The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-11-20 00:00:00

Our faitlnn &rasp Ont.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all tirtlelf
Identily ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The accounts from India, describing the enthusiastic
reception of the Prince of Wales, have effectually dis-
pelled any doubts as to how his Royal Hizhness would
be greeted by the teeming population of Hindostan.
It has been curious to note the singular way in which
time is beaten by the telegraph. Reckoned by the
clock we actually read of the Prince's doings in India
before they have taken place. It has been remarkable,
for instance, to take up an evening newspaper, and
read at four o'clock in the afternoon a telegraphed des-
cription of what has occurred in Bombay at half-past
sie. Making allowance for the fact that the East is
ahead of us in time, the speed at which the intelligence
of the Prince's movements is transmitted to this
country is really marvellous. While upon the dif-
ference of time, it should not be forgotten that if
India is faster than we are, the United States
are considerably behind ourselves. That variation
amounts to about five hours, so that when it
is three o'clock in the afternoon in London,
it is ten (clock in the morning at New York. Thus
when the London Stock Exchange is just closing, the
merchants of New York are beginning to be busy
in Wall-street, and they have a great advantage in
having the London final prices before them on the
same day. That our merchants cannot have from
them; for, supposing the New York Exchange is
closed at four in the afternoon, this means nine o'clock
in the British capital—an hour when the Stock
Exchange is quiet and the marts of men, so crowned
in the day time, are a desert. This difference of time
Is of especial value to the New York press. Every
newspaper of importance in the Empire City, as the
Americans love to call it, has now an office in London,
and supposing a message is despatched from here at
three o'clock in the morning of our time, it is in type
in the New York offices long before three o'clock
of their time. Thus the American journals cone out
with the very latest London news—summaries of the
previous night's Parliamentary debates when the legisla-
ture is sitting, the movements of the Queen, politics
gossip, the latest tragedy, &c. At any time when there
is a "big speech" going on, as the Americans say, the
tariff of tnree shillings a word does not deter the New
York journalists from wiring it pretty fully. This was
the case with Mr. Disraeli's speech at the Lord Mayor's
banquet, dealing as it did from beginning to end with
Imperial politics. The office of the New York Herald,
one of the best newspaper properties in the States, is
connected by wire with every part of the civilized
world. There is one peculiarity in American journalism
which is worth ',noting. In this country, over a vast
number of pieces of intelligence in the papers, you
will see the words "By Telegraph," the idea to be
conveyed being that the render ought to appreciate the
enterprise which has placed this early news before
him. The American journalist does not do this.
He allows the reader to assume that if he knows all
about an which happened in London the
previous night, it must have come by telegraph, and
he therefore deems it superfluous to say so. He says
in effect: "There it is; no matter how it came."
There is no doubt an improved taste in London archi-
tecture, accompanied by a desire to combine the useful
with the ornamental—to employ plain brick, for in-
stance, instead of stucco. On the south side of Oxford-
street, near the Marble Arch, a whole row of fine brick
houses is rising up on a part of the estate of the Duke
of Westminster. This side of the thoroughfare will
shortly compete in appearance with the northern pave-
ment, where hitherto all the best shops have been.
The Westminster estate is the richest in the metropolis,
and an immense number of improvements are con-
stantly going on upon it, the workmen employed by
his grace really constituting an exceeding great army.
I may add that in Fleet-street some attempt at the
Queen Anne style of architecture is perceptible; and
again going west let me tell your readers that St.
James's Hall, in Piccadilly, where so many have heard
the Christy Minstrels, is transforming its frontage into
a gorgeous specimen of Venetian Gothic, with mosaics
to match. A wonderful improvement is that at
Ludgate-circus. The reconstruction of the capital
will be still further developed by the operation
of the Artisans' Dwellings' Act. Acres on acres of
evil-looking habitations are to be swept away; and
already thirty schemes have come before the Metro-
pohtan Board of Works for confirmation. Speaking
of this body I may say that there is likely to be a great
battle between it and the London Gas and Water Com-
panies next session. The Board will apply for Parlia-
mentary powers to assume the purchase and control of
these important corporations, and propose to supply
water to the ratepayers upon the same principle as
that adopted by the gas companies, namely, by meter.
At present the charge for water is made in proportion
to the rental; and, to take an illustratian of its work-
ing, let us assume that an increased rental of £l.l per
annum means an augmented water rate of 18s. The
Board of Works hold that the householder should pay
only for what he consumes, the water companies con-
tend for their own scale of charges; and Parliament is
to be appealed to bra settlement of the dispute.
The Zoological Gardensin Regent's Park have a cos-
mopolitan reputation, and are certainly the best in
Europe. TheJardindesPlantes, in Paris, never stood a
chance against our own institution, even before the
siege of the city by the Germans, when the poor
animals were decimated by the famine-stricken people
in their hunt for food. There are so many speci-
mens at the Zoological, that the secretary is
anxious to get rid of some of them, and has offered
several for sale. Three turtle doves can be had for
ten shillings, while a Cape male buffalo is expected to
realise £4O. A Persian gazelle would go for £5, a pair
of grey ichnuemous for 305., a golden eagle for £2, a
pair of variegated sheldrakes for £l2, and a parr of
peacock pheasants for £25.
There is a loud cry in the purlieus of the Law
Courts by the long-suffering jurymen. The new legal
system having multiplied the number of tribunals, has
made an increased demand upon the jury lists; and
the householder who fails to respond to the summons
is fined £lO, £2O, £3O, and even £4O: the judges, in
their anger at being kept idle through the non-attend-
ance of jurors, threatening to raise the penalty to
£lOO. Now, the householders of Middlesex and
Surrey are willing enough to do jurymen's duty so far
as their own counties are concerned, but they object
to being called upon to leave their business and pro.
fessional avocations for the purpose of trying causes
which are sent up from all parts of the kingdom.
Notwithstanding all that has been said about the
necessity and the importance of bringing justice to
every man's door, it is an undoubted fact that in many
English counties there are no assizes for the trial of
prisoners or for the hearing of civil causes from August
until March. People therefore who wish to get their
litigation off their hands carry it up to London to be
settled; and the jurymen who are summoned to Guild-
hall or Westminster find their time taken up by a
Cornish mining dispute, or an action over some
property which belongs either to John Doe or to
Richard Roe, and which may be situated in a dia.
taut county—perhaps Cumberland or Devonshire.
Even then there might not be so much cause
for complaint if jurymen were better paid ; but
when a poor chemist, who cannot afford to keep an
assistant, gets a shilling for sitting in a stuffy Court all
day, and is agonised all the time by the fear that the
errand boy in charge of the shop is making mistakes
which may poison half his customers, he is inclined to
think that the jury laws require amendment and
reform. For the past two sessions strenuous efforts in
this direction have been made in the House of Com-
mons, but hitherto without success.
As far back as 1799 the periodicity of the November
star-showers had been noticed by the late Baron von
Humboldt, and their yearly recurrence is a =atter of
interest to many outside the circle of the astronomers.
From the 12th to the 14th is generally the date at
which they have been seen; and the magnificent con-
tinuous star-shower of the 14th November, 1366, which
had been predicted by Professor Newton some time
na
previously, is remembered by anY to this day.
It was such a display of celestial pyrotechny
as this generation had never seen ; and as the
luminous orbs were scattered in thousands along
the pathways of the skies, a profound impression
could not fail to be produced upon the beholder. There
were the stars of heaven being tumbled wholesale into
space as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs. They
were evidently too far from the earth to be affected by
our law of gravitation, and although such havoc was
created in their ranks, not a sound disturbed the
harmony of the spheres. Aerolites have, however, at
times come within the earth's influence, and have been
attracted to its surface with amazing velocity and great
force. The specimens in our museums form interest-
ing subjects of study, and are found to contain iron,
nickel, and other minerals.
Theories are often treated with ridicule by those who
do not comprehend their bearing, and that many
theorists argue upon unsound bases is not to be denied.
It is a subject of discussion whether the incessant
noise caused by the vehicular traffic of great cities over
granite roadways is deleterious to health by gradually
undermining and shattering the nervous system. Some
go so fer as to declare that it produces insanity and
premature death. Others contend that this is an
exaggeration, and that when once you become accus-
tomed to a noise, either by night or by day, you
take no notice of it, and conseauently it does
you no harm. There is something in this, no doubt.
There are some river-side streets in London along
which heavy vans are being driven all the night
through; but the dwellers therein sleep as soundly as
the occupant of the cottage upon the cliff overlooking
the sea-shore, or as the tenant of a house situate upon
the margin of a mill-stzeam. Take away the rum-