The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-31 00:00:00

flit gitourbtabge Oliserigt

A.TURD I.Y, AUGUST 31, 1878,

LANDED WEALTH.

In examining the laws regulating the pro-
duction, the exchange, and the distribution of
wealth, it is seen at a glance that there are
three requisites, without the combined agency of
which there can be no wealth upon the surface
of the globe. These are land, labour, and capital.;
and a moment's reflection is sufficient to reveal
to the intelligent mind the indispensable nature
of the service which laud renders to the produc-
tion of whatever wealth falls to the lot of ono-
kind to possess. Travellers who have sailed
the seas, and have been for months passing over
the immensity of waters, must have often been
impressed with the disparity in proportion
shown by the ocean as compared with the solid
ground. Three-fourths of the surface of our
planet are covered by water, so that only one
quarter of the earth can be called dry land.
Herein consists its enormous value, for no
power of man can add a single foot to the quan-
tity of la . (in our midst. By great perseverance
he inny reolaiin it from the sea, or he may drain
niarAlec with a view to their cultivation; but as
to creating 1.4,nd he is as powerless as he wonld
fiod himself inautteiniting to call lute existence
a 71,tt1-nut : , Land, tom. liaing restricted us to
quo., -ity, and iaosPalle of. iilig made at mans'
--el oleasure, plays a tno;.ku 'important n oe, o,
:',:ess..v4fia-te-.0l throat:: who livi,upon it.
no article of commerce the origin co. v.
cann .t. be either ,liraetiv or indireltty tr Ica.. to
the land. Le the roader look rennd the room
in which he sirs, or at.the clothes which ne wears.
and he will see nothieg wilt,- i l is land has not
produced. I! in, ..evi,, :1 Niat tins must be so.
The children of fAr..e:, i -,. Clair . agooige through
the wilderner-s. finia:l tleir food nightly sup pied
from the heavens alarvao hut in nor own days we
have to look to the e...rtl; beneath solely for our
means of sustenance. 'Lao atm ianioirie air and
the rain which descends from to• e:owla are the
only indisponsables to man's exiatalice which
!he land does not supply. it:verychiog else
springs from the soil. The food placed daily
upon ths tabu come from the land. Let us ex
ceps filh, ens of the sources of wealth given to
as frlin tho sea, and it is found that the meat,
the salla, the vegetables, the fruit, are all drawn
rem tho earth. The animals whose flesh is
before us for consumption has been fed from the
produce of the soil; the beer has been made from THR CASE AGAINST THE LYE MINERS' .ILSSOCIA-
maIt grown upon the land; the wine is the pro- Tunt.—Mr. Haden Corser, who was the Deputy-
dine of the grape. The knife and the fork have Judge at the County Court on the hearing of the
been manufactured from minerals taken from case of Kirton, a miner, of the Lye, against the
the deep recesses of the earth; the china' glass, Miners' Association of that place, has delivered
the following judgment :—" This is an action
and earthenware have come from the land • the
table itself has been made from wood which' the broug h
at toalrleegceodvertothee
de otfh four
.weeks'a
sick
association
and has reared in the shape of trees; the gas- to the plaintiff. Upon the statemeentssoofclfatt
ight is an extract from coal drawn from the having been made by Mr. Waldron, solicitor for
Name never-failing source. Fro:n the objects so the plaintiff, Mr. Stokes, solicitor for the defend-
plentifully scattered upon the tables, look at the ant association, submitted that, assuming the
dress you are wearing, and it little reflection will facts were proved as stated, the association was
show that a rice of woollen cloth, for inar,ance. protected against the claim by section 4of the
Mat be derifed from ilbe lent. The wool of whioh Tra,ia Union Act, 1871 (34 and 35 Victoria,
it is composed has &men taken from the baok of chapter 31.) Without going into the merits of the
a sheep, whose existence depended on the pro case the solicitors to the parties agreed to take
duce of the soil. Calico can be traced even more my opinion as to.the effect of the section referred
directLY to thnl same sources, for the cotton plant to; and I took time to consider the matter. For
from t,:, fibrea of which it is made, is the land's the purpose of giving my opinion I assume the
prode Abu. Iu short, all manufactured articles case to be as follows, and upon it only I express
an opinion. Should my assumption be in any re-
produce. and Must, therefore, come from the
arc Laninie of either animal, mineral, or vegetable spect incorrect I must have the facts agreed upon
definitively by both sides. I assume then: That
earth ,i,oli which the lot of man is cast. the plaintiff is a member of the association ; the
The inieortance and value of land as an agent association is duly registered under the Trade
O f orodnet; are so ohvinua that the French econo- Union Act, 1871, and is directly in conformity
mists, in the time Of Adam Smith, asserted that with it and the Amendment Act of 1876; that the
illtti 1556 the 801 50ur,:.:.0 of. wealth. Without four weeks' sick pay is due to the plaintiff; and
• goiaf!, so for Ri; tilitt. ”,110. while giving labour and there is nothing to prevent the plaintiff recovering
propei f!laces in this. respect, it witl the amount except the fourth section of the Act
.. capital their
,be seen that. every year tends in sonie way or of 1871. The words of the section so far as appli-
another to make Loud wore valuable in this cable are as follows :—Nothing in this Act shall
country. The development of modern life has enable any court to entertain any legal proceed-
tenced materially
thiS direction. Our fore. ing instituted with the object of directly enforcing
in
were content to travel ;tr stage coach ;We go by • • • any agreement for the application of the
-61`''
rail, and the e 0;..... '.iati,„:, f rai!ways has swallow-
funds of a trade union; and it goes on to point
lirt :ie. , out the kind of application—amongst them to
ad up a vasl go ,ie v (..' •,,1 :' 1:' -
At the salo, „.,
s, 1, , provide benefits for members. Now, iu the pre-
! : sent case the plaintiff
force an agreement between himself and the other
is asking the court to en-
-, ..
*Ant, so that their has been no law of
0,..0pt,D- I
sation in this • •;. 1. uke :l railwl for members of the trade union, as such, that if cer-
r.. • 1 'e .
,
example the Ureab Western whiC.ll "Situ its tam n circumstances arise part of the funds of the
branches has two thousand miles of line under association shall be applied for his benefit. The
dte that
a,n the
~, its control. How much land would this repro- circumstances have for the purposes of this case
sent ? Add to thia the immense quantity which now ariseng,andjudgment
odlaemntoffor the ef
opinion
agree-
has been ebaorlied for railway porposr.,s by ell went is one which the court cannot enforce. I
the other great corporations which have dotted therefore iv
our islands with their locomotives; reflect that A STREET ACCIDENT AT KIDDERMINSTEg.—At
Court, On
before
it is all the work of lose than half 4 century ,311, Mr. Rupert
the Couegy
1 Kettle tJadge) had. I
f,
ofe or,e him a case in
' we shall see how.O7ery rear the eistenaoti '
nvrtztokia tualaiic imprcivement lessens - , which Aim l'agc' wife
.1 '''al-TTn:th'i Page, green
"4. • - ',awl 7, • `-,t, .• . Brock-11100 r, file] ey —ill, sought to re-
feboo:b . , o .;
. V - 4'lo lialliageS love perSollal injUrieB sustained
I cllaya COWkeeper, toalzrlaridger—
nkta MIN tbreegli bpria24 1 UM hol t Yu