The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-03-28 00:00:00

A VALUABLE BUSINESS.

Mr. Justice Chitty has had before him a motion in
a ',partnership action of Parker v. Parker, that an
offer of .£160,000 for five shares in a business might
be accepted. The business is that of Parker, Walker,
and Co., the lead and shot merchants which was
established in 1778, and has been in the riirker family
ever since. Family disputes arose, and the action for
dissolution was commenced. An order was made, and
the business was put up for sale, but the property was
not sold. The partner with 107 shares made the
offer of £160,000 for the other five. It was stated
that the premises in London, Glasgow, Liverpool,
Chester, and Flint, with the stock, plant, &c., was
valued at £240,000, and the book debts at £220,000.
After some discussion, it was arranged that Fuller,
Horsey, and Co., should again offer the concern for
sale by auction in one lot, and that the sale should be
well advertised.

SPRING PROSPECTS OF THE FARMERS,
The advent of spring, usually so buoyant in raising
the spirits of those engaged in trade and farming
pursuits, has not, so far, shown its influence in raising
the prices on the market, either of Colonial produce
or home agricultural produce. It is true that some
weeks back a slight advance was realised for wheats,
but it has been maintained with difficulty, and the
hopes then raised of a full 40s. per quarter for Eng-
lish corn have not been realised. So far as agricul-
ture is concerned, it may justly be said that the pro-
vinces have contributed more than their quota to
the bulk of London's unemployed. And why should
this be so? Why should farm labourers throng our
great cities, pushing on one side the labourers of the
locality? Simply because the farmers' capital has been
swallowed up by unproductive seasons on one side, and
low prices, combined with higher wages for labour, on
the other. The farmer, who has tided over the winter,
holding on, Micawber-like, for something to turn up
for his benefit, is at this moment nonplussed. He
sees before him, politically, a perplexing situation,
which in another year will elevate his unlettered
labourer to the same level as himself, to select any
demagogue, glib of tongue, who has nothing to lose,
to represent t'spp people in Parliament, and help to
make laws tbat will either make or mar the future of
the country. He also sees before him commercially,
the same dead-lock in all the markets to which he
consigns his fat stock or his produce; there is an
over supply in everything, whether it is corn or meat,
potatoes or hops, seeds or wool. When emigration
was prescribed as the remedy for all evils, it was not
then imagined we were making a rod for our own
backs. Manitoba, Dakota, and other countries grow
nothing but corn and meat, and, as they cannot eat it
all, the surplus naturally floats over to the old country.
It is true that Russia is beaten by our Canadian and
East Indian friends in the wheat supplies; but she
still contributes and assists in keeping down prices.
Perhaps the greatest drop is in the price of mutton
and beef. It cannot be entirely due to the
frozen carcases, thousands of which are almost
weekly landed at our docks, nor can it be attri-
buted to the increased numbers of our live sheep, so
largely due to the fine summer of 1884, but is due
more to the lesser wants of the working classes, in
consequence of their inability to purchase in the
absence of employment. No farmer can look forward
with any certainty that the bullocks he has fatted at
great expense during the winter will yield him any
profit; and as to his sheep, if he keeps a dry flock
and is not a breeder, and if he buys lambs in the
spring, he will be a lucky man if he does not lose by
his feeding. Potatoes are quoted at 50s. per ton for
Scotch and 40s. per ton for German grown, and one
may well wonder how a Scotchman or a German can
deliver potatoes in the London market at such ruinous
prices. The hop farmer is, perhaps, the worst off of
any one, as he missed a good price last autumn, and
now he finds that the brewers have beaten him at his
own game. He is compelled to grin and bear the
loss as best he can. On the whole, the spring has
not opened up brilliantly either in weather or pros-
pects, for every class is grumbling, and for the best of
reasons, that no profit is to be made, brewers and
bakers excepted.—. Land and Water.

The minister was a very good man no doubt, but
he rather startled his congregation when he an-
nounced this: "Remember our Communion ser-
vice next Sunday forenoon. The Lord will be with
us during the morning service, and the bishop in the
evening.'
"My dear," said a shrew who had been married
three years, as she beamed across the table upon
her lord and master, "tell me what was it that first
attracted you to me? What pleasant characteristic
did I possess which placed me above other women
in your sight ?" And her lord and master simply
said, "I give it up."