The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-12 00:00:00

"TIMES ARE BAD!"

The Pall Mall Gazette remarks :—The various trade
returns at the present time are not very cheerful read-
ing. Iron, for instance, is " quiet "at all the centres.
At Barnsley, "while the make of pig is fully main-
tained it moves off but slowly, though prices have
reached a very low point." At Barrow-in-Furness
prices are easier. At Birmingham the downward
tendency in iron has been "very marked of late," and
the iron wire trade is very depressed, while metal
rollers report business dull. In Darlington and South
Shropshire we find the same story; while at Sheffield
it appears "the heavy trades are becoming worse, and
every few weeks men are being discharged from
the large works." In the cotton trade affairs are no
better. In Manchester it is stated "the inquiry for
India and China shirtings has been limited to offers at
prices too low for acceptance. The heavier goods are
neglected and weak." And so as to wool. At Brad-
ford, Halifax, Huddersfield, and Leicester, we are
told the same tale of slow demand, falling prices, and
general depression. The Leeds market seems a little
better, but this is merely for a temporary cause. In
short, wherever we look we see that "times are bad,"
and they are getting no better as winter approaches;
and we are afraid that the causes of this long.
continued depression are deep.

The Times, in their city article of Wednesday, says: U
—" The Trade and Navigation returns of the nited
Kingdom for September !win to afford evidence of
some little improvement in the purchasing power of
the community. We notice under the heads of oxen,
sheep, bacon, butter, cheese, coffee, wheat, barley,
Indian c )rn, currants, hides, jute, potatoes, raisins,
tea, aisins,
tea, tobacco, and wine an increase in the quantity m-
ported during the month as compared with 1877.
From this it may be inferred that lower prices of food
products are the cause of a gradual increase in
consumption. It is, however, very evident that the
prices of many things, especially of the raw material
of manufactured goods, must fall further before the
demand for such commodities as are primary feces-
saries in a minor degree will increase. . . . Business in
the woollen districts is characterized by great apathy.
Reports from Belfast state that both spinning and manu-
facturing branches of trade are dull. As regards the
export of cotton piece-goods stagnation prevails, while in
jute piece-good.s and linen yarn and piece-goods
there is a decline of from 10 to 12 per cent.
both in quantity and value. Hardware, cutlery,
iron and steel, both as regards quantity and
value, show a falling off. This trade seems to get
worse and worse, with little or no signs of a recovery.
At the meeting of the South Staffordshire Iron Trade
Conciliaticial Board on Monday, it was stated that the
reduction in wages conceded since 1874 amounted to
52i per cent., and yet the question of a further reduc-
tion was considered. The trade in fact could not
i
be n a worse condition. All the little glimmers of
improve/pent which from time to time have inspired
people with the hope that at length they had turned
the corner, have been but the result of isolated orders.
When these were executed the previous heaviness and
absence of any general improvement in the demand
has been found stillto exist, In. the coal trade it is
i
said that business s slowly revving. Strikes, how.
ever, in this department still continue.

According to St. Petersburg advice received in
viebaa, a Russian corps of observation of 20,000 num 4.
likell to be statloued ou tin wall= traatier ot
kn.

EXECUTION AT WANDS WORTH.
Thomas Smithers, a cook, aged 31, was executed on
Tuesday morning within the Wandsworth House of
Correction, for the murder of a woman named Amy
Judge, with whom he lived at Battersea. The de.
ceased woman was about the same age as the prisoner,
who seems to have been very much attached to her,
and jealousy was the cause of the murder. The de-
fence set up for the prisoner at his trial was that he
was insane at the time the act was committed, and
since his conviction he has been visited by two medical
men by the direction of the Secretary of State, with a
view to ascertain the state of his mind. The prisoner
has, according to the report of the Rev. W. Gilbert,
the chaplain of the prison, behaved very well since
his conviction, and he has all along admitted the
justice of his sentence, and repeatedly expressed his
sorrow for the crime. He slept soundly during the
early portion of Monday night, and Mr. Gilbert
visited him soon after seven on Tuesday morning,
and remained with him till the last moment.
Shortly before nine o'clock a procession, headed
by the Under Sheriff, Captain Colvel, the governor
of the prison, followed by several warders,
proc_eded from the cell to the place of execution.
The culprit was pinioned by Marwood shortly
before he arrived at the scaffold, and he walked the
whole distance, which was rather considerable, with
firmness. The chaplain read the Burial Service, and
the prisoner responded audibly. Just as he was
uttering the words "Lord, have mercy upon me,"
after he had pronounced the word "Lord" the drop
fell, and the prisoner dropped at least a distance of
six feet. He evidently received a fearful shock, but
death appeared to take place in a very short period.
Although nothing but the black flaa could be seen, at
least a thousand persons were assembled outside the
prison at the moment of the execution.