The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-11-15 00:00:00


henoeforth be located is ruffiolently advanced to enable
It to mammies the transfer of It. valuable property '
from its present quarters in old Burlington Home.
Indeed, the larger *action of the new edifice may
already be considered occupied. The wcaismen have
disappeared from the handsome Italian staircase, and
the library is very nearly completed. Although it may
be several months before the other learned societies will
be able to occupy the sumptuous quarters which the
State ie preparing for them, the work is being pushed
on with rapidity, and they will be admitted is fast as
the artisans leave. Altogether, the place will be a sub-
stantial monumeat of the national appreciatims of Art
• inte,;,

. Science.
r A Royal Commiesiorile now @Mini go MTN*
alleged grirdeatices of wiry olllcers._,l' It 44 often
contsoduelhat nowhere-is refornrmo•akgmtily
reqoired than in connection with the coot of uniform
and horses. For Instance, the dress worn at a review
is quite tuunited for a campaign or indeed for work of
any kind. The officers are compelled to purchase a
suit for State occasions, another for peace use plurally,
and s third for real soldiering. Another grievance is
that when an officer is appointed to the staff, he is ob-
liged forthwith to provide himself with a horse and
costly trappings. A captain promoted to be a major .
gal 241 addigional OM a yeir, hist by lie time he hu
bought • charger, and paid his share of the increased
band and mess contributions, he ham little, if anything,
left out of his augmented pay. The offioare maintain
that as the horse is indispensable to the performance of
• public duty, it is only just that the public should pay
for it. That, of course, is only one view of the came,
but whatever may be the result of the inquiry now in
program, there is little doubt that the army, no less
than the people, have every confidence in the capacity
of the Commissioners, of whom the chairman Is Sir
W. M. James, one of the most eminent of our Equity
Judges.

One of the last official acts of Sir Sydney Waterlow
IN Lord Mayor was to preside at a meeting of the Court
of Common Council, at which the freedom of the City
of London, in a splendid casket valued at one hundred
guineas, was presented to Sir Albert David Salmon,
the ambient Indian philanthropist. On inch oocaaions
the Council Chamber is always especially prepared for
the ceremony, the members and officers of the Cor-
poration wear their official robes, and the galleries ap-
propriated to the public are crowded. The freedom of
the City does not now confer the substantial advan-
tages upon its poseemor which was attached to It in
days gone by; still the honour Is one which is highly
valued even now, and the most illustrious men of
modern times have always been ready to record their
names amongst the freemen of the first municipality
In the world.

If the reports of Captain Shaw on the causes of the
various fires In London be carefully read, it will
mama& some to find what • number have taken place
through gram careisemeas in the management of gas.
Now gas, like fire, Is an excellent servant, but a
tyrannous muter if allowed to get the upper hand. It
is very common to find people so neglectful of the
consequences as to search for an escape of gas with •
lighted candle. One of the methods by which gas
emikaions and many fires may be prevented le by
turning off the gm at the meter every night at the
hour of retiring to rest. The omission of this appa-
reatly simple precaution has often worked much
mischief.