The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-03-24 00:00:00

orget eatutiq C'xpreog,

DORMIXBIIIII, MARCH 24.6, 11185.

Dotes.

Colonel Umbria is utilising every moment in
making the acquaintance of the electors of this ,
division. HU latest exploit took place on Thursday,
when he endeavoured to persuade the Portlanders
that the falling-off in the stone trade was due to the
vacillating policy of the Liberal Government. This
is almost as bad as the harvest-and-weather argument.
We give the gallant Colonel the credit of great
ingenuity, but we fancy the PortLinders will believe
just about as much of this as they choose.

The Gordon meeting, convened by the Mayor on
Thursday, and which was expected by some to be a
kind of happy hunting-ground for disgusted politicians,
and an admirable opportunity for the relief of their
pent-up feelings, passed off with a sereneness and a
calm that was remarkable considering the "reserved
force" that was there represented. All the speeches
were, we are glad to say, in excellent taste, the theme
which pervaded them being, from first to last, the
splendid example and the high Christian character of
the late General Gordon, and the grounds on which
be was entitled to a national memorial.

The "letter of thanks" to our colonial cousins
who have proferroi us assistance in the Soudan, which
lies for signature at the Mansion House, the Colonial
Institute, and some of the principal banks, is an
admirable idea, and well conceived as a method of
cementing the family feeling, which has betrayed itself
in so remarkable a manner, between Great Britain
and her dependencies. The occasion is one upon
which something more than mere official gratitude,
filtered through the roll atmnaphen. ni the Colonial
Department, should be recordeaL But the 'letter of
thanks" might seem to be intended only for the
signature of notabilities. There are classes who will
not venture into the Mansion House, the Colonial
lastitute, or city banks. Signatures should be
obtained also, as in the case of petitions to Parliament,
at the doors of churches and chapels and all places of
common resit, such as publichousea The Canadians
and Australians should know that their conduct is
appreciated by the shop-keeping and artisan classes,
as well as by lords and great merchants.

Mr. Goschen's letter to the Ripon Caucus has
been well described as a rancho ad absurdum of the
pretensions of local hundreds. The latter, indeed,
appear to adopt the principle of putting unlimited
confidence in the Premier or the Ministry, and none
in their elected representative. The business of the
latter is simply to record his vote. Carried to its
logical result, this conception of the position of a
member of Parliament involves a return to despotism,
a despotism none the less real because pieced off
into periods of seven years. If no discretion is to be
entrusted to representatives, elections ought at least
to be more frequent. The discerning condituency—
at any rate, as represented by the caucuses—seems to
affect a kind of prophetic instinct in public affairs.
But six months is quite long enough at any time to
trust to this spirit of prophecy. In the good—and
very advanced—time coming, when we are all
intelligait and honest, and when an election passes
off with as much calm and decorum as going to church,
we may come to a bilinnual election, or, as it would
really be, plebiscite.

Mr. Chamberlain is disappointing many of his
friends and admirers by his conduct on the question
of Railway Rates. Ile is—or, at any rate, war—
considered a "strong" man, and great expectations
have been raised of his capacity to deal energetically
with commanding interests such as the Shipping
Trade and the Railway Companies. But, on the
whole, he has not scored much off the shipowners;
and the suspicion is aroused that he is afraid of
grappling with the Parliamentary forces of iailway.
dom. Ile must see as clearly as any roan the evil of
the existing system. Ile is the most pronounced of
Free Traders, and no man can better appreciate the
restrictions upon trade which arc fostered by the
arbitrary exactions of the companies. Ile must be
aware of the strong feeling which prevails in com-
mercial circles throughout the kingdom against the
" hostile tariffs" within the realm which cripple home
trade and actually encourage and promote foreign
rivalry. Nevertheless, his conduct has been weak
and vacillating, and whilst he undertakes to oppose
the contention of the companies, he does so with
manifest luke-warmness. Mr. Chamberlain has not
even been strong enough to deal with the Rail-
way Commissioners—three officials drawing the
monstrous salaries of £3,000 per annum each for
duties by no means beyond the capacities of art
ordinary County Court judge. The powers of the
Railway Commission are refreshed year after year in
the slipshod, makeshift style which characterises
latter-&y legislation. What the late Lord Chief
Justice thought of the Railway Commission is no
matter of conjecture. Lord Cockburn so paralysed
their influence in his famous Hastings decision that
appeals from their Court—if Court it may be con-
sidered—became discredited in popular estimation,
For 49,000 a year we certainly ought to get some-
thing stronger and more practical ; but, somehow,
Mt. Chamberlain has shirked his manifest respansi-
bility in dealing with this over-paid, under-worked
Commission. A single court of firial appeal presided
over by one strong competent judge would be found
more effective than the present triumvirate'.

Railway monopolies are as disastrous to commzrcial
interests as the monopolies of the great "shipping
rings," of which a correspondent writes from Sydne
as follows:—" All we can to to break the ring we
are prepared to do, as German houses here are now
securing orders for heavy lines that formerly went to
England, and if Hamburg freights are not advanced
or Londonfreights reduced, the German manufacturers
will have all the iron and cement business with
Australia. We have lost contracts for 45,033 barrels
cement through freight being procurable so per cent,
less from Hamburg than from London. How long
will this be stood by English manufacturers r These
remarks equally apply to other goods besides iron and
cement.