The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-01-22 00:00:00

JOarset &multi Expreoo.

TITIIBDAY. JLNULTLY U. IBM

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

An important announcement is made having
reference to the Volunteer& Several metro.
politan corps, it is stated, have received
official intimation from the War Office that
I until further notice no more resignation will be
I accepted.

We suppose there never has been a Queen's
Speech in our time in which the legislation of
the Session has been 'unlined up_ in lams than a
dozen lines (Heneard's length.) The programme,
it was well known, Would be meagre, but we
were not prepared for such a short list as this.
Even then, venerable annuals, Bankruptcy and
Patents, appear no more. as to the Cotuaty
Government, Factory Laws, Consolidation,
Summary Jurisdiction of Magistrates, Cattle
Disease, Scotch Roads and Bees and Scotch
Endowed Schools, also Intermediate Education
and Grand Juries in Ireland, and the law of
procedure with regard to indictable offences, a
good many of these are romantics, and some are
scarcely of sufficient importance to put into a
But after all very few persons
tai message.regar... matters. The main point is the
narrative of events in the &stand the announce-
ment to which they give rise. The narrative is
studiously careful to wound no susceptibilities;
but the announcement simply says that England
will trust Ansel& no further than she can see
her, and for that reason must make preparations
to resist any breach of neutrality, and must
therefore have money for that object. Of course
the amount is not stated, and everything depends
upon that and upon the use to which it will be
put. Meanwhile the Speech bears obvious signs
of compromise between two conflicting parties
in the Cabinet. We have yet to see wind% party
will prevaiL

A:wane:al °piston writ upon the subject of
the strikes of 18Ti, after giving some detailed
' statistics, observes :—" It is impossible to get
at the numbers who were in enforced idleness,
either directly or indirectly, through the strikes,
and therefore it must be complete guess work,
except in some of the cases of the larger disputes
where we have some data to go upon. For
instance, in the Clyde ship-building strike about
10,000 were implicated; in the Manchester
i.
'quarrel, 4,000; Northumberland colliers
In May, 12,000; Wait Lancashire ditto, 90,000 ;
Fife and Olackmannan miners, 6,000; Bolton
Cotton spinners, 10,000—or 79,000 in only six
strikes. Then, again, as to the amount of money
lost, the Clyde is said to have cost £80,000;
West Lancashire, £260,000; Fife and Clackman-
nan, £190,000; Bolton, £100,000; London
mesons, £loo,ooo—nearly three-quarters of a
million sterling in five disputes! Let us try and
put the wages loss in another form. We ',mow
for certain that 191 'strikes have taken plaoe,
involving an unprofitable duration of working
days amounting to 5,862. Taking an average
for skilled workman, inferior workmen, women,
and children, let us say, for argument's sake,
that 4a. a day has been lost to each person in
wages. This would amount to a lose of £1,172
for these wute working days, supposing that
only one person was engaged in each strike.
Taking the little strikes with the big, we shall
not be very far out if we assume 1,000 people
to have been involved in each of the 191 strikes
and at thir calculation we shall arrive at!
£1,172.000 as the loss in wages for the twelve
months."

AMONO the gnetto present at the tall dress Paella-
mentary dinner given on Wednesday evening by the
girl at Beacacidield at tbe Foreign Oft:Owes Lord
Alington.
Tun Watraits.—The following to our meteorological
mart :

DaM.ll 'Pelee It llted. etat• el Weather.
I AIM. 1
14 46 44 W !leafy
U 110 41 WNW Gloomy, In*, Mealy
IC 44 Is WIL NW Meaty, One
17 47 41 NW nt •
14 41 41 N Cloudy. 11,-e
19 6 41 iINII 8 12,, in., gioomy
10 411 46 I 11W

Comer Tan To —Ts— s—Do—asse COURT PRISON.—
Thomas Hallett, Incorrigible rogue at Lyme
Reek—Moral Labour: Louisa Fialiabury, eteitu
pillow, towels, shirt, Ike., at Bridport, 3 c
months' Joseph Hart, stealing boots at Wareham,
2 calendar months; Samuel armee, intimidation at
Weymouth, 21 days; Clara Gould, drunk and riotous
at Weymouth. Clara Rartlett, ind•oent conduct at
Weymouth, Thomas White, misbehaviour in DOT
cheater Union, 14 days each ; Charles Hardy, stealing
money at Weymouth, 7 daya each; Thomas
misbehaviour in Ceres Union, 3 daya

WORKING MEN'. Immure —The annual meeting
of this Institution ism held on Wednesday evening,
the 16th inst., Mr. G. R. Bawler in the chair. The
report, as drawn up by the secretary (which con-
tained i vote ..f thanks to Lady Charlotte Stun,
Colonel Bturt, and W. H. Brymer, Req., )LP., for
their acceptable presents of hooks) was adopted.
The annual sheet showed • slight balance on the
wrong side. The oflicere for the ensuing year were
then elected, when the following result was obtained
—The president and the vice-president (Mr. Jameson)
were unanimously re-elected; Mr. Case was elected
secretary. and Mr. Plummer treasurer. The electi
of the following committee was agree-I to—Me am G.
Heathorn, R. Payne, It Hill, H. Barnes, C. Jrffery.
J. Guy, W. H. Bradley, and the Rev. T. Nears.
The out-going auditors (Masora J. T. Godwin and G.
J. Wood) were re-elected, and thanks were accorded
them for their past services. The sale of news=
then took place, and mveral of the London
fetched good prices. This concluded the boldness of
the meeting.