The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-07-19 00:00:00

Stoarhyibo Otperinr.

SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1M73.

CURRENT TOPICS.

It seems that whilst we have been giving fetes
in honour of the Shah mid doing everything in
our power to conciliate " The King of Kings," we
have unwittingly been giving offence to another
mighty and puissant monarch, viz., the King of
the Ashantees. What is the real cause of the dis-
pute is not at present known. All that we can
learn at present with reference to the affair is
that we have lately come into some possessions
which formerly belonged to the Dutch bordering
on the above-unanea potentate's territory; and
that we have in exchange given over to the
Duteh some rights that we possessed in the
island of Sumatra. So far as this part of the
contract goes, it was all very well, as the territory
which we have obtained is not only a portion
which intersected our own possession on the "Gold
Coast," but it is also a much healthier colony than
our own. It appears, however, that in taking to
the territory we have also taken to an "ancient
feud," which existed between the Dutch and the
King of the Ashantees, and that on ourrefusing to
pay him a yearly tribute as a "peace offering,"
he has determined to punish our contumacy and
bring us to a sense of our duty. With this laud-
able intent he has started with 50 thousand troops,
—whom he has divided into two arunee,—to the
British settlements. There is one ray of comfort
in all this, which is the knowledge of the fact
that his dusky warriors are armed with flint-lock
muskets, made in Birmingham purposely for the
" African trade," which are exported at the im-
mense outlay of seven shillings each. We can
readily imagine that sueharms are ealculatedtodo
considerably more damage to those who use them
than the enemies they may be pointed against ;and,
therefore, for the sake of the Ashantees themselves
sincerely hope the war will be neither a bloody
nor a long one.

A sad case, forcibly illustrating the baneful
effects of habitual intemperance was tried at the
Dudley Police Court, on Monday last. It was
that where a Mr. Thomas Bethel, who had been
till recently managing clerk to :thrill of solicitors,
at Dudley, was charged with neglecting to main-
tain his wife and eight children. The defendant
had formerly resided in this town, where he had
gained an unenviable notoriety fur his constant
devotion to the cup that not only cheers, but
inebriates. He was first brought up at Dudley,
on Friday last, but he was in Gila a state of in-
toxication that the magistrates deemed it advis-
able to adjourn the hearing of the case until the
following Monday, and they ordered him to be re-
manded in custody, with a view of ensuring his
sobriety on that occasion. From the evidence of
Mr. John Fisher, silversmith, of Dudley, who is
the father of the defendant's wife it appeared
that Mrs. Bethel was destitute when she applied
to the Guardians for relief. The defendant had
been very neglectful of late; the largest amount
of money he had given to his wife at one time to
support herself and her children, having been I.os.
He had lost his situation through his in-
temperate habits, and his wife and family were
dependant upon Mr. Fisher for bread. Defend-
ant was perpetually in a state of drunkenness.
Mr. Fisher further stated that he had done all he

could to induce the Mr. Bethel to reform, and in
doing so had spent a lot of money. He (Mr.
Fisher) had frequently been to defendant's house,
and found not a morsel of bread there, and his
daughter had suffered much through her husband's
conduct, and had done all she could to screen
him. Defendant stated that he was out of work,
and had exhausted all his money, and eventually
the case was adjourned to allow him to come to
some arrangement with the Guardians.

No doubt most of our readers have, at some
time or another, read Dickens humorous descrip-
tion of the Eatenswill election in the " Pickwick
Papers," and have laughed at the pompous absur-
dity of Mr. Potts, when he gave it as his opinion
that " The eyes of Europe were upon them" in
that contest. But absurd, as the statement seems,
it appears to be highly probable that the eyes, if
not of Europe, at least of England, are at the
present time centred upon Stourbridge with re-
ference to the late election of the School Board
in this town. First the local "dailies" took the
matter up; from them, a well-known London
satirical journal did us the honour (?) to insert a
paragraph having special reference to the candi-
dature of a barber; and now at length it has been
introduced into Parliament, and it will not be the
fault of the paper " with the largest circulation
in the world, and of the other London papers if
the attention of the whole of Europe is not
speedily directed to it. From the foregoing it is
evident that our town is in the position of the
man who went to bed, and woke up in the morn-
ing to find himself famous, or infamous, we hardly
know which. The question was introluced to the
notice of the Imperial Legislature by Mr. C.
Dalrymple, who asked a question which elicited
an answer from Mr. W. E. Forster to the effect
that he (Mr. Foster) had" reason to believe that
one of the recently-elected members of the School
Board at Stourbridge had recently returned from
residence in Worcester Gaol, having been con-
victed of an assault; but he did not think that
the evidence afforded a reason for introducing a
provision disqualifying persons who had been con-
victed of crime. Such a clause would be contrary
to the law with regard to town councillors and
members of Parliament—(laughter.)" Doubtless,
some of our readers will ask " Who is this Mr.
Dalrymple that meddles with our affairs ?" and
will further want to know " What they have to do
with him?" In answer to the first query we can
only inform them that we believe him to be a
member for some boroogh or county in Wales;
and that he is a brother-in-law of the Rev. D.
Robertson, vicar of the Lye. Perhaps this latter
statement will explain the second query.