The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-11-18 00:00:00

Our Xonbon Qtorttsponbrnt,

iWe deem It right to ,tate that we do lad at ell Uo.
idetittiy ourmehes with our Correspondent's °Oulu.

The mass of evidence that is nee lated day byday
in the Tichtionw case affords ample seope and verge
enough for any amount of conversation on the subject.
Among my own circle of acquaintance I know many
who have read, or say they have read, every word of
the evidence, and among theme opinions certainly
differ. Some are confident one way; others equally
confident the other; and others again exhibit their
judicial wisdom by paying they dint know what to
think. Whatever may be the result, we may depend
on it that there will yet be an enormous ti am of ad-
ditional evidence for cormorant readers to devour. I
hear that it is not at all likely that the case will he
finitshed before the end of January. Well might Mr.
Serjeant liallantine call it an unparalleled case ! By
the way, the Tichborne case has proved, amongst other
things, how badly we Want those neW Law Courts
about which tlatqe has been so much talk and no little
action. Strange that for such a trial as this the NUM°.
sex magistrates should have to lend a room, and that
the case should have to be postponed because
the magistrates want the nom for a particular
day. On this fact beim; mentioned, the Lord
Chief Justice otsserved, The only other place we
can avail ourselves of is the Chancellor's Court, which
is very mrmitol for a snit like this, because, there
being 110 light, we could felt ACC the witnesses." Really,
this shows that Mr. Dickens's opening chapter lif
" Bleak House " is not so much exaggerated after all.
But, prolonged as the Tiehborne trial is, it must come
to an end some day, and when it der* end, what a case
it will be to sum up ! And what a case to decide !
The announcement that St. Patal's Cathedral would be
thrown open every Tuesday evening during the winter
for lectures to young into eugued 'tithe City WAS hailed
with pleasure by a very large class, but Canon Gregory's
letter on the subject low created cousiderslde surprise.
Everybody must have thought that the week-night
service or lectures were intended to be specially
adapted to young men, but very few could have under-
stood that women were to be excluded. But this, it
now appears, Ls the intention. The rev.
gentleman writes, " Our object is to afford such
instruction as we can to the young men of the
city, and, from all the inquiries we have made, we are
satisfied that to admit ladies would defeat our object.
We should then have a mixed congregation," sic., and
he adds, "I trust that no ladies will have to be turned
lack on future Tuesday evenings, as I hope that none
will seek Eihruinion." Having read the report of
Canon Gregory's first lecture, I may give my opinion
that it was an admirable address, but by no means of
more importance to men than women. Rearing in
mind, too, that there is, of course, no intention of
dealing with any subject which would offend delicacy,
the determination to exclude the fair sex is certainly
amost remarkable one, and I believe this is the very
• first time that any such course has been adopted in the
Church. The intention of Canon Gregory and his
reverend colleagues is no doubt good enough, but they
have committed a sad mistake. In some few of our
churches the sexes are separated, and on entering them
the stranger sees "men's side" and "women's side
posted up, but the exclusion of women altogethee is
quite a novelty.
I find that at the present time, and that indeed there
has been for some time past, a great scarcity of curates
in the Church of England. In some respects this is to
be regretted; in others it is to be rejoiced at, What-
ever religious (trillions may exist in any ordinary rim'
pony in which this fact, if fact it be, may be mentioned,
it will generally be admitted that a more estimable
body of men than on: curates does not exist, and it
wenn; a pity that there should be any difficulty in our
incumbents procuring the aid of curates ; but surely
this scarcity is very encouraging to young men who
may desire to enter the Church. The small lay and
the poor chance of promotion, however, are powerful
dissuasives.

That influential clique of gentlemen who manage the
affairs of the series of International Exhibitions have,
in my bumble opinion, made an egregious mistake.
These exhibitions were intended to foster a love of art,
to improve our manufactures, to bring taste to bear on
everyday objects, and to promote :t WhOteM.IIIe COVllre-
tition among European nations lint it was never in-
tended that the Exhibition building at So mth
tan should become a great shop. This, however, waa
partially the case during the exhibition of this year,
and in the French and Indian departments a brisk
trade was done, although English exhibitors, strange
to say, were prohibited. The Commissioners, it seems,
have now decided that next year the English exhibitors
shall have space allotted to them in an Annexe, where
they may pen their goods to their hearts' content !
Eat this will be to the discontent of mannfacturers
and tradcsniell througle,ut the is sadry. Arrange
malts wiil I e insole far the Exhibition f n 72, and
the Commis-ioners will then gradually discover that
many of the mast influential Is. lees in the country will
hold aloof from the International Exhibiti at altogether.
This would be a great pity, and it would be well bar
the commissioners to reconsider the conclusion at which
they have arrived.
It is an ill wind that blows nobody g,scl, and there
is a silver lining to every cloud—remarks which you
may have, probably, heard before. The pruverlis are
very agreeably illustrated by new 3 which arrives from
Chicago. The Tribune of the burnt city tells
114 that from five to six hundred stonemasons can
find employment there, at from four to five dollars
a day ; that 2,000 carpenters will be wanted all
through the winter ; that in March there will be
employment for double the number of these
trades ; and that in fact workers in every branch ,af
labour are required. Truly there is one little drawback.
All that can be promised in one respect is that workmen
can find "comfortable homes for themselves and fami-
lies on farms within 100 miles from Chicago." But
even this drawback—travelling, we will say 100
miles twice in a week—is but trifling compared with
the high wages that are offered, which would
he such a pleasant contrast to what is pro-
cured at home. What a grand opportunity this
good news offers to those working men who can
scrape together the money to emigrate, as well as to
those benevol.nt people who delight in aiding the panr
to find employment &CMOS the Atlantic. Certainly it
Is rather an awkward time of the year to brave the
perils of the Atlantic ocean, but then the steamers in
the American trade are so admirably managed in
every department, so splendidly built and RO well
appointed, that danger and discomfort are reduced to
minimum. It will be rather surprising if this
news be not the inducement for some hundreds of
our mechanics, artisans, and labourers emigrating.
The thing is certain, that, although employment is
more general here than it often is at this time of the
year, we have plenty of labour to spare. May Ibe
permitted to say that if Come of the time anal energy
that are devoted to disputing and striking in various
trades were employed to facilitate the profiting by the
good news referred to, a good return for the invest-
ment would he certain--not problematical, 11,1 in the
other case.

The Home Secretary nays he must decline dealing
next session with the local government of LOWIIIIL So
much the worse for London, but we must "grin and
hear it." Of more general interest will be two bills
which Mr. Bruce will, in all probability, introduce
011tl for the regulation of mines, and the other for that
of friendly societies. In the former it is to be hoped he
will doal with the subject of inspection with a wise
bead and a firm hand, for the present system is a farce
—though it sometimes results in a tragedy. We
must prepare, I imppose, for the appointment of addi-
tb.nal inspectors, which means SO much more expense
to the country, list our mining interests are so east,
and the number if mer. employed in dangerous occu-
pations is so great, that we must not grudge the out-
lay. The Government measure which, I expect, will
attract mire attention than any other, not even ex-
cepting the Ballot hill, will be the bill for regulatibg
Yriendly and Benefit Societies, in accordance with Ow
forthcoming rivet of the royal commission, which is
ptill priie.-i-utimi its inquiries m this subject. The
evidence already prommod imly too clearly that,
in the interest of the wo. king vi. ooi, those ovi-ties
stand sadly in need of reform. llot ram to will be a
very, eery difficult and ti •lilish task.