The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-05-28 00:00:00

THE DIWUrE IN THE FLINT GLASS

TRADE.

A large gathering of gla.ssmakers of the Sto ir-
bridge district was held at the PrinceOf Wales Inn,
lia,gley, on Saturday evening, for the purpose of
mtking a pres3ntati.ea to Mr. Jona liesselbee, the
irrespon ling secretary of the Glassmakers'
Society for a period of seven years. The testimonial
conaiste lof a handsome marble timepiece and a
mahogany bookcise. Mr. John A.s:on, the president
of the Stourbridge district of the Glassmake s'
Society, took the chair, and, in a idition to the local
officers, he was supported by Messrs. Haddledon
and B, Winchnrch, as representing .he Birmingham
district.
The Chairman exp used his pleasere at presi 1-
iag at a meeting at which they had met to go •
t ieir appreciation of Mr. Husselbee's services, and
he called on Mr. Paoltwood to mike the p:esenta-
tien.
Mr. W. H. Packwood, in doing so, highly coin-
mend a 11:e manner in which Mr. Husselbee had
discharged the duties of secretary, and said his
d sire ha I been to act for the best ietere,sts of tn •
trade. The question of wages had lately been
leferre 1 to in the press, but he did not know the
thole had been any proposition actu illy made for a
reduction of wages, and there must be some mis
apprehension about it. They as glassmakers fear-
lese'y said they were not p.epared lo consider a
reduction of w.iges (Heir, hear.) He went ea far
as to say that the time was alt,rgether inopportune
for a reduction, and if such a propositi n were
:übmittel at tee present time they shou'd resent it
(Cheers.) He had b-en favoured with the megaziae
from the head quarters of their society, and he
could not find there any proposition from any dis-
trict, or from any employer:a, for a reduction; zuzl
if there was any he should expect to fled it in their
official organ. But lie did find there was ade trth
Oh trade and a falling off of work referred te, and
he knew there had been a stoppage of work in some ,
part of the Stourbri .ge district The furnaces
whiA, bad been etopped, had not, however, been
opped through scarcity of work, and it was not
honest on the part of the masters to make it a put-
t !xt for saying there was shortness of work, so that II
they might slide in a pretext for shertness of wages.
The masters a id there was forei n competitiAL
He teoaglit that ghost had ben buried long ago.
It w.is said there was foreign competition when he
was in office ; but after they then altered their
system, they lost sight of the foreigner for a lon., ;
time. The loreigners could not compete with then'
in their manufactui es ; but there were some thine': „)
he admitted they coul I do, and they brought ou, i;
certain patterns which they made a run or. He had
seen a Swelish traveller that week, who told him ,
that his last order was for 25,030 wine glasses and
ether table glass, He had some conversation with I -
him, and the Swede tid if tee English giassmakers
worked for nothing • -
, the English manufactairer Printed and Published by the rroprioter, GEORGE
would not be able to compete with the Swedes in d HARRY FIELD, at his Offices, 90, High Street,
these articles. He had. one beautiful glass gatis
Englishwh c h
ad3istodoruserbridge, in the County of Worcester, to which
all letters and ethos amamabisations most.be
he was selling at 2a .14 a dozen,
onzployer could riot sell for Isis than 8c rrort, Bstar4ly, May U, ten. I

hey had succeeded, but Dow he was sorry to cur.
fess their trade had got into diffiatilties. It coind
not be said that it was the fault of the men that it
was so. though they had been told it was their
eault that one furnace had been put out. In trades
where there were no unions trade had also b bag
tad the sliding scale in the iron trade had not saved
that trade from suffering. Instead of the;Glase-
wakers' S ,ciety being an injury to the trade. em.
p!oyers had often admitted it had been a benefit to
hem. He could not close his eyes, however, to
the fact that foreign competition had affected their
trade, as it has aftected all trades. In the glass
trade they did not, as a body of skilled men, pro-
duce for the nation. The biead-and-ch ese part of
tack trade had departed from them. They could
go into any hotel or public-hous ~ or anywhere they
liked, and nothing that the Stonrbridge glassmakers
produced could they see. They only produced now
for the houva of the healthy and well-to-do classes.
['hey ought to produce for the people generally.
A great quantity of foreign -made goods ca:ne t)
this country, while there were prohibitory tariffs
upon our own manufactures. This question was
coming to the front, and working men would have
o deal with it sooner or later. It was a disastrous
fact that the glass consumed by this nation was not
manufactured by Englishmen. Mr. Husselbee re-
marked that men could only work in the glass
tra le till they were 45 or 50, and they ought to
get more money while they could work, seeing thy
Were only able to wotk for a certain time. Refer-‘•
ring to the recent confere ice of employers and men
it Birmingham, he expressed his satisfaction at the
wanner in which the questions which came before
the conference were discussed. As long as they met
,mployers in the spirit in which they then did they
ihould never have a disastrous strike in the glass
wade, because there would always be a feeling
'which would enable them to avoid such a thing,
(Applause.)