The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-12-26 00:00:00

01313 C STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

Mon, the relations between capital and labou-r, said the public
expenditure, and while cautioning his hearers not to expect
that any administration could at once deal with every great
public question, he prepared his beaten for an immediate
reduction in the estimates. Taking the Irish Church last, he
criticised the manner in which his policy had been met by
his opponents, and repudiated the idea that there was any
analogy whatever between the position of the established
church in England and that ttf the state church hi Ireland,
which had been condemned by the voice of the people In the
three kingdoms.
• Mr. Childers, the First Lord of the Admiralty, devoted his
speech to naval affairs and the Irish church Ile briefly
alluded to the reforms which were necessary, for the proper
working of his department, and wnich he blended to carry
out tin the treat question of the day, on which the national
verdict had just been taken, he expressed himself in favour
of a just, moderate, and conciliatory policy.
At Birmingham, Mr. Bright entered fully into the reasons
for Ma taking office, and explained why he had preferred
the Board of Trade to the India-Ake. In speaking of the
Irish Church, he maintained that the time for evniest and
determined action had come. lie rejoiced that the ballot
had made as many converts, and declared that no govern-
ment would deserve the confidence of the people unless it
could carry 1111 the affairs of the country at a smaller ex-
penditure than seventy millions a year.
Mr. Goschen, as the President of the Poor-law Board,
hoped and believed that great improvements, both legislative
and administrative, were possible in the department over
which he had been called upon ti preside.
At the University of London, Mr. Lowe, the new Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer, briefly thanked the constituency for
his roelection, and in the few observations which he made,
the right honourable gentlemen avoided any pointed refer-
ence to any public question.

ALEXANDER SELKIRK, THE ORIGINAL
OF "ROBINSON CRUSOE."

..... .........--
It WU lately announced that Commodore Powell
and the officers of Her Majesty's ship Topeze had
erected, in the Island of Juan Fernandez, a tablet to
the memory of Alexander Selkirk, the tablet bearing
the following inamiption
"lii memory of Alexander Selkirk, mariner, a native of
Largo, in the county rtf Fife, Scotland, st.ho tired on this
island in complete solitude for four years and four months.
lie was landed from the Cinque Porte galley, 96 tons, 18 guns,
A.D. 1704, and was taken qr its the Duke privateer, 12th of
February, 1700. He dted Lieutenant of II M.S. Weymouth.
.1.1) 1723, aged 47 years. This tablet is erected near Selkirk's
tool-tat, by Commodore Powell and the officers of H.M.S.
Topeze, A.D., 1868."
The following letter has just been sent to Commodore
Powell :
"Having seen a paragraph in an Edinburgh palter, taken
from a letter received front the West Coast of South Ante-
-1710,1, in which the writer mentions that Commodore Powell
anti officers of Her Majesty's atop Topers are about to erect
on the island of Juan Fernandtz a tablet to the memory of
Alexander Selkirk, whose history is popularly believed to
have afforded Defoe the materials of his attractive story, and
Shut the countrymen of Selkirk will be glad to know that
naval tacos at this distant period with to show respect to
his good name, we beg to return you our sincere thanks for
the great honour done to our departed relation. we being the
only lineal descendants of the name, and having in our prat-
sesshot an interesting relic, which he hail with hint on the
island- namely, his tlip-ean, of which Howell, in his Life of
Selkirk, gives the following description—
Rot by fur the most interesting relic is his flip-Can, in
possession of his great-gland-nephew,
john Selcraig. It
holds about a Scottish putt, and is made of brown atone-
ware glared ; it resembles ,a connuon porter jug as used at
the present day. On it is the following inscription and
lousy—as in former tittles everything belonging to a sailor
that would admit of it had its rhyme
'Alex,. Selkirk, this is my one.
' Whets you tne take on board of ship,
' Pray fill me full with punch sw flip.'
In conclusion, we beg to state that if you or any Of your
officers were ever visiting Edinburgh, and wishing to see
this relic, we should feel proud in showing it to you, or to
any other person who may feel interested in seeing it. In
Iname of our relations, I am, Sir, your ntost obedient Ban'allt,
THOMAS SHUHAIG, 2, blenorchy-place, Greet:wide-row,
Edinburgh."

Mr Layard, after expressing a hope that there would be a
reduction in the ational expenditure, spoke at some length
on the Eastern question, and characterised Lord Stanley's
speech at Lynn, in the middle 1 November, as one of the
causes of the disturbed relations between Turkey and
Greece.
- •

The other Ministers re-elected were Mr. Forster, the Vice-
Pr, sideut of the Council, at Bradford ; Mr. Mansfield, the
Third Lord of the Treasury, at Halifax; Lord John Hay, one
of the Lords of the Admiralty, at Ripon ; and Captain the
lion. J. C. Vivian, the new War Lord of the Treasury, at
Truro.

SATURDAY, DEC. 26, 1868.

and addressing are in full progress now. A large building snit laughter.) _ God designed woman to be the aid Paris house an agency for velset f_mrom ann and Co ,of
Ilk. a gigantic bank, long countera and tables intersecting it, anal c anfort of man, and in order that she might be so, Manchester, and for whom he can selling goods very freely
hing out lad
rtr be had endowed her with faeulties amply sufficient to to the best houses, he asked the a.i,efelidents, in case Mann
lof i tel ivgealyloeraesh.s ritin= round iLd4t.ot :.t, 7 1 roof
r, elm fla t
. 8 .I.gld_
attain every species of kretwledge. If the ineu were anal Co . should write to Omm fah,r rid ranatio.ito resipeaaing him
I ther again ru
,
tables, others with lame n paper parcels like baes calco,
educated and thew menutP ere not, the coimtry might to m lot 1 enough to satiety t em upon th ,po ~
Mann and Co. also wade to the defendanta,-' We will
an os sen o theeat carts to walling ;
monotonous erns of the vat bias journ Is' titles., and ever get on, but what sort of a getting on would it be? A thank you to give us what information ).0 can as to th
de
an anon a stimulating or encouraging word from an man with literary and scientific tastes might ad well position. means, and respectability of Ir. StUrgee." In
active little man who acts as general-such WWI the marry a savage as an Uneducated w
woman. And then answer the defendants wrote.-
scene. " The greM thing," we are assured, is "to
get the work done in time. From five to six la our what ; rewiihna.etruie,unrittyanoeei,l:u,_ritaisaufniwcaoteamantogy:
atitimt,h,.e. Dear Sira,-In answer to yours of the 18th, websve known
phere of the hresule 1 What motive hail the man Mr. Sturges of Lytton, and Paris for many 'ears, we believe
about eleven, and have always found hirn most regular and
flortatte:s,,i.rua
osh,ne aorrnother
ooniltyholay.wartytterhaiiint,gs. anialh
nearlyec,.;eareartebw e
ail his tramactiom with us, which have not teen
all about 6a m. There's one if the Loudon and Chatham's to wander from his home unless his calling carried him prompt in
small s, due few years ago we advanced him X 6,000 onto:nu,
enes at 5. TO-that's the earlieM of MI ; lout the great bulk yu id awn-. ,e came an hour or two ago frui t ashool of and Oh is now in process ad repay anent aemi-annually ;
the newspapers even toy tht line leave by a train at 6.15 : a ditferent character. There were before him some three imtalmeuts remain to he paid off and we hane t-a
and between 6, which is a
the time of the London and 600 lonic and girls, taken, as he understood, from the dou:cl the claim will be met with the same regale] by as all
Brighton, to 6.30 the South Eastern's and 6.35 Waterloo, the,. proaalin ! amounts. Ilas lite 18 Ms, :ly n.siared (4;10,00o ,
• ' - mat we held the policy ate security fort':r advance. 1118 con-
plan now at the Great W estern. They've given us a room on whom were the pair slittehlacks. who wandered about
trains of all the great London lines go out. We've got anew very Poorest of the poor of Oils metropolis, amougs,,
Pm:lions are all of the first I.wder, ail we comider him in
the platform, and we've eighteen Dieu there who do all the in the atreeta in the hot.. I,f hutting a dirty foot and a every respect a thriving 1111-1 prosperous 81811"
folding, addressing, and checking you see going on for the penny. They were all Voiglit reading and writing, What the plaintiff relied on as nain.statements in thia
other lines here now-close to the train. The papers are
and the institution was presided over by a mall who letter were these-, We have altv,,ys (unit! him most
taken down direct from the various offices just as .
WOO a nobleman by birth, it was true, but who had a regular and prompt in aall hi. transactions; and "We cam.
they leave the preen and don't come near this cen-
tral department. Then, tha North Wcatern Company grant of noloilitir from a higher source than kings and ider him in even N. respect a thriving and I, ..iperons man
accommodates us in another way. On their line we querns could give. It was the nobility which was JO 8!111 I plaintiff:lll,lll 1,4111 44 this view, lanai belie the jun.
if
ti
inft:.liLlzamrtanantt,i,
v,in,ht.he
he
ireadf,.:n,odd_wtaiaLti:a
.17, 'ine itutt'eney transactions' Inc ween Sturges and the ilafendan.l.
have a special alouMe carriage fitted up as a news- , ale placed prominently torward ihe fact Lbw the defendants
I room, and iu this four of our men go down by the load made Stunres several advances fur taxa., mums, era hail
early train an Ifold, and distribute papers all over the North of shaftesbury--(cheers)-who, with untiring zeal, talent security for mammal
Western Railway district. Their jonirney ends at Stafford
and they come back again every day by the two train. Our devoted himself to that institution. Before he cause The defeme was that tllO defelldlllllB thoroughly believed
truth Sturges had been ills thriving India,: perous positioa,
brown paper have printed Labels. you'll observe, pasted on by Dr. Birkbeek, of high skill and attainments,
system is a very shunt. um. These large sheets of stout to England he knew that this ins, itution was founded the statements at the time that they ma.: c them, and th d int
and would have continued in such a paella., a if he had not,
each side One of these is the agent's or customer's address: and who, while deriving a revenue of some ilB,ooo or unknown to the defendaids at the time Maaome a moulder.
the other is a list of the different newspaprs we semi out. kb 000 a year from his profession, began to think The case lasted for tw a days anal a had and tic e details
with blanks for the number to be supplied.e These are filled
in the day before by clerss who copy the particulars from that the best thing he could do was not to con- were numerous. intricate, and ulli ll terestoi :
,
the orderibooks, so that, as you see, when morning coMes, and c , attle to amass money, but to promote education, and The jury, after considering the matter n. r all hour and a
the brown covers are sorted into districts in this room, the with that view he founded this institution. What quarter, 14/111111 a verdict for the defendens, but said that
isa
,a2se,rs..hda
.7 tu.totyo
oc
fa Itlhoeuot
other
rill
Jaz::
hT The
roTitautteiso,no r.Dcaor,i f
in. they thought that the letter of Masers. li' tton of the bell
November to the plaintiff was most unguarded and lin-
ant,tighhotnieo;tirilieroWwhhoomenviledr envy the monument tat the
led armies through seas of
prudent.
hog to the Hat before them. The parcel is rad tied up mail blood if he could be able to secure upon his own
its contents are counted bnother man, no that there may
Inc no mistake. y a monument such words as could be, and should be, in-
scribed on the monument to be erected to the memory
This statement i. not given consecutively as written, but of Dr. Birkbeck. (Camera.) But he was not alone ha his
a. intervals in the course of lousy, omnipresent supervision.
Two clocks are so placed that the foreman speaking has the undvrtaking ; he had a coadjutor. able anal powerful
dial plate of one or other of them in sight wherever lie by position, to do everything necessary for the accona-
stands, and the great struggle is no have the many bulky plishment of 1)r. Birkbeek's purposes. It was he who
parcels tied up in time for the carts in waiting. The said, and said with truth, what he believed was never
advertisement sheets of The fines are being folded 1111W11
stairs-the main portion of that journal has not yet come 111. said before, however obvious the truth, that the pen Wati
This folding takes place IIOWD stairs, where a large depart- mightier than the sword ;it was he who said that what.
meat fitted up with steam engines and folding machines is as ever power there was abroad which might possibly en-
busy as the one Irmo whence we have descended. The danger the freedom of England and of the world, there
apparatus only requires feeding, the broad damp sheet was one power which was mightier than all-the
being placed on the top of what looks like a printing press, schoolmaster was abroad- (cheers), anal he devoted
Or om svilich it is swept to a seoind, third, anal fourth
Id himself, with the energy belonging to his character, to
compartment below, each sweep giving at a fresh fo until it
do everything he could to assist in the formation, and
emerges at the bottom in the shape in which newspapers are ,
sold over the counter or from the bamk-stall. There are aiterwania in the continued progress, of this institu-
nine of these steam machines each folding a thousand an tion. (Chem s. )
hour, and all busily at work. It ia but a small percentage .....---
of the newspapers sent out, however, which are folded here
-the majority lacing sent out in bulk, and in the shape of
linen bales. Every was and boy we see is busy, awl one new
machine, specially adapted for the extra Christanas supple •
intents of the weekly journals is espemally occupied just now.
A hawse rumble of wheels, a rude clatter of hasty footsteps
overhead, a somod as if some massive dead weight falling
omen wood, and a vague impremion of extra bustle up-
stairs, tells our guide that the remaining portions of the
leading journals have arrived.
It is now 5.13, and the passing of each minute is watched
jeolatioly The other newspapers arrive almost simul-
taneously. The orgmixed turmoil iecreases apace. What
seems to the uninitiated scle a chaos evolves order soil of its
own BCCIII.II, each human atom stooping, bending, hammer.
ing, Boding, tieing up, and carrying off as if bent upon its
own share of the Madness alone, and the efforts of all cu-11-
verging tan the one great purpose of feedbag the red carts
Two Pod-oftice vans drive no, atad are speedily filled with
hales of printed matter for the early mada. " Hallo,
Jerokim ! (energetically , what's thin?' appbea to a yomg
man in, shirt sleeves and ap on, whip him Imuscd foes monneot
to blow his nose. " Arf a minute only, sir. Tomkins is a
fetchin' of 'em in," is given in reply, but peuitentially,
anal extra energy is at mice y
break oisplayed, as if in
condonation ad the momentar ; for pausing means
delay, and delay would le fatal to the entire scheme If a
hundred anal thirty men and boys perei-ted in using their
pocket-handkerchiefs twice between 5 am. and lam., one
hundred and fifty thousand families would be kept behind
the world for hours. So all work together with a will anal
withont intermission till the last cart goes. The foreman is
übiquitous Now at the door superintending the loading,
now exchanging a hasty word with the beanled lx.king
clerk, who sits in a glans sentry.box at the entratme, to tick
off the bales despatched, and enter them in his ledger, now
hailing the staff on the first gallery, who are burly with the
stamped collies, now casting a rapid eye upon the workers,
and now again admonishing all present of the fleeting time.
Although the extreme strain is, as we have said, from 5 to
6 am . the working morning houra are front 4,45 am. till 8,
the Irish and foreign mails claiming attention after the first
trains have left. Se far, we have noticed chiefly the large
parcels. But besides these brown paper monsters are snug
circular packets, like large Catherine wheels, or bundles of
81.1111119, which follow in the wake of their big brethren, to be
like them borne off to the four points of the compaas by cart
anal train. These are the single copies for such people as
live near some station which is too small and insignificant to
support a book-stall. Each squib is a newspaper folded as if
for post, and with an address which in set up 81141 printed
fresh each day. These are left simply at the stations. and
are arranged for privately my their consignees. Certain rail-
vinyl, such as the Great Western, the Great Northern, the
Midland, and the North Western, issue halfpenny
stamps for these which frank them to their destination on
the line. On others, such as the London, Chatham, and
Dover, the South Eastern, the South Western, the Great
Eastern, and the London .d Brighton, they are carried with
the larger parcels at the " lunoped " price per cwt. as goods.
No dwelling is too insignificant and no disuiet too remote to
be reached by the agencies we see; and to behold the dumb
sheets first beaten, patted and caerced into bulky masses,
81141 then thrown heavila into the vehicles and hurried off,
and to then reflect Ilp.lll all whim!' this mechanical process
implied, was as if some wizard had lifted the veil anal shown
us the pulsatiam of the great worid's heart. The tidings of
pay and grief, the news conveying prosperity to one family
and ruin to another, the fate of empires and the corriltion of
nations, the state of the weather at the Orkney Islanals, the
price of shares on the Stock Exchange, the number of tome
the Omen waived on the W ion I sor slopes, the " form" of the
racing favourite of the hour, the bit r idiom of the Miniatry,
the latest squabble between parish guardims, the last
murder, the roost recent eafcrt ol public benevoletoce, ethos,
theology. politics, and science-are ail peeked up and sent
forth On their mission. The single word "news " comprises
these, and early morning at a great newsagent's has a poetry
in its very prose.

—Singing