The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-07 00:00:00

4hu fonbra Corresponlient.

_
true, though it is difficult to believe, that neither
standard bearer nor standard received any bieult this
is much more marvellous than his peaceable lourney
through England with the American stars and stripes.
This last strange pilgrimage appear' to have called forth
enthusiastic expressions of hearty good-will in numerous
Owes along the route, while no one instance that I
hareheard of ha. he received any insult Why, indeed,
should he be insulted? He is a harmless enthusiast,
who has, after all, done something to evoke expressions
of cordial friendship on the part of Englishmen
towards America. His motive has been a good one,
and be deserves no little credit for his hardihood in
carrying out his intentions in spite of wind and weather
of the most boisterous character.

- leer. e reed to. state that we do not at all timees
it lkolvsiwodent's opinions.;
The Queen's proclamation has been published. coilieg
her Parliament together, "for the dispatch of divers
INleteargent sad important affairs," on Thursday, the 6th of
February. 'l'he grave and thoughtful Mr. Gladstone
may not, on that occasion, exclaim "Upronee ye then,
my merry, merry men; it is our opening day," but his
thoughts will inevitably tend in this direction. There
is every probability of the session of 1973 }maw a busy
and important one. Three bills lute, be confidently
expected—measures on Irish eduestion, the transfer of
land, and local taxation. Quite independently of any
other possible or probable legislation, in these three
bills themselves there is ample material for excited
debates in Parliament and deep interest out of doors.
But, besides these considerations, there is a general
lopireerion that next session will be the Ward the pre-
sent Parliament, while the next general election, being
the first that will take place under the new conditions
of the Whet, will probably arouse and animate public
opinion to an extent that we have never witneesed
before. Put there in one fact which is certain— that
as a general e'eution must soon coine, porty pelitical
contexts in the two Houses will be fought with tunetnel
A deputation having waited on the Heine Secretary
to urge views which are very crimmonly entertained
with regard to the high prices of food and fuel, we
have obtained the right hon. gentleman's views in the
subject, and these are all the more important as they
may fairly be presumed to be those of the Government,
besides which he indicates et making as to the policy
of Ministers next erosion. Waste land and the Game
Lawn are very tiatarally put forward as decreasing the
supply, and consequerely raising the price of food, but
it is extremely difficult to get at the facts on this sub.
ject. Mr. J. H. Murphy says that "several millions
of acres of hind are kept out of cultivation for the pre-
servation of game for the wealthy dames." It is very . THE TRADESMEN AND THE CIVIL
doubtful, however, whether this alleged object can be
proved to exist, though the fact is undeniable that SE aVICE ASSOCIATION.
"several millions of acres of land" are kept out if
r.,A,Oter Lliratofutradrestirrorliloawpapoitedndeot. &orate
eultivation fr. m various canoes. As there are so many day waited upon ad'.ll`orrene, iiney:if the me, mbers for
wil I anti extravagant statements a this subject, it the borough of Finsbury, at his house George-road,
way be well to give the actual fa, te. There are in Pimlico, for the purpose of representing to him the
England 9 219,195 scree of waste land ; in Wales unfair competition to which tradesmen are now sub-
-2,203,847 acres; in Sc. otlind 15,201,240 acres; in Ire- j!cted by the. operations of the Civil Service Co-opera-
tive Association.
land 4,678,940 acres ; together upwards if 31 millions
The dettutation was introduced by Captain W.
of waste and uncultivated ground. If this could be Warner Dennis, who read the resolutions pasted at the
all used for tillage or pasture, what a difference this meeting appoineing the deputation, which called upon
weal make in our food supply ! But then there the Government to introduce a Bill into Parliament to
prohibit saltried,s,eirvireatilt of the Crown from becoming
are the righte of p, operty to be considered, ftw 'all this
land is affected by ownership of one kind or another.
all&re..ra''lunnearildressed the boa, on the part of
The statement that the whole number of lint'prlet'ts the grocers.
of land does not exceed 30,000 Mr. Bruce controvert.. Mr. Walnut, of Knowsley House, Grosvenor-rowl,
He says this is not the ease, and he accounts for the Ilighbury New Park, also addressed the hon. member
error by informing us that in the last census returns on behalf of the drapers. He stated that neither they
profeenonal men, manufacturers, merchants, &e, who no ireraanot.hteirketra,,,leLsotteezdd tteiletheuttri:yirp,!nestoifmceors-
are large owners of land, have returned themselves, not corn
us foe the the purpose', if they co ad, if oh-
to
landowners, but in their own particular calling. It taming the articles they needed at a cheaper mate
may be remembered that Lord Derby has maintained and of better quality than they could now obtain them,
that the number of landowners in the United Kingdom but they did object to Government clerk. who
is far larger than is generally supposed, and that it is
mweernet,inbnnomrei7giploref
directors
h 31asrinceci faHro.mocitahtien(4o, v earnnd.
chiefly owing to him that arrangements are now being from their position giving to these associations a
made for a new Domesday Beek, which we, or our prestige whieh they would not otherwise obtain, and
seeceseors, shall have some day. Meanwhile, however, they also objected to the assoeiation admitting the
Ministers intend to modify the law relating to the public, as they now did by the issue of se. tickets, to
transfer if land. "The Government," says Mr. peNrtfircipcarteawinfotrhde
aadndvan:fargecnovf
.thtarto,a,ks:ocsieactiefna., f
Bruce, " hopenoon to be able to remove some of the
Mr.
National Chamber of Trade, and de. Owens, tom
evils relating to land; and I am of opinion that there the pat of the chemists, enforced the same views, and
should exist perfect freedom in the transfer of land." they, as well as all other members ot the cleputetion,
This is of course symptomatic of a bill on the sub- pressed on the hon. member the necessity of proposing
ject. Ile does not hold out any hope of attempting to and supporting a resolution in the House of Commons,
prohibiting members of the Civil Service from be-
abolish the Game Laws, but he certainly indicates coming active member, of any trading association.
the probability of some change in this respect, while
Mr. Torrens, in reply, expressed his entire sympathy
Be to any legislative action with regard to the price with the views of the deputation, and promised that
of coal he, of course, promises nothing of the kind, they should have both his voice and his vote in Perlis,
In one respect I must differ from both the ment in furtherance of their objects.
deputation and the Home Secretary. " I quite
agree with yen," he says, "that the sudden rime in
the price of coals was not owing to any advance
in the wages of the colliers." Of course the sudden
advance was not entirely owing to this, but it was
partly. The enormous increase in the demand of coa
for the iron trade and for export; the increased wages
paid to the colliers; the decreased "out put" owing
Li the reduction of working time—all these tended to
raise the price of coal, and it is satisfactory to the
general public to learn that there are attest indications
of a fall of prices.
The great Scottish banquet at r.St. James's Hall, in
commemoration of St. Andrew's day, was a re-
markable gathering. Never has there been in London
a more curious display of Scotch nationality, and
I venture to think that one strange custom would
have been more honoured in the breach than the
observance—l mean the drinking of Mr. Lowe's health
under such uproarious circumstances. When an
enthusiastic Scotchman planted his right foot on the
table, and a number of his equallyenthusiaetic country-
men did the same, and then, with energetic Gaelic ex-
clamations tossed off their wine, and dashed the glasses
on the fleet', no wonder that less impulsive English-
men were startled; and no wonder that an Irish
guest should remark that his much-maligned
countrymen were cold and tame in comparison
with this! The speeches of the chairman, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, were among his best—fall of
humour and anecdote, and not altogether free from
that species of satire which "like a polished razor
keen, wourele to liii a touch that's scarcely felt or seen,"
if indeed it wounded at all. I fancy there was a slight
touch of satire in the following remarks I am un-
fortunately an Engle-hmen, and I never observed that
any Engliehmen would do anything for me because I
was an Fug iehman ; but, gentlemen, I have relations
who are Sceitchwiem and when these re'atione come to
London I observe that they always put up at Scotch
hotels, buy clothes at Scotch shops, go to a Scotch
doctor, and, in fact, coe fine their cuse m exclusively to
Scotehmen." But if there were any mire in this
it was geod-humoured and and pleasant, and probably
most of his hearers rather erided themselves on the
fact he mentioned. On another more important mat-
ter a statement by Mr. Lowe will be received with
universal satisfaction. " I can say from my own
knowledge," he remarked, "officially obtained, that
the country is in a state of almost unexampled pros-
perity." To whatever part of the United Kingdom
we belong, we are all of us delighted to hear this on
the best possible authority, and it makes us look for-
ward hopefully to the right hon. gentleman's financial
statement next April."
A letter which Mr. James Caird wrote to The Times
on the 25th of November is of more importance now
than it was at the time of writing. He is, as is well
known, a very high authority with regard to harvests
and feed praipects. It may be remembered that he
stated that he had great fears for our harvest of next
year, owing to the wet seed time, and he expreteed
the opinion that if the wet weather continued we shall
find the harvest of 1873 as unproductive as that of 1853,
which was the worst we have had since the repeal of
the Corn Laws, and which was the consequence of the
wet autumn and winter of 1852. Unhappily the wet
has continued since this was written, and in this reelect
as well as others the long continuance if rain is becom
Mg anions.

Halcyon days are coming for Channel psa.engers.
Two vessels are " about to be built," ic in said, —hut I
can vouch for their being actnally in progress,--cn the
plans of Mr. Bessemer and Mr. Reed, by which sea-
sickness in to be obviated by means of a splendid and
commodious saloon which will maintain its perpendicu-
lar in even the roughet-t sea. If existing plans in
anothsr respect are carried out, that dull and dreary
town, Calais, will suffer sevesely—as it deserves to
suffer, fonts want of public spirit. The miserable bar
harbour in front of the ancient city will be well
nigh deserted, for Boulogne harbour is to he enlarged,
and nearly all the traffic which formerly was directed
to Calais will be directed to its more prosperous neigh-
bour. Folkestone, too, will be snubbed, and lu (monde
route will be, if existing plans are carried nit, by Dover
and Boulogne, Dover Harbour un lergoing considerable
improvements. People who are in the habit of making
the stomach-disturbing passage to France will anx-
iously watch the result of Messrs. Bessemer and
Reed's plans when in actual operation, for after all we
cannot place implicit faith in mere experiments in
machinery producing a similar motion to that of a
vessel in a rough sea. If actual facts, however, bear
nut, the conclusions drawn 'from these experiments.
the Bessemer saloons will be all the rage.

There was a talk of getting up a public meeting at
the Mansion House for the relief if the sufferers by
the fire at Boston, but it has died away, and it is satis
factory to hear now that not only was the damage con-
siderably lens than was at first reported, but that the
Americans themselvee are coming forward so liberally
with aid that there is no occasion for any public effort
on our part. There is no reason whatever, on the
other hand, why private munificence should not be
brought to low on the sufferings of the Bostonians.
Meanwhile there ha. been a meeting at the Mansion
}louse, the head-quarters of City philanthropy, for
another benevolent purpose—to relieve the distress
canned by the inundations in Italy. In that country,
venally an lowly and so tranquil, with deep blue skies
and balmy breezes, no less than 80,000 people have
been rendered homeless by the disaetrous floods. To
succour the distreesed, about 3,000 has already been
sent from England—her Maj esty subscribing £4oo—and
further help will be proffered. John Bull, with all his
faults, has a kind and generous heart.
The star of the agricultural labourer appears to be
in the ascendant. Not only is his position at home, if
he choeees to stop at home, improved on the whole,
but he receivee pressing invitations to accept a new
home in Canada, or Australia, or New Zealand, or
Brazil. Large numbers of farm labourers, with their
wivee and families have already emigrated, and such
inducements are now offered to others that we may
depend upon it a great many more will leave the old
country for some new one, where their position and
prospects will be much better and brighter than at home.
If this emigrating movement goes on to a large extent,
as appears probable, the tendency to a rise in the
wages of agricultural labour will receive an impetus
which may be far from pleasant fir the farmeno. But
as to any serious result, either to farmers or the com-
munity, there need be no fear of this yet and, in
fact, the movement among the agricultural lalsiurers
may be regarded by the general public with unmiti-
gated satisfaction.

Enthurisam produces some strange things, an I n t
the least among them is that curious freak on the part
of Sergeant Bates, of carrying the American standard
from Gretna Green to the heart of the city of London,
to maintain his opinion, originally fortified by a wager,
that neither the American flag nor its bearer would
receive any insult during this long journey. It seems
that he has a paid= for this Dort of thing. After the
Civil War in his owncountry he carried the Union flag
through the whilom Confederate States, and if it is