The Express.
London, England, 1864-11-18 00:00:00

lIRITANNIA.

THIS ElrlatratO, THE IIoTIIERS DYING CHILD. Sr,.l S.
Lane. Slnclug by Mr. Albert Steele end )I,llle. DontL—Mrs.
11....ir,1 Cod es .:Arlbalar, r. ith the Itall.t!I L)ne, "Rowe or
—.Urd CACTAIN JOHN LUCK —C,alaseu..e at

RICE! WATER AT LONDON.I RIDGE.

Trtz9 DI v M ruing. 4h. 42m....Aftrrnoon, f,h. 3m.
Morning, sh. 25m....Atternoon, sh. 17m.

LONDON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18.

I t manufacturing industry in Lancashire,
during the winter which has already set in,
must at the best be uncertain and intermittent, it
becomes a matter of the greatest interest to in-
quire whether there is any fixed resource on which
relief committees may safely count in their execu-
tion of the delicate task of regulating charity by
the fluctuations of labour. Such • resource the
Public Works Act aimed to provide : what is its
practical efficacy ! Mr. RAWLIN•:ON, the inspector
resident in Lancashire, has just presented a report
to the Poor-law Board which enables us to
answer this question. Out of 1,850,000/. set
apart for the purpose, 1,796,642'. has been al-
ready appropriated in loans to various public
bodies. Of this sum instalments amounting to
4 2,2601. have been actually paid. The small
residue which the commissioners have still to ap-
propriate is more than covered by applications
now under consideration. In the last week of
October 6,424 men were employed upon works
undertaken in accordance with the provisions of
the act, of whom 4,002 are returned as being
factory operatives. The highest rate of wages
earned by the latter class is given as 16s. 6d., in
connexion with which it is instructive to note
that it is paid by a contractor, who, we may be
sure, will not give more than the market price for
the work. From this maximum the wages range
downwards to tie. 2d. ; the average, so
far as it can be estimated by a glance
down a long column of figures, being about 13s.
Mr. IZAWLINSON, being !naturally anxious to take
all possible credit for the system which he admi-
nisters, adds to the 6,424 men above enumerated
an estimated number of 2,000 "engaged in get-
" ting stone and other materials;' counts the
wives and children dependent upon the labourers,
and points to the benefit conferred upon the small
ahopkeikers by the weekly expenditure of so large
sum as 10,0001. To the information which he
girls us we can add something of our own. In
places where local boards, or the contractors depen-
dent upon them, have dealt judiciously with the
works provided under the act—where factory ope-
ratives, having a fair opportunity of employment
given to them, have been made to feel that the
amount of their wages and the continuance of
their work depended simply upon their own in-
dustry and ability, the men have done well.
Their health has Unproved ; their whole physique
has become more robust ; and they have competed
successfully with regular out-door labourers. Some
of them will never enter the factory again unless
wider very diiierent conditions of work and wages
than now prevail. A moral test, of a genuine and
effectual kind, has been provided, by which the
relief boards have been able to weed out the class
of applicants who want to live without work. At
the same time, in some other districts, where the
public works nre entrusted to labourers who are not
working for wages, but working out their relief, the
usual inconveleences and difficulties of pauper
labour will certainly be experienced.
Whether it is satisfactory or the reverse to have
actually paid over three-quarters of a million of
money in erase to employ four thousand distressed
operatives, depends upon the expectations as to
tee result of the Public Works Act entertained by
those who fraii.ed and approved it. Wo pointed
out long ago that the greater part of the money
would have to be spent on materials for paving and
sewering ; that another considerable portion would
go to skilled labourers ; and that the res:due
available fur the succour of the factory workmen
with be but small. Our anticipations have been
fubilled to the letter, except in one particular.
NVII, re ver he leis had • fair chance, the factory
hand has :rale:formed himself into • skilled
labourer, tar noire rapidly and completely than was
expi- ted. in this very Report Mr. 1: %wiles:ex
tu~ntions that at Blackburn and elsewhere " num-
" hers of men who were formerly factory opera-
" fives, and lieve now, through a long experience
" upon these public works, become skilled
" labourers, lire unwilling to declare themselves
" I.e. tory operatives, lest the confession should be
" held to invslidate their skill as labourers.- AVe
must own Er when a little further progress has
leen made .i.eting on foot enterprises which are
frequently defaced by many local and formal
obstracti sic shall look for nothing more from
the Public Werks Act. To those who, forgetting
all the iacta of the case, expected that these
public works wei c to take the place of the cotton
trade, and at once to render the administration of
relief this state of things will appear
prefooniliy unsatisfactory. But we are convinced
that the Aet has already effected nearly all that
its authors, acting upon • full knowledge of the
circumstances, allowed themselves to hope. Had
they tlionelit it possible to compass much
mere, they weeld have inserted the employment of
fite'ory hand-, net as a statement in the preamble,
but as a cienpulsory provision in the body of
the bill.