The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-09-17 00:00:00

THE STOUPIMIDGE OBSERVER.

point within reasonable confin, :4, but if the
Parliamentary machine is to ran smoothly
and do work covering the whole -United
Kingdom, a programme of each session must
be sketched in advance, and in the main
adher A. to. That is to say, so much time
must :)e allotted to English matters, so mae'i
to Scotch, so much to Irish, and so mach to
Welsh. It would be difficult to draw a hard
and fast line, of course; bat something
might be done by arrangement and method
to bring about a more equitable apportion-
ment of the time of the House of Commons
among the different parts of the country.
It is only fair that every possible step to such
an end should be taken, and no more appro-
priate moment for insisting upon the adop-
tion of such a plan as we have hinted at
could be imagined than at present, when the
plaint is loud over a long and barren Ses-
sion.

LORD LYTPELTON ON AMBULANCE
WORK.

The first annual meeting in connection with the
Old Hill centre of the St. John Ambulance Associa-
tion was held on Tuesday night, in the Trinity
S theols, Old Hill. Mr. W. Hassan° presided over
numerous assemblage, Amongst those present
were Lord and Lady Lyltelton, Mr. B. Hingley,
M. P sDrs, Beasley and De Deune, atid the Bev.
C. Vi/. Barnard (hon. secretary).
The'secretary's report stated that the useful work
of the St John Ambulance Association was intrc-
,luced in o the district by the Stourbridge centre,
and on November 8. 1886, a centre was formed at
Old Hill. The work had been carried on vigorously
Seven fresh classes had received instruction at the
hands of local surgeons. There were 135 suecessfu
students to receive first-class certificates. Of the
foener classes, 23 members had b-en re-examined
3 of whom were entitled to receive second-cias,
celeificates, and 15 would obtain medallions, and
on dus.athethethrfiicrest-
r- oe
eatft tt
ee
dr
otrwdoe a
ly(e)
far se'x
apmr
ienpaatriaotni
full members of the St John Ambulance Association
in that district. The committee felt that there
was a large field for the work of the association in
th district, and it was not unreasonable to fippe
teat every large works and every colliery wou!el
either form classes amongst their employes or give
direct encouragement to their men to join some
class.
Lady Lyttelten then distributed the certificates
and medallions.
A vote of thanks having been paged to Lady
Lyttelton for attending to give the certificates away,
Lord Lyttelten addressed the meeting. He said he
was extremely gratified to respond, on behalf of
Lady Lyttelton, for the very coreial and enthusi-
astic vote of thanks which that grand meeting had
eassed. He could not but think that those who
dwelt in the seclusion of the beautiful country, and
who were in the enjoytnent, to a certain extant, of
means and leisure would be very callous and selfish
people indeed if they did not recognise the moral
obligation they were under towards their less for-
tunately situated neighbours, dwelling in what
was so expressively called the "Black Country,"
those who dwelt in the midst of smoke, fire, the
del of machinery, and the countless evidences of
ardu ,us and strenuous toil of thousands and
thousands of men. He thought they were bound
to recognise those obligation, and he assured teem
that Lady Lyttelton did so to the full, and that
whenever she was asked to come an l lend a helping '
hand in any work that tended to promote ths
happiness of the dense population in teat uis.rice
and diminish iu some deeree the sum of happiness
of which there must be s) much, he was certain
she would respond to that call, and regard it rather
as a pleasure than the mere discharge of a burden-
some oeligation. (Applause.) He conAdered i
necessary and expedient for him to say, a few words
upon ambulance work generally, and upon their
ass`)ciation in particular. First if all he wished to
exere:s his ereat gratification at seeing them in Old
Hill able net only to initiate and maintain an inde-
pendent organi-ation of their owe, but, if possible,
surpass the parent stem. As president of the Stour-
bridge centre, he congratulated them on having
such a healthy off ,hoot at Old Hill, and also that
during the first year of their operations they had
been able to distribute prizes and certifieste; to no
less than 135 successful candi :ates. He felt a sort
of parental interest la that centre, and he always
con 3 deed it a sip of vitality when a parent stem
was able to send oat healthy offshoots' and he felt
it would not be a matter which would cause jeal-
ousy in the Stourbridge centre when they found
they hat ben outstripped by their promising off-
spring. (Apelause.) Ambulance work was, per-
haps, more needed in that district than in any other
part of England. It was a very sad thing to reflect
upon the accidents which occurred in that neigh•
bourhood aily, or almost hourly—accidents that
weres o common, so inevitable, that the newspapers
did not think it necessary to report them unless
they were extremely serious and upon a large scale.
reuse accidents were constantly occurringa al it
was truly sad to think of the results of many of
them, t ) think of the terrible improverishment and
misery that those accidents must necessarily entail.
Those organieations were established for the purpose
of di n nishing the painful results of accidents, and
he believed that a few hundreds of persons scat-
tered about the Black Country could do an inestim •
able amount of good in mitigating the evil results
of those accidents which were constantly occurring
if they had a knowledge of ambalance work. Mach
misery and pain would be spared if in every work-
shop and railway station there were one or two
persons trained hi ambulance classes. It was also
v.dttable instruction to women belonging to the
working classes, and they might learn hew to nurse
efficiently; and if they did not nurse their neigh.
boars they could do a useful work at home in nurs-
ing their husbands, brothers, or sons. (Applause.)
The doctors would tell them that there was nothing
more wanted in the present day than intelligent
nursing, and nothing intended more to arrest the
proeoess of disease, elleviate suffering, and relieve
the terrible monotony of a wearisome convalescence
than good nursing. He trusted that every woman
he was addressing or who might read his re;nares
in the newspapers would join a nursing class, so
th tt they eight learn at least to nurse their own
friends and relations properly in times of sickness
or accident. The knowledge acquired would also
help teem to maintain thoroughly happy and whole-
some homes. In eonclu-ion, he observed that he
advocated the claims of the Ambulance Association
waxinly because he regarded it as a thoronehly un-
selfish and beneficent institution, and he wished the
Oel Hill centre great success in the future.
(Applause.)
During the evening there was an exhibition of am-
bulance pracice by the members, and selectioos of
music were rendered by Meeirs T. Muntz and C.
H. Muntz, Misses 11, Gould and C. Downing, and
lira Warham ; and recitations by Mr. T.. NV. Leach