The Potteries Examiner : — 1879-02-15 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England)

MTH'S- BY "QUIZ."  The Hollow-ware Pressers had a benefit at Batty's on Wednesday evening. They receive their benefits from their society, and look forward to yet further benefits when trade revives, hence their faithfulness to the old (but not improved upon principles, Union is strength and knowledge is power."  Th' owa mono' Mow's in a terrible stew, Cos Mester Hollins thinks a part is untrue ; Bur th Bible's as true an' as firm as Mow Hill, 'lt: th' vats life. whael th' lett, iloth  Longton—much nsaligncd" Lane End "—is looking up in some respects at least. At Mon-1 day's Police Court there were only four cases, and \ they were merely" drunks: There are windbags about who say the less wages earned and the! less work for policemen and magistrates; but "Quiz' neither believes in them nor their gospel. It is best, however, to let each trumpeter blow their own brazen notes as long as they like. and in order that they may continue to do so. and I not have cause to alter their tune, the best advice to those working men whose ears may have to suffer such musk is not to "Strike the Lyrt "  The old man stood before our office door raiding a placard announcing the British defeat and loss, and as he wiped his spectacles great drops of sweat stood out on his forehead and he groaned. "And this is that Blessed Benny Beaconsfield's Beautiful, Blundering, the Be-dizzened, Blockheaded, Blethering, Be-cussed ola B—." (The other B's which buzzed into my ear are unfit for publication). The finishing touch was, "Cannot we be starved oil fast enough then, but good Englishmen must now be butchered in batches to write a mongrel Jew's name in blood on our country', history. 0-0.0.0 h ! if I had the drivelling old curmudgeon here id-'. (Quiz ran into the office in a state of alarm out of the way of the old man's young oak tree which was flourishing in those parts just then.)  Leech's sketch in "Punch some time ago of i the miner who thrashed his wife for giving the milk to the child instead of the bull-pup has been verified in the case of Mr. Williams, locksmith, o; Willenhall, who kept a running dog, which he fed on beef bones and joints of incnt. His poor wife and children having but little to eat, the former naturally objected, and the brutal husband pulled her out of bed and kicked her, breaking , two of her ribs. He was let off with two months, and we trust that his missus will cause that running dog to be run in or destroyed before her lord and waster has completed his oakum picking.  I have frequently referred to the present state of England, and I feel bound to reiterate that it is simply appalling. The newspapers are filled with accounts of deaths from destitution, murders and suicides caused by want, all Marwood's vacant dates filled up, our workhouses full, the bankruptcy court gorged, trade at a standstill, and workmen fed by charity, and this is England which, according to the Tories, "is restored to her proud supremacy among nations. Rabid Tories howl when all this is debited to Beaconsfield, and I ask what excuse can they snake for him when he saddles the nation with another SouthAfrican squabble, which promises to be a most serious affair.  I confess I have not much sympathy with those dock labourers of Liverpool,who reject arbitration and threaten riots.  Stone.breaking is not a new invention. Twenty years ago when I was stranded in Australia I broke stones in good company, only it was on the highway. I had a baronet's younger son as a neighbour at that heart-breaking occupation, but i relinquished it when he secured the berth of scullery man in an hotel, when I obtained the lucrative post of boots. In those days there were over five thousand Englishmen starving in I Melbourne, and the local big wigs employed them as I have stated.  No men are railed at more than trades union I leaders. Let local haters of them take notice of the words of James Capper at the meeting of ironworkers' representatives at Wednesbury on  Alonday : When the ironworkers as a whole gave up the most intelligent means of adjusting disputes, which were found in conciliation and arbitration, from that moment he should cease taking a prominent part in their movements. Arbitration had reduced the wages not because they had adopted the principle. but because under the circumstances which existed it was impossible to keep wages up— (hear, hear). There is little of the " firebrand fury " in such an utterance, especially when the local Ironworkers' Arbitration Board has been engaged in reducing wages for several years past. The Chairman tersely put the common sense of the matter when he said— They had been brought down by the action of the I Wages Board, and as the miner was raised from the pit by the same machinery which lowered him, so I they must now rely upon the Board to bring them up again, seeing that it was impossible for them to go I any lower-1 hear. hear). Per centage after per i centage had been taken from the men, who had sub. I nutted without a strike, and frequently without a ' murmur, but they were not on this account to give up the Board. Such sanction would be to destroy the machinery which must raise them. Verily there is more practical wisdom in these working men than some of their critics give them ' credit for— There's hope for the industry of any nation That's governed by Boards of peaceful Arbitration.  SMuKE! Soother of sorrow, Miler of thought. Oft to my sad heart balm thou has brought. Tried friend and true, whene'er I invoke The charm of thy incense, solacing amoke.  _ Friends may desert love prove untrue,  Fortune prove fickle however you woo Would you take troubles lightly, treat are aa a joke, Blow a cloud, they'll vanish, e'en as you smoke. Raleigh, arctof nmigster, blest be thy name, For finding this weed, which ahall burn to thy fame And ita incense shall rise to thy true heart of oak, Thy countrymen's benison, tho ending in smoke.