The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1879-12-06 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

WHAT PEGPLE ARE BAYING.  People are saying that it is satisfactory that the Town Council has in view the necessity of keeping the ferry track clear, ad is prepared to make monthly reports to the Dock Board on the subject. , People are saying that a red-hot poker may be a handy and effective. wea§on -to clear a house with, but that a Birkenhead woman named Edwards, who is suckling a baby, and has been sent to prison for three months, has discovered th It the only individual who may use it with impunity is our jocose and familiar friend, the pantomime clown. People are saying that the Conservatives are going to have a demonstration in the Theatre Royal on Wednesday, the 16th inst., when Mr. David Mablver will, probably, favour his constituents with further explanations of the views, on "Reciprocity" and other matters, which he has found it necess, ry to advertise in the Tory papers of this district. People are saying that Mr. T. B. Hughes showed the " white feather" on Monday night by neglecting to put in an appearance at the ratepayers' meeting at Liscard ; and that it was not handsome conduct for him to leave his comrades in the larch, as he had been the prime mover in the matter of the proposed " ,improversents," the nature and probable cost of which cause the public co stand aghast. People are saying that the public of Tranmere do not appear to be very anxious to have a branch of the Government School of Art located in the useless board offices on the Holt, there having been at the meeting, called to promote the object, held on Thursday, only some thirty soulb ; and that, unless it deigns to speak out on the matter more emphatically, it is not likely that the Town Council will do for it what has not yet been done for Birkenhead folk. . .  People are saying that a Birkenhead man got married and then drunk; that he was so impressed with his good fortune that he went about Park-street asking persons to shake hands with and congratulate him; that he attracted the attention of an unsympathetic policeman; and that he has had an affecting interview with Mr. Preston, which, as it has resulted in him being fined, will, no doubt, assist him to bear in mind the "happiest day of his life." People are saying that it was stated at the County police court, on Thursday, that a lad named Ellison, whose father resided at Hoy. lake, preferred to sleep in the fields with sheep to going to school; and that how such a lad as he may be advantageously dealt with and won to the ways of civilization, as represented by the master of a national school and a lithe cane, is one of those proAems which it would puzzle even greater philos.phers than the members of the Wirral School Attendance Committee to solve.  People are saying that the representatives of the Beacombe Ratepayers' Association, Messrs. Kelly, Hawkins, and Birchall, adopted on Monday evening a very proper tone; that they opposed the extravagant propositions of the Local Board in a perfectly legitimate way ; and that it was clearly proved that the ratepayers, who do not wish to have he district saddled with further burdens, it being already weighted with a debt of half-a-million of money or thereabouts, were in thorough sympathy with them.  People are saying that no less than five eaagistrates attended at the County police court on Thursday; that this may be regarded as an indication that they are desirous of atoning for their remissness of last week ; that a person who had had a case adjourned for their convenience then asked that it might be adjourned for his; that the request was granted, one of the justices remarking "the newspaper would declare it was their fault" if the proper course was not pursued ; and that it is refreshing to find a bench of magistrates showing themselves alive to public opinion. People are saying that a Mr.:Bennion, having been summoned for assaulting his wife, went to the police station, and requested the authorities to lock him up ; that they refused to do so; that they turned him out of the "hooking office ;" that, unobserved, he crept back to the place and seized the clerk by the neck ; that a struggled ensued; that he was ignominiously defeated; that in his defeat he was victorious, for, when he had been overcome, he was accommodated with lodgings ' in the bridewell ; and that, as ie was necessary for him to take so much trouble to get to a place which most persons are anxious to avoid, the suspicion will be engendered that the place possesses charms which the majority of the public wot not of.  People are saying that the difference between the greetings awarded to Mr. Nelson and to Mr. Ball at the Liecard meeting on Monday showed pretty clearly that the posing of the latter as an exponent on gas matters was considered almost ridiculous; that, as Mr. Ball had been but a short time a member of the Board, while Mr. Nelson had served the district long and faithfully, tLe attack of the former upon the latter was in very bad taste; that Mr. T. B. Hughes and the gas manager were conspicuous by their absence from the meeting; and that the hint thrown out by Mr. Belly as to who would have to pay for the " Dowson Panorama" will prove the herald of an interesting discussion before the Government auditor next year, although rumour has it that one who might be expected to be a principal actor in the affair will then be far away. People are saying that a woman named Ward tried to commit suicide in Chester. street by swallowing poison; that she was taken to the Borough Haspital, and, afterwards, to the police station; that at the police station she was discovered to be in so bad a state that she had to be removed back to the hospital ; that she appears to have been treated with inhumanity, in having been thus dragged about while in a prostrate condition; that when she was brought before Mr. Preston it was stated that she hat made many determined attempts to commit suicide, and had suffered nine months' imprisonment lor essaying self-destruction: that there must surely be something amiss with the law when a half-crazy creature may be made to suffer at the hands of Justice as she has been; and that it is pitiable to see magistrates sentencing to imprisonment poor souls whose only fault is that they hod the burden of life heavier than they think they can bear.