The people of Oldham are
perhaps waiting with intense anxiety for a long and amusing account of
the "Extraordinary Scene" at the last meeting of the board of poor-law
guardians; or those of Ashton are looking forward with equal interest
to Saturday's paper, for a report of the animated debate in the
town-council on the proposed increase of two policemen for that
borough; or perhaps the news-agents of Rochdale, in anticipation of a
brisk demand, have ordered twice the usual number of papers because of
a church-rate contest, in which the vicar has been beaten by an
overwhelming majority. But the columns of the _Manchester Guardian_,
though nearly double what they were twenty years ago, are not made of
India rubber; and therefore, much as the editor may wish to give all
due latitude to Ashton, Bolton, Bury, Middleton, Oldham, Rochdale,
Stockport, or Wigan news, he is generally forced, by the pressure of
advertisements, or some other equally potent cause, to compress
everything within the narrowest limits. Whatever interest a piece of
district news may possess in its own locality, it must not be allowed
to encroach upon the space belonging to "the general reader," who buys
nine-tenths of every newspaper, and who does not care a farthing for
Rochdale or Ashton news, unless when it happens to be a very horrid
murder, or an exceedingly destructive fire.
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