The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-01 00:00:00

THE OPENING UP OF CENTRAL

AFRICA.

In London, on Monday, Mr. D. Mackenzie delivered
a lecture in St. James's Hall on a project for opening
up Central Africa to European commerce and civiliza-
tion. The chair was taken by Mr. S. Cave, M.P.,
who in his opening observations, fully recognised the
importance of Mr. Mackenzie's project, without at
the same time pledging himself as to its entire
practicability. There was no doubt but that if
the water of the ocean could be let into the desert
the climate, the soil, and the sanitary condition
would all be improved, as had already happened in
the case of the Suez Canal, the land about which had
been changed from barren sand into a garden in which
were cultivated the tamarisk, the palm, and the sugar-
cane. Civilization would be served by the facility
given for piercing Central Africa. bhould Mr.
Mackenzie's project prove a success ships might go
from Southampton to Timbuctoo without breaking
bulk.
A telegram was read from the Duke of Teck,
apologising for non-attendance, and another from Sir
A. Cotton to the same effect, but approving of Mr.
Mackenzie's project.
The lecturer began by stating that Africa was three
times the size of Europe, and contained two hundred
millions of inhabitants. Its great curse was the slave
trade, which had been carried on in all ages, from the
time of the Carthagenians down to the present day.
The lecturer proceeded to give an interesting descrip-
tion of the interior of the continent and of the
hardships and oppressions suffered by the natives
through the depredations of the slave traders.
The only means of communicating with the rest
of the world lay in the caravan tracks, each
of which he described at some length. In the
Sahara Desert there was a remarkable depression,
covering an area of about 60,000 miles. This depressed
portion of the desert was called Eljuf, and was said to
extend from within twelve miles of the sea-shore to
regions in the close neighbourhood of Timbuctoo. The
theory of both ancient and modern geographers was
that Eljuf was originally filled with water, which
flowed into the ocean; but that a bar having gradually
formed at the entrance, the flow inwards was stopped,
and the heat of a vertical sun caused the inside water
to evaporate.
After some further details, the lecturer recom-
meliqed, the establishment of a missionary and com-
mercial station at Cape Sul* on the seaward aide of
Eljuf, and the raising of a fund of £2,000 for explora-
tion purposes, and to test the practicability of re-
opening the ancient channel, and of lettin the water
of the Atlantic into the depressed portion of the
desert.

THE LANCASHIRE COTTON STRIKE
AND LOCK-OUT.

Since the refusal of the Blackburn weavers at their
ballot on Thursday, 23rd May, to accept the masters
proposals, all hope of a speedy termination to the strike
has vanished. The men remain obstinate, while the
masters threaten that in a short time, instead of a ten
per cent., they will insist upon a 20 per cent. reduc-
tion.

"The Accrington Operative Weavers Wages Committee
met here on Saturday, and the general subscriptions are re-
ported as greater than in any week since the strike com-
menced (says the correspondent of The Times) The
representatives of the operatives feel a great responsibility
thrown upon them by the result of the ballot, and as the
local Union funds are becoming exhausted, they are making
earnest appeals to the various Trade Unions throughout the
country for subscriptions. The St. James's Relief Com-
mittee supplied last week 3,145 free breakfasts, over 300
children obtaining breakfast every morning. The spinners
on strike at Church and Oswaldtwistle received no pay last
week, and their local funds are pretty well exhausted. The
public subscriptions will give a mere fraction to each man.
The spinners allege that they are 5 per cent, under some
districts without the 10 per cent. reduction, and consider
their employers very hard upon them. It is generally
thought Whitsuntide will pass before there is any general
resumption of work at the mills on the masters' terms. The
Peel institution is like a barracks, and sentries parade in
the portico. The Dragoons and Infantry are located and fed
within it."

The Preston Correspondent of The Times writes :—" Now
that distress prevails to such an alarming extent in Preston.
the most serious question at issue is the adeauate providing
of relief. It has already been experienced that the assistance
of private individuals is insufficient to meet the requirements,
and on Saturday afternoon accordingly a meeting, convened
by circular, was held in the Town-hall to consider whether or
not it is expedient to establish some organised system of charit-
able relief for the unemployed operatives of the borough, and,
If so, to adopt such measures as might be deemed expedient.
There was a large and influential attendance, including minis-
ters of the various denominations. The Mayor (Alderman Sat-
terthwaite) presided, and in his opening remarks said they
were not met to discuss tile merits of the dispute on either
side, but to take steps to meet the distress which was the
consequence of it. Mr. W. E. M. Tomlinson (London) spoke
strongly in favour of a central system, which need not inter-
fere with private individuals, or have any respect to clergy
of any particular denomination, and moved :
-

" ' That in the operation of this meeting it is expedient, as
well for the relief of the destitute as for the prevention of
mendicancy in the borough, that some organized system t
relief should be established.'

"The Vicar of Preston seconded, and the Rev. Father
bke (Roman Catholic) supported the motion, which was
carried unanimously. Mr, J. Livesey, who said he had had
to do with similar organizations in the different distresses
since the year 1814, then moved :
"'That in the organization of such system, it is desirable
that regard be had to arrangements already made in
various districts and parts of the borough, with a view
to mutual co- operation between the general com-
mittee and the district committees in the distribution of
such assistance, and for the prevention of imposture."
"The motion was carried, and it was also resolved that the
Aldermen, councillors, and clergy of each ward be the
committee, and that subscription lists be opened at the
banks to be called The Operatives Charitable Relief Fund.'
It has been urged that if the operatives of Preston would
give a guarantee that, in case the mills were opened to
them on the masters' terms, they would not contriliate to
the relief of the operatives of Blackburn, &c., there would
be no justifiable grounds for keeping them one moment out
of employment. To this the Executive of the Operative
Spinners reply that they have given such guarantee, and
that, in fact, they have enough to do at heme without con-
tributing to the relief of others elsewhere. The masters, it
is said, will have the option of opening their mills this week,
independent of the association. With regard to the opera-
tive spinners, their funds must be, as they admit, neces-
sarily low, inasmuch as they are contributing 108. per week
to each alember, with an additional allowance of Is. a week
per child under 10,years of age."

Preaching on Sunday evening at Holy Trinity Church,
Preston, the Bishop of Manchester referred in strong terms
to the strike in Lancashire. The great prosperity of England
had been due, he said, to the confidence which one nan had
in another, and to its sense of honesty and probity more
than anything else. These ties seem now to be severed, and
industrial prosperity had departed. England, once com-
pared to the Garden of Eden, was being laid desolate. It the
unhappy strife in Lancashire continued, and the chasm
seemed to widen every day, he feared it might become im-
possible to bridge it over. Capital and labour should be
friends, not foes; should be sympathetic, not estranged;
having mutual trust, not suspicion. If the present state of
things continued, the knell would be sounded for the first
and last time over the industrial prosperity of England.
Was it not time that masters and labourers should approach
each other, not as foes, but as friends, and hold out the
right hand of good fellowship? In this dispute the operatives
did not consider sufficiently the whole question. They only
thought of over-production, but the fact was that the
depression was universal. Foreign competition more than
over-production was the cause of this depression. Then as
to operatives wages, people should consider that the prices
of things, house rents, (to., were coming down, and there-
fore even the wages were reduced. He thought that there
should be a little more readiness between the masters and
men to conciliate. The present conduct was neither wise,
politic, nor Christian. Ile would venture to suggest what
Mr. Hibbert, M.P., had done before the strike, and he
thought there was yet time for it—namely, to split the
difference in the existing dispute, and go to work at 7i per
cent reduction. This appeared to him an equitable solution
of what was a very serious crisis in the history of this
country.

PRESTON, Monday.

The main feature in connexion with the lock-out at
Preston continues to be the providing of relief, and to-day
the committee appointed on Stiparday were actively engaged
in maturing the scheme for a central relief establishment.
The secretary of the Operative Weavers Association also re-
ported that, in response to a written solicitation, the Attorney-
General had generously sent them a cheque for £5O. Other
gentlemen are endeavouring to alleviate the alarming dis-
tress in various ways. So far as the operatives' great holiday
In Preston—Whitsuntide--is concerned, the prospects are
most gloomy. The various friendly societies have resolved
not to walk in procession this year; the Orangemen have
followed their example, and now it has been determined that
If the strike should continue the Catholic guilds will also
abandon all idea of a procession, as much to prevent dis-
turbance as because the members, who are chiefly composed
of operatives, will not be in a position to make the display
they are accustomed to do.

The following is an extract from the letter of the
Manchester Correspondent of The Times :
" When the Blackburn operatives struck work six weeks
ago, it was said on their behalf that their object would
be gained if only for five or six weeks they could hold
their ground against the employers. Their object was
then declared to be to maintain the rate of wages as it
stood and prevent any reduction whatever. The Black-
burn operatives were more determined upon this point
than some of their class in other places and they made no
suggestion of compromise. The five or six weeks' trial of
strength to which they looked forward has gone by and there
Is not a sign of the employers' condition at 10 per cent, re-
duction being modified. Neither is there evidence of the
operatives having yet succeeded in their secondary aim of
improving trade by stoppage of production to the point of
making the reduction of wages unnecessary. The experi-
ment of the strike has been a failure, which should shake the
operatives' faith in the judgment of those whose calculation
they took to be the soundest. The operatives have reason to
look back upon the past six weeks with dismay and to relied
how long it:will take to repair the mischief that has been
done, should they even return to work at once."