The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-01-25 00:00:00

Our Tontion Corruptlnt

nu= it right to stAe that we do not at all
..)uraelvee with our Conespondents opinionw]

Speculation has naturally been rife as to what effect
the death of the Emperor Napoleon will have on I.egi-
timiste, Orleacists, and Impsrial adherents. An ex-
amination of the etatements and arguments of the
various organs of these ses oral parties will, I think,
lead to the conclusion that on the whole th" dsath
of the Emperor will tend rather to produco quietude in
France than to excite any political commotion. It in
all very well to say that though the Emperor is dead
the Empire yet lives, and is represented by the Pricer
Imperial; there does not at present appear the slightest
chance of any attempt to restore the Empiwf, There
is said to he on the other band a fusion between the
Orleanista and the Legitimists, but the alleged fusion
Is very doubtful, and is nit likely to have any imme-
diate results. The Prince Imperial, the Comte de
Chambord, and the Comte de Paris appear to be all
biding their time, and, whatever may be our theories
on their several claims, it is to be hoped for the peace
of France, that these Princes will continue to Lids
their time. As to Prince Napoleon, who, it WM
thought, would be likely to give some trouble, he bass
definitely stated that it hi not his intention to take
any part whatever in any political manifestation,
either on his own behalf or in connection with any
regency tor the Prince ImperiaL That at least is
manly and candid, and it will do something towards
giving to France what she so much wants, rest and
peace.

The Mastership of the '2tots is to be filled up by the
appointment of Sir ohn Jeseel, the Solicitor-General,
Liao vacancy 'll Coarse giving the Government another
piece of ',unable preferment. The present Ministry has
be.":• remarkably fortunate in this respect, supposing the
posaension of patronage to be good fortune, and it is
generally considered so. It has been pointed out that
this last arq ointment leaves Vice-Chancellor Italian
the only Equity judge who had been roared to the Bench
before the Gladstone Ministry came into power, and
that the Government has had the appointment of two
Lord Chancellors, three Lards Jus•jces, and a Ita,ter
of the Rode; besides which several other Judges
might be added. Such a succession of patronage in
the legal world is, I believe, quite unprecedented.
Mr. Disraeli, it is said, will, notwithstanding his
recent bereavement and his seclusion for some time
pant, make his appearance in the House of Commons,
If not on the opening day of the session, at least
soon afterwards. Most people will be glad to
hear of it. All polities apart, the tight hon.
gentleman is universally admired for his talents,
and his absence from the foremost benches of the
House, whether he sits to the right or to the left
of Mr. Speaker, would be much regretted by all par.
ties. There is another gentleman whom the public,
quite Independently of politica considerations, would
like to see in his familiar place in the House of Coin-
P." 5, the Right Hon. John Bright. There appears
tia be every probability that next session he will take
'a part in the debates. May the probability be realised.
The House will not be complete without these two
gentlemen facing each other.

It is stated that Mr. 1:y1/ands has expressed his de-
termination to give notice, on an early day next session,
of • motion condemning Mr. Ayrton's conduct with
regard to the Parks Regulation Bill. The public gene.
rally have taken great interest in this matter, because
It involves questions connected with the right of public
meeting. I hope, therefore. for the sake of fair play,
that this motion will be brought on. There has been
for a long time past quite a fashion in abusing Mr.
Ayrton. How far he deserves all this abuse may well
be doubted, but lam not hLI apologist. But Ido like
to see any won who continually attacked have an
opportunity of k.efecding himself, and the First Com-
missioner of Works has not had such an opportunity
ouring the recess.

Almost simultaneously three eminent men, belmging
to the same p.slitical party, have been beckoned away
by Death—Lord Lytton, Mr. James Hannay, and
Mr. Graves. The deceased noblsman was a man of
Indisputable and splendid ability, and his versa-
bility was most remarkable. As a deeply read
student, a novelist, a poet, a dramatist, an orator,
and a statesm he g sired fame, and if we
s•oinbirse his sui..vwses in all these characters it must be
evident that his mind must have been singularly power-
ful and comprehensive. Mr. Hannay was lees known
to the public than he deserved to be. When I say that
etne of his novels combined tbe wit and satire of a
Disraeli, the descriptive power of a Fielding, and the
racy humour of a Marryat I say more than many per-
haps will believe, but at all events let them read, if they
base not yet done so, " Eustace Conyers" and "Single-
lon Fontenoy." Asa reviewer and a satirist Mr. Hannay
exhibited rare powers, and it ia to be hoped that
some of his many anonymous contributions to the
higher class of English literature will be republished.
Mr. Graves was a merchant and a 'shipowner, whose
name is intimately connected with the greatness of
our country, and his name, too, is inseparably asso-
ciated with Post-cffice reform.

Thy movement againbt the Income-Tax has spread
to Ireland, so that all sections of the United Kingdom
have now de dared against this tax, and the nnblis
meetings that have t.id to protest against it, to-
go,h with the innumerable articles in the press de-
nouncing the tax constitute a formidable opposition.
Mr. Lowe will no doubt discover this when Parliament
meets. A large number of petitions against the In.
come-Tax may be regarded as inevitable, and the
whole Bubject will be forced on the attention of the
Ministry.

The naval prAerision doubtless highly approve of the
new scheme for the Royal Naval College, which is to
be opened on the let of February in the spier...llol pile
of buildings hitherto known as Greenwich Hospital.
The new institution will provide for the education of
naa al officers of all ranks above that of midshipman
In all branches befitting their profession. The entire
scheme commends itself to the public approval, but
the general public nevertheless will not feel so much
interest in it as though Greenwich Hospital had been
devoted to objects of a kindred character to those that
called it into existence. For my own part I should
have liked to see this beautiful building devoted either
to the purposes of a general hospital or a seaman's
hospital and any lum. There is ample necessity for
such an institution. There is a vast population round
about it, and if it had been made a general hospital I
believe the interests of society at large would have been
more promoted than by the existing plans.
The Trades Union Congress is one of the most im-
portant gatherings that we have had for a long time.
How far the resolutions arrived at—to Pay nothing of
the speeches that preceded them—are in accordance
with Found views of political economy, and how far,
therefore, they may benefit the position of working
men, I will not discuss, but in one respect this Coz.•
aress deserves the thanks of the public, and that is
in the pul,licity given to its views and pr, ceedings.
Tot us think ',hat we may about trades unions, it is
certainly desirable that the public should know what
these trader' unionists desire and advocate. The re
ports of the proceedings of.this Congress are no much
material for political economists awl legislators to deal
with.

I am not lathe habit of placing implicit confidence
In the statements made on introducing a new company
to public notice, but supposing the assertions made in
connection with a company that proposes to substitute
• new kind of nil for gas are borne out by experience,
the result may ba to cheapen gas very considerably,
and as the price of gas is a matter of permanent in-
terest the new invention is worth reference. This pe-
Ltiliar oil IS said to In equally adapted for lighting
towns, mantria;tories, idivate houses, railways, ships,
; it can be conveyed tbr,ligh pipes to burners,
like gas; there in no danger of explodon, and it is
whiter and Mealier than any other light. This at
least is what we are told, and such statements ought
at lea,t, to prevent the gas companies raising their

It seems that there were fifty-one new op(ras pro-
duced in Italy during the pact year, and that out of
these forty-nine were failur.e. What a sorry modi-
cum of-succeei ! My only wonder is that any opera
succeeds. I know this is heresy. and that many
people profess to doat on the opera, while many more
think it is the correct thing to admire it. But I yen
tore to opine that it is supremely ridiculous for people
on the stage to sing their sentiments—hate, love, re.
venge, moralising, Cr what not. It may he that the
xotoMon sense of the Italiane has t Oxen to yin in this
channel, and hence this extraordinary proportion of
operatic failures.

Many of us have talked a great deal and very hope-
fully about the invention of Mr. I.knneiner for securing
a stationary cabin, so as to obviate the unpleasant effect
of a rolling sea—effects which I need not further particu-
larise. „I-have not heard much of this invention of late,
but believe that • vessel in being constructed on this
principle. There comes, however, pleasant news of
another invention with the same objet. A Itussian
engineer praposen a floating cabin. "This ivanntruc-
ti in," it is stated, " is very much the some as that of
the Bessemer, but the cabin, instead of being attached
to a pivot, literally floats in a kind of tank placed
amidships between the engines." It is said that the
plan haa been carefully tested and has not been found
wanting. There in nu reason why we should not have
both these systems in, operation, and if they are both
goo 1, as keenin,i4; be the cane, free trade and conapeti.
tin will carryiunt the old maxim, pubaam qui nwruir
feral. Suptomilug either or both inventions acccmplish
what theinveutors claim for them, the boon to tra-
vellers* sea will be immense.

THE SOUTH WALES STRUM
---___—
The Correopondent of the ;Yidtutar4 Writes :--
111111THIlt, Jae. 19.
A Mg 'riper:ant event took pause ea Friday sAillaina.
A eritgonent having taken place bellneeen eons° it the men
Ben to the rneral to -hog of the ma for or veinal Ihe strike,
a mealtime was held on Thursday, et 1-..ilientollt $5O men
were Ippegent, and it waft thatermlimil to trydemiti..ii by
halloittlfhe vatting took Are on Friday, front nice Wine ir
the Ffiertmon, at the British Schools E tch workman
as he entered was supplied with two paper., a red
One for " strike," • white one for •• work." Each
man as he passed through the room placed one or
other of thette papers In the hon. Men of each party were
statione tin the mum to see that all ran done NI!-Iy, and six
men, half of each opinion, were libosais se scrutineers. At
its o clock the mpg refs declared—white papers, 615 red
papersOrt stoning • majority of nines than three to one
In tit•oilr of work. When it is remembered that Blaine is a
coal tibtrict, nod that the c tillers for the most part belong
to the Union, this result shows, in so. Unanswerable
manner, that a large majority, even of the unionists,
object to the policy of which they. Ps well as the whole
district, are victims. I heard the other day of another
case, In which ti,, o,llMrs In a small pit went to
the general mcettim and hell op their hands in favour of
the strike. this of their numbers Sold me that he had since
bonnet. craft hey men, of the thlrty.slx men ernployad, and
out of line Dumber only three were privately in favour of
it • the rest had all held up their hands because they were
afraid of being denounced as cowards. The Union is, in
fact • grinding tyrannY of the worse kind—a tyranny all
the snore opprtnive that it is impalpable and mysterious,
It Is nrt what the Union does, hut what the men credit It ,
with the power and will of doing, that gives it in hold on the
people, they fear it with an abject fear, and men who
work when the word from the Union has been passed
not to on k unquestionably an so with a belitt that it is at
the risk of their lives. I know that many of the men now
working the pumping engines make long circuits at night to
reach their homes unobaerved ; there are others who carry
revolvers for their defence. Now, Lam bound to say that I
have heard of no single art which would seem to Malty
their fears, nor, as the Union has not called the men out as
yet, do I think that they have any reason for fear : but it is
tannin that the working people, as a whole, do dread the
Union with a terrible dread, a dread exceeding even their
I ear ii starvation, and that it is this fear alone which is at the
present moment keeping the works In Wales idle, if a
fair ballot could he held to-morrow of the 60,000
workpeople now on strike I am convinced that it would be
found. that at least 55,000 were in favour of work. This ty-
ranny upon the part of the Thdon is becoming • dolly in-
creasing danger, and will augment more and mere on the
timid outside until they are gradually frightened into join-
ing it The time will come when it will be absolutely neces-
sary to take steps to protect workmen from it, and
to protect the public from the lore and mischief carved
by strikes go: up by a mere 'handful of restleas
and ambitious men. flow the Legislature can, in-
terfere in the matter it in hot easy to to I. for In
the face ot the absence of outrage it may be raid that
the fear of the men Is as unreasonable as the fear of children
who are frightened at the idea of meeting a "bogey • in a dark
paaaage. Still, as kMO cannot rens m children ot,t of their
fear of " bogey," or porsuade workmen that the nil tu,
if they do but hold together and reedit, la little
sire formidable than their chllddood's bogey, some-
thing must, nooner or later be done to protect them
from the paralyslug influence which thin rear hue upon
their welfare and upon trails In general. If a law could
he passed that men at a colliery or other works of
whatsoever description should not give notice for
a strike, neither for an advance or against a reducrion of
walms, until the question bad been submitted to the whole
of the hands there eniployed, and the strike decided upon
by a majority of votes fairly taken by ballot, It would go far
to abolish strikes throughout the country. It is very seldom
indeed that the bulk of workmen wish to strike. They know
t well that, win or lose, the final result Is disastrous, but
they are ltd away by a few of the talkative and violent
hands, and then, when the question is put to the vote,
each man is as afraid of hemg looked upon as a sneak
by hie fellow., and eri Ignorant that nineteen out of
of twenty of thoes standing around him are Influenced hy
precisely the same reason as himself, that the decision is
unanimous for the strike. Never was the truth of this descrip-
tion of the origiu of the strike mon true than In the case of
that now existing here. /lad the hands boon balloted before
it commenced there would have limn four to one against
it ; were they balloted now there would be eight to
one and yet no ore Urea get up as hailer and propose
doing what the great majority are !orgies to do, namely—
go to work on the masters' terms. II will probably be some
time before hunger and suffering drive the men to dare the
anger of the Union, and to take the matter Into their own
hands. Until they do so there will he nothing to chronicle
here, for the dead-lock is now complete and stagnation and
suffering general.

by I
f Ilitio

The riM (d. Special Correimondent has been endea-
s ouring to get at the truth or the Ptatetnervb made by
m .stera and men in this unhappy di-p .te, and we
make the fell iwino extracts from his letter from Mer-
thyr, dated Jan. 18:

("huge. have, however, been made on one side and the
other with mob puelleity and pseshtency as render it impoe
able they can be ignored by the Press, because on their
truth or falsehood depends the judgment at which the
country will arrive In respect of the attitude of the belle.
gentile before war was declared. As I shall have more
than once to refer to entries in Masters' books, it may be
as well to state it the outset that it would scarcely
be possible to Imagine anything In the shape of figures more
emu heated aim the ace runts of a firm carrying on the
j rint business of working collier ten and manufacturing iron.
If Landing over their books to the l)..legates would satisfy
the men, the Muter. ought to do it at once. These hooks
would be of am muck use to them as a Greek players copy
of the Koran in the original. . . . After some hours over
"the books," I am unable, on any statistical reasons, to
account for the fact that colliers working in one •I were
paid very different amounts per ton from those w eking in
another pit, and that while the wages of some men had been
raised over 100 par cent at least, the increase in the wages
of others had beeu only 59 per cent. . Farther,
you observe from the entries that en a certain date
a certain number of men out of the total number
employed were absent from work ; but there is
nothing to show whither they were no 'absent of their
own free will, or because, own 4 to repairs or fitting
up, or some such cause, they could not get at their work.
All sorts of contrary conclusions might be honestly arrived
at from an examination of an ironmastera bOoke as td the
details of the wages received by the workman and the value
he gave In return : but those records do reveal startling facts
which tell indisputablysagainst the general course pursued
by km many of the men from year's end to year's end„ and
when I supplemented the facts so obtained by the oral
evidence of several of the men themselves give] in reply to
questions put to them by myself lens forced reluctairtly to
the conclusion that the Masten had much to.complain of.
have gone carefully over an "attendance return " for
every day of every week An• earth et the years le7l and
1972, the returns being those from the edlieries of one of
the largest ironworks in South Vialea. They make good
beyond all cavil or doubt the charge that the men en not
come in to their work In anything like the full number on
Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. 'should think that, for
the Monday, id e average; would scarcely be one-ball. on
Tuesday it would be meth better, hut still could...toy short
of the propererumber. Not much venation would be found
bee. °en l'hursday and Friday ; but the latter is the best day
of the week, and there is a Yelling off again on Saturday.
I think too much stress has been laid by the mas-
ters on any falling off there may have been the
attendance after an advance of wages. of course, if
a considerable number of the men spend all the
money they can in beer, the more money they have the more
beer they will drirk, and su a conseetdence their attendance
at work la less likely es, be regular; but I doubt whether the
investigation of the books by a conipr teat accountant would
show tint the advance In wageteaffected to any very sensilale
extent the regularity—or, perhaps. I ebould rather say the
Irregularity—of the attemlauee. V 1 hat effect It bad on the
quantiry of "the output " I have trot had the means
of testing. . . . On the matter of the wagee actually
earned by colliers I am satisfied from an inspectiou
of the wagon-took that there lass been much exagge-
ration. What they might earn is quite auether thing ; but,
I venture to think that, when suttee were at the Ith hest
they did riot earn no an average more than from .e 2 5.. to
Se. a week. Some of them have drawn as much AS £3 In
one week, and others even more than that, but any such
payments to them have been the exceptions and not the
rule. To state, therefore, that "the colliers have been
making their Li a week' is to mislead the public. I don't
think the hi raters have evsr asserted any thing of the kind,
but it has appeared in print and been generally stated in
cossion.

So much for the colliers. Now for the ironworkers. If
the returns from which I have been obtaining my inform.
stion have not been deliberately falsified for the oceanic-n,
which no one will he likely to anert, they do show that
with aboutithe same number of men and a larger number of
furniture, the work done in 1072—the year of the geed ad-
vance in wages—was less than that done In 107 i. Three de-
scriptions of iron are manufactured by the firm, "rail,"
" bars," and what Is known in the trade as "No. I
iron." In 1071 the average weeks mauufacture of each
of those three articles, taking them in the foregoing
order, was in trim 7(.2y, 1551 and 892. In 1872 it
was 4092, 12e, and 803. Chia shows a falling off of Itof
tons 1,..r week. The average is taken over • period of
, nine months in each of the two years. The muse I believe
to be owing la the main to the irregular habits of very many
of what are known as the " ballinen." It is their buemeas to
fetch the great Irregular globes of iron to the rollers to work
It into bars and rails. Frequently they absent themselves
altogether for the day or night, an the case may be, or
run out to drink. The roller Is then obliged to atop
work altogether, or to do the ballmank work as well
as his own to the great pecuniary lose of both him-
self and the master. It ts to much for him to
have to take the ball out of the furnace and wheel
It to the rollers as well as work It Into ahape ; but if
1 he doe, not, he most stand idle till It is the pleasure of the
bagman to return, .d while he Is standing idle h is making
I no wages, because he is paid by piece,. k. Sometimes the
, roller runs out to look after the ballman, and the master's
steam power and fires are being wasted while a game of hide
and seek is going on between the workmen. I examined
some four or gee intelligent workmen on this pointy and all
' their testimony waa to the *fleet I have just anted. I may
observe that the average wages actually received by the iron-
workers at the best times are another Item respecting which
there has been much exaggeration. 'I hey have not avenged
beyond from el 151 per week for a puddler to £2 Is
1.. r the highe.t slam of ordinary workmen in what
Is known as "the fineries" There can be no doubt that on
such waves as the colliers and ironworkers have been receiv-
ing fir the last twelve months they might have lived corn.
IortablY, and, even without " talon" assistance, have pro-
',deed tor evil sini« ; and there cars. be just as little
dmiht that they might have earned a great deal more if
they had been inclined to do so. TO the credit of very
many if them he it tall that they hone made their little
cottagi s beat and condonable. lii cottage alter cottage
YOU will fluel the polished mahogany chest of drawers as
the principle article of sitting-room furniture. It is
placed opposite the outer doer (of the cottage to at
tract the attention of the visitor and the passer by. Then
to the right of the door as you enter is • table covered
with a bright cloth and berlisened with plaster Images and
little glass vaser. an eight-clay clock stands In a con-
veuierit corner. It is none of ymir Dutch or American
thnekeepers, bet the good old Meglish article, about
lit. in height, with an immense dial en top. and some-
thing like a room door in front I he chimney-piece
arid stove are brilliant in brass and blacklead. There
are three or four comfortable chairs, and a good round
table ; and if you go upstaira you will find at lead one
or two good bedsteads. by late as yesterday I saw two
flitches of bacon and a ham heng up in the house of
a collier living within one hundred yards of the great
Pen-y-darren coal pit, and his wife told me that she had one
porker dill fattening. More than this, I have ascertained that
a few th, usands of the work people had accoents in the Post-
Mike Savings-1).1.5. it ia with regret I have to sold
that nearly every penny of the depealta has been with-
drawn sines the commencement of the %the. hot, an
against all this, a vaq number of the werkpeople live in
miserably homes, with scarcely an article of furniture, and
: the appearance of their fami ies ig wine than wretched.
I e'di it be otherwise when, within the three hest months of
met )ear, those from the Midsummer to the Michaelmas
Quarter Sfeseions, such a number of persons weke brought
before the magistrates of illaniorgassidse Scrarsen 1.400
and 1,600 fines, varying generilly from 2s. ed, tots, were in-
flicted. The list of suck of those noes as remain still unpaid
la a very considerable one hut of the earnings of the work.
log people the county treasurer received within the three
mouths over £448. The black list of offenders would fill
nearly six columns of The Timex, and on a comparison of
the fines Inflicted in the sgricultura, districts with those in-
dicted in the coal valleys and the neighbourhood of the iron-
works, one can ea.by ace how it reas that when wages were
highest the masters had to complain of the quantity end .
quality of the work. This 31erthyr Tydfil district is ti e very .
w. rat in the Petty Sessions' fettle., encl In the overwhelm-
irg majority of cases drunkenness was the char: e egainst the
'lf-rider. 'I here are one or two other points in connexion
with the "social economy "of the men to which I am de
Mesons of calling attention, but as this letter Ii wry long
already. I shall reserve them for an,ther 0CC116101.1. . . .
Jan. 20
lleavy meow and violent stornm have come upon South
Wales mid added to the aeverity of the Strike. After a day
of inecesant ram, we had thriftier, lightning, and hall
thr.oughout Saturday night 1,, sterday there were intervals
.1 [km) weather and bright sunshine, but won after GOIOU In
llla evening the lightning reffffsesred in dazzling arid fre-
quent 1.14.1111e5, Wel the thunder 5r55 sueh as to oiie strong
houses with ILTWOIat the force of an eertheluake,
night snow had begun to &wend Warily, sad this morning

the natural Mountain. which 'unwind the valley In which
Merthyr lies slee well as those artificial bills which are
known here as "tips," and which encircle the town at the
enda of Its streets. !ere all white ü an Alpine range. Per-
sons at a diatanoefrorn the scene of the Strike can hardly
roselike the Inevitable effect of such • ohaege In the weather
on the poor whom this Strike has already rendered still more
wretched. An entenprieing coal dealer brings coal on carts
L., some waste ground cl. se to the Vale of Wrath lisdleray
Station. I have Nee there, crowds of poor women and irlrls
who, amid slush reaching up to their ankles, struggled to get
little Muskets filled, and paid 9.1. for a basketful containing
less than half a cwt. V ell, they can go there still, at long as
the coal comes to the west° ground, and sus ba it as they have
money to pay for it. The mow and storm will make Oyer
hard task a event else' harder, but It will not be vast endur-
ance. But what will become of the hundreds of par
women and girls whom I have met high up the mountain
and on "tire" fully two miles from the town, searching
any..stg masses of black dirt for lumps of coal which would
make a lire on Friday and Saturday 1 They were like so many
human auto burrowing into the refum of used-up mines, end
deep into the dust dropper,' from the coal trucks in their
desccnt from the Pen-y•ilarten pits to Monntaie Hare, abil
en ecund towards Dowlalt These coal gatherers are not,
as a rule, the wives and mothers of colliers or ironworkers
out on strike. They are the poor of Merthyr and the sur-
rounding district. - vegetable-sellers and hawkers and others
whose occupation ie gone in the general collspse of trade or
manufacture. There Iv• considerable DWI population tn
NI erth yr, and they are among the heaviest sufferers. .. Among
the workmen mild their families there is distress, but it call.
not be very severe as yet. I have made inquiry at the pawn-
hr..kers, and they lament tlie Motown of business, not only
in the rereipteof money: befits AMA of pledges They •ay
the number of pledgee was very mach greater when themes
were in srnhnioy.aent. -One can -.understand this, seeing
that It was the custom with but too many of the men to
pawn in, ir good clothes every Monday and redeem them
every Saturday. On each transaction they paid a month's in-
terest, so that every month, bateau of one month'sinterst,
they paid the Interest of four months. The pawnbrokers ex-
plain the paradox of the falling off in the number of deposits
by the fact that the colliers have been leaving these
In large numbers, carrying their best sults on their
rcrs an d their working clothes in a handkerchief across
their shoulder.. One of the pawnbrokers remarked to me in
a tone of confident prediction, "The furniture has not begun
to come In yet, but it In sale to do so in another fortnight."
That many colliers have been going and that more are
going is beyond all doubt, and I relieve it Is equally
certain that an unexpectedly large amount of employ-
melt has been found for them over the mountains,
where the steam or male coal collieries have been able
to absorb the labour of some thousands of them On :intra-
day afternoon numbers of them returned to make final ar-
rangement. for removing, and because it waa the 'big pay
day" at Davila's. Last evening they were departing again hi
, troops, and t.'-day the migr ition down the D.swhis Heights
I eras fully equal to th,t of Wednesday last when the outliers
lame eat. This forenoon I /doped several of them, who,
with spade, mandril, and bundle on back, were making
for the V.l, 01 Neath Railway Station, and asked them why
they dhl not await the result of the ballot meeting to be
held to-night. The reply was that nearly all the colli :re
had left Dowhis, and, whatever the intended meting
I might decide, It would not be the decision of the colliers.
This is exactly what I anticipated in my dispatch of lava
night. The Union wee not geing to he become • pasty to
the ballot, and as the colliers, only 10,000 or 11,000 when
all told, came into no lees no less a sum than £17,000 on
Friday •nd Saturday, haddes obtaining employment else
where for massy of their body, I thought it very improbable
that that the Union had lost its hold over them yet. Thy
growl sum I have just named was made tip of the 17,009
doled out by the Union. and £lO,lOO paid in wages at Dogg-
ish on Saturday. But there was always the string probe- •
Witty that the Iwo le:niters would ho glad to avail the solvee
of any bridge of reconciliation, and this seemed al thy
more probehle, because earl y Mi. moraine several ironworkers
wafted on Mr. Crawehay, and expressed their readh o,s lb
goin on the reduced terno, lust I had not reached the works
at Dowlaia after my conversation with the colliers, before
had proof that the Unionist ironw.srkers were up suit stirring
against the attempt to have the Strike brought loan end by
ballot. . . .

[The Times Correspondent then proceeds to give an account
ofiu meeting which was hal in the mountain whilst the storm
was raging. and at which the miners resolved that they
would not resort to the ballotl.
At the meeting in the schoolrooms the chair was tak.m by
the Rev. W. Davies, vicar of Penydarren, the Rev. I. W.
J awes, a Dissenting inluister, also being present. They and
Mr. Williams, a roll.turner, were the only speaker. The
reverend gentlemen confined themselves to recommending
the in.. to give expression to their own opinions by
means of the ballot. Mr. Williams advised the well
to go in, on the wimiple that " Half a loaf is better than
no bread." A ballot was taken with this result —For going
to work, 280 ; against, 30: majority, 050. It Is the opinion
of competent person. that there was scarcely a collier or
miner at this meeting, it, indeed, there woo a single one. It
was composed of ironworkers, and I fear it will have little,
Ii any, effect beards putting anend to the Strike.

in another letter, dated the 21st inst., The Tim's'
Correspondenteaye

At 11:f.rd I fohnilthe chimneys smoking, end the fanners
of the coke ovens blazing, and having beers informed by Mr.
Jones, Jun., the sou of one of the principal proprietors of the
Coedcae Coal Company, that the colliers In their great pit
were all underground and at work, I.y permission et toe
manager I descended, and found myself in "level" and
" hemlines' and " stalls " with 300,111er" who were working
at the fill wages, and had heard little of the great contention
which has closed every Iron-wager's colliery in South Wale&
...I do notthiek anyone couldlook at the men corking In •
coal pit with. ut heartily alahlag that s aore inveetor may
devise a coal-cutting meehlne which will save homer beings
fr an the labour of hr wing out the ton after tin of coal in
• xcavations where they can-not sten I even half upright,
but are forced Salle on their aide, as, with successive blows
of the:mandril or nick, every erre of which is timed by •
deep drawl] "Hats.!" they cut out block after block of
coo 1 till they make op their day's work of klysut three
tone.' They conld do more, each man with his boy, but they
ere not strider' tn political ecoromy, and they like to stop at
three tote because they Imagine that, by w- irking less, they
keep up the price of coal, awl by this means maintain the
standard of their peen wages ; and, lalsourions as is their
work, arid wretched as is their exiateuce niche dark depths of
the earth.. to hint at the possibility of. real-cutting maciehe
is to make them regard you as their mortal eneny. Weird
engines to raise the cages, pump the water out, and work the
trucks are all regarded as innovatious designed to cheat
the human colliers out of the profits and -delights of ex-
istence. I was much struck with the general demeanour of
the men. They seemed glad to see a visitor enter their
dark remiss, and were still more gratified when One hid
"good morrow" and appeared interested in them Hut
the beys are rougher, l'o-day, at dinner hour, the y
ran about the levels and headings with lamps stuck iu
their caps, and as they chased one another In and out the
manholes, they looked like So many of those black imps
which figure In the opening of modern pantomimes.
In their play the boys use very bad language.
They are not ashamed to do so before strangers but hap-
pily, under the new Mines Regulation Act, they have
to attend schoel overgrouud for so many hours earls
week, so that ills to be hoped there may be an improverneet
In the moral: of the rising generation of colliers. From what
I heard from their own Ilpe to-day, I should say It is much
needled Men amear to be on excellent terms with their
employers. On coming to the surface again I walked
through Cie volley in the °Reston of the Sterrill Coal
Co,lieries. and thoueh I found it to be the opinion of gentle-
men acquainted with this part of the country that the
colliers who had struck in the Iron Collieries had not sue
ceeded In obtainiug employment In any great numbers. I
was able to satisfy myself that they were mistaken. I spoke
to men who had got with, and • member of the con-
stabulary force told me he had just return° - after special
duty in the steam coal district, to which colliers arrived in
such numbers on Sunday ard Monday morning that there
was not anything like sufficient hours shelter for them, and
yet every °Boot them hail procured work uedergrount. It
I. not easy to ascertain facts iu South Wales, and coucernieg
this strike the delusions are positively umnishing.
Mr. Ilalliday addressed an immense meeting at Merthyr
to-night. In the course of his speech he said the strike was
the act of the colliers of South Wales the exe,rtive of the
Union had left it to them to decide that question ior them-
selves, but it had determined to rueintain them hi the
strike. He spoke of the financial ability of the Union to
make good it. promise, and expressed his belief that the
men would triumph.