The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-03-06 00:00:00

THE CONDITION OF THE 'UNEM-
PLOYED.

At the Committee rooms in connection with the
Mansion House Fund for the relief of the unemployed
established in South London, crowds of men earl)
every morning throng the doors. Every case is
minutely inquired into, and, as far as possible,
dealt with on its merits. Relief is chiefly given to
those temporarily out of employment. Chronic cases
of poverty and destitution are considered beyond the
province of the fund. The regulations give a good
deal of umbrage to those who imagine that a mere
statement of being in distress would be sufficient to
ensure immediate and substantial donations. Wild
stories have been set afloat in Walworth and Ber-
mondsey and other places as to the giving of sums of
£5 and £lO by the local committee to applicants,
and considerable disappointment has been experienced
by those who discovered that only small sums were
distributed, and not then till an inquisitorial examina-
tion had taken place. Relief tickets have been most
easily obtained from some of the board schools, where
the children received them for their parents, but these
did not always fall into necessitous hands, instances
having occurred of their being returned by the
parents, on the ground that they did not really need
them.

A special meeting of the delegates of the General
Labourers' Amalgamated Union was held at the
offices of the society, in Stamford-street, on Saturday
evening, for the purpose of considering the mode
adopted in administering the funds entrusted to the
Lord Mayor and those gentlemen who are working in
co-opQration with his lordship. Mr. Bussicott, the
Battersea delegate, presided, and the meeting ex-
pressed regret that ministers outside the Established
Church were not represented at the Mansion House
meetings. After some discussion, the following
resolution was carried: "That this meeting of
representative workmen not out of employ, beg to
tender their thanks to Mr. John Staple, Lord Mayor
of London, for opening the fund at the Mansion
House for bona fide unemployed workmen's families.
The men themselves prefer work and wages
t 3 charity, and we beg to inform his lord-
ship that there is a want of organisation in
several parts of the metropolis, and that all •
persons acting on local committees should be pablicly
elected and not selected, and that the inquiries of
the clergy of the Episcopalian Church into men'e
religious opinions were unnecessary, and, we believe,
contrary to the intentions of the donois to the Man-
sion House fund. Men are sent from post to pillar
by the Charity Organisation officials, who make inqui-
sitorial inquiries, after which the men are sent away'
empty. We believe that your lordship, the philan-
thropists, and large employers of labour who have
mainly responded to your appeal are not f2ognisant of
this badgering and insulting conduct, and we instruct
Mr. Kenny to bring this matter before the next meet-
ing of the Mansion House Committee." The meet-
ing then adjourned, awaiting the report of Mr. Kenny
after his attendance at the Mansion House meeting.
Up to Saturday afternoon the Mansion House
Fund amounted to upwards of £65,000. Of this,
as reported at the meeting the previous day,
£27,000 had been expended, and £12,750 was then
voted.
Acknowledging the resolutions passed at a meet-
ing of unemployed held on Clerkenwell-green, on
the 14th ult., Mr. Gladstone, through his secretary,
writes :—" 10, Downing-street, Feb. 18.—Sir,—I
desired by Mr. Gladstone to acknowledge the receipt
of the copy with which you favoured him of the reso-
lutions passed at the mass inceting of the un-
employed held at Clerkenwell on the 14th, and I nail
to say that he has received the resolutions with
pleasure, although no such assurance was required
to convince him that the rioters of the Bth in no
way represented the workmen of London.—l am,
sir, your obedient servant, H. W. PiumaosE.—Mr.
P. Kenney."

The metropolitan members of Parliament met on
Monday at the House of Commons, and formed 9'
committee, with Sir J. Lubbock as chairman, to cOO
eider the extent of the present distress and the
remedies that are being applied, with .a view W
additional remedies being supported and joint action
taken if found desirable. In the evening a circular
on the subject was addressed to boards of guardian*
vestries, and other bodies in the metropolis.
A crowded meeting of seamen was held at the
Sailors' Institute, Shadwell, on Monday evening to
consider the question of crimping, the employment of
foreign seamen in British ships, and other matters.
Sir T. Brassey, M.P., who presided, pointed out
the remedy for some of the grievances complained of.