The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-08-15 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

COMMENTS ON CURRENT THINGS.
IN view of the terrible ravages of, Cjilialera-
on the Continent, and the menace which the
existence of the dire visitation offers to the )
thickly-crowded ports of Britain in general
and London in particular, it is a pity that it
was found impossible in the present Parlia-
ment to pass the excellent measure intro-
duced in the House of Lords by the Earl of
Iddesleigh, on behalf of Lord Salisbury, re-
lating to the proposed amendments rospeet-
in.'.; nuisances, infections diseases, and other
eignate matters concerning public health in
metropolis. The fact of the bill having
been laid on the tables however, gives the
public and local authorities an Opportunity
of fully considering the remedial and pre-
ventive proposals which will be submitted
for adoption to the new Parliament, and too
much attention cannot possibly be given to
these vital questions of urban sanitation.
ANYONE who has seen the smiling faces and
heard the happy shouts of the poor children
who have been permitted to play in the sum-
mer evenings in the "pleasant Temple
gardens" will —ifhe be not of the hard,
Scrooge ilk—be in ;full sympathy with the
Guardians of Clerkenwell, who are endeav-
ouring to obtain the opening of some of the
green squares which stand oasis-like, in the
urban desert of that thickly-populated Lon-
don parish. The pretty gardens which lie
between the housing-places of the men of
law and the Thames Embankment have, by
the kindness of the Temple Benchers, been
thrown freely open, for some hours ovary
evening, to the children of Lazarus, and the
little ones, often ragged and dirty, come in
crowds to forget their poverty and squalor;
and join in the clarion clamour of child-
hood's sport and game. Three available
spots in Clerkenwell can be maintained in
good order as playgrounds for the lads and
lasses of the poor at a cost of only a farthing
in the pound to the ratepayers of the Vestry
We trust that the men of Clerkenwell, and
the Marquis of Northampton— who is the
landlord of the gardens—will come to an
a7seement, by virtue of which we may no
longer hear of knots of poor children stand-
ing, with tear-dimmed eyes, at the gates of
these circles and squares of greenery, sor-
rowing because they may not enter.
• •

THE attention which is being paid to the
matter of "Tramcar Slaves" in London de- ,
serves emulation in the provinces. Poor
fellows toiling for a mere pittance for four-
teen ox sixteen hours out of the twenty-four,
week-days and Sundays, are not, we fear,
uncommon in many of the large towns away
from the metropolis, and such a state of
things is rightly regarded as little better
than slavery. Drivers and conductors have
alike to submit to these hardships, or leave
their jobs, which others, sad to say, would
be found ready to take up. The lessening
of the working hours would mean, of course,
a diminution of dividend ; but what it that
when considered side by side with "human
flesh and bone ?" The hours of work for
tram and railway men should be regulated
, by the State, and if these passsenger-carry-
ing systems cannot be so managed that those
who are occupied thereon may be employed
at a profit for reasonable spells of labour
only, why, then, it is time they were
abandoned.—lt is monstrous to work a man
to death in a Christian land in ministering
to the convenience of his fellows.
IT is to be hoped that the Commission of
Inquiry on Trade will have a good result
upon the commerce of the land, which has
for some time past been lying under a heavy
cloud. We are glad to know that the in-
vestigation will be a full and exhaustive one,
in which not only the manufacturer, and
the merchants will be asked to state their
views and impressions freely, but the sons
of toil also invited to contribute to the gen-
eral stock of evidence. What is wanted s
not so much theory and political speculations
as to the decay of. trade and its remedies,
but an array of facts showing us things as
they are. If we get the testimony of the
artisan, whose lifetime has been passed in
the pursuit of his own industry, and the
evidence also of large employers of labour
in every branch, therefn m may be deduced
a basis on which to build remedial legisla-
tion for the long standing commercial de-
pression infinitely better than all the sound-
ing proposals of preachers and teachers of
the political economy of books, be they
Liberal or Conservative. Much is hoped of
the new Commission. Its labours will be
watched with interest.
•
A QUEER state of the law was disclosed in
a London police-court the other day, when a
"lady" was chkrged with jumping on the
driver's seat of a hansom in the dead of
night while the "Jan" was temporarily ab-
sent in an adjoining "shelter," and drivii,g
furiously in the streets, until the vehicle col-
lided with a lampost, and the horse's brains
were dashed out on the pavement. The
horse was worth five-and-twenty pounds,
and the damage done to the hansom is esti-
mated at ten guineas more. For the •'joke''
on the "lady's" part, which proved so costly
to the owner of horse and hansom, the magi-
strate could grant no redress, neither was
he able to mete out punishment to the cul-
prit. It seems that the only law infrinp:ed
by the mad-brained night-walker was that
of driving without a license, a count on
which she had not been indicted, and the
poor fellow whose valuable property she bad
destroyed had no remedy other than that
provided by the county court. Supposing
that the "lady" amateur hansom driver be
without means, which is more than likely,
the unfortunate cab proprietor has to suffer
his heavy loss without the satisfaction of
knowing that the woman who has wantonly
destroyed his property has undergone a right-
ful penalty. This, we suppose, is law, but
it can scarcely be considered justice.

THE movement for the volunteer strengh-
ening of our coast defences has encouraging
commencemefit, and it is stated that Govern-
ment aid will be extended in the way of a
money grant for the purchase of torpedo
boats and the provision of a capitation al-
lowance to naval volunteers of thirty shil-
lings a head at several selected ports. With
the concurrence of the Admiralty, arrange-
ments are in active progress for the forma-
tionof local committees in various unfortified
coast towns and shipping ports, and in pro-
portion to these local efforts amounts will
be granted from a central fund, which is
being raised chiefly in inland centres by the
Naval Volunteer Defence Association, a
body which well deserves the hearty support
of all. The Government assistance to this
very important movement will be but small
during the first year or two ; but it rests
with public spirited friends of the cause to
ensure such vigorous independent progress
that the Admiralty shall be compelled to
take the new defensive • body seriously in
hand. We see no reason why as relatively
strong a force of naval citizen volunteers
should not be formed and maintained in
efficiency as is already in existence for the
volunteer manning of engineering, rifle, and
artillery defences.

To Cynic Bum DIIEASEII.--.BI:ILPHOLINE LOTION will
completely remote all eruptions, pimples, redness
blotches, scurf, eczema, peoriesis, Stc, in a few days.
Sa pholine attacks old skin disoiders, and totail3 de-
roYa tbea. It is a peculiar, agrtotble, beanie.. fluid,
emzu9leig a clot akin. Sulpuoliza• Lotion is sold bj
*OW