The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1888-05-09 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

NEWS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 1888.  WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYiNIi. PEOPLE saE BAYING that the Liverpool and Birkenhead Subway Bilimas read a third time in th House of Lords on Monday eveniug. But it is feared that many a long day will coule and go before the Liverpool warehouses and the Birkenhead docks are connected by a convenient roadway underneath the river. However, it is reassuring to bud that the scheme is not, being abandoned. That one suicide wakes wore, so strong is the oontagion of example. At the borough police court, on Monday, a woman named r.len Hewitt was charged with having attempted to take her own life by cutting her throat with a razor. It was stated that she had been very much upset by the suicide of her nephew, a young man named Chester, who dr3wned himself in the East Float a few weeks ago. She was very properly allowed to go on promising not to repeat her rash act.  That the master of the s.s. " Cambridge " told Mr. Preston a sensational story of the trials of shipmaisturs. A number of firemen who had signed articles for a voyage from Glasgow to Calcutta and back, on their arrival at Birkenhead desired to desert the vessel, and some of them took "French leave," on the ground that they were not properly fed. But it was given in evidence that each man got two pounds of of beef a day, potatoes twice a day, one pound of butter and one pound of marmalade a week, and as many biscuits and as much flour as he could eat In reply to Mr. Preston, several of thtm complained because they had not been supplied with " hash " twice a day. This remarkable plea, however did not serve them, and they were each ordered to pay a fine of 40s. or go to prison.  That Mr. Nicholls, She able and energetic inspector of the Birkenhead Branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, will long remember the visit he paid to Mold on Monday. He prosecuted certain boys for tying a cat to a tree by one of its 1. gs, and then killing it by pelting it with stones and striking it with sticks. Ihe offence was fully brought home to the young barbarians, who w:ire sternly rebuked by the Bench. But the upshot of the whole matter was that they were only fined is. and costs each.  That Mr. George Proudfoot, railway traffic manager at Birkenhead, was a witness in a case tried at the I•iverpool Assizes on Monday. He deposed that there were railway facilities at Winsford by which salt could be despatched to Birkenhead or Liverpool, but in cross. examination he admitted that it was the invariable custom to send salt to this port by water, those engaged in the salt trade stating that commercially the railway rates for carrying salt were pro. hibitive. It is remarkable that the mercantile community tamely submits to be treated in this way by the railway companies, who enjoy a monopoly of the great carrying highways of the country. That there will be a great concourse of people on the Roodee, at Chester, to. day. The railway companies are running cheap trips to the ancient city, and the traffic by road is expected to be very large. In former years those who have availed themselves of the highway have been liberally stoned by the young roughs of New Ferry and Lower Bebington on their way home at night. Let the County police see that there is not a repetition of this scandalous conduct.  That when a woman prosecutes her husband for ill-using her, and he is sent to prison, the punishment really falls a great deal more heavily upon her than him, especially if she has a number of children. A Mrs. Quirk, who to )k Mr. Preston into her confidence on Monday, seemed to have a lively appreciation of this fact. Her husband was charged with having cut her cheek with a knife. She had to be taken to the hospital, where the wound was stitched. The -woman confessed that she was too much afraid of the man to give evidence against him. The previous evening he had threatened te kick her, and on other occasions he had threatened her with a knife. But, though she wanted a separation from him, "she hoped his worship would not send him to prison, because she had three children to support." It is a pity that there cannot be devised a system under which the suffering wife would be spared, while the brutal husband would be severely chastised, yet without being deprived of his power to earn money. That trade really seems to be improving at last. The Board of Trade returns show that our imports have increased by nearly a million, while our exports have increased over a million and a quarter, as compared with the corresponding period of last year. Soon we shall hear of rises in our markets, and of enlarged demands for labour, provided that the good movement which has set in does not receive a sudden and unexpected check. That a remarkable incident was related by the Rev. John Bell, at the Brunswick Chapel, on Monday evening, which shows that Christian missionaries are needed at Traumere as well as in the South Sea Islands and other distant parts of the earth. Mr. Bell stated that he had been called into a house in one of the lowest districts of the township to baptise a child which was apparently dying, and one of the occupants of the house expressed the opinion that the child ooald not be expected to recover without "the grace of God which comes with baptism." In another case a man had asked Mr. Bell to baptise his ix children, in the belief that by this means he would be cured of an acute attack of indigestion, from which he was then suffering. Evidently the lower classes of this country look upon clergyman as a kind of spiritual magician.  That the beautifully fine weather with which we have been favoured during the past few days is turning people's attention to the question of holidays. Even the Wallasey -boatmen are affected in this way, and they have presented a unanimous petition ,to the Local Board, asking to be allowed a fortnight's holiday, as in previous years. It will be remembered that some time ago the Board decided to reduce the ferrymen's holidays to one week. Whether they will now relent remains to be seen, but it is certain that the request of the ferrymen is regarded with much sympathy by outsiders. They are a hard-working and reliable class of men, and to dock off a week from their boll days SIMMS somewhat of Illeanthela  MR.