant
that steps will have to be taken. The police wil
probably some day make a swoop on one or more
of the best known resorts and arrest some dis-
tinguished persons, to their own and other
people's astonishment. A. F. R.

His Highness the Rita of Catch, who, with hi 3
brother and Colonel Goodfellow, C.1.E., Political
Agent in charge, returned to London a few .days ago
from Scotland, left on Monday . for
,a tour on the
Continent preparatory to embarking for Bombay. His
Highness will visit Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and other
capitals. He embarks at Brindisi for ,Alexandria on
the 3rd of October, and intim& making a short stay in
Egypt, joining the new P. and 0. steamer Victoria at
Suez. His Highness, we undertand, has greatly enjoyed
his visit to England, and regrets that circumstances
'prevent his making a longer sojourn in this country.
Before he came south her Majesty invited him to go out
deer•atalkin, and he is very proud of having shot s
stag at Balmoral.