Widnes Examiner. — 1884-11-01 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

POSTMASTER-GENERA; On the subject, and has received a reply which will make Sir IttEcniim:Gnoss and. others of that ilk wince; if they are "made of penetrable stuff." Mr. Taw= 'explains. as he has done before, that the •Post Office is supplied with cards' from the Inland Revenue Department, and that thexards are obtained by that Department under contract with "an eminent firmof -private stationem in London." The bulk of the material, it has been ascertained, does come from Germany, but it iá obtained by purchase by the • contractors—a matter, over which the Government has no control, nor can they have, unless they were to go the absurd length of stipulating, as Mr. FAINcETT puts it, "that, where English products I are available, no portion of the material they supply should be of foreign growth or manufacture." To mention such a thing is, as it seems to us. to rencl-N- it ridiculous. Once started on such a wild-goose chase of Protection, where should we have to stop? We should have to insist, as the POSTMASTERGENERAL points out, that "if the Government invited tenders for clothing, or biscuits for the army, no foreign wool or foreign corn should be used in making the clothes or the biscuits." Foreign countries would, as a matter of course, retaliate ; and England, the workshop of the world, would find that the game of boycott she had commenced would terminate in commercial suicide. But to the Tory slanderers the sting of Mr. FAWCETT'S letter lies in the tail, and is put forth with some effect when he states that the very firm that makes these purchases of post-card material from Germany is engaged in making foreign stamps to such an extent that "the amount which is paid away to English workmen engaged in making these stamps, and executing other orders which they receive  from foreign and Colonial Governments far exceeds the amount of their purchases from foreign countries." What, after this revelation? Shall we commence the process of cutting off the nose in order to spite the face? Let Sir RICHARD CROSS and Co., answer, if  they can ; and, for the future refrain from telling " the old, old, story," or it may, after all, come to be characterised as "a wilful and deliberate lie."  THE majority of our readers will hear with satisfaction of the withdrawal of the demand for a poll of the burgesses on the question of levying a rate of Twopence in the pound in aid of the promotion of the Manchester Ship Canal scheme. There could be no question in the minds of those who were present at the Town's Meeting on Thursday night week that the bulk of the ratepayers of Warrington are in favour of contributing by means of a rate. We do not say that there were no dissentients present, or that the small proportion who made themselves conspicuous were not backed by others who did not care to hold up their hands against the motion ; but we do say that the meeting—taking it as a whole—was fairly representative of the burgesses, and that its opinion was expressed in no equivocal manner. Had there been reasonable ground for doubting what would be the issue of the poll, Mr. THOMAS MORRIS, who made the demand for one, would doubtless have felt justified in persevering with his opposition to the rate. As it is, having made his protest against what he regards as the imprudence of taxing the public for the support of what, from a commercial point of view, is a private undertakin, he, has acted wisely in giving way rather than put the town to serious expense with the view of ascertaining what, it must be admitted, was a foregone conclusion. But a poll was objectionable, not only on the score of the cost, but because of the bad feeling which it was likely to engender. Abeady there have been some hard things said, and the war of' words was ' waxing fast and furious. It will be some ! satisfaction to those who have deprecated the course Mr. MORRIS has pursued to' know that, if he had not taken action, the ! demand for a poll would have been made, and made too, we have reason to believe, by those who would have insisted on going forward with it. When the matter is looked at from this point of view, Mr. MORRIS may be said to have rendered a service. But we are not vet out of the wood ; it is for the Town Council now to say what shall be done as to the proposed rate. It may be that they will be confronted with the legal obstacle which previously blocked the way; or has it been removed in setting about a new scheme? The Corporations of Salford and of Manchester seem to have no hesitation in the matter, for they have this week met the wishes of the inhabitants of these boroughs by deciding on a levy of Twopence in the pound. It is now for the Corporation of Warrington to say what it will do.  NEW POOR RATES —At the Runcorn Petty Sessions OR Monday the makistrates signed a poor rate of 101. in the £ for the township of Norton. A similar rate was signed for the townships of Stockham and Sutton. flaurcirt