The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-04 00:00:00

Ebt (Stourbribge efiserser

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1888.

LOVE OF WORK.

THE fitlfle3 o-..! citizenship sometimes press
, hard upon the individual ; ba!-, when one is
put to inconvenience by the operation of
regulations planned for tan good of the com-
munity, it is well to bear the disagreeable
pressure with the best possible grace. At-
tendance, especially protracted attend:ince.'
on a jury is always inconvenient to a busy
man; but it should never be annoying to
' those who Will reflect what jestice is se-
eared to them by Ole system. You ara
liable to be arrested in a mistake for some
. criminal—to whorn pm may bear an unae-
countable aui unfortnnate niceness, even be
a most acute and intelligent p ;lice ollicial.
and despite your protestations; haled off to
the lock-up and there kept until yea have
been able to esta'elish your innocence. Such
an experience would to many a natrire be
most exasperating, but_impoient fury_ could
not in the least lesien the disagreea,ble
character of the ocetv•rence. Similarly, pro-
perty having been stolen, and is descrip-
tion eircal 0.-,11 by the pliee, you may be
detained and given into custody while en-
deavouring to dispose quite legally of goods
ef your own of like appearance, and you
would have no redress fee thus being by un-
propitious I,,ccident temporarily deprived of
Oar liberty. So Justices Matthew and
..!;mith pronounced on Tuesday in the ease of
a pawnbroker, who, under the Act of 1872,
gave a man in charge who offered in pledge.
valaaele rin4, which seemed to answer the
lescription of one which ho kaew to have
been stolen, A conniT-eeart judge held the
nnlacky welt-I
-be "raiser of the wind" ag-
grieved, aud- gave him (lama-Jen waiust
rhe assis'unt, at the sign of the th-irae gelden
culls. The latter apnea:el, and tee ju lges
of the High Court, having sifted the evi-
dence, held that the pawnbroker hail. reason-
able or preblble causa. for doieg what he did,
the int-_Tasi.-4 of juStiO, and relieved hi.n
.frem the nee-essity• 6f -paying a,ny penalty..
If the real. vici;i_e. of the incident had ac-
cepted without wrath the inconvenience
which sometimes- accompanies the citizens'.
tot, instead of instituting a snit for false
imprisonment against one who eiraply did
what be thought Was a disagreeable duty,
he would not now be mourning monetary
loss EV4 well as lamenting having been a
sufferer by an unavoidable roughness in the
working of an undeniably useful and bene-
ficial system designed for the safety of
society.

THEIIII are grave fears in high circles in
Britain as to the likelihood of the early oc-
currence of a European war, and even Lord
Lord .Salisbury is said to be linable to view
with optimism the jealous attitude of some
of the great Continental Powers. It was
pecaliarly pleasing therefore to read on
Wednesday morninn, a statement, asserted to
be authoritative, that Prince Bismark has
expressed himself of °pith= that the out-
look presages no dire disaster, but will
oradaally brighten out into a peaceful issue.
No man is in a bett3r position to gauge in-
terna+ional prosects on the Continent than
the Iron Chancellor, and if he is as anxious
to pi omote amity as he is said to be sanguine
of experiencing peace, wars and rumo-ars of
wars will shortly cease to shake Europe.

TIM mystery of Mr. M'Neill's death re-
mains a mystery still, neither the French
authorities nor the friends of the ill-fated
journalist being able to discover any tangible
bvidence as to how he came to his sad end at,
Boulogne, The inslancholy misads .ntare
would never have happened had not an ablc
penman been called from his aecustomea
desk to take an uncongenial task in connec-
tion with thebrltal Smith-Kitrain pugilistic
display—that is all that is certain. And it
is to be feared that 21r. M'Neill'a many
admirers will always remain uncertain as to
how he received the injuries that cost him
his life.

THE Birmingham folk: are peculiarly an.
fortunate with regard to their public library
Not so long ago they lost many priceless
lit 4 ra!v treasures in a destructive fire which
devastated the building ; and how they have
been the victims of an audacious robbery. A '
lad ernployed in the institution has been clis-
covered to be dishonest, and to have ptir-
leincd some three hundred valuable volumes
being clunlicatc,A :Jopies of rare works, in
many instauces, in use. They have been ecld
under false pretences to sonic of the lann-!cr-
one dealers in secoLil-hand volumes 1, '
found in the Midland . .;_stropol is. They ..!I
produce.' a letter i .vlCcli the books ere
stated to be on sale 1,./ I), widow, they i)eit
part of her 11 L,sbaL s sitoch-in-tracie, it is
true ; but in the Me of a mere lad dealing
with exceptional. Ana zur, lyor';18 in ucti

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