The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-01 00:00:00

onnt STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

Museum P What a popul sr and magnificent
means it would be of making the Colonies
fully." understanded "of the people. The
Colonial Office is equal to the task of taking
charge of the exhibits and keeping them in
order, and the State would not grudge the
cost of the outlay necessary for acquisition
and maintenance. Then the promi3ed Gov-
ernment Emigration Bureau would have a
home indeed.

COMMENTS ON CURRENT TOPICS
THE Savings Bank suspension at Cardiff
is another of those occurrences which shake
the confidence of the people in private
financial concerns, and make small investors
more and more inclined to take the security
and lesser ratio of profit which Government
offers for their money. How many savings
banks of a kindred character to that at
Cardiff have brought ruin to those interested'
Why should there not be a systematic inspec-
tion by a Government actuary? The
depositors are in the main poor folk, whose
little all of lucre is represented by their
pass-book. They know nothing of account
keeping, and suspect no wrong on the part
of the officials of the bank. Hence fraud by
a practical, cunning cashier or manager may
be carried on for years and years, until it
reaches such dimensions as to undermine the
bank. When the crash comes, the criminal
receives a sentence, and the depositers are
left often enough penniless and in deep dis-
k ess. Compulsory auditing of all savings
banks by an official accountant would pre-
vent robbery and mismanagement, and save
the confiding public the loss of any provision
they may have made against old ageor other
time of necessity. Of course this would
virtually be asking Government to take an
important part in the management of private
savings banks. As such Government should
have the official's expenses returned to them
by commission money or otherwise, paid, inil
proportionate amount, by every inspected
bank. The depositors would not object to
pay for proper security; but such security
should certainly be provided for.
IF every concern which seeks to trade
with public money, either as a bank or as a
merchandising affair or company, wc,,re sub-
jected to overhauling by Government ex-
prts, and suppressed if the appeal to the
people for funds and investments were found
financially bad, there would soon be more
stability in monetary matters The public
have a right to look to Government for the
protection of their pockets against the depre-
dations of dishonest bank officials or company
floaters. An authorative over-hauling of
every concern which deals with small invest-
ments, whether it be a savings bank, loin,
provident, building, or insurance society,
would be a boon. Because the managem,mt
of this South Welsh bank were virtually re-
sponsible to no competent person whom they
could not control, more than 5000 unfortun-
ate depositors at Cardiff are mourning a loss
which, to some of them, cannot but be seri-
ous indeed. No less than nine penny banks
seem to have intrusted their cash to their
bigger bank, which has come to grief; and
besides these 113 charitable and 204 friendly
societies have been" hit hard." The &fah
cations fall thus chiefly upon the working
classes. Thirty thousand pounds of the to!al
deficit is represented by the local friendly
societies credit balance, now, we believe,
irrecoverably lost.
• •
GREER seems to be seeing the error of her
ways, and bowing, gracelessly, it may be,
but still submissively, to the will of united
Europe. It would be a case of national
suicide 'were 'she .to do otherwise. The
time for her to try conclusions with Turkey,
for that is the aim of Greece, has not yet
come; and when it comes Greece must he on
the side of reason and right, or she will ha ,-e
I scant sympathy. She will do well now to
I disarm.

MANDALAY in flames, fired by the hands of
incendiaries, and dacoiting still vigorousl
alive. That was the burden of a recent re-
port of affairs in Burmah. While our
soldiery are doing their best to reduce
anarchy and Oriental brigandage to a state
of order in the new conquered country a
fresh trouble is besetting them. Cholera is
always terrible when it occurs in the East,
and it has now appeared in Upper Burmah
in a malignant form. Some 14 gallant
fellows of the 43rd Regiment have suc-
cumbed to its effects already, according to a
message to hand at the Indian Office. Bar-
mah, like other acquisitions to British terri-
tory, is bringing a crop of troubles and re-
sponsibilities to its possessors.

Tits teachers in conference at Bradford
have this week taught us one thing well
worth noting. We have been too apt to
look upon our School Board system as ap-
proaching perfection, as a means of securing
at anyrate a sound rudimentary education to
every boy and girl in England and Wales.
But Mr. Traill, the teachers' president, tells
us that 25 per cent.:of the juveniles who
should be present are always absent from
school, So that we have been harbou ring a
delusion after all. Mr Traill blames the
School Attendance Committees for this
shortcoming, and argues that their ineffi-
ciency arises from the fact that many
Attendance Committeemen are large labour
employers, and in sympathy with the causes
of absenteeism. If that be so, there is some-
thing radically wrong. A child deprived of
its precious birth-right of educational endow-
ment by the neglect of a man who profits by
its loss, and yet poses as its protector, is a
spectacle which should not be seen under
our educational economy. At any, rate, if
a quarter of the young of school age are at
all times absent from the means of instruc-
tion something should be done to close up
the gaps, and that right speedily. _
*

TIIE Eastertide Volunteer Manceavres
seem to have passed off in a manner most
satisfactory. The weather was on its best
behaviour, as befitted the occasion, and the
men acquitted themselves so well as to win
the plaudits of the highest military dignities.
At Dover and Shorneliffe, at Aldershot and
Petersfield, at Colchester and Shrewsbury,
at Ribbesford Park and elsewhere .brave
sights were seen of amateur soldiers engag-
ing in an enthusiastic style in the similitude
of actual field-work. Not only did they
thereby materially improve their own mili-
tary statu.i, but they furnished an agreeable
holiday sp7,etaole to thousands of their
friends. At Dover es., •ially the sham battle
was a grand iroving picture, its locale being
as good as could be imagined for the con-
venience of those who wished to view the
operations. . Dashing over the hilly, broken
ground, the citizen troops kept steadily
together in advance and retreat, and well
earned the Commander-in-Chief's approving
words. The scattering of the Easter mance'.
vres over several distinct districts is a marked
improvement, from the military viewpoint,
upon the old system of having one monster
review at Brighton or elsewhere. More
honest soldiering can be done on this year's
plan, and there is less of aggregation of on-
lookers round a compressed multitude of
volunteers in gala equipment. The manom-
vr3,3 just successfully over will, we doubt
nut, be followed in years to come by other
and even more important and more widely-
diffused exhibitions of volunteer soldiers
einglatiur, thy operations of vfSr iithoghtg
f4i swim,