The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-01-23 00:00:00

Our lonbon Correspeatitt.

(We deem it right to state th,tt we do ;sat at all Mao
Identity otuselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Winter can certainly not yet be said to be over

but already we are being asked to discuss the
amusements of spring. Preparations are on foot
at South Kensington flr the exhibition which
shall take the place of the Fisheries of 1883, the
Healtheries of 188-1, and the Inventories 41885.
This year it will be the Colonies and India which
will furnish forth the material for the show, and

if preliminary reports may be trusted (and they
evidently issue from authorised sources) it will

be as interesting as any of its predecessors. As
a consequence of the determination to have an
Indian and Colonial Exhibition this year, the
American Exhibition, which it was proposed also

to hold within the present twelve-mOntbs, has
been postponed, in order that the interests of
the both should not suffer from clashing. This

will strike everyone as a very wise resolustion, for
although to a certain extent competition may be
beneficial to trade, there is a very decided
possibility of having too much of a good
thing; and if the public were satiated
with this kind of exhibition, it would mean a
lessening of receipts which would prove serious.
Already we have two sorts of Indian shows in
London as well as a Ja,pAiese Village, and
although it may be as true as when Shakspearo
said it, that an Englishman who would not give
a penny to a blind beggar would pay freely to
see a dead Indian yet there must not be too

large a supply of Indians, whether living or dead,
or the public will grow tired of them.
The fact that the Inventions Exhibition—
or the International Exhibition of Inventions
and Music, to use its offi:•ial title—haa not Raid

as well as either of its two predecessors, has
caused an amount of licart-serire),in!, in various
quarters which can be w•-_4l understood.
- Although it closed in the early &Lys of Novem-
ber, it is only within the pest we,k or sothat the
financial results of the underta:dog has become
known, and it is doubtless a disappointing
one to those who have had the matter in hand.
But it must be remembered that the main
attraction of these South Kensington shows has
been out of doors, the illuminated grounds and
electrically - lighted fountains having drawn
together tens of thousands who would not have
gone to see machinery in motion or the manufac-
ture of soap. Of course it is always assumed
that these exhibitions are solely intended to
educate the public in science or art; but those
who have gone frequently to South Kensington
during the past three summers are aware that
much of this is something in the nature of pre-
tence. The consequence is that a wet and chill
summer like the last prevented a vast host of
people from following their own example of 1881,
and the attendance greatly fell off. A stroll
under the trees to listen to the bands, or to look
at the fountains is very enjoyable on a_ fine
_

evening, but when the rain is'. frequent and the
cold winds are its constant accompaniment,
careful people shun an outdoor amusement which
includes the risk of rheumatism and other fleshly
ills.

Parliament having now been opened practically
as well as formally, a question has come before
members of the House of Commons which does
not trench in any way upon politics, but which,
nevertheless, possesscs a deep interest. It is
that of the sitting accommodation of the Chamber,
for it is utterly impossible for all the members
to find a place to bestow themselves, even when
they have occupied every available stair in the
gangways and every inch allowed them in the
side galleries. It has often puzzled those who
have had much to do with the House of Commons
why Sir - Charles Barry, the architect of the
Palace of Westminster, designed a Chamber
which would hold only two-thirds of the members.
_ .

No satisfactory explanation has ever been vouch-
safed, and as Sir Charles has passed over to the
majority, none is ever likely to be given
now. But the difficulty remains the same,
and with the increased number of members
created by the Redistribution Act, it has grown
until, now that our representatives have gathered
from all corners of the three kingdoms, it is a
very burning question among those who have to
sit in the House. Doubtless, as the novelty of
• the position wears off, many of the new members,
who at first will be most faithful in their attend-

ance, will allow their sense of duty to be some-
what blunted; and the party " whips " always
...find that it is most difficult to "keep a House"
in the third or fourth sessions of a Parliament's

existence than in the first or second, and
especially the first. But it will strike most
peoplu 21,6 Lillt/11141ULL3 ILL 1,11,0 IAII-411eZu UttC 1,11.111,
we should return 670 members to a chamber
, Which will seat only about 450.
A maxim known to lawyers tells us that there
is no wrong without a remedy, and the remedy
• for such a state of things as has been described
seems sufficiently obvious. "If the House
.isn't
_

large enough," most people will say, "let it be
enlarged,' and if the thing could be done as
easily as it can be said, it would doubtless not bo
' long before the matter would be taken in hand.
, But those who have traversed the Palace of
Westminster,. and even any who have seen a
ground plan of the building will know it would
be no easy matter to pull down the present
Commons' Chamber and build a greater. And
not only do considerations of space stand in the
way, but considerations of cost, and these latter
are alwaya urged very strongly on the part of
the Treasury when any enlargement is talked of.
Several years ago a candidate for Parliamentary
hannurs •:was asked by an elector whether, if
.returned,lie would support an increase in the
number Of members, and he replied that as he
was credibly informed that the existing chamber
was not sufficiently large to contain all who at
present were chosen, he should wait until it was
extended before he should be able to reply in the
affirmative to the question. Since that time the
number of members has been increased, but the
chamber itself remains of the same size, and we
are likely to hear more than once of this
anomaly during the existence of the present
Parliament.
Joseph Maas, who died almost suddenly
it-Ili:melon a few days since, was a tenor singer
who was well known in all parts of the country,
and whose reputation appeared likely to increase.
4.lthough the name had a foreign ring, Mr. Maas
was an• Englishman, and it was at Rochester
Cathedral that' his voice first attracted attention.
In:epera, in oratorio, or in concert Mr. Maas
als-peared equally at home, and his untimely
defttlt. will be much regretted, not only by the
large circle of bereaved friends, but by the music-
loving public generally. Rhuematic fever was the
complaint which killed Mr. Maas, and he has been
but one among a vast number of victims whom
the recent severe weather has claimed for its
oWn.. The frequent atmospheric changes have
proved most trying. People are not always
sufficiently alive to the, risks they run from the
rapid rise or fall of the thermometer. One day
it will.be almost as balmy as spring, and the next
it 7will remind one of the climate of Kamschatka ;
and,e,unless folks are very careful they may in
five minutes plant the seeds of a long illness or
even of deathaself.
Another death has occurred within the past
few days which deserves more than a mere note.
In this case it is not of a person young and
appatfently.strong, but of one old to the extreme
verge of age. The passing away of'the widow of
George Hudson, once known as the "Railway
King,' brings to the mind the time when her
husband
.swayed the stock markets in a way
which no single . operator can follow now.
The history of George Hudson from the
days when he was a linen draper in York, through
the times when ha was Lord Mayor of that city,
member of Parliament for Sunderland, and
"Railway King," and on to the years when dis-
credited as a financier he lost his seat in the
House and his position in the railway market,
until he died abroad fourteen years ago in
reduced circumstances, would read as a romance.
He "took occasion by the hand," when the
"railway mania" was at its height, and he
foneented the popular madness which ended in a
financial crash and the ruin of thousands; and
instead of emerging a rich man he was cast in
action ater action in the law courts, and died
disappointed. No single persOn has since held
the same position in the railway world, and a
study of his career would seem to show that it is
highly desirable that there should never be a
succeavr to "King Hudson."
There is joy among dog lovers in the metro-
polis, for it has been announced that the
muzzling and chaining regulations, of which so
much has been heard in the newspapers during
the past few weeks, are now- to be withdrawn,
But the joy is likely to be tinged with sadness
when it is remembered that since the police

ukase as— p-'-ro—m—ul-g-ated, about seven thou-
sand members of the canine tribe have suffered
.death at the hands of the executioner. The
:death ;nay have been painless, and it is known i
that-4yery care was taken to make it so, but t
"was 4,4ttl;Pe-yiort44le4s 04 there must have
peen racorngt4-jrmacys,hotngs,.oser p24a onc;
loved, -igue ett."All
there are dog-haters just' as ere are dog-lovers,
and by these former the sad fate of the seven
thousand is told with a chuckle. Many of the
unfortunates, doubtless, did not deserve such a

hard lot, but even a person fond of dogs could
not help admitting that a month or two ago there
were far too many wandering about the London
streets. One need not have had a heart of
adamant to wish that the total of vagrant curs
should be made less; and although the procla-
mation of Sir Edmund Henderson, the Chief
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, may
have had the effect of killing many dogs, which
were harmless, affectionate, and in every sense
worthy of the proud title, "the friend of man,"
it must have meant annihilation to a vast
number which were not desirable occupants of
our crowded footways._ _ _

One of the minor- difficulties which has to be
overcome when a new street or road is formed in
the metropolis is to give it a name, which shall
sound at once appropriate and taking. Some
amount of controversy, as was recently explained
in this column, has been taking place as to
the appellation which ought to be affixed to
the splendid thoroughfare that is being driven
from Piccadilly-circus to Oxford-street. In
this connection it may be noted how eagerly
new titles of nobility are fastened upon, for the
purpose named. Last summer Sir Stafford
Northcote was raised to the peerage as the Earl
of Iddesleigh, and within a very few weeks
" Iddesleigh-terrace" was painted up as the name
of a row of houses in a northern suburb. Mr.
Gibson at the same time was created Lord Ash-
bourne, and the new title was quickly seized in
order to give it to a freshly-cut road. After all,
this is a more sensible plan than the old notion
of giving in the majority of cases the appellation
of John, or George, or Charlotte to new streets;
and as it is desirable that each as far as possible
should bear a distinctive name, the practice may
be commended to any who are likely to ho called
upon to bring it into use. A. F. R.