The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-18 00:00:00

THE SVOURI 'IDOE OBSERVER.

of Hazleaig or,liolles. We do not deem it
likely that the House of Comm ms. will re-
urn to the matter iv hilt held the discus-
sion on the Address in abeyance for a:time ;
the:more especially as the only debatable
point seems now to be the very trivi .1 one of
to to whether any part, and if so wLieh, of
the person of Mr. Pyne was wititin the
sanctuary of an M.P.'s privilege when he
was captured on the second day of the ses-
sion for transportation to the scene of his
alleged tr.Lns. gression against the Crimes
Act. •

COMNIENTS F CURRENT NEWS

TRE 'grave co;!..litimi of the illustrious
sanTerer at San Remo has given rise to much
anxiotla solicitude throughout Europe. The
lay public always seems to suspiciously re-
trd medical bulletins respecting royal
so nag,es as unreliable and misle ad in e; ;
and though the doctors speak of tracheotomy
as being au anticipated necessity of the nor-
mal progress of the ailment which has now
SO long afflicted the heir to the German
Imperial Crown, there can be no denying
that the operation was looked on generally
in a serious light. Tracheotomy, performed
by such skilled handlers of the lancet as are
in attendance upon the husband of one
Queen's eldest born, may in itself have little
tanger for a man of lion courage and vigor-
ous constitution, but the alarming feature of
the case, which was at once widely re-
cognised on the announcement being made
that the operation had been decided upon
was that an artificial mode of respiration of
the character introduced into the throat of
the Crown Prince in never resortel to except
where disease has assumed an extremely
menacing aspect.

LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL promises to
figure boldly as a reformer of the ways of
that great and powerful body, the
Metropolitan Board of Works, an executive
assembly at whose mercy London's millions
have been preferred against the Board, but
the position of its members has been hitherto
to strong for the critics. Now that a states-
man of the energy of Lord Randolph Church-
ill and the standing of an ex-Chancellor of
the Exchequer, has declared war against the
local administration of the capital, we shall
certainly have an exhaustive examination
anC inquiry. Though the' 2hampions of the
Board will defend their antiquated strong-
hold as stoutly as the City Fathers have
stood up for their beloved Corporation we
shall get a Royal Commission, and if but a
tithe of the " jobbery "laid to the doors of
the members of the Board of Works has been
perpetrated by them and their officers, the
burdend ratepayers of London will have
cause for much thankfulness to the promin
cut politician who has now taken up their
cause with characteristic vigour.

JUST as Lord Randolph Churchill, free
from the hampering restraints of office, is
well- circumstanced conducting a formid-
able onslaught upon the Metropolitan Board
of Works, so another go-ahead public man,
Lord Charles Beres ford, is at present in a
capital position to pursue ;successfully the
crusade he has entered on against old
fogeydom, official red. tapeism, and mis-
management of all kinds as regards the
services. Lord "Chancy " can speak as
"one who knows "of what he has in hand,
and he possesses the people's confidence
in a remarkable degree. Whether or not
he gets the Committee he has given
notice of motion for, to inquire into
the system •of administration both at the
War Office and the Admiralty—and it is to
be hoped he will—the dashing officer and
ex-Naval Lord is certain to hammer re-
lentlessly away at the excrescences which
offend his practical eye until all is shapely
and smooth. More power to the hand and
voice of the gallant hater of circumlocution,
who:never feared a foe's ballet, or dreaded
the ponderous displeasure of the directors of
her Majesty's forces on sea or land. Lord
Charles Beresferd is an idol of the populace,
always sure of a cheer from Radical or Con-
servative, and his proocrit uncomprnmisinp;
front upon important matters affecting the
soundness.of the Services will surely add
new renown to that which the brilliant ex-
skipper of the Condoralroady enjoys.

"WELL rid of him "was the comm
sense contention of the defendant' legal re-
presentative in a Midland breach of promise
case, in which a female sued a divorced ex-
convict for damages in respect of blighted
affection. The plaintiff did not consider hat
bare escape from what could hardly have
proved a happy alliance a sufficient salve for
the disappointment she experienced in the
loss of her imantorata, though she, on her
own showing, herself no new campaigner in
love affairs. She has enjoyed her picnics
and holiday outings with a gentleman who
had the misfortune to pass some years in
her Majesty's keeping, now she gets from a
-ympathetic jury a nice little cash assauge-
ment, alsc, of a grief which one can
.scarcely
believe will be inconsolable. _

. _
•
IT is not long since the lamentable death
of poor Archibald 111'Nei11, but he is nearly
gone from the public mind already. The
Press stirred up a wide interest in the "un-
timely taking-off" of one who had been a
worthy soldier in its bloodless ranks, and
Government and the dead man's friends seem
to have done all that Uovernment and friends
could do to bring about an elucidation of the
mystery ; yet there appears to be little
chance now of the whole painful incident
being in the end other than a short-lived
sensation, the explanation of which will
be withheld until the "leaves of the
Judgment Book unfold." It is the old story,
what is everybody's topic to-day is to-mor-
row forgotten by all. Boulogne should be
made to remember, in justice, however, that
until it tells the world how this son of Albion
came to his tragic end, it will be regarded as
a dangerous town ; and in its own interest
the French marine resort can hardly afford
to rest under the stigma of being a hiding
place for m Irclerous ruffians, ready any time
to kill the unwary visitor for puposes of
plunder

"CurrlNG t'l(3 file" is an unpardonable sin
among literar.,- workers, and when a man
mutilates a rel'erence volume in the National
Library, as a preacher of the Gospel did at
the British llnseum, recently for the pur-
pose of savin himself a little trouble, a
very heavy pt. ishment ought to mark the
enormity of t. offence, supposing the
.cul-
prit is respousHe for his actions ; and if he
is not, he has n ) business to be handling the
, property of the country. In the case re-
ferred ) the accused was permitted to plead
' go'!ty solicitor to the charge, to tender an
of Mental illness, and to escape with a
fi We have no desire to impugn the
.1611 of allegations made in palliation of
this reverend reader's misdeed ; bat this we
feel sure, had he not been a person of posi-
tion no heed would have beed given to his
plea.Soinewliat analagous is what is reported
as 'a painful case" from the Dorset Assizes,
in which a lady of position was indicted for
stealing a large
,number of valuable faif.y
articles from Weymouth tradesmen. No
reason was assigned for the theft; the culprit -
tppropriated the things for the purpose of
decking her sister's house. The pris:ier's
counsel made an earnest appeal on her bohalf,
"owing to her delicate condition"; ant the
judge, after "carefully weighing the .cir,nim-
stances," discharged the :teamed on her
husband entering into money recognisanees,
Tha: in the captain's but a choleric word
which in the soldier is flat blasphemy," said
Shales pear. A. flagrant disregard of the right
of others in a person with powerful friends is
sorrowfully styled " kleptomania"; but it is
written down by the newspaper reporter
" audacious robbery" if the pilferer's con.
motions palms no Llamado.