The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-06-19 00:00:00

ur ralthlt Correspodent.
We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
cientify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

While the Queen of the Hellenes has been on a visit
to St. Petersburgh there to attend the sad ceremony
of the funeral of her relative, the late Empress of
Russia, King George has come to London, where his
presence has been very welcome in the salons of
society. Belgium is so near us that the king thereof
very often runs 'over here; and sometimes he may be
seen moving about the West-end of the metropolis
with a total absence of State, and after the manner
of a private gentleman. But Greece, the classic
land of the Ilyssus, and the country whose historical
associations so strongly elicited the admiration of Lord
Byron, is farther away, and its sovereign cannot
come to us so frequently as the monarch of a king-
dom just across the Channel. And so the cor-
poration of London, ever ready too recognise the merits
of distinguished foreigners, has voted his Hellenic
Majesty an 'addrese in the customary handsome
gold box of the value of one hundred guineas.
Some of the London papers have fallen into an error
over this ceremony, describing it as the presentation
of the freedom of the city. This is not so. All
recipients of the City's freedom, from the Heir to the
Throne downwards, have to swear allegiance to Queen
Victoria, an oath which obviously it would be im-
possible to exact from the ruler of an independent
State. To him, whether Czar or King, Shah or
Sultan, an address of welcome is voted, a proceeding
which, while it forms an act of courtesy, does not
involve the administration of an oath. When a
reigning sovereign enters the City of London in
state, precedent awards a baronetcy to the Lord
Mayor, and a knighthood to each of the Sheriffs, but
it is doubtful if this will be followed in the case of a
little kingdom like Greece, although it was done on
the visit of the late Emperor of the French, the
Sultan of Turkey, the Emperor of Russia, and the
Shah of Persia.

On such occasions as the presentation of an address
to a reigning monarch, or of the freedom of the City,
the scene of the ceremonial is the Guildhall, and it is
almost invariably of a very imposing character. The
largest apartment in the Mansion House, the official
residence of the Lord Mayor, is the Egyptian Hall,
where the balls and the banquets of the mayoralty
are held. This is A capacious place enongh, and
will seat many hundreds of persons. When lighted
up at night the decorations, the fluted columns,
the gildings, the carvings, and the flashing mirrors
make up with the gaily-dressed company a very
effective spectacle. But the Egyptian Hall is
so constructed that, although the bright sun-
shine may be flooding the pavement without, no
ray of daylight can penetrate its gloom ; and
to hold sa great meeting on a midsummer afternoon in
an apartmenc illuminated solely by gas, seems such
an anomaly that any day gathering of importance
takes place at Guildhall. This building, the Hotel de
Ville of London, unfortunately stands at the end of a
small street running out of Cheapside, and therefore
cannot, like the Mansion House, make the best of its
architectural proportions. But it possesses ample
accommodation for a vast assembly, and upon many
such have Gog and Magog looked down.
Some weeks ago, when it was suggested that there
should be a grand national review of volunteers to
celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the movement.
Hyde Park was named by common consent as the
beat place for such a pageant. It is easy of access,
and occupying a central position would have been the
most convenient site in London for such a purpose.
The 'War Office, however, seeing some objections to
the choice of Hyde Park, has hitherto refused its
sanction to the selection ; while the metropolitan
volunteer commanding officers, on the other hand,
declare that it is the only suitable place for holding the
review. The Brighton Railway Company has offered
every facility for conveying the men to and from
Epsom, which the officers have voted an impossible
site. Richmond Park has also been suggested, but
here again the railway would have to be resorted to.
As, however, so many thousands of volunteers have
been looking forward to such a national recognition
of the fact that the force had attained its majority,
there can be little doubt that every effort will be
made to overcome the difficulties which have hitherto
stood in the way.

Since the introduction of Mr. Gladstone's Budget a
very old friend, or at least an old acquaintance, has
again presented himself for discussion. That is the
Income-tax. Threatened lives last long, and the
fluctuations in the existence of this impost prove the
truth of the saying. It has been menaced with de-
struction over and over again; but the end is not yet.
At one time, during the Russian war, it was at the
crushing figure of sixteenpence in the pound; six years
ago it fell to twopence, still there it was. It is easy
to understand the reluctance of all Chancellors of the
Exchequer, of whatever party, to extinguish an engine
of taxation which by increasing it only a penny in
the pound, produces an extra £1,200,000. There is a
peculiarity about the income-tax with which no other
assessment is invested. Aspiring young men, whose
incomes do not reach £l5O per annum, declare that they
would be only too glad to receive so much as would
qualify them to pay it. Years roll by, the income
increases—and so, too often, do the responsibilities ;
and when the exemption scale is passed, and the col-
lector comes for the money, there is a very different
story to tell. The willingness then to pay does not at
all times correspond with the enthusiasm of the decla-
rations of years gone by. A sixpenny income-tax is at
the rate of 21- per cent. ; but when, in 1842, Sir Robert
Peel revived the income-tax in its present form, and
when the country was far less wealthy than it is now,
the rate was sevenpence in the pound, or £2 18s. 4d.
per cent. It produced in the first year of its reviva
£5,300,000, and led to the repeal of £12,000,000 worth
of indirect taxes.

It is just two years ago that the sittings of the
famous Congress began at Berlin which had been
rendered necessary by the victories of Russia over
Turkey, and the Treaty of San Stefano, concluded
almost at the gates of Constantinople. That Congress
lasted from the middle of June to the 13th July, and
on the 16th the British Plenipotentiaries arrived in
London. There are, it seems, some points in con-
nection with the Berlin Treaty requiring further
consideration; and the German Government having
issued invitations for a supplementary Congress,
Great Britain will be represented in the Prussian
capital by Lord Odo Russell, our Ambassador there,
and by General Sir Lintorn Simmons, who is now in
Berlin. It is understood that the arrangement of
the Greek frontier, as recommended by the Congress
of 1878, is the principal cause of the supplementary
meeting.

In the session of Parliament in 1379 the House of
Lords threw out a scheme for supplying London with
sea water, it being founded upon the construction of
an aqueduct, as after the fashion of the Romans, and
must have proved a very expensive process. In addition
to this, when the aqueduct had been made to London,
the completion of the plan would have involved
the tearing up of many streets for the laying of
the pipes, the derangement of traffic and the dis-
turbance of business. So the Lords rejected the
measure; yet London is now supplied with fresh
.iea water every day without the agency of either
aqueducts or pipes. The Directors of the Great
Eastern Railway, feeling assured that a morning sea-
bath is a luxury for which thousands of Londoners
would willingly pay a moderate and reasonable bum,
now deliver daily at any house in any part of the
Metropolis a can containing three gallons of sea-water
for sixpence. It is drawn from the fresh waves of the
German Ocean, and is brought up to London every
day in enormous quantities. Now, three gallons make
a very fair tub; and when it is remembered how
many undertake a journey of two or three hours from
the Capital to the sea-side for the purpose of a sea
bath, it will readily be conceived how widely appro.
dated will be the boqn of a sea-bath at home at such
a low price the more widely becomes known the step
which has been taken by the directors of the Great
Eastern Railway.

While a large proportion of tourists will soon be
leaving for the seaside, there can be little doubt that
many will be enterprising enough-to venture for once a
little farther afield, and to make the daring journey up
the sides of Mount Vesuvius, the railway to the crater
of the volcano having been just completed. The ascent
begins between double lines of lava hills, those to the
left created by the eruption of 1858, and those to the
right by the eruption of 1872. Those who Lave made
the ascent describe it as as presenting sudden contrasts
of absolute death and vigorous life. At one
level the slopes of the mountain are covered with
the most luxuriant verdure; and at the next death
re-asserts its reign, the only living thing being the
golden broom, with here and there a solitary vine or
fig-tree. The station is 1,000 metres above the level
of the sea, aud the double lines of rails are described
as being almost perpendicular. From the summit a
splendid view is obtained of the Bay of Naples, pass-
ing the power of either pen or pencil to describe. The
feat of the ascent is said to be so bewildering that
the ordinary idea of being on the top of Vesuvius is
almost lost. A marvellous feature of the construction
of this railway is the friable nature of the soil, upon
which one can scarcely N.valk without slipping,
and which renders the fact of the making of the line
upon such materials all the more extraordinary.

CONSCSIE:47IOUS. —.Conductor (declinin- a tract
which was offered turn with his fare): "Very much
obliged, mum, but we ain't_ allowed to take any per-
Viol* WildittYor. =Urn