The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-05-03 00:00:00

inttroputitan 05fissip.

87 OUZ OWN

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the rere,,ran under tint head are to he regardod d- the ,t.
IF ndepeiolent opinion, iron, the pen ~f
n whom wa bare the neatest idene,-, hot lor e [nab we
dreartheiesa Ile net bold ourselves respoaintde.l

Often as the London papers contain the announce-
went--" Great Fire I—Extensive Damage! "—it is a
source of astonishment to many that conflaKratione in
the capital do not more frequently occur. Within the
radius patrolled by the metz.palitan police there are
fore than three millions and a half of people, one-tenth
of the population of the United Kingdom, and a num-
ber equal to the inhabitants of the whole of Scotland.
To say nothing of the manufacteriee, and the long lines
of warehouses stored with inflammable material, It
should be remembered that in every inhabited house
there is a fire burning throughout the day, and either
gas, ar lamps, or candles after darkness has set
in. Yet how snail is lbe proportion of fires to the area
oc...upie Iby the giant city! Occasionally, how-
ever, a couffsgration breaks out in the middle f the
night ; ouch as that which deotroyed Moors. Perk and
Freiu.'e biscuit manufactory at Dockhead last
week, whiz Wilted up a great part of Loudon,
and required the utmost efforts on the at ii
the hrtmen to subdue it. The rapidly-gathering
crowds, the triumphant roar of the flames, tie volumes
of lurid smoke rising high rip into the heavens, the loud
throbbing of the engines, the hissing of the water as it
is poured in tone upon the blszng piles, the shoots of
the members of the fire brigade, and the singular hip
presehm produced AR their quaint figures, occupying
one dangerous posirion after another, stand out in
bold relief agairst the sky—all combine to make up a
most exciting spectacle. It is no matter for surpri- e
that there is always a great multitude at the scent of a
midnight tree. In the case mentioned above, the
Prince of Wales was upon the spot, and with the Duke
of Sutherland watched with great interest the efforts
made to extinguish the flames. When one considers
the perilous nature of the firemen's duties, and how
they are liable to be called upon at airy hour of the day
or night, none will deny that they earn the remunera-
tion allowed to them by the Metropolitan Board of
Works.

In passing through the p.im.ipal streets of London,
one cannot fail to he struck with the extensive Altera-
Bond and improvements which are continually going
IL At the north east corner of Fleet-street the
scaffolding has been lately removed from a pile of
buildings combining a Postal Telegraph Station and a
set of offices for Mr. Thomas Cook, ,f Leicester, the
well-known tourist agent. On the eastern side of
Farringdon-street the propolpons of the Congrega•
tional Memorial Hall are now becoming visible. The
proprietors of The Tines are building a now set of
offices close to the historic Printing-House square; an
immense new goods station loin course of construction
for the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Com-
pany at Blackfriars, and the Ludgate-hill station,
which has become too small for the traffic, is to be con-
siderably enlarged. Meanwhile, in the Blackfriars-
road, preparations will soon be made for demolishing
a building, the name of which must be familiar to
many of those visitors from the country who have
had occasion to spend a Sun-lay in London. I speak
of Surrey Chapel, where, for half a century, the pulpit
was occupied by the Rev. Rowland Hill, and wherethe
Rev. Newman Hall has now ministered during nearly
twenty years. This well known structure, standing
upon the eastern side of the roadway, and a few yards
mouth of the( 'haring Cross Railway Bridge, is held on
a lease about to lapse, when all the buildings will pass
into other hands, without compensation. It was
founded in 1783, the worship combining both liturgical
service yid free prayer ; and in it, nearly sixty years
ago, the Rev. Robert Moffat, who was lately presented
with such a handsome testimonial, received his com-
mission to go forth and preach the Gospel to the
heathers of South Africa. In the course of a few
rus.nths Surrey Chapel will ee..seto,eist, and the con-
gregation will ud„r..te to a slot or .r the kinction of
the Kennington and Westmiuister-roads, whsre
building to be known as Christ Church, capable of cc-
oommodating 2,500 persons, will be raised. There
are also to be schools and a lecture ball, as a memorial
of the Rev. Rowland Hill.
The neighbourhood leads me to speak of a subj-ct
which has lately commanded much attention both
north and south of the Thames. Almost immediately
opposite Surrey Chapel is the entrance to a thorough-
fare connecting Illackiriars and Westminster-roads,
formerly known as the New Cut, but now called Groat
Chailotte-street. The Sunday trading in this street
has long b. en proverbial, and the worshipper leaving
church or chapel after the Sunday mornirg service,
has had to thread h:s way lootween costermongers'
barrows, and past trode,mess' shops, where business
was in full swing. The Lambeth vestry has, how-
ever, lately taken up the matter in earnest, and the
result has been a great diminution in the number of
shops open after half-past ten in the forenoon. On the
Middlesex side of the river the vestry of St. Luke's has
also waged a successful war against the Sunday traders ,
in White-Cross-street.

The discussions which have eneued upon the loss of
the unfortunate steamer Atlantic have included one
upon the comparative safety of short vessels, as con-
"tressed with ships of great length. 1 see that Sir W.
Fairbairn has given the weight of his high authority
against the construction of clippers.. He declares that
if the length of a ship is doubled, she is weakened by
just oce-half, and if the cargo capacity is enlarged in
the thole proportion and used, the strength of the
vessel is diminished four times. Sir William went so
to say it was high time that Parliament interfered,
'not only to save human We, but to prevent the bruit.
tag of slips upon unsound princk les. He saw no rea-
son why, with iron, which was the best material for
oonstructing ships, they should not be made even to
bear beating upon rocks for hours without being irre-
trievably lost. The wreck of the Atlantic will pro-
bably soon form the subject of debate in Parliament,
and as the House of Commons contains some well-
known ship builders on both aides of the Speaker's
chair, something is very likely t, be said upon a topic
which is of considerable public importance.
London is to be honoured by the presence of many
distinguished visitors during the coming summer.
First in order of time will arrive the King and Queen
of the Belgians, soon after which we may expect the
Csarewitch of Russia and his consort the Princess
Darner, a younger sister of the Princess of Wales.
But unquestionably the greatest interest of all will
attach to the movements of the Shah of Per:ia, who
has just left his dominions for Europe amid the plau:.itis
of eighty thousand of hie subjects, and who it is antici-
psted, will reach Buckingham Palace about the 16th
of June. The City Corporation has already taken the
initiative in the way of entertaining his Imperial
Majesty, and will invite him to a magnificent ban-
quet at Guildhall. Lord Palmerston once spoke of
the splendid hospitality of the City of London," and
oertninly the authorities have lost none of their old
reputation in this way. Should the Persian cove-
reign accept the invitation of the city, there is
little doubt that Lord Mayor Waterlow will receive a
baronetcy, and that the honour of. knighthood will be
conferred upon the two sheriffs. That is the invari-
able rule when Royalty comes within the City pre-
cincts. The most recent illustration of this oomrred
mailed year, wnen Her Majesty attended the Thanks-
giving Service in St. Paul's during the mayoralty -of
Sir Sills John Gibbons; in 11569 the precedent was fol-
lowed in the case of Sir James Lawrence, when the
Queen opened Blackfriais Bridge and Holborn viaduct;
In 1867, when the Sultan visited the city, the recipient
of a baronetcy was Sir Thomas Gabriel, and the sheriffs
were Sir Sydo, y Wate-rlow and Sir Francis Lycett.
There are other instances in the visit of the late Eire
paw of the French and the opening of the Royal Ex-
change. All who have wat3hed the spirited manner
In which Sir Sydney Waterlow has discharged the
duties of the mayoralty will be gratified should he ex.
change a knighthood for a baronetcy, the latter
being an hereditary distinction, and the former simply
an honour for life, The hospitidities of the Mansion
House have never been dispensed on a more liberal
scale, sad the grat d fancy dress ball given by the Lady
Mayoress last week, a hen the Chief Magistrate of the
city represented the character of Louis XIV., is de-
scribed as having been a scene of splendour unique even
in civic annals.

The new signal light wide h 1 at Leeo exhibited from
the Clock Tower of the Rouses of Parliament has
created a good deal of interest in the West-end of
London. It Lao been the custom to extinguish
the lights in the four illuminated dials wnen
the Rouse of Cemmons adjourned, but as the
clock, from its immense height, can be seen over
considerable part of the metropolis, the premature
extinction of the gas, when the House rose early, WWI
• great publizjnCooeeuinc,. A plan has, therefore,
been adopted of plActD4 a signal light at the kummit
of the Tower, which, seen frcm the whole of the west
end, notifies to those honourable ,members who may
be dining, either at their own housei or at their clu be
that the sittings of the legislature are still in progress.
It was partially exhibited at the closing last seeeion,
and has now been tried more euccessfully. It has the
appearance of a pliiar of intensely white light, and is
produced by the combustion of ordinary gas, brought
into immediate contact with till cxygen of the air.
The ei4resl most lately tried was tbe invention of Mr,
S. R. Wigham, a member of the firm of Edmundson
and Co., of London and Dublin. Experiments are,
however, to be made with others, and in each caw at
the expense of the inventor.

During the bitter winter weather from which we
were recently suffering, the news that in the centre of

London, opposite Somerset House, there k to be eon
structed in the Thames a floating swimming bath MO
feet long, has maculated rather to excite a shiver than
to give rise to many pleasurable anticipations. Still,
such are the sudden alterations of temperature in our
climate that within a nhort time, in all probability,
the pro.pect of a plunge into the filtered water td the
Thames will be more agreeable than when north-east
winds were blowing, anti occasional snow showers fell.
There is no reason why the Thames swimming bath
should not become as popular an institution AS those
which are so plentiful upon the comparatively clear
stream of the Seine an it flows through Paris.

In the face ai the prosecutions for adulteration,
which so frerpßlNtly occupy the attention of the
Metropolitan Police Magistrates, a contribution to the
Public Health Guide by a gentleman named Wanklyn
posseefo-a much interest. Here information is given
for the simple and erfeetive analj.is of articles of such
daily consumption as milk, flour, bread, etc., and the
more wldely it Gan be diffused the bet,er. A subject
which affects the wholesomeness of the food supplied
to vast masses of the population is of the utmost int.
portance, and this would be even more obvious than it
is now, were London suffering from the presence of any
of those epidemic diseases from whi-la thu capital is at
present happily free.