The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1872-10-01 00:00:00

Dart &mufti Expreos.

TUESDAY, °crown' 1, 1872.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

It happens that the Court will actually be
kept in mourning only three days for the death
of the half-sister of Her Majesty. The
mourning of the late King of Sweden would
have lasted until the 17th of October, and the
three weeks' mourning now ordered for the
Princess of flotenlohe-Laagenburg will only
extend to the 20th. This arrangement will be
oonvonient for courtiers. As for the Queen
herself, the garb of mourning is unfortunately
nothing exceptional to her, and we may expect
that her attire will be of the most sombre hue
for some time to come. As • sister she will not
be content with the short period of mourning
which court etiquette prescribes alike for royal
strangers and for the near relations of royalty.
The death of this half-sister completes the
Queen's bereavement of relatives of her own
generation; but ahe is compensated to a con-
siderable extent by possessing a numerous and
Increasing family of children and grand-children.
The recent extra-Parliamentary utteranoes of
Mr. Lowe and Mr. Forster, and the so-called
judgment of the Lord Chief Justice in the
Geneva arbitration, have given us something
more interesting to talk about than the weather
or the working of the Lioenshig Bill Such
speeches as that of Mr. Lowe at Glasgow and
that of Mr. Forsterat Bradford,stir the previously
stagnant political atmisphere, just as the winds
are freshening the air about us, anai induce
speculation upon the coming but still distant
session. Both these right hon. gentlemen
evidently have confidence in themselves and in
the Ministry of whioh they are distinguished
members. They can point to various difficult
legislative tasks accomplished during the last
session, and to the settlement of the American
difficulty, which, in spite of the Lord Chief
Justice's protest, is generally regarded as a '
success. The position of Ministers "on the
stump" is really much better than it was last
year; and, with a surplus of income sufficient
to pay the American bill, instead of devoting
the money to the reduction of the national!
debt, there seems to be at present no Notions
difficulty in the path of the Government. Mr.
Lowe himself will probably regret the destination
more than the generality of people will. Even
out of the autumn maniuuvres " the Ministry
have been able to make some capital, although
competent judges pronounced the whole affair
a blunder. Some little time ago • banquet in
celebration of the sham campaign was given
at the Foreign Office; and now the Duke of
Cambridge, Mr. Cardwell, and Sir Henry Storks
have officially complimented the Control Depart-
ment on Its successful working during the
021113WWItel. At the lame time, however, it is
acknowleged that many defects in the organi-
zation of the Department require to be
remedied. It is at least satisfactory that the
high military authorities recognise these defects,
as the public may now expect them to be
remedied.

The main topic of talk with most of the M.P..
in the recess is the Agricultural Labourer—what
Is to be done with him if he insists upon stand-
ing out for the highest wages he can get out of .
the farmer under the threat of • strike at harvest
time. There has been talk of an agricultural
lock-out in the winter; but Sir Reinald
Knigbtley, the Tory M.P. for one of the divi-
'ions of Northamptonshire, hinted that, if this
plan is (married out, the poor man may not be
the only sufferer, and perhaps before the winter
is over we may find our gaol* fuller than the
workhouses. The true line to take, Sir Rainald
holds, is to meet the men frankly, to talk over
the queition, to show them by a plain statement
of (seta that the agitators on the stump are their
worst enemies, or, if a plan of retaliation is
forced upon the farmers, to look-out only union
men and this is substantially tbe plan recom-
mended by Lord Carnarvon and Sir George
Jenkinson. Mr. Lowe, speaking at Glasgow,
demonstrated very clearly and successfully that
strikes cannot permanently raise the price of
manufactured commodities. But his argument
rested eatirely on the assumption that a rise of
wages necessarily implies a rise of prices, and the
workmen may not unreasonably say that this is
begging the question. Their view is that there
is no fixed and immutable law aa to employers'
profits, and that it does not follow from the fact
that • master now makes his i:20,000 or £30,000
•-year, that this income, or the rate ef profit
upon which it is belied, icon no account to be
dirnished hereafter. It is tolerably certain that
in almost every trade there I. • margin for Wigg-
ling between masters and men without touching
the rate of pries.. In regard to the agricultural
labourer, Sir it. R'nightley's advice I. good—Let
farmers show the agitators are their worst
enemies? But can they I for it is put in this
way_ 'the poor down-trodden serfs could never
have organized a union successfully if left to
themselves." At any rate the agitators have
gained for the labourers • temporary enhance-
ment of their wages, and, although now harvest
I. OYU, the masters withdraw the increase, the
men have learnt from it the value of all the gush
which flows at agricultural meetings about the
paternal kindness of the occupiers of the land to
their labourers, and mistrust must henceforth
take the place of blind confidence. To have
their eye; opened in this way, though a painful
experience, may work out their salvation. Not
only is the labourer's rate of wages put back to
the former level, but we hear of inquiries being
made from house to house whether the father
of a family having parochial relief belongs
to the Union: with a view it is presumed to
pinching them by the withdrawal of the perish
pawns,. But, by thus calling attention to the
agricultural labour's connection with the Poor
Law Union, farmers are taking a dangerous
course: for the ratepayers in towns will without
doubt angrily protest against being mulcted in
heavy rates to supplement the poor pay of the
agricultural labourers. In towns artisans are
paid such wages that they can ensure help in
sickness by joining Friendly Societies; but the
agricultural labourer, with.
Si or Ds. a week,
cannot so provide for the evil clay, and when
sickness or death comes the pariah is his only
resort, and the better paid working-daises hays
to contribute to his maintenance. But while
hinting at a lock-out of Union men, Sir R.
Knightley has some fear that such a course may
this winter fill our gaols. Hitherto the
labourers have used their combined strength
with moderation and respectfully, but, befooled
as to their increase of waged, if they are now to
be Oppressed by • lock-out, who can foresee the
result And if evil comes of it, who will be to
blame? We trust, however, that the labourers
will show themselves to be men and Christians la
this crisis, and will quietly take such work
as may be offered to them in other parts of 14.