The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-10-23 00:00:00


• Iktr.apollt !iOl.
DT oCit OWN CON.:I,PUNDENI.

ate remarks under this head are to be regarded as the ex.
ore,fhn uf independent opitibm, rtini the pencil age:airmail
sdiuni we have the grentv:it centidenee, but for which we
severthetess du nut Mild t. 111,111., responsible.)
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It is believed that in—a
very short time the Cabinet I
will have agreed upon the details of their Irish Land I
Bill, the leading principles of which they must by I
this time have determined, though nothing has trans-
pired to establish the supposition. Whatever be the
character of the measure, it will certainly lead to most
exciting debates. Among other measures to which
we may look forward to are a bill to give greater
security to persons availing themselves of the prin-
ciples of life assurance, and another to compel railway
companies to give the working classes, the third class
passengers, somewhat cheaper travelling. There is
ample room for reform in both respects.
There is a talk of a great demonstration of the un-
employed working men of London on the occasion of
the Queen paying a visit to the City to open Black-
friars Bridge. It is intended, it is said, to form a line
two or three deep along the route to be taken by her
Majesty. But of what earthly use will this be? It
looks like a threatening demonstration, and at all
events it will cause pain to an already wounded heart,
and at the same time do no good whatever. Surely
these unemployed men cannot for a moment imagine
that the Queen can help their being unemployed.
Tie Times, referring to Greenwich Hospital, now
vacated, powerfully advocates its being turned into a
great naval university, and the arguments adduced
commend themselves to the reader, but it is worth re-
mark that such a university would occupy but a small
portion of the building; and the question arises whether
a hospital—naval, military, or general be not more
wanted. The subject is one of general interest, the
institution being really a national one, and being,
moreover, immensely rich.
It is not pleasant to hear that an additional prison is
required to " accommodate" the county of Middlesex.
The magistrates of this county have had before them a
proposition to release a number of prisoners now con-
fined for minor offences, on condition that they would
remain out of the county, but the proposition was
-tad by a large majority. Or in other words it is
deci ut we must keep the prisoners we have, and
make room n r more. The abolition of transoortation
N., no doubt, ,),,rable reform in many respects,
but It tn entailed upo.i i!,la country the evils of a large
criminal population, and the expense of maintaining
these law-breakers innat he sohlething enormous. The
opinion now gains ground that we might in many
cases have cheaper punishments. In cases of wife-
beating, of street assaults upon women and children,
for example, and in cases of outrage generally, it would
be far cheaper to give the offender a flogging than to
board and lodge them for several months; and it is
tolerably certain that the former punishment would be
more effectual. We owe the decline of garotting to
corporal punishment being the penalty, and it would
be well to extend this punishment to other offences.
By the way, a gentleman has just been released from
prison whose case invites remark. It will be remem-
bered that Mr. Shipman was some six months ago com-
mitted to prison for a year by the Court of Bankruptcy,
for fraud in connection with the Agra and Masterman'a
Bank. It is said that he has been very ill, and it
seems that this has been held sufficient cause to
liberate him after having served only half his time.
It would be wrong to have any revengeful feeling in
the matter, and it is to be hoped that mercy thus
bestowed will bless "him that takes ;" but one cannot
help seeing that these remissions of penalties (for this
is but one out of many) never happen to those who have
no powerful friends.
All the international exhibitions that have hitherto
been held have been more or less marred by the real
workers, the actual inventors or producers, having been
subordinated to the name of a firm or to some great
company in which individuality is lost. But next year
we are to have in London (at the Agricultural Hall) a
Workmen's International Exhibition which bids fair to
be worthy of the name. The Prime Minister is the
president of the association, and noblemen and gentle-
men without distinction of political partisanship, are
co-operating. In France, Germany, Italy, and other
countries, local committees have been formed to aid in
carrying out the object, and no less than seventy local
committees have been formed in the United Kingdom.
In fact the workmen of the world are invited to com-
bine to produce an exhibition which shall be really
• international" and a genuine " workman's " display.
So far as the idea has yet been developed the exhibi-
tion of 11,10 bids fair to be worthy of the language
which the Poet Laureate applied to the International
Exhibition of 1862, and that it will diqilay
Harvest tool and husbandry,
Loom and wheel awl enginery,
Secrets of the sullen mine,
Steel and gold, and corn and wine,
Fabric rough or fairy one,
Sunny tokens of the Line,
Polar marvels and a feast
Of wonder out of west and east.
Manufacturers and artisans have largely given in their
adhesion to the scheme, and there is reason to hope
that it will be very successfully caned out.
Public attention is being directed to a rather strange
case of kidnapping a child. A servant girl has notice
to leave; she declares she will have revenge; and
she suddenly disappears, taking with her her em-
ployer's little girl, of seventeen months old. The
parents offered a reward of £lOO, and used every possi-
ble means of discovering the whereabouts of the
stolen chin, which fortunately proved successful.
It is strange how many children are lost in
London alone, and strange, too. how many children
are found who are too young to tell where they
live. The bills which notify such facts are never a
day absent from our police-stations. It is a curious
feature of our social life, and if we knew all, would
be perhaps far more important than is generally
thought. Who shall say how many children are
stolen from their parents, in the metropolis alone, in
the course of a 'ear? But perhaps the most marvel-
lous thing is, that, under the most favourable con-
struction put upon such occurrences, there is a very
great crime committed for a very little end to be
gained.
A little fact has transpired which should not be
allowed to pass away without leaving its moral. The
murderer l'aylor, who was recently hanged, it is now
said, stated that the idea of shooting his victim was
suggested to him by a picture in a periodical repre-
senting a similar occurrence. It is quite possible
that such representations may here and there pro-
duce a good effect, but on the other hand it is certain
that they produce a bad influence. Any one may
prove this by noticing the remarks of boys who eagerly
feast their eyes on these pictures as they are presented
in the shop-windows.

A correspondent of the City Press has not a bad
idea with regard to accommodating the still enormous
traffic of London Bridge—" the construction of a
super-way, the whole length of the bridge, for pedes-
trian traffic, thus making a two-storey bridge of it."
Why not? Such a second bridge might be made to
look really handsome and almost picturesque; it might
be a suspension bridge—perhaps on M. Boutet's wire-
rope principle, and need not be very costly. At pre-
sent, however, nothing whatever is to be done, the
Common Council having rejected all the plans pro-
posed, chiefly for the very cogent reason that the Cor-
poration has not any available funds.
bliss Emily Faithfull, aho has so long taken a lively
interest in the subject of employment for women, has
succeeded in organising a "Ladies' Work Society,"
and in connection with this has formed classes for
adult women. "The intention of these classes," she
111.37, "is to render women proficient in some one art
or occupation, and thus to lessen the present crowd of
unsuccessful applicants for remunerative employ.
ment." And a very good object, tom Of course, the
lady says nothing as to that very difficult problem,
how to open up employment for women without throw-
ing men out of work? but still the scheme is worthy of
support, and it may be hoped that it will be more
successful thar her attempts to train girls as printers.
There are other features of her scheme to which no
objection can be taken; there are to be lectures on
domestic economy, practical medkine, and nursing
and the class-rooms are to be open on Sundays from
2to 7 p.m. for the benefit of members living alone in
London, who may require rest and quiet reading.
Opinions, however, will differ as to the desirability of
the monthly debating society "for the discussion of
questions relating to women, at which the opinion of
both sexes will be freely invited." Maliciouspeople will
say that women need scarcely to be invited to indulge in
talking, but then it may be replied that a debating
society teaches its members to think, and that they
thus learn not only how to talk, but how to be silent.
At last a company has been formed to carry out the
plan of M. Boutet to throw a wire-rope railway
ridge over the Channel from Dover to Calais. This
at least is the ultimate object of the company; but
for the present it has been merely decided to build a
bridge over the Seine on this principle and then if that
is successful, a similar bridge is to be constructed at St.
Mato. The latter is to be smile long, but this is a I
very different thing to the twenty-one miles across the
Channel. Whether this railway bridge is to be proved
another "impossible" thing that shall be accomplished
remains to be aocn, and outsiders who know nothing
of engineerin4 can form no opinion of the practica-
bility of M. Boutet's plans but, as far as most people
can judge of the matter, a bridge of even a mile in
length will prove nothing.