The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-04-05 00:00:00

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Although a minister of the Crown it; always cautious,
ands Chancellor of the Exchequer especially cautions
not to commit hinmelf to any defiMte promise tocarry
out the views of a deputation, Mr. Lowe's remarks to
the gentlemen who waited on him to protest against
the Pa-senger Tax on Railways afford ground for the
hope that he will modify it in eine time—and the sooner
the better. The deputation in this case urged the In-
justice of the tax in relation to traffic on tem Metro-
politan Railway. It is especially hard that the share-
holders in short metropolitan lints, which have tram-
ways to compete against, should bs saddled with this
tax, but indeed this impost is hard upon shareholders
generally. A tax mien Iceomoliou is not fair, and the
Chancellor ot the Exchequer would do a very popular
thing if he would remove ite or at all events modify it.
Our military authorities have a very difficult part to
play with regard to deserters, the number of which
appears to be continually increasing. From a parlia-
mentary return just issued it seems that while there
were but 6,363 deserters in the two years ending the
list of March, 1870, there were 8,414 in the two years
ending on the corresponding date 1572, showing an in-
crease of 2,051, or some 30 per cent. This is rather a
aerioue matter. These numbers, however, must not
be altogether taken as showing that the service is un-
popular, seeing that several of these deserters, to the
tune of about 300 a year, enlisted in other corps; but
it is altogether a very unsatisfactory state of affairs.
The desertion of even one soldier must be annoying to
the colonel of the regiment, for either the man must
be allowed to escape w ith impunity, or else the mili-
tary authorities must spend on the man, in bringing
him back, a great deal more than he is worth ;so that
when about 4,000 a year desert, the reflections of our
military magnates must be somewhat unpleasant.
Since the year 11429, when the first grand University
boat-race was rowed between Oxford and Cambridge,
Dark Blue has won sixteen times, and Light Blue
fourteen times (including the race last Saturday), so
that "ally there is little difference in the honours.
From the year 1861 to the year 1869 Oxford won on
every occasion, and then, after being- defeated nine
times successively, Cambridge had their turn, and
have now w6ll on four successive occasions. Who shall
ray that Light Blue will not make up nine consecutive
victories At all events it was a gallant contest
and a splendid victory for the Cantabs on this
last occasion, and the scene altogether was a
pleasant and an attractive one. As on the oc-
currence of any great holiday, the Derby Day for
Instance, we who intended going to see the great race,
and many of us who could not go, speculated,
on the morning of the eventful day, what Rod of a day
it would be, and the prospect was certainly far from
cheering ; but the sun ere long shone out deliciously ;
the air was genial and fresh; the thermometer a few
degrees abuse temperate; and we felt that "spring,
spring, gentle spring, youngest season of the year,"
which the boys in the streets have been so long
whistling for, had come at last. The banks of the
river presented an animated aspect, and the light
blue and dark blue "favours,' gave that much-needed
element ort an English crowd—colour. But I need
not describe the leading features of an event which
will of comae be fully narrated in your journaL
Suffice it to say that it wee a gallant contest, worthily
waged, with a foregone certainty that the best men
would win. It is indeed this element of honour, the
only prize for victors, that makes the University
boat-race so popular. Victors) and vanquished
have this year alike received a graceful compliment
which never was paid before, and one which does great
credit to the Lord Mayor of London. Both crews
were invited to the Ezyptian Hall at the Mansion
House, where an elegant banquet was spread for the
University men and a rather numerous circle of influ-
ential guests. Sir Sydney Waterleavai remarks were
well-chosen and happily expressed. "Boating," he
truly remarked, "is one of the very best of our
national athletic sports. It unites our love of the
water with cur national liking for outdoor exercise.
It stirs the Viking& blood which runs in all our
English veins. Our out door We, our fondness for out-
deer sports, are the beet features of our modern dia.
lisation. It is our physical exercise which keeps up
the stamina of the English race, and prevents de-
generacy." No wonder these well-expressed and
thoroughly English sentiments were cheered in this
splendid banqueting hall. This gracefully-accorded
civic banquet brought a memorable day to a close, and
I Lope this accessory to the great annual event may
form a precedent for future University boat race days.
We hear a great deal about the prosperity of the
working classes, and the main fact cannot be disputed ;
but there is one small section of the working class
which has Eng been ',laced in a serious and very un-
fair position. It is said that some 3,000 mat-makers
are suffering severely from want of employment,
owing to the cruel competition of convict labenr.
Mate are made inside prisons much cheaper than they
can be made outside, for the very simple reason that
the convicts must be fed, clothed, and housed, and all
their labour is so much profit—or rather diminution of
loss—to the authorities. The questions raised by the
distressed mat-makers are difficult of solutiol. Con.
victa ought to he employed on industrial labours, but
It its hard that honest labour outside the prison walls
sheuld be so unfairly beaten out of the open &diet by
convict labour, and peculiarly hard that one parti-
cular ffidustry should thus have a dead set made
upon it.

There has been a large meeting here, convened by
the Working Men's Club and Institute Union, to pro-
mote the movement for establishing such clubs. The
working classes are much indebted to the influential and
benevolent gentlemen who devote themzelvecto so good
a came, but I wish I could see that working men thein.
selves took more interest in the movement. lam glad
to see at any time, aid in any place, a club established
for working men, but I would rather see one established
by working men. These clubs are for their benefit,
and as far as they have been founded have proved
conducive to the welfare of the working claw, but that
class had not at present done much towards Us
desirable end. And yet the work is not difficult, while
the way of going about the work will cheerfully be
communicated by the association I have referred to.

Artists have been busy of late in sending in pictures
for the forthcoming Royal Academy ,Exhibition—that
is to say, so far as the hanging committee decide on
admitting thtse pictures to the walls of Burlington
House. I be:ieve it will prove to be a very attractive
exhibition this year, and will contain works from some
of. our must celebrated painters, as well as those of
artists who may one day wake up and find themselves
famous, and for whom admission to the walls of the
Royal Academy is at any rate something towards the
achievement of fame. One of our most celebrated
artists, Sir Edwin Landseer, haa unfortunately been too
ill to paint any work specially for this exhibition, but
be has sent some previously unexhibited paintings ;
Mr. Frith, Mr. Millais, Mr. Leighton, Mr. Goodall,
and other well-known artists, are contributors; and
the gay and brilliant throng who will crowd the rooms
of the Royal Academy during the London Reason will
have plenty of good, bad, and indifferent paintings to
criticise. •

It is not usual for Parliament to meet on Saturday'
before the Easter recess, but last Saturday both
Houses met—in theory. The "house of Lords "met
to the remarkable number of three. These were Lord
Redeelale (acting for the Lord 'L'hancellor), the Bishop
of Rochester, and the Earl of Motley—voila tool!
can almost imagine these three grave personages asking
each other, like the witches in Macbeth, "When shall
we three meet again?" Less than these three could not
have got through the business at all. One right hon.
member had to move that the Consolidated Fund Bill be
read a second time ; another had to second it; and the
noble Lord on the wooleack hadto declare itcarried ;then
the standing orders were dispensed with in the same
fashion ; and then the same rapid performance had to be
gone through with regard to the third reading; the whole
bminess occupying only five minutes. But still this
merely formal work was got through their' just as well
as if the benches had been crowded. Later in the day
" the House of Lords" again assembled for a quarter
of an hour, there being again only three members
present—not the same three, the labour perhaps being
too heavy--and got through a good deal of busines, in
this little time. The House of Commons "—to the
tune of a dozen members—also met on the same day
and did eery important but purely formal busine,' in
that portion of time which is indefinitely called a I race
of shakes. It is 3 pity that some other legislative
business is not despatched with equal rapidity.
A new literary venture in New York deserves more
than A passing notice. A short time ago there was
issued in that city the first number of a new daily
newspaper called the Graphic, a large quarto sheet,
whi di is said to be backed by ample capital and
with a numerous literary staff. Its plan is a
novel one, it being a daily illustrated newspaper,
one side of the eight-page sheet being tilled with cuts,
while on the other is printed the news of the day, the
editoriAls, correspondence, and reports and advertise-
ments which make up the matter of • first-class daily.
By a system of photo-lithography the plates of the
engravings are multiplied, and in this way by eimul-
taneously using several printing machines • large daily
edition is worked off. The paper haa now been issued
for about a month, and is constantly improving, while it
seems to have been well received by the public. The
Isene of the first daily illustrated newspaper, combining
an it were the advantages of the illustrated weekly
and the matter-of-fact daily, is an event in journalism
worth recording, and it will beworth whiie to watch
the experiment.