The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-03-02 00:00:00

SWANAGII.

Holum Sstit—Mr. John James, of Weymouth,
drove • lot of horses into our *own on Friday and
Saturday, and they were aubjecte 1 t close inspection
by the horse-dealing fraternity, a la-re num'w if
the rough-c mted quadrupeds ultimately finding their
way to neighbouring farms. Among the purchasers
wee Mr. Charles • ummers, who chose two evilsl
aalmak to run in his omnibus, which still continues to
leave Swanaire at nine o'clock a.m., and Wareham
Station at 3.30 p.m. daily.

THI Rim. NATHAN FTATBOH, is native of evenue_ge.
has been presented to the vic wage of Oxenhope. His
sIiCCO,4 should act asa a stimulant on other thoughtful
lade in our neighbourhood, f :r the reverend gentleman
worked in the goarriss until manhood, and its, quail.
fled himeelf for his important position by ha:d w:rk
and successful study. There are now three stone
masons from our town filling useful Om= In the
church.

THZ HITCH HOPEWELL, which is owned by Mr.
Randall and Mr. King and commanded by Captain
Wills, nt into Salcombe on Tuesday-morning the 17th
Inst. with loss of one man and much damage to the
vessel. Laden with herein-4s and b mad hr Liverpool
she encountered a severe squall on the Monday after-
noon, about eight miles fr in the "start," losing her
bowsprit, topmast, bulwarks. and everything on deck,
her b at being smashed and Harry Chaffey, of Poole,
washed .verbclard and drowned by the some tremendous
sea. The Hopewell is an old vessel and was not
Insured.

PORTLAND AND PURBErK ISLANDERS.
The report of her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fac-
tories and Workshops, which was issued on Thursday,
contains a curious statement made by Mr. Beadon,
respecting the people of Purbeck awl Portland. These
" Islanders," who are rightly described as "remarkable'
in their habits, have a settled ides that the working of the
quarries in those localities Is a privilege of their own,
and they not only resent the intrusion of ather workmen,
but go so far as to qualify the latter, and, indeed, the
whole world outside Purbeck and Portland, by the
opprobrious title of "foreigner' The Purbeckians of
Swanage maintain that this privilege is secured to them
by an ancient charter providing that no person may
establish himself in their trade who is not • direct
descendant of some local quarryman. This. however, Is
far from 'icing the whole extent of the immunities claimed
. by the islanders. "Both peoples,' Mr. Beadon tells us,
have a strong objection to being interfered with, the
Purbeckianit especially holding a sort of tradition that
they are "beyond all laws, and that they have • sort
of ,ight to make regulations for their own government,
the general sum of which would appear to be to arrange
that they shou d do as much, or AA little, work as they
please, have unlimited beer, and send their offspring to
school, or not, at discretion, which would result in about
Ito per cent growing up entirely uneducated, as their
parents boast that they are themselves." So tenacious are
both races of their individuality awl special institution
that they will not even contract matrimonial alliances
with the foreigner, but intermarry amongst themselves,
" so that nearly everybody in both localities is related to
everybody else." Nothwithstanding, the health of the
community is so good that no one could fail to be struck
by their unusually fine appearance, and at Portland
boys of 13 or 11 are often found to look as if they were two
years older.