The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-07-13 00:00:00

ea Tabu tattspontnit.
(w. deem It eight to state at we do not it an time
god* muse/Yea with our Oorreepoodent's opinions.]
_

The topic that but a short time aga eves most excit-
ing, and even alarming, the Anglo-American dim
pute, has most agreeably declined in importance.
I doubt whether one person in a thousand could
give an intelligible statement of the exact position
of affairs at the present time; but really this is
a delicious date of things —it shows that the
affair does not weigh upon the public mind, awl that
there is a universal sense g relief. All that people
ears to know is that there are now merely details to be
settled, and that all danger of any further quarrelling
has passed away. And of cwiree everybody says that
thi• is just what they all along expected l
The review at Aldershot was a glorious success
and if anything were wanting to increase the popu
larity of the Queen, this would have effected it The
weather—veritable "Queen's weather " was all that
could have been desired, except that it was decidedly
too hot. As a military display the review was
splendid, awl afforded a bridiant hffiday spectacle to
be many thouaande who witnessed it. Comparisons
may be odious, but I think that the Guards who as-
sembled at Aldershot could stand comparison with any
soldiers is' the worM. Artillerymen, Engineers, and
Liners—all looked strong, healthy, and in first rate
militery condition, and as to their soldierly bearing
on which I pretend to be no judge, the opinion o
mitics is highly favourable. I can, however, vouch ,
for another fact, and a very agreeable one, that the
Queen looked in decidedly good health, and that the
royal party was most heartily welcomed. Such military
displays as these please soldiers and civilians, while the
presence of the Queen and the royal family give them
an Mat that would otherwise be wanting.
Supplementing the recent Revenue Return!, which
Infallibly showed the prosperity of the country, we now
have returns relating to the postal telegraph service,
which lead to the same agreeable conclusion. More
than 300,000 messages were delivered last week, which
Is upwards of 70,000 more than during the correspond-
ing week of last year. Bearing in mind that the
revenue from the Post Office haa also increased—
showing that telegrams have not to a great extent au
perseded letters--this proves, I think, an increase of
business transactions; at least it is fair to presume so.
Unless we knew the purport severally of these 300,000
manages, we could form no reliable statement upon
them, but that so many messages means in the long run
so much business is the general impression, and pro-
bably the correct one. But, be this as it may, this
enormous increase suggests the question when are we
to have that reduction in the price of telegrams which
the Government promised us when they "took over"
the telegraphs' Uniform sixpenny messages of 20
words are not too much to expect; but if we cannot
have this reduction all at once, why not reduce the
shilling to a uniform ninepence, and then, in a few
months, to sixpence.

As the working classee in various departments of
trade more or less succeed in their demands for in-
creased wages—to say nothing of diminished labour—
we may expect that a controversy, which is even now
beginning to make itself felt, will be waged. I allude
to the higher taxation of the upper sections of the
working classes, and on this head I will merely note
two remarkable statements, of • totally opposite cha-
racter, on this subject. The other day there was a I
monster demonstration at the East-end of London. The I
Labour Protection League convoked its supporters. A
procession, a brass band, and a meeting of some 20,000
men for the avowed purpose of further agitating the
question of increased wages, may be regarded as rather
alarming. But the point I wish to refer to is this—that
the Rev. S. Hansard, who presided, remarked that
trades' unions were an immense saving to the ratepayers,
as these unions were able to defray all the expenses
arising from sickness, ac.ident, and other causes in I
their immediate sphere; and he instanced one society
that during its 21 years operation had spent over I
X 400,000 in meeting the necessities of its members. I
Now contrast with this the remarks of The Times,
which has for many years past—long before the recent
strikes—been generally regarded as the organ of
capitalists. It says, 'Should labour, under the advice
and assistance of internationalists and other dangerous
friends ever gain a position incompatible with the
rights of property and the freedom of private enter-
prise, it will certainly find itself challenged to provide
for its own poor, and also to make better provision
against sickness and age. Operative labour envies
the position and wishes to divide the profits,
pleasures, and honours. It will find also that
it has to make a fairer division of the duties and the
burdens." Now these statements are certainly to some
extent antagonistic. It does not, of course, follow
that one must be right and the other wrong, and in
some respects both may be right. Certainly they
both point to the appearance of a new phase in the
present contest between Capital and Labour.
Whatever may be the shortcomings of our entire
military system or the defects of our Volunteers, it may
he doubted whether any continental country can dis-
play a spectacle which combines no many useful and
agreeable characteristics as the National Rifle Ansocia-
tion meeting at Wimbledon. Work of the most utili-
tarian character is here combined with enjoyment
thoroughly akin to it and suitable to those who consti-
tute this annual camp, a camp unlike anything else to be
seen here or abroad. The encampment this year seems
to b., more popular than ever, and it not only affords
healthy recreation and military training to the thou-
sands who take an active part in it, but an enjoyable
holiday spectacle to many other thousands. Shooting,
and drill, and parades cannot but benefit our Volunteers
in their character as a defensive force, while it in to be
hoped that the outing will equally benefit their health.
At any rate the hearty spirit with which our citizen
soldiers enter into the duties as well as the pleasures of
this annual rifle contest and encampment is an interest-
ing feature of our times.

How English tradesmen would open their eyes —and
their mouths—if our courts of law were to adopt the
same principle as has just been adopted in Prince!
The Court of Cori xtional Police in Paris have actually
oendemned two members of a firm in l'aris to two
months' imprisonment and a fine of each for selling
starch too cheap And moreover two wholesale dealers
have been severally sentenced to a montb'e imprison-
ment for selling starch at a price which proved that
the article must be adulterated. Really this is very
severe, and utterly opposed to our notions of free trade.
Brit do we not go too far in the other extreme? While
French laws are extremely rigorous with respect to
adulteration—on which of course these trials turned—
we have practically no laws at all .os the subject--no
Laws at all e‘ elite that can be easily worked.
I hope that among the " innocents " slaughtered at
the end of the session will not be found Lord Buck-
burst's bill for protecting children—i.e., persona under
sixteen years of age—from the danger connected with
acrobatic and gymnastic performances. If adult persons
choose to risk their own lives or limbs in these dangerous
performances, why let them Is 00; but that is no
reason why mere children should be forcibly placed in
the most perilous circumstances, in order that a gaping
multitude may be sensationalises!, to coin a word, and
that parents should make money by this risking of
isle and limb. Of €70111.0 there is an outcry about in-
terfering with the amusements of the people and the
freedom of the subject ; but legislation on the former
s no novelty, and interferents with the latter is a
eature of some of the best laws we have.

No part of London is so well known to country
visitors as Charing C rt.,. A grand improvement in
"the finest site in Europe," as Sir Robert Peel called
It, is contemplated. A proposition to purchase Nor-
thumberland House is under consideration, for the
"pretty penny" of 1.-206,000, the idea being to make
I fine broad roadway on to the Thames Embankment.
Whether the improvement will be worth this sum, in
addition to perhaps .£lOO,OOO for making the roadway,
may, however, he doubted. Londoners are already so
heavily taxed for metropolitan improvements, that if
the propesition were pot to the vote it would probably
be scouted.

The gentlemen who are sitting in conclave in the
splendid Hall of the Middle Temple. to discuss the
important questions connected with the management
of our criminals deserve the best thanks of the com-
munity, and I only hope that some practical good
may come of it. But it is strange to see how con-
siderably these deliberators differ. It may be almost
said- PO many cure, BO many opinions. But DO one
can thoughtfully read the reports of the proceedings of
the International Prison Cougress without coming to
the conclusion that reform in many particulars is much
needed. What these reforms should Is and how they
ars to be effected, this Congress, it may be hoped, will
aid us to determine. Meanwhile a curious instance of
the thirst for knowledge as to prison discipline has just
been presented. A gentleman eagerly desired to know
the treatment of prisoners in a police cell. lie went
up to a policeman and asked to be "taken up." The
Policeman not humouring „the inquiring social student,
the gentleman thereupon with an umbrella assaulted
the policeman and was gratified by being locked up for
the night! Depend upon it this gentleman now knows
all he cares to know. Re will not, we may be sure,
render himself liable to penal servitude—just to see
what it is Übe !

NIBLO CLARE'S ADVENTURE-AND
ITS TERMINATION I

At the Central Criminal Court, in London, Niblo Clark,
teed V, has been charged with • burglary in the dwelling
house of Henry Ylaws, Brewer-street, Uolden square.
The circumstances were very remarkable. Early in
the morning of the 19th of June the prosecutor was
diattirbed by a noise in the back part of his premises,
and on trying to ascertain the cause, found the pri.
/loner with a bundle of clothes, as if on the point
of leaving the house. He told him to drop the
bundle, but the prisoner refusal The prosecutor then
said, • I'll have you i" and the prisoner replied, "No
you won't," and instantly jumped through the sky-
light, as a harlequin would do at a pantomime. It was
E.tated that the prisoner was an acrobat ani knew the
trick. The policeman who took him into custody first
saw the prisoner nitinieg alimg Oxford-street. dle
ran after him, aiel a long and doge chase ensued. From
a closet, in which he had e mcealed himself for a
moment, the prisoner leaped on to a wall some feet
high, crowed two or three cisterns, and jumped from
another wall, then ran op a staircase, and leaped
through a small window on to the roof. The countable
followed, but could see nothing of him on the roof.
At last he found the prisoner holding by a chimney-
pot, and crouching so as to conceal himself. As
soon an the constable detected him he said, "I'm
Wowed if I don't throw you over if you come after me
any further." From the chimney stack he then swung
himself across an alley, 5 feet wide and 40 feet deep,
and leaped through an aperture into another house.
So did the constable, who chased him dovnistaire along
numerous corridors until the prisoner slipped down ;
and in the dark the officer seized an old gentleman in
mistake. In another moment he rectified the error,
and captured the prisoner, who begged the constable
o give him a good hiding and let him go.
The prisoner cautiously cross-examined the wit.
Demos as to legal points necessary to establish a
burglary, and addreefted the jury at great length,
in a humorous way, cues to show how easy it
was to suppose an innocent man guilty.
Ile was, however, found Guilty, and several previous
convictions were proved against him.
It IVEIA likewise stated that he had been befriended
tby 41c William Bodkin and othvr gentlemen, but he
was such a bad character that none of them could do
any good with him.
The Common Serjeant said he should be guilty of a
gross dereliction of public duty if he did not page a
very severe sentence in a case of this character, for out
of 16 years of his life the prisoner had spent no less
than 12 years in prison for the commission of crime.
The sentence of the Court would be that the prisoner
be kept in penal servitude for the term of 15 years. .
Mr. Harris (for the prosecution) referred to the
courageous conduct of the constable Waller in pursuing
and capturing the prisoner.
The Common Serjeant saki he was about to remark
that the grand jury had dwelt very strongly upon the
courage and self.sacritice of the constable who had dis-
tinguished himself in this case, and he filly concurred
in the opinion they expressed. He also'llrrought that
a reward ought to be given for such praiseworthy ser-
vices, After consultation with the magistrates who
eat on the bench with him, the Common Serjeant
added that they were prepared to go so far as to say
that a reward of £lO should be given to Constable
Waller. _ . _

•
This announcement was received with loud applause
from the spectators in court.