On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
^ O bjections stronger yet attach abolition of the City companies . They are much more than a machine for pageantry ; and afc the - present day they might be put to uses which they have imperfectly performed in times past , and which they might in modern times have performed with increased utility . They
embody the trades of the Metropolis , each trade incorporated by itself . If it has happened that an abuse of the privilege of introducing honorary members , or a neglect of fidelity to particular trades , has occasioned a species of cross practice , — confounding , for example , Lokd Brougham -with the Fishmongers , —it would be better to correct the abuse than entirely to
adopted iL There is , however , no question of extension ^ but only one of abolition . We have the organisation in the City ; we are not in a position to exercise a judgment so final that we can say we have completely done with it ; on the contrary , we discern in it the elements of a machinery which would be available for many purposes that are now more desirable than ever ; so that , instead of abolishing it at present , we had better keep ifc for a time longer , and see whether we cannot rather improve it and extend its utility . This should be the spirit of any measure for reforming London Corporation .
abolish the organisation . We have already pointed out how the whole Common Hall , that i&j all the trades together , constitute a representation of the Metropolis . In some companies the Livery can be obtained for £ 5 . This confers a vote , not only Municipal but Parliamentary ; and it is evidently a franchise much more accessible than the occupation of a £ 10 or
even a £ 5 houses It is open to the industrious workman , and is a very near approach to a general suffrage * If this kind of constitution ¦ werfe developed rather than abolished , it might l > e made tt > represent the community in ; their industrial ^ capacity ; ; ' ¦ and it is a constituency Icnr ^ eiocting the representatives of the tauntryV which : possesses a peculiar value .
; There is another office that the several companies could perform , and have performed in times past . It is the exercise of a control over -thetr ^ de , calling * or mygtery : By the laws of thecompanies , or some of them , if any trader conducts his trade in an unworkmanlike mann " > the officers of the company can enter his place of business and destroy those commodities that would bring discredit upon the trade , and injury upon the community ^ This is an existing machinery by which a check could be placed upon a modern abuse . There is no business in which adulteration is more common
-than in grocery ; and here particularly the power is most distinctly defined by an Act of Parliament ; passed some centuries back , and no ^ -alwaiys unejcercised . Men are beating their brains to -find modes by which the central Government-could exercise such control ; but ho \ v could it be enforced with so much knowledge , with so much independence for the trade , and so much benefit for all parties , as by the elected representatives of the trade ? It , in fact , constitutes self-government for * trade as well as for the community ; and no government could be ' so conducive to moral feeling . ¦
MoBt companies'have attached to them certain ! charities , which in the case of the wealthy companies confer , very considerable benefits , A . ' freeman of the Goldsmiths'Company , for example , is entitled , after a certain period , should he need it , to an income of some 14 s . ot 16 s . a-week . A Liveryman , under the same ^ circumstances , is entitled , probably , to £ 100 ayear . These are large sums which could not be granted by every company ; but the principle applies to all ; and the grant could , of course , be apportioned to the sums paid for ¦ admission . In this view the admission to the
^ company a species of insurance , which , in the first place , pledges the payer to observe the rules of his trade in an honest , workmanlike , and regular fashion ; and , in the second place , contributes towards a -fund that protects the "payer , against destitution in his old age . It is » n > example of concert amongst the members of : artrfcde whioh might bo extensively carried out xa other quarters .
' If ) it wero proposed to extend these principles to all towns < ofl the country , wo might find strong arguments for that reform . We might at ^ he same Ume see many reasons for much aebatrag ^ uctyan extension ! beforo we finally ¦ ••• i ><¦ ¦ ¦ J
Untitled Article
STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA . Colonies , like children , are oftentimes a vexatious blessing , especially when they begin to think and act for themselves . Their movements are too bold and rapid for the sedate and measured deportment of the old mother country , ever slow to perceive that her progeny have passed the period of tutelage . Bience arises domestic wrangling , which , gradually becoming more frequent and . embittered , finally terminates in a settled feeling of distrust
state the exact amount of subsidy each is willing to contribute , and also to agree among themselves as to the most eligible route to be adopted . No such requirement has ever been made to any other colony or dependency of the British Crown , with the exception of the East Indies , and the two cases are in no way analogous . But , according to the Duke of Argyll it is not intended to
await the result of this reference . It is , then , an insult added to injury , a mere mockery , a pretence to gain time . Tenders have been invited for three routes , vid the Cape , the Isthmus of Panama , and the Red Sea ; and in the meantime , not to prejudge the question , the Duke of Argyll adheres to the longest route , and the slowest means of communication .
Disgusted with such confirmed obstinacy or ignorance , the General Association for the Australian Colonies convened a public meeting at the London Tavern ^_ xxn _ Monday last , under the auspices of the Lord Mayoh . It has seldom happened that so large an assemblage has been obtained of influential and practical men . The merchants of the first commercial city in the world manifested by their presence on this occasion the importance they attached to a close and intimate communication with
the most valuable colony of the British empire . The principal speakers were Mr . Wentworth , the Earl of Hardtsticke , Lord Stanley , and several gentlemen of colonial reputation . The object of the meeting having been clearly and fully stated hj the late member for Sydney , and some sonorous platitudes having been duly delivered by the ex-Lord of the Admiralty , with the tone and unction of an openair preacher , Lord Stanley , whose radicalism
is almost too gOod to be true , proceeded to lay in a stock of political capital , by a cogent and well-considered speech on colonial matters generally . His Lordship ventured to look forward to the time when the mother-country , over-weighted by " hereditary pauperism and hereditary debt "—his Lordship omitted to add " hereditary legislation "—would be outstripped in the race of nations by her vigorous and unburdened colonies . The real business of the
day was then speedily transacted in a few desultory but practical speeches from gentlemen possessing the plebeian advantage of being acquainted with the subject they had met to discuss . It was unanimously resolved that her Majesty's Government be urgently pressed immediately to re-establish a steam postal service with Australia by the most eligible route . And ifc was clear from the tone and manner of the speakers who represented the colonies , that any further toying with that momentous question would be attended with decisive
consequences . Having ears to hear , will " My Lords" of the Treasury fail to understand ? The Colonists act wisely in not insisting upon any particular line in the first instance . Actual experience and the gradual developmont of steam navigation will best pronounce upon the final elegibility of the different routes . It is possible that the selection may ultimately alight upon that by the Isthmus of Panama , as even now that voyage could be accomplished in 57 days , allowing four days for loss of time in the transhipment of goods , < &c . At
prosent the most favoured line appears to bo round the Cape of 0-ood Hope , although occupying ten days more than the preceding route , but avoiding tho inconveniences and damage incidental to landing cargo , and again putting it on board another ship lying in another sea . There are likewise many advocates for tho lied Sea , bub their unanimity extends no further than Aden . According to tho original scheme of tho Australian Association , a new course would bo adopted , via Diego Garcia , tho chief of tho Ghagos group .
and alienation , perhaps in positive estrangement . A dispute of this unfortunate character has for some time past been growing up between the British Government and Australia , oh the subject of a regular steam postal communication . The necessity of such a service was first officially recognised in 1846 , hut six years were allowed to escape before a definite arrangement could be effected—and even then it savoured of a tentative nature . Two monthly alternate routes were adopted— -the
one fey the Cape of Good Hope , the other by way of Suez and Singapore . Owing to various causes , the former line excited much disappointment , although the voyage was completed , on an average , in about 68 days . The other route occupied less time , but this advantage was compensated by the inconvenience of frequent stoppages and transhipments . But even these unsatisfactory arrangements were apparently deemed too good for the colonies . They were , at least , suddenly and unexpectedly suspended in November , 1854 , on the plea that the exigencies of the
late war rendered their continuance impossible . The exigencies of the war , however , were not permitted to interfere with the opium trade to China . Bi-monthly mails were still conveyed from Singapore to . Hong Kong , though they could not be conveyed once a . month to Melbourne— -the two distances being nearly equal ; but tho value of exports at that time to China being less than two millions , and to Australia upwards of fourteen millions sterling . For eighteen months , therefore , the communication with a colony producing annually ten to twelve millions of gold , —at a time when the salvation of the mother country in a great measure depended upon the rapid and regular despatch of that gold—was confined entirely to sailing vessels , sometimes 105 days on tho homeward voyage , never less than 83 , and averaging above 93 . The outward voyage , indeed , was not quite so tedious , but even more irregular , for it varied from 68 to 108 days . Their patience at length exhausted by this apparently systematic neglect of their interests , the colonists made a , last appeal to tho justice of tho Imperial Government , and backed , their remonstrance with tho offer of a munificent
annual contribution towards the expenses of a steam postal service . For this act of liberality and patriotism , Ministers propoao to inflict upon them a further delay of at least twelve months from the present date . In November , 1855 , a Treasury Minute was addressed to tho sijt colonies of Australia , requiring of them to
Untitled Article
3 , ^ 2 , THE LEADER f No . 317 , Saturday ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), April 19, 1856, page 372, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2137/page/12/
-