The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-02-28 00:00:00

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at the selections made we may rely upon it that so ex-
perienced a statesman as kir. Disraeli must have had
very good reasons for his choice. The outside world
knows little or nothing of the difficulties with which.w
First Lord of the Treasury has to contend in traming•
the list of his Administration. He has predilections to
study, tempevame,ta to consider, prejndic.a..to combat,
and a host of other obetacles to ovo.c.qme and it to
obvious that not only himself but the wholl Whim reV
leagues mast command the conti ience pf hill perti
and, in • non•political sense, of the Sove9eVin I. innit
Some it is likely enough, would rather have been
Tirsi: bi%-libe Cabinet thie- left tiatitriir- -stihmet
with a 4f/e W Toe
Cabinet itrYttitritty in whom, for the time
this-whale-ef the-Royal--autbcaity is vested.

It generally onrorieee about • quarter of the
Mininttlyt,NlLlN rfe" (fOlOpoie(t. Of its more eminent
member.. , lie, immber varies asith the discre-
tion of the Premier to • considerable extent, but
• It omit d wecoskity.inclndS It* Lois! Chlantlellor, the
Lord President ef di Council. the Lord Privy Seal,
the Five 'ideeretwidee erFtt ate, the hancellor of the
Eitcbegtr,.4!l44ll, First:LOA:rot the Athidraity, In
'addition to these, Mr. Gladstone included in his late
Cabinet the Peesidents of•the Board of Trade and the
lesmantle.ena4ent Board. the Chancellor of the Duchy
einciete—r; the 'lrish Secretary, and the Vice-Pre-
sident of the ColuciL „It is, however, obviona that
Mr. Disraeli's Cabinet will,be of much smaller dimen
Mons, and some otithe-Liberal papers have commended
this coarse as one better qualified for consultative pm,
poses, and am tending to prevent the division of this
Important body into sections, I may say that, ea the
Cabinet is directly responsible for the control of public
affairs, ita deliberations are strictly confidential, and
are kept a profound secret even from their colleagues
who are Is exalted In office.
The Administration which has just resigned the seals
of office, was the twelfth that had held the reins of
power since the accession of her Maj. sty Queen Victoria
—a period now exceeding more than a generation.
When the Queen came to the throne Lord Melbourne
was at the helm of State, and held it until August
1841, Sir Robert Peel was Premier until July, 1846,
Lord John Russell until Fe bruary,lB.s2, Lord Derby until
December of the same year, the Earl of Aberdeen until
February. 1855, Lord Paimerstonfitntil February, 1858,
Lord Derby until June, 1859, Lord Palmerston until
October, 1865, Earl Russell until July, 1866, Lord
Derby and Mr. Disraeli until December, 1861, and Mr.
(Redstone until February, 1874. Therefore Mr. Glad-
stone's Ministry enjoyed • duration of a more than
average length. The longest-lived Government since
the passage of the first Reform Act was that of Lord
Palmerston, which, with some change. and modifica-
tions, basted seven years.
A very deserving institution is about to hold a
centenary festival. I speak of the Royal Humane
Society, which in the month of April next will have
completed its hundredth year. No day has yet
been fixed for the celebration, which will take
piece as soon as possible after the return of
the Doke of Edinburgh to this mntry. His
Royal Highne..has expressed his intention of preening
over &nevi-LA that shall commemorate the great succea
which has resulted from the Society's exertions to pre-
serve life, and to improve and circulate throughout the
world the simplest and most scientific modes of treat-
ment in cases of suspended animation.
Amongst the subjects which will no doubt occupy the
attention of the Secretary of State for NVar, is how
best to keep the British army supplied with recruits.
Various inducements have been suggested, but so long
as we depend upon voluntary enlistments, it will
occur to many that an increase of pay is the principal
thing to be looked at. Let it be admitted that the
soldier has many advantages which possess a financial
value indirectly, but a recruit does not recognise this
fact all at once. If we want men we must augment

their pay, and make it at least equal to that of an
agricultural labouree. The pension may be some in-
ducement. but the majority of recruits look rather to
the present than ths future, and are by on means pre-
pared to barter an immediate advantage for a piospec-
dye and uncertain one.
Those who have at any time formed a part of a great
public assemblage, either in • theatre or In a crowded
meeting, must have noticed the almost total absence
of ventilation. Attention has &leo been called to a
similar defect In eur places of worship. Health is en-
dangered either by perilous cold draughts of air, or by
stifling heat that renders the senses torpid, and in.
duce s • sense of somnolence utterly opposed to the
spirit of the place. Au interesting pamphlet on
this subject has lately been laid before tile
elation of Blediced Officers of Ileadh, written by
Dr. Roes, one of their number. Observation, of the
state of the atmosphere in different public buildings
have been taken, and the result is rather startling.
We are here told that the normal amount of embonic
add in the air we breathe is reckoned at about 4 parts
In every 10,C00, but it has been found that in some of
our places of public resort it reaches from 10 to 32 parts.
In the Court of Chancery, with the doors closed, it
amounted to 19 ; in the Chamber of Deputies., Paris,
to 25 ; in an ordinary dwelling house by day, it was 7,
while in a workhouse it has even been found in the
proportion of 125. The institution last mentioned is
not named, but one would think that there was no
excuse for the existence of such • condition of affairs
In • place lace that. A poor man cannot afford to have
scientific inventions epplied to his dwelling, but the
ventilation of a workhouse can be rendered complete at
the expense of the public.
There is an offioe in London established for the pro-
motion of emigration to Canada, and the emi.l.4ls are
now very busy, preparing for the season, which will
commence in a few disys. I hear that with the arrival
of March, when the full tide of emigration sets in, the
extent of the exodus of our agricultural labourers will
be • subject for very considerable astonishment. Last
year's panic in the United States drove Imre numbers
of artisans into the Canadian Dominion, consequently
mechanics are not so much required there as agricul
tural labourers. Your readers may judge of the
demand for this ureful class of men when I tell them
that at Christmas there was not • single ereigrant at
the Ottawa dept waiting for an engagement. The
flow of our nual population toward. Canada in the
coming spring is eapected to be very great. Although
the governments of Rtlll6l and Germany discoursge
emigration by every means In their power, notice has
already been received of Imre numbers of peasants
(corn both conntries who are boand for the Dominion.
It may not have been forgotten that one of the
Canadian emigration agents in Germany Vieo; last year
Imprisoned and sent out of Prussia; but that sum-
mary proceeding has stimulated rather than die.
nonraged the desire to settle across the Atlentie.
Coal Is such a necessary of life that any informa-
tion earing upon it is read with interest. Mr. Robert
Haut, keeeer of the Mining Records, has just told us
that we naa,? not fear a failure of our supplies. The
areas known to exist are alone sufficient to keep us
going for many but.dreds of years at the present rate of
consumption. Besidees;this, there is every peibability
of an enormous reserve in Shropshire, Staffordshire,
Gloucestenhire, and round the Nottingham coal
fields. A indelible scientific fact 1..: at the same time
fundshed by Mr. Hunt. By • series Y experiments
he has succeeded in proving that heat don not nom
thine to increase in proportion to depth. It doe'li
down to 100 fathoms, to the extent of one degree for
every 50 feet. But in the second hundred thin falls
to nee degree in 70 feet, and in the third to one in
85 feet. It would seem from this that as great depths
do not necessarily involve an excessively high
temperature, coal-mocking can be carried on below the
level previously considered possible. This is preset'.
cell, proved at the collieries of Charleroi. in Belgium,
where coals are obtained without any difficulty at the
extraordinary depth of 4.000 feet, or about three-
quarters of a mile. Let us bklade the quantity re-
maining in or own coalfields down to that level, and
one 'apply would probably be erufficieet to last for
another 1,000 yearly_ even at the existing rapid rate
of consumption. ft is, however, quite poseible that
before long considerable saving will be effected in our
methods of burning fuel. This is • natural conse-
quence of the high price of coal during the past eighteen
months.

The Inv enton' ntitnte in St. Martin'splaae hie la .tcly
been discussing the subject of the suppression of firee,
apropos to the recent tremendous conflagration at the
Pantechnicon. Mr. P. A. Blake read • paper In which
be showed that • number of fires, in sone instances of
vast magnitude, would be avoided if some means were
devised by which the preeenoe of an outbreak could be
at once made known. Could this be done, it might be
extinguished by &small quantity of water before it had
time to develop into ccnsidersble proportion*. The
oseace proposed by Mr. Blake warn • tire alarm arrange-
ment consisting in the use of a system of fusee strands
circulating through the apartments of • house or divi-
sions of a building, such strands being composed of
instant which would ignite at a given temperature.
These strands would be connected with maroon, or
&Imams, so that when the fire occurred in anraparte
meet or division, the strsnds would ignite, the maroons
explode, and the alarms operate. I. doubt whether the
system is not too complicated for snyttaing like general
adaptation, but even lilt were 91 the mot pdniple