The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-25 00:00:00

COMMENTS ON CURRENT NEWS

Tr is pretty generally conceded that the
law of libel, as it affects the popular organs •
of intelligence, is in need of amendment in
the direction of affording further 4protection
to those whose accepted mission it is to serve
the pub ic with fair and impartial chronicles
of rill proceedings, utterance; and: occarren-
C 351 of general interest.. A number of mem-
-13,3rs of Parliament, special y qualified as
journa,lists or newspaper proprietoii to deal
with th question, have prepared and intro-
dacei a bill which aims at achieving this
ob;ed. The measure seeks to provide,
virLally, that an accurate report of the pro-
ceedings of any judicial Court, of any Board
or Corporation, or indee'l of any public body
shall be declared to be privileged. The
demand therein expressed is not, we think,
iat all an unreasonable one. is,reither are the
Ispokesmen of the press going at all beyond
, the nee Is of the case when they suggest
I that it should be enicted that any person
!non-welling a n..!wspaper proprietor to incur
kw expenses in dH ending himself against a.
. hoe' charge or suit should give security for
the defendant's costs as well as his own be-
fore being allowed to initiate proceedin ge
It would be manifestly unfair if any adven-
turous man of straw were left free to bring
a vexatious and baseless action, the defat of
which might be a matter of considerable
dis')ursernent ; and on the defendant obtain-
ing a verdict, leaving the latter to pay the
costs of his own vindieltion against wanton
and perhaps mllioions persecution, , because
the plaintiff was without the wherewithal to
produce the award of Court. Many a news-
paper man who has done nothing but his
duty has been thus "left in the lurch," and
had to smart heavily for refuting a foul and
altogether unwarrantable onslaught from au
enemy who had nothing to lose.
*• • -

Ma. STANHOPE'S answer to Col. Kennaway
in the House of Commons on Tuesday night
wives those who have the welfare of our
citizen soldiers at heart reason to hope that
it is the intention of the War Office author-
.ities to deal with Volunteers in a more liberal
spirit than has hitherto been displayed as
regards camping-out arrangements. It
would have been better-, however, if any in-
t::.nded sanctionino• of extra payments out of
the Capitation Grant, in respect of work
under canvas, had been announced well be-
fore the coming Faster; for then command-
ing officers would have been greatly aided in
°braining strong musters, and assuring the
performance of valuable holidayt de opera.
t ions by their respective 'corps.
••• ti

What wintry weather we have been ex-
periencing almost throughout the entire
area of these isles. "Blank wastes of pilar
snow" stretch over nearly every county,
piled up in deep drifts in the hollows and
valleys, impeding traffic, creating tremen-
dous inconvenience and occasioning heavy
loss. The accounts which have come to
hand of the seve, ity of the storms experi-
enced are remarkable reading in many cases.
.Men, women, and children have been lost in
the snow, and some have met a dreadful
death. There has been a sad sacrifice of life
among the sheep on the hills, railway travel-
ling. has been rendered almost as unsafe as
it is uncomfortable in, such freezing weather
while jut 'rcommuni'eation between many
ceun try places has been utterly impractic-
able, the delivery of food, parcelm, and letters
being ii censequence very greatly interupted
It is long s:nce sach heavy snowfalls have
occurred ire the mild Brighton district as
that which the other day buried a train on
the Dyke Hailway ; and storms of an ab-
normally rigorous eharacter have disagree-
ably' surprised the dwellers in sunny South
I)eron and other sheltered localities where
ice and snow are among the rarest of visitors
and the shortest of sojourners. In exposed
places, like the Derbyshire Peak country,
the scenery has for many days preeented au
Arctic. appearance, vv. oaths of snow yards
deep blecking up the Queen's highway and
compelling thepeople to stay wituin doors.
The weld hills of Yorkshire have been in an
analagous condition ; and in upland districts
generally this winter will long be emem-
bered for its "old-fa-hioned.' character.
France and many parts of Italy have also
lain under a white mantle as utr.vele,nne as
unexpected,while in Switzerland the snow
and frost have VC rought almost unpreeeden'..ed
havoc. A notieable feature of the great
stow-storms hich have fallen almest every-
where recently is thet they have scarcely
affected Loudon. Frost there has been in
the capital, and a long remaiug north-
easter,'.' wi:h sufficieni biting power to have
satisfied Charles Kingsley, but not enough
'snow to cause any ineonvenience Londoners
are very thankful for heing • spared a visit-
ation whieh would have dene heavy damage
in the congested streets of -"New Babylon."

Fan is a wholesome food, which in sea-
girt land like ours,,
_Ought always to he so
plentiful and cheap as to be purchasable by
the poorest. If the bill become law which
has been brought into the House of Commons
by a number of members representing Sr
,connected with fishing- constituencies, or
otherwise interested in sea fisheries, with a
view to, V'curing a low and uniform scale of
railway 1' ttes and charges for carrying fish
from the oorts of landing to the centres of
dist,ibuti,}:i for consumption, a boon will be
secured to the million. The limitless sup—
plies of fi.. abounding in British waters
ought to be served to the doors of the toilers
in town and country at the smallest possible
cost with the greattst obtainable facility,
and we to the railway companies will be
found deir ,ts of acting with liberality in
the matter.

T ExTOTALL ;MS and their natural opponents,
the iblicans, are rarely in a position to ap-
pro with equal warmth, of the result of a
curt pronouncement dioncerning the
:Tiontrade ; but both classes will be glad to
of the fine inflicted on a Cockerinouth
grocery firm for selling-"cowslip wine," con-
taining a higher proportiou of alcohol than
is found in good sherry. Temperance folk
who have beu gulled into drinking such
strong liquor under the pretext of its being
entirely non-intoxicating must be grieved
and annoyed at the revelation ; whilst the
licensed victualler and the spirit mei,:hant
have good ground for complaint against the
grocer who vends as "sweets" a drink, more
potent than any Madeira or Amontillado
obtainable of them.

FARMERS and all concerned in the growing
of grain and the keeping of cattle are tuank-
ful to Government for the announcement
made by Lord John Manners the other night
that it, is definitely intended to constitute a
new permanent Ste Department, with a
prominent Minis ir of the Crowu at its heal
to take charge of the interests of agriculture.
Thu piece of leg.tilation embodying this new
departure will, in its broad features, be one
Upon which M.P.'s of every shade of thinking
eau agree; for it is widely recognised that
tillage and stockraising are national in-
iu3erles much in need of encouragement and
support, the welfare of rthich is a matter of
personal moment to every individual in, the
CO raulanity. _ Lai