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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd January 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 14

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      Untitled Article

      affairs and investigate complaints , - ' but they have not had one complaint for the last three months ; ' stock is taken , and the profits are divided quarterly . The general administration of the society appears to be admirable . There is no display , no -waste of stock in dressing -windows , no advertizing , no touting for customers ; all transactions are for cash , and funds are never wanting . Really , Mr . Sckatchijsy should organize an association of this kind for some of the London districts , under the auspices of the Friendly Societies Institute . The success of this experunent is a fact of the highest interest . Co-operation avoids failure , and renders bankruptcy impossible ; the persons

      employed are fairly paid ;' no funds are invested m plateglass , lustres , and puffs ; litigation is set aside ; ' the two societies at Leeds and Rochdale have turned over a million of money , and have not lost ten pounds in bad debts . At the flour-mill the cost of grinding is reduced 40 per cent ., and of retailing 50 per cent . ; and the appearance , position , and prospects of the members are most satisfactory . The working classes generally are ignorant ; therefore , they do not co-operate . If they attempt it , they frequently select the wrong paths , and end in failure . But , vigorously and intelligently developed , the principle might entirely change the condition of those classes that live by labour .

      Untitled Article

      CHRISTMAS AT THE WORKHOUSES . The social gaieties and substantial honours of Christinas have not been confined to any particular class or rank . The genial current of hilarity , fostered by the unusual beauty and clemency of the weather , has fermented through the lesser as well as the greater arteries of society , and Christmas-day — the day of sacred carols , mysteries , and mummings—was , in spite of clouds in the East and farspread poverty at home , converted into a general Irestival of Mirth . The heart and the hand of the British nation became enlarged , and the spirit of charity and loving kindness gave a richer varnish to the sheen of the holly and the mistletoe , and a purer glow to the lights that twinkled on the branches of the merry yule-tree .

      In our metropolitan unions especially , the festal season was signalized with unusual energy , the charitable public remembering the duties ot hospitality , and following out the example of the ' fine old English gentleman / who , ' though he feasted well the rich , yet ne ' er forgot the poor . ' Between thirty and forty thousand persons were regaled in the different workhouses of London , and on the most substantial and cheerful fare . The carte for each establishment was to all intents and purposes the same , though occasionally a slight variation might be observed . In the City of London Union , for example , the Christmas feast of the inmates consisted of roast pork or roast beef , with potatoes , one pound of plum-pudding , a pint of porter , half an ounce of toDacco or snuff to each adult . St . Mary ' s ,

      Paddington , provided the same fare , with the exception of the pork , and the potatoes were c mashed . ' At St . Mary ' s , Islington , the bill of fare consisted of six ounces of cooked roast beef free from bone , baked potatoes ad libitum , ono pound of rich boiled plumpudding , and one pint or Thuman and Hansuii-k ' s porter , with an additional allowance of tea and sugar . St . Giles ' s , Camberwell , as at several other Unions , the additions consisted of a bountiful supply of cake to all the inmates , together with oranges , tobacco , snuff , nuts , sweetmeats , and apples . In one instance—St . George ' s , Hanover-square—wo have a gratuity of twopence to each individual . We further read of a series of dissolving views being exhibited in one workhouse , a magic lantern in another , and singing and smoking in tho hall , to dispel the gathering gloom of the pauper evening . The inmates ot the St . James ' Westminster Union were

      allowed froo holiday till the following Monday , and some of them were so far favoured as to obtain permission to visit their friends for periods of from Wo days to three weeks . In two cases wo have been admittouTinto 4 ho-mysterie 3 , oLtho . kilcUpn ,.. and , ha ^ the elements of the glorious pudding statistically placed before our mental vision . The ingredients of this symbolic compound as concocted at St . Marylobone were , we are informed , 3001 ba . of flour , SOOlba . of raisins , 2401 bs of sucl ; 85 lbs . of sugar , lllbs . of candied poel , 71 bs . of spice , lib . of ground ginger , 81 bs . of salt , 38 eggs , fifty pints of milk , and 50 p ints of ale . These seem , indeed , colossal proportions , but" arc but as the Himalaya to the Leviathan when compared with the more jovial proportions of the St . Panoras plumpudding , St . Pwnoraa is , in fact , the patriarch

      of parishes , being by far the most extensive and populous in the metropolitan district . Hence , with becoming dignity , he set before his festive guests , mixed and kneaded into one sublime and salubrious whole—56 Olbs . of flour , 496 lbs . of fruit , 4601 bs . of suet , 168 lbs . of sugar , 62 eggs , 144 pints of milk , lOlbs . of spice , lOlbs . of candied peel , and 96 pints of ale , weighing in the aggregate nearly 18 cwt . Of the proceedings in two—St . Martin s-in-the-Fields and St . John , Hampstead—out of the thirtythree metropolitan unions , we have no information , the officials connected with these independent districts having been too imperial to issue a report . We only trust that more attention was shown to the entertainment of the inmates than was

      maniifested to the very proper curiosity of the ratepayers , and that the spirit of hospitality among the guardians was in exact . proportion to the incivility with which they treated the public .

      Untitled Article

      METROPOLITAN POOR-RATES . The Association for Promoting an Equalization of the Poor-Rate on an Assessment over the Metropolitan Districts is making way ; public opinion is rapidly tending in its favour . Several of the new vestries , we believe , are in active co-operation with it , and a good deal of political as well as local influence has been brought into play . Mr . William Gilbert , chairman of the association , has been induced to publish a formal summary of the entire question , and to rebut the most plausible of the arguments against a change . Vested interests in one parish , where land and houses have been purchased under a light rate , are opposed to a reform which would deteriorate the property . To this it is answered that when the poor cottagers on the Paddington estate were driven to Notting-hill to make room for magnificent mansions , Paddington did not compensate Kensington for the necessary increase in its rate ; the poor of Westminster were ejected into other parishes when Victoria-street was built ; out of the poor habitations on the site of Farringdon-street , hundreds of indigent families were thrown into Blackfriars and St . George ' s ,

      London in which a smaller amount of traffic exists . Of this we are sure—that the whole space was formerly covered with dwellings for the poor ; that at present they are destroyed , and that no others have been built in their stead , although no less than 4500 individuals were ejected in its formation . Good houses cannot be built there , for the heavy poor-rate has decreased the value of such property to an extent that would cause the speculation to be a failure ; while to build houses for the poor would be to increase the poor-rate , already too burdensome . Perhaps no parish in the metropolis is better adapted to show the effect of improvements than Whitechapel . Since the year 1821 , there have been destroyed in that district , for the formation of the Blackwall Railway , 167 houses ; for

      Commercial-street , 570 ; for the formation of St . Katharine ' s Docks , 1033 ; in all , 1770 ; while scarcely 360 have been rebuilt . Although the number ejected by these alterations was not less than 14 , 000 , the increase of population in the union , from 1821 to 1851 , was not less than 10 , 659 souls . And this evil is apparently on the increase ; 450 houses have lately been destroyed in Shadwell , and , for the recent enlargement of the London Docks , 3500 people have been ejected , who naturally strive to keep as close as possible to the scene of their daily occupation : while a new street is in progress of formation by the Metropolitan Board , from Commercial-street to Red Lion-street , Whitechapel , that will eject many hundreds more .

      This statement is Mr . Gilbert ' s . We enter upon the subject thus generally , but with an intention to resume it , and lay the entire argument before our readers .

      Southwark , ' when the value of propert y was diminished one-half , and no one dreamed ot compensation . ' The richer" the parish the fewer the poor ; the poorer the parish the more numerous the poor ; the poor parishes pay heavily , the rich parishes pay lightly . Invert the system and you would have no more than justice ; but equalize the rate and the poorer parishes will not complain . Some benefit would accrue to all from the principle of economy introduced by a scheme of general management .

      Seven rich City parishes , with an aggregate of ratable property amounting to 159 , 000 / . expended for the relief of the poor—5800 / . in 1838 and 3000 / . in 1854 . It- may be guessed what sort of process had been going on ; ' improvements' had been driving out the indigent classes . But the poor must be located somewhere . Whither should they drift but into the poor parishes ? Accordingly the seven poor parishes had them . Here the aggregate of ratable property was less than 45 , 000 / . ; the expenditure in 1838 was 4700 / . ; in 1854 , 7100 / . By this it may be perceived , as Mr . Gilbert says , that seven poor parishes , into which the poor haa in part been ejected , sufl ' cred an increase of poor-rate during the period named of no less than 2730 / . per annum , although the ratable value

      of their property was less than one-third of that of the seven richer parishes . As a general rule , in proportion as the wealth of the City has increased , and with it tho number of tho working classes it has employed , the fewer have been the poor it has been oallca upon to support . In tho eastern parishes , Mr . Gilbert says , this evil has been carried to an extent at least equal to that which has bcon reached iu the City and Wcst-cnd . All tho improvements that have been mado have bcon urged on , if not entirely caused , by tho same horrible TOhj ^ o thn ^ thojmupcr . upon some other porialT ; aHlTougirin iffostHmstariclfsTaii 'd in the eastern portion of the metropolis especially , this has not been done until tho pressure of pauperism has become altogether insupportable . Let us adduce , as an example iu support of this statement , Commcroial-strcot , a thoroughfare formed for the ostensible object of facilitating the tmltto from tho Eastern Counties Railway to tho London Docks . Any ono acquainted with the locality can answer to what extent such a communication was nooossary . Wo have often passed through it , and wo unhesitatingly state that thovo appears to bo no street in

      Untitled Article

      Health of London . —The deaths registered in London , which in the previous week were 1234 , declined in the week that ended last Saturday to 1013 . In the ten years 1847-56 , the average number of deaths in the weeks corresponding with last week was 1227 . But , as the deaths of last week occurred in an increased population ,

      the average , with a view to comparison , must be raised proportionally to the increase , in which case it will become 1350 . Hence it appears the public health was so far improved that the deaths were less by about 300 than the number which the average rate of mortality at the close of the year would have produced . —Last week , the births of 769 boys and 730 girls , in all 1499 children , were registered in London . In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1847-56 , the average number was 1410 . — From the Registrar-GeneraFs Weekly Return Reduction of the Ship Lettek Rate of Postage .

      —The Post Office has issued the following notification : — " On the 1 st of January next , and thenceforward , the British rate of postage upon letters despatched from any port of the United Kingdom by a private ship , whether steamer or sailing vessel , will bo reduced to 6 d . the halfounce , in all cases where it now exceeds that sum . The charge upon letters above half an ounco ' , in weight will increase according to the scale for charging inland letters . Letters conveyed by private ship from this country to France or Belgium will continue liable to a combined British and foreign rate of 4 d . the half ounce ; and letters conveyed by private ship to Holland , Hamburg 1 , or Bremen , will still be charged with a combined British and foreign rate of 8 d . the half-ounce , as heretofore . "

      Present op Gobelins Tapestry . —Prince Napoleon has transmitted to the Committee of Council on Education a very interesting specimen of Gobelins tapestry , the subject being ' Arria presenting tho dogger to her husband Pootus , after having stabbed herself . ' This piece of work was commenced under Louis XVL , was completed during tho period of tho Republic , nnd received its border in the early days of the first Empire . It was given on his marriage , in 1807 , to Jerome , king of Westphalia , by tho Emperor , his brother . Prince

      Jerome has just given it to his son Prince Napoleon , in order that it might bo presented to tho Muaoum of Art at South Kensington , aa some proof of the interest which they both took in that establishment . Viewed for its money worth , this specimen must have been valued at above 2000 / . ; but , looking to tho curious facts of Ha history , it is of far higher value as an ovidonco of tho friendly relations which have sprung up between the two countries , not merely in politics , but in tho promotion of I ho arts .

      Piiksicnt KiiOM tub Frknoh Emperor . —Louia Napoloon has sent a sum , amounting to about a hundred po « nda"EngllshrtO'J « cob-H « rbourr _ tho ™ labouring _ A 1 iHJ \ iL _ who , in nssiHting a gunner to lire a tmluto at tho Royal Victoria Yacht Club-honae , when tho Emperor and Empress wore departing from Oaborno on tho 10 th of last August , had Ills right arm dreadfully shattered . Ciiuhoh-Ratb Contest at" Qukkhwioii , —A church rato of a penny in tho pound haa been affirmed ut Groonwioh by 021 ngainnt 088 . Tho opponents of tho measure deny tho validity of tho rato , notwithstanding tho majority thus obtained , in couaoquenco of tho rev . chairman ( tho vicnr ) having refused to put a motion for tho adjournment of tho voatry for nix ¦ wooks for tho eatimatoB to bo amended .

      Untitled Article

      j . THE LEADER . [ No * 406 , January 2 , 1858 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 2, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2224/page/14/