The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-10-09 00:00:00

Our Tonbon 6orrtspOtnt.

tWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

It is not pleasant to hear just as winter is
beginning to appear that the police authorities
at Scotland-yard perceive the necessity fortaking
fresh precautions against outrages by dynamite.
Nearly two years have elapsed since the simul-
taneous explosions at Westminster Hall and the
Tower formed the culmination of a series which
had included two attempts to blow up tunnels
on the Metropolitan Railway, and one to destroy
an arch of London-bridge. Fortunately, the
daring outrage, which sought on the same
afternoon to mutilate two of the finest and most
noteworthy buildings the capital possesses, led to
the capture of two men—Cunningham and
Burton—who had been the principal agents in
the work of destruction; and their subsequent
sentence of life-longtenal servitude ended for the
time the malevolent mischief to which they had
devoted themselves. Last winter passed with-
out any similarly misguided beings attempting
to follow in so criminal a path; but information
in the hands of the police authorities leads them
to suspect that the coming winter will not be
allowed to end without an attempt in
the same direction. One of our greatest
ports is being watched with more than customary
care, and it will be difficult for any suspicious
characters to land without being closely looked
after. But the difficulty is, that England is ft
land of many ports, and that it is almost impos-
sible to watch them all with equal care. It will,
however, be a comfort for everyone to know that
the police are on the alert, and it may be hoped
that, in this ease as in so many others, preven-
tion will prove better than cure.
The worst of all such crimes as dynamite out-
rages is that the innocent suffer from them as
well as the guilty, and that not merely in the
destruction and injury of the moment, but for a
long time afterwards. The annoyance and incon-
venience caused by the explosions at Westminster
and the Tower have not yet disappeared. It is
only recently that the latter has again been
opened to the inspection of a public always
anxious to visit so noble a relic of the past and
so great an aid to the comprehension of certain
periods of our history; while Westminster Hall,
so longthe winter drill-ground of a portion of our
London volunteers, has been closed to those ex-
cellent citizens since the date of the outrage.
These are precautions which have affected the
public perhaps -even more than intended dyna-
miters ; but there are others which could only
have affected those intent on mischief, and
among these may be included the constant
watch kept on our principal buildings by the
police. An incident, showing how constant that
watch is, came under my own observation only a
few days since. A gentleman carrying a black
hand-bag was walking from Fleet-street into the
Strand, and, feeling tired, rested his burden for a
moment on a ledge of the Law Courts. He had
no sooner done so than he saw a. constable
making towards him with hurried step, and as
he was wishing to catch a train, he did not wait
to be questioned but speedily departed, bag and
all. Even such a small circumstance as this
shows the care which is being displayed by the
police, and it is thus encouraging to every well-
conducted citizen to know that, even though by
long cessation of outrage he has been lulled into
a sense of security, the constabulary authorities
are not similarly asleep, but are ever on the
watch to prevent the perpetration of a peculiarly
dastardly and destructive species of crime.
Ever since their enrolment on the present
basis in 1859, the volunteers have entertained
-grievances against the War Office, and, as soon as
one has been compromised or smoothed away
another has come to the front. The latest is
one which is causing much stir among our
volunteers just now, and the protest against the
new musketry regulations waxes louder and
louder. Admirers of the force have been ac-
customed to think that if there was one thing
for which it was peculiarly distinguished, it was
the excellence of its shooting; and, had they
been asked for the grounds of this belief, they
would have pointed not only to the Wimbledon
, meeting but to the many county and other
.14hooting-matches which are held every year.
-But the authorities at the War Office appear
scarcely to share this belief, for they are of
opinion that the standard of efficiency—which
has been altered already several times—is not
sufficiently high, and that the present conditions
of'class-firing are not sufficiently onerous. With
the object of heightening the one and hardening
-the other, new musketry regulations have been
promulgated, and a large number of volunteer
officers, including some of the best-known names
in the force, are almost literally "up in arms"
:against them. They contend that already there
is considerable difficulty in securing the efficiency
of all their men, owing to the distance they are
:in many towns from the targets, and that, if
;further hindrances are thrown in their way, the
• consequences to the whole organisation may be
disastrous. We are as yet only at the beginning
of the dispute, and it will be hoped by all who
.have the welfare of our volunteer force at heart
that it will speedily end in such a compromise as
shall satisfy all parties concerned.
Libraries are a means of higher education to
many who have not been able to stay at school
'Sufficiently long to acquire all:the knowledge they
.tieek ; and the Congress, therefore, of the
Library Association of the United Kingdom is
of interest to a number who are never likely to
be personally concerned in its working. Un-
doubtedly librarians have much to learn
from conference with their brethren, for
the art of cataloguing and distributing books
is not one which "comes by nature," and
. requires long and patient study to learn. Those
who have had occasion to visit a library where
the books are carelessly kept or badly catalogued
will know what worry of spirit and waste of
time have resulted; and the pleasure and profit
Are correspondingly great when the library is
found to be well-arranged and provided with a
good catalogue. It may be expected that with
the wisdom which should spring from greater
experience and annual conference, our librarians
will in the near future agree upon some form of
catalogue which shall be at once simple and
lucid. The difficulty of frequenters of various
libraries at present is that their keepers have
systems of their own which it is not always easy
to follow, and which it is impossible to harmonise.
This surely should not be, and our librarians
would render their own task, as well as that of
the renders, much leas difficult if, as the fruit
of their collective wisdom' they would devise a
form of catalogue which would not waste too
much of a student's time when in search of a
book.
If the traditional "intelligent schoolboy"
were asked whence we obtain the cotton which

keeps Manchester prosperous and the Lancashire
factories at work, he would probably answer,
"The United States," and consider he had ex-
hausted the subject. In the popular mind the
. impression is the same, and is undoubtedly
deepened by remembrance of the fact that,
during the civil war in America, a cotton famine
occurred,which brought the Lancashire operatives
to the verge of starvation. But in these later
years other contributions to the supply of raw
cotton have appeared in the field. Egypt has
produced a very large quantity in recent times,
and now we are told that the cultivation of this
plant in Central Asia is extending. The Govern-
ment of Turkestan has issued a special memo-
randum on the subject, which states that, while
in 1884, the cotton plantations covered an area
e.f only 300 deciatines, they now occupy
12,000, and an average crop is at present
estimated to produce from 150,000 to
100,000 ponds, each poud equalling 36 lbs.
When it is added that twenty cotton spinning
machines are at 'work at Tashkent, and others at
Khokand and Samarkand, it will be evident how
large an industry this may become. Central
Asia has vast possibilities, and if only peace can
be preserved among the tribes, its products will
have a great influence on the markets and manu-
factures of the world.
Smuggling may be said to be almost a lost art
in England; and the days of the bold defier of
the preventive officer have long been numbered
with the past. But instances still occur to show
that, although the old pistol and cutlass school
of smugglers is altogether out of date, a large
number of people still believe it to be an easy
and not a particularly evil matter to cheat the
revenue. The Thames police-court, which has
jurisdiction over vessels coming up the river, fre-
quently has cases of this kind before it, and some
of the devices adopted to blind the
customs officer display an ingenuity worthy of
'a better cause. But it may be doubted whether
any of them has been more ingenious than
that adopted a very short while since by the
driver of a waggon load of cheese across the
Italian frontier. He halted, showing his papers,
proved that they were all according to rule, and
would have proceeded in safety if he had not
yielded to the very common temptation of
"taking a drink." While he was indulging, one
of the officers cast a longing-look at the cheese,
which he endeavoured to cut so as to add relish
to his supper. The result exceeded his anticipa-
tions for he found the apparent cheeses wererolls
cf tobacco artfully disguised, and these were ira-

k

mediately confiscated and the wagoner lodged la
gaol. There are various morals to be extracted
from the story, but the best of all is that even
the most clever attempts to defraud the revenue
may fail, and that homsty towards the Govern-
ment as towards individuals is in everything the
best policy.
It is no infrequent reflection that many
valuable lives sacrificed to accident might have
been saved had those who were on the spot when
the casualty occurred known the rudiments of
surgery: and, although we cannot expect that that
knowledge will ever be common property, it is
pleasing to note that it is distinctly extending. A.
voluntary organisation, the St. John's Ambu-
lance Association, has had a large share in ac-
complishing this work, and its classes of instruc-
tion for firemen, volunteers, and poli-e have had
great good effect in teaching an outline of
surgery sufficient to meet the case of all ordinary
accidents until medical aid can be obtained. It
is now proposed that similar instruction shall be
given to gillies and gamekeepers, whose calling
is frequently associated with gun accidents of
various kinds, and to whom such kn pwledge
would be peculiarly useful, because these acci-
dents almost necessarily occur at places far
distant from a doctor. The recent fatality to
Lord Dalkeith has called especial attention to
this subject, and it is not improbable that the
discussion it has aroused will have good effect.
But it is not only the classes that have been
named which ought to be made acquainted with
the elemental principles of surgery. All of us
may at some portion of our lives have to assist
another in case of accident—it may be when
bathing or rowing, in the street, or on the rail-
way. At such a time the existence of one near
and dear may depend upon such knowledge, and
it would be a reflection always precious to us if
the possession of such knowledge was the means
of saving life. A. F. It.