It sounds like politics of the Nineties but in fact these topics were at the forefront of public debate in Middlesbrough 120 years ago. They are also the subject of a day school on Victorian Middlesbrough at Leeds University Adult Education Centre, Harrow Road, Middlesbrough, on Saturday April 4 from 9.45am to 5pm. Dr Malcolm Chase, who is conducting the day school, highlighted the importance of Middlesbrough as an industrial area. He revealed that the town, described by Gladstone as an' infant Hercules' had an awesome reputation for squalor and toughness. He added:' The picture of politics which survives, however, is completely different, and is largely made up of the petty squabbles of shopkeepers and the airy superiority of the ironmasters.' Places on the day school can be booked by contacting the centre. # A BABY girl is still battling for life following an accident in which her mother died. Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash which claimed the life of 34-year-old Alison Cowley of