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Q Q< the oftion of whose had 1163 |HE LJ...
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^^ rtu^ /HlfllttiV *lillMlTi5 ^ 5J*'*»**t <J5^"H -^— , ¦ ?———
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— ^ = ¦ ~ W . . THE BUILDERS' STRIKE. Th...
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THE GREAT EASTERN. CoNTRAnr to the gener...
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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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.
Q Q< The Oftion Of Whose Had 1163 |He Lj...
Q Q < the oftion of whose had 1163 | HE LJEAPP , Pff ?* 5 & >? t . 22 , 1839 .
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— ^ = ¦ ~ W . . The Builders' Strike. Th...
^ W . . THE BUILDERS' STRIKE . Thbke seems a prospebt of the dispute coming to a close , since we hear that some builders employing a large number of hands have abandoned the ? fdocumenV ' the res jilt of which is that their shops have been reopened . Mr . Jay is one of these . Mr . Myers , of York-road Lambeth , the other day invited the masons recently in his employ to return to work without the " declaration , " but they ^ refused to accept the offer , until one of a similar character was tendered to the carpenters , joiners ,, plasterers , painters , arid the various other branches of the building trades now locked out . Very many artizans are strongly opposed to the nine hours ' movement , which is by no means a popular one ( though the
Conference have not yet given it up , as is erroneously supposed by some persons ) . Effective measures are being prosecuted , not only by the masons but ; ¦ by the bricklayers , plasterers , carpenters and other branches of the building trades , for the purpose of raising ainple funds in support of the lock-outs . It is expected that in the course of eight or ten days the Conference will receive from the members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers another contribution of £ 1 , 000 ; and during the week several meetings in aid of the cause of the operatives have been held in . large provincial towns . In fact , funds continue to flow in abundantly to the treasury of the executive sitting at the Paviors * Arms . Mr .
Nixon , of York-road , Lambeth , has withdrawn the declaration from fcis establishment . A meeting of the working-men of Dartford and its vicinity , in aid of the lock-out , was to be held last evening , in the large room of the Bull and George , High-street , in that town ; and an aggregate meeting of the building trades inXondon is to be held on Monday evening in St . Martin's-hall , Long-acre , when members of the Conference ¦ * ' will report progress , and lay before , the meetingmatters of great importance . " A number of-carpenters and joiners who had resumed work at the shop of Messrs . BroTrn and Robinson , Worship ^ street , under the impression that the declaration had been withdrawn from that
establishment , left in the course of Thursday in consequence of having received information that the declaration was not withdrawn .
The Great Eastern. Contranr To The Gener...
THE GREAT EASTERN . CoNTRAnr to the general expectation the Queen has not honoured the great ship by an inspection during her stay in Wales . The Prince Consort , however , went on board , and examined the vessel with great interest ; he was received with marks of great respect by the crews of the various ships in the harbour , and by the spectators , who testified their loyalty to the sovereign by the vigorous welcome they gave to her husband . The Times remarks that many of the principal requirements of the Board of Trade still remain to bo done * and adds : —' "Done they must and will be before the ship' leaves ; but we' mention the fact that they still have to be effected as a reason for our belief that the great ship cannot and is not
likely to start before the middle or end of next month , if blie leaves this winter . No bilge and feedpumps have been fitted to the main machinery , which is still dependent on its feed-water being supplied by the donkey-engines . This , as we have before pointed but , is a most objectionable arrangement , as , in case of the donkeys breaking down ( and , in spite ' of every care , on both trial trips they have always done so ) , the engines have come to ' a dead stand . Ab this ia a matter which can only affect ) tho speed of the ship , and -not in any degreo interfere with its safety , the company , of ( course , have a right ' to their own ways but if they 4 have any regard to the'commercial success of the Great Eastern they' would be wise to adopt every precaution against tho possibility of a flldw
which prevails there . Yet throughout whple the Great Eastern there is not yet a -single stove or hot-air pipe fitted to prevent either crew or passengers from almost freezing in . such weather . It is true that these will all be put up before the vessel leaves , but this is only an additional element of delay , and one which makes it still more certain that the ship cannot leave at the time stated . If the Great Eastern go to sea next spring , her run is likely to be one of great success , for by that time both ship and engines will be in full working order , which they most certainly are not now . If , on the contrary , her trial . trip across the Atlantic is hnrried forward , it is more than probable that the
whole journey will prove a failure in speed . The engineers will fear , and most reasonably fear , to drive the engines overmuch , for a break-down within 10 miles Of land , and a break-down in the middle of the Atlantic in a winter ' s gale are widely different things ; and the vessel labouring only for a single day in a heavy sea will soon find but the weakest point in her engines . Apparently there has been some miscalculation as to the size of her boilers to generate the steam-power required , for , though the boilers have done their duty admirably it is believed that at fall steaming the screw and paddle engines can find employment for more steam than the boilers are equal to supply .
As regards the trip to America in a commercial point of view- ^ -that is , to realise money by " exhibiting the ship at Portland or New York— it is certain that for this year the time is past . To arrive in the United States in the middle of winter , when even with the Americans the season of travel is over , would be to make a failure of the whole affair . It has been suggested that on leaving Holyhead she should rather go round to Southampton and there be thoroughly fitted for sea in the best style of ocean-going steamers , taking in her supplies of rope , spare spars , and extra boats ( none of which are yet on board ) , and , in fact , completing her with every requisite , and reducing to system her extensive internal administration .
In the meantime she still remains a show ship at Holy head , visited daily by thousands and thousands . Almost every hour brings in heavily laden passenger trains . Holy head is full to repletion , and woe betide the unlucky traveller who comes by the night train in the expectation of getting a bed . The daily number of visitors , is greate . r now than ever it was at Portland , and all the chiibf seaports of the United I £ ingdcm where the Great Eastern could stay , and very many also where she could not , are clamorous in their solicitations arid invitations to got her round .
The Times of yesterday made the following announcement ' .- — " The anticipations which we have expressed that the long delay necessary to really fit this ship for sea would prevent her departure for America either during this month or the next have thus far been realised . At a board meeting held at the ship at Holy head on Wednesday afternoon , the date of departure for America was postponed , sine die , and orders were given that all money paid for passages to the States should be returned . At present no time can' be fixed for the transatlantic voyage until good progress has been made towards
fitting out the ship in thorough sea-going- completeness—a work which , we need scarcely say , will in * volve considerable time . Though some disappointment may possibly be felt in England , and a good deal more in America , at this indefinite postponement , yet , on the whole , the directors have taken a prudent course both for the passengers and shareholders in thus , as far as is in their power , placing the first real voyage beyond the chance of mishap or shortcoming of any kind . It is now almost certain that the vessel will not start for the States this year . "
The directors of the London and North-Western Railway Company gave a grand banquet on Wednesday evening , at the Royal Hotel , Holyhead , to the directors of the Great Ship Company and a large party of distinguished gentlemen , to celebrate the arrival of the Great Eastern steamship at that port . The Marquis of Ohandos , as chairman of the railway company , presided , and said , "AH connected Avith the London and North-Western Railway could not on such an occasion help reverting to what had befallen since the invitations to that dinner had been issued , or could fail to remark that they had ,
magnificent conception , they then met tocelebrate . Did not every Englishmanfeelitas it were a part of the national honour that that noble ship should succeed , and was it not a source of grief in every household throughout the land when her first trip from the river , was attended with an unfortunate mishap ? Sometimes the schemes , of our great engineers appeared to be in advance of their age ; but it should be remembered that locomotives were no \ V careering over the land at a speed which in the memory of many living men was regarded as fabulous . He could not but think that the step taken by the Great Eastern Company would before long be crowned with success , and would place England in the first rank among nations in shipbuilding as she was in every other art . The Right Hon . W . E . Gladstone , who was also present , made one of his most successful speeches . He said , in
returning thanks : — "Inmy opinion , the position of a public man in England , although it may be in manv respects one of care and difficulty—for we have a vast , perhaps too vast , an empire to administer— -is yet in many other respects a position of singular felicity . Por we serve a sovereign whom it is a delight to serve ; and if in her we have a noble mistress , we have likewise a noble master in the British nation . I have ever felt , under whatever vicisistudes of public affairs , that we live in a country where no sincere and honest efforts of a minister to perform his Jpublic duty in the long run fail to meet with adequate and ample justice . I have to suggest that you . should drink 'Prosperity to the Trading and Manufacturing Interests of this Country . ' That prosperity has , as I have said , little to do with my personal existence , but it has a great deal to do with . my official existence . And the comfort of that official existence—I have
lived long enough to know very well- —depends mainly upon the condition of these interests . I venture to tell you that the last quarter ' s revenue presents a return the most satisfactory that we have witnessed for several years past ; and if you ask me why , I apprehend it was in a very great degree owing to the activity of trade , that activity of trade being in turn in a great measure founded on the very great moderation of the prices at which the people are procuring their provisions . ' We have lived in times of a diversified character—times in which much has occurred that may be of a doubtful complexion , but in which on that very account the mind rests with the greater comfort and satisfaction on all tha . t betokens real progress in what concerns the interest of mankind . I do not believe that in
the wJible history of the world an instance can be found either of an age or a nation in which it has been graciously conceded to a Legislature to do so much for the benefit of the people committed to its charge as it has been given the British Parliament to do in the present era by the changes which it has circumspectly and wisely , but boldly and effectually , introduced into the whole ot our commercial policy . Permit me to quote a lew lines written a century and a half ago , in a spirit truly prophetic , by one of our distlnquished national poets . —I allude to Pope . In an early work of his , termed ' Windsor Forest , ' he penned words which might well be taken as indicating his prescience of the repeal and fundamental reconstruction of our navigation system . He says : —
1 Tho tirao shall come when free ns waves or wind , Unbounded Thames shall flow for all mnnkmd—Whole nations enter on each swelling tide , And soas but join tbe rogiona they divide ; Earth ' s distant euds our glory shnll behold , And the New "World launch forth to seek tho Old ! ( Cheers . ) That which the poet thus predicted wo have seen completely realised ; and of that change in the commercial system of tho country , so far as its laws were concerned , we have beheld this day in the harbour of Holyhead the most remarkable ana conspicuous result . I venture , gentlemen , humbly but sincerely , to assure you that I have at least tijw qualification for asking you to drink to the prosperity of our trade and manufactures , that my own life and exertions are cordially devoted to that oDject ; that , amid all the difficulties of politics , amid of
all the vicissitude * and disappointments me , amid tho uncertainty which attends all our speculations , I find a eomt ' ort and satisfaction in thinking that it is in our power , if we will sedulously set ourselves about it , by a judicious economy and an enlightened legislation to do ** something , at least , towards raising tho condition of tho masses ot our fellow-countrymen , and providing that there snoju bo some lightening of tho burdens which human me entails on the noble-minded artisans of tho peasantry of England . ( Chows . ) That , in my opinion , is a solid ground of satisfaction ; for that I think it an honour and a delight to labour . And , confident in your sympathies , I ask you heartily to unite vrltn me In good wlshoa and earnest anxiety for that oxtehelbn of enterprise and that remuneration ot oapltal in the trade and manufactures of tins ountry , of which wo know- that a main part . . .. i ......
alas I np longer a Stephenson among them . It was that marvellous man ' s genius which had devised the means of passing the rugged straits of Menoi , and of carrying 1 galleries through those rocks and shores of Wales which had long defied , until the days of Telford , the engineering skill of this country . Those who had known Robert Stephoneon had lost a dear friend , while England had lost one of her children who had raised the name of a humble family to a position' nod only < 6 f British , but of European reputation , butthey iiactalab to mourn tho an timely end" of another son of 'genius , whose fame ' ' wap Equally diffused throughout the Continent ) and the
complevayagei ' The water-tight compartments ' exist only in namo , for vaTiouB' apertures , such as doorways and ventilation holes have been cut in them ; so that in case of an accident ; thia element of safety would be totally wanting . >¦& $ to the main conditions insisted on by the Board of Trade before'the vessel can receive her palseenger certificate , to do ' these as they ought to bedbno will require"a delay which , makes it absurd to > "expect that- the * Great Eastern can possibly leave England'during this month . There la ono precaution ^ hpwevor , which , though not > required by tJie- 'Bpardj ia'iflo ' inrrppratively-nocessary that unless it ^ ndoptod , not eVon sailors would , ' venture now' to ¦ tj 4 irl ; vfbr > iAin > prioa' ^ mthe Groat Eastern . ''We Wean
¦ wwMblw » W 9 )( rtWwin 6 rleaT » . winter is , or who have been offitihtnipTOJpa ofj'Newfoundlan'd towards the end of «< Wmborl » o « n :. t » pipreolftte the severity of tlie bold . < UCt ) WlH > 4 il > lo 'irvrt ,, m .. !¦ , f . i .., i . ... ' ... - ¦ .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1859, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22101859/page/4/
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