The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-11-16 00:00:00

over-rated,

has been very mtio.. , now _j were a week age, and ironme.—
and his.suditory were doubtless at the moment no more than consumers, will make for stock.
very ready to believe this, and the country is just Nor will they keep on their forges to produce
now in no particular humour to dispute the state- puddled bare that will be required for the mills.
ment. With these exceptions the speeches of Hence, the hitherto unusual condition of affairs
the members of the Government were, on the has become the rule, and mills and notforges are
whole of a pleasant and cheery character—not most employed. But the instances are rare in
very deep or philosophical, but rather superficial which half the mills can be kept on even three-
and general, as became the occasion. Even quarter time. Offers were made this afternoon
when Lord Granville had to deal with the French by certain finished-iron masters at considerably
Treaty, this dry, commercial subject was treated under the list, which, it will be remembered, is
in a light, off-hand style; and we only hope that in the proportion of £l2 for bars. The lower
it will be found as pleasant to the country in its quotations were observable most of all in bars
actual working. and strips. Whilst the market remains as now,
Considerable disappointment has been felt be. ironmasters were of opinion that the question of
cause we did not hear from the Lord Chancellor, wages in the iron trade will right itself.
or some other competent speaker, an intimation The slightly lower prices seem to be drawing
of coming measures of law reform; and for no 1 out certain of the railway companies. Amongst
better reason than that Lord Selborne did not 1 the orders in the market we note one from the
foreshadow 8011113 such measures, it has been ' Southern of India Railway Company, who solicit
concluded that the Government has no such tenaere for 5,000 tone of rails, 110 tons of
measures under contemplation. We cannot see spikes, 75 tons of fanged bolts, 207 tons of steel
that such a conclusion is warranted. Law re- I clip joints, and 150 sets of switches; together
form is a dry and dreary subject, however im- I with the usual accompaniments of creosoted
portent it may be, and any references to it would wood sleepers, crossings, and the like.
have been out of place at the festive board. On I Satisfaction is being expressed amongst the
the general foreign policy of the Government, ironmasters at the fact that Mr. W. Mender
however, and our domestic legislation there were Sparrow, of Wolverhampton, one of the wealthi-
some ministerial utterances which are satisfac- est ironmasters of South Staffordshire, is first
tory as far as they go, but which, it must be upon the list of nominations to the office of High
confessed, do not go either very far or very deep. Sheriff for Staffordshire; and that Mr. Isaac
All this reticence and superficial speakina, this Jenks, the proprietor of the Minerva Iron and
vague and pleasant generalising, may be partially Steel Works of that town, has been chosen
accounted for by the unavoidable absence of Mr. Mayor of Wolverhampton for the year ensuing.
Gladstone; but however much we may regret
that absence, on account of its cause, we do not
know that the absence of important ministerial
announcements is in itself matter of regret. It
is a long time yet to the meeting of Parliament,
and we can afford to wait and see what Ministers
have in store for us. Let us not meet troubles
half-way. We know from other sources—and
indeed from the previous speeches of members
of the Government—that nest session will be a
busy and important one, and that a number of
measures dealing with serious political and social
questions will inevitably be introduced. There
was no occasion, therefore, for any political ut-
terances on the part of ministers as to their in-
tentions in the coming sessions What we may
gather from the speeches on the occasion alluded
to, both on the part of the Ministry and on that
of other distinguished guests, is that the coun-
try is at peace with its neighbours and prosper-
ous at home; and knowing this to be true we
need not worry ourselves about the possible or
probable legislative schemes that the Govern-
ment may contemplate introducing. Time
enough for this when Parliament assembles.

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Business is still very much restricted in the
iron trade of this district, and comparatively
few of the mills and forges are making more
than half time. There were, however, indica-
tions on 'Change at Birmingham, on Thursday,
of some slight improvement, more especially on
the announcement that there would be no change
in the Bank rate of discount. Enquiries were
made for sheets, hoops, and bars for the United
States, and some small specifications were placed
I for home requirements. The total amount of
business transacted was not large, but it was
welcomed as foreshadowing a revival of trade,
and the tone of the market was far more cheer- ,
fill than it has been for some weeks past. Prices '
were tolerably firm on the basis of £l2 for lead-
ing brands of bars, and £l.l for second.class iron,
but sheets are relatively weaker. Pig-iron,
though not in very active demand, is upheld by
the diminution of production, which is estimated
now to amount to nearly '2,000 tons per week.
Leading brands of native hot-blast are still
puoted at .C 7 to .27 Is, but common pig may be
had 20s lower. While these prices are main-
tained for pig, and coal sustains the present
quotation, makers of finished iron declare that
any further fall in prices is impossible, and that
if buyers continue to hold back the only course
open to producers will be to close their works.
As already intimated, however, there are symp-
toms at last of some slight recovery in the de-
mand. Buyers are beginning to recognise the
improbability of any farther reduction of price,
and as stocks of iron are everywhere very low,
and in s few weeks the orders for spring ship-
ments will be coming in, those who wish to catch
the market before the turn have not much time
to lose.