The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-06-13 00:00:00

THE FACTORY ACTS.

On Saturday a deputation waited on the Home
Secretary at the Home Office to urge upon him the
consideration of several important points in connection
with the proposed Government measure dealing with
the Factory Acts.
The deputation was introduced by Mr. Leatham,
M.P., who said that the members of the deputation
consisted of gentlemen connected with industries
affected by the Factory Acts Amendment Bill. Reso-
lutions had been passed and petitions to Parliament
prepared, and the object was to lay the whole matter
under the consideration of the Government.
_ _

The Home Secretary was then addressed by the
deputation, and first it was pointed out with regard to
the staple trades of Yorkshire that there was a great
deal of foreign competition. The wool trade especially
suffered from this. Wool was actually taken away
from Yorkshire, manufactured abroad, and brought
back into Yorkshire and sold there at a profit. 1 he
spinners of Yorkshire thought this a very serious
matter, as the trade was being driven away. They at-
tributed it to the fact that machinery could run longer

The Timrs has publi-led the following interesting
letter on the Government Factory Bill :7

Sir,—l shall be much obliged If you will allow me to
make a few remarks on the Factory Rill now passing through
Parliament. Opposed, as lam most strongly, to legislative
interference with adult labour, I see clearly that we must
submit and what I now desire is to make Sir. Cross's new
bill as useful as namable in its details. Every 0110 seems
surprised that, amid all the holdings of public meetings and
of petitioning during the past few years, the factory workers
of Ashton-under-Lyne have held no meetings and sent
no petitions on behalf if the Nine Hours Bill. Mr. Mundella
himself has been as surprised as any one, and has been
told by his friends that the Ashton operatives are conten
with present arrangements, and, therefore, have stood
aloof from the general agitation. Our time of work is 58
hums a week—namely, from six to six, with an interval of
half an hour for breakfast and one hour for dinner, on live
days of the week, and from six to twelve, with half au hour
for breakfast, on Saturday. I fear that Mr. Cross's bill will
lead to the working of later hours ou Saturday in many dis-
tricts. The full half-holiday on Saturday has been a great
boon to the fautory workers. For instance, my own work-
people often go in a body on a Saturday afternoon, in
summer, to Matlock, Buxton, and other places, accompanied
by their private band of music and by tho mothers and little
children, and return hi.me at a reasonable hour in the
evening, after several hours of real enjoyment in the country.
An encroachment to the extent of one hour on the half-
holyday would render impossible tie taking of these agree-
able trips. I have seen so much good, socially and morally,
ensuing from such trips that I earnestly hope for the power
to continue them.

The bill proposes to grant a half-hour on Saturday for
cleaning machinery. I consider this proposal most unsatis-
factory. It will be liable to be used for running the
machinery by an unscrupulous employer ; it will not be re-
quired at all in some departments ; in other departments it
will only be partially ueeded, and it will be a most irregular
half-hour, interfering with the discipline and good order of
the factory. I sincerely hope that it will be given op, and
56 hours, pure and simple, become the law. If Saturday's
work is fixed at six hours, say from six to half-past
twelve, allowing half an hour for breakfast, there will re-
main 60 hours to be divided among the other five days. I
suggest that on those days the hours of work should be
from six to half-past five, with half an hour for breakfast
and one hour for dinner, and that all the spare time be given
at the close of the day's work. Employers who manage
their own factories know that the last half-how of the day
is the most exhausting to the people. It is by far the busiest
period of the day, as the machinery is kept running to the
last minute, and the additional duty of drying down and
sweeping has to be done. Any relief, therefore, will be
most beneficial if given at the end of the day rather than
earlier There is no hardship whatever in commencing
work at six in the morning, provided the people go to bed
soon enough. How often are we told that one hour's
sleep before midnight is worth two hours after I think
I may be permitted to show, from the habits of may work-
people, that the relief at the close of the day will be the
most appreciated. On one evening of the week the sewing
class meets in the Lecture Hall, and nearly 150 young
women and girls are instructed how to make and mend
their own clothes, and to do the stitching for the Madly.
On two evenings the workpeople's private band assembles
in the same room, once under their tutor, and once for
mutual practice. A great number of the men possess
gardens, and they would be glad of the extra half-hour to
cultivate their flowers. fru.t, and vegetables. Then there
are the bowling-green, the skittle alley, the gymnastics, and
other means of rational and health-giving amusement apart
from the public-house), all provided free, and entirely
assuaged by the workpeople ; and not a few of the young
men and boys may be found In the evening classes. In
winter the out-door amusements give place to the attrac-
tions of the reading-room, the concerts, lectures, and the
quiet game of chess, dec.

_ _
One hour for breakfast has been suggested, instead of half
an hour. The extra time for the meal would not be valued
half so much as the relief at the close of the day. Half an
hour lithe universal rule for breakfast in every branch of
labour, whether in-doors or out of doors, and there is much
convenience to the family in conforming to the general
custom. Besides, a half-hour longer for breakfast means
working until six at night, instead of half-past five. The
operatives delegates have made a strong point of women and
children working in the factories until a later hour than
their husbands and fathers in the foundry and engineering
'establishments. If the entire family could assemble at the
same hour around the tea table there would be more com-
fort to every one, and probably social happiness would he
promoted.
Some employers advocate the working of the daily ten
hours with one break or pause only—namely, front 7 a.m.
to six pm ,with one hour for dinner. I think this play, very
undesirable. Five hours continuous working in a factory
Is too long. At present the longest unbroken period is four
and a half hours, which is as much as can be endured. If
the plan I propose is adopted, the unbroken period would
be reduced to four hours. If the hour of seven is chosen for
commencing work, thousands of the people must breakfast
at 6, which is too soon to he relished, as large numbers
travel one or two miles to their daily work : and it would
interfere with the comfort of the household in preventing
an uniform time for meals. The reason also holds good for
leaving work at half-past five, so that those who walk one or
two miles to heir homes may arrive there much sooner.
Perhaps I may be told that lay arguments are based upon
keeping married women at home, and out of the factory.
Granted and so it ought to be, and no it is in some
factories. With sobriety and care on the part of the father
and the mother, there is no call whatever for mothers to
leave their home duties. I plead for the sober and the
careful. Thousands of mothers might now stay at home if
thousanda of husbands did not spend their earnings in the
publichouse. Let us not make our laws to snit the con-
venience of the dissolute and the depraved, but to promote
the comfort of the frugal and the provident. I have not said
much, if anything, about the children or half-timers, because
they will necessarily participate in those advantages which
will accrue to the general body of workpeople by a wise sub-
division of the hours of work.

In conclusion, allow me to say that I have not a particle
of fear of ruin to our cotton trade by the adoption of 54
ours a week. I think it is idle to talk about foreign com-
petion no long as the kingdoms of Europe are divided into
half a dozen vast camps for soldiers, and the claims of corn-
meree are subordinated to the strife for military glory. Not
one of the great Powers of Purope_could hold its own for a
year in cotton manufacture apart from the high protective
duties which prevent the entrance of British goods. Some
day, perhaps two centuries belle, our descendants msy have
to face the competition of their cousins in America, when
the vast and fertile valley of the Mississippi has become
settled with two or three hundred millions of people, and
when their cotton, corn, and wheat have ceased to be profit-
able articles of export. —Yours faithfully,
Oxford Mills, Ashton-under-Lyne.

HUGH MASON.

hours in foreign countries than iThglpint They did Ics -rirr mi.-%
not think that the alud,unt of w,rk dams altogether JELL— J. 1./.1.111 J 1.14 OF NEWS.
dexnde.l on the length to which the machinery
mt be allowed to run, but they thought by the BIETISH AND FOREIGN.
proposed Government measure a new burden was
about to be put on the trade, which it was hardly in a
fit state to bear. They therefore venture Ito suggest
that no further legislative restriction should be placed
on the work .1 women until a Select Committet ,bould
report whether the present hours of labour were in-
jurious tn them or not. They ventured to declare
that the health of women and children did not suffer
from the present hours, but they cordially assented to
the proposal of the Government. that no child should
work until be was ten years of age. They use felt
that the certificate of the registrar as to age would be
sufficient evidence of age.
The Home Secretary said the certificate of the
registrar was really no evidence whatever. It was not
accepted anywhere. He promised them that the
natter should have his earn:4 oonsideraticn.

The churoh historian. rrofessor Ilagenbach. died at
Basle on the 7th inst. He was president et the Swims Pro-
testant Church Aid Society.
A Cherokee Indian now practice,: at the United
States Bar. His name is Mr. William miair, and he is the
very first lawyer of the red ISM.
A carpenter's place and twel:e houses were burned
down at Geneva on Saturday. No one was injured
An American lawyer engaged in a case tormented
a witness so much with questions that the poor fellow at last
cried out for water. • • There,: sail the judge, "1 thought
you would pump him dry."
A new judge in Kansas has made himself very un-
popular by refusing to allow members of the bar to smoke in
court.
'

..Autietrenmisits,trictotr the tea teaTphelasn,t.6araenbed
tamed dirtict from Japan.
The Pope gave several audiences on Saturday.
Monsignore Gulliert was privately recelvai by his Hallelisi
' and handed him a sum oh 150,000 francs.
I The Indian Forester, a forest magazine, is shortly to •
be published in Calcutta. It will be a quarterly periodical,
inpigmmum! eeri the
treating of forest subjects, sport, travel, and camp life, and
directions for camp equipage, climatology, plants, and all
, sorts of forest produce.
The Minister of Public Works in Paris has approved
of the establishment of a school for the study of insect life,
especially in connection with agriculture and horticulture.
The building will be erected in the gardens of the Luxem-
• bourg.
The Viceroy of India, in his weekly telegram
respecting the famine, says that be has visited many relief
. circles and is satisfied that the organization reacheu every
village. 3inch improvement has taken place in the appear-
slice of the people since relief began. 140 fresh deaths from
starvation are reported.
Some apprehension is felt (a New York telegram
states) of an attack on the white population in Texas by the
Comanche and Cheyenne Indians,
The Hippodrome of Paris, which was burnt to the
ground some years ago, is about to rise from its ashes-
' An anonymous donor has sent a gift of £l,oooto the
British Asylum for Deaf anti Dumb Females, Lower Clanton.
A Berlin telegram states that cholera has broken
out tn Upper Silesia, near the Polish border, and is reported
behave attacked the colliery districts with unusual violence.
A deputation of printers, dyers, and bleachers had
an interview with Mr. Cross at the Home Office on Monday,
In reference to the Factories Act. They protested against
any important change being made with regard to the
ahortening of the hours of women and children. Mr. Cross
promised further inquiry.
A distressing accident is reported frosts Banffshire.
Mr. Mayer, farmer, near Keith, went into his barn to have •
shot from the window at some crows. The gull, which WIN
double shottcd, exploded, and part of the breech passed
through Maser's forehead, cau -Mg instant death. The gun
was bought stew days previously. Deceased was 40 years
old. He has left a widow and four children.
The coal-masters of the South Wales district met at
Cardiff on Tuesday. and received a deputation of the men,
but would not aceede to their demands for the repeal of a
resolution recently passed by the masters, which virtually
binds the men by a day-byllay contract, so that they can be
discharged if necessary at twent3 -four hours notice.
From April Ist to the 6th instant the Exchequer
receipts amounted to £12,654,574, as compared with
£12,636,281 in the corresponding period of last year. The
expenditure has been thirteen millions and a halt sterling.
The balance in the Bank of England on Saturday last WWI
, over Ave millions.
Colonel Guinard, a French Republican, who was
, famous in his day, has just died near St. Cyr, at the age of
74 A large number of deputies, including M. Louis Blanc
and. M. Gambetta, attended the funeral on Monday. M.
EtiSime Arago made a speech over the grave, in which be
said that he had known the deceased for 54 years, and during
all that time had never ceased to admire and love him
The Army and Nary Gazette says it is probable that
all survivors of previous campaigns on the Gold Coast will
Omit themselves sooner or later in the possession of 'the use
medal, though the issue will be made in the first inatanee to
• those who were engaged in the recent conflict.
A Parliamentary return just issued shows a decrease
in the importation of unmanufw•tured tobacco. The value
was £472,162 in the last live months, against £602,890 in the
same period last year.
A Times' telegram from Calcutta states that there
have been very serious food riots in the district below
Darjeeling to Titaleeic The military have been summoned.
Several persona have been killed and wounded. The pro-
posed creation of a Public Works Member of Council is
generally disapproved.
It is rumoured that the Lords of the Admiralty have
under consideration the advisability of enlargin Sheerness
' Docks so as to accommodate the largest ironclad afloat.
Small-pox is on the increase in Preston, and the
. efforts of the local authorities to lessen the danger of hike-
. tion are frequently thwarted by the reluctance of the friends
of diseased persons to send then) to the hospital.
' On Tuesday night two boys, whose names are sin-
' known, were attempting t o cross the line of the Alancheiter,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway between Sheffield and
Rotherham, when they were knocked down by a goods
train while endeavouring to escape another which was run-
ing in an opposite direction. One of the youths was cut to
pieces, and the other was rendered insensible.
, It is stated that the Ernpre. of ..'.ustria intends to
, visit Brighton in the middle of July, and that she will re-
main there some time for sea bathing.
A startling accident occurred at West Hartlepool at
• Tuesday evening's performance of Tooth's Allied Circus.
. The immense tent was densely crowded with nearly 4.000
persons, when soon after commencing along extent of seating
• containing several hundreds suddenly gave way, precipitating
its occupants to the ground. A panic ensued, much alarm
temporarily prevailing. Several ladies fainted, but it being
speedily discovered that none were seriously injured, order
was soon restored, and the people who had fallen having
been extricated, the perforinaneeoco,e brought to a termi-
nation.
, The new air machine in the House of Commons was
; in operation last Friday night for the first time. Ily means
of this apparatus a constant supply of air, cooled to any re-
• quired degree even in the warmeat weather, can lielrupplied
at the rate of from 60,000 to 00,000 gallons per minute. The
• House contains about 500,000 gallons of air, no that when the
apparatus is working at its maximum 'lt is possible to renew
the air without sensible draught every six minutes.
The American newspapers announce the appoint-
ment of a member of the Society of Friends (Sir. 31. W.
Painter) as "Moral Instrnctor " in the Northern State
, Prison of Indiana, at Michigan City. This office, we suppose,
corresponds to that of chaplain in English gaols.
H.R.H. Prince Leopold, who is reported as much
improved in health, is anncunced as one of the Stewards of
the University Commemoration Ball, to be held at Oxford
on the 17th instant, and also as President of the Committee
for carrying out the Niasonic Musical Fffie, to be held the
same day, in Worcester College Gardens.
British capitalists, it would appear, are now exten-
sively competing for American ironworks. Advices from
Philadelphia to May 21st, state that an English company
has purchased iron lands in houth-Weat Pennsylvania, and is
about to expend £200,000 thereon in constructing two blast
furnaces, rolling mill, wheel foundry, and Bessemer works.
It is further stated than an English syndicate, with a capital
of £2,000,000, has despatched an agent there to purchase iron
and coal lands in four States, and develop them.
Lord Shaftesbury recently stated, at a public meet-
ing in London, that, from personal observation. he had
ascertained that of the adult male criminals of that city,
nearly all had fallen into a course of crime between the ages
of eight and sixteen years ; and that if a young man lived an
, honest lire up to twenty-five years of age, there were forty-
nine chances in his favour, and only one against hinr, as toms
, honourable life hereafter.
, The Liverpool School Board have agreed to pay
school fees for children over four years of age In cases where
parents are too poor to pay them, and in several cases for
children under three years of age where homes are nee..
eerily broken up for the day by the parents going out to
• work.
Millie. Simonowiteh, of Odessa, obtained on the
27th of last month the diploma of doctor of medicine from
the University of Berne, where she had pursued her studies.
• Contributiona to the amount of 1:11,653 have been
received by the Manchester Bengal Famine Fund. This
was announced at a meeting on Monday, when it was resolved,
before closing the subscriptions, to request that collections
should be made on behalf of the fund in all of the churches
and chapels in he city.
On Monday a large gathering of South Yorka and
North Derbyshire colliery owners was held at Barnsley,
when the decision arrived at by the miner's delegates M
to accept only 10 per cent, from the wages paid in 1671 was
submitted to the meeting, It was resolved that, as the men
bad refused the conciliatory offer of 10 per cent on the
,i gross earnings, notices should be given from Joist pay day to
all to leave their employment, and that the pits should be
set down, unless a drop of 121 per cent, was accepted.
. By a Parliamentary paper ordered by the House of
Commons to lie printed, showing the appropriation account
, of the votes of credit for the Abyssinian Expedition, the total
• amount of net expenditure allowed and recorded to the 31st
of December, 1673, reached the sum of £8,915,930 105. lit
Part of the expenditure being incurred in India, the account.
have been somewhat complicated, and their liquidation
delayed. No less than £331,290 15a ad, of the Indian accounts
are still under examination in England, and an estimated
amount of 1.40,000 of similar claims is still outstanding.
"Not long
.ago an officer if the London School
Board was crossing Covent-garden Market at a late hour,
when he found a little fellow making his bed for the night in
a fruit basket, 'Would you not like to go to school and be
well cared for I' said the official. 'No,' said the urchin.
' But do you know I am one of the people who are authorised
to take up little boys whom I find sal find you, and take them
to school I' 'I knows you are, old chap, if you find them in
the streete, but this here is not a street, iLis private property
and if you interferes with my liberty, the Duke of Bedford
will be down upon you. I knows the hact as well as you."—
Court Journal.
The eviction of colliers from their homes at Wheatley
agreed to
rk
laitT
bnyi
matters l r wsuypror
neyt
e:thironat
oewnto:l,
rrb.l 1:e.
Estate,
la
as ss
el:ed:dbhi
beylGye:t riaoodsitc,u,hsi tettlivrpz l, 1 i
heaving.
allr .
Association and the Coal Owners' Associ,icLo,a,loeto7innotedienil:r..inneh..icilsrh'lnerae:ridal:,f6oo,,t7r.
' offers d on Tuesday to public competition by Messrs. Driver
.atmtehecotupeettiiotnionMwartas,
kTnookceknhooduosew.,l
Gardner, 91. I'. for Windsor, for £BO,OOO, including the tim-
ber, valued at £4,000. The estate comprises a freehold
mansion and 1,870 acres, and was sold by direction of the
executors of the late James Hutchinson (chairman of the
Stock-Exchange for 17 years), who built the present momma
and resided upon the estate at intervals for about 21 years,
—The Tittles.
. An accurate investigation of the loss of life by the
Mill River disaster in Massachusetts places the total at 138.
Of these all the corpses have been recovered but It and
further search has been practically abandoned, these being
believed to have been swept down the Coonecticut River.
There are 150 destitute families, containing about 760 people,
, and about 70,000 dols has been contributed in their aid,
,• besides food and clothing supplies. The work of re-building
the villages is already being actively prosecuted.
The late Dr. Hutchinson of Hamilton was visiting
• at a house where there was a young girl, who was a great
belle, but had failed to attain her object—marriage. The
doctor asked a few questions, mid then requested her to
repeat some verses of a psalm. She fixed upon the 72nd
psalm, which ends "Amen, so let it lie ; " but partly by the
, confusion into which she was thrown by the visitation of the
minister, and partly from the broad drawling accent so Corn-
' mon among country' people, she pronounced the words, "A
man, so let it be" The doctor, smiling, remarked, "Very
well, my woman ; Idare say that is the conclusion of many a
young maiden's
has just
en's
prayer."
A youth lost his life, after gallantly saving
. another youth from drowning, at Reading. It appears that on
• Monday several lads were bathing at a spot called "the
Dorecot Scours," when one of them named Walter Wynn, got
out of his depth. Seeing the peril Wynn was in, the de-
ceased, James Rolfe, a had aged 14, immediately went to his
' assistance and succeeded in rescuing him. On his way back
' to shore Rolfe fell into a ballast hole, from which he was an.
, able to extricate himself, and he was drowned. A isilor
! ' named Dormer, who was a mile and shalt further alnng the
Thames at the time, ran up to the spot, and after diving
twice, succeeded in recovering thelsody.
During the week ending on Saturday last 2,233
• births and 1.227 deaths were registered in London, the former
• having been 48 and the latter MS below the average Forty-
four persons died from measles, 32 froin scarlet fever, 7
• from diphtheria, 33 from whooping-cough, 23 from different
forms of fever, 22 from Menhir., and not one from small
raiz ; thus to the seven principle diseases of the ryniotle class
lel deaths were referred, against 136 and lies in the two pre-
ceding weeks. The mean temperature at the Royal Observa-
tory, Greenwich, shows a considerable excess On each day
of the week, and averaged 6/1 dog, which was 6 deg above
the average tof the corr.pontling period in fifty years.