The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-12-13 00:00:00

Correspondence.

Nail, Chain, Rivet at.d Bolt and Nut Works,
Old Hill, near Dudley,
December Bth, 1879.
THE WROUGHT NAIL TRADE BOARD OF
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION.
'To the Editor (1 the Stourbridge ob3erver.

Sir,—We shall be much obliged if you will publish
the enclosed corr.spondence on the above subject.
We remain, yours truly,
ELIZA TINSLEY & CO.

Old Hill, near Dudley,
December Bth, 1879.
Dear Sir,—We beg to hand you Copy of a corres-
pondence which we have had with A. J. lundella
Esq., M.P„ respecting the advisability of establish-
ing a Board of Conciliation and Arbitration for the
settlement of future disputes in our trade
We will thank you to meet us on Thursday next,
at two o'clock, at the Grand Hotel, Colmore Row,
Birmingham, to consider this question, and to take
such steps as may be thought the most advisable.
We remain, yours truly,
ELIZA. TINSLEY & Co.
To the Nailmasters
IA copy has been sent to each.] •

Old Hill, near Dudley,
November 21st, 1879.
Anthony J. Mundella, Esq.' M.P., Nottingham.
Dear Sir,—We understand that you proposed and
established in the Hosiery trade the first Board uf
Conciliation for the settlement of wages and other
disputes between Employers and Employed, that
that Board has worked satisfactorily for many years,
and that Boards in other trades. have-been estab-
lished, on your recommendation, on the same prin-
ciple, and that thoee have worked well also.

_
We take the liberty of explain:us to you the
manner in which the Nail Trade is eanied on, and
shall b. 3 very much obliged if you will inform us if
you know of any trade carried on under similar con-
dition.. which has adopted a Board of Conciliation
for the settlement of all trade disputes, and if th?
result has been satisfactory.
The Wrought Ni it trade is becoming more and
more confined to Staffordshire and Worceslershire:
principally to Rowley Regis, Lye, Sedgley, Dudley,
Netherton, Halesowen, and Bromsgrove, all being
within a radius of about twenty miles. In each of'
these districts special kinds of nails are manufactured
and those only can be bought there. The nailere
work in their own shops or smithies, which are at-
tached to their own houses, each shop being built to
accommodate one family.

We have our head et.tablishatent at Old 1111
(Rowley Regis). We have a permanent staff at
Bromsgrove and Sedgley, and warehouses in the
other distliets, to which we send our men on certain
days to buy and give out orders for the next week.
Some houses have in addition to their head (stab-
lishment, three out-warehouses, some two, others
one ; but the greater q.uantity have no out-ware-
houses, consequently they have to buy • the nails,
which are made in the districts in which they have
no warehouses, through middle men called 'Toggers"
'nese usually keep Grocery stores (or Tommy
Sdops) and when trade is good they make their
picas out of the o•ools they stll ; but whenever the
demand for nails slackens and the "Foggers" have
no o:ders, they begin to take a discount from
the list price, commencing at teu per ceni. and in-
creasing iinta we have known cases where they
have taken as much as thirty per cent. When by
this under-buying a Fogger" has accumulated a
s:ock, he will go round to the Nail Masters and
Sell it to them at a discount; this leads to the Nail
Masters: one af.er the. other beginning with the
smallest—taking a discount from their own work-
-21211.

We have had many Nail Masters' Associations,
but they have failed to keep the buying prices uni-
frm when the demand for nails falls off. To or-
ganize another on the old basis we consider to be
useless; but we are pleased to say that so many of
ihe„employers are desirous to act together to prevent
strikes in future, and also to act as far as possible
with the workpeople, so as at least to keep their
prices up to a living point; that we are very hopeful
that they will adopt a Board of Conciliation, if we
can show to them that other trades, bhnilar to ours,
have successfully done so, or that you think that
such a Board would work successfully in our trade.
We appeal to you in this matter, relying upon your
Wt 11-known reputation for
,furthering all efforts that
are made which are likely to reconcile differences
between employers and employed, in any trade.
We wait your reply, and remain,
Dear Sir,
Yours very truly,
ELIZA TINSLEY & CO.

15, Elvaston Place, Qu« en's Gate, London, S.W.
25th November, 1879.
Gentlemen,—' duly received your letter of the 21st,
and should have replied to the same per return ,but
for my unavoidable absence.
I have never yet met with an industry to which
the principles of conciliation and arbitration were
inapplicable. I introduced them first to meet the
chronic difficulties of the business in which I was
formerly engaged, and, with one or two drawbacks,
occasioned by the temporary folly of masters or
workmen, the success has been complete • but if I
wished to adduce illustrations of the satisfactory
working of a board of arbitration and conciliation, I
should not point to Nottingham. 'l'he difficulties
there are greater than in any other industry, yet I
presidedlover the Board for eleven years before retir-
ing from active business, and it has continued with
most beneficial results until last year. There is a
hitch a; present, which I am assured is only tempor-
ary.
Every day I have the m at gra ifying evidences.of
the extension of the syst,em. Yesterday I.received
intelligence from the United States that a Board had
been satisfactstrily established at Pittsburg, for the
Iron and Coal Trades.
Last week Mr. David Dale, of Dar.ington, (p-
-‘r_ k
ner of Pease & C 0.,) recounted to me it success in
the Iron and Coal Industries of Cleveland, Durumn,