The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-08 00:00:00

Tti f STOI7II PirIIDGF OISFIVI4III.

ages of history, it will he seen that in a little
more than three centuries, the national expendi-
ture has increased from £400,000 a year to
seventy-seven millions ; while it was quite as
high in the time of William the Conqueror as in
the rein of Edward VI., although nearly 500
years separated those two Periods.
On tracing the progress of the nation down
to the times of the Georges, it was found that
the expenditure was constantly growing. The
splendid victories of the Duke of Marlboroligh
whilst Queen Anne was occupying the throne of
the realms ran up our obligations very consider-
ably, and for more than a century following, it
appeared impossible to keep them within what
was deemed then a reasonable limit. In the
year 1788 the cost of the American war had
with other contingencies made the expenditure
exceed fifteen millions per annum ; twelve years
later it stood at 38 miltions, for we were then
engaged in that struggle with Napoleon which
was to end only at Waterloo half a generation
afterwards. By the time that war closed we
were spending 55 millions a year, but by the
accession of William IV. this sum has been
reduced by ten millions. Five years subse-
quently it had been reduced to the very respect-
' able sum of fifty millions annually. When
Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837,
the expenditure was fifty-three millions ; it is
now seventy-seven.

At first sight there would appear to have been
not so very much during Ulu reign of her pre-
sent Majesty to justify such an addition to the
permanent burthens of the people. This addi-
tion, it will be observed, has gone on no matter
what party may have been in power. Whig,
Tory, Conservative, Liberal, Coalition—all have
been compelled to go with the stream. In fact,
the Coalition Ministry, pledged to Peace, Re-
trenchment, and Reform, found itself compelled,
much against its will, to go to war, and that
meant an end of retrenchment, and a postpone-
ment of Reform. The war was not a long one,
but it proved enormously costly, and since that
conflict with Russia, twenty years ago, the efforts
of our most experienced financiers have failed
to bring back the estimates to anything like the
figures which ruled before the Russian war broke
out. In 1853, the year previously to the be-
ginning of that memorable struggle, the expendi-
ture was rather over fifty-four millions ; by 1855
it had risen to sixty-five ; in the next
year it was eighty-eight ;in 1857 it dropped to
seventy-five ; and in 1858 it was sixty-eight
millions. For some time strenuous and, on the
whole, successful exertions were made at the
Treasury to .keep the expenditure under seventy
millions; but army reorganization, navy recon-
struction, civil service reform, and the continual
improvements going on in every department of
the State have apparently proved too much for
the strongest economist; and with the exception
of the eighty-eight millions which we spent in
1856, the year of the conclusion of peace with
Russia, our national services. are costing us
more than they ever cost before. Of course the
times are different now from what they were
even five-and-twenty years ago. A quarter of a
century since, the purchasing power of the
sovereign was far greater than it is now ' • the
prices of the necessaries of life ha...e been
enhanced to an extraordinary degree, and an
immensely greater sum has now to be voted even
for the maintenance of the army and the navy.
And as the increased prices have made serious
inroads upon the incomes of civil service,
salaries have had to be augmented, and this
branch of the expenditure now absorbs more
than twenty millions a year. The consumption
of coal by the fleet is now a far more serious
matter than it was even five years ago, and the
substitution of ironclads for wooden ships now
makes the building of a man-of-war a most for-
midable item of cost. Putting aside, therefore,
any abnormal cause of expense, such as a war-
we find upon every hand agencies at work tend-
ing to account for the constantly-growing esti-
mates. When we see the prices of coal, iron,
and the necessaries of life going down, then,
and not till then, may we expect to witness any-
thing like a reduction in the national expendi-
ture.

WoarEN's QTJARRELS.—Emma Higgs was charged with
assaulting Jane Coley, on the 31st ult. Complainant
said on the above date defendant came into her shop and
said she would knock her b— head off. Defendant
then caught hold cf her, knocked her down and atruck
her. A witness corroborated complainant. Defendant
denied the offence and said complainant had beaten her
child until it became insensible. Defendant's mother
was called and said she saw her daughter and complain-
ant both fighting and pulling each others hair. The
Beach ordered each party to pay their own Costs.
DRUNKENNESS.—Benjamin Taylor, Samuel White-
house, and James Billingbam were charged with being
drunk and disorderly at Cradley Heath, on the 28th ult.
Police-constables Cooper and Blackburn proved the
case. Taylor was fined 'fis and costs, and the other two
defendants 2s 6d and costs —Joseph Dimmock was
charged with being drunk and disorderly, on the 2nd
met, at 4'radley Heath. Police-constables Cooper and
Style.: proved the case and defendant was fined 2s 6d.
—Elisba Plant was charged with being drunk and the-
orderly at Blackheath, on the 27th tilt. Police-sergeant
Walters proved the case and defendant was fined 2s 6d
and costs.—James Appleby was charged with being
drunk and disorderly at Blackheath, on the 27th ult.
Police sergeant Walters proved the case and defendant
was fined 2s 61 and costs.—John Fletcher was charged
with being drunk and disorderly, on the 28th ult. Police-
sergeant Walteis proved the case, and defendant was
fined 2s 6d and eosts.—George Kits was charged with
being drunk and disorderly, and also charged with break-
ing two panes of glass belonging to Mrs. Sarah Levitt,
landlady of the Portway Tavern, Rowley. Complainant
said defendant was very drunk and wanted to come into
her house. She refused to let him in and he broke two
panes of glass doing damage to the amount of 2s. For
being drunk defendant was fined 2s 61 and costs, and for
the damage 20s and costs, and 2s the damage.
CAUTION TO GAMBLERS.—COVneIIUS Stevenson was
charged with playing at pitch and toss, on the 21th ult.
P lice-constable Blackburn proved the case and defend-
ant was fined is and costs.

STEALING TIMBER.—A youth named George Ward was
charged with stealing a quantity of timber, the property
of Messrs. Bradley and Co. Me. Evans, the mauager
from prosecator's, said he saw prisonea with one piece of
timber and the engineer saw him with another piece.
The timber produced was worth 81 Prisoner was
sentenced to 21 days' hard labour.