The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-04-10 00:00:00

MR. STANSFELD : 1874 AND 1886.

The resignation of Mr. Chamberlain has been so
long and so generally discounted that Mr. Stansfeld
has stepped into his vacant place with hardly a ripple
of public excitement. And yet the occasion and cir-
cumstances of Mr. Stansfeld's readmission into the

charmed circle of the Cabinet, and resumption of
departmental work, are, in many respects, very re-
markable. Of the Parliamentary colleagues who gave
up the seals of office pith him in 1874, he will find

only one, and he the Prime Minister himself, still
sitting on the Treasury bench with him in the House
of Commons. At his own office, the Local Govern-

ment Board, Mr. Stansfeld will discover a change
even more striking. Of the two secretaries, and the
two assistant secretaries whom he left there, three are

dead, and the fourth, Sir J. Lambert, is in retire-
ment. Mr. John Simon, who wielded fierce but un-

successful battle against Mr. Stansfeld's attempts at
extinction of the Medical Department, is in retire- MR. COMMISSIONER KERR ON THE
rnent too. In the place of all these have arisen new PAYMENTS OF DEBTS.
officials, who twehe years ago were known to Mr.
In Stansfeld only as the heads of sub-departments, or n the City of London Court the case of Greenaway
are importations since his time. Be will find his v. Vining came before Mr. Commissioner Kerr.
cherished Public Health Act of -1872 summarily The plaintiff's solicitor stated that the defendant, who
thrust, three years after its passing, into the was in a good position as a clerk in Philpot-lane, had
limbo of obscurity, and superseded by an Act paid the whole amount of the debt and costs with the
possessing all its demerits with many more. exception of 10s., which had been charged for two
He will be able to survey the abundant crop of tares witnesses. The defendant said that he had obeyed
which his misjudged association of sanitary with poor- the order of the Court as he understood it. He did
law procedure has produced, and he will see how the not see the two witnesses present. But there was one
efforts of later reformers to unify and systemise local matter which he wished, to complain to the Court.
self-government have been choked thereby. Many The plaintiff, without giving him any notice whatever,
of the problems of sanitary legislation that he left in and without even serving him with a judgment
lie waiting for solution the pigeon-holes unsolve summons, had subpcenaed his employer. The learned
ci
still. Personal fitness for particular work seldom or Commissioner: Why not? Defendant: It might have
never weighs with the makers of Cabinets, who have lost me my situation. The learned Commissioner:
to adjust round men into square holes according to Why not?. If you think I have any sympathy with
the exigencies of the hour. For the mere work-a-day the modern notions that a man can do anything before
business of the Local Government Bcard, Mr. Stens- he pays his debts, you are very much mistaken. Why
feld will no doubt do as well as anybody else, but we should not your employer know that you are in debt?
venture very much to question whether he, now a Defendant: But I don't owe the money. The learned
comparatively old man, is quite the Minister for Commissioner: The best evidence that you do is that
initiating and carrying through the extensive scheme you have paid it. Even considering the order that
of local government reform which successive Presi- you should pay these two witnesses is ever so unjust,
dents have promised us, but which is believed to be you should, as a dutiful citizen, obey. it. What is
now a question of the immediate future, so soon as the the object from a point of morality why this plaintiff
Irish problem is settled. Perhaps, however, by the should not know your employer? Defendant: He
time that that halcyon period arrives there will have might have tried me first. The learned Commissioner:
been another shuffling of the Ministerial cards, and He said you did not pay. Defendant: But if I had
someone more active and less lachrymose will be in- been in a subordinate position I should have been dis-
stalled in the chair which Mr. Stansfeld now resumes charged at once. The learned Commissioner: Well,
after an official exile of 12 years.—British Medical I should have had no sympathy with you if you had
Journal, been. It is all very well pitying people who don't pay
their debts, but the sooner they are got rid of the better.
I have a very strong view on this matter. Defendant:
How much have I to pay? The learned Commis-
sioner: You will have an order delivered to you.
In another case a solicitor appeared for a plaintiff
against a defendant whose debts amounted to more
than £5O. The learn.d Commissioner: Well, I shall
have to send this case to the High Court. Plaintiff s
Solicitor: You see, your Honour, people don't like
paying £l2 or £l5 fees to begin with, and then, per-
haps get nothing in the end. The learned Commis-
sioner : I grant you that. It is monstrous. You
should get up an agitation about it, and get someone
into Parliament who will bring the matter forward and
secure some legislation upon it. We want some law-
yers who know something about things in the House
of Commons. Those who are there now don't under-
stand much about law as a rule. The case was then
remitted to the High Court for an order in bankruptcy
to be made.