The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-08 00:00:00

• et-shet.
et ea! t 11-12.:71i,};
▪ tl:c ra)n-of 6
!fas varied in f.,-Lecesive reigna, and that fiae
time for which. the tireat Council of the
Nation has been summoned has not al..Nays
been -h• Ibile Edward T. held one
CrerY two yeats, Lie sac-cess,.)r.
Edwatd 111. resolved that a Parliament
shoald be held annually. This continued to
be the statute law until 1641, when in the
reign of Charles I the Triennial Act was
passed. Triennial Parliaments were in
existence until 1716, two years after the
House of Hanover assumed the soverignty
of Great Britain, George I. came over here
in 1714, and the poltical horizon was daL•k
and troubled. With a new king there was
a new Parliament, oppesecl to the preten-
sions of .the dethroned Stuarts ; bat within
a few months of the German King taking
up his residence amongst us, a rebellion
known as that of the Old Pretender broke
out, which was suppressed with some diffi-
culty. When George I. had cleared this out
of the way, an Act was passed, reciting that
in consequence of the allegation "that a
popish faction were designing to renew the
rebellion in this kingdom, and the report of
an invasion from abroad, it is enacted that
the existing Parliament shall continue for
seven years." That gave it five years more
of life from that period, by which time the
interests of the kingdom had been conso-
lidated, and there was no immediate fear of
another rebellion. This Act, described upon
the Statute Books as one for enlarging the
continuance of Parliaments. ;:was passed on
the 7th May, 1716, and there it still remains
to exercise an influence upon the legislative
life of to day.
It will not escape notice that the Sep-
tennial Act reversed the practice which had
prevailed hem the time when Parliaments
were lisst established in this country. During
the four centuries and a half which clasped
b,,!..,,veen 124-Aland 1716, it WaS a most excep-
tional thing for Parliament to run beyond
three years, in time of peace. Of course in
times, ot civil war and commotion, when the
foundations of the State are threatened, and
social life has become a chaos, Parliaments,
like other institutions, must be prepared to
undergo a strain. But it is notorious that
the Septennial Act was passed to meet an
immediate, urgent, and pressing danger ;
that the exceptional circumstances with
which it dealt had disappeared with the
expiration of the term of that Parliament ;
; hut that, although nearly a century and a
half has rolled away since that period, the
Septennial Act still exists. The politieel
.vicissitudes of parties do not allow the full
term of seven years to ho run, it is true ; but
as lately as 1865 a Parliament was dissolved
which had entered the seventh year of its
age; and less than six months will bring the
present Parliament into a similar condition.
In this rapidly-moving age a great deal
happens in seven years which may render it
impossible for a stationary assembly to keep
pace with advancing public opinion. For
instance, what possible bearing could the
events of 1872 have upon the political life of
to-day? How many of us can remember
what was passing in the autumn of that year
Well, to take only one subject. The Ala-
bama Arbitration was then the great topic
of debate, but BO momentous have been the
events that have crowded upon each other
since, that it would he impossible for the
public opinion on the Alabama question to
be regarded as the living thought of to-dsy.
Yet the Septennial Act, carried to the
limits allowed by law, would see no incon-
gsuity between the two.
The term prescribed by the Education Act
for the duration of School Boards renders
it compulsory for the members of these
bodies to go out of office at the end of three
years—less than half the time allowed for
the existence of a Parliament. The Muni-
cipal Act, on the contrary, never totally
(113.401ves a corporate body, but renews its
evcry twelve months by the election of
one-thid of its meml,:u-s. This principle,
n 43111441 to the House of Commons, would
,
give the nation 219 Parliamentary elections
every year, a result that would not be
desirable. And if the School Board term is
t,to short a one for Parliament, perhaps the
pinil,:ntial period would be better, In
p,.-actice it would being tl,c.) duration of
Parliament to four years ; and when we
looked at the chasm, betwcwn 1875 and now
it vill he seen that this is long enough.

THE IRO. TitA
BIR1;INGH k3Z. '1 i'rFhy.

There was a large and an;ine fed a ttencia a
nit 'Change this afternoon, and the tuarktt
was characterised by mucli
30r0e diaeaseien as to the couvEevhjh
t;ie tuaeked bar firins intended to take ie
regard to the future rriees of iroo. as a
result of the advanee inavar',..3 awarded I.dy
Mr. Chamberlain, M.P. Baring the after-
noon the representatives cf the leading
houses met and discussed the question of
advancing prices, and it was ultimately de-
cided to raise the quotations for marked
bare to .E 8 per ton, being an advance of 10i.
Earl Dudley's quotations will be the usual
ndvance of 12s. Gd. upon that figure. The
increase is only equivalent to the advance
of 6d. a ton upon ironworkers' wages, and
therefore no turther alteration in wages will
take place. Ordinary merchant iron was
stronger to-day, several transactions being
made at £7 per ton, which is about 10s.
higher than the prices ruling a week ago.
The leading manufacturers are well supplied
with orders, but a large proportion consists
of iincornpleted contracts at the low prices.
One of the leading establishments in south
Staffordshire that datin-- the past five years
has only been working en an acerage about
tWe clays a wcek is new in full operatiou,
and orders are in hand for some months to
come. The 6lndden and rapid advance in
iron has indeed come at an opportune
tnanicrit for certain of the limited companies
tee value of whose shares is now rising
aielest every day. A meeting of the repre-
sentatives re 2 the pr;ecipal firms in the
wrought-nail trade was held this afternoon,
under the presidency of Mr. Ephriara Ball,
the chaieman of the trade. The following
firms were represented :--Messrs Guest
and Co., Dudley ; S. Wilkes, Secittlev ; Eliza
Tinsley and Co., Sedgley and Old- }jilt ; T.
Bleomer and Sens, Cradle), ; Broekes and
peen-. The Lye; E. Hadrey, Bromsa,Tove ;
and Messrs. :i-cror.ton and Brooks, hrems-
arove, it wes decidel to pay the full prices
of the January list on and alter the 22nd
inst., and that clueing the ensuing fourteen
deys the men should week at, the present
prices, in order to work up tir.e iron they
have already taken out. The question
affecting the spike nail makers was left for
subsequent arrangement.