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NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.I

DIOCESAN ORGANISATIONS.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

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NOTES OF THE WEEK. Nothing tends so much to improve and set off a town as a regular and somewhat uniform series of buildings and very few towns present such broken and irregular streets as does Wrexham. In the interest, therefore, of the borough generally it behoves the Council to see that the bye-laws passed for improving this should be strictly adhered to. Unfortunately, however, there is a growing pro- pensity to outwink the bye-laws, and in some instance to perpetuate these glaring faults in the architecture of Wrexham. Bye-laws, it is true, have been passed preventing this, but too often they are evaded, are evaded so long that compli- ance with them can only be carried out at con- siderable expense, and often a resort to law. That this is so was apparent at the meeting of the I General Purposes Committee, on Wednesday, when plans were submitted of buildings then in the course of construction and even finished. All this, however, has now been put a stop to, if the sur- veyor only carrys out the resolution which then received the sanction of the committee. By it the surveyor has power to stop the building of any house, &c., above the ground until the plans have been formally passed by the authority. This is an important and very desirable resolution. When the Legislature is doing so much to give the power to improve away the old rookeries, surely the townspeole themselves ought to do what they can to prevent their being perpetuated. The improvements that the Wrexham Market Hall Company have undertaken are such as do credit to the enterprise of the townsmen, but. we fear the directors are somewhat narrow-minded in their operations. It is admitted by all that a golden opportunity will have been lost if an attempt is not now made to widen Henblas-street. It is a thoroughfare that has at present much traffic, regulated under great disadvantages, and the open- ing of the new market will add to them. Now there- fore is the opportune time for a much desired iw- provement, and we are glad that the Corporation have the matter in hand. A special meeting is convened for Monday next, when it will be pro- posed to purchase from the Market Hall Company, such portion or portions of their property as may be considered desirable for widening and improving Henblas-street, at such price and upon such terms and conditions as may be decided upon. The town will not grudge any reasonable amount that is spent with this object, and we hope the. Market Hall Company will consider the advantages that will accrue to their new undertaking and not be too exacting in handing over to the town such land as may be of general benefit to the public at large. An outbreak of diphtheria in Wrexham district caused, as our readers may be aware, an investiga- tian by the Local Government Board, and the medical officer has just given in hia report. Dr Airy tells us that North Wales seems to have suffered more from the disease than did South Wales and Denbighshire more severely than other counties in the northern portion of the Principality. From the way in which the earliest cases of diph- theria were distributed in different parts of the town among children, Dr Airy thinks it probable that the disease was spread by means of school congregations—at first the Catholic School, and subsequently others. After reviewing the position of Wrexham, and the causes which promoted the spread of the epidemic, the inspector prescribes the treatment for the future. All houses must have a good water supply, and the resort to wells be dis- countenanced as of a questionable character j there must be an abatement of nuisances from cesspits, and coaamoti privies must give place to water closets; piggeries near dwelling-houses should be i-emoved the Gwenfro brook must not be polluted, and as soon as possible covered over. These are the preventatives, but Dr Airy also prescribes for an actual outbreak.: he advises that full arrange- ments should be made at the Infirmary to secure isolation, and that the medical officer of health should be made better acquainted with cases of infectious disease. The points of recommenda- tion are not new to the Council or the Sanitary Authority, and now that the reforms needed are approved by a high authority there should be no hesitation in carrying them out. Dr Airy provides a schedule of necessary improvements, and if the town is to become invincible against such an epidemic aa the one which has been under con- aideration they must be gradually and effectively i carried out. Much good has been done by the intervention of the Birkenhead Branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in Wrexham district. Inspector Grover has struck terror in the hearts of those who fearfully torture beasts of the field and fowls of the air. His prosecutions, too, have received much attention from the local bench of magistrates, And in many cases a conviction has been obtained. The society is one deserving of the support of all friends of dumb animals, for its operations have worked numberless reforms. We observe from a return of the society for last month that there were 862 convictions for cruelties. Twenty-five offenders were committed to prison, 337 paid pecuniary penalties 76 convictions were obtained in metropolitan courts, and 286 in pro- vincial courts. The officers carefully watch the treatment to horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, dogs, cats, bears, fowls, ducks, pigeons, and wild birds. From the return we have alluded to we find that iu July 167 horses were discovered to be working in an unfit state, and 47 were being cruelly treated. The offences, included stabbing, starving, bleeding, worrying, and stoning—cruelties which a human being should shudder at. But it is not at the number of convictions that we must look for the amount of gopd the organisation effects —it is a society for the "prevention" and not for the eure" of cruelty to animals. Its operations must have a wholesome effectnpon those who trade in and work animals, and it is therefore deserving of most generous support. A subscription list has been opened at Wrexham with the object of establishing a branch of the society, but the sum received falls far short of the amount required^ Mr J. O. Bury is the honorary secretary, and we have no doubt that when the object he has in view becomes fully known he will find generous supporters to so good a cause. When will the sad differences end between the clergy of St. James', Hatcham, and the parishioners P Condemned at the bar of public opinion, and in the ecclesiastical courts, the clergy have still no hesita- tion in continuing this sad and unfortunate wrangle. The latest, and perhaps the most brazen, is the inovation of the Romish practice of using incense; and if this was to be permitted, it would be time for all Churchmen, who have hitherto looked upon these much-to-be-deplored differences at Hatcham with but regret, to bestir themselves and ask where the line is to be drawn ? Mr Tooth was not the most charitable of men, and it is evident that his successor, the Rev Malcom Maccoll, is not endowed with a surplusage of this Christian feeling. Probably had a little more of this been instilled into the veins of the two clergy- men who have now gained such an unenviable notoriety, we should have heard far less of these disgraceful scenes, which is a source of regret to all Churchmen, which have been enacted in God's temple at Hatcham. Both Mr Tooth and Mr Maccoll must have known that the inovations which they were introducing into the services of the Church of England at St. James' weredistast,o- ful to the large majority of worshipper?, and utterly epposed to the law. Then we say that Mr Tooth and Mr Maccoll knowing this, ought either to have solicited admittance to that fold of Christ's church where such things are permitted, or to have shown that feeling of charity, which ought to be found in all clergymen, and conduct the services in accord- ance with the law which they have sworn to obey. Had this been so, the country would have been spared those disgraceful wrangles a.nd disturbances which have taken place over the worship of our Divine Maker. There has been much to do about nothing over the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Bill which has just received the royal assent. Its object is to stamp out cattle diseases that are undoubtedly im- ported from abroad. But another object has been assigned to the Government by Radicals of a virulent type. The Ministry has been accused of an attempt to re-impose the principles of the pro- tectionists. ÅiI. however, some Liberals, notably Earl Forteacue, disclaim any such intention on the part of the Government, we may safely discount the opinions of the rabid oppositionists. Speaking in the House of Lords, on Saturday, Earl Fortescue— who, it will be remembered, is an ex-Liberal Cabinet Minister—said that he could, on the part of the consumers and producers of meat, thank the Government for having passed the bill. The Central Chamber of Agriculture disclaimed any idea on their part to reverse the established free-trade policy of the country; what the various associations, represented by that chamber, wished to guard against was disease and not competition. He said he confidently looked forward to the time when the meat from abroad would be imported into this country as dead meat. The bill was a useful one, and he thought that, in and out of Parliament, some of the speeches made against the measure were mere electioneering clap-trap. Earl Spencer, once the Liberal Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, also had a good word to say for the bill, and expressed hit opinion that agriculturists would be gratified with it. He maintained that there had been no imputa. tions against the Government of a desire to restore the system of protection, and believed that the bill would produce uniformity of action and have a very beneficial effect. Such testimony from ex-Liberal Ministers should go for something, and we hope after it we shall hear no more clap-trap about protection" from third-rate politicians in the country. History, it is well known, repeats itself, but it is questionable whether we have a more striking exemplification of this than has just been shown in the late momentous crisis. Nearly a century ago the Ministry of All the Talents," having ignomin- uously failed to vindicate the national interests of this great country, retired from office and a Con- servative Government was entrusted with the wielding of the destinies of this great empire. England then as now, guided by the Conservatives, waged the struggle for the liberties of Europe. The Liberals, however, furious at their defeat and the success of their opponents entered into, then as now, a malignant and unpatriotic opposition to the Government. Then as now did the Liberals champion the cause of every country save their own, thereby gaining the name of the Friends of the Foreigner." Indeed in every respect the parallel is most striking, as is pointed out by Mr D. J. Wilson, unmistakeably a Liberal, in the Ninteenth Century. It Then," he says, "it was the French despot, as it is now the Russian, whom the Friends of the Foreigner never ceased to defend and adulate. Brougham raved as Mr Gladstone now raves, against the selfish doctrine of British interests." Mr Roebuck, whose manly conduct has earned the respect of all true lovers of the country, is but the Sheridan of that day. The noble- minded Sheridan, disgusted with the unpatriotic tactics of his party, severed himself from his colleagues. The Opposition truthfully adhering to their programme, sneered at his lofty oratory, and did not even hesitate to insinuate that he might have cause for his patriotic zeal. The Opposition, however, gained their just deserves. The Con- servatives, then as now, adhered to their manly and straightforward conduct for the liberties of Europe, achieving a complete success. The country was naturally not ungrateful^ and for a quarter of a century placed its destinies in the hands of the party who had so successfully conducted them in a trying ordeal. The time is probably not far distant when the country will be called upon to give its judgment upon tho" insane" conduct of the Opposition. Let the analogy which we have pointed out, as yet so truthfully apparent, be a continuation of it. The Liberals have now honestly deserved exclusion from place, as they did seventy years ago. Mr Wilson, a Liberal bear in mind, regrets that the Opposition at the present day has reproduced with painfully-curious exactitude the errors which shattered the Whig party two generations ago, and established the supremacy of the Tories for a quarter of a century." The Liberals honestly earned their then detention from office, and no one, unprejudiced, who has followed the scenes enacted within the last few years cannot but own, how much, like Mr Wilson, he may regret it, that the Liberals honestly deserve a repetition of that expulsion—and what they honestly deserve, that they surely ought to receive.

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---THE CHURCH SUNDAY SCHOOLS…