The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-09-13 00:00:00

@ln fortbon tr orrtspritWtni.

(We deem It right to date that we do not at all times
identify ourseivee with our Correspondent'rgoginloadi

In the world of politics, September is the &limit
mouth of the whole year. Cabinet Ministers, after
their protracted deliberations at the Council Board,
and their long sittings upon the Benches of both
Houses of Parliament, are scattered in all directions,
come to the moors, others to the lakes, others again to
mule quiet seaside resort, each making the most of his
time between the prorogation of Parliament and the
resumption of Cabinet Councils in October. There is
one Minister who, however, can get holiday only by
little matches, an that is the Home Secretary. He
ie the virtual ruler of thirty millions of people, the man
at the head of the administration of one internal
affairs, and in whose hands are to often placed the
balance between life and death. The pile of letters
and desciatches deposited every day at the Horne Office
no Whitehail is really surprising. 1. Ist year Mr.
Bruce Loped to get a few days of peace by de-
voting himself to the pleasures of fishing in Scotland.
Ordinarily a small valise contained the letters for
delivery by the local postman, but no sooner was
the Home Secretory in the neighbourhood than
the poistrnan hail to traverse the glens, aningglin;
under the weight of • large sack, which was brought
into requisition to carry the despatches which regu-
larly arrived from London. And we may rely upon it
that the weeding-out process had been put into force
by the tinder secretaries to the fullest possible extent,
and that the Minister was troubled with no despatches
but those which were of the most urgent character.
Yet the contents of a sack were daily outspread
before the gme of the wearied Secretary of
State! Toere is no other department in which
the chief has to devote such constant attention
to bueinem as this. Even the l'remler, with the burden
of a mighty empire upon his shoulders, is not called
upon every day to avenge • national insult, or to take
extraordinary precautions to protect the honour cf
Great Britain. The Foreign Secretary is not c on-
Banally disturbed by wars and rumours of wars. The
Minister for War can enjoy his rest after the termina-
tion of the autumn manoeuvres. The Secretary for
India sleeps in peace in Inverary Castle without any
fear of a mutiny in that distant dependency. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, having provided the
"ways and means" in the session, has next tP nothing
to do in the recess. But for the Home Secretary there
can be no peace, and so multifarious are his duties,
and so open are his public acts to criticism, that an occa-
sional failore in ouch an arduous position is not to be
wondered at.

Of all the institutions which are striving to do good,
perhaps none better deserve a word of commendation
than those which take in hand the education and the
training of the blind. There are 30,-11 sightless per-
eons in Great Britain, and the majority of these are
largely dependant upon public or private charity.
There is & Normal College for the Blind at Upper
Norwood, which, although yet in its infancy, promisee
to carry out a praiseworthy work. Its great object ie
to train the pupils in the science and privitice of music
and pianoforte tuning, for it is believed that a thorough
musical education would eneble a considerable number
to become sell supporting. The experiment has suc-
ceeded in France and America, and there is no region
why it sh,uld not answer here. Certainly no clads
stands more in need of the sympathy and help of the
public than those with whom it is for ever
" Total ecllpee—no sun—no moon,
All dark amld the hi.* of noon.'

The marvellous development of telegraphic enter-
prise is really one of the wonders of the age. Last
year the number of ordinary meessges reached a total
of nearly fifteen millions, while the number of prime
messages was twenty-eight millions. The latter was
an increase of seven millions, or 33 perstent upon the
bounces transacted in the previous twelve months.
The rate for news telegrams is a shilling for every 100
words, the hours of transmission being limited from
six in the evening until nine in the morning. On the
night of the marriage of the Prinoess Louise, on the
21st of March, 1571, 55,000 words were sent out from
the Central Office in Telegraph-street, Moorgate-
street, but the capacity of the instruments has bees
s) augmented that on a night when there is an
important debate in the House of Commons, no
lees than 206,000 words can be mint along
the wires. This is equal to about 160 columns
of The Tuna. The total length of the postal
telegraph wires now exceeds a hundred thousand miles.
One satisfactory feature of the working of the telegraph
system is the facility with which Mr. Scudamore adapts
It to special circumstances. Go to Mortlake on the day
of the University Boat Race, or to Epsom Downs on
the Derby Day, and you will see the travelling tele-
graph office, where messages, on being handed in, are
deepatched all over the kingdom with the rapidity of
lightning. The autumn marseavres ant tie National
Life Competition at Wimbledon are also specially
provided for as regularly as the meetings come round.
Like all human institutions, there are imperfections
in the telegraph eervice, but taken as a whole, its
administration is a great encores, and although we no
longer send sixpenny messages from one part of London
to another, as we could nosier the old system, that die
advantage, if such it be, is more than counterbalanced
by the immense benefit which the uniform shilling rate
has enabled the community at large to enjoy.
Of the importance of pure water as contributing to
the health of a community, it is impossible to speak
too highly, and there is little doubt that the water
tanks and cisterns which are in use in the houses of so
many large towns are tire cause of much disease. Only
the other day an outbreak ortyphoid fever in Holborn
was distinctly traceable to an impure water supply.
In the session of 1871 an Act of Parliamen& was
passed, empowering the local authorities of London to
do away with the necessity for cisterns by demanding
from the companies a constant eupply of water. Why
this has rot been done is apparent for two reasons.
In the first place there is no governing body
in London to take the initiative in matters
of this kind. The powers of the Metropolitan
Board of Works extend only to the oonstraction of
streets and sewer.; the vestry ean deal only with the
making and collection of ratea. There is no municipal
body to enforce • provision which it was evidently in
the-contemplation of the Legislature should not remain
• dead letter. But another reason why the constant
service has not been furnished to the people of Lon ion
II the expense which it would involve. The fittings in
each house must be altered, and in no case could this
be done under the cost of several pounds sterling. But,
after all, the Act of 1871 has borne some fruit I re-
member the time when the water was never turned on
upon a Sunday, and when Christmas Day happened to
fall either upon • Saturday or • Monday, with of
course an absence of water upon that day also, the in-
convenience of this arrangement was very 'seriously felt,
To keep such a vast population without water for two
successive days was unreasonable, but these has been
no experience of this kind since the rasing of the
statute which I have already quoted.
From time to time the daily papers tell of prosecu-
tions for the adulteration of butter, and in connection
with the trade in this commodity, action of a decided
character has often been taken by the State. Nearly
500 years ago, in 1379, a etatute received the sanction
of the British Parliament, directing that butter should
be sold in a measure of rightful capacity on pain of
forfeiture, the body of the vendor being at the same time
'submitted to disgraceful penalty." Between the let of
June and Michaelmas Daybutter was lobe sold at three.
halfpence per quart, also on pain of forfeiture in case
of toncorrpliance. Daring the reign of Charles I. in
1637, a royal proclamation was Menai "against false
butter aZd other deceits about butter make." Some
months afwrwards, commissions under letters patent
were issued from the Court of Exchequer, "for the
discovery of abuse/ in the unlawful transportation of
butter." It may be explained that the sole exportation
of butter was one of the monopolies of the King. In
1666, however, the free expoet of butter was permitted,
Charles 11. being then on the throne of these realms.
The ensuring of good measure and good quality has
evidently been an object of solicitude on the part of
gh, authorities from the grisliest time' to the present
day.

Mr. Buckmaeter's course of lectures in practical cook-
ery at the International Exhibition his been sucoessful
In bringirg before the English people an art in which,
by common consent, they are excelled by their neigh-
bours across the channel. The theatre of the building
hae been crowded by a numerous and mixed audience,
from ladies who have come in their carriages, to work-
ing men and their families. How to get from a joint
the greatest possible money's worth is an object of
much importance to large numbers of householders in
this country, and it is notorious that in many cases
this is not done. The authorities of the lexhibition,
anxious to i.npart a knowledge of cookery which shall
combine exrel,Pnee with economy, have engaged Mr.
Buckmaster to le,ture twice a day, and by way of illus-
trating his theories to show the beat way to
cook a dish of tripe and to fry a panful of potatoes.
This WY actually done, and specimens of the food so
prepared were banded round in order that the quality
thereof might be testea by the spectator. There is
little doubt that till average Englishman eats more
animal food than I. oonsumed by the inhabitant of any
other clime. He is, of course, the better for it, and Is
enabled to get through a great deal of work in con.
But it is unquestionable that he
oath-

0N112161108.

might

obtain mach more bemofit Mt of the flesh meat which
he este, or he might obtain results equally
factory out of a maxi smiler quantity, with a
gritent of 000ldag. Mr. Boabopißoo with. to

bears

, relieve

na from what haa been termed "the monotonous des-
potism of the joint," and in showing the people how to
extract from the meat and from the bone all their full
Talus as food, and in making every farthing meat WOO
the family's dinner pay ite due contribution to the
maintenance of the housebold, he is performing •
public duty of considerable Importance.

111
...
,Rmi