Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

19 articles on this Page

OR LONlMJiN CORRESPONDl. -

News
Cite
Share

OR LONlMJiN CORRESPONDl. The Easter holidays this year will, to most folk, come a little too early to be thoroughly agreeable. In our variable climate, however, two or three weeks one way or the other during what is facetiously called gentle spring are not of much account in regard to the matter, for last year, when Easter was nearly three weeks later, Good Friday was marked by a fall of snow which would have done no discredit tc an old- fashioned Christmas." But, whether Easter be early or late, it is certain to be seized as the occasion for travel by thousands of Londoners who are always eager to avail themselves of the first holiday of the year. It is to the south coast that London is accustomed to flock at this season, and the joint watering-place of Hastings and St. Leonards is always especially favoured because it happens to be so sheltered as to be almost out of reach of the cold winds with which April is too frequently accompanied. But Brighton and Eastbourne, and the other great seaside resorts along this coast, are also crowded at Eastertide and if anyone wishes to know how popular is this season for a brief holiday, he has only to stand at Charing-cross or Victoria for an hour on the afternoons immediately pre- ceding Good Friday, and he will be astonished at the crush.. Perhaps the one person in the realm who is most concerned at the fact that the whole of Eastertide fell last year in April, while this year Good Friday is on March 31, is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. To the uninitiated the reason for this is not obvious on the surface, but if Sir William Harcourt is put to the ques- tion, or if he came to admit it when he comes to make his Budget speech, he would state that this conj unction of facts has lessened by some hundreds of thousands of pounds the revenue for which he will have to account, and will diminish the chance of his producing any large surplus. March 31, of course, is the closing day of the financial year, and on that day the receipts in the Imperial Exchequer will be nil, because it is Good Friday, a very serious con- sideration for those in control of our finances. This is an item of an important character which is not being borne in mind by all the amateur political prophets who are just now attempting to forecast the composition of Sir William. Harcourt's Budget. In point of fact, it is not until very close to the end of the financial year that a Chancellor of the Exchequer endeavours to finally shape his proposals even in the privacy of his own department: while, contrary to what many people seem to imagine, he does not consult his colleagues in the Cabinet about them until almost the last moment. Visitors to London who happen to pass along the Thames Embankment between Charing- cross and Westminster just now cannot help noticing the progress of an improvement which will add to the usefulness of that magnificent boulevard as well as to the convenience of the general public. At the end nearest Westminster of the mammoth bloek of buildings known as Whitehall-court, and an immense corner of which is occupied by the National Liberal Club, is being constructed a road from Whitehall to the Embankment which will be known as Horse Guards-avenue. This will give a direct route from St. James's-park and the Horse Guards Parade to the river, and its usefulness is likely to be so great as to perceptibly relieve the present almost overpowering amount of traffic in Whitehall. The new avenue, although not more than a hundred yards long, will not be complete just yet, as a deal of heavy work is involved in its construction; but it is certain to present a handsome appearance when finished because it will be planted with trees on both sides, in order to harmonise with the general aspect of the Embankment-a thoroughfare which, even yet, is nothing like as extensively used as it deserves to be. It is not so very long since Parliament re- lieved the London householder from a duty that had long pertained to him, but which he had always found irksome-that of sweeping the snow from before his residence. Belgium has not followed the example of the United Kingdom in this particular, with the conse- quence that within the past few days a very sin- gular Constitutional difliculty has been aroused. It appears that, according to Article 4.') of the Belgian Constitution, no member of either Chamber of the Legislature can be judi- cially summoned during the Session without the consent of the Chamber to which he belongs. But a certain Senator of Liege, having been indicted for omitting to keep clean the pave- ment outside his house, the proceedings had to be suspended in order that the Senate might express its opinion upon the momentous ques- tion of whether one of its august body ought to brush the dirt from before his own doorstep. They order these things differently in Belgium, and it is scarcely possible to imagine our own House of Lords discussing in practical form and about one of its own members the thesis involved in the old saw, If every man swept his own doorstep, the whole street would be clean." The activity of the controllers of our great national museums in always seeking to add to the extent and value of the collec- tions under their charge is a feature that is not likely to escape the notice of those who study at these magnificent institutions. The British Museum, both in its general collections and in its library, is continually growing; and now the South Kensington Museum is being rendered additionally interesting and valuable by the purchase from the representatives of the late Mr. George Cavendish-Bentinck of a con- siderable number of North Italian and Venetian specimens of architectural decoration produced in carved stone from the end of the fifteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century. Mr. Cavendish-Bentinck was an enthusiastic lover of Venice, and his taste in aesthetic matters was so fine that he was recognised, when in the House of Commons, as one of its best authorities upon artistic subjects. Of the making of scientific and literary societies there appears no end, and these are now becoming of so sectional a nature that a special dictionary is almost required to tell the ordinary observer what they seek to discuss. One is convinced, for instance, that the average reader of newspapers would be very puzzled to say off-hand what is the object of either the Malacological Society of London or the Ex Libris Society, both of which are of compara- tively recent origin, and he would be little aided by being told that the former is a scientific and the latter a literary body. It may, therefore, be explained that the Malacological Society of London has been established for the purpose of furthering the study of the moliusea, both recent and fossil, while the Ex Libris Society is composed of the collectors of book-plates. The latter has made such rapid strides that it has been asked by the director of the New York State Library School to arrange for an exhibit at the coming Columbian Exposition" at Chicago. This it has agreed to do, despite the fact that, in the very limited time at its dis- posal, it will not be able to organise as large a display as it would like. A feature of the exhibit, however, is likely to be certain special collections of book-plates illustrating some distinct style or period and it may be that study of these will reveal the latent charm in the somewhat occult occupation of collecting ex Libris. The hair of the old-fashioned Parliamentary of half-a-century since would have assuredly stood upon end if he could as much as foreseen the spectacle which has been witnessed upon Tooting Bec-common during the past two or three weeks. What is known as the Parliamen- tary Golf Handicap has been proceeding, and this is participated in not only by members of the House of Commons, but by officials and journalists engaged at the Chamber. The leader of the Conservative Party in the Rouse of Commons, who is well known for his enthu- siastio devotion to golf, has joined in more than one of tnese handicaps, and his example has done much to popularise among the denizens of Westminster a pastime which, not so very long ago, was thought to be exclusively Scotch. The enthusiasm with which it is being taken up has, of course, something of the touch which comparative novelty brings; but of its popu- larity in London just now there is not the shadow of a doubt. R.

NEWS NOTES. --

BREWERS' LICENSES.

HIGHER ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.…

SUDDEN DEATH OF M. FERRY.

SKETCH OF HIS CAafflHR.

"BECKET" AT COURT.

[No title]

CURIOUS CASE OF BREACH OF…

[No title]

THE LATE MR. W. H. SMITH.

AN ENGLISH SPORTSMAN'S ENDI

THE CHESHIRE BURGLARY.,

" COUNTY COUNCIL SCHOLARS…

FIGHTING ON THE INDIAN FRONTIER.…

CONGESTED DISTRICTS IN IRELAND.

PENSIONS OF PRISON WARDERS.I

[No title]

Advertising