The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-04-23 00:00:00

Noubon CoutspoOmt.

deem it right to state that we do not at all times
oi.i.rselveswith our correspondent's opinions.]

During the &et few weeks that Parliament sat this
session there was every prospect of business being '
rapidly.procee led with, but now that we are in the
Faster recess, the retrospect is scarcely aatisfac tory.
Very little has really been done, and after all the pro-
tracted discussions about the Irish Land Bill, that Un-
important measure appears far from absolutely safe,
and there will be an immense deal of discussion on it
yet. Jmt as Parliament was adj turning for the Easter
recess there was a good deal of talk about the wage of
time in the House of Commons, and it is probable that
when Parliament :gain meets there will be a dis-
cussion in the other Home about their lordships
ha,ving nothing to do at the biginning of the session,
and too much towards the clear. This is a pint ou
which their I,miships have often insisted, and the pro-
s ailing opiLion is that they are quite right. As for as

the sys,ion has 3, t gene, they have had very little to
tie, and they nil 4lit well have been employed in
initiating legislati.,u (al widen the Givernment had
revived.

Whnte:er may he said for or against the policy of
Government in discharging dockyard workmen, it
must be admitted tfuat the Government is doing all in
its power to enalle these men with their wives and
families to emigrate to Canada. The authorities at
several of our dockyards have received notice that at
the end of May or the beginning of June, H.M.
troopehips will carry to that country men, women, and
children, at a cost to the emigrants not exceeding £2
per man or woman, and £1 psr child under 12 years of
age, and that on arrival at Qnebec they will be in
exactly the same position as ordinary emigrants. The
Brill* and Colonial Emigration Society is also using
great efforts to facilitate emig,ration to Canada. A
day or two ago the Medway, I,BCO tons register, sailed
from the Victoria Docks with nearly WO persons— ,
hrisbands, wives, and little ones—for this land of pro-
mise. Each adult on an average, it is stated,
contributed LI towards the expenses, the So-
ciety finding the remainder. The roost gratifying
fact connected with this large emigrant party is that
on landing at Quebec they will be received by the
Government agent, "and thence tassed on to various
pasta of the Donaioion, where their services have been
engaged." It is sad that there should still be ouch de.
preasion in our home trade—though it certainly is not
so bad as it was—and that working families should
have to seek in other countries the employment they
cannot find at home; but the result on the whole can.
not but be beneficial to the labour market at home,
while there is every reason to believe that the emi-
grants themselves will be largely benefitted.
That extraordinary attempt at burglary at the
palatial shop of Mr. Attenborough in Flcet.street has
not yet, and perhaps never will be, cleared up. Two
men and a woman have been sentenced, under the
Habitual Ceiminals Act, to three months' imprison-
ment, for Fein near the premises, "with intent to
commit a felony, being reputed thieves ; " but the
evidence is by no means clear that they were actually
the persons engaged in the attempt, though it favours
the supposition. A thought that occurs to use is that
it would pay some tradesmen in a hose shops are
. .

articles of.many thousand pounds value if they would
have privats watchmen to patrol near the premises,
. _

and this would certainly have the advantage of employ -
ibg now unemployed men; and another thought is
that had Mr. Attenborough's shop been—as several
shops now are in London—lighted up at night, with
bars through which the contents of the shop can be seen
from the outside, such an attempt as this would never
have been made.

On dit that Mr. D. A. Lange is to be made a baronet
In consideration of the services he has rendered this
country in connection with the Suez Canal. The chief
honour in relation to this splendid work is, of course,
due to M. de Lesseps, who has received honour from
the Emperor of the French, but to M. Lange is owing
much of the succas of negotiation and official corres-
pondence, and no one will begrudge honour to such a
man.

The Post 011ie authorities are rather hard upon
their employ6s. Taking advantage of a half-holiday
on Good-Friday several of them met on that day to
present a testimonial to one of their members who had
acted as eecretmy of their Mutual Aid Aseociation,
and also to rtal awl discuss a paper on "The Nei.
tion and Prospects of the Poet office Employ..' Upon
this the letter.earriers were reminded officially of
a former minute of the Postmaster General forbidding
"on pain of dissussal, the holding by officers of the
department cf any meeting, beyond the walls of the
Pot Offige bnihling for the discussion of ( fficial
questions." Tlis put a heavy damper on the meeting,
lmat still goedly numb.. rof men with wives and sweet-
heart., attended. Two or three men spoke " with
bat 1.1 breath aril whispered humbleness," and one read
his "speech" so that he might prove what he had
said if occ*si m demanded, while the paper that bad
been prepared gave a very melancholy picture of the
position &A prospects of the letter-carriers. I shall
not ce =mut on any statement made, but simply add
that it does seem hard that the men must not meet
and talk over their pAition and prospects. The men
may be right or wrong, but surely they ought to be
allowed to meet and talk over their affairs just as
workmen elsewhere are allowed to do. The London-

letter-carriers are by no means the only class that is
dissatisfied with the G. P. O. arrangements. The post-
masters throughout the country do not find that they
are sufficiently remunerated for their extra duties in
connection with the telegraph system.
It is a matter of general congratulation that Colum-
bia Market, whi.h was a dead failure as a general
market, is rapidly becoming a decided success as a Fish
market. This splendid place has cost Miss Burdett
Coutts upwards of £lOO,OOO, and during the whole of
this year this benevolent lady will not have a penny
return for her money, the rents for shops and stale not
commencing SR the Christmas quarter, up till that
time all the advantages of the market being given rent-
free to the dealers. But meanwhile the market is
becoming an established institution. A day or two
ago we had our first arrival of salmon from Ireland,
and it sot I readily at la. 101 a pound wholesale. This
looks well foi the Meta salmon trade, and anything
that tends to develop trading relations with that
country is in itself highly desirahle. Columbia Market
is gradually effecting two grand objects—it is develop.
lag the fish trade of the Eastern coast and it is
chvaponiug fish to the teeming population of London.
Apropm of Ireland, every one will be glad to bear that
her harvest proopec's are very favourable. Add to
this that her trade is becoming more animated, and that
Parliament is evidently desirous of doing her justice,
and perhaps the remark may be hazarded that she
really has nothing particular to grumble about. But
Gustava Flourees, a Frenchman who is now in
London—one reason being that he dare not go back to
France—knows better than all this. Writing to a revo-
lutionary paper in his own country, he says, "Misery
and famine ravage Ireland under the English d. mina-
tion ; the noblest and best of her sons languish in the
dungeons of Er gland ; her industry is sacrificed in
favour of English trade ; crushing taxes consume all her
resources." We can all afford tc laugh at this, though
we must all admit that it is a great pity that a French.
man wh kuows nothing, about what he writes should
communicate such palpably absurd statements to many
who will take it as gospel.
On the eve of Parliament adjourning for the Easter re-
cess, a letter from "A Neglected Wife" appeared to the
Da 1 y Teltyra ph, and numerous letters—some evidently
genuine, and some with a suspicious similarity of style
to others immediately followed —treating the au} j-ei.
either from the husband's or the wife's point of view.
They are, at all events, deeply int-resting, and they; all
lead to oue conclusion at least—that there is a great
deal to be raid on both sides. The ladies have plenty
to soy for themselves, but some of them boldly write
In favorr of the husband. Among the statements and
arguments they put forward are that a husband who
would be horrified at strking his wife will lash her
more seat rely than with any whip by neglecting her,
paying undue attentions to other women, and stay.
log out late at night (several wives speak strongly and
bitterly about the billiard-table) ; that h husband has
raised his hand against his wife, told her that he never
loved her, but that his whole affection was and is given
to a lady to whom he had once been engaged; tied it
ia a wife's best plan never to sit up for her husband,
never to inquire where he has been, and to find the
greaten part of your own happinera for yours; lf ;'' that
homes aro is a le wretched from a husband's love of
excitement, the first step being parsing Sunday s from
hone, on the pl.a of the want of health teceesitating
the cham;e, the change demanding companionship, and
that I had, lea 'ing to destrie ion;r that the great fault
of husbands is, th et they "for ;et to be kind, forget
to be caurteous, forget to chow the love they feel
perhaps ;" that the companionship of young men,
the billiard-room, and drinking are the fruitful source;
of home unhappiness; and that (it is a wife who
says this) the generality of husbands are not worse
than the wives, and that "if a woman will only
be as agreeable to her own husband as she is to
others she will always (') rind him anxious to remain
at home rather than leave her for others that he does
not in reality care the least about." On the other
hand, among the statements and arguments of the
husbands, are that wive neglect their husbands for
their own selfish pleasures, getting up just in time to
see him leave for business, and when he returns--if
the wife is at home—being too unwell or too tired to
cheer him; that the hnsband comes down to a chilly
and disarranged room, leaves home almost breakf us; leas,
and when he comes horns find.; the wife out, everything

locked up, and that he must not perfume the house
with smoke; that the husband has no room in the
house that he can call his own, is snubbed before his
own children, and subjected to " curtain " lectures;
that the wife's constant straining to keep up false
appearances is a great cause of misery, which
is "more caused by vain, thoughtless women than
by neglectful husbands; " that the jealousy of wives,
who bar the door against all their husbands' female
acquaintances, destroys the happiness of married life ;
and that home would be happier if husbands and wives
would spend their time together in intellectual im-
provement. So you see that there is a great deal to
be said on both sides. We all knew this before, but
this prolific correspondence nevertheless will pro-
bably do good in enforcing previously known truths.