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OQ THE LEADER. [No. 407, January 9,1858....
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lypTATST OCEAN INTERESTS. This is not a ...
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A METROPOLITAN QUESTION. "We resume this...
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The Sunday Evening Services at Westminst...
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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.
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Oq The Leader. [No. 407, January 9,1858....
OQ THE LEADER . [ No . 407 , January 9 , 1858 . iSci - ^^^^^^ M ^ MMMM ^_^______ ' : — - ¦ ^—^^ — ^
Lyptatst Ocean Interests. This Is Not A ...
lypTATST OCEAN INTERESTS . This is not a time « t which Crreat Britain can afford to lose territory , trade , or influence in Asia . The Indian mutiny and the Persian and Chinese wars have put as on our trial . The commercial community would therefore view with deep regret and surprise the abandonment of the settlement established by Lord PaIiMEBSTON at Labuan . The announcement made in these columns that notice had been sent out that the settlement was still retained conditionally upon its success within a specified for it is felt
time , has attracted serious attention , that to lose the half-way station between Singapore and China would , at this juncture , be most unfortunate and impolitic . Up to the time of its cession by the Sultan of Bobjseo , the island of Labuan was a dreaded haunt of pirates , whose galleys cut off a large proportion of the sea-going commerce of Brune , the large and populous capital of Borneo . These marauders were expelled , ot course , and replaced by collectors of coal and camphor . It was anticipated that the Chinese , Malays , Bugis , and Cochin-Chinese would flock to the settlement , and
render it another Dobbo , and that even the Dyaks would send an offshoot into the island . All this has happened to a certain extent , but the establishment is not directly remunerative . This , we conceive , has been the fault of the Government . Happily—in one sense—for the territory of Sarawak , but unhappily for British interests , they allowed the connexion between Lab / nan and Sir James Brooke to close , and they did not protect the island . It has several times been threatened by roving Malay squadrons , although never actually assaulted . Its slender means of defence suffice to deter attempts at invasion from the floating locusts of that sea . But this is not enough . To render Labuan a safe
and attractive entrepot for the native trade , a swift war steamer should have been permanently stationed in these waters . Such , indeed , is the most conspicuous want of Borneo . If those who , admiring the highest moral purposes , and the most thoroughly English courage in putting them into effect , determine , before Kajah Brooke again quits England , to indemnify him for his losses during the Chinese outbreaks , we say the commercial community of this country would do itself honour by presenting Sir James Brooke with a light but p owerful armed steamer , adapted for sea as well as river navigation . Nor would such an act of generosity be long in
bearing its fruits . There is a great field for commercial enterprise in Borneo , if our merchants and shippers were resolved to work it . In nearly all parts of Borneo Proper , cotton , coffee , the sugar-cane , and the finer sorts of spice , may be cultivated with success , while coal and other minerals , and precious stones , and valuable woods and pearls , abound along or near the coast . That a free port at Labuan would , if legitimately-fostered , be of large importance to the commerce of these regions , was shown by the conduct of the Dutch Government , which , soon after the hoisting of the British flag , opened rival ports , upon a similar principle , in
Celebes and Sumatra . Labuan , moreover , has been of practical service to the Sultanate of Brune , where our consul-general is established . To the negleot of the Government at home is attributable , however , the comparative failure of the settlement , which might rise , at least , to a distant rivalry with Singapore—the most successful political and commercial experiment ever made by Great Britain in the Eastern seas . Wo are persuaded that it is not yet too late to develop the views originally entertained by Sir James Brooke and his friends ; but there is an obvious duty for the Government to perform .
A Metropolitan Question. "We Resume This...
A METROPOLITAN QUESTION . "We resume this week our analysis of the Present System of Rating for the Relief of the Poor in the various parishes of the Metropolis . In our last number we explained the futility of the complaints made by the rich distriots respecting the deterioration of property tliat would follow the admission of —pauporsTinto—their-rpariehesi—by— ehowing—that-no compensation is made to the poor distriots when metropolitan ' improvements' diuvo the necessitous classes into humbly-populated parishes . Wo compared the aggregate ratable proporty of seven rich Ciiy parishes with that of seven poor parishes , and showed the disproportionate results . We also described the extent to which the construction of new streets , or other publio alterations , had unhoused the poor , and driven thorn to sock shelter in remote quarters . Wo -will , with Mr . Gim ) EB , x'b aid , resume tho subjoot .
If we glance at the Surrey side of the water , we find the change effected by improvements and alterations to oe no Ies 3 considerable " than those in the neighbourhood of the Commercial Docks , Shad well , and Whitechapel . The construction of the Greenwich and South-Eastern Railway , as well as the extensive terminus , naturally destroyed innumerable tenements which were the residences , in fact , of the poorer classes . Where did these dispossessed tenants seek shelter P The question is easily answered . From the census of 1851 it appears that the population of Lambeth had increased to 139 , 325 ; that of Shoreditch to 109 , 257 ;
and that of Bethnal-green to 91 , 123 . On the other hand , we find in the City district , whose area is covered with lofty warehouses , stately offices , and uninhabited banks and public buildings , the population , which in 1801 amounted to 65 , 401 souls , had been reduced to 55 , 932 in 1851 , solely by the operation of those natural laws to which we have alluded . And the cruelty of the system is likely to be permanent , since the Board of Works is for ever contemplating new schemes and carrying out new alterations ,
without for a moment reflecting that the poor they turn out must necessarily flock to the poor localities of Chelsea , Marylebone , Notting-hill , Whitechapel , St . George ' s-in-the-East , & c , the richer districts of Ty burnia or Belgravia not affording tenements sufficiently within their means . Thus it is that the poor are compelled to support the poor , whilst the rich are altogether exempt from the most obvious social duty . -Nor is this the only way in which the wealthy inhabitants of the West-end <» va ( ift thfiir share of the national burden . It is
notorious that the servants whom they may have had in their houses for years are turned adrift when no longer capable and useful , and these , as there is no shelter for them in the parish in which they have been located , are obliged to take refuge in the bordering parishes of Hammersmith or Chelsea . The Bank of England comprises the whole parish of St . Christopher-le-Stock . The building and ground upon which it stands are valued at a million of money J or 50 , 000 / . per annum , though this is below the average price other property in the neighbourhood has realized . The amount it contributed to the relief of the poor in 1852 was 72 / .,
or a little more than a farthing in the pound , whilst two of the poorest parishes in London—St . Ann ' s Blackfriars , and St . Mary Mounthaw—were assessed at six shillings in the pound , or two hundred and eighty-eight times more in proportion than the Bank of England . Again , twenty houses in Bridge-street , Blackfriars , pay together 1200 / . a year poor rate , whilst the two parishes of St . Mary , Woodchurch , and St . Mary Woolnorth , comprising the Mansion House , part of Lombard-street , Cornhill , and King William-street , pay together G 15 / . In St . Ann ' s , Blackfriars , St . Mary Mounthaw , Queenhithe , Allhallows-on-thc-Wall , and some
others , the increase of . rate , in consequence of the late war , averaged Is . l £ d . in the pound ; while in St . Michael ' s Cornhill , and six of the wealthier parishes , its average was only one halfpenny in the pound , and in St . Christopher-le-Stock one-seventh of a farthing . We may further analyze the working of the prosent system , and prove still more forcibly with what cruelty it presses upon the poorer classes . The merchant , the banker , the public company , the shipowner , and the broker , is comparatively exempt , being content with an Mage , or room or two , or perhaps an uninhabited house . An
instance might be adduced , b y way of example , of a company , whoso paid-up capital excoeds a million , renting a floor at 370 / . per annum , and paying a poor-rate not exceeding 10 / . a year . jBut tho shopkeeper is not so conveniently situated for escaping tho duty of rcliipf . Tho retail tradesman requires tho size of his shop to bo commensurate witli tho extent of his business , and tho amount of his rate depends on the space his Bhop occupies , according to the value of houso property in tho City . To draw still further from Mr . GiiiBBnT-s Btfttistiosy-another-illustration-is
prGsontodby tho Dook Companies . St . Katharine ' s Dock , for example , employs , with sailors and labourers , a thousand poor , tho last chiefly residing in the Whitcchapel district . The merchants and shipowners really employing these men have small offices in , tho City almost wholly untaxed ; their residences aro either at tho West-end , or possibly ia some genteel suburban district , while the mass of pauporism is loft to tho poor parishes in tho Eastern union . In Whitochapol tho dock labourer relievos tho Spitalflelds weaver in his distress , and
the weaver relieves the dock labourer . Nothing is more common here than for a summons to be served on a house for default of poor rates when a portion of its inmates are actually receiving parochial relief * while other and wealthier classes are exempted . The St . Katharine ' s Docks comprise a whole parish , in which no poor can reside . In the year 1852 it contributed to the enormous expenditure of the Whitechapel union only 414 / . ; yet the majority of persons applying for relief are directly or indirectly connected with shipping . The London Docks form a part of the large and poor parish of St . George-in-the-East , and are therefore called upon to contribute their full share to the pauperism caused by them in the parish ; and while , in 1856 , the amount paid by the St . Katharine ' s Dock Company to the relief of the
poor was only a few hundred pounds , the London Docks Company contributed no less that 19 , 756 / . If the rates were equalized , the London Dock Company would certainly be greatly relieved , but the St . Katharine ' s Dock Company would be called upon to contribute its just quota . To return , however , to the West-end , we find the same evils exist , varying in intensity according to local circumstances . Comparing three wealthy parishes west of Regent-street with six east of Mark-lane , it is stated that in the former , where the rental averages 2 , 148 , 293 / ., the poor rate is only 16 , 340 / ., whilst in the latter cluster of unions , where the rental does not reach one million and a half sterling , the poor rates amount to 62 , 481 / ., or 46 , 141 / . more than the three West-end districts .
The Sunday Evening Services At Westminst...
The Sunday Evening Services at Westminsteb Abbey . —The first of these services took place last Sunday . A vast crowd of persons assembled outside the railings for an hour before the time at which the service was appointed to commence ; and it was evident from their appearance that they did not , for the most part , belong to the poorer orders , whom it was sought to benefit , but were members of the comfortable , regular church-going classes who had left their ordinary places of worship for the sake of ' the sight' Many arrived in private carriages , and several others in cabs . When the doors were thrown open ( only two places of ingteaa were provided for the people ) , there was a most unseemly rush and struggle for admittance . " Women were
driven violently against the railings , and , screaming m terror or from pain , added to the confusion ; the officials , seeking to moderate the rush , injudiciously closed the doors every now and then ; and those who remained outside had to encounter a double pressure , backwards apd forwards . At length , as many got in as the Abbey would hold ; and the rest were obliged to go home , disappointed of seeing the show which had attracted them . The grand old building looked peculiarly impressive and picturesque by the artificial light thrown upon it by the gas burners which have been introduced specially for theae occasions . A choral service having been performed , prayers were said by the Rev . J . C . Haden , Priest in
Ordinary to her Majesty ' s Chapel Royal , rector of Hutton , and the lessons were read by the Rev . Lord John Thynne , sub-dean . The Now Hundredth Psalm was then sung by the whole congregation ; after which , the Very Rev . Dr . Trench , Dean of Westminster , preached the sermon . In doing so , he specially invited the poor to those observances , and said he trusted that tho upper and middle classes would not leave their ordinary places of worship in order to come there , and trtius keep out those for whom the Abbey was thrown open . Dr , Trench having pronounced the benediction , the congregation dispersed . According to some accounts , several artisans wore observed among the congregation .
Thy Exeter Hajul Services . —Tho now series of special services at Exeter Hall commenced last Sunday evening . The hall was well filled . Cafe of Good Hope . —Tho latest intelligence from the Capo is most satisfactory . The colony is peaceful and prosperous . About 80 , 000 Kaffirs have taken Bholter within its boundaries . Some of thorn mako good servants . 1147 aro engaged on public works at King William ' s Town . All tho troops from England have arrived in good health . The Crown Jewbus . —The paragraph lately going tho round of the papers upon tho subject of tho Crown jewels contains an important inaccuracy . Tho jowolfl thoso
constituting tho Regalia at tho Tower are not respecting which there has been a question between our . QftWrtJiniO hat of . Hnnovor . Somc J ewela belonging to Georgo II ., and loinT 1 UTtb . o pos . s 6 saion ~ of "Q ' uoon-t ) uar<— - lotto , wore , it scorns , tho subjoct of a bequest to tuc Crown of Hanover . Undor that bequest they wore claimed , and , hor Majesty having submitted tho claim to competent authority , its validity was admkiod . i |* Crown of Hanover , however , has nothing to stfy to tue Rogalla , which will remain as at present . —Olobo . Turn Majnohicbtku Workhouse Farm . —Tho pftupor labourer *) employed at this farm utruok on Thursday morning for higher labour and bettor food . After an interview with tho Board of Guardians , the men coneontod to resume work .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 9, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09011858/page/14/
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