The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-29 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

COMMENTS ON CURRENT TOPICS.
THE friends and supporters of those who
have advocated the change proposed by the
Deceased Wife's Sister Bill haye received a
s;vere check by the action of the Lords in
cting the measure by a decisive majority
in a big house. The bishops were strong
against the bill; the Duke of Argyll waxed
eloquent and pleaded that the House should
stand fast in the ancient path. Notwith-
standing the earliest arguments of Lord
Bra,rnwell and the vote of the heir Appareut,

_
the peers would have none of the suggested
change; and for a time, at least, the well
th, ashed-out subject will remain at rest.
But the Deceased Wife's Sister will rise
again, at no distant date, to occupy the time
and attention of our legislation, or we much
mistake the enthusiasm of those who would
take away the barrier against her union
with her dead sister's widower.

THE Lords, still in rejectant mood, have
also stopped the temper tnce people's efforts
to make Durham different from the rest of
England by enacting that there Sunday
closing of public-houses should be the rule.
Whether or not the liquor traffic should be
entirely suspended on Sundays is a moot
point upon which people are hopelessly at
issue, and we will not here and now express
our opinion therearent. But we do not re-
gret the peers' action in the matter, because
we strongly object to piecemeal legislation
and speculative (nactments. If Sunday
closing be right let us bodly shut the door
of the tavern from end to end of the land.
If it be not right, of if we have not made
op our minds in the matter, why should
Durham be experimented upon? A measure
good in its action in the north should be
beneficial to the people of southern shires.
It is bad parliamentary form to have the
fmperial legislature endeavouring to give
their sanction to the idea that Bnglishmen
are not of one flesh, as a county Closing Bill
would certainly seem to imply.

WHY should we have a debate in the Com-
mons yearly as to whether Parliament should
adjourn for the great horse race of the sea-
son P The discussion is unseemly as unneces-
sary. Those against the adjournment have
all the weight of logic with them, and the
whole case has been stated, and re-stated
times out of number. The principle of sr-
pending
the business of the House is, we
hold, wrong. A great many members never
go near Epsom, and woulàl doubtless attend
the House if the day were not made a Wank
one. Let those who want to visit the Downs
go, leaving those who take no pleasure in
horse racing to transact business at St.
Stephen's. Then the annual wrangle would
cease, and nobody be the worse. As to the
officers of the House, those who could not
be spared might be expected to waive Plea-
sure and respect their duty. Mr.
Labouchere's smart speech, in moving the
adjournment, was wanting in dignity, and
rather oat of place in such an assembly.
Bat it was enjoyed by honourable members.
"A little nonsense now and then is relished
by the wiset men," said some sage, and 11/I.P.'
aro, after all, no exception to the rule thuE,
laid down.

SIR CHARLES WARREN did well to dis-
courage the use of those detestable squirts.
ladies' tormentors, and other terrors of the
popular drive down from London to the
Derby. If 'Arry lost the chief excitement
of the annual saturnalia, and if the motley
procession of pleasure seekers was shorn of
mach of what erst most delighted his
"Hemmer," the comfort of the many thee-
sanis of quieter folk who are accustomed to
go by road to the Derby year by year vao3
greatly added to by the check placed upon
the rough and selfish horse-play by the ne*
Police Commissioner. It is doubtful
whether Sir Charles Warren's rigour as to
the muzzling of dogs is worthy of such m -
qualified praise. He is going on the wrong
principle in his well-meant endeavours to
protect the public against dangerous dogs.
Henceforth it will be impossible to meet a
(leg in the metropolis unless the animal
either wears a muzzle or is held by a chair.
No matter how close he may follow in his
master's wake, or how obedient to the look
or word of command he may be, the dog is
, no, according to Sir Charles, under contre!,
unless chained or muzzled. Let the police
exert themselves to prevent dogs being
neg•lected, and careless owners be deprived
of the canines they are unfit to have charge
of, and little of danger will be left to the
public. But muzzling and close confine-
ment are incentives to dirt and disease, and
in themselves a greater danger than those
they seek to obviate. Kindness, and atten-
tion, and cleanliness are the best specifics
against rabies in the dog ; and the wirework
instruments of torture which are attached
to the heads of London dogs are a disgrace
to our humanity.

EVERYONE has been fearing a dissolution
of Parliament, and the wiseacres have had
the date fixed for some days past now. "An
early appeal to the constituencies is certain,"
says trio local 'political leaders. The busi-
ness man will hold the whole thing a nui-
sance. Why could not our party chiefs
have placed the Irish issue plainly before
the electors in the winter, when the General
Election was absorbing men's minds? If
we are to have commerce upset every few
months with electoral contests, no man will
be able to earn a livelihood in trade. Party
strife convulses the country; political
strength is in consequence wasted in making
and unmaking Governments, instead of be-
ing usefully occupied in steady, passionless
lawmaking. The Irish question was as
imminent in November as it is now. Why
was not the sense of the country taken then?
Business men have every cause to complain,
with things in snch a depressed state as
they now are.

WHAT a needless expense frequent elec-
tions are to members of Parliament. Now-a-
days, when men of comparatively humble
means are selected as representatives in
many constituencies, and prove themselves
valuable legislators too, the tax upon their
pockets must be a hard one. If elections
come two in a year, many a capable man,
who would otherwise give himself to the
public service and make an admirable M.P„
will be deterred from seeking Parliamentary
honour because of the costly and altogether
unwarrantable struggler ' the poll. Honest
and representative wor.....c,men candidates
will become scarce in consequence, and the
toilers and crofters will thereby lose the
direct representation which they now for
the first time enjoy. This is not a desirable
state of things, and frequent dissolutions
should be resolutely deprecated and caeefnlly
guarded against, for they do nobody any
good, except printers and ink makers.

BPP'r Cocoa,—GßkTk Ft L AND COMTORTING —"By a
thorough kunwledgs of the natural laws which govern
the operations of digestion and nutrition,and by a care-
ful application o Ithe fine properties of well selected
Cocoa Vr. pps has plovided our breakfast tables with
a delicately flavoured beverage which may save es
many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious USG of
such articles of d let that a constitution may be graft.
ally built up uuti lattong etough to resist every tend-
ency to disease. Hundreds of subtle maladies are
tioatit:g alouud us ready to attack wherever there is a
weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by
keeping tmelves well fortified with pure blood and a
Icperl pouribLed frbrue." ova mice Oozel te.
I'd ado simply with b(Adog watet or milk. Bold only in
p cketa labe:led—. JAI) Ls L.PPS lionaceopathm
Lhemists, I ondon "-- Also makers of Epps's Afternoon
Chocolate Essen*, •