The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-02-22 00:00:00

THE IRON TRADE.

WOLVERIttNIRTON, Irades,t!y.

The meeting to-day was confined to the dis-
cussion of the wages questioo. It wit.: male
generally known that vote of the blast-farm:is,:
proprietors have succeeded in bringing about
reduction in the wages of the men employed
about their fern:mei. The following firms were
ntonel as having either reduced or given notice
of a drop :--Messrs. Firnistune the Leysi, Mr.
Matthews (Corhyn's 1101 h, M 08,11.3. Bradley
Bilston Brook), and Mr. Alfred Ilickman Mot
Holes). The reduction contemplated is gener-
ally 10 per cent, but, in the case of the last
named firm it is 15 per cent. Notices will be
given in some other instances next Saturday.
There are other firms who decline to give notice
until :there has been it reduction of wages re-
solved upon in all the branches of the trade.
Nevertheless, they are requiring more work from
their men, and are thereby obtaining some little
benefit. The mcn are reported to be raising no
obstacle to the course the masters are taking.
They accept the drop on the principle of " half
a loaf is better than no bread.' It It is spoken of
as very gratifying, at a time when hard things
are said of the meil in the Black Country, that
they should be ready to meet the employers in
this manner. The excellent feeling existing be-
tween some firms and their workpeoplc is illus-
trated in the fact that the :AM workpeople em-
ployed by the Parklield Company have presented
Mr. Henry Martin, their employer, with a solid
silver inkstand, worth 151), awl an address, on
the occasion of the concern being formed into
a partnery, with Mr. Martin as the managing
partner.

There Was only a small attendance of iron.
masters at Birmingham on Thursday, and the
tone of business Was tituch the Santa as lately
reported. There is a bopefull feeling in some
quarters, but there are members of the trade
who refuse to acknowledge even the slightest
improvement in the demand for manufactured
iron. Weak houses are gralnally falling in
their endeavours to sell without profit, and work-
men are at last beginning to see that the present
exceptionally high rate of wages cannot be con.
tinned without peril to the future of the trade.
At the came time, it is not likely that any gene-
ral change will be made in this respect before
next quarter day. Pig Iron, owing to the dim-
inished wake in South Staffordshire, is a trifle
firmer.

On Monday morning last notices wore posted
up at the Works of the Sheephridgo Coal and
Iron Company, and at the coliiery belonging to
the Whittington Coal Company of an intended
reduction in the wages of the men of 10 per
cent., the reduction to take place on the 3rd of
March next. The Staveley Coal and Iron COM-
poly either have reduced, or they intend man-
cing the wages of the men in their employ after
the same rate, Messrs. Applsby and Co., of the
ironstone pit, Grasseroft, have also received a
circular instructing them to reduce the wages of
the men employed .by them ; but owing to an
agreement between the company and the men,
the instruction contained in the circular is not
likely to be carried out until the 4th of April.
At Staveley complaints are being made of the
inequality of the reduction. Some of the men
assert, with what truth we cannot say, that those
who took a prominent part in the late free labour
movement have suffered no reduction in their
wages, whilst those who thought well to differ
with the company have bad to snlunit to a reduc-
tion, or take the alternative of having "their
money and leaving." The present reduction,
with short time, will be seriously felt by men of
large families.

In the Aberdare Valley nearly the whole of
the colliers who were on strike have resumed
their avocation at the various pits on the pro-
posed reduction, and although there are SOlllO of
the Well who still refuse to go in on the reduced
-wale, the strike in Glamorganshire may now he
etid to be virtually at an end. In Monmouth-
shire the colliers have gone in on the drop at
Tredegar, Ebbw Vale, the Varteg and Vartcg
I lill collieries, anal there is no doubt their ex-
ample will be speedily followed by those who at
present remain out. At the steam collieries at
Abercorn and Abertillery the acts of violence 80
frevent of late are on the increase, and adahi-
Lioatl have been despatched there for
the purpose of preserving the public peace,

The General Council of the International
Working Men's Association intends issuing a
mport on the present state of the labouring
popnlation of Europe. Circulars have been is-
sued to secretaries of trade tocieth a, inviting
r •plics to the following gnestitns :—I. The
Immo of the society? 2. The number of its
inembers ? 3. What are the iustomary hears
if labour? 4. What is the customary rate of
vages ? 5. Is employment constant or fluctu-
ating? O. What number has been out of work
the last three months ? 7. Are those in work
folly employed? 8. Has any advance or redue-
ion of wages taken place in the trade within
lie last live years ? Has en-operative produc-
tions been tried, and with what success ?—Any
additional information respecting the condition
of the labouring poor will be acceptable.

DEATH OP MR. JUSTICE RIME.
Sir William Slice expired on Wednesday
morning rA a few minutes past eight o'clock
at his residence in Sussex-place, Hyde Park
Gardens. On the 7th Mat, he discharged hie
official duties as one of the Justices of th,
Court of Qaeen's Donch, and pronounced judg-
ment in at least one important case. The fol-
lowing day he was stticken with illness so Seriously as to greatly alarm his family and friends.
Although he rallied a little, such improvement
as ha manifested was delnsive ; for his strength
gradually ebbed nntil his death on Wednesday.
His name will be memorable on the roll of Eng-
lish judges as that of the first, in modern times, I
of the Roman Catholic religion. His brilliant '
career at the bar forced the way to this peculiar
distinction, and lii elevation to the bench was
an event generally approved. He was born in
1804, at Finchley; the son of Mr. Thomas Shee,
of Thomastown, county Kilkenny. and was edu-
cated at the Roman Catholic College of St.
Cuthbert, Durham. In 182.9 he Went to the bar
and steadily worked his Way to distinction—first,
as leader of the Home Circuit ; serjeant in 1840;
Queen's Serjeaut, 1938; and judge of the
Queen's Bench, 1864. At the same time he re-
ceived the honour of knighthood. In polities
he was a staunch Liberal, and in that interest he
contested Marylebone unsuccessfully in 1817.
In 1832 he was cited to repres,nt Kilkenny,
the county with which his family RAS most inti-
mately connected, and he held the seat till 1837.
Ile was married in MU to Mary, daughter of
Sir James Gordon, the premier baronet of Scot-
land, and he survived her seven years.