The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-02-20 00:00:00

RETURNS OF PAUPERISM.

On Saturday the comparative stateme.nt os
pauperism for 1885 was issued by the Local Govern-
ment Board, and is of special interest at this time, in
view of the present condition of the unemployed. A
comparison of the total number of paupers in receipt
of relief at the end of 1883, 1884, and 1885, respec-
tively, shows that the number of paupers had in-
creased in 1885, as compared with 1884, by 19,807,
or 2.7 per cent., and as compared with 1883 by
28,774 or 4.0 per cent. The number in England
and Wales at the end of 1885 was 743,478. A
statement relating to the three divisions of Eng-
land in which the principal manufactures are
carried on, namely, the North Midland, North-Won.
tern, and York divisions, show that there was an
increase in the number of paupers receiving relief
at the end of 1885, compared with 1884, of 15,514,
or 8.1 per cent., and that, in comparison with
1883, there was an increase of 16,935, or 8 9 per
cent. It will thus be seen that the increase in these
divisions accounts for a very large proportion of the
increase in England and Wales. The very large in-
crease in the pauperism in the Northern division
(comprising Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland,
and Westmoreland) has now somewhat abated, there
being at the end of the Christmas quarter, 1885, 3052
fewer paupers than there were at the end of the
same quarter in 1884. Comparing, however, the
number of persons in receipt of relief in this division
at the end of the Christmas quarter, 1885, with the
corresponding period in 1883, there was an increase
of 6332, or 17.3 per cent. As to the paupers in the
Metropolis in receipt of relief, it appears that the
number was higher at the end of 1885 than in 1884
by 861, or 0.9 per cent., and higher than in 1883 by
2866, or 3.1 per cent

MOB VIOLENCE AT LEICESTER.
At the close of last week the unemployed of Leicester
joined with the strikers, and affected doubtless by the
riots in London created serious disturbances in the
town and did considerable damage to property. They
wrecked several factories, and private houses, and re-
inforcements of police were constantly requisitioned
from Northampton, Sheffield, Bradford, &c. On
Friday night the walls of the town were placarded
with the following proclamation by the Mayor :—" In
consequence of the roesent disturbed state of the
town, the magistrates, with the view of preventing
further mischief, earnestly request the peaceable in-
habitants of the town, as far as possible, to abstain
from walking about the streets after seven o'clock in
the evening. The magistrates have obtained efficient
aid, and are determined to preserve the public peace,
and they call upon all well-disposed persons to assist
them in their efforts.—(Signed) ISUAEL HART,
Mayor."

A special meeting of the Nottingham Board of
Guardians has been held to confer with a committee
of the town council as to the best means of
.dealing
with the prevailinc, distress. The chairman of the
board stated that 115 men had accepted the labour
test, and appeared to be grateful for the employment.
There was accommodation for 150 more; but the un-
employed, through their deputations to the board,
refused to accept the labour test, on the ground that
by so doing they would become disfranchised. It was
decided that after the 150 vacancies had been filled
the town council would endeavour to find work for
others of the unemployed who desired it. In conse-
quence of menacing language used by the unemployed
workmen at their meetings the police authorities
adopted precautions to preserve the peace of the town,
and a number of additional constables were tem-
porarily enrolled.
At Carlisle, Penrith, Appleby, Kendal, and Lan-
caster the large number of unemployed have necessi-:
tat9d special organisations for their relief. It is
many years since distress has been so acute and wide-
spread. At Kendal the guardians have again opened
relief works, and a large number of men are daily
employed at a quarry just outside the town. In
West Cumberland the number of unemployed is also
very great, and special relief measures have been
organised.
A large meeting of the unemployed was held at
Jarrow on Saturday. Many inflammatory speeches
were delivered. One speaker pointed to the growth
of the London Mansion House Fund since the riots,
and advised that they should make their power felt.
He would, he said, follow the example of the London
rioters rather than see his children starve. These
remarks were loudly applauded,

Relief works in Northampton having been stopped
on Saturday, nearly 100 unemployed labourers went
to the borough magistrate on Monday morning and
applied for assistance. The majority were relieved
from the poor-box, and a demonstraaon contem-
plated for the afternoon was, in consequence, aban-
doned. In the evening the matter was brought
before a special meeting of the Town Council, and it
was decided to open relief works of public utility
immediately. Only a very small proportion of
those entirely out of work are engaged in the shoe
trade. The distress chiefly prevails among outdoor
labourers.

A meeting of the unemployed was held on Costa-
green, Birmingham, on Monday, and after the meet-
ing a somewhat turbulent crowd surged into the prin-
cipal streets of the town. The police, however, pre-
vented the mob from concentrating in any one place,
and by the middle of the afternoon the streets had re-
sumed their ordinary appearance.
At a special meeting of Greenock sugar refiners it
has been decided to make an immediate reduction in
the output of refined sugar by 20 per cent.
As an evidence of the great destitution prevailing
in the rural discricts of Bedfordshire on account of
the depressed condition of agriculture, it was stated
at a meeting on Monday of the Luton Board of
Guardians by an overseer that in all his 40 years' ex-
perience as a collector of the poor-rate ho had never
found so great difficulty in getting it in as at present.
Many of the country parishes are in arrear with their
contributions, and this gentleman thought that the
guardians in threatening the collectors ought to take
the present difficulties into consideration. The re-
lieving officers are also having extensive demands
made upon them, and a week or two ago there were
nearly 100 more inmates in the Luton Workhouse
than at the same date last year. Belief works have
boen started at Leighton Buzzard, where a committee
of clergymen and gentlemen of the town and neigh-
' bourhooci have raised a fund of about £2OO. A large
'number of men are at present employed there level-
ling and improving the recreation ground.
On Monday a mass meeting of the unemployed
was held in Sheffield to agitate for the opening of
public works to relieve the distress in the town. The
police made special arrangements to put down any
rioting but no disturbance took place. A deputa-
tion appointed by the meeting waited upon the
Mayor, who sympathised very much with the dis-
tressed families and promised to give the subject his
attention

A largely-attended meeting of unemployed-work... .1
men was held at Whitehaven on Monday, with a view
to devise means to enforce upon the local toWii and
harbour trustees the absolute necessity bf proceeding
at once with certain suggested public works; for the.
purpose of providing employment for the'large number
of working men who, with their wives and families, are ;
on the verge of starvation.
Severe distress prevails among the ,Working and
poorer classes of Sunderland, where 4500 fauxilOk-.
representing 16,000 pers3'ns, are in reCeipt
amounting in the aggregtite to 35,0, ticweek. Last
week the relief committee had only' £5O in hand, but
a special appe4l:l3yrthe',AlaOr brought in liberal sub-
scriptipps, so thot Ai= eommittee began the present
'Nveeleiith £B5Ol
::"'fAtiPPen-air meeting of the unemployed was held
rOli 'Monday at Gateshead. One of the speakers said
there was plenty of money in the country, if it were
properly circulated, to supply the wants of the work-
ing classes. During the meeting there were cries of
"Pay no rent."
The Glasgow magistrates continue to give stone.
breaking and digging work to over 900 unemployed
men at 7s. weekly, with free dinners daily. The
majority are Irishmen. The justices are also grant-
ing over 2000 rations to families who apply for relief,
and they are distributing a great quantity of old
clothing and boots which has been sent to them by
citizens. The magistrates are utilising the former
tmexhausted relief fund.

Some street disorders occurred at Great Yarmouth
on Monday. The Town Council having determined
to give a number of men work in levelling at 28. a
day, upwards of 700 of the unemployed assembled at
the Town Hall in the morning. Of these, 60 were
taken on. Great disappointment was manifested by
the unsuccessful applicants. They became disorderly,
hustling the men engaged, and taking possession
of a number of barrows which were to be
used in the proposed work. An alarm was raised,
and rapidly spread. Nearly the whole of the shops
in the principal thoroughfares were speedily closed.
The crowds in the streets appeared to be generally
good-humoured, but in cases where the police
attempted to effect arrests for more than
ordinary turbulence they met with considerable oppo-
sition. The chief constable received a severe blow
on the head from a broom, and another member of
the police force was knocked down. A cart laden
with bread was attacked when passing along King-
street, and the contents werA appropriated. At noon
several members of the lown Council visited the
most disturbed localities. The Mayor addressed a
large concourse from the principal entrance of the
Town Hall, appeallng for order, and promising to do
his utmost to alleviate the existing distress. His
speech was loudly cheered. In the afternoon quiet
Vvas restored. One of the ringleaders of the disturb-
ances, a notorious poacher named Lodge, was arrested
in a public-house, after a desperate resistance. Four
or five others were also taken into custody. The mis-
chief done was fortunately not so great as was at first
feared, not a shop window being broken. The police
acted with promptitude.