The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-10-26 00:00:00

Our foith-it Corrtsponbent.

(We Mere A right to state that we do not at all Um..
Ideality ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions J

We_are now in what may be Called the platform sere

sion, the period when members of Parliament either find
or make an excuse for coming before their constituents,
or when the latter find some means or other of drawing
out their representatives—in Borne instances making
the members give an account of their stewardship (to
use a new phrase); in others being only too happy to
hear their representatives speak on public topics. I
think the country at large may be congratnlated on
his supplementary or platform seelson, for the said
public the have opportunities of reading ppeeehee such
as the orators could never give in the House of Come
SLOW. it is a remarkable fact that there are some
500 members of that House who very seldom join in
It debates, except in quite a fragmentary Lied casual
way. Look at the Parliamentary reports in Tee Tima
—which gives them at greater length than any other
paper—and you will find that some 59 to 60 gentlemen
are very frequent speakers; that perhaps you can with
difficulty find another 100 who occasionally speak; awl
that about 300 scarcely everspesk at all. That this is not
from want of ability we now have very pleasant proof,
and I think we owe a debt of gratitude to many of these
gentlemen who have come forward, at a comparatively
dead political season, and have given us something to
think, talk, and write about. Long may Britain
retain her uarivalled superiority in platform oratory
and "alter dinner speechifying," which is, after all, a
very pleasant national feature.
The Government is having, and seems likely to have
a good deal of legal patronage. There have been al-
ready several important chalices on the bench, and
there will prohably very POOtt be others. No less than
foar more judges are said. upon high authority, to be
likely to retire—Mr. Justice Bytes, Lord Penzance,
Baron Martin, and Baron Chanrell. Our judge. are
notoriously long-lived, but they generally are raised to
the dignity of the bench so late in life that it can never
ssurprise us to hear of the probable retirement of a
judge; but for four of their lordehipe about the same
time to intimate their intention to resign, or at all
.vents, not to deny the soft impeachment, is a rather
remarkable coincidence. The Government may be re.
garded as rather fortunate in having such an amount
of patronage at their disposal, especially as the retire-
ment of any one judge usually involves other subordi-
nate shapes.
In spite of occasional grumbling at the working of
the telegraph department of the Post Office, it must be
admitted that on the whole this department works
admirably fog the benefit and convenience of the
public. But still one would like to see a reform carried
out that we have been long leoking foe, and which
indeed wise long since promieed, though no time for
the performance was specified. I allude to uniform
sixpenny telegrams not esceeeding 20 words. I have
heard that Via shall not have much longer to wait for
commencement of this system, and that the plan
will be adopted with the New Year. That the public
will gain by this is certain, and I believe the Post
Office will not lose, and indeed that the department
will in the end be the gainer. That the system even
as it now exists is highly appreciated by the public is
shown by the fact that the messages forwarded from
postal telegraph stations during last week numbered
319,995, being 51,275 more than the coffeepots ling
week of 1871. The uniform sixpenny telegrams will
indirectly as well as directly benefit the public, for
there must be more offices, more clerks, and more
messengers, as the new system becomes developed.
The numerous railway accidents that have recently
occurred are of A character that cannot but cause con-
siderable miegiving in the public mind. A p ,inteman
neglecting to alter the points, a shunter being away
from his poet at a critical time, an axle-tree breaking,
or railway sleepers and rails being in an imperfect
condition—such are some of the alleged causes of some
of these railway casualties. Without pretending to
decide where lies the blame in cases which are now
undergoing official inquiry, it is pretty certain that,
speaking generally, railway servants having too much
to do is a prolific source of miehape, more or less
serious, in railway traffic. If this be the case, con-
sidering Ole enormous amounts that railway companies
have to pay in compensation an I for injury to rolling
stock, is not this a penny wise and pound foolish
policy?

Donna is so charming a cite, in itself and Ito surround-
.
inga that when next year the attraction of an Inter-
national Exhibition on a large scale is added it is likely
to become second t•nly in its attractiveness, owing to
its distance from us to what Paris was in 1867 during
the period of her world-renowned Exposition Univer-
selle. The forthcoming exhibition in the Austrian
capital is being promoted by many of the most in-
fluential persons in our own country—with the Prince
of Wales, as President of the Commissioners, at thei
head. A meeting of these gentlemen has just been held
at Marlborough Howie, and it is found that all the
space that had been allotted to Great Britain had been
applied for. We, too, shall next year have our Inter-
national Exhibition, the third of the annual series, but
I suimeet that it will be rather a pour affair compared
to that at Vienna. It is a common remark that our
International Exhibitions in this country come too
fast, and that pcople naturally get tired s f them. If
the remark is not altogether true now, it will become
so in process of time. But there will be one feature
of next year's display which will be of peculiar interest
—the display of food, drink anti drugs, which will
teach us what to eat, drink, and avoid, and make us
very uncomfortable
The Gloucestershire Chamber of Agriculture has
passed a resolution, affirming the need of legislative
enactment to secure to outgoing tenant-farmers
compensation for unexhauated improvements, and that
landlords also should be ectiopensated for deteriora-
tion or dilapidation. The action of this Chamber
Is important as taken in sonnection with many some-
what similar declarations ou the part, if my memory
serves me, of other Chambers of Agriculture, and
certainly on the part of many influential speakers,
during the present recess, notably Lord Derby not
long since. The impression begins to prevail that Go-
vernment will next aession essay to deal with this part
of the great land question, a question which many ars
cumstancso combine to show us is coming to the
front During next session, also, that troublous
question of the Game Laws will aimed inevitably
be again brought before the legislature. On such
questions as these we most of us have strong opinions
—end some of us without knowing much about
thorn; send nothing is raore remarkable than the diver-
gence of opinion on the subject. lint it Is almost uni-
versally admitted that ;owe alteration of existing laws
Is needed, while the resolution just alluded to shows
us that such alteration must not be of a one sided
character, but made in the interest both of landlords
and of tenant-farmers.
I observe that some gentlemen connected with the
Great Eastern Railway have, in conjunction with
Captain Tyler, the Government Railway Inspector,
been making arrangements for an adequate tramway
for the conveyance of fish from the sea-shore and river-
side at Yarmouth. I wish I could see a similar move-
ment at our end of the Great Eastern. A tramway
from Columbia Market to the terminus of that rail-
way has long been talked of, and the (Corporation of
London are supposed to be considering the subject—
or nursing it perhaps. The matter is one of con-
aiderable importance to the eastern counties and to
the whole metropolis. 'There are as good fish
In the sea as ever were got out of it," and per-
haps as many; at all events there is a practically
inexhaustible supply, and in London alone there
is an enormous demand. Fish ia still terribly dear,
anti the truth is that there is in London a combination
to keep up the price—which, I suspect, is the true
reason why this much desired tramway is not made.
The fish merchants and fishermen of the eastern
counties and some influential Londoners might well
'suite in a little wholesome agitation on the subject.
With the continued high price of food, It is a matter
which concerns the general public.
We hive all heard enough and tour.' itch of the horrors
of on sit.kness. Unpleasant as subject is, a fea-
sible proposal for mitigatie • that " flesh is heir
to" is naturally agreee'. • . re ions doubt that
we shall ere lon- si the fad tier.
Mr. If. It.' so well kit own in
(tonne, ' • •cl, mid Mr E .1.
rot the Navy, ate
• Two vessels are
carry out the in-
jondent of The Times
• working model of a vessel
' looked like a disc cat
wile of a vessel; it was; set in
a steam-engine, and rolled about to
..c a' vessel at sea. " I found the greatest
-acultyf Rays the writer, " inetantling upright, soil
was glad to clutch it a support until I could put on
my sell legs. I thou passed into a aaloon. Here the
motion entirely ceased ; it was as steady as a seat in a
railway carriage. The change was !Ike magic." There
is no doubt that the working of the model exactly
repreaente what will be the wtsrking of the vessel, say in
the Channel, where it will first come into use, or at sea
The two gentlemen named kuow perfectly well what they
are about, and many pea:lL:al engineers awl seamen have
a.dmitted the fewilility of the plans. We may there
fore pleasurably look forward ta these plans becoming
aecoomplistied facts in due time. What a vast change
this will produces I As to the comfort or discomfort of a
voyage with or without this invention, I need not
expatiate on that; for we could all dilate on that
point. But if this invention effect vehat it proposes, it
really may have an important influence on our eons
sneratal relations with other countries, resulting from

the increased intercommualeation that will be an im-
mediate result. .

There must ma"y be many people in the world who
verify Pope'e aphorism, who "do good by stealth and
blush to find it fame." There have been from the
. .

_
commencement of the year to less than forty.two
anonymous donations to hospitals, &c., of £l,OOO each,
the benevolent donors merely signing their initials;
that is, we will say, an anonymous gift of £l,OOO per
week. Besides this thole was an anonymous gift of
£lO,OOO. Some of the nstitutions thus benefited could
scar,ely have held on at all but for these timely gifts.
Such bounteous generosity, combined with such
retiring modesty, makes one proud of being an
Englishman.
The discussion on the employment of the " cat " for
garotters continues, and the opponents of this punish-
ment are decidedly getting the worst of it. It is
pretty generally admitted that flogging is the one
punishment of all others that these gentry dread, and
this in itself affords quite sufficient reason for retaining
it. I should like to hear, however, what the habi-
tually crirnihal class have to say on the matter. I
warrant that they would to a man be opposed to the
employment of the lash ; and, if so, no stronger
reason for employing it under proper conditions could
be needed.

At a time when the working classes generally are
earning so much money, and when most thoughtful
persons consider that there are symptoms of reaction,
the action of a society with the telling title of the
Provident Knowledge Society is worth reference. It
is publishing a series of papers on subjecti which ought
particularly to interest working men, and affect the
happiness of their homes—for example how to buy
pensions by small weekly payments; how to insure
one's life by weekly payments; how to etart penny
banks; how to collect weekly savinve where you
work, and have them paid by the Post Office; how
every man may be his own pawnbroker (a droll idea
this) ; how domestic servants may always have a place
to fall back upon; and so on. Perhaps in some cases
more is aimed at than can be accomplished, but at any
rate there is no disputing the importance of these
topics or thogood intentionedf the society towards the
industrial classes.