The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-09-05 00:00:00

THE STOUEBRIDGE OBSERVER.

grudges have been establbthed, as well as a good many inven-
tions and exaggerations ; many hundreds, as it now appears,
have been duly initiated and organized in those predatory
tastes and
,nabits always apt to take the place of regular in-
dustry. All this, and more, is certain, and, like the ace,m-
panying loss in the material account, must be written off in
the public ledger If a single good servant leaves his master
when most wanted, and is taken back after a few months,
he will find things generally gone back, his master so
much the worse, and himself with more to do. On the
other hand, we are encouraged to hope that good
has come out of evil, and that all sides are now
wiser as well as sadder, which last there can be no mistake
about The masters see that they most dealwith the men more
discreetly and gently. They have, too, it is said, made some
discoveries, which it seems rather strange they should have
to make now. They can do with fewer mem the labourers
are better informed than they were; indeed, they have had
nothing to do hut stunt), their position for several months.
They know better even what they have really been earning
already, as well as what they could get elsewhere, or in
other occupations. Many wild assertions have been brought
to book. The deputation which made a tour of the Pro-
vinces most have picked up some experience, not without
cost, Iteaides masters and men, the autinna of the Union
must be assumed to have learnt something by the costly
experiment. They will, at least have to do it better next
time, and to learn civil language. If we look all round, it
is hard to say which of the three parties concerned has
suffered most

strange cooing moan, accompanied by a sharp croak
that can be heard at a depth of 150 ft. The fish attains
a length of about 6ft., and weighs 401 b. What these
rounds are for we know not, but on the principle that
all things are for some particular purpose, they must
have a meaning. That the iniperfect voice of the
fish is used to express discontent and pain I have no
doubt, as in numerous experiments on a fish found
in the Gulf of Mexico, called the grunt. I found
that the voice was used and modulated as with
other animals. When touched with the knife the
grunts that it gave vent to fairly rose to a shriek,
and when dying its moans and sobs were almost dis-
agreeably human. I shall never forget the first one of
these veritable porkers that I caught. Thinking that
my bait needed replenishing I hauled in, and found
nicely hooked a grunt, and no sooner had I placed him
in the boat than he commenced a series of grunts and
sobs that bid fair to take me by storm. Now he would
make a low noise, and gradually swell the 'melody,'
and finally hurl at me such a blast of entreaties, all of
which were produced without a struggle, that my
better nature was aroused, and I made haste to toss
him back, and as he disappeared he uttered a squeak
which, together with the splash, sounded to me like a
4hank you,' and I have no doubt but what it
was. Baron Humboldt mentions an occurrence which
he witnessed in the South Sea. 'About seven o'clock
in the evening the sailors were terrified by an extraor-
dinary noise in the air like the beating of tambourines,
followed by sounds that seemed to come from the ship,
and resembled the escape of air from boiling liquid.'
Many other instances could be called up to prose that
fishes use their vocal organs to some purpose, but the
above serve to show that they have a well-defined
voice, and that it is capable of modulation. '

Meanwhile agricultural wages have risen all over the
kingdom ; and there arises a question whether the Unionists,
their leaders, and their backers, have dune it, or whether it
was spontaneous and independent of this local war. The
question is one of some delicacy, and the truth is probably
not to be found in either an absolute assertion or an absolute
denial of the Union's influence in this change. What are the
facts of the ease? Wages have bees rising now for several
years, especially this year, at the commencement of which
the increased price of fuel, bread, and meat, and, it must be
added, compulsory education, made it really necessary to
ask for some Increase of pay, and to ask for it very seriously.
Most certainly, long Vetere the movement in the Eastern
and Midland Counties, both day labourers and
piece workers were asking and obtaining better pay
all over the country. It may be that the farmers there were
a little backward. Or it may be that in those districts the
labourer's new advisers and allies were taking excessive ad-
vantage of the turn in his favour. The tide was rising, and
they would make the most of it. What was done for them
they would make their own. It is not despair it is hope,
with some unusual encouragement of circumstances, that
leads men to push onwards. But a leader and an organiza-
tion may be necessary. Upon the whole, with the fact of so
great an improvement in the general condition of labour,
and with the proved certainty that the labourer will not
want for counsel and aid, it is impossible to say that he has
not gained by this saovement, though equally impossible to
prove that he has. The victory rests with neither side, and as
it should be in a civil strife, there are no trophies or super-
fluous mementoes. It is seen that the condition of the
labourer is steadily improving, and that lie Is now better
able to make his contract with Isis employer on the ordinary
terms of the market, and for wages in coin of the realm. He
has been somewhat distracted and puzzled lately ; he has
been offered emigration, change of employment, land to call
his own, perhaps a bit of his own parish- anything, in fact,
he would ask for. But he evidently sticks to his main
chance—good money wages. lie would like a good many
other things also, but this he must have at all events,
and this he is now pretty sure of. He knows best,
too, what suits his case. There are, at least, two dis-
tinct kinds of agricultural labourer, and every esti-
mate of his condition must recognize this natural divi-
sion. There are those who would stick to the same
master, perhaps to the same farm, for the whole of
their lives for good and regular wages. There are those who
are more speculative, and who will bargain with their em-
ployers. When it is stated that wages have risen is. a week
all over the country, we have the pleasing assurance not only
of an improvement, but also that the relgtion of farmer and
labourer has not been disturbed by these local troubles, and
that England will still possess a fair proportion of old rural
families, content with their imsition, and putting full faith
in their country, their landlords, ant the farmers—their im-
mediate employers and paymaster&
It is not to be supposed that the Unionists--that is, the
authors, lind leaders of this movement—will confess them-
selves beaten, or renounce all hopes of retrieving their
defeat. But it is plain they have to learn new tactics if
they would meet the special case of agricultural employ-
ment. They have to address themselves to its kindly
and domestic character. In every parish in this coun-
try there are men who are employed simply because
they are there, or because they have been long in the
same service, or because they would otherwise be
thrown on the Rates, or because other members of their
families do in effect plead for them. There is always some-
thing more than an industrial Cr mercantile relation between
the employer and the employed. The Union has not been
able to provide any equivalent for this mixture of personal
and charitable regards. Finding itself burdened with a
number of labourers past their work, or unequal to it, the
Union has rather bluntly announced that it cannot relieve
the Poor Law—admitting thereby that farmers do generally
relieve the Poor Law by employing, partly for love and
kindness, many whose work is hardly worth their pay. In the
abstract it is impossible to dispute the right of labourers to
unite for the purpose of assisting one another to raise
the condition of the class. But the actual exercise of
this right will always be most ditlicult, from the fact
that there are no two labourers in any parish who can be
said to be as much of a sort and class as two artisans or
operatives. Pauperism, of course, confounded all such dis-
tinctions ; but the English labourer is less of a pauper than
he was forty years ago, and has accordingly to be treated
with mere regard to his personal claims and circumstances.
A Union of Agricultural Labourers may choose to recogeize
only the thoroughly able and comparatively young,—indeed,
that is what the Unionists have been driven to in the
Eastern Counties, but it seems to have given the last blow to
the movement, for rural morality is still too sound to endure
It. The side which recognizes its duty to the weak, the aged,
and the very young carries off the honours of the day.

imports
thither, thmeerr,chian7 £20,276,135. Our at Barnes; to Thomas M'Longhlin, fcrr saving R.
'clilie,94frott°thea'se 11 countries, there- M'Carthy, who fell into 20ft. of water at Londonderry;
fore, in 1873, exceeded 268 millions sterling, and our ex- to John Jones, for saving William Roberts, who sank
Porte thither of our own products exceeded 173 while bathing at Bangor; to Thomas Perry, for trying
millions; making together 12441,797,571, or more than to save Joseph Green, who committed suicide by
two-thirds of our entire trade with parts beyond the jumping into the reservoir at Levenshulme •to Captain
E. It. Moore, of the Royal Marine Artillery, for
In lour commercial transactions with six other saving Walter Grey, who sank in 12ft. of water
countries next on the list, our imports and exports I while bathing in the sea at Portsmouth; to Michael
together exceeded 10 millions sterling in each instance, Riley, for saving William Ashford, who fell over-
but did not reach 22 (nor even 16) millions. These six boaid in 18ft, of water at Ilfracombe ; to Lieu-
countries are Spain and Canary Islands, Braid, tenant A. S. Hamilton R.N., Denis M'Carthy,
Turkey, Italy, Sweden, and the British West Indies; and J. C. Williams, of Her Majesty's ship London,
our imports from the six in 1873 exceeded in value 43 ' for trying to save J. C. O'Callaghan, who fell
millions sterling, and our exports thither exceeded 33 overboard at sea, off Falmouth ;to Florence E.
millions; making together £76,399,505. monger, aged 14, for saving Mary Kite, who sank in
With nine other countries our transactions are in 6ft. of water while bathing at Guernsey; to Allan 0.
each case between five and ten millions. These Ward, for savMg a child who fell into the river Thames
countries are British south Africa, Portugal (with at Blackfriars-bridge ;to George Kimpton, a boy of
Azores and Madeira), Chili, Spanish West Indies, 1 15, for saying James Caird, who sank while bathing
Peru, Argentine Republic, Denmark, Straits Settle- in the Surrey Canal, at Peckham; to Henry Ball and
ments, and Ceylon ; our imports thence in 1873 reached William Cooper, for trying, but without success, to
nearly 38 milhone, and our exports thither nearly 26 save Henri Roach, who sink in 10ft, of water while
millions ; making together £63,613,403. bathing at Leamington; to Francis Treacey, sub-con-
The 26 countries we have named are our chief com- stable of the Royal Irish Constabulary, for saving a
mercial connexions. Our imports from them in 1873 woman and child who fell into the Milford Canal ; and
were of the value of 1:349,584,709, and our exports to W. J. Chignell, for saving a boy named Paine, who
thither (of our own products) £232,225,770; making a fell from the pier at Southend into 10ft, of water.
total value of £581,810,479. Our Custom-house re I Pecuniary rewards of various amounts were also
turns state our trade with 44 other places, none of given to John Cronin and R. Hemmings, for saving
them showing imports and exports between us and F. W. Parker, who sank while bathing in the river
them amounting to so large a sum as five millions Thames at Southwark ;to Thomas Hawkins, for saving
sterling, and some of them having a very small trade William Williamson, who sank while bathing in Rift.
with us. The result of the whole shows that the MI- of water at Kingston, Surrey; to Samuel Strewn, for
ports of foreign and colonial merchandize into the saving Alfred Flood, who sank in 12ft. of water while
United Kingdom in 1873 were of the value of bathing at Gillingham, Kent; to Edwin H. B. Draper,
£371,287,372,_ and the exports of the produce of the for saving F. C. Adams, who was in danger of drown-
United Kingdom £255,164.603; making a total trade ing while bathing in the river Medway; to Edwin
of the value of £626,451,975. The imports show an Brown, for saving C. H. Bomor, who fell into the
increase of £16,593,748 over the preceding year, the Regent's Canal, at Hackney ,• to James Upfold, for
exports a decrease of £1,092,744; the total increase saving Allen Taverner, who fell into Oft. of water
being £15,501,004. at Guildford; to William Nash, for saving Emma
This statement does not include exports from this Dolittle, who attempted suicide by jumping into the
country of foreign and colonial merchandise, nor the Thames at Waterloo-bridge ;to Henry Simpson, for
imports and exports of the precious metals, which easing S. Richardson, who fell into the river Thames
adjust the balance of trade, nor mere transshipments. at Westminster; to Richard Silvester, for saving Alfred
It shows our import of merchandise and our export of Slaughter, who attempted suicide by jumping into the
our own products, and the countries from which the one river Thames at Millbank ;to Christopher Brmkwell,
and to which the other were shipped. In some instances for saving Sarah Harding, who also attempted suicide
a large part of these shipments to a foreign country are by iumping into the river Thames at Horselydown ;
not really for its own use, the merchandise being to tames J. Levett,3, for saving H. C. Tomlinson, who
landed on the way to its ultimate destination,
fell into the Thames' in 14ft. of water at Pimlico-pier ;
and to William Leonard, for saving James Wilson,
who also fell into the Thames in 10ft. of water at

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