The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-08-21 00:00:00

CR-r Eanbon Corrapoubent.

(We deem it -ight to state that we do not at all =el
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

Grouse shooting has begun and cartridge
shooting will soon commence, and a very few
weeks further will bring us to the day when
pheasants can first be lawfully slaughtered. All
these are signs which tell with no uncertainty'
of significance that autumn is at hand. But
they are signs which affect the country far more
than the town. In London, for instance, the
proportion of the population which can join in
such sports must be almost infinitesimally small,
• and the most that we are affected by the openine I
of the various shooting seasons is the quotation's'
ef the prices of the birds at Loadenhall Market.:
But in the country it is vastly different, and ,
although it would be too much to say that all ,
classes participate in the sport—especially as it.
relates to grouse--it is certain that the love
of shooting is widespread, and not confined to
any section of English society. It was, of course,
a libel when the French observer recorded that
the first exclamation of an average Briton on a
fine day was, "Come, let us go and kill some-
thing;" but without arguing at all the old
question as to the rightfulness of killing
any living thing for pleasure, it cannot
be denied that a very large number of
our country friends occupy themselves in some
such fashion during the autumn and winter.
Country houses will soon be all alive with guests,
and when the hunting season begins they will
show, in all their glory. Just at the very time that
a farmer commences to congratulate himself over
the success which has attended his harvest, the
squire begins to calculate his chances of enjoy-
ment during the hunting season; and, first with
cubs and then with full-grown foxes, he hopes
for opportunities to distinguish himself and pro-
vide pleasure fo,r his friends.
Cynics have long said that the sight of another
in misfortune is calculated to dull the sense of
our own ill-luck, and upon that principle
men, who have long had reason to bewail the ,
depression in the iron trade, must read with
peculiar satisfaction an item of news that has
just been transmitted from Germany. It is stated
that exceptional interest attaches to the triennial
congress of the German mining interest, to be
held in about a fortnight at Diisseldorf, because
of the existing crisis in the iron trade
and the general depression in the mining
industry. The Gorman organ of the trade,
Stahl und Ei.en,in discussing the effect of English
industry upon rails, observes that if English
firms should succeed in competing with German
works on their own ground, the position of this
trade would be rendered worse than it is now;
and it goes on to describe the present competi-
tive struggle as one of life and death, and to
express the hope that German railways will not
accept English tenders to the prejudice of the
home industry. Both the complaint and the
appeal are valuable in that they are a proof that
"foreign competition" is felt not only here but
in countries against whom our manufacturers
consider they often have cause for complaint.
Germany, Belgium, France, and the United
States are the countries whose competition
affects us most, and yet in all of them there is
an amount of depression which must console us
with the reflection that we have brothers in
misfortune. The fact is that the industry of the
whole civilized world has for some time been
depressed, and from the consequent evils no one
nation has been able to escape. When a revival
comes, and even those who do not usually take
rose-coloured views of trade believe it will soon
be here, we shall all participate: and it will be
the fault of Englishmen themselves if they do
not secure a large slice.
In the midst of talking about depression of
trade, however, it is with a rub of the eyes that
one reads such a statement as the following:
"There is such a scarcity of male inmates at the
Driffield. Workhouse that men have to be
engaged to weigh the task-work stone for the
casuals who visit the house. The establishment
will accommodate over 300 persons, and at pre-
sent there are only about 50 inmates of all
classes." It is cheering to peruse any item
headed, "Depression in Pauperism," but too
much must not be built upon this solitary para-
graph. Before congratulating ourselves in too
exultant a strain, it would be necessary to inquire
into all the circumstances of the case. Driffield
' is an agricultural part of the kingdom, and this
paragraph appears at a time when farming
Operations, in which unskilled can bear their part
as well as skilled, are in full swing. This fact in
itself would go some way to account for the
pleasing state of things in the Driffield Work-
house; but the question of the discipline of
that institution is of more importance. Some
such places are not made particularly easy
to the able-bodied paupers, while others are
comparatively comfortable abodes; and it is
but natural that those who can migrate from
the former to the latter display no hesitation in
doing so. It is the same with prisons. In the
times before the Prison Act, when each gaol bad
its own system, certain of these establishments
were noted for their comfort as "winter quarters,"
and tramps and petty thieves used to qualify
themselves by some slight offence to lie up in
thorn during the bad weather. But with one
gaol in the midlands it was different. " Here,"
as the govenor grimly observed, "I feed my men
at a less cost per head per annum than in any
other gaol, and a man never comes in the second
tithe to work."
A need of sympathy cannot be denied to the
Australian cricket team for the ill-luck which has
this season so frequently been their share. Ex-
perts had agreed from the very day of their
opening match that they were not as strong a
team as any of their predecessors ; but such aflutter
collapse as has on more than one occasion been
witnessed was certainly not expected. Part of
the secret is that, now that by successive visits
the Australians have been proved not to be as
irresistible as they originally appeared, English
cricketers have plucked up courage, first to face,
and then to master, some of the most
destructive bowling this generation has
seen. Perhaps also a biennial visit is too
frequent for the Australians, and it might be
well to postpone the next beyond 1888. But
while our Colonial brethren are visiting us,
arrangements have been made for a team of
English cricketers to visit them, and for another
to go to Canada and the United States. It
shows what a thoroughly national game cricket is
that not only is Lord Harris, the captain of the
Kent team, again a member of the Government,
but that it is because Colonel Walrond is simi-
larly circumstanced that he cannot go to America
as the captain of the English side. Matches are
already arranged to take place at New York,
Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, and
Montreal, and the doings of the team will be
watched with much interest on this side of the
Atlantic. But it has to be remembered that
base ball and not cricket is the national game of
the United States, and that seriously detracts
from the likelihood of getting thoroughly good
teams to oppose the English. Cricket has a
certain amount of popularity in the States, but
base ball overshadows it in the public estimation.
The difference between Americans and English
in this matter is indeed remarkable, for it would
be useless to attempt to acclimatise base ball
here.
The most famous English collector of manu-
scripts of the present day is preparing a cata-
logue of his store, which comprises specimens of
illuminated M.SS. from the ninth to the six-
teenth century, as well as miscellaneous M.SS.
and autographs of later date. In a statement
which is to be prefixed to the catalogue, this
gentleman adduces some curious instances of
how collectors especially rich collectors-- are
apt to be 'deceived as to the value of menu-
• scripts. "Not long ago," he says, "a manuscript
brought a high price in consequence of a note
in the catalogue, which stated that it had been
the property of St. Louis in A.D. 1248. As a
fact, there was no indication of any early owner-
ship; the first leaf of the book was a modern
fabrication, and the original scribe's work could
be referred to a period later than the King's
death. Another was sold as a Livre d' Heures,
which had belonged to Mary Queen of Scots,
and had been used by her on the scaffold.
It was a Flemish book of little value, written
in the fifteenth century, which the un-
fortunate Queen had never set eyes on,
but it fetched an extremely high sum
of money—about ten times its real worth.
Another was sold at a still more extra-
vagant rate, because it 73 declared to he the
Prayer-book of Margaret ot Anjou, a gratuitous
mis-statement, based upon
.the circumstance
. that some person had fancied a resemblance
between one of -the miniatures representing the
• Virein and an old picture of that ()nevi's." It
-no-"of ten that we see the reverse side of the
• 4T(049.1 in the matter of book-huntin,g, for the
authorities on that subject have previously told
us of. the lucky finds and profitable ventures, but
have not spoken of the dangers and the losses
often involved.
Milford Haven is a long way from London,
and had the naval manceuvres which have beer
going on there during the past few days taken
place at some spot nearer town, many would
have gone hence to see them. But such

man(euvres are not designed to attract spec-
tators; they are meant to instruct sailors; and
in naval circles much information is expected to
have been gleaned from them by both officers
and men. What is really wanted to be found
out is how far the introduction of torpe-
does and the electric light have affected
the conditions of naval warfare, and the
attack and defence have both been con-
ducted, mainly with a view to this end. For-
tunately for ourselves we have been engaged in no
conflict at sea since ironclads and torpedo boats
caused a revolution in such affairs ; and we must,
therefore, test as best we may the newest im-
provements in peaceful fashion. But a sham
fight on, however, large a scale, is necessarily
very unlike the real thing. There is bound to be
a great deal of make-believe, and this has been
strikingly exemplified in these naval manceuvres
by the fact that certain boats, carrying a few
men, were supposed for the purpose of the defence
to be fast steamers, carrying a full complement
of men and armed with machine guns, with which
they were to fire on the attacking force; and
they were further supposed to be able to cut
their assailants' electric cables, blow them up
with spar torpedoes, while themselves steaming
in ima.gination at the rate of fifteen miles an
hour. All these items, and they are only a
sample, must form a heavy draft upon the
assumed credulity of the umpires; and it is easy
to seo that, whatever may have been done by
these boats, the conditions would have been
vastly different in real warfare. But we cannot
get up a naval war in order to test the fighting
capacities of our ships, and we must, therefore,
be content with such imitation as we can get.
It is not uncommon for a person to be charged
at one of our police-courts with stealing a large
sum of money which some over-cautious in-
dividual, timorous of banks, had kept on his own
premises. Only a short time since no less an
aanount than 3000 was involved in such a
rebbery ; and there is now pending a case in
which a r.,nrl is charged with stealing from her
grandfather 1:140 out of a sum of £l4OO, which
he drew from the Bank of England a twelve.
1111)Util ai.fo, and had locked up in his own house.
Ii i difficult to understand how anyone could
take such a risk. "As safe as the bank" has
-passt-d into a proverb, the truth of which there
is none to dispute, and the notion of removing
such a large sum thence and placing it where a
girl of 11l could be thought capable of removing
it is strange indeed. But old ideas die hard,
and in the minds of many aged persons lingers
a distrust of banks which no long-continued !
proofs of safety will suffice to dissipate. The
old stocking is still an institution with many
people, and they persist in hiding money all over
the house to their own frequent terror, and often
to the annoyance and embarrassment of their
heirs, administrators, and assigns. Those who
save in such fashion are almost certain to be
talked of by their neighbours, and robberies from
them are frequent. Yet, as long as the prejudice
begotten of the commercial panics of long ago,
is not extinct, we shall find some folks ready to
take these risks. A. F. It.