The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-09-21 00:00:00


ir francs at Hamburg—, and io now winn ii2,000-tiay
(13111. .3011/An V•lit/rnOlPittUt at* Supposing this to be true, bow long will it Lot, and
when will the tables be turned? Ililronwhile the public
(we deem it right to state that we do not at ell Oases at home may be congratulated on • professional rip
isiontity ourseivse lima oar Correepondeuto opinions I
cular sender and bookmaker being fined £lOO for-
-
I elippose we may consider that we lmowthe worst of.' promising to show people how to make a week
by
the affair of the Alabama, as it is popularly called, paying halhaerowa 1 Of COUIP. if 1 cau appy this
when we kindv that we shall have to pay the pretty system to
lihnself he can soon pay is line.
little penalty of three millions and • quarter sterling The philosophers' stone has been discovered at last!
for our neglect and careleesnes in allowing the depreda- People have been looking for it a long while. Pliny
tionsof the Confederate schooner!; hut—there is always tellt us that the Emperor t biligula prepared a certain
a" but "--we shall also have to pay very heavy costs or ! mineral by which he could make gold, but that be
expel.ec incurred by our agent's, as well as handsome found the coat exceeded the profit 1 To take a leap of
pay to them. This is ruuch better than the affair might several centuries, I f nil that a Dr. Price in 1703
have turned out, but, on the other hand, it is rather published an accouut of his experiments in making
annoying inasmuch as, but for this affair, we should in I gichl, some alleged specimens of which be showed to
all probability have had a glorious budget next 7.Ar• • (Lora., the Third ; but that the learned alchemist, on
Mr. Lowe will ttnintibtedly have a large simples. The being
challenged by the It iyal Society to prove his
I
revenue tor the het quarter is £29,0921,037, as omn- gate, poisoned himself 1 It is to be hoped that in this
pared with .6211,837,154 for the corresponding quarter respect history will not repeat itself in the ease of the
of the previous year, showing an incr.'s° of upwards man at San Fraraisco, who now besets that he has dis-
of two millions ant a quarter sterling. From many covered the philosophers' stone, and that in a few
tither facts we can draw the came comforting wrwhisi" weeks he can manufacture enough gold to freight a
that the ciaustry is rich and prosperoua, and so we shall veseel 1 Of coo se no one else believes ouch a
be very well able to pay Brother Jonathan's bilL It is monstrous assertion, and it is very doubtful whether
perhaps very much owing to our being so proeperous the wan believes it himself. 'rue true philosophers'
that we have taken the presentation of his little bill 80 stone is tabour.
quietly.
Some of our military critics have been very severe
upon the officers who have taken leading parts in the
Autumn Manoenvres, and probably the criticism may
be well deserved, but I profess to know nothing of the
matter. I only hope that the game will prove to be
worth the candle, and I doubt whether any of our
authorities can decide whether this be so or not. The
Autumn Maneuvers of bet year cost the country
*taw I:50,000, and thee that have just been got through
will probably cost still more. It is to be hoped that
we shell never be able to ascertain whether this money
is well laid out, for that knowledge can only come out
of Bartel compariaos between sham warfare and sub-
juent real warfare.
A great many people who are not Volunteers have
gone over to Belgium on the occasion of the fates and
the Volunteer fraternisation, and few better place for
enjoying a boll lay could be found than Ghent, the
centre of attraction just now. Ghent, or (land, is one
.d the roost intereeting towns in Europe, and is
specially remarkable for its mingling of ancient and
modern, for its memorials if the Middle Ages and its
modern enterprise and activity. The British Volun
teens are doubtless having a most enjoyable holiday.
and lee braces Betties are giving them a most
cordial welcome. We shall, no doubt, in due
time return the compliment, and thus the bonds of in-
ternational friendship will be strengthened. But really,
after eh there is nothing particularly to rejoice at in
this so far as Belgium is concerned. It used to be
said of the French that they were our natural enemies.
We have long since got rid of that notion—ever since the
Crimean campaign—but certainly it may be well said
of the Belgians that they are our natural friends. For
the moment we are in a state of effervescing friend-
ship ; but a little enthusiasm in so good • cause will do
no harm.
The first important experiment of the ballot in
action—for the instance of Pontefract was hardly a
fair criteri4n—certaioly leaves much to be desired.
The accounts of the operation of the ballot at Preston
differ considerably, but the general conclusion, I think,
must be that the Act will sooner or later have to be
modified, and, if so, it will be well to do this before the
next general election.
At a meeting of the ecurt and Governors of the
Bank of EugOnsl, in that mysterious and awful
chamber, the Bask Porboir, a motion was made which
may be regarded SR a straw showing which way the
wind blows, though the result shows that the wind at
present is not very strong. One of the proprietors—
for be it known that the Bank of England is not, as is
rather commonly supposed, a Government, but a pro-
prietary concern -moved that the Board should use its
authority to prevent their c erks becoming partners in
the Civil Service Supply A.ll)CiAtioo. The motion was
not seconded, and the chairman said the Board declined
to intim fere with their clerks in this way. Very liberal
this of the Bank dircutora, and the clerks will rejoice
accordingly ; but this motion is worth notice inasmuch
as it may be the commercement of an important
movement. There is avi ry strong feeling springing
up against these co operative aesociations on the one
baud, while they are proving themselves very valuable
to their members on the other. When tradesmen de-
olare they are being " ruined" by these associations,
and when innumerable members of the great public
maintain that they have been greatly benefitted by
these asenciations, the battle is likely to be severe ; but
I do not believe that anything will stop the progress of
these societies.
Visitors to London who may not have pahlu ia visit for
roux two or three years befere the present time cannot
hut have been struck with the iininense advance tacit
has been made in the adoption of asphalte for road-
ways in the metropolis and for pavements in the
suburbs. The fact shows that if an invention or im-
provement if any kind can but obtain fair play, or any
appeomb to it, it will go ahead. There was immense
opposition at first, on the part of vetted interests, to
the employment of asphalte, and there is ital-ed a
great deal of opposition still, but its use is gradually
making headway, and the superiority of it to what it
has theplahid is beyond all dispute. To mention only
one advantage—le. noise. When cur country friends
visit London they very commonly remaik that they
cannot sleep for the noise. The difference iii this
respect now in those localities where asphalts, has been
laid down is remarkable.
Every now anti then the much-suffering public
receives a shock from this or that class of working men,
and it is scarcely too much to say that we are living in
• state of excitement, and indeed have been living in
this condition for some time peat. A year or two ago
the cabmen threatened a universal strike, and the
dwellers in and about London were apparently
doomed to walk instead of cabbing it; but this storm
blew over. Then the undertakers threatened a Amish
taneous strike, and there V/11101aprobability that we should
be even refused burl ; but this calamity too passed
away. Latterly the bakers have threatened to deprive
London of its bread—abort at likely a state of things
as London being deprived of air or smoke; and now
the lamplighters menace rei that if their demands are
not complied with, they will, "so gum as winter nights
set in," leave us in darkness. But we are calm under
the threat; we know there is no dancer of anything of
the kind. Why, if we cannot have our lempit lighted
in the ordinary and legitimate way we will light them
ourselves, and when we get tired of that we will have
them lighted simultaneously by electricity. It can Lie
done easily enough.
Whatever other trades may or may not succeed in
their contests with employers, I hope the journeo man
bakers may obtain a victory, ant in this I believe I
agree with nearly all impartial peratins who have
watched the struggle now going on. The increase
in their wages which they ask is very small, but
the point on which they most insist and in re-
spect to which they moot readily obtain the sym-
pathy of the public, is that the working day shall
cotedist of 12 hour. only, from four a.m. to four pin.
Surely this is reasonable entouhlo. But then if this
should deprive the public of the luxury of having hot
bread and hot retie in the morning ! It is by no means
certain that the adoption of these h mri would have
this effect, but if it. slitillhl-80 much the better for the
public, say I. Di ctors proveiblally differ. but I be-
lieve they pretty well all agree that hot bread in any
shape or form is more or lees hilarious, and that hot
rolls are espechslly the f uitf el c suse ef indict-idiots and
heartburn. But then the abolition of Sunday bakings
is threatened. So much the better. What right has
• small section of the public to insist on any parti-
cular class of men slaving on the Sunday? Beeitles
this, bakiiig a dinner is notoriously the most wasteful
and extravagant mode of cooking it.
The thought has occurred to me that it might have
been a good thing for this country had the price of
coal gone on increasing to a much higher figure
than at present, instead of going down, as is
now the case, or, if not, very soon will be ; for had
the price continued going up we should sand oubtedly
have had discoveries or supplies of coal that we now
perhaps shall not have. But even as it is, there it a
probability uf coal ultimately becoming much cheaper
than we have had it for years. For the first ti eha the
history of England or France coal has been ordered be
the former of the latter. The colliery proprietors of the
Facile Calais have contracted to send us a quarter of a
million of tons of coal; Belgium, too, continues to send
us coal ; and it seems that we have 'great ex-
pectations" from our colonies and dependencies. It
e stated that "coal of a very superior
quality
abounds in Assam. and the carboniferous district is
traversed in its whole length "by a splendid navigable
river," and that in other districts of India there are im-
mense supplies which labour and enterprise can com-
mand. It seems, too, that nearly a million tons of coal
were raised in New South Wales in 1863, and that the
number of collieries is every year increasing in that
coleny ; while coal is also found in Queensland,
Victoria, Tasmania, New Zealand, Vancouver'. Land,
and South Africa. An abundant coal supply, and
therefore lower prices, can safely be reckoned upon ; it
is onlya queetion of time; and it is well kno an that
high pricet stimulate production without any other
argument being necessary. Meanwhile, if we will but
be moderately eemiond,al, we have nothing much to
fear, even is the ensuing winter.
I have often heard of people who have reduced bet
ting to a &deuce, and who could guarantee always to
win if they could .sly get people to aid in earl ying
out the system. There is just now a fortunate gentle-
man who appears to have reduced play at the gaming
tables to a science. Ile luta won, they say 300,000

Be.ides

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