The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-10-22 00:00:00

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our Pl6Oll COMSFOIIkat.

[We deem it right to state that vie do not at all times
identify cnuselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

The Cabinet has, in the present recess, reassembled
at an unusually early date. Not much more than six
weeks had passed since the prorogation of Parliament;
but as a rule between two and three months are
allowed to elapse between the separation of the Legis-
lature and the meeting of Her Majesty's confidential
advisers. Even in the exciting times of the Franco-
German war, when the armies of the Teuton were
overrunning the fair lands of our nearest neighbour,
the Cabinet did not meet so early by a fortnight
as it has now been brought together. The urgent
state of public affairs in Ireland, Egypt, and the
Transvaal sufficiently accounts for the break-up of
the Ministerial holiday, for some of the members
of the Cabinet had to travel hundreds of miles
in order to be present at the Council. The gather-
ing of Her Majesty's Servants, as the Ministers
are described in the Cabinet summonses, is in the
recess not an easy task when they are so widely
dispersed. When Parliament is sitting, and they are
all in London, the messenger who takes out the sum-
monses to the residences of the Ministers soon accom-
plishes his task, the name of each as it stands upon a
list being checked as he delivers his missive. But in
the holidays, when they are scattered over the three
kingdoms, and some upon the Continent, several
messengers have to be employed in delivering the sum-
monses; for like foreign despatches, these are never
trusted to the chances of the post.
It is remarkable to note the importance attached to
the meetings of the Cabinet, seeing that such a body
has never been recognised in our constitution, and
that no record is ever kept of its proceedings. Lords
and Commons both have their journals, the minutes
of the Lords being always signed by the Clerk of the
Parliaments, and those of the Commons by the
Speaker. But although necessarily at times the most
momentous decisions are arrived at by the Cabinet,
there is no journal to chronicle what has been either
said or done. The results of the deliberations are
communicated to the Sovereign by the Premier, and
that is all. Formerly, and even within living memory,
it was the invariable practice of the Cabinet Ministers
to appear at the Council-table in court dress ; but
this custom has now been abandoned for some years.
The room set apart for the consultations of ministers
in the official residence of the First Lord of the
Treasury is one in the construction of which every
precaution has been taken that no remark shall be
overheard. There are double windows and double sets
of doors—windows within windows and doors within
doors; no official enters the room in which the
ministers sit; and if one of the latter has to be com-
municated with, he goes to the door to receive the
message instead of its being brought to him.
When the City of London undertakes to do a thing,
it does it well, whether it be the reception of one of
our own Royal Family, the entertainment of a foreign
potentate, or the honouring of any distinguished
guest whatsoever. It would be difficult to find any
other important body, wielding such influence, and
possessed of such vast wealth, so little swayed by
political prejudice or party consideration. In many
municipalities of the "United Kingdom the selection of
the Chief Magistrate is annually the result of a
partisan struggle; but in the Corporation of London
every alderman has his turn in filling the civic
chair, whatever may be his political views. When
Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury returned to England
after the Treaty of Berlin, they were presented with
the freedom of the City, not because they were mem-
bers of a particular party in the State, but as having
represented their country at a great international
Congress. On the same principle the Corporation has
now given a complimentary address to Mr. Gladstone,
not as the chief of a party, but as the head of the
affairs of a nation. The scene at Guildhall on such
occasions is a very impressive one, and is never for-
gotten by those who witness it.
The prominence which South African affairs have
lately assumed lends interest to the fact that digging
for diamonds has now become a permanent industry
in that colony. Formerly it was the gold in California
; Australia which attracted the attention of the
enturous ; now the South African diamond fields
orm the subject of prominent notice. In 1880 the
weight of these precious stones which passed through
the Kimberley Post-office was 1,4401b5. avoirdupois,
of the estimated value of about £3,400,000. Since 1876
the yield of diamonds has been constantly increasing;
and at the end of last year 22,000 black and 1,700
white men were employed at the mines. The
benefits of the increase of gold to the great mass of
the community have been questioned many times
by political economists ; that precious metal has
become of less value as the quantity in circu-
lation has augmented ; and the diminution of
the purchasing power of the sovereign to persons with
fixed incomes, has often proved a serious matter. The
lucky discoverers of diamonds of course reap directly the
reward of their enterprise; but it would be a nicer
point to determine the effect upon the body politic of
the finding of diamonds to the extent of nearly four
million carats every year.

The tour of the Marquis of Lorne in North America,
and the descriptions which have been given of the
Vicerey's progress, have drawn considerable attention
to the fertility of the province of Manitoba—the pronun-
ciation of which, it may be explained, is accented on
th') last syllable and not on the third. Everything
seems to grow in Manitoba to the highest perfection;
and the progress of the City of Winnipeg proves the
copy ity of the land for growth and development. In
ten years the population has increased from 300 to
12,000, showing that this rich country was only dis-
covered in the practical sense very recently. An
attempt to establish a colony there many years ago
failed on account of the jealousy of the fur traders,
who broke up the settlement and drove away its
people. The solitude of the prairie and the forest was
more profitable than the presence of a busy com-
munity; and it was not until 1869, when Canada
obtained this territory from the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, that its real agricultural worth became known,
and the foundation of its prosperity was laid. In
climate it resembles more that of the fair lands of the
best of the Western States of America than that of
the traditionally cold atmosphere of the greater part
of Canada.

The Metropolitan Board of Works has agaihi been
pressed to improve the means of communication
between the two sides of the river below London
Bridge, a want which has been recognised for years,
and has repeatedly been the subject of discussion by the
Corporation as well as by the Board of Works. Some
years ago th 3 Corporation proposed to meet the diffi-
culty by widening London Bridge, but as this
would have been of little service without at the same
time widening the approaches on either bank of the
Thames, the suggestion was not pressed. Then it was
proposed to construct a high-level bridge between
Tooley-street and the Tower, which would have cost
a million and a half sterling. It was, however,
abandoned because of the steepness of the gradients,
which would have rendered heavy traffic over them
difficult if not impossible. It is now argued that
a subway would meet the requirements of the
case; but a subway, no less than a high-level
bridge, involves steep gradients. Meanwhile the
concentration of traffic on London Bridge con-
tinues without relief, and must continue to do so a
long as that structure is the first means from the
sea by which either pedestrians or vehicular traffic
can get from one side of the river to the other.

As the month of October draws to a close,
the members of the Bar, who have been en-
joying the Long Vacation, return to town,
and prepare for the business of the legal year
which begins on the 2nd November. All the
efforts of law reformers have hitherto failed to
reduce the length of the vacation, which occupies
three of the autumnal months. The opening of the
courts at what are called the Michaelmas sittings on
the 2nd November, is always characterised by the
manifestation of much public interest. The Lord
Chancellor receives the judges and Queen's counsel at
breakfast at his residence; and a procession is then
formed to Westminster Hall, the Chancellor at its
bead, when the courts are formally opened, and
business begins. Year after year, and century after
x dseitury bas toe trt;.;rlc; Westminster hall witnessed
this ceremony ; but this is likely to be the last time.
There seems to be every probability that before next
.autuirm the Law Courts in the Strand will be com-
pleted ; and the neces.sity for going to Westminster
Hall will cease to exist.

We shall have to wait some time before learning
the full results of the disastrous storm which has just
swept over these islands. It has generally been re•
Daarked that the later the equinoctial gales are the
Oercer is their power. This gale, three weeks 'from
the date of the autumnal equinox, seems to
have
,gathered strength from delay; nor had
its apprNach been generally antieipated. As a rule
the elaborab'e system of observations carried out by the
Americans enables them to predict with tolerable
certainty the course which a depression will take.
They have statiomk of observation on both the Atlantic
and Pacific coasts, snd from a host of places in the
States themselTes. These are collated in the Central
Observatciry at gew York "and elaborate calcula-
tions are there made as to the probabilities of the
-weather. Sometimes, however, the forces of nature
arise and gather too quickly to be reckoned
by the acutest intellect or the most -practised expe-
rienck; witb eul saejis hisihkefkn'te (that
,a
fierce hurricane bursts without warning upon land

and sea, bearing upon its wings destruction alike upon
ocean's depths and far inland from the shore, its
power being felt not less in the crowded town than
on the unprotected mountain side or in the wide and
open plain.