The Warwickshire Herald. — 1890-09-04 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

RICHARDSON ON SHORTER HOURS. The annual congress of the Sanitary Institute held at Brighton last week was brought to a close ton Saturday evening with a lecture in the Town Hall by Dr. W.H. Richardson on "Working Hours for Working Men." Dr. Richardson argued that from a sanitary point of view the working day should not exceed eight hours, and he con3idered that the reason this standard was not generally followed was due not so much to employers as to the public, who persisted in the most exacting manner, and for no useful purpose whatever, in making hard workers keep long hours. Ile admitted that work thrown upon the body as a whole was not usually 'injurious. It was when it was thrown upon one particular part or oorgan of the body that it was attended with evil results, causing first the failure of that organ, and then the premature death of the worker. Fox health's sake, therefore, work ought to be menaured out in accordance with the strain which it put om the body or the mind, or on both together. He contended, further, that the work should he measured out on the principle of adapting the application of the powers of man to his proper working necessities. With regard to the time tor relaxation, Dr. Richardson held above all things that Sunday ought strictly to be retained as a day of rest, not in the Jewish or Puritan fashion, but in such a manner as would give repose and change to mind and body. With an eight hours system of labour, he thought there must come also a b. tter system of recreation during the week, for he repudiated the notion that working men and women were not wishing for better and healthier pleasures than they had up to this time enjoyed. He contended, in conclusion, that Bank Holiday with its crash, shortness, and head-over-heels character, and with its entire dependence on the weather, ought thoroughly to be revised; that working men and women, like those of other classes, should have their longer vacation at convenient times, as they required it for the recreation and health of themselves and their families.  The Dearer Nays states that an English syndicate has secured the option of acquiring all the leading silver mines near Aspen, Colorado. The journal places the price at 27,000,000101. A ghastly tragedy is reported from Fontana, in the Austro-Italian frontier district, an agricultural labourer having murdered his wife and five children. Some Carabineers were sent to arrest him, but he was possessed of a gun, and threatened to shoot the first man who laid hand upon him. 'After vainly trying to secure him the troopers shot him dead. A miser at Dublin. Indiana, having no faith in banks, placed some 1,500d01. in gold in tomato cans. and then buried the cans under the brick floor in his cellar. Thieves have just relieved him of his responsibility. King Kalakaua, of Honolulu, has been entertaining at a magnificont banquet the leading American citizens in his dominion. The feature of the entertainment was the total absence of knives, forks, spoons, and even chop-sticks. A scheme for the defence of Landon in case of Invasion has just been formulated by the military authorities, in which the different volunteer, infantry, and cavalry regiments have been allotted posts commanding strategical positions round the metropolis.  Me! :;eptembor volume of Mr. Walter Scott " Canterbury Poets" Series will be " The PainterPoets," edited by Mr. Kineton Parkes.  - • An entirely new theory is, it is said, or gloated In Mr. David Symes's new work on "Evolution," to be issued shortly by Messrs. liegan Paul and Co. Messrs. Chatto and Windus will publish about the middle of Octcber "Five Years with the Congo Cannibals," by Mr. Herbert Ward, with more than 80 illustrations by the author and others.