The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-03-19 00:00:00

..',. ur Tonbon Corrtspouttni.
Me deem It right to state that we do not at all times
,
igentify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Figures are proverbially stated to prove any-
thing; but the pleasure to be derived from some
which have been recently published may safely
be said to be justified. The Board of Trade
Returns and the weekly receipts of the railway
companies tell the same tale, and that is that
the gleam of improved trade which shone upon
us at the beginning of the winter, is more than
transient, and that our national prosperity has
decidedly taken a turn upwards. The Board of
Trade Returns for February were the best, all
things considered, that had been issued for three
years and the increased railway re7,eipts con-
firmed the impression derived from the official
figures. Such signs as these are of the utmost
cheerfulness, and if the present rate of progress
be maintained, as there seems reason to hope,
the commercial condition of England will
speedily become more prosperous than it had
been for a long time. In this prosperity all
classes are bound to share, and the happiness of
millions will be ministered to. It is not easy to
say why this rise should have taken place just
now. Financiers and publicists could furnish
us with some of the causes, but ordinary folk
will be sufficiently pleased to note the efiects.
Some of these are already apparent in the shape
of increased employment. At tho chief works
of our greatest railway company notices were
posted the other day stating that the whole
of the men were to be placed upon full time
forthwith, and as they have been on short time
for fifteen months, it is not much trouble to
perceive in this a sign of improved trade which
cannot be mistaken.
Another consequer^^ ^f the recent increase
of national prosperit. 4 the Chancellor of
the Exchequer is pr urplus at the end
of the financial yes' , fact upon which
Mr. Goschen is +rely congratulate
himself, for a Chr Exchequer who
in his first Bud i can announce a
surplus has a in th) race for popu-
larity. So certain does it now seem that the
surplus will come that suggestions are already
pouring in upon Mr. Goschen as to how he shall
dispose of it. The number of claimants upon
the Treasury is very large, and the nature of
their claims are extremely various. Every inte-
rest which needs money, and every trade
which feels a tax are certain that reason is
so strongly on their side that the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer cannot hesitate in
coming to their relief • but the Chancellor
does hesitate nevertheless; and he has to
turn a deaf ear to many a claim with which
in his heart he may sympathise but which he is
convinced the state of the national finances will
not allow him to satisfy. Rumours of how he
will dispose of his surplus always become in-
creasingly rife and increasingly positive the
nearer we get to Budget night. Dealers in tea
and tobacco appear convinced, as year succeeds
to year, that something or other will be done
affecting their interests, and the rush which is
made to get the tea and tobacco out of bond
annually brings a large amount of money into
the Treasury in the week before the Budget that
otherwise might not have come in for months;
and when the Budget has been produced, and
the tea and tobacco interests have not been
affected, the regret of those who had so prema-
turely paid the tax is sometimes ludicrous to
see.

accusation of their being tampered with by
interested parties has ever been made. If there
i
were any chance of juries n criminal cases being
bribed or suborned, the plea for an amendment
of the present system would fall through at
once, for no risk can be undertaken of the jury-
box becoming anything but inviolate. Long
experience, however, in civil trials appears to
point the other way, for there is as much
temptation to suborn when a jury has to
deal with a cause involving thousands of
pounds, as in one which involves the liberty of
a prisoner. Perhaps there is even more tempta-
tion, for as any who have had experience of both
police and county courts will testify there are a
great number of people in this world who are
obviously ready to perjure themselves for the
sake of five shillings who would have a conscien-
tious objection to false swearing if the object
were simply to save a friend. It may be de-
pended that before any change is made the point
at issue will be thoroughly discussed; but it may
be believed that the more thorough the discus-
sion the more clearly it will be shown that the
fear that the change will be fraught with likeli-
hood of evil will be dissipated.
Mr. Luke Fildes, the new Royal Academician,
has well won his position in the ranks of "the
forty," and his elevation has given satisfaction
not only to professed students of art, but to the
general picture-loving public. Mr.. Fild es was
first known to most of us by his illustrations
to Dickens' last and uncompleted work,
"The Mystery of Edwin Drood," and some
of these were so striking in their character
that even casual observers foretold a brilliant
future for the man who had drawn them.
His "Casuals "—an almost lurid picture of one
of the saddest sides of London life—strengthen
the opinion formed of his abilities; and though
of recent years the style of his art has changed,
and he has turned to the brightness and brilliance
of Venice from the darkness and dismalness of
London, that opinion has gone on strengthening
to this day. Attacks upon the constitution and
administration of the Academy are frequent, and
some of them have a great deal to say for them-
selves; but as long as that body is willing to re-
cognise talent of all kinds—and Mr. Whistler's
turn may yet come—so long will it hold a high
place in the popular esteem. No association of
mortal men could please everybody when dealing
with the productions of pictorial art, for tastes
differ in regard to pictures almost more than
they do with respect to books. If we can fancy,
for a moment, a Royal Academy providing an
annual book exhibition, it is not difficult to
imagine the rage of every author whose work
was excluded, and the indignation of all his
friends at the fatuity of a body which had not
instantly perceived that it was the finest book
of the year.