The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-02-26 00:00:00

Our fan* (Eorrespeulnt.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinior.

If testimony from official returns be needed t how
what may be gained in the condition of the working
and lower middlq classes at a time of reviving pros-
perity, by thc accumulati,,n of small sums, reference
may .he made to the figures ri.2antly quoted by the
Postmaster-General in the 110,14 e of Commons. In-
formation WS3 sought as to the working of the facili-
ties now provided by the Post Office for the invest-
ment of small sums in the Government Funds, and
also respecting the number of new accounts opened
through the plan for receiving shilling deposits in
stamps. The replies of Mr. Fawcett showed to a re-
markable extent the growth of small savings under due
encouragement. In three months the number of new
accounts opened at the Post Office Savings Banks has

been,4l,ooo ; and the aggregate number of postage
stamM deposited has attained the extraordinary total
of three millions. In ten weeks the amount invested
in small sums in Government stocks has been

£230,000. Making allowance for withdrawals, it ap-
pears that since the 15th November last £300,000 in
round numbers has been set aside out of the savings of
the people through the special State aids to thrift
recently es.tablisted. This is an important fact when
we are bidden to remember the thrift practised by the
French and other nations.
The return of the Queen from Osborne to Windsor,
and the announcement of Drawing Rooms to be held
by her Majesty at Buckingham Palace, and of levees
to be presided over by the Prince of Wales at the
iloyal Palace of St. James's, point to the unerring
truth that one of the longest and most severe winters
of modern times is nearly at an end. The snow storm
which passed over the-land in the middle of October,

when tile foliage was still upon the trees, was with-

out precedent for very many years, and the same
term applies to the heavier visitation of three

months afterwaris, which blocked the railways,
filled our navigable rivers with ice, cut off isolated
'villages from civilization, and caused enormous loss
and inconvenience in our large towns. But the
sternest winter does not always last; and the:announce-
ment of Court ceremonials in London is welcome as
showing that a move is being made in the direction of
what is known as "the season." Parliament met at an
unusually early date, and before even the Christmas

festivities were over; so that the assembling of the
Legislature was not accompanied, as it generally is, by
the gathering together in the capital of all the repre-
sentative of the nobility and aristocracy. But now
that March is well in sight, and the dark days are
slowly passing away, there is joy at the prospect of
bidding farewell to a dull and dreary time, and of
greeting a period when sunshine shall take the place of
gloom, and cheerfulness shall reign where stormy
nights and tempestuous days have hitherto pre-
vailed.

The Parks are called the lungs of London, and it
will not be long before they will present a testimong
to the presence of returning spring. The West-end
gets the lion's share of these places of recreation,
Hyde, Regent's, and St. James's being all in that

direotion. Then there are Finsbury for the north,
Southwark for the onth, and Victoria for the
east. Many of the parks, especially those in
the west, have their contour diversified by the
presence of large sheets of water; and during the
intense frost the surface of the lakes was the most
lively and interesting portion of the scene. More
particularly was this the case at night, when innumer-
able flambeaux, waved by the skaters as they darted

hither and thither, ma-de the surroundings most
picturesque in their character. That time does not
continue long in this country; but while it lasts it is
made the most of. The active multitude soon ceased
to move upon the waters ; when in a few weeks more
the fresh green vegetation begins to clothe the trees,
and the flowers once more peep above the ground, it
will be difficult to realise, except in imagination and
remembrance, the Siberian aspeat of the sam* locali-
ties only a little while ago.
The Queen of Sweden came to this country some
weeks since for the benefit of her health; the Empress
of Austria has arrived with a view of recreation.
Whatever adverse critics may say respecting the
ungenial climate of the British Isles, clearly it is well
appreciated by some of the crowned heads of Europe.
Scarcely a year passes but what the Austrian Empress
spends several weeks in our midst—at one time
in the Isle of Wight, at others in Ireland, and
at others again in those counties of England
most famous for their happy hunting grounds. Her
Imperial Majesty, with a firm belief in the truth
that the horse is a noble animal, is most strict in her
injunctions as to the care to be bestowed upon those
of her steeds which bear her over the downs in the
pleasures of the chase. It may be noted that next to
Queen Victoria, the Emperor of Austria has held his
throne longer than any sovereign in Europe. He
assumed the crown and the sceptre in 1848, when a
very young man, at a time when the storm of revolu-
tion was sweeping over the Continent, and when, in
the language of Sir James Graham, all constituted
authorities trembled.
The Alexandra Palace in the north of London, and
the Crystal Palace in the south, are, and have been for
some years, the two great centres of recreation and
amusement for the population of London. The divid-

ing line of the river gives more than a million and a

half to each. In the number and variety of its lines,
the Crystal Palace 'has the advantage, and in addition
to the Brighton, Chatham, and Dover Companies,
the South Eastern has now a bill before Parliament for
constructing a railway to the institution. Mean-
while it is satisfactory to observe that continued
success attends its literary department. That
which was originally a small undertaking has,
through energy, skill, and perseverance, developed
into a really prominent feature of the Palace at
Sydenham. Last year 500 ladies attended the classes
of what is now called the School of Art, Science, and
Literature, while there were 75 pupils in the engineer-
ing class. The staff of professors in the former depart-
ment is as good as can be wished; and looking at the
comparatively short period which has elapsed since it
was started, the success of this department is such as
to afford every encouragement to the directors.

The mills of Parliament are said to grind slowly,
and at no time has this been so true as during the
present Session. So retarded has been the work for
which the Legislature had been specially summoned
at an abnormally early date that rules and procedures
in the House of Commons, which had been in exist-
ence for centuries, have had to be materially altered
in order that the public business may stand some
chance of being got through at all. The regula-
tions and standing orders adopted in successive ages
were devised with the idea of giving the repre-
sentatives of the people every opportultty of liberty
of speech and freedom of debate ; but they have lately
broken down, and rules have had to be framed which
will ensure greater expedition in the progress of
the measures laid before Parliament. The change,
which many have viewed with regret, is felt by others
to have been inevitable. No session closes without
the sacrifice of some important measures because
there is no time to consider them; now, perhaps, if
there are fewer openings for talk, more work will be
transacted of a character demanded by the exigencies
of a constantly-growing empire.
The Fine Art Society is doing good work by afford-
ing opportunities of studying the works of the most
eminent living artists. The National Gallery is de-
voted to collections of the masterpieces of painters
who lived centuries ago. Room after room there they
are, the products of the genius of all countries,
Italy taking the lead. The pictures of our own
time are brought together year by year at the
Royal Academy, which is open from May until
August. The best of the works find ready
purchasers, and when the Academy Exhibition closes,
the pictures are :.cattered in all directions. The Fine
Art society brings them again together in separate
collections, one by one. It gave us some time ago a
fine show of Mr. Whistler's paintings, and more
recently one illustrating the talent of Mr. Millais.
His earlier as well as his later manner is pourtrayed ;
and the spectator is enabled to judge between the
carefulness of the student and the finish of the
master. Collections from the easels of other Royal
Academicians are likely to follow

The absorbing interest of domestic questions has
not drawn public attention from the military opera-
tions in the Transvaal. Communication with Sir
George Colley was restored with a speed which even
to those en the spot was quite unexpected. Sir Evelyn
Wood's own march to the Biggarsberg was no mean
feat of endurance, and transport difficulties seemed
to have disappeared when he arrived. The march
from Cabul to Candahar had shown already what the
old soldiers of the 60th Rifles and the 92nd High-
landers could do, and they responded gallantly to
the appeal of their new commander. Sir Evelyn
Woofs experience of South Africa has been varied
and extensive. He was one of the most prominent
figures in the Zulu war. Not long after his
return to this country he was selected to accompany
the Empress Eugenie to the spot where her son lost
his•life ; and now he is in the Transvaal directing
the operations against the Boers—or, as some prefer
to call them, the Dutch settlers—which, however, are
not, expected to be of a protracted character.
Amid nil the mi,:eries of the present winter a satis-
faietoiy.fcature has been the comparative absence of
fog in-London, thus contrasting favourably with the
opening weeks of 1880, when there were denser fogs
than had been experienced for thirty years. Dwellers
amid tho fresh breezes of the country can scarcely

, •

account for the attention which a Londoner h inclined
to devote to the origin of fog. The theorists are divided
into opposite camps. It is not mist, say some, for other
towns have mists without being choked and blinded by
, them. It is not smoke, contend others; for there are
, fogs at sea, where there is no smoke. The truth ma,y
perhaps ho found in a combination of both. Smoke
is undoubtedly the principal ingredi..mt, as any
can tell by painful exp.,tience ; I,ut the mist appears
somehow to detain and suspend the smoke so as to
prevent it from using as it should. Neither explana-
tion, however, accounts for the remarkable variations
of colour. Sometimes it is grey, almost approaching
to black; and at others yellow, of a deep reddish kind
at its densest points, causing a smarting of the eyes
and an irritation of the lungs of those who are so un-
fortunate as to be compelled to inhale it.