The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-06-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

In the HousE OF LORDS, May 30, Lord Norton roe" to
biove resolutions on the subject of reformatory and indus-
trial schools. They were now State institutions, and only 3
Per cent, of the cost of maintaining them was recovered
from the parents of the children. He admitted that :the
sending of children to those schools had been a success in
the breaking up of nurseries of crime; but he looked upon
the blot of the system to be that the education was by way of
Penal sentence, and that those who were educated in the
schools came out on the world branded as having becn con-
victed and imprisoned for crime. This made it difficult for the
Children committed to them to get employment in after life.
The worse class of children were sent to reformatories ; but
though there was a nominal there was no real difference
between the reformatory schools and the industrial schools.
Ife would have neither of them penal; but he would make ft
difference in them by having older children sent to the re-
formatory and younger to the industrial schools. He
was against having punishment and education combined.
lle would have the former, when necessary, brought to
conclusion before the latter commenced in those
State boarding schools Ile would take those schools
from the Home Office and place them under the Education
Department, and he would have sent to them only children
who had no parents or guardians, and even in the case of
*such children he would have no definite time for their re-
inaining in the schools, but have them discharged when the
inaster certified that they were fit to 'r,o out into the world
and earn their bread. The noble lord concluded by moving
that it was desirable to ,consolidate the laws relating to
reformatory and industrial education; that punishment for
'crime should be a treatment separate from general educa-
tion; and that all publicly aided schools should be under
the Education Department.
_Lord Houghton and Lord Aberdare spoke against Lord
Ncriton's resolutions, and
Lord Carnarvon expressed a general concurrence in Lord
Norton's views as to separating punishment and education,
the former of which, in the case of juvenile offenders, he
would have short and sharp ; but he had some deubts as to
the advisability of transferring the schools from the Home
<nice te the Education Department, and would reserve his
opinion on that portion of the plan of his noble friend.
Lord Dalhousie, speaking for the Government, said that,
While they recognized the fact that the reformatories had
proreci successful in diminishing juvenile crime, they could
not shut their eyes to the fact that there were still many
juvenile criminals. He admitted that the reformatories
and industrial schools had become, to a certain extent,
assimilated, and that in some cases children were sent to
them too young and kept in them for too long a period.
This ought not to be, and/the Government expected to be
able to adopt measures which would prevent it. Bud
there was an essential difference between reformatories
and industrial schools, which was that the former were
reserved for distinctly criminal children, while the latter
were for children who had no proper home—who were waifs
and strays, and who, if left alone, would fall into crime. The
Government did not intend to depart from a principle which
had worked so well, but they did intend to propose an
amendment of the law concerning juvenile offenders and an
improvement on existing lines of the• reformatories and
industrial schools.
After some remarks from Lord Shaftesbury aud Lord Sill.
month, the motion was withdrawn.
Lord Dalhousie moved for a Select Committee to inquire
into the atate of the law relating to the protection of young
Idris from artifices to induce thecrt to lead a corrupt life.
The Motion received the warm approval of Lord Shaftes-
-I"FY and the Bishop of Peterborough, and was agreed to
alter Lord Granville had stated that the Committee would
ettend their inquiries to what was being done lif this
CoUntry.
At eight o'clock the sitting was suspended until eleven
O'clock, when the House resumed and read the Customs and
inland Revenue Bill a third time.

In the HOUSE OF COMMONS, the preliminary business lasted
for several hours and it was half-past eight o'clock when the
and Bill was reached.
The Great North of Scotland Railway Bill was again chal-
lenged, on the report, and discussed for some time, but a
motion to postpone it until the Select Committee on Railway
Aatea had reported was negatived by 175 to 127.
2.'he "questions" were close upon sixty in number, though
the I,najority were of a limited interest.
Mr. Lea asked the President of the Local Government
Board it tc, was intended to issue a prellininary report of the
Census, like that of June 20th, 1871; and, if so, when such
report would be issued.
lir. Dodson said it was intended to issue such a report.
The rho pulation of Great Britain had probably increased by
miree millions since 1871 He had every reason to believe
that the Preliminary Report would be ready by the first week
in joy.
Mr. Schreiber asked the Postmaster-General whether he
had :received petitions from the letter-carriers of the eight
raetrupolitan districts, forwarded on the 26th of last month
througli the customary official channels, and concluding
With the request that he would receive a deputation of the
Petitioners' delegates, in the event of his requiring any
farther explanation on the subject of the said petitions;
and, if so, when the petitioners might hope for an answer
either to the prayer of their petitions or to their application
Or an interview.

Mr. Fawcett, in reply, said: Before such memorials as
those referred to in the question of the hon. member are sub-
mitted to me, it is considered expedient that they should be
:eported upon by the officials under whom the memorialists
immediately serve, and who are in a position to give
laklable information on many of the points referred to. In
,ennsuence of the memorials in question having thus to
un exanlined, seven of them reached me as late as Saturday
Week, and one was received on Tuesday last. It is scarcely
necessary for me to say that in these circumstances I am
not now in a position to arrive at any decision on the
Subject.
-"tr. 11. Brand. on behalf of Mr. Otway, asked the Under-
Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs whether a British
trading schooner with her colours flying was recently
boarded from a French man•of-war in Tunisian waters,
taken possession of, and overhauled, on the pica of search-
ing for arms; whether arms formed any part of the cargo of
the schooner; and, had such been the the case, by what
right the French authorities (their Government not being at
war with the Government of Tunis or a belligerent Power)
iinPeded a British ship when pursuing her lawful commerce;
and whether, in consequence of this transaction, Her Ila-
lesty's Government contemplated taking any steps to secure
for British seamen and their trade in Tunisian waters the
Prntection to which they were entitled.

Sir C. Dilice replied :On the 23rd of May, Her Majesty's
agent at Tunis reported by telegram that the French ship
of War Leopard had overhauled the British schooner Nova
Stella, on the 19th inst., and after searching her for gun-
Powder, had escorted her to Sfax, to be more closely in-
aPeeted by the local authorities in the presence of a drago-
-124a of the British Consalale. Lord Lyons was instructed
to inquire into the matter, and was informed by the French
Minister for Foreign Affairs that it was in consequence of
a regretable misunderstanding of his instructions that the
commander of the Leopard had visited one or two foreign
vessels. He had boen instructed to watch suspected vcasels,
aad to support the Tunisian authorities in repressing
llniuggling, but he was i:y no means authorized to visit
foreign vessels on the high seas, and fresh instructions had
been sent to him to prevent any misunderstanding in future,
Captain
on the subject have taLren place between
"aptain Tryon and the commander of the Leopard. A report
these has not yet been received from the former, but M.
St. "'Haire informed Lord Lyons that the two officers had
.oisie to a perfect understanding as to their respective ob-
uBations. In view of the explanation given by the French
Government of the affair, Her Majesty's Government do not,
aa at present informed, contemplate taking any further stepa
flu the matter.
hr. Grant-Duff, being questioned by Mr. Gorst and others
tia to the state of affairs in the Transvaal, said that the
British garrison still remained in the country, and justice
,_arati still administered in the Queen's name, and the Royal
`ak altnission had power to_deal with all questions relating to
_‘ue protection of the natives. The Colonial Office had no
tnformation of the slaughter of 70 natives in an attack by the
Boers and he did not believe it.
The Marquis of Hartington, in reply to Sir H. D. Wolff,
gb,1114 the exact sum which Sir D. Stewart would have received
-"1. a Pension of £l,OOO if commuted at the present time
'would be £9,548 if calculated at 6 per cent., and £10,25a if
calculated at a per cent The grants made by the Indian
IT:ivernment to sir D. Stewart and Sir F. Roberts were not
aged on the precise actuarial value of a pension of Zl,OOO a
Year, but when it was found that difficulties existed in the
„Way of carrying out the original intentions of the Indian
It was considered desirable to substitute for that
Prol)osal a grant of a lump sum.
Sir IL D. Wolff gave notice to ask for a teturn of special
!Unitary grants made by the Indian Government to officers
in the last forty years.
MI. A. Grant asked the Postmaster-General whether, in
'flaking his arrangements for the introduction of the parcel
pOst, be would consider if it was practicable to connect with
List the /system, as followed in Germany, whereby the Post
.."thce undertake,' to collect, on account of the sender, the
amount stated in an invoice accompanying the parcel, before
t"ing delivery of the goods,
Ur. Fawcett said that, after giving the subject careful
SOnsideration he regretted to find that there were serious
difficulties
i in the way of such a scheme as was suggested in
""e question of the hon. member.
miThe Marquis of Hartington, in answer to a question from
• Stanhope, said there was no truth in the statement that
the_Horne Government had ordered an immediate evacuation
;:;"_rishin, On the contrary, the discretion of the Indian
Yovernment in regare to the time of withdrawal had been
"calfirmed and enlarged.
A considerable time was taken up by a debate which arose
:o,a question of privilege raised by Mr. Mitchell Henry, who
.„.`aktled attention to a letter published in the newspapers, in
Mr. Patrick Egan, treasurer of the Land League bad
fleeted in gross and vulgar terms upon the conduct and
raotives of some of the Irish members, in reference to the
votes which they had given on a measure now going through
the House (the Irish Land Bill).
...The letter having been read by the clerk at the table, Mr.
41, • Henry moved as fellowS:—" That the letter signed
- Patrick Egan' and published in the Freeman's Journal of
the 28th of May is a breach of the privileges of this House."
Mr. McCoan seconded the motion, and after a long and
V,lated discussion, in which Mr. Parnell, Mr. Callan, Mr.
„,`" Connor Power, The 0 Donoghue, Mr. Gladstone, Mr.
M. A. Sullivan, Sir S. Northcote, Sir W. Harcourt,
Lord E. llitsmaurice, Lord R. Churchill, Mr. Labonchere,
.411, d other hon. members took part, it was resolved that the
letter in question was a breach of privilege. - •
The Customs and Inland Revenue Bill having been read a
thir‘i time the House (at 8.30) went into Committee on the
Irish Land Bill, and some progress was made with the first
clause, s.nd shortly after midnight progress was reported.
The ilause went into Committee of Supply, and a vote on
account of £4,514,000 was agreed to.
Some other business was disposed of, and the House
adjourned at a quarter-past two o'clock

In the HUSE OF LORDS, May 31, the Customs and Inland
etevenue Bill was read a second time, and, the standing
orders having been dispensed with, the Bill was passed
through its remaining stages.
Lord Aberdare, in moving the second reading of the
veterinary Surgeons Bill, explained that its object was to
Prevent the assumption of the title of veterinary surgeon by
unqualified persons. It provided for the infliction of a
Penalty on persons practising as duly qualified veterinary
anrg eons without first having become members of the
~ v eterinary College. It was not intended to interfere with
Persons who acted as farriers or treated cattle without pro-
tecting to be veterinary surgeons.
tart Spencer approved the principle of the Bill, but
thought the measure would require- some amendment in
Committee to prevent it apply ing to farriers and cow-
doctors.
The Duke of Marlborough and the Marquis of Salisbury
auggested that the Bill would require amendment.
rhe Bill was then read a second time.
Lord Dalhousie, in reply to Lord Minto, said the Lord
.Advocate would introduce immediately a Bill dealing with
local government in Scotland.
Lord Spencer, replying to the Duke of Somerset, said the
overnment had done their hest to advance in the other
of Parliament the Bill for the Prevention of Floods
a, lid the Conservancy of Rive's, and if the measure did not
necorne law this Session that result would not be owing to
343 Y want of interest on the part of Ministers.
4, A conversation arose on thesubject of army reorganise-
"oll • but Lord Northbrook pointed out that there had been
area° time for discussing the scheme.
.._l3ll the motion of the Lord Chancellor, the order for the
re„eommittal of the Stolen Goods Bill was discharged, and
the Bill was referred to a Select Committee.
Several other Bills having been advanced, their Lordships
adiourned shortly after seven o'clock.
, In the HOUSE OF COMMONS, in reply to Mr. Ashmead Bart-
lett. the Marquis of llartington said it was the fact that
ilkirinishes of an unimportant character had taken place be-
tween the troops of the Ameer and Ayub Khan, but that
nothing had as yet occuried which appeared in differ in cha-
Teeter or degree from the diSturbancea which had from time
to time taken place in that part of the country during the
occupation of Candahar by the British troops.
The Speaker, in answer to a question from Mr. Parnell,
!aid he had 'received a letter from Mr. Dillon and had re-
:Ft:led an answer, but it must depend on the House whether
they were published or not.
Parnell asked what steps lie might to take to procure
- their Publication, and the Speaker having declared that he
saw no objection personally, Mr. Gladstone raid the GOVern"
L af.Lia It

was 41.* usl. Pot ox
.1?,81 . „i, , .

rent would consent to their production as an unopposed
return.

Mr. Cowen asked whether in Mr. Bradlaugh's case the
letter was not treated as a matter of privilege • but the
Speaker said there was nothing in Mr. Dillon's letter to give
it that character.

The usual adjournment over the Derby Day was moved by
Mr. R. Power in an amusing speech. At the outset he ex-
pressed his regret that his incorrigible opponent Sir
Wilfrid Lawson was deaf, not only to logic and argu-
ment, but to a long succession of defeats, and that
he could not bring himself to le:, members and the
officials take a holiday—which had never been better
deserved than this year—without a preliminary squabble.
The House of Commons (said the hon. member) cer-
tainly deserved a holiday considering the arduous work which
they had gone through in the present Session. (Hear, hear.)
They had been summoned at an unusually early period, and
judging from present appearances they were likely to sit for
an unusual length of time. They had in the prosecution of
their labours turned day into night and night into day, and
their zeal in the fulfilment of their duties had been such
that he believed Her Majesty had no harder-worked subjects
than her faithful Commons He contended that all parties
in the House would be benefitted by a holiday on Wednes-
day, and they would return to their work in a better
spirit and temper than had sometimes been exhibited.
(Hear, hear.) Anyhow, he could speak for his own party on
that occasion. If any further argument were needed
to convince his colleagues, he would remind them of
the very remarkable and agreeable fact that when
Plenipotentiary won the Derby in 1834, Mr. Batson made
his tenants a present of one whole year's rent. (Laughter.)
He failed to see how any illustrious colleague of his could
possibly vote in antagonism to a race which had had so bene-
iicial an effect. Then there were her Majesty's Ministers, who
deserved a holiday as much as any schoolboys in the country.
Their troubles were not confined to that House, but ex-
tended all over the world, from Constantinople to
Afghanistan, from Afghanistan to the Transvaal, from the
Transvaal to Ireland, and from Ireland back to North-
ampton. (Laughter.) He did not say that all the members
of the Government were entitled to a holiday on Wednes-
day, for there were drones as well as bees in the Govern-
ment hive. But at any rate there was one right hon.
gentleman who had earned the right to a holiday—he
referred to the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant. The
right hon. gentleman had much better go to the Derby to-
morrow. Men of all Creeds and classes would be there, for
on Epsom Downs all little differences of opinion were buried.
On the race-course at York there was a celebrated spot
known as the Archbishop's corner, where the grandfather
of the present Home Secretary, in defiance of all canon law,
hid himself in some bushes in order to see the winner of a
big race. (Laughter.) He hoped the right hon. gentleman
inherited not only the fortune but also the sporting pro-
clivitiee ot his grandfather—(laughter)--and that he would
flnd himself at the Derby to-morrow. The hon. member then
proceeded to point out that not only was the holiday a time-
honoured institution, but it was sanctioned by the example of
the Romans, the ancient Britons, and the Saxons; and he
coneluded by saying- -They heard a great deal about conscien-
tious objections to an adjournment over the Derby Day. Well,
he did not say that a conscientious man might not be a good
man—(laughter)—but conscientious men were generally very
troublesome as legislators mid inconvenient as friends.
The race was entitled to respect on the score of antiquity.
It was Over a hundred years old, and it had been sanctioned
by the :House of Commons for 34 years. No sane man
could have any hesitation as to the vote he should give.
On the one side, they had fresh air, healthful excitement,
and the indescribable pleasure of seeing the noblest horses
in the World coming round Tattenham Corner and making
for the winning-post amid the shouts of thousands. On
the other side, they had bad air, dull repetition, and tire-
gone talking, and did no good either to themselves or to
the country. (Cheers.) He had to apologise for making a
speech, and he would say to the House what he once
heard an eloquent preacher say after an eloquent sermon,
"Remember my brethren, this is not a sermon I have
been preaching to you ; it is only the truth I have been
telling you." (Laughter.) The hon. member Concluded
by moving that the House at its rising adjourn till
Thursday.
Sir W. Lawson rose, as usual, to oppose the motion, but
was stopped by Mr. Warton, who was understood to appeal
to the Chair whether Sir W. Lawson, being popularly re-
ported to have betted on the result of the division, was com-
petent to speak on the question, but the Speaker said the
hon, member was trifling with the House,
Sir W. Lawson, being allowed to proceed, took his stand,
he said, on common sense and national morality, and con-
tended that nothing like an argument had been produced
for it. He denied the antiquity of the practice—it was a
mere excrescence, not tinie-honoured custom—for it was
only 34 years since Lord George Ecistipck induced the House
to take an holiday, and the Radicals—for there were Radicals
In those days, even Mr. Bright was one —ran him very close.
It was a favourite argument for the adjournment that no
business was put down for the Derby day. But why was that
so? Because everybody said, "It's no use putting down any-
thing on the paper; the House is sure to adjourn." Then
when an empty paper appeared it was said, "The House
may as well adjourn, because there's nothing an the paper."
(Laughter.) Now, he (Sir Wilfred Lawson) objected to the ad-
journment over the Derby-day, because he said there was not
a national feeling on the question, and the House ought
not to take such au exceptional step save in a genuine
national matter. Many people whose opinions were worth
considering objected to the system of wagingeand thought the
House ought not to sanction it. The lion, member fpr Mid
Lineolnshire (Mr. Chaplin) last year cited to the House a
long list og dukes, marquises, and earls to show that racing
was•supported by very good men; of course it was, but
a thin.. was not made Food atipply because it was sup-
ported" by good men. 4very eyil that bad maintained
itself in this country had maintained itself because good
men had supported it. An evil system would fall at once
If it lost such support. Mr. Wyndham, the very soul pf
chivalry and honour, had supported bull baiting ; Sohn
Newton, the -,.ead of the Evangelical party, was
a slave-driver. And s all the dukes in the House
of Lords, and all the bishops- on the Episcopal
bench gapported the Derby, that would not make
it right. They must judge the thing on its meiita.
There was no national feeling in the matter, and even if
there were only a "reason Ole suspicion" that the sport was
demoralizing, the House ought pot to ceuntenance it. But
that it was absolutely demoralizing in its tendenpy he con-
tended, first on the faith of a passage from ".Bndyinion;,' &Tia
net from the fact that Sir Chaplin, though an active mem-
ber of his Diocesan Conference, had been reproved by his
Bishop for patronifiree a steeplechase on Maundy Thursday
Mr. Chaplin said Sir W. Harconzt rese together, but, the
former giving way, the Home Secretary appealed to the
House not to make two holidays out of -the affair, but to go
to a division at °lice. Accordingly, a division was taken
without further debate; and the motion for adjournmeut was
carried by 246 to 119.
•- • - • •

The House then went into Committee tor the third time on
the frish Land Bill, which occupied the attention of the
House until the hour for adjournment.
At the Evening Sitting, -Kr. Birkbeck brought before the
Houee the varying and unsatisfactory reports of recent De-
partmental Committees of the Board of •fratle in reference
to trawlers' lights, and submitted a resolution in favour ot
reverting to the old system, which relieved them from the
Obligation to which they principally objected—of carrying
the red light.
• --
__ _

. -
the nmtion gave rise to some discussion, but eventually
Mr. Birkbeci; witlulrew the motion. _ _

Major Nolan moved a resolution calling on the Govern
ment to take steps for faciiitatiug furtltsr experiments as
to the best means of lessening the spread oi the potato
disease' and of promoting the creation of new varieties of
the potato.
lord R. Churchill seconded the motion in a discursive
speech, in the cou.rse of which he was several times called
to order for irreleyancy, and twice interrupted by attempts
to count out the Jlouse.

The Solicitor-Oeneral for Ireland replied that the Agricu,l-
tural Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Agricul-
ture, when it was constituted, would see to the matter, but
at present, as the potatoes were in the ground, there was no
huri y.

Mr. Givan, Mr. A. Moore, Mr. M. Henry, and Mr. Callan
2poite, I'4o ultimately the House was counted out at a
quarter to one o'clock,