On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (6)
-
Q ' L that for the .7 — "' i" •¦ri -- ¦ ...
-
tUPORTAKT PUBLIC MEETING ON THE •¦^ LABO...
-
The Goverxmeni Plan foe the Bubial op th...
-
THE CONDITION OF ENGLAND QUESTION. (Cond...
-
tamal $arttaroettt
-
MONDAY, Aphil 15. nOUSE OF LORDS.—On the...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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 ' L That For The .7 — "' I" •¦Ri -- ¦ ...
Q ' L ¦ ¦¦ r _^ _j _^ _Apgig _^^ _- - ¦¦ _..- ¦ _.-: - - _-. _--- . _~ ..-. _^^ ..- . - .. _^ _tfiy _^ _,- _, .- _^ - ¦¦ - - ¦ _..,...... _^ _....,.,., ., _^ . rr . " _¦^ s _^^^^ _^^^^ . .:: ¦ . ¦ ¦¦ - ==== _^^ _-, _¦ - i _* i _^ L ± _^ _'^/ _-- ~ •¦ - ¦ _. ¦ ¦ ¦¦ -, ¦¦ - ¦ t _. „ _.. ; _,. . _., . r _r == _? r ¦ ¦ ' _? _EW ! 7 ' . » _.., ~ . L ,. ¦ _¦ . ' _-. ' . " . _ZHHSS _^ _' — _ni ' _. -i _. ' ¦' "' _«¦"•¦* ¦ ii _.-r y »
Tuportakt Public Meeting On The •¦^ Labo...
_tUPORTAKT PUBLIC MEETING ON THE _•¦^ LABOUR QUESTION . . _ vBc meeting of the inhabitants of Brighton V _hM in the Town HaU , on the evening of _TuesfrtP 2 nd inst , 'for the purpose of _discuraing _S _? _-S-ifflportMt _qnestipn of the rights of labour a Ac condition of the journeymen bakers , and . for _^ Jl _^ _oluaens in support of _a bill tobe intro-** ?; nio narliament by Lord Robert Grosvenor , _fftt _fSK- ' of n _* ht work * baking _•^ nn ' the motion of Mr . Nunn ( master baker , ) _seaJl bv Mr Read ( Secretary to the Journeymen J 5 Association , ) Mr . Oastler « u UHanimousl y j if A to _occapy the chair . Oa taking the chair , T = nprable uentleman was greeted with hearty * wSm « £ ing of the Factory Children . ' _XUSel 8
_^ , _nlamrds rjillino- _tli-t mppfinoiter'fading the p lacards calling the meeting , _^ Oastler _saia , —Inhabitants of Brighton—Tou now cbosen me as your chairman—you have _&** ve _^ meto preside over the deliberations of _^ numerous and thoughtful assembly , congregated / the purpose of discussing a question of most f 0 V- _jafportance . I need not assure you that I am i _imuressed by this mark of your confidence , d the responsibility of the office with which _„ r _* lrindness has charged me . Let your motto be , _eSthin s , hold fast thatwhich is good . ' No x _piargeus with meddling with that which £ > aot belong to us . Kings ami peasants , and _Xntv intermediate grade , are alike interested in Swest question . If we glance cur eyes over the _Seni al nations of Europe , or stretch them er the r" * ions bevond the Atlantic , we see the _Svemmen tt and the people intently striving to
_nireihis great enigma , _vrnas are tne ngnis oi ? Xr ar > How shall they he secured ? Many very foolish men , calling themselves philosophers , fancied Zx had settled that mig hty question herein _Engird They , ignorant as they trul y are , persuaded _SSsdws ana their confiding dupes , that the way _Secure the comfort _^ - _' _« m 8 _*? . tlie , n _f _- _Wton « was to cheapen every article of their _produc-Sfwlich thev have effected ! By opening the _petition of ihe world , in our own market they _Sre succeeded in cheapening the price of every _faomew Kmouity , and lowenug the wage , and _proteot zll who are engaged in their production and Sribntion . And what is the result ? Listen who
io the ChanceUor of the Exchequer , , -hfle he nods the exchequer oveiflowing and _exerts increasing , feels the rottenness of the "L gperity of which he boasts ; and . dreading _fte conseqnences oftbat very cheapness which it ¦ ms been the object of his school of statesmen and uhaosop heis to create , casts about for hope from any _Quarter , and at last he thinks he perceives it , in a j i _^ _in , to hig her prices . Ha fondly _hofes 'low juices'wil ! not Ion-j continue . Read , in the increase of crime and destitution , the result of that _cheapness , which is fast reducing English society to jjsilarism . Do I exaggerate ? Turn over the . _golumns of your daily papers ; read those long and eloquent letters in the * Morning Chronicle , ' headed Labour and the Poor / Yon will there ind con .
_jnostion of the sad truth I bave enunciated . Language fails to describe the miseries it would pourtra * -. figures and words may state the facts , but tke heart-Tending horrors consequent on such appalling fac ' . s can only he imagined hy those who closely investigate the moral and social foulness pro-• faced by excessive but ill-requited labour in creating , not wealth , but cheapness ; Strange that the same organ , while furnishing such incontestable proof of the total failure ofthe cheap p hilosophers , should stiil applaud their schemes , and urge for a slfll further extension of the very principles whose
partial operations have produced such almost universal havoc . Does any one think that the picture of English society is not really so had as the * Morning Chronicle' represents ? Turn next to the leading journal , the ' Times , ' and therein , in terrific , bnt concise and impressive language , read ihe sad character of English society . Read the description of our once happy father-land . And , mark well , his _are not the words of passion , enthusiasm , or excitement , spcken in the heat of debate , or to serve a party or a passing purpose . The Editor of the ' Times , ' while calmly penning that which he knew every civilised people conld read and ponder ,
thus describes the present condition of society in England : — 'The prison is a palace by the side of the cottage . The murderer is comfortable , and the children , perhaps , of his victim suffering all kinds of wretchedness . The gaol has lost its terrors . The village labourer cannot get half so much of the housing , the clothing , the feeding , the teaching , and the comforting of his wife and family , as the state lavishes on the single person of a miscreant whose sole claim to its attention is some atrocious crime !' _—^ ihe 'Times " "M arch 28 th , 1850 . ) Such is our national character , heralded by the 'Times' to every -dvuised nation on earth ! What state of barbarism
can surpass our own ? We lavish our premiums and rewards on murderers and miscreants , while we rob the village labourer of his rightful wages ! Mia t & , we are so proud , arrogant , and _self-stiffitisnt , that we boast of onr Christianity and _cmiisation — nay , we Bare to profess ourselves the missionaries of both ! Thus adding to all our other crimes the sin of national hypocrisy . Will not Heathen nations answer us ont ef the hook we would persuade them is tbe Woid of God—* Te hypocrites , cast first the beam out of jour own eyes , and then shall ye see clearly tornllout the mote that is in onr eyes ? ' Will
not the untutored savage retort—' Physicians , heal yourselves V The Editor of the * Times' adds , « All that we can hope is , that we may gain a little by the _experience of each year ; and to that we will add our own fervent desire that tbe British public and legislature would direct their _efforts more to the comparatively easy work of retaining in employment , comfort , and duty , those whom otherwise it will be almost impossible to reform . ' Passing strange it is —the same mind suggests no better method of securing the desired ohject than a still further increase of that very competition which has brought in its wake such destructive cheapness , such demoralising
wealth 1 Another remedy heing the transportation oi the industrious to distant climes ! Is it not high time for yon , the common people , to betake _yoursakes to _ihonghtfnlness on this most important question , seeing tbat the-learned—the philosophers—are at their wits' end ? Itis . For that purpose you are met here to-nig ht . You are anxious to retain * in employment , comfort , and duty * those who are now employed , and to had means of employing those who are cow unwilling idle *? . You , too , must be _galcled b y' experience . ' The - " experience' of every age asd of every nation proves that rational labour is good for man and for nations—that when pursued
irrationall y , excessively , labour is destructive of its _ewn value , and becomes the parent of physical , mental , and moral evils . * Experience' teaches mankind to labour , that they may live—not to live that they "taay labour excessively at intervals , aud at others rot in idleness . * Experience' teaches the labourers and "the governors that there are enjoyments to be obtained in life from which the sons of industry may not Wth safet y he debarred . To secure those enjoyments to the industrious , ' experience' teaches that the laws must restrain the griping hand of ava rice , aud protect thelabourer from the iron hoof of Ms remoRdess taskmaster ! Onr business to-night
is te promote that object . The tenth is , my friends , those who are employed in England are too long at "Work ; each man is doing the work of two , and thus he is committing the double crime of wasting his Own strength for a mere nominal return and robbing hh neighbour of his right to labour . Malthus , the great Free-trade and anti-population philosopher , hid instincts that were sound and natural ; he could « e the dreadful evils of over-toiling . His heart ttggested an alteration , hut his head forbade ! The " _"Julosopher was wrong , the instinct of nature was right . Hear his heart thus speaking : — ' I have - "• Iwayg thought and felt , that many among the
laetraring classes of this conntry work too hard for _*&& health , happiness , and intellectual improve-• _Seat ; and , if a greater degree of relaxation from •"• """ ere toil conld be g iven them , with a tolerably ** _*•• "' _Jiospect of its being employed in innocent _•^ tanents and _nsefol instruction '—thus far the - *!* "" -Hersthe sentiments of his heart ; but the _IMosopher now steps in with the head , and raises f ? _Wuu , * % hlch nitere or troth mm created . _^ Philosopher says— 'I . should consider it as very _JWy purchased , by the sacrifice of a portion of _Phonal _wealth and _populousness . ' Theuntur _^ 'fflto KM e t . W U " , _o _trr _««„ _1-rt _fta-innM 'hpalUl .
_rJPniess , and intellectual improvement * to ' too _« fmwork ' — « MT Cre toil ; ' hut _theeducatedphiloso-«?* m _uncovered that _« a greater degree of _relau-^* fflu it necessarily involve' the sacrifice of a porlr \ _/ the national wealth and populousness !' _•^ " earning had , indeed , made him mad , else he Sr j _* _* _**«* i tnat to do right , i » always the _•^^ ato truegreataess . "Letthattruthneverhe l _^ _f _^ ted from yonr minds . There never can be _^™* e way s of justice and truth . Right new _**•*• " --get wrong . Again , _theptflowpher cunot
Tuportakt Public Meeting On The •¦^ Labo...
perceive that governments are for the well-regulatiag _ofsocieties . And he adds—* But , without a simultaneous -resolution of all the labouring ' classes ' to work fewer hours in the day , theindmdual who ventured so to limit hia exertions would , necessarily , reduce himself to comparative want and wretchedness . ' —( Matthias ' s 'Princi plesof Political Economy , ' c . vii . s . 9 . ) The' unanimous resolution' here spoken of conld never be attained . The strife to attain it would engender many strikes" and , knowing as I do the dreadful evils consequent on strikes , I never can recommend them . We must ..::: : _; _- _r-.-. r- . ; .. _...
not forget that onr principal object to-night is to consider the case of one section of our people , viz ., the journeymen bakers of London . Those men are engaged in the most nseful and most necessary employment of preparing the daily bread of the millions who inhabit our great metropolis . Now , if any employment ought to he comfortable and profitable , it is theirs . What is the fact ? They are very poorly rewarded in wages ; they are doomed to an excessive—to a killing toil .
They number about 12 , 000 ; one-fourth pf them generally unemployed , out of work . The regular hours of those in employment are , on Sundays from eight or nine a . m . to one to three p . m . On Sunday night ihey enter on their week ' s work , at eleven o ' clock , till five or six on Monday evening ; resuming work again at eleven at night , and so on through the week , their wages being about 18 s . Foreigners aud boys now compete with them _, and their condition is deteriorating . Hear one man ' s
tale—I have just left my place at Mr . High Holborn , where I have heen _Uving for fourteen months , and I have heen _competed to leave , for I could stand it no longer , fer during the-whole of that time I have _ww-ked twenty hours each day out ofthe twenty-four . My mates round me know I am not afraid of wort , but of all the hard places 1 ever had that one beat tliem . Had I not left my place I must nave sunk under it , I have Uved at , in Barhican , aud you all ( addressing his club mates ) know what a killing place that is , but the oae I have just laffc beats tliat hollow . We used there toget about an hour te our meals in the course of the day , because everything was timed , bnt we couldn't in the other ; we used to go straight at it until we left off . We usei to hake about fifty sa _« k 9 of
flour into bread a week ; above one-half of that we had to carry to chandler 6 _* -shops on _boardB on our heads , nnother portion to private customers in baskets ou our backs , the remainder heing sold in the shop . For all this labour he received I 8 s . per week , and what bread and flour he wanted to consume , which may be reckoned about 2 s a week more . Talk ahout serfs and slaves , indeed ! Reason about the miseries of savage life , and the hlessings of civilisation ! There cannot be in human nature a class more sinned against than these wretched men ! Health they cannot have . Domestic , social , or personal enjoyments they are debarred from ? Does Christianity demand tbeir worship of the true God ? They have no time—no strength ; they are Helots , slaves to Mammon , in the metropolis of a
nation boasting of its liberty , civilisation , and Christianity ! They minister to the sustenance of others , b y their own self-sacrifice . Have we any . statesmen left ? If we bave , I demand of them , how long is this brutalit y to be allowed by law ? Ah \ but they are adults—free agents ! Indeed ! The statesman who says those men are free agents , knows nothing of society . But if they were , what then ? Have they a right to sacrifice health and life ? Have those 8000 in employment a ri ght thus to keep out the remaining 4000 from any employment ? Philosophy , I know , says yes ! But , reason , nature , sound policy , common sense humanity aud Christianity , answer—Ko . A thousand times—No !
Resolutions condemnatory of the existing cruel system , and in support of Lord Robert Grosvenor ' _s bill , and a petition to the House of Commons ia its favour , to be signed by the chairman on behalf of the meeting , to be presented by Capt . Pechell , and supported b y Lord Alfred Hervey ( the members for Brighton , ) were unanimously adopted . Messrs . Wells , Mockford , Read , Cabel , Nunn , Eydd , and others , addressed the meeting , condemning nightwork and long hours of lahour . Some opposition was attempted , but the parties
did not move any amendments ; eventually joining in snpport of the resolutions . Mr . Read made an impressive speech , full of details and important facts ; informing the meeting of the strong opposition of Mr . Cobden to the Bakers' Bill in parliament . ' . Mr . Cobden , the great captain of the Free-Traders , ' said Mr . Bead , ' was pleased to tell the House of Commons that the London bakers needed no protection ! He , the pretended friend of the working classes , thus proving his determination to grant them no relief . He ( Mr . Read ) wonld ask whether were the London bakers or Mr .
Cobden the best judges ? He liked the old saying , 'Mind your own business ; ' and if Free-trade orators would speak only on subjects which they understood , they would talk less and be more thought of . Mr . Cobden often boasted that he was the friend of the working classes , but his friendship for them was mere thin air—so etherial that when you tried to analyse it , you discovered it was only words ; words , sound , and nothing else ! but his friendship for the great capitalists was strong and influential , marked by deeds , following his words ,
Soon the English labourers would find out their true friends—among them Mr , Cobden would not be discovered . ' Mr . Kydd ' s speech was full of powerful reasoning and eloquent appeals to tbe head and the heart . He demolished the crude theory of ' enlightened p hilosophy and free action , ' and proved , that on mutual dependence alore could national security be built , that dependence being cemented by the mutual interchange of the produce of each other ' s labour among the people of [ each— -in contradiction to every country .
After a vote of thanks to the Chairman , the meeting broke up . Many persons thronged round Mr- Oastler to shake hands with the « old veteran ;' these marks of kindness were evidently appreciated by the' Old King / The proceedings of this important meeting were remarkable for calmness and dispassionate reasoning . It was impossiblft to witness so numerous an assemblage , cemposed principally of working men , reasoning on so important a subject as * the rights of labour , ' without observing tbat the seeds of a great industrial movement have heen sown , and that soon the harvest will be reaped .
The Goverxmeni Plan Foe The Bubial Op Th...
The Goverxmeni Plan foe the Bubial op the Dead . —Under the authority of the proposed bill " To make better provision for the interment of the dead in and near the metropolis , " it is intended to create a new "burial district , to include all London , "W estminster , and the borough of Southwark . The divisions will be— -the Holborn division : St . Giles-in-the-Fields , St . George , Bloomabury , St . Andrew ' s , Holborn , and St . George the Martyr ; the liberty of Hatton-garden , Saffron-hill , and Elyrents ; the parishes of St . Pancras , St . John , Hampstead , St . Marylebone , Paddington , and tho precincts of the Savoy . —The Finsbury division : The parish of St . Luke , the liberty of Glasshouse-yard , the parishes of St . Sepulchre , of St . James , Clerkenweli , St . Mary , Islington , St . Mary , Stoke
Newington , and the Charter House . —The Tower division : The parishes of St . Mary , Whitechapel , Christchurch , St . Leonard , Shoreditch , the liberty of "Sforton Fokate , the parishes of St . John , Hackney , St Matthew , Bethnal-green , the Hamlets of Mile End Old Town and Mile End New Town , the parishes of St . Mary , Stratford-le bow , Bromley , St . Leonard , All Saints , Poplar , St . Anne , Limehouse , tbe Hamlet of Katcliffe , the Parishes of St . Paul , Shadwell , St . George-in-the-East , . St . John , "" Yapping , the Liberty of East Smithfield , the Precinct of St . Catherine , the Liberty of her Majesty ' s Tower of London . —The Kensington Division : The Parishes of Kensington , St . Luke , Chelsea , Fulham , the Hamletof Hammersmith , the Parishes of
Chiswick . Ealing , Acton . —The Brentford Division : The Township of New Brentford . —Extra Parochial Places : Lincoln ' s Inn , Gray ' s Inn , Staple ' s Inn , that part of Furnival ' s Inn in the County of Middlesex Ely-place . —Kent : The Parishes of St . Paul , Deptford , St . Nicholas , Deptford , Greenwich , "Woolwich , " Charlton , Plumstead . —Surrey : The parishes of Barnes , Battersea , Bermondsey , Camberwell , Clapham , Lambeth , Newington , Putney , Botherhithe , Streatham , Tooting , Wandsworth , Christchurch , ClinkLiberty , the Hamlet of Hatcham in the parish of Deptford . It is also intended to give powers to purchase certain cemeteries , to be named in one of the schedules of the act , such aa " The General Cemetery for the Interment of the Dead in the Neighbourhood of the Metropolis " ( Kensall Green ) , " The South Metropolitan ' _^
_CNorwood ** _, " Thei _^ ndon Cemetery Company , " " the "West of London and "Westminster" ( Brompton ) " Stepney , " " "Victoria Park , " and " Abney Pari */ 5 Cemeteries . These and the grounds to be purchased for extramural interments are to be placed nnder the direction of the Board of Health . The staff of the board to be slightly increased for the purposes of this act , which will require an additional member of the board , an assistant-secretary , a nd a treasurer , forthe 8 pecial purposes mentioned . These offices respectively to he limited in like manner , and for thesame term as the board _Ib at present instituted . They are to purchase and lay out grounds , and to appoint chaplains , _snhject to the approval ofthe Bishop of London . A portion of eaoh burial ground is to be left nnconsecrated _andV a chapel built thereon , where persons are to be buried at the reqneBt of their _wrriYing _wtettYe" _** .
The Condition Of England Question. (Cond...
THE CONDITION OF ENGLAND QUESTION . ( Condensed from the . Morning Chronicle . ) - ¦ LIFE IN LEEDS . The east and north-east districts of Leeds are , perhaps , tho worst .. A short walk from the Briggato , ih the direction in which Deansgate branches off from the main entry , will conduct the visitor into a perfect wilderness of foulness . ¦ ; Conceive acre on acre of little streets , run up without attention to plan or health—acre on acre of closely-built and thickly-peopled ground , without a paving-stone upon the surface , or an inch of sewer beneath , deep
troaaen-cnurnea sloughs of mud forming tho only thoroughfares—here and there an open space , used not exactly as the common cess-pool , but as tho common cess-yard of the vicinity—in its centre , ash-pits employed for dirtier purp oses than containing _ashes—priyics often ruinous , almost horribly foul—pig-sties very commonly left pro tempore untenanted , because their usual inmates have been turned out to prey upon tho garbage of the neighbourhood . Conceive streets , and courts , and yards , which a scavenger never appears to have entered since King John incorporated Leeds , and which , in fact , give the idea of a town built in a slimy bog . Conceive such a surface drenched witb the liquid slops which each family flings out daily and htl
nigy before their own threshold , and further fouled by the malpractices of children , for whicb the parents , and not tho children , deserve shame nnd punishment . Conceive , in short , a whole district to which the above description rigidly and truthfull applies , and you will , I am sorry to say , have a fair idea of what at present constitutes a large proportion of the operative part of Leeds . I have seen here and there in Bradford spots verv neqxly , and in Halifax spots quite as bad ; but here it isho spot—the foulness over large sections of the town , particularly towards the suburbs , constitutes tho very face and essence of things . - I have plodded by the half hour through streets in which the undisturbed mud lay in wreaths from wall to wall , and across open spaces , overlooked by houses all round , in which the pigs , wandering from the central oasis , seemed to be roaming through what was only a large
sty . Indeed , pigs seem to bo the natural inhabitants of such places . I think they are more common in some parts of Leeds than dogs and cats aro in others ; and wherever they abound , wherever tho population is filthiest , there are tho houses the smallest , the rooms the closest , and the most overcrowded . One characteristic of such localities is a curious and significant one . Before almost every house-door there lies , of course until the pig comes _, upon the deposit , a little heap of boiled-out ; tea leaves . Although all the domestic refuse is flung out , you hardly ever see bones , but the tea-pot is evidently in operation at every meal . Here and there , I ought to add , the visitor will , even in the midst of such scenes as I have tried to sketch , come upon a cluster or a row of houses better than ordinary , and through the almost invariably open' doors of which he will see some indications of domestic
comfort ; but such buildings are the exceptions—and , exceptions as they are , they rise out of the same slough of mud and filth , and command the same ugly sights as their neighbours . There is , I believe , a Nuisance Committee in Leeds ; I inquired whether they were aware of even the most flagrant of all these sanitary enormities . Had their attention , for instance , been ever drawn to the practice of keeping pigs , or rather of letting the pigs keep themselves , in crowded neighbourhoods ? " Yes , " I was answered , by a gentleman much interested in the subject— " Yes , I have reported these things over and over again , until I was sick and tired of reporting ; but , you see , nothing has been done . " Three of the ordinary trades of the Irish in
Leeds are rag-picking—such as I have described . it in Batley , near Dewsbury—untwisting old ropes , and mat-making . Men and women generally work at the latter employment ; but the women almost invariably hawk the produce about for sale . I visited two cellars in one ofthe Irish streets , in each of which I found a man and woman preparing mats . A sentence of description will suffice for both apartments . They might be about seven feet square , littered with old bagging , Russia mats , old ropes , and shavings—furnished with ricketty deal tables , and two or three chairs more or less dilapi * dated , and a bed ; in one case , spread on a low frame , in the other , rolled up in a corner . Thc cooking apparatus , in both cases , consisted of a
single pot . Miserable as these abodes are , they were clearly superior to the Irish cellars in Manchester and Oldham . The people in the second cellar were rather better off than those in tbe first , because the wife had a ' ' good connexion" in the mat-selling business , and could more generally realise fair prices for her wares . In both instances the people gave me every information about their trade , and I subjoin the substance of their statements , which in the main agreed . " We make two sorts of mats , rope mats , which are the best sort , and stitched mats . Both of these mats are principally made of a stuff called 'dewit . '" This dewit was a substance like long clusters of coarse hemp . " "We buy it for 3 s . a stone .
"We then dye it hrown with catechu ; we dye it by boiling a stone of it with lid . worth of catechu , and then we rinse it out with clean -water and a little aliim , and hang it up to dry . " The side of each room was clothed with clusters of the stuff in question . " * We have next to get ropes for the rope mats , and old sacking and shavings and twine for the stitched mats . The ropes cost about ls . 3 d . per stone . The old bagging comes to about lid . per mat , and the twine and Russia matting to a trifle more . "We use shaving 3 when we can get them for nothing . To make a good-sized rope-mat , like what we sell for a gentleman ' s door , takes six or seven pounds of rope , and from a pound to a pound and a half of dewit . We generally cOunt , working np the waste of one with another , thac 161 bs . of
dewit will make three rope mats . Stitched mats do not take more than half that quantity , but they require , besides the sacking , twine and garden mats . The rope mats are made upon the principle of weaving . The strands of untwisted ropes , are stretched across a frame , exactl y like warps , and then the workman , passing a stronger rope in the manner of a woof across them , binds into the twisted cordlocks of the dewit , which forms the superficies of the mat . In the stitched sort the dewit is fastened by coarse needlework to the sacking . One of the mat workers 1 saw was an old man . He could , ho said , once bave made four or five rope mats a day . Now he could not make more in a week . The stitched sort required a day to make two , and another day was generally requisite to sell them . The woman in the first cellar stated .
in regard to the sale , as follows : — " I sell the mats we make here , and it ' s very bard work—much harder than making them , and very uncertain . The prices I get depend mostly altogether upon whether it ' s poor houses or rich houses I sell at . There is no regular price for the mats . I take what I can get , and if we ' re very hard up I take very little . I get as little as 4 d . and 6 d . for each of the stitched mats , and as little as Is . or Is . 2 d . for the _ropemats . Thelast day I was outselling , I went four miles into the country with four mats , three of the cheap sort , and one of the best . I walked all day . Sold two ; and brought home two . I sold the dear one and one ofthe cheap ones , and had onl y 15 d . for both . The time before that , I went out at seven in the morning , and never broke my fast . That , day I sold three of the bag sort foils . 7 d . "
I visited several cellars and wretched dwellings in the vicinity , inhabited by the Irish and the lowest class of English labourers , male and female , many of whom were engaged in tbe miserable occupation of unpicking old ropes ; so as to prepare the oakum for being ground up again and wrought into shoddy , canvaB and sacking . - This species oi lahour is so unutterably wretched' that it can only exist as eking out the pittance procured by the industry of the principal supports of the family . The first woman upon whom I lighted , and who professed to follow this miserable " trade , I found ill in bed . It was indeed a squalid household — the floor , dirty stone—the mean furniture , scanty and broken—the smashed window panes stuffed with rags — and an
emaciated woman , ghastly as death , - l y ing shivering on a flock bed on the floor , covered principally with a dress and a faded shawl . Sho told me that she could earn just 4 d . by unpicking a stone of ordinary ropeB , and tbat she was too weak to pick more than three stones a week . The family lived principally on parish relief . She did not mean to say that a better hand than she was could not make more by opening ropes . She could not work at it longer than from eight o ' clock in the _msrning until four o clock in tho afternoon . It was a terribly dusty work . The house . would be all covered with dust . The labour was awfully hard upon the fingers , particularly when the ropes were " green . " For this kind of work , however , sho was paid a penny a stone additional .
I was anxious to see the process actually going on , and presently I came npon a household in whicb , poor as were its physical attributes , the moral debasement and apathy which it disclosed were still more terrible . In a bare , stone-paved room , a principal part of the furniture of which consisted of tubs and apparatus for washing , sat three young children cowering over a spark of fire , and slowly and painfully tearing tough ropes to pieces with their weak , bony , little fingers . An intelligent girl , about eight or nine years of age , seemed to have the control ofthe other children , who were younger , and for whom she spoke , labouring away _, all the time . I ought to observe that I was accompanied by a _relieving-officer , and that the father of the family had been receiving _parish ' relief for ' seven years : — " "Where ' s your mother ?'— " Gone out to * try to get some washing to do . " - "Where ' si yoj § _fatbet ?'' .. - 'in the- fleecethat s a _publis-WJuae _, Ah , mother tt ) t | Kml » bad
The Condition Of England Question. (Cond...
. 7 — " ' i" _ri -- — " _- ¦ - b _^ ter . 'hot jro ' . _to-dayTforTou ' ( to thV _telievlngofflcer ) would be very likely to come round , but he wouldn't stay . " . . ; * ... , v _; ,, . - ' ' " . What does your father do ? " — ' 'Sweeps the streets , sometimes . " . . ¦ ' ¦ ¦ : ¦¦ 1 L * v ' d ? not ie hel P y ° to pick these ropes ?'•' that " ' _wouldn't do thai . He makes us do " What do you get ' for picking ?"— " Fourpence a stone , but I give it all to my mother . " ¦ ¦ ¦¦ Do you go to school ?" - Only on Sundays . I must work you knowI can'tread yetBut _^ r _. ,. ... , ... . . < .. . ..
, . , . my little brother goes to school on week days . Parson pays tor him , only sometimes they keep him at home to help in picking . He can't read either . And is not the other little boy your brother _Vun no ; ho onl y comes in to help us to pick . " Do you like picking ?"— " N 0 , because it makes me poorly . The dust gets into my eyes and down my throat , and makes me cough . Sometimes , too , it makes me sick . I can ' t keep at the work very long at a time because of that . " , "You say -you give all . you earn to your mothe 1 * , does she never let you have a penny for
your-The poor child hung down her head , hesitated , and then stammered out— " sometimes . " " And what do you do . with it ? " — "I buys bread . In another house , very close to the last , I found three children left alone , but in idleness . The p laco . was a mass of filth , ; The scanty furniture , broken nnd flung carelessly about — tho unmade bed a chao 3 of brown rags — cracked and _handleless cups , smeared with coffeo grounds , on
the floor—amid unemptied slops , and beside u large brown dish , full of fermenting dough , upon wliich dust and ashes were rapidly settling aB it stood at the fireside . The uncleaned window and the dim light of a winter ' s afternoon made the place so dark , that it was with difficulty I made out those details . There were here three _littla savages of children — their hair , tangled in filth-clotted masses , hanging over their grimy , faces . Their clothes were mero bunches of rags , kept together by strings . A wriggle of their shoulders , and they would be free from all such incumbrances in a
moment . * _ ., I asked them if they over went to school?—"Never . " " Can you tell your letters ? " — Amere stolid stare of ignorance •' How old are you ? " I asked ihe eldest girl , — "Don ' t know . " " Do you know what is the Queen ' s name ?""No . " ' Did you ever hear of anybody called tho Queen 1 " — "No . " " Where were you born ?"— " Don't know . " The relieving _oflicer said he believed all the family were Irish . . _; "Did you ever hear of a place called Ireland ?""No . " i ( Or of a place called England ?"— " No . "
" Or ofa place called Yorkshire ? " — " No . " " Do you know . the name of this town ?" , After a pause , this question was answered . Tiie eldest girl did know that she lived in Leeds ; and this knowledge , with the exception of matters belonging to the daily routine of existence , Beemed positively to be the only piece of information in the possession ofthe family . In two other houses , in both of which the inmates were receiving parish relief , the ignorance was almost equal . None of the children knew tho Queen ' s name . In each of these instances I must observe that the reason of these families being upon the parish was simpl y a temporary stoppage of the husband ' s employment iu a mill . In neither case could the mother
read . I was struck during the course of my rambles in the Irish quarters in Leeds at the frequency with with pictures . of the . " Liberator" hung upon the walls . Wherever the cottage or the cellar was fithiest and meanest—where potatoes to be eaten and rags to be picked lay mingled upon tho floorthe features of Mr . O'Conneil looked blandly down upon the squalor ; and , in one or two instances , I found his effigy supported by a repeal map of Ireland—the south and west coloured a vivid green , and the " Black . North" tinted to a sable corresponding with the title . A number of the ; cases of poverty which Iwas taken to see , were those of wives with four or five children , deserted by their husbands . Others were
the sad ones of old working men who had outlived their capability for labour . One of these individuals lived certainly in the blankest poverty I ever saw . In his room there was a bed , not worth , I should suppose , eighteenpenceas old rags , and one solitary broken chair . The floor was sinking , and the laths showed in great patches , p lasterless and bare . The occupant was an unshorn , little , old man . He said , " I have nothing to do . I want to work , but they say I am too old . The parish pays ls . a week for the rent of this room . I live on bread and water . " " Then why did you leave the workhouse ? " said the relieving officer . " Because I wanted my freedom , " said the old man , sitting down on hi 3 , one broken chair . The
sentiment must have been strong to survive amid such misery . He had been a weaver , but had not flung a shuttle for nearly a dozen years . He had walked well . nigh through Yorkshire trying for work , and got none . Since he had been out of employment as a weaver , he had been a bricklayer ' s labourer , and had earned as much as 17 s . a week , but now he was too old for that , too old for anything . But he would not , go into the house . No ; he would have his freedom and his bread and cold water . Another ' man , who would be in a similar position were it not for the kindness of his family , observed to me— " They say I ' m past work . I'm aot . I could work yet—only a little , perhaps—but I could work . But things have come to that pass
in this land , that lads and lasses havo men ' s work . " In the course of my wanderings through Leeds , I encountered two or . three women engaged in a rather curious trade , a description of which I am not able to eive with technical accuracy , though I can easily make clear the object in view . Like most occupations , the cloth trade has its-share of tricks , one of whioh consists in passing off an inferior for a superior kind of cloth by some legerdemain practised in the dying process . VThe deception , were it not for the ingenious device I saw being practised , would , however , Iwas told , be exposed at once by the peculiar action of the dye upon the selvage of the cloth . The object , therefore , is to dye tho cloth without dyeing the selvage upon its borders , arid for this purpose the piece is delivered to a woman , who
" selves it—that is to say , who rolls up the selvage into a circular cylinder all round the cloth , and then covers it with a sort of envelope , tightly stitched , and perfectly water-proof . The whole is then plunged into the dye-vat , and after being duly taken out and dried , the sewing is unpicked , and the selvage unrolled precisely in its original state . The women employed iri this adroit trickery have about lOd . per piece for sowing up the selvage , and 2 d . per piece for unpicking it after the cloth comes from the dyers' hands . A good work-woman will earn from 5 s . to Gs . a week ; but the work is seldom regular . One of the women engaged in it had been " playing" for three weeks before she got the piece upon which I found her labouring . Tho parish , of course , is in the meantime supporting her and her sick child .
THE LONDON EMBROIDERY TRADE . I found the good woman with her young children in their bedgowns about her ready dressed for bed . It was late in the evening when I visited her . She was the type of the better kind of labourer ' s wifethe mother , housewife , and workwoman all in one . The cheeks of tho children were red and shiny with recent scrubbing . In her arms she held an infant , and by her side sat a good-looking boy in the dress ofa parish-school . By the fire sat her husband , a swarthy , big-boned man ' . -- Itoldthem the object of niy visit _^ and was instantl y welcomedto their hearth . In answer ; to questions they told me as follows : — ¦ " I do the embroidery . . I can work any part of the embroidery work , no matter what it is . I don't
suppose any one ' s doing good at the embroidery , for gracious knows where ifs gone to . Then there ' s the tapestry , that ' s gone altogether , That was what I learnt . -We used to serve seven years at our business . I embroider the policemen ' s collars and the railway guards' collars , and sometimes silk work —Is to Is . 3 d . the dress , what I used to have 5 s , andbs . for ,-and more than that . Why , they are paying now 2 s . 6 d . for cardinals , that I've had 16 s . for . I do the East India work for the Calcutta police ; and the Liverpool police , and the Isle of Man police . I work tor the Penitentiary , and the Model Prison . They are the officers' coats , and indeed I do for all the prisons that wear ornaments . I work for her Majesty ' s yachts . I have all my work from the contractor for the embroidery . He takes it from the clothier . The clothier knows nothing about our business ; he gives it to the embroiderer , who gives it to me . Thero are no
chamber masters that I know of in our business . The contractor takes a very good shaking out of it before we has it . I get 6 s . and 7 s . a dozen for Metropolitan police dress-coat collars ; I can do five a day , but we generall y reckon four an average day ' s work of twelve hours , I can earn about 12 s . a week at it . Indeed I can do more if I can get it . I have earned 29 g . a week-at it , but that was by getting up at four in the morning and working till ten at ni ght ; and besides , the work was much better paid for then . Then the collars was paid 8 s . to 9 s . a dozen—that was about five year ago . The other police are abou _£ the same ; the railway and City both . The railway guards are according to the letters upon them . We are paid 4 d . a dozen for the large letters . I could do about four dozen and a half a day . As they pay for that work now , a woman can ' t earn more than 2 s . 2 d . to about 2 s . Gd . a day ; but I ' ve sat and earned 6 s . a day at it , and that was for the small letters on the cap-bands of the railway _guards nnd only having 2 d . a band then . For tha _QNto police l _^ w , a _w _* jaf , or ism ,
The Condition Of England Question. (Cond...
8 s . to 7 s . a dozen . _^ The : Calcutta police are _iiisf the same work as the Metropolitan _^ rdo _^ iust m many of one as the other . , _Jt ? s a white duck collar workedwith blue cord . The Liverpool police has the bird called the liver , with a branch of olive iri its moxth , and a single strap arid number worked in white , cord upon blue . Everything used is worsted . It's boen argued we work with white cotton cord , but that ' s a mistake . They ' re 6 s' a dozen , and take about the same as the Metropolitan and the Isle of Man police . The ornament of that is the same as tho Isle of Man halfpenny—three legs , boots and ' spurs . The priee is the same as the Metropolitan , 6 s . a dozen . I never knew them more , and they take about the same . Tho
Penitentiary is a small ring , something similar to the Fire Brigade . It ' s a small ring , and the number inside of it . They aro 2 d . a piece , to the best of my recollection . I can do about twelve of them a day , The Model Prison have oak leaves and acorns , with a coronet in tho ring . Tlio ' re worked in buff upon blue . Those I ' m paid double for , lis . and 12 s . a dozen . But then there ' s a deal more work in them . The oak leaves and acorns requires a good deal of shaping . When they were first done they were 18 s . a dozen , and that was ahout five or six years ago . The Metropolitan Police , whentbey first came up , were I 6 d . to lSd . a ebllar , and not done half so well as they are now . De ;« r me , there was no shape in them scarcely . The Fire Brigade
is so badl y paid—I think they offered me lid . a collar—that I couldn't work at them at all . There ' s the Isle of Wight work— that ' s the entrance to the prison gate ; we have to form all the stones , and the brick-work over the arch . They are 9 d , each . I ' ve had them three or four times , but I never had a great many . Wo can earn about the same at that as at any other of the work . Some things I have to do are black cord worked upon blue , but I don't know what they are for ; they ' re a small coronet in a ring . Wo work for the Irish police as well . It is thesame as the Metropolitan , without either . figure or letter . They put metal in them when they get there . Then there ' s all sorts of crests that we work you know—coats of arms and
suchlike . Thoy are mostly small orders , and don't run above fifty . We worK for the Thames Police , — that's the anohor , and like the Metropolita n . At all kinds of work about 2 s . to 2 s . Cd . is what I can earn a day , working twelve hours , or 12 s . to 15 s . a week . There ' s very few hands in our business _^ arid we can't think ' what ' s become of the work . I never had a piece of work returned in my life , and I ' m generally reckoned a very good hand atthe business . There can ' t be more than 200 persons working at it . We likewise do the soldiers' grenades on thc collars of their coats , The general pay ofthem is 6 s . a hundred , but I have never done any under 8 s . 4 d „ becauso I wouldn't work upon scarlet cloth unless I had full price . I could do about 150 a week .
Ive worked at the embroidery and tapestry ever since I was thirteen years old . "A little while ago there was the embroidering of the gentlemen ' s stocks ; they was worked upon the hand , and the hand embroidery has ruined the fraine embroidery altogether . At these I did very well ; I could make £ 1 a week at them easy , I ' ve got a frame nearly half as long as this room , that 1 suppose I shall never want again . You see here ' s one of the frames—its tied up , and no use . I ' ve got three more , and had them all full . The cause of the stock work falling off was this : a man got a quantity of tho girls out of the workhouse , and put a few tidy hands to superintend the business . There was a great deal of laughing and joking about that
man for he was a butcher by trade , and the idea of his starting in the embroidery line tickled every _, one . He took ' em down to Cambridge-heath , and cut down the prices so low that fifty of us was forced to leave the business at once . The butcher made a failure of it , and the whole establishment was broke up , and that was the ruin of the hand embroidery . Then " there was another cheap hand , the son of a party in the trade . He uriderminded his father . He went to the warehouses arid offered to do the work for less than half price , and ruined it altogether . I believe he made a failure too . Besides these another was going to have all the work . You see there was a good bit of money made at it then . This party sent me a shawl , a very well drawn thing . It was honestly worth is . 6 d . or 5 s .
to do . I had had more money for the same . When I took it in , ho had the impudence to offer mo Is . Ud . for it . Well , this one made a failure of it too , and I have heard that his wife now is trying to pick up a bit of work anywhere . The military embroidery was very good about three years ago . I had a great deal of it , so that I could have supported myself and four or five children very comfortable on it . I could always keep four frames full , and now I ' vo nothing at all to do . Last Saturday week I took 5 s . 10 d ., and that was earnt in a fortnight , and so on about the same for many months . My weekly earnings for the whole of this year hasn't been more than 2 s ., take one week with another , and three years ago I used to niake 15 s . to 16 s . a week regular , and that with perfect ease . As for the ' gold hands / I know one that ceuld sit and earn 10 s . a day , and I don'tthink she
knows what it is to see a bit of work now . I don't know what really has becomo ofthe work lately . AU the embroidery hands are earning a mere trifle —3 s , one week and then 2 s , —and many has called on me to know what ' s the cause of it , because they know I generally used to be so full . Three times last week I sent that little boy for work , and they said , '' send in next week , ' Where they ' re adoing the work , or how they ' re a-doing it , I can ' t tell . Whether they ' re doing it in their houses or not , by young girls , I can't say ; but there must be something like that , for you see as the new clothes comes round there ' s the work to be done , and some one must do it . Perhaps they ' re a-doing it in the prisons , for there ' s many a trade been cut up in that way ; but it ' s a sad pity , for it was a very pretty , tasty , and clean business . "
I now made my way to a garter-maker , and found an old maiden woman engaged at the business . Her roera exhibited the utmost order and neatness . Not an article but what was in its proper place , and all was scrupulously clean . On the window-sill , which was as white as snow , stood a row of geraniums and cactuses in pots , brilliant with redlead . The nose of the bellows was polished quite bri ght , and over the mantel-piece was a piece of antiquated embroidery in a gilt frame . The dress ofthe old maid was quite . as tidy . She wore an old green stuff gown , without a speck upon it , and a little red silk handkerchief tied round her neck . Her statement was as follows : — "I make up the garters . They give me the
India rubber web and I stitch the straps and the buckles on . I have 7 d . a dozen pair for what I mostly do . That is the lowest price I get . The highest prico I getis ls . 7 d . a dozen . If I could get sufficient I could do two dozen pair of the 7 d . ones a day , but they havn't got it for me to do ; and of the ls . 7 d . I couldn't do more than a dozen . My usual time of _working is from eight in the morning till nine at night . The Is . 7 d . ones are going to be lowered . They told me last time I was at the warehouse that they were obliged to sell so cheap they couldn't afford to pay that price any longer , I said I hoped they would consider of it , but I would be glad to take what they could afford to give me , as I had nothing else to depend upon . . In the day , at
thc commonest work , I can earn ls . 2 d ,, and at the best Is . 7 d ., but then I have silk to find , and that costs me 6 d . a dozen for . Is . 7 d . ones , arid l _* d . a dozen for the 7 d . ones . I think I burn half a pound of candles extra when I am at work . I havo to li g ht my candles sooner , and I sit up longer when lam at work than when I ' m not . . Half a pound of candles is 2 * ., so that I can make clear , working at the 7 d . garters , lOJd . a day ; and at the Is . 7 d . I can get Is . Ojd . clear in tho same time . When lam lull _employedall the week at the commonest kind I couldn't make twelve , dozen a week , because I should have to do for myself , and wash and clean . I make two dozen for one day—to " do that I must sit close , and hardly have
time . togetmy meals , and I couldn ' t go on so all the week through . I might , if I could get it to do , but thoy haven't got trade enough for it , to do ten dozen I say in the week , and ten dozen at 7 d . comes to 5 s . lOd . , * then there ' s the deduction for the silk , which is _ljd . a dozen , and that ' s la . 3 d ., and the extra candles 2 _$ d . „ in all ls . 5 Jd to be taken from . 5 s . lOdl , and this leaves 4 s . 4 Jd . as my clear earnings for the week at the commonest kind of work . Oftho Is . 7 d , I think I could do about five dozen in the week , though I ' m often for months and don't have any of that kind to do , and five dozen at Is . 7 d . comes to 7 s . lid ., and then there ' s 6 d . a dozen to be deducted . I haye to find this si ' k for them , she said , producing a smalltravfull
of little ' cushions' of silk wherewith to join the clasp to the slide . Then deducting the silk for five dozen at 6 d , —that is 2 s , 6 d , from 7 s lid ., there will be 5 s . 6 d ., and this , with 2 _§ d . less for candles , will leave 5 s . 2 Jd . clear for , my week ' s work at the best kind of work to bo had in the trade . I think , taking one kind of work with another , I could earn 5 s . a week , clear of all expenses , if I could get it . I pay 2 s . a week rent , and am obliged to be very near . I was fifty-nine last August , and have nothing to look forward to but the workhouse , unless the Goldsmiths' Company will do something for me . That is all I havo to look forward to . I have not the energy I used to have , nor tho snirits
—oh , dear , no . I am single , and my father was a silversmith . He has been dead about sixteen years , and mother ten . I had no rent to pay while they were alive . My father was a working silversmith , and had the pension from the Goldsmiths ' Company before he died , and ho had tho City pen » sion as well and mother and mo worked at the brace work . These were his things . I had no brothers nor sisters , and they eame to me after his and mother ' s death . _I'yc been obliged to part with some because I was in need of money ; and , indeed , I only see now the prospeot of parting , with them all . I can't _maintsua myself a great while longer by my work , I ' m certain , and then I havo nothing left but to WO « B them , as long as they will last , _« f 4 after all to end W _$ _W w _tto _"wtttom
The Condition Of England Question. (Cond...
It s impossible for me to save a farthing . I can barely live on whatT get . Indeed , the anxiety of mylifo at present , having my living to get , and to get . my rent up , is such that I certainly would do any thing ;! _cpuld to avoid it , but still I haye ; such a struggle to live and pay my way that I ' m tired of it . Ihave been upon my own hands about * ten years , that is , ever since my mother ' s death . Father was afflicted with rheumatic gout for , fourteen years before his death , and all I . earned then went to him . I have -nothing in pawn , and I owe * " ° "" . "" V nor-any money in tho neighbourhood . All I know is , i ' ve worked hard all my life , and been unable to get anything more than would barely keep me . As for _nuttinc bv anvthimrout of
it lor my old ago , it was ridiculous to think : 6 d . a I "\ , i * have had to find mo in coals , clothes , and food for theso ten years past . I find it very irksome that I should be forced to be a pauper in my old age , but "it is impossible ' for me to havo . done otherwise than I havo . I have cut and contrived every way to get a decent living out of the little I got , but now . even that little is beginning to fail me . I ' vo had my mother ' s clothes , you see , and they ' ve lasted me pretty well , and 1 haven ' t had much to buy that way . I am quite alone in the world . If a place in some almshouse could be got for me that would bo a real blessing indeed — worth more to me than all the money in the world . " ( To be Continued . )
Tamal $Arttaroettt
_tamal _$ arttaroettt
Monday, Aphil 15. Nouse Of Lords.—On The...
MONDAY , _Aphil 15 . nOUSE OF LORDS . —On the motion of Earl Gkey , tho Exchequer-bills Bill and the Brick Duties Bill passed through committee . HOUSE OF COMMONS . _—IndecentDm-ss . —Mr . Hume presented a petition from the inhabitants of Stirling , complaining of the indecent dress of the Highland soldiers . ( A laugh . ) The petitioners represented that in the course of the last nineieen Konths , during which a regiment of Hi ghlanders had been stationed at-Stirling Castle , they ( the petitioners ) had beer , obliged to witness many painful spectacles . ( Boars of laughter . ) The petitioners further alleged that the manner in which the bodies
of the soldiers were exposed to the inclemency of the weather was injurious to their health ( laughter , renewed ) , and that ,, as a compensation for their scant clothing , the men received an additional premium , from the public of £ 1 5 s . On the score of economy , therefore , no less than of delicacy , the petitioners called upon the house to take the matter into their serious consideration . ( Laughter . ) : Thk Lobd-Lietjtenakcy or Ireland . —Lord Jons Russell gave notice that , on the 6 th of May , he should move for leave to bring in a bill for the abolition of the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland , and for the appointment of a fourth Secretary of State . .. _*"¦ .
, Stamp Duties Bin , —The order of the day for going into , committee on tho Stamp Duties Bill being read , The Chancellor of the Exchequeb went into a short statement to the effect that great numbers of objections and suggestions had been made to and upon the details of the bill , and that alterations had been made whioh met ninety-nine out of a hundred ofthe difficulties thus raised . There was , he said , no increase of taxation by this bill affecting the great mass of business , though the adoption of thc ad valorem principle did not affect
_transactions of high value . _ Mr , Goulbubn expressed a very unfavourablo opinion of the ad valorem principle , which he Baid would be most injurious to the landed interest . In certain cases a payment which was now ' £ 25 would be raised to £ 700 . Ho thought it would drive people to the bill market , to which in fairness the same principle ought to be extended , but the mercantile man would never submit to it . The result of th © bill would be embarrassment to the honest , and evasion by the ingenious .
Mr . Mullings objected to the system of discouraging the raising money on mortgage . Mr . Roundell Palmer called attention to the operation of the bill on the transactions of building societies . Mr . Hume did not think that the country would object to the ad valorem princi ple , having hitherto had to complain of large transactions being lightly taxed iri comparison with small ones . Mr , _Henlet thought the Chancellor of the Exchequer ought to satisfy the house whether the £ 300 , 000 of reyenue which he proposed to give np would not be in great measure repaid by this new arrangement of stamps , which bore very hard upon the agricultural interest . He complained of the bill being unduly hurried forward . : Mr . Sadleir also objected to the hurrying forward a measure of so vast importance and complication , and he spoke at some length against various details .
The house then went into committee . The _Chancellok of the Exchequer briefly answered the objections of preceding speakers , again asserting tlie fairness of the ad valorem principle , and stating that , from information supplied hy the Commissioners of Stamps , he had no doubt that the loss to the revenue would be about _£ 350 , 000 , though it was impossible to say whether , inyeara to come , that loss might diminish . Mr . Disbaeli charged the government with falsifying the statement made when the Budget was
produced , and with taxing the greater proprietors to relieve the smaller ones . There existed , in fact , a sum of £ 350 , 000 in the Exchequer , which was sit the service of any gentleman who might have a p lan ready for the remission of any taxation . A prolonged-discussion followed , in which Mc Bright and other members urged delay , in order to obtain the opinion of the country upon the measure , Mr . Bri ght , in particular , asserting that the general impression was that it increased taxation . Lord John Russell resisted the proposal for postponement , declaring that delay would be most in-¦ ¦
convenient . . . Sir Henry _"VYiLLouonnr , on the item charging ** duty of 2 s . 6 d . on bonds for sums under £ 50 , moved an amendment reducing thc duty to Is . After considerable discussion , The Committee divided , when the numbers were—For the amendment ... ... 164
Against it ... ... 135 Majority against Government ——29 The division was received with very loud cheering : The Chancellor of the Exchequer said , after this decision , wliich involved a princi ple applicable to mortgages and other parts of the measure , he wished to have time to consider what course the government should take ; and , Upon his motion , the Chairman reported progress , and obtained leave to sit again on Monday next .
On the next order , for the second reading of the Securities for Advances ( Ireland ) Bill . Mr . Stuart moved the adjournment of the discussion until the house should be in possession of more information on the subject . He asked the Solicitor-General for Ireland three questions : — First , how many sales had been mado under the Act for the Sale of-Encumbered Estates ? . Secondly how the orders had been made by the commissioners under which sales had not been effected ? and thirdly , whether any one had offered to buy estates under the terms ofthe present bill ? The SoLicnoH-GENEiur _, for Ireland complained warmly of the discourtesy of asking such questions without notice ; but as regarded the first _inquirjc , he said that there had been either seven or ten sale * , but referred Mr . Stuart to the newspapers ; ana that as to tbe other questions inquiry was necessary .
The question whether the bill should be proceeded _, with that evening or not was debated for sometime Tho Solicitor-General at length consented . to postpone the second reading until Thursday . In moving the second reading of the Medical Charities ( Ireland ) Bill , Sir W . Somerville _statefl the nature ofthe remedies whioh it provided forthe vices and evils of the existing system . - Sir D . _JN oRRErs objected to the principle of the bill , namely , the creation of a separate Central Board forthe superintendence of medical charities . After a short discussion , tho bill was read a second time pro forma , in order that it should undergo amendment . ! The Indemnity Bill went through committee .
Interment of TnE Dead . —Sir G . Gret then rose , pursuant to notice , to move for leave to brine in a bill for the better interment of the dead in ana near thc metropolis . The house was aware that hy an act passed towards the close of last session , the 12 th and 13 th of Victoria , c . TlL , power was given to the Board of Health to inquire into the state or the burial-grounds in the metropolis , and in various large towns of the kingdom , and if the result « f that inquiry should show intramural burials were prejudicial to the public health , to devise an improved mode of interment . In pursuance of thw power , and ofthe duty so imposed on the Board ot Health , the board instituted extensive inquiries into the state of tho burial-grounds in and near the metropolis , and in certain towns ofthe United Kingdom : and , as a result of their inquiries drew up a
soheme , embodied in their report laid some _weeka since on the table ofthe house , having reference * 6 » the metropolis and its immediate nei ghbourhopij . The board considered the subject in two points ot view : —first , the effect of the existing system of burials on the public health ; and , secondly , its effect in relation to the decency and solemnity of tho oeremony of interment . At that time o night he would not state at any length the natvure or purport of the evidence collected by the boarf " , and which formed the basis of the report . The **«• port itself attracted much publio attention , and to presumed that its contents were known to the house . He would therefore only reaii one passage , which exhibited a summary f that eTidea « f * , " - From the replies to queries issued by tha QenDral Boaril of _fitahh _, | t appews _thatths number of _puWia « ndpriT _|»
-
-
Citation
-
Northern Star (1837-1852), April 20, 1850, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns3_20041850/page/7/
-