The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-07-26 00:00:00

Sfax Intrior. Correspeettnt.

MS Men ts • Z: state that we do no at all WAN
^nraelves '4 t' .ur Correspondent's ,ptlllOnal

Mr. Gladstone's declaration, made on the afternoon
of Friday the 18th instant, that Parliament would be
prorogued within three weeks from that date, was a
most welcome announcement. The precise day cannot,
Of course, yet be determined, but according to the
Premier, it will certainly take place before Saturday
the 9th of August. Were the Session much longer
protracted, the lengthened sittings of the House of
COMMODE could not but tell upon the health of both
members and officials. Twice within a week the
House sit until four in the morning, after having been
at business uninterruptedly for twelve hours. The
laded representatives of the people separated just as
Big Ben of Westminster was solemnly booming the
fourth hour of the night over the metropolis. I have
written night, but in truth it was broad daylight.
The pale streaks of dawn had appeared more
than an hour before in the east, and the golden
cross of St. Paul's Cathedral stood out in calm
and beautiful relief against the amber of the
summer morning sky. It is most interesting
to note the gradual progress of the light
over the vast area of London, when the noise of the
traffic is hushed, when as it seems the very life of the
giant city is ellspended, when no smoke arises from its
myriad chimneys, when there is no scream of the loco.
motive, no steamers plying up and down upon the wide
enrface of the Thames. Pam over one of the bridges
—new Blackfriars for instance—at three o'clock on
a summer morning. Eastward you see the great
dome of St. Paul's looming boldly out from a sea of
light, and still, as it has done for two centuries, stand-
leg apparently as a silent sentinel watching over the
development of London. Westwards there are the
towers of the Houses of Parliament ; below you the
water lazily plashes against the piers of the bridge, and
travel where the eye may, there are few, if any, signs
of that activity which has made the British capital one
of the wonders of the world. You hear, perhaps, the
solitary parings of the policeman; you meet a waggon
laden with vegetables for Covent Garden market; but
the real working life of London is still, for behind its
walls three millions of people are asleep, resting from
the fatigues of one day, and preparing for the unknown
cares and anxieties of another.

In many of the streets and squares at the west end,
gigue are already apparent of the flight from town.
This has been materially assisted by a day or two of
the broiling July son. It must not be supposed that
the exodus is confined exclusively to the upper or even
to the middle Glares. To the great relief of many a
householder whose nerves are not too tightly strung, a
considerible body of street vocalists and instrumenta-
lists also disappear with the close of the season. The
latter include a numerous variety. They enliven the
stir with the sounds of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music. Italian
barrel organists and Sy:itch bagpipes, German bands
and Irish songsters, suddenly vanish from our gaze. In
company with bands of negro melodista and Ethiopian
serenaders, they betake themselves to the sea-side,
where the Londoner, who has gone for his holiday,
meets them as old acquaintances. The people in tne
vratering.places all along the south coast know all about
these autumnal visitors, and how they abound upon the
sands along with the proprietors of "Punch and Judy"
shows and the enterprising owners of penny peeps. In
two or three months the whole of them will return to
town, and having combined business with pleasure,
will look all the better for their sea-side trip. It has
been truly said that they seem to be • fixed quantity,
and never to decrease in numbers. The continental
war certainly effected no diminution in them. But
are street performances an unmitigated evil?
I am inclined to think not. It Is true that
they do not tend to assist in the production of
lit Tory compotiiti 1:1; indsed the sound of a barrel-
organ is to some writers really distressing, and it has
been said that these itinerant musicians so shattered
the nervous system of the late John Leech, that his
death was hastened thereby. But, after all, in a po-
pulation with so many tastes, and in the midst of so
much pauperism and crime, it is something to know
that these people, with all their faults, endeavour to I
corn an honest livelihood,

The annual fete of the National Temperance League
at the Crystal Palace is alwsys one of the prinic:stl
events of the summer. It is attsnde Iby large num-
ben, not only from London, but from many parts of
the provinces, an I vies with the yearly gathering of
Foresters in populaity. Last Tuesday the programme
combined instruction wi'h recreation, for at o's
o'clock in the atternoon a great meeting was held in
the certral transept, at which Mr. Plime )11, M.P., was
one of the speakers. The day was one of the hottest
which has been experienced in London during the
summer; still the great army of visitors contrived to
enjoy themselves thoromli'y, as indeed they couid not
help cluing at such a plscs as the Crystal Palace.
From time to time various suggestions have been
made for deadening the noise of the London street
traffic. In an office overlooking Cheapsi le, Ludgate-
bill, Fleet-street, or the Strand, the roar is PO c
Sinuous as to be almost bewildering. Asphalte has
been tried, and in some respects successfully. Is is,
however, decidedly objectionab's in frosty weather
when it presents • smooth and polished surface
like unto glass. In wet weather, too, travelling upon
It is anything but pleasant. More recently, experi-
ments have been made with anew form of wood pave-
ment It is laid down over a section of the Strand,
near the church of St. Mary, and to a very material
extent decreases the noise made by passing vehicles. It
seems to be probable that this form of roadway will
oome into more general use. The corporate authorities,
who can never be said to be behind hand in carrying
out improvements, have lately tried a machine which,
according to its inventor, will lay woolen pavement
and concrete foundations. It lifts the gravel and
cement from carts, mixes the material, and lays it
down with a pressure of 200 lb to the square inch.
Similarly, the michine places the wooden blocks in
their grooves. The question of durability has, of course,
yet to be tested, but in any case the diminution of
noise le a very important consideration.

The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, which
is visited by nine-tenths of those who go to the Exhi-
bition, is, like many another undertaking, so far not a
financial encomia Not many of the concerts given
during the past year have paid their expenees, and
upon the twelve months there is a balance of £5,700
against the capital account. The Commissioners, how-
ever, believe that this will be removed when the
prooeeds of the Shah's reception are placed to the
credit of the revenue account, although the cost of that
reception was not far from £2,000. It is hoped that
these expectations may be realised, and that a deserving
undertaking may not permanently labour under the
disadvantage of failure.

It was with a feeling of general relief that the people
of London heard last Saturday morning that the threat-
ened strike in the building trade had been averted. The
masters conceded, in substance, if not in form, the
demands made by the men, both as to the time of
leaving off on Saturdays and also as to an increased
rate of wages. Thus the beet period of the summer
mouths will not be wasted, as it was last year, and
there will be no cessation of work in this important
department of industry. Trade is now so good that
the matters found it worth their while to grant the
requests of the workmen, Oven though it must Deese-
cannily involve a large additional expenditure on the
single item of remuneration. At the same time it is
obvious that the tendency of this movement must be to
keep up that increase in prices of which so many com-
plain. If house. cost more in building there will be a
proportionate augnmentation of rents, and Chia is
already a serious item of expenditure with a large
number of the working and middle clasees.
In speaking of this question I am reminded that
there are many in London who would not be sorry to
see a little less activity on the part of the speculative
builder. Every year the open spaces in the neighbour
brood of the metropolis bectme fewer, in consequence of
this übiquitous ten ,nage. He I. here, there, and
everywhere, hut more especially are his exertions ap.
parent in the northern and southern imbue*. In the
west speculati,u is rather too expeneive, and no one
goes to the east end to live if he can help it. But it ia
in Highgate an i Holloway, Brixton and Norwood,
that the tram/ orrnation is more rapidly taking place,
Space after space, plot after plot, no longer serve AP
lungs for the circulation of stein neighbourhoods already
sufficiently crowded, but are converted into bricks and
mortar with all possible speed. Take a run from Brix.
ton, by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, to
the Crystal Palace. You pane through five or eix miles of
beautiful and open sountry, but you will find notice
boards dotted at irregular intervals along the line.
"This desirable plot of land to be let in building lots"
And so let, in time, they will be, there can be but
little doubt I do not think that this incessant eir
croaehmeut upon the land by the town is an unmixed
benefit. Land once built upon is always built upon,
and can Levee again be appropriated to the purpose of
tillage or of recreation. As land is a commodity
which cannot be created or added to, it follows that
every foot taken from the existing area must tend to
render more valuable that which remains, and to keep
up AN price, But the speculative builder will tell you
that there is no help for it, that the population of
London increases at the rate of 50,000 a year, and that
dwellings must be found for them.

Who has net heard of Leicesterannare—the refuge
of expatriated Frenchmen, and the some of the re.
viral of the Alhambra Pa 1...? The each/ewe ham for
years been otos of the greatest eyesores in the metro-
poll,. There 1... equestrian statue to the centre, re-

presenting one of the Georges—l don't know which,
at the present moment, but that is immateriaL Some
time ago a huge fool's cap, in shape resembling those
worn by naughty little boys at school, was stuck upon
the bead of the figure, to the great delight of all the
games in the Immediate neighbourhood. More re.
cently an enterprising contractor has taken entire pee-
erasion of the enclosure, and has covered the railings
with a wooden barricade, thus turning the place into •
great advertising atation. There is no authority,
either central or local, which is apparently able to
restrain this flagrant violation of good taste. The
square in far outside the radios controlled by the City
Corporation, the Metropolitan Board of Works can
do nothing in the matter, and the adjacent vestry is
seemingly in a similar position. In such • case as this
there would be virtue in a little who!eeome despotism.
In Paris, Vienna, Berlin, or S. Petersburg you may
depend upon it you would find no parallel to Leicester-
qpiare. .

I suppose that by this time faith In the legend of St.
Swithin has been pretty well abandoned. The anni-
versAry was this year sufficiently wet to alarm all who
believe that

'SL S.lhio. day. If ye do rata, for forty day. It will

remain ;
St Selthbs Day, if ye be fair, for forty days 'twill tido nee
mai,"

This was certainly a gloomy prospect for the critics
period of harvest. Yet we have had some very fine
days since the 15th instant; so that, fortunately for
the country, there is no chance of the standing pro-
phecy being freltilleeL The truth is that there is no more
foundation for this legend than for any of the weather-
wise sayings with which every agricultural district is
more or less familiar.

Another difficulty has lately arisen between the
Lord Chamberlain and the manager of • London
theatre. A new piece bearing the singular title of
Kiesi Kissi has been placed upon the boards at the
Opera Comioue, one of the actors appearing in •
striking representation of the Shah. This was objected
to by the Lord Chamberlain, who requested the
manager to modify the play eo as to remove the per-
sonality. In order to accomplish this, and to destroy
the similarity, the actor now whitens his face, amid
roars of laughter from the audience.
A painful sensation was created in London on Sun-
day evening, at the announcement of the fatal accident
to the Bishop of Winchester. In appearance the
right rev, prelate looked likely enough to live for years,
and it was only a night or two previously that he had
spoken in the House of Lords with his accustomed
vigour. His lordship was one of the most energetic
men ever promoted to the episcopal office. There
was, in truth, ample scope for his activity. The
diocese of Winchester includes the counties of
Hants and Surrey, with the Channel Islands, and
comprised whole of London on the south side of
the Thamee. Dr. Wilberforce's short, thickset form
was familiar in the streets of Lambeth and Southwark,
and all who read the intelligence of his death, cannot
but regret that such an apparently trivial cause as the
stumbling of a horse, should instantaneously terminate
the existence of an eminent prelate and • thoroughly
earnest man.