The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-21 00:00:00

COFFINS PROVIDED.

A London contemporary publishes a little story, the
moral of which, unfortunately, is unmistakeable.
During the last few days the Landon Docks have been
the scene of the unloading, among other things, of
pickaxes from America, of doors, window frames, and
house fittings from Germany, and, most suggestive of
all, of elm coffins from the latter country. The scene
was naturally not without its moral for a reflective
British workman, who spoke slightingly of the pick-
(es, but added, "As coffins are provided, they may
serve to bury English carpenters who will no longer
he wanted." We may be quite sure that this work-
man does not stand alone—that there are thousands
of the same class who have long drawn precisely the
same moral from what they have observed going on
around them. Indeed, only " faddish " fanatics,
more anxious for the triumph of their theories than
for the prosperity of their country, could remain
unmoved in the presence of the spectacle now pre•
sented by the condition of trade in the UnitEd King-
dom. Day by day the English workman is being
competed with, in his own national markets. "All
can raise the flour now, for all have got the seed;"
and it would now be difficult to name the industries
in which British artisans have not to encounter the
fiercest opposition from American or Continental
rivals. It is not merely a question 9f competing on
neutral ground; it is a question of British goods
having to contend against under-selling by foreigners
in British markets. The imported articles may be of
inferior make, but they help to reduce the earniro's of
the British auvrier to: starvation figures. The
general public has a greater choice of articles, and
can buy cheaply if it will; but suppose each branc4
of trade is enfeel4led by competition, and wages are
universally cut down? The opportunity of buying is
useless unless you have the wherewithal to utilise it.

An actor is about to marry. All his colleagues seek
to dissuade him from the rash act. Even the old
prompter comes forward and says: "My dear sir,
.you. have •always listened-to. me. hitherto, now do it
again this once!" • •
"Science to the general public," says a contem-
lOrary;• "is eVerything- you can't comprehend.
Directly you began to understand it, It ceases to he
4.dierice."
,When a collector goes up.to a man and says, "
I happened to be around, and thought I'd just present
this little bill," it exasperates him awfully to have the
man say, " Ah, indeed, brilliant idea, just call around
' Monday-turd tell you when to call•again?
' ..It is 'related of a famous cook that he prepared fish
so exquisitely that thy • retnrne&him‘admiringx and
etate,ftil.rooks frikt the frjing pun. ' " " • i

•

, .

t

tHE CRISIS IN THE EAST.

OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES.

War was declared by Servia on Saturday,. The
following is a translation of the official text of the
declaration:—

- To M. Rangabe, at Sophia.
The Commander of the First Division and the
frontier authorities announce simultaneously that the
Bulgarian troops have to-day attacked at half-past
seven a.m. the positions occupied by a battalion of
the first regiment of infantry, on Servian territory, in
the neighbourhood of Vlassina.
His Majesty's Government regards this unprovoked
act of aggression as a declaration of war. I beg you,
therefore," M. PAgent, to notify in its name to M.
Zannoff, Minister of Foreign Affairs, that Servia,
accepting the consequences of this attack, considers
herself in a state of war with the principality of Bul-
garia, from six o'clock in the morning of to-day,
Saturday, 244 November.
(Signed) GIRASCHNINE.
,-,.. M. Mijatovich, the Servian Minister in London,
has expressed to the representative of a London news-
paper his satisfaction in the knowlege that both Lord
Salisbury and Mr. Gladstone, as the leaders of the
two great English parties, had during the whole of
the negotiations done everything in their power to
prevent the: present outbreak of hostilities. This
outbreak his Excellency strongly declared to be due
entirely to the unprovoked attack by Bulgarian troops
upon the Morava division of the Servian army en-
camped at the time upon Servian territory. His
Majesty King Milan has accordingly taken the field
as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal army. M. Mi-
jatoVitch expressed his confident belief that the war
will be neither a long nor a bloody one, and that its
ultimate result will be, as in the case of Germany and
Austria, to clear up the long series of misunderstand-
ings between the two countries, and by affording a
Leming, or satisfactory settlement, of all the ques-
tions at issue between them, to establish upon a solid
basis relations of friendship and harmonious action.

COUNTER DECLARATION BY BULGARIA
SOFIA, Saturday.
A telegram from the frontier reports that to-day a
Bulgarian patrol, consisting of fifty-nine soldiers,
while making its round in the district of Trn, was
attacked by a company of Servian troops. Shots
were exchanged, and eight Servians and one Bulgarian
were killed. The commander of the Trn district
reports that the Servian troops stationed on the fron-
tier are continually firing upon the Bulgarian patrols
and sentries.
LATER.

The following official announcement is published
here: "The Serrians entered Bulgarian territory this
morning in the vicinity of Tsaribrod. In view of this
invasion, effected without a previous declaration of
war, the Bulgarian Government, supported by the
people, has decided to uphold the Bulgarian national
cause with all the means at its disposal."

The declaration of war between Servia and
Bulgaria, although by no means unexpected, created
considerable excitement in official and commercial
circles in London.