The North Cumberland Reformer. — 1893-09-21 (Carlisle, Cumbria, England)

CARLISLE NOTES.  What is the price of flour coming to? Superfi ie quality w;is acceptli for the supply of the inmates of Fusehill and Harraby Hill on Monday, at the low figure of 11i r3r stone. We shall have to go a long way back t) find such a quotation. The highe,t tender was only td more.  My note regarding the band stand has thrown some life into its erection, and an earnest attempt is being made to falsify my prediction as to the time when it will be ready for use. Ido not grumble at this. My object is attained if life is pit into what was apparently a dead or dying department, at least as far as the band stand was concernel. The date when the band will be required, I may require to alter, but due notice will be given.  The bridge across the Caldew, I find, is not to be ready by the end of October, but the end of December. -I reckon a local thin could have done the job a bit more quickly, and that the wages thrown into the city would easily have adeounteci for any little extra charge made. But we shall have t) wait. Only let me urge the Council to remember tho date fixed, and not allow any dilatoriness, or waiting for lower markets, as an excuse for ext-m-:•don of time.  I see we are to have quite a host of Temperance orators in Carlisle from to-day until Tuesday. in connection with the annual conference of the North of England Temperance League. What with inwitings at the cross, tervices for children, Temperance sermons and :gatherings in the Drill had, the "Coldstream Guards "are going to have quite a royal time. The League has a history of which it may be proud, We can only hope that the men and women (the president is a woman) who, to-day, guide its destiny, will prove worthy of its noble founders, Messrs Newcastle, Charlton, Dais, awl others, too numerous to relate.  I see, by the announcements upon the wall, that the Countess of Carlisle, president of the League, will preside at one of the great meetings in the Drill Hall. I hope her ladyship will, after the toils during the day as president, be fully equal to the duty, and full well I am sure, will she be equal to the occasion. North country temperance workers need something. just now to put life into them, and I reckon they will find it in attendance at these meetings. I would therefore urge all and sunlry to make an effort to be present at as many meetings as possible.  Last night the first of a series of open-air meetings was held at the Cross, and a large crowd gathered. The addresses were pithy, and such as are suited to an open-air gathering. Meetings are to b 3 held today, to-morrow, and Saturday. Other meetings will be held at the large public works ; a women's conference on Monday, and then the Drill hall meetings on Nfonflay and Tuesday. Sunday will be very full with t3mperance sermons in church and chapel, a mass meeting in the Market Place in the aft rnoon, and two public meetings at night.  The Labour Party made an extraordinary effort on Tuesday night, by bringing down Mr KeirHardie, M. P., and Mr Cunningham Graham. They liad a capital meeting, and a resolution condemning the action of the Government in sending the military to aid the civil power in the recent disterbances at Featherstone, and demanding a cearching inquiry into the circumstances, was passed unanimously.  Mr Keir-Hardie made an able speech. But, as he remarked, while everyone must agree that the end the Labour Party have in view, is a most admirable one, there will be wi,ledilerences of opinims as to the best method of attaining it. It cannot be said that Mr Ilardie himself, while he dealt very forcibly and effectively with the evil—the gigantic evil—of the existence of so much poverty and misery arising from lack of employment in this country, was equally effective in devising a remedy.  It is no doubt correA, as he statel, that by law. Boards of Guardians are empowered to provide work for the unemployed at a fair wage, and he was fairly entitled to ask why the Governmmt hil not put the law into force. But did he not supply the answer, when he stated subsequently that there were three thousand honest upemployed in his own constituency alone, and fifteen hundred more not earnhalf-wages. The magnitude of providing remunerative work, at a fair rate of pay, for such a number of hands, may well appal stouter hearts, and tax wiser brains than those of an average Board of Guardians: and Mr Fowler may well hesitate before laying on their shoulders such a task. Can Mr Hardie indicate on what work these three thousand may be employed in his constituency? If lie can solve that difficulty, he will be a long way towards the solution of the whole question throughout the country.  I think, moreover, that Mr Hardie might have given Mr Bultnore an answer to his question. It wa- not put in a very sensible or respectful form, certainly, but it raised a point worth putting. Mr Hardie referred to a Government official, who was dismissed after twenty-seven years' service, and, after falling into dire poverty, committed suicide. Mr Hardie incidentally mentioned that the man hal a family of thirteen, one of whom was married, and living in the house with him. Surely it may fairly be enquired what positions the members of the family held, and why none of them were able or willing to assist their father in his distress!