The Old Country.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 6849, 26 March 1897, Page 1

The Old Country.

(FROM OUR ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT.) London, February 6.

The Unionist Government has begun active work in Parliament, but although with an absolute nominal majority, its prospects are nevertheless not very bright. Its followers are a body of divided counsels, nob much in agreemenb among themselves. In that respect thay are altogether differenb to the House of Lords, which willingly as a rule follows their leader, Lord Salisbury, like a flock of sheep. The Governmenb has to be very watchful with its material in the Commons, or it might unexpectedly, some evening be outvoted, notwithstanding its large majority. As a rule in voting they do not realise their full majority, so many fall away. Its measures are not universally popular with its friends. Of that we had full evidence last session, when several of them had to be -withdrawn. Witness the educational measure which was to endow denominational schools out of the rates, already overburdened by the heavy rates for bhe Board schools. The Government were largely returned by the help of the church clergy, who naturally looked for- some return. And the proposed endowment of their voluntary schools out of the rates was the result; bub the country would not have it. This year the same thing comes forward in a differenb shape. Dissenters claimed thab in any doles the Board schools should share. So there are to be three separate educational Bills, and the first has been brought forward, which proposes to make up the Governmenb grant from over L 489,000 to L 616,500, or an additional 5s per annum to each school. A second Bill will be to give something to Board schools, and the third measure i« to relieve the voluntary sohools of

rates. One design is supposed to be to get the first measure through by using the second as a plum, hoping in heart that it may not pass. Liberals, it seems, hovvever, are not to be caught napping. The Government are pledged to the church party, and they are bound and cannot help themselves, and if they fail they will only hold up their hunds with a non possimun.

Another subject brought before the House as a matter of urgency was the unhappy state of things at Bethesda, North Wales. Mr W. Jones asked leave to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance, viz , "The loss and privation arising from the dispute between the employer and employed in the Penryhn quarries, and the failure of the efforts under the Conciliation Act made to terminate the dispute." Mr Jones said that the dispute had lasted seventeen weeks, and had thrown about 3000 men out of work. The dispute had attracted considerable attention, because it involved principles which in their application were not restricted to the locality, but were matters of public and grave national concern. (Cheers.) It arose in the first instance out of the dissatisfaction of the men with regard to some terms and conditions of their employment, especially as to the standard rate of wages, the system of large contracts and subletting, and the conditions under which the class of unskilled laborers worked. The men claimed a rise in the standard rate of wages, a minimum rate of 4s 6d per day, and that large contracts and sub letting should be abolished, and that the number of unskilled laborers should be diminished, and that there should be a modification in the system of ordinary bargains. The right of access, however, to the employer, through their chosen spokesmen was, and had been, persistently denied tli9m. Oa Sept. 26 the following resolution was passed by a mass meeting of the quarrymen, "That are of opinion that, as workmen anxious to bring the present difference between us and our employer, if possible, to a peaceful settlement, it is our duty to call the attention of the Board of Trade to the matter, and to ask for intervention under the provisiot s of the Conciliation Act of August 1896." Lord Penryhn, however, would have no interference of the Board of Trade under the Conciliation Act, stating that it was a private matter between him and his workpeoyjle, and he would have no interference. SirCourtenay Boyle, on behalf of the Board of Trade, replied : I am to state that there i 3 no desire to press the matter against your wishes, but I am to point out that in view of the provisions cf the Conciliation Act the Board cannot admit that the settlement of a prolonged dispute affecting some thousands of men and their families can be rightly regarded as a matter of private interest only." There was a contrast between the attitude of the employer and the character of the men. They were amongst the most intelligent workmen, not only in Wales, but in the whole British Empire. They had built and maintained three schools, which were amongst the most efficient in North Wales, and they had subscribed quite lately nearly LIOOO towards the building and maintenance of an intermediate school, which would be a credit to any part of the Empire. There were twenty chapels in Bethesda, all without debt. They had collected nearly LISOO towards the University College at Bangor, and even amidst the strike and deadlock and poverty when a school was ope.:ed sixty children appeared, fifty of whom were children of quarrymen. The districts in which they lived were almost crimeless, and when it was proposed to form a bench of magistrates it was found to be absolutely unnecessary, so few were the offences committed in the district; and, on the authority of the police, he was able to say that the offences just now were even fewer than before the strike. He had recently passed through Bethesda and had spoken to hundreds of the men, and he had never heard a word of disrespect, and the men blamed Lord Penrhyn's advisers more than they blamed him. The Daily Chronicle has taken up the cause of the men, and contributed and collected up to the present time over L2OOO. Mr Hooley, a South African millionaire, at present residing in England, sent a sympathising letter and subscription when the Chronicle suggested that he should try and buy Lord Penrhyn out, when Mr Hooley replied that that was precisely what he had proposed to Lord Penrhyn. It is understocd that strong influences are being brought to bear on Lord Penrhyn to induce him to accept the conciliation of the Board of Trade. Great sympathy is felt for Lord Penrhyn, who is much loved in the district, and who is said to feel the situation very acutely. Mr Henniker Heaton intends to ask the House to assent to the foliosving proposition with reference to the purchase of the undertakings of the cable companies : " That it being advisable to put an immediate end to all cable monopolies, the British Government (or the Home and Colonial Governments jointly) should forthwith, in the interests of the Empire, acquire at a fair price the rights, plant, and other property, if any, of the existing cable companies ; that the price paid should not exceed the market value of the cable companies' shares on the date of the appearance of this proposed resolution in the paper ; and that the State or the Imperial Cable Administration) when possessed of the cables should aim at no profit on the transmission of cablegrams, but should charge rates low enough to allow of the despatch of the largest possible number of messages by all classes, after providing for the cost of maintaining the cables and the service generally efficient condition ; the cost of any extension of the cable being met by a further investment of State funds." Mr Cecil Rhodes has arrived from Africa, and the House of Commons has formed the South African Commission, after some opposition. It is intended that the matter to be inquired into shall be fully threshed out. The Government propose to spend L 5,458,000 on military defences In the House of Commons, on the 3rd inst, the second reading of the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to Women Bill), moved by Mr Faithfull Begg, was carried, after the closing of the debate, by 228 to 157, a majority of 71. The rejection was moved by Mr Radcliffe Cooke, a Tory; and seconded by Mr Labouchere, who as a man objected to petticoat government. Sir William Harcourt thought they ought nob to effect a fundamental change in the constitution —founding it upon°an Amazonian basis—on a Wednesday afternoon. Mr Faithful Begg, the hero of the female suffrage debate, sits for the St. Rollox division of Glasgow, and is the son of a once famous Scottish Presbyterian divine. He has had considerable colonial experience, especially in New Zealand (the firsb British colony to adopt female suffrage), where he spent some years in the service of the Union Bank of Australia. He is now a stockbroker. He only returned six weeks ago from a pro-

longed tour of inspection on the Wesb Australian, New Zealand, and British Columbian goldfields. I am sorry to learn that the eminent Hungarian artist, Michael Yon Munkacsy, who has for the past two years been seriously ill, has had to be placed in a private lunatic asylum, near Bonn. The announcement of the sad event has excited widespread regret in Hungary and Austria, and in thac regret many in England, even outside artistic circles, share. Great fear seems to be entertained thab notwithstanding the firm intention of the American people, tho Senate will after all load the Arbitration Treaty with such conditions as to make it impossible for Lord Salisbury to accept them. Whatever impediments or delays may arise, there can be no doubt that the minds of both peoples are fully made up, and objectors will ultimately have to yield. At a public dinner, last week, Mr Chamberlain stated : " Now, before I sib down there is one. other matter which is connected, indirectly at any rate, directly I think I may say, with my own department. (Cheers.) The present is tho 60th year of the reign of the Queen —(cheers) —and I think you will agree with me thab the date marks an absolutely unparalleled chapter in the history of our country. Gentlemen, the commemoration of a reign so remarkable should surely ba exceptional also. (Hear, hear.) What has not happened before has been to secure a personal representation of the empire as a whole—(cheers) —of tho empire with its more than 11,000,000 of square miles of territory and with its 350,000,000 of people. You will have seen thab a proposal has been made and is being carried out to secure such a demonstration. I have every reason, from the replies I have already received, to believe thab the invitation has been gratifying to the colonies, and that it will bo received in the spirit in which it has been tendered. I hope thab we shall have the opportunity, not merely in Loudon, but in our great provincial centres—(hear, hear)—of welcoming these rulers of States beyond the sea. Wo shall have at the same time a representation of the great Crown colonies, and in this way we will secure a demonstration that no other country can make—(cheers) —a demonstration of power, of influence, and of beneficent work which will be a fitting tribute to the best and the most revered of English Sovereigns. (Cheers.) It is my belief that great good will result from this gathering. Indifference has long ago passed away. (Cheers.) We want to prove to them that we are as proud of them as we believe that they are proud of us. (Cheers). We want to show them '.hat we have confidence in their future and that we liavo hope in their closer union with ourselves, so that in future the British Empire, founded upon freedom, buttressed by the affection of its several members, fortified by mutual interest, shall stand impregnable and unassailable, ' four-square to all the winds that blow.' 51 (Loud cheering).

Mr Philip Lewis, the young Welsh violinist who is to play at Queen's Hall afc the concert by the Bethesda Quarrymen's Choir, is only sixteen yeirs old, although he stands 6ft 2in. In opon public competition last April he won a violin scholarship at the Royal College of Music, where he is now pursuing his studios. As_ a patriotic Welshman it was his own wish to place his services afc the disposal of the committee ensaged in such a noble cause. Li Chung Tang has once more, according to the North China Daily News, emerged successfully from a little plot; for his undoing. During his travels, Sheng Taotai, it is said, sent in a memorial to the Throne denouncing his former patron. His Excellency on his return charged him with the baso act, but the accused denied the presentation of the petition, whereupon Li slowly drew the impeachment from his boot, and, slapping the ungrateful Sheng with it on both his cheeks, sent him about his business.

The Penrhyn quarries, which enjoy a somewhat unenviable notoriety at the present moment, came to Lord Penrhyn through his mother, co-heiress of Mr Dawkins-Pennant, a very wealthy commoner. Mr Pennant also inherited the vast estates of the gentleman to whom Dr Johnson alludes as " Jamaica Dawkins " in that island. The co-heiresses were vulgarly known as "Slate " and "Sugar," it being understood that one was to inherit the Welsh and the other the Wesb Indian estates. At the time "Sugar" was deemed the greater prize of the two, but tha emancipation of the slaves soon proved that her sister had the best of it. " Sugar' was mother to the present Lord Sudeley. The late Lord Penrhyn was Colonel Douglas, a younger son of Lord Morton, and an officer in the Guards, with two or three hundred a year, when it was intimated to him that if he liked to become a suitor for Miss Pennant's hand her father would raise no objections. He greatly extended the works at the quarries, and built Penrhyn Castle, a magnificent pile, where he lived for many years on a scale of magnificenco equalled in few houses In England. On the death of hi 3 first wife he married Lady Louisa Fitzroy, sister of the Duke of Grafton—said to have been his first love—who survives him, He had a life interest in his first wife's estate, and to provide for his second wife's family effected the largest life insurances in England. The present peer is married—oj sccondes noces—to the daughter of Mrs Gladstone's late brother, the rector of Hawarden.

Just after the passing away of Sir Isaac Pitman, father of stenography, whose remains have just been cremated, a very noble woman has passed from among; us in the person of Mrs E. L. Massingberd, who died at Llandudno, having failed to recover from the effects of a painful and dangerous operation. She was married to a Mr Langton, and had three children, to whom she was one of the best of mothers. Succeeding to a large property in her own right, she resumed her maiden name. Her \? on administered on very advanced principles, and the strong sympathy she had for the temperance movement led her to convert the publichouses on her property into temperance hotels. She was, by the way, one of thefew woman inEngland entitled tobear arms. She spent her considerable wealth upon various hobbies, chief of which was the Pioneer Club, now housed in Bruton street, of which she was the founder and proprietor. This was the principal scene of her strong endeavors for the intellectual and social advancement of women, and one of her objects in it was to sink all distinctions of social position, and get women to meet together on a common basis of enthusiasm for the development of the influence of their sex. She was an ardent supporter of the Women Suffrage, and in almost her last letter to the club of which she thought ceaselessly during her long illness —she said, "Try to get the suffrage ; I am sure that is the great thing." Curiously, she died on the day on which the second reading of the Bill granting the suffrage passed the House of Commons.