The Express.
London, England, 1847-03-04 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 4, 1847.

The propoaltialy.theteforth for wields thY riglf lane baronet
contended, while it was an esperbisest uneatiefrizdand
fraught with danger, would-be by no amuse • wive
settlemeist of the gustation. Year by year they be
called upon to rediacuee it, having mum departed from that
wh'ch, by the usage of almost half • century, was the rule
for the running of machinery in these trades. By such
a measure they would render it impossible for ma-
chinery to ran for twelve hours. At present, t the use of
relays of children working shorter hours, and by other ar-
rangement', the factories were able to avoid the injurious
effects which would have arisen from former legislation. lie
believed that, practically speaking, dams the commencement
of the present century, the hours of machinery labour had
been limited to twelve, and it was now, for the first time,
attempted to prohibit that by direct legislation. He had
pointed out that our staple rrmr.ufaeturee were somewhere
about four-fifths of our ent'se exports, and that our cotton
trade alone formed one half of the declared value of our
manufactures, and the vreeent measure was a forced inter-
ference with the capital and labour employed therein
What, then, wool', be the effect upon the master manufac-
turers:plan abrii'.gment of the hours of labour to 11 hours ?
Why, they mist either submit to a diminution of their
profits, or they must raise the price of their goods, or they
mutt lower t'aeir wages, or they must cease to manufacture.
(Hear, hear.) Could they raise the price of their goods or
increase tlieir profits ? Foreign competition prevented therm,
and rerAered it impossible. Therefore, unless they ceased
to meaufacture, they must lower their wages. The lion.
messier for Salford, who understood the question very well,
adnsitted that by limiting the hoar of labour they must
diminish the quantity produced. If the quantity was dimi•
ribbed, the amount of wages would necessarily be materially
reduced. The foreign trade and the home market would
still require an equal supply as at the present moment,
and fresh manufactories should be built to afford it: that, in
his opinion, would be a fruitleu, extravagant, and prodigal
' ' waste of capital. The machinery at present in operation
was of two kinds, old and new. There was some old
! machinery running for twelve hours, which did not produce
a quantity egoist to new machinery, which only ran for ten
hours. The effects, then, of this measure, would be the
destruction, by act of parliament, of a great mar of valuable
, property now yielding the fruits of industry at twelve hours'
; labour, which at ten hours' could not he made to return a
profit. (Hear, hear.) There were, moreover, throughout the
' manufacturing districts, arrangements of this kind fair
toriea, with their machinery, were taken on a long term ad
years, with a fixed annual income, taken upon the
certainty of that system being continued which bad now boatel
going on for nearly a century ; and if the house
consented to abridge the hours of labour, they would
render those leases useless, and give rise to the greatest
confusion. (Hear, hear.) He would turn from the
' masters to the men—decidedly the moat important part of
' the subject. And what would be their condition when this
act of parliament would be in force, and when, according to
the authority of the Secretary of State for the Roma De-
' partment, there would be a reduetinn of wages ? At this
1, very ,moment, by a severe dispensation of providence, the
' price of food was very high, and still continuing to rise; and
! at the same moment, from natural mum, the price of the
' raw material was enhanced, from a abort supply. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that even at present a
; great many mills in Mencheeter were working 'hemline, and
that no fewer than 2,200 hands were out of employment.
Moreover, it was not the case, as formerly, that the high pries
of food raised the price of labour. From the artificial state of
society in which we lived, mat/diens in trade would inevitably
take place, and, as a necessary consequence, bring, with a
' diminution in the demand for the article, • diminution in the
hours of labour. Was there sense, then—was there justice-1m
' prohibiting the labourer from working twelve hours when
the state of trade allowed it,thus preventing him from saving,
and preparing for the time when a decrease in hie wages
would take place from the fluctuations in trade ? He had on
' so many former occasions stated all the objections which ha
' entertained to this measure that it would be unpardonable
if ha detained the house by again repeating them, but be
was bound to eay that a deep tease of public duty had
compelled him stedfastly to resist a measure which he knew
to be grateful to a great number of his fellow-countrymen.
' In looking at the question, it was impossible for him to
overlook the great principles of commercial polity which had
been by the consent of that house established in the country.
He would ask them under what circumstances they were in-
vited to pan the measure ? All prohibitory duties had been
removed from our tariff--the corn-laws had been repealed—
' the Navigation Act had been temporarily suspended.
Lord G. BENTINCH.—How long will it continue so ?
Sr J. GRAHAM.—He wee stating nothing which was
not a matter of fact. l'rohibit.ry duties had been abi
and protective duties had been so much lowered on foreign
produce, that foreign manufactures were admitted end en-
tered into direct competition in the home market with oar
own goods. We had established the moot perfect freedom
of commerce ; and his right hon. friend theimember for Tam
worth might well exclaim, when surveying the empire of
commercial freedom which he had contributed so much to
enlarge—
"llia ego nee metes rerum, nee tempera pone
Imperium sine Sue doh."
(Cheers.) The noble lord the member for Newark said that
they should put a curb upon the manufacturers, that they
should make the m feel their rider", and that such a course
would not make them the lees beneficial. Was that the spirit
of the Commons of England ? To "rein and curb, and snake
them feel their riders." He hoped and trusted that the noble
lord at the head of the government had no such feeling or ao
such desire respecting the great interest upon which the
prosperity of the country dernded. (" Hear, hear," from
Lord John Russell.) He feared that the measure, if adopted,
was exactly in the spirit of the member for Newark. It
would be a curb and a bridle, under which he believed the
manufacturing interest would fret, and to which it would not
submit: it would be a tax upon machinery—it would be a
limit to the earnings of industry—it would be a tax upon
wages. (Hear, hear.) Hits operation were limited to cer-
tain trades, it would be unequal and unjust ; if 'ln-
tended to all trades, it would be an iatolerab'e burden ;
while it would prove subversive of all those great
principles upon which our commerce and manufactures
rested. Circumstances were peculiarly favourable in giving
a facility for adopting this measure ; but if it were adapted,
he ventured to predict that the time was not far distant
when them manufacturing operatives who now called for it
would be themselves the first to demand its repeal. But
before they did so, much injury might he done, and an irre-
parable wound, without designing it, might be inflicted on
the vital interests of the country. (Hear, hmr.) It was
moat painful to him to resist a measure which was grateful
to a large portion of his fellow-countrymen ; but he never
gave a vote in that house with a more firm conviction of his
being right, or with greater purity of motives, than he would
that day record hie vote against the measure.
Sir G. GREY said that having upon the second of the
bill stated his reasons for voting in favour of it at that stage,
he should now confine himself to an explanation of the four
admissions which the right hon. hart. conceived him to have
made upon a former occasion, and which he relied on as
forming a strong argument against the measure. Now
he (Sir G. Grey) had never made so large an admission as
that the effect of this bill would be a neeeseary diminution of
wage.. He had always stated, as explicitly as be could, to
deputadons from the working classes, that the tendency of
this measure must be to reduce the amount of wages capable
of being earned within a given time—that was to say, that
they could not earn within ten hours, under this bill, as
much as they earned within twelve hours at present. (Hear,
hear.) But he had never been blind to the fact, that there
were other causes besides the amount of work which, in the
course of time, would operate upon the amount of wages,
and lessen the effect of the alteration. Since the restriction
placed by parliament on the hours of labour there had not
beenacorresponding reductionintheamountof wages. (Hear.)
He believed that the tendency of this ;measure would be to
produce a diminu'ion of wage/ ; he believed, also, that other
muses might counteract that tendency; but he thought he
would be guilty of a delusion, if he agreed with the hon.
member for Shi ffield, that the necessary result of it would
be to deprive the people of their daily bread. With regard
to his attributing the success of the last measure to the con-
currence of the majority of the muter manufacturers, be,
in one sense, admitted it. But he said also, that from that
measure, previous to its timing, the master manufacturers
had anticipated the worst restate ; but that, much to their
honour, and contrary to their oonvictioae, when it became
law, they assisted in carrying it out. (Hear, hear.) Their
predictions of the present measure were the same as before ;
but he did not think so badly of them as to believe, that if
the bill before the house should become the law of the land,
they would oppose its operation, or refuse to it the same con-
currence which they had accorded to the former bill. Neither
had he made so large an admission as that there was nothing
prejudicial to health in factory labour. He could not help feeling
that young females from 12 to 18 years of age, and after that
with families, who worked in a factory for 12 hours a day,
most thereby be doing what was prejudicial to their health ;
but what he had stated was, that the infareace drawn by
the member for Oldham from the report of the Registrar-
General, to the effect that factory labour was a great cause
of mortality in large towns, was not a correct inference. For
instance, mortality was greater in Liverpool than in Man-
chester; and what he said was, that he could not concur in
the large inference drawn from the report of the Registrar
General, as it was founded upon a comparison between towns
and agricultural districts, and not between factory labour
and other species of employments in towns. The right
honourable baronet also said that he (Sir G. Grey) had
alleged that a ten hours bill was fraught with
danger, and that he would not go beyond eleven hours.
He had certainly observed that considering the magnitude
of the interests concerned, and the excitement which pre-
vailed on the subject, he thought it would be desirable to
proceed with caution, and that he should therefore prefer an
eleven to a ten-hours bill. But he had never said that a
ten-hours bill was fraught with danger, and although in the
present instance he should vote against the ten-hours clause
and for the eleven, yet if a majority of the house should
decide in committee that the bill should be a ten-hours bill,
he would cordially vote for the third reading. (Hear.)
Lord J. MANNERS explained that he had used the
metaphor, alluded to by the right hon. baronet, in quoting
some well-known lines from Shaltspeare, and in this some,
that as they might break in a young home and apply a curb
to his mouth without destroying his natural power, so ought
they to support this measure, as putting • salutary curb on
the excesses of the manufacturer. (Hear, bear.)
Lord MORPETH freely admitted that be had not come
to a decision on this subject without considerable migivinga
Indeed he envied those who could make up their minds to
a decided course with perfect security and with comfort to
themselves. To the desirableness of limiting the hours of
labour he assented, but he thought that any practical
scheme, having that object, must be attended with a cer-
tain degree of risk and uncertainty, and ought in its
application to be gradual, c iutioua, and experimental. He
knew that that opinion would subject him to the taunt of '
advocating half measures, and being ready to enter into a
compromise; but be, nevertheless, believed that it con-

• ei much good sense. He 'would, therefore., rote for try would be injured. He (Mr. Gibeort), being unconvinced
° 1
g Ding into a committee, sad for the stunt 'noun chime ; by arguments for any limitation on. the authority of those
lan't tithe bill should emerge from the committee contain- 'who were so divided as to bow far that limitation should go,
Mg a further limitatiOn to ten boort he could not join in the- was not encouraged to
_vote :or this measure. . His hon.
I confidence of his right hoe. (Mews by pledging himself to friend-the member for Firebury said he would not vote
' support it. (" Hear," and lan,ghter.) To the limitation to tor it if he thought tt would reduce wages 25 per
eleven hours he was prepared to resent, because as far see he cent. ; but no one had undertaken to show that such
was personally coneorned, 'se thought that a matter of good was not the cue. Common sense would show that if by law
faith was involved in the gneation, for he had stated at nisi- extensive machiinei'y was made to stand still, and the
ous Units and places, whether wisely or not, that if ever operatives lost one day in the week, there must be a loss
parliament conseno.all to an elterat'on of those laws which somewhere, an:i that it must fall on the operatives. For
enhanced the price of food and restricted the free iznpor- were they nut told that capital was stronger than the opera-
tation of foreign corn, he should concur in the view of tive, and that the Factory Bill was intended to guard him
reducing the hours of labour for the working classes of from the tyranny of capital, and would it nut have the power
this country. In the course he was pursuing be was fortified of imposing this loss upon him ? When it was found that
by the opinion of Mr. J. Marshall, of L reds, than whom he floods of Irish labourers were pouring in to compete with
was sure be could not quote a higher authority, whether the English for employment, and that there were numbers
they looked to the extent of his operations, the length of his who were ready to labour for a mere subsistence, could it be
experience, or the indefatigable seal with which he en- doubted that this bill would cast the low on the working
deavoured to promote the moral and physical improvement classes. His noble friend the member for Finsbury ought
of the people. Mr. Marshall, writing upon the sub- not to have been so easily satisfied that wages would net be
jest, said : reduced 25 per cent. Another hon. member said he was
It may be of some interest to you to know the further remit of prepared to reduce wages, because the leisure gained would
our wrieng 11 hours time. We find that OUT weekly production be worth it all in moral and intellectual improve-
dsdieg the latter nine months of 1846, working 66 hours per week, mint. But no means had been provided for that,
. o
'a only about one-half per cent. lees than the weekly produce duriag and all that was done was to turn the labourer
the corresponding period of 184 S, when we were working al hours out
of
tb mills, and let him take hie chance of it.
per week. Ile must remind the hon. member for Knaresborough that
labour, whereas, the reduction in the amount of produce
This amounted to a redaction of 3 per cent. on the hours of
he hen pointed out a course which he said would be • more
satisfactory settlement of this matter than proceeding with
g
amounted to only one-half per cent. Now one instance of
parliamentary enactments, and he also was of • different
practical likeworkin that seemed to outweigh the gratui-
opinion as to the state of things se regarded this measure
and the working classes from others who supported it. It
hitoulhasseaurtwioenhat wehhit.chnwye:re made on the other side. Mr.
was said by some hon. members that the working classes
Ourerrample has not yet, I believe, been followed by more thee else
could not settle this question with their masters, but that it
must be done by legislation ; but the hon. member for
timpamk.in"Lessia.9"itc.:47eyourkiorsg.ayd.ll bourssliiied:inliblrytt
vo'lndltnue.aftittsyThsegreesematP="gimiyaid. Knaresboreugh said that it was immaterial whether this bill
I can warmly myths' I am eeflicieutll 5.1." IlLezilla_.___that_ll was paned or not, for that the operatives were determined
holm time is likeiyr within any short period, 2 r,,,,.....•......,.2,..„./ to work only ten hours, and they would take care to obtain
adopted aniTe".ll7, " without ""' excePu"' ''''' ''''''' ...... that benefit themselves by combination. These differences
all such eases of interference by legislative enactment with what ought
of opinion did not encourage him (Mr. Gibson) to
legislate on this subject. Another mode by which
preedew b"heanpdri"p4.-Tare .7:Lug; tiforofthindie colr'we'mpuetiurree "inotiTh'e°ugbeariela-tt°
tare. I 'meld stall, therefore, ink foe further time, and deprecate any gentlemen advocated this measure was by bringing forward
immediate legislative change. statements which had nothing to do with it. Time spoke
The right hon. gentleman (Sir J. Graham), with no want of of the mortality of infants in the manufacturing chstriets,
, sympathy for the working classes, mid that to cat, drink, and stated that it was caused by the absence of their mothers
work, and die, was tho general lot of the labouring classes from them. It was, no doubt, appalling, as was stated by
throughout the world. He (Lord Morpeth) felt that there the noble lord the member for Newark, that 50 per cent. of
' was too mush truth in the statement, and that it would be • the infant population should die before the ages of three or
, film and sickly kind of sympathy which could prevent any five years. But could the absence of the mothers for thin-
, government from making the first two, eating and drinking, teen hours—which they would be under an eleven hours
a primary consideration when dealing with the working bill—make any difference in the case of infants?--must they
amm. At the same time, he should gladly embrace any not hire some one to take charge of them ? They were now
=aniqi of counteracting that exclusively animal ten- absent fourteen hour, but whither it was thirteen or twelve
( Rear, hear.) He, therefore, fully concurred in the hours (which it would be under the ten hours bill) the in-
' view that factory labourers ought to be discharged from flints must be placed under the care of some one.
. work at &sufficiently early hour to enable them to do some- But was infant mortality necesuily connected with
thing for the improvement of their minds. He believed factory labour ? The mortality in Bethnal-green, where
they would not object to begin their labours at half-past five, the manufactories were domestic, and the mothers
which, allowing an hour and a-half for meals, would, on the at home. was sixty per cent. In the Sanatery Report, it was
stated that children placed in factories were more healthy
eleven hour system, est them free at six o'clock. That was
the hour at which other persons confined in work and count- than in their own cottages. Upon this argument, if it was
hag houses were liberated, and if the factory labourers could wished to prolong the life of infants, it would be better to
leave oaf at the same hour, they would have time for visiting follow the suggestion of the noble lord the member for Ply-
, meeitudee' institutions' mailing rooms. They need not flatter mouth, and exclude women from the bill. This was another
themselves that they would at once resort to those places ; instance of difference of opinion. It was stated that there
was a great consumption of opium in the manufacturing die-
, but he was glad to think that there was a growing tendencyao
dole among the working climes ; and he thought that house trims. Would working two hours a day less prevent this ?
' was bound to promote that tendency by every means in its If the object was to prevent the use of opium, why not have
power. (Hear, hear.) In adopting the eleven hours bill, included it in the bill ? Was not opium eaten in the agricul-
he felt that he was giving to the labourers in factories an op- tural districts, too ? The state of morels in those districts
portunity of havingmore domestic pleasure, more social en- had been spoken of, and the hon. member for Knaresborough
joyment, and moreintellectual improvement than they had said that the operatives spent their Saturday afternoons and
at present, with the least possible diminution in their daily Sundays in boozing and drinking. But what did this bill dote
subsistence. (Hear, hear.) prevent that? That question remained where it was. He
Lord G. BENTINCK said that the question before them complained, therefore, that these were irrelevant arguments
amounted practically to this—whether or nut women and which had been dragged into the discussion, while they were
young persons under eighteen years of age should henceforth entirely without the scope of the measure. Mr. Alison
be obliged to work more than ten hours per day. The right had 'aid that he was in favour of this bill on the ground
bon. gentleman the member for Dorchester, after the course that it would diminish wages, and so deprive the working
which he had pursued last year, had rather surprised him people of the means of intemperance. The hon. number for
by the appeal which he made to the justice of the house on Weymouth had spoken of men seen walking in the parks at
the present occasion, not to break in upon the vested rights of Manchester with their backs strained and otherwise suffer-
the manufacturers by supportingthe present messure.(Hear.) tug from the effects of factory labour, but be fell short when
They had heard nothing last year about the vested eighth of he came to this mewl re, for be did not include men in this
the agriculturista,or of tenants and their longlesses. (Cheers.) bill, which was to limit the hones of labour. Even if the
Hon. members spoke of the falling ofl of their exports, and manufacturers could dispense with the labour of women
argued from thence that this was not the time to introduce and children these evils as regarded men would
a measure of this kind; but the fact was that foreign remain, therefore, in limiting the hours of labour,
nations, with a degree of policy which this country might they ought to be included in the measure. It I
well copy, were protecting their home manufacturers; and had been said that taking experience as a guide, they
their policy was strikingly apparent in this, that while the i might go on in this course, because they had legislated
cotton exports of Britain heal decreased, the exports in our before, and no harm was done, and the prophecies which
machinery had increased 25 per cent., showing, that while , had been made had not been fulfilled. Was this true? One
foreign nations were taking our semi-manufactured of the factory inepeotors had stated that legislation had
goods with one hand, they were taking with the other placed children in ficotlan,l in a worse moral position than
machinery for the manufacture of pole hitherto mann- they were before. They had been excluded from the mill.,
factored in this country. (Hear, hear.) The secretary to and were now running about the streets in Glasgow : there
the admiralty argued that the house was not entitled to were no schools, and none bad been built as the result of
ask for a restriction on the hours of labour in manufactories, that bill. He contended that past legislation had nothing to
until the free trade measures of last year were in full opera- do with the measure before the house. They had legislated
lion. He should like to know from the right hon. gentle- for children under 13 years, and the statement of the hon.
man when he thought that period would arrive. The hon. I member for Ballard, made on some clerical authority, and
an gentlem who opened the debate asked if they were to stop the facts of which he said he did not believe—(hear and
at ten hours, and argued that they would not, because Mr. laughter)—referred to children of that age, which was not
Outlet had at some period advocated eight hours. The the case now before the house, but that of adults.
simple answer was that ten hours was the period most con- It was not known what would have been the state of the
intent with human strength, health, and domestic comfort, factories, even if that bill had not passed ; nor had they any
If the operatives asked for a shorter period than ten ban, right to attribute the improvement in the habits of the
then would be the time to make a stand against it. The people, as regarded drunkenness and other vices, to it. Had
hon. gentleman also asked if, in the present sear- there not been en improvement in the habits of all classes ?
city and high price of provisions, they would deprive ani much was to be attributed to the example afforded by
the working clashes of the opportunity, by their industry, the improvement in those respects of the higher. The fle-
d obtaining an amount of wages sufficient to supply them tory inspectors were not unanimous in their opinion of the
with food. Now, unless the hon. member could say that effects of peat legislation, or of the proposal now before
mill-owners were offering operatives work for full time at the house. His nicht hon, friend the Secretary for the Home
full wages, there was no value whatever in his argument; Department had said that where they were unanimous,
and that he could not do, for they had been told on sutho- their authority should have great weight, because they were
rity that the greater portion of mills throughout the country disinterested. But they were not unanimous. Mr.
ware working short hours. The hon. member argued a Stewart was against this bill, and he also doubted
degree of ruin to the manufacturers from these interferenoes; as to the effect of past legislation. A circumstance,
hut although this ruin had been often threatened, it had not illustrative of that measure, had occurred in the city of
yet arrived ; and they had already reduced the hours of London the other day. Some women were taken to a police-
mfant labour from 89 and 90 hours to 66 and 70 hours per office who had been employed by a Mr. Plummer in wind-
week. The hon. gentleman had referred to the evidence ing cotton into balls after half-past eight in the evening. The
of six operatives and some clergymen in favour of unre- offence was not working for so many hours a day, but for
stricted hours of labour : the last he quoted containing the working after half-past eight. Could there be any more
admission that those children who worked full time in facto- innocent occupation than rolling cotton into balls ?—and
ties did not look so well': but he met the admission by say- yet, when other women were allowed to walk about the
ing that hon. members of that house did not look ea well at streets all night as prostitutes and assemble in gia-shops, these
the end of the session as at the beginning. As far as the were brought before the police-magistrates for rolling cotton
hon. member for Winchester himself was concerned, he into bells after half-past eight in the evening. What ad-
(Lord H. Dentinal could see no difference, and thought him vantage to society, present or remote, could this produce ?
aspale at the commencement of the session s& at the end • but There was no steam-engine, and these women did it to
if there were any validity in the argument, it proved that maintain their families at an hour which suited their own
they should shorten the hours of labour,and allow those em- convenience, which was after half-past eight in the evening,
in factories more time for recreation and exercise in and the law said that this was as offence
.against the
La% air.
hToof the
t ohmgenerous,
eniearr ovum-hearted,
foerclheanhd.dnhoelaZti
sou
uoralts
.of. E.iritnetploNyVehratopttierd.anwdomtwehaddritdir
thattyran till!.
474V16 On that account, and seeing also that of 260,000 effect was to deprive them of the means by which they paid
230.000 had petitioned that house for a restriction their rent. This was a sample of past factory legislation.
ha dr bops of labour, he would give his support to the That past legislation did not, in fact, interfere with the
meta forgoing into committee. hours of work, but merely gave the sanction of law to that
M. M. GIBSON said that the noble lord had not con- which was already custom ; for the great bulk of the mills
Ilea himself to the question before the house; but, by his worked no more than 12 hours. Even if that were not so,
sautrks, had allowed it to be seen that in supporting this legislation of a kind which effected children under 13 yews
linewre he was influenced, through a spirit of revenge by ot age could not be quoted as • safe guide for legislation of a
dm conaideration that it would interfere with the vested totally different description. It was said that it was not to
inegemita of the manufacturers; as those of the agriculturists had go further than as related to factories. He maintained that
burn interfered with by the measures of that house last year. all the working people had a right to demand equal favour
He wished to discuss this question on its own merits, and and protection, and if it was right to grant a limitation of
none could be more important. The right hon. gentleman, the hours of work in factories, it was the duty of parliament
1 the member for Dorchester, had eo ably shown the extent to extend the same indulgence to other dames of operatives.
to which most important interests would he interfered with If it was a benefit to the cotton manufacturing
by this bill, that be would not go over the ground, but districts, why stop there ? Could they refuse to
would only add that the cotton manufacture was more other operatives what they said was such a boon?
I injured by it than other staple manufactures of the country, It was confined to the cotton-spinners, and there
while it formed the largest portion of its export trade. The was no sign of going further. Why not bestow such favours
hon. member for Leeds said that many manufacturers were mere generally ? In Doreetahire, which was the head-
in fay.:ur of this bill, but to that there was an easy answer. quarters of some of those who ;tood up for this act of
Was it not true that, in Yorkshire, manufacturers in wool humanity, there was great distress ; but no effort was made
now worked their mills 11 and 14 hours a day ? There to bring in a bill to raise the wages of the labourer there,
was, therefore, no reason why they should oppose this bill. or to alter the conditions on which he gave his services. He
I The Factory Commissioners stated that the opinions of the (Mr. Gibson) might say it was desirable that the Dorset-
manufacturers as to the limitation of the hours of labour shire tirmer should give them more than seven or eight
were regulated by the exact time which they worked their shillings, and that a law should be passed, compelling them
own mills. He (Mr. Gibson) placed no value on to give ten shillings on the same principle that it was said
the agreement that certain manufacturen whose trades that factory labourers should not work more than ten hours.
and names were not mentioned, agreed to this He dared to say that plausible arguments might be adduced,
measure. Hs maintained that the great body of cotton to show that it would not affect the prospects of the firmer
manufacturers did not acquiesce in it, and the house, ill- or ruin him. One gentleman might say give three sh
informed, as he believed, on its commercial effects, were another might say only two shillings and a third
about to force it on that trade; and it they thought that any one shilling might be safer. If there was any 1
cotton manufacturers were in favour of it they would act right to interfere for the factory, there was •
under a delusion and • mistake. The noble lord the member right to do so for the agricultural labourer. It was envier-
for Lynn said that the repeal of the corn-laws was an inter- rentable that all their sympathies should be expended on
ference with vested interests, and that the right hon. the labourer in the cotton trade, and that they Should not
baronet (Sir J. Graham) was not last year so sensitive en see with an impartial eye the distress in other districts. In
that point. But the corn-law was a restraint upon the the hospitals the day nurses worked sixteen hours, and
industry and trade of the country ; and those who sup- the night nurses eleven. This was an excellent field for
ported it having failed to prove that it was advantageous to legislation. They worked longer than labourers in the tee-
the community, it was therefore removed by the legislature. tones, and in a worse atmosphere; were exposed to un-
He said that the onus probers& rented on those who pro- healthy vapours, and their labour was exoeasive. Now that
posed this restraint en the labour of the country, and it was , the cause of the distressed needlewomen was given up, he
for them to show that it would be advantageous to the could suggest to the noble lord the member for Newark,
persons for whose benefit it was intended, as well as to the the ease of the washerwomen. (" Hear," and laughter.)
community. They who were opposed to the measure were Tbey were bound by every principle of justice and
not bound mathematically to demonstrate the amount humanity, if this was sound legislation, to extend it to every
of wages which would be lost. He maintained that every elan who suffered from long hours of labour. It had been
restraint on labour was an evil ; and until the ad- intended to legislate for the needlewomen, and the noble
vantage of this restraint was pointed out, it was lard (the member for Newark) had in hie pocket a
unjustifiable to enact it by law. He maintained that it was bill for the fustian-cutters, who worked in their own
not shown that the restraint on the labour of women and houses. Now the washerwomen stood a greater number of
children was advantageous to them or to the community. hours than any other adult working people, and he was in-
Would that compulsory leisure which was proposed, be ae- formed by a medical man that they formed a great proportion
cessarily employed more to the moral and physical advan- of the out-door patieats of the hospitals, being &Meted with
tags of the labourers than the time employed in factories? varicose veins and ulcerated logs. Would these cases be
Compulsory leisure was given by this bill ' • but there it included in their legislation ? He (Mr. Gibson) would not
stopped ; and it did not enter into the question of the manner vote for the extension of the principle either to these classes
in which that time was to be spent. In the case of children or to the labourer in cotton factories because he believed it
it was done ,• for, when it was said that they should only work to be fraught with evil. It was re& legislation to 1131LiCi•
six hours a day, the remainder was to be occupied in educe- pate the improvements which society would bring about.
Lion ; then it was only declared:that adult females should not In • commercial point of view he was convinced that no on.
work in certain mills and receive certain earnings • and there could show that the effect of these measures would not
it stopped. It was indisperumble that these things be be to deprive the operatives of a large amount of the
shown before parliament, so as to induce it to put this re- wages they now enjoy. It was a great anomaly that they
straiat on labour. He declined positively to share in the were trying to provide employment for the people in
responsibility of this act; and, when he looked to the else Ireland, while they were at the same time trying to cut it
eumstances under which gentlemen invited him to off. In Ireland there were 20,000 factory labourers, earning
limit the hours of labour, and looked to their own 10s. a week, and if their wages were cut down one-sixth it
authority, there was nothing to encourage him to accede to would cause • reduction of 58,0001. a-year to these persons.
the proposition. If the number of hours was limited to six In Scotland, where great distress existed, 70,000 persons
or four, it was admitted that the cotton trade would be en- were so employed, whose wages it was proposed to cut down.
tirely destroyed. It was admitted that there was some Was that consistent with the other policy which was directed
point at which that would happen ; but it was not agreed to provide food and employment for those who had neither ?
what that was. The hon. member for Oldham said he If this reduction of wages took place there would be with-
would make the number eight, and no harm would be done; drawn from the labourers of Scotland and Ireland 430,0001.
to withdraw
88fr0,000,.
thl..acyrfrlirroelianre
Ireland and
dopes.ratiuLesd
togethera Irelandsi the first
430,0001.
the that wages would be the same ; and the prosperity of the a year. It staggered him when he was asked by those who said
trade remain. Some said it must be ten hours ; and by they were embarked in the cause of humanit
ththotoheigerstThdhittthewamewnmaoualmidbentainrbih:ll:lthadulibea.nieleusAevnenoitht anewPag'd amalhoalreedf,aanctattirmit: He was also asked to withdraw from the operativesfir'of Lan
was lower than that, the staple manufacture of the coon- esehire 1,000,0001. a year, in order to better their condition.

He could not understand this as the first step towards their
amelioration. The noble lord, the member for Lynn, had
said it would be for the benefit of Ireland if money was sir.
eulated among the people as wages, and now he called en
the house to withdraw it, and, by a strange anomaly, E,
land was to be regenerated by cutting off employment, wete
Ireland was to be regenerated by giving it. In Ireland tea
people had leisure, there was no tyrant capital, no export
lode, the people were living in that pastoral simplicity
which had been talked of by the advocate* of short hours
of labour. Was this leisure, was the absence of the tyrant
capital, or the demon steam-engine, of which the hon. mem.
1 her for Weymouth had spoken, an advantage to the Irish
people ? (lieu'' hear.) Ile would have the home pang
when they were called on to interfere with a large class of
working people in a position of comparative comfort, and
before they made hazardous experiments with the staple
manufactures of the country. The great cotton-Made of
this country was rapid in its rise, and its fall might be equally
speedy. A great machine might be disturbed by the duitrum
non of a very small wheel, and how did they know bat that
by cutting off two hours a week from the labour of the far.
tones, and making the time only five days a week they would
not cause the destruction of the cotton-trade to be as speedy as
was its taking root. They offered no security against this; there
was only vague conjecture, nothing on which • reuenable
man could rest on safely to convince him that they were not
shaking the foundations of the great staple manufactures ot
the country ; and considering that the export trade of this
country was its great mainstay, and considering also that it
was embodied in the labour of the country, he called on the
house to refuse to diminish one of its great elements—tine,
They saw in Ireland the consequence of the people being
without employmmt, and they should not proceed to take
away the employment of millions of operatives in their own
LZEBRINGTON said, at this period of the debate, it
was not his intention to trespass at any length upon the
attention of the house. In mach of the able discoursed
his right hon. friend who had just sat down, be (Lord
Ebrington) concurred. His right hon. friend had ex.
ernplitied the mischiefs which he (Lord Ebrington) had
endeavoured on a former occasion to shew when he atteme,
tad to persuade the legislature not to interfere with adult
labour. This interference he held to bra new and mischlevone
principle in legislation. It seemed to him that all legislative
interference sth.er children had attained an age that fitted
them to make bargains for themselves, was most pernicious,
The whole question depended upon a due con.
aideratinn of the general well being of the people,
and he thought many hon, members had permitted them.
selves to take much too narrow • view of the subject, when
they left entirely out of their consideration the health of
those employed in factories. From the observation he had
himself made in the factories, he was convinced that the at.
moephere breathed in them rendered eight hours' labour
there far more mischievous in effects on the health of the
people employed than twelve hones' labour performed in
well ventilated mills would produoc. He, therefore, hoped
at some future stage to be allows d to engraft on the bill a
provision to enable the factory inspectors to report on the state
of health of the labourers employed in factories, and to give
them the same powers with reference to ventilation and
drainage, the improper regulation of which led to aim, deaths,
as they now possessed in respect to unguarded machinery,
formerly the cause of so many sudden deaths. The evidence
of Dr. Guy, before the Health of Towns Commission, showed
that the labourers in factories were not sufficiently supplied
with light and air, sad this was a subject deserting quite se
much consideration as the number of hoses during which
those labourers were to remain at work. lie would suggest
that in future all the factory inspectors ought to be medial
men, by which means the public mind would be relieved
from many delusions as to the real causes of ill health among
the operatives.
Sir It. PEEL said ho had abstained from rising before
because he thought it probable that some hon. gentleman
who was a decided advocate for the bill now under onside.
ration would have presented himself to reply to the speech
just now delivered by the right hon. gentleman, the Vice.
President of the Board of Trade. He (Sir It. Peel) bad,
however, waited in vain, and as time was now pressing, he
should keep within the compass of time for which the house
could this day sit. He was not prompted to rise by any.
thing which had occurred in the present debate, but having,
when at the head of the government, been supported by a
large majority in the opinion he had then given against any
further interference with the hours of labour, he was de.
arms, now that he was likely to be in • small minority,
having against him the high opinion of the noble lord op.
poets (land J. Russell), to record, under adverse chem.
stances, hie continued adherence to the principles he had
before stated. (Hear, hear.) He was aware that it some.
times excited a smile amongst hon. members, when he (Sir
It. Peel), occupying the position of first minister of the
Mira, had said, in reference to any question of difficulty,
that the government had but one of three courses to take.
(Hear, and a laugh.) It seemed, however, that the noble lord
who had stmeeeded him in office, had also succeeded hint
in that respect. (Laughter.) Nay, the noble lord could
go further, and say not merely that there were three COLITIS
in this instance to pursue, but be might adduce, in favour of
each separate course, the authority of as many collesgaes of
his own in the cabinet. On the left-hand of the noble led
at the right Son. gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland
(Mr. Labonchere), who, as fully conversant as any man
with the commercial interests of the country, bad declared
himself against extension of the interference with the hours
of labour. There was she near the noble lord the right hon.
baronet the Secretary of State for the Home Department
(Sir George Grey), who was in favour of going into com-
mittee on this bill, and who, if the committee should
succeed in inserting ten instead of eleven hours, was willing
to accept the bill in that shape on its third reading.
Now it was difficult to decide between two such high
authorities ; hut the noble lord at the head of the govern-
ment had a third proposition to deal with, beeauae the noble
lord the chief Commissioner of Wools and Foiesta (Lord
Merpeth), now at the noble lord's right hand, had declared
that din committee ten hours were substituted for eleven
hours, he must abandon his colleague the Home Secretary,
and vote against the bill. (Load laughter.) There was a
famous mathematical problem most difficult to solve. The
problem was, what is the point at which a body will remain
at rest which is exposed to the attraction of three other great
bodies ? Mathematically, the problem was difficult of solo
tion ; but, probably, the noble lord at the head of the govern.
meat would be able to solve it practically, if not theoretically,
and would determine whether, on being exposed to the attrao
Lien of the three great authorities or bodiesnow revolving in hie
immediate neighbourhood, he will remain at rest, or decide in
favour of one or other of his colleagues who were now asst
him. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) Before he (Sir It. Peel)
proceeded to the question immediately before the house, he
wished to say a word with respect to a matter unconnected
with it, bat which had been introduced into the present dis-
cussion. The noble lord the member for Lynn (Lord G.
Bentinek) had asnumed that the result of experience with
reference to the relaxation of restrictions on commerce, sad
the reduction of duties on articles of necessity, showed
the inthelicy of that course of legislation; and the
noble lord bad referred, in proof of his &roman?
to the diminished exports of the present, as compared
with the exports of last year. Now his (Sir Robert
Peel's) firm conviction was, that ell intervening experience
since the adoption of that course of policy which the noble
lard condemned tended to demonstrate its justice ; and be
(Sir R. Peel) was not only fortified-by ream, but confirmed
by experience of the effects produced since that course of
policy had been commenced, in the opinions he had asserted.
(Hear, hear.) It was quite true that this year there was a
Ihminished amount of exports; but if increasing 'spore
I were to be taken as a test of the wisdom of the policy ear
sated, he mustask the noble lord to look back to the yser
1842, when the policy of width he complained was cote
menced. In 1842 the legislature altered the eorn•laws;
I they removed the duties on the importation of foreign bed
; and mutton, as well as on many articles white
were the elements of manufactures. In abort, is
1842, they commenced a system which continued
until (he would not say terminated with) the end of the het
erasion of parliament. (Hear, hear.) It appeared that is
1842 the declared value of exports was 47,841,0001. ; in 1843,
ender a system of the removal of prohibitory duties
es
du ?donation of restrictions, the declared value of mars
mounted to 52,270,0001. ; in 1844 to 58,554,0001. • ad is
1845 the declared value of exports was 60,180A1. Ths
experts in 1846 were, no doubt, less than they had ben is
the preview year; but all periods of the commercial biles/
of the country showed that vicissitudes in commerce ad
ensue, and that commercial excitement had always Ms
followed by commercial depression. Thus, in 1836, bake
any relaxation of the system of protection took place, its
declared value of exports was about 53,000,8001_ • in 1837 it
fell to 42,000,0001. ; in 1839 it was again about 530090011•1
in 1841, 51,000,0001. ; and in 1842 it was 47,00.0 w.
Therefore it could not fail to be observed that, clangs's!
period when protection and prohibition were 111 falter MM
had been constant fluctuations and vicissitude' in comma
danepdrethwe
oenxicaitethmeennet.ptrodßuucedt
if iinn oinwe earth, wndas f.ccitilloo:ild ohys
amount of the chief articles of export amoanted
2,000,0001., that reduction arose from peculiaL.
novel circumstances, and he (Sir R. Peel)Z
to ask what had been the concomitants—what had
the other effects—which warranted an impression that theme
laxation of the system of prohibition and protection
failed? (Rear, bear.) Had there not, during the liar'''.
been high prices for provisions, cot only in this country, Dot
almost in every other portion of Europe,—and was there cot
reason to believe that those higli prices of provisions had the
effect of curtailing the expenditure in superfluous lantana
of the incomes which were necessary for the purchase of th,,
primary articles of subsistence ? Did not that fact, costr,
with the high prices of the raw material for the chief mane:
henry of the country, account for the diminution which bu
taken place in the exports of 1846 as u
compar;
with the exports of 1845? (Hear, hear.) Bat
mild the node lord the member for Lynn (herd •
Beseech) show at any former period, under similar circs;
stsaces, a buoyant revenue,— a feeling of oontentinentand
'Mat embodied= to the law, and of resignation, as . ,
Sethi matey ? Could he show, at any former period. 01
sammendel adversity, such a feeling to have existed Year as
—4 be
=all darn in this country during the past
aerated by the conviction that legislative f .
was not responsible for the state of things which nano
11 the
81(Buters.,..wshehearof.e)114uB24te.(wahsamat
:wh•coauivrld.o)wthdtvhe
bneyo.blhathenelmorlhataabad vae dose
nt
bees
Imported during the present year Ism than b
',reign corn ; and yet the average price of your own cote MI
not been less than 71s. /low could Ireland have been benedted.
if the law which excluded Indian corn, and which
ttized
high duty on all other description!' of that commodiy, hhd
been adhered to ? (Hear, hear.) He (Sir R.
ePsovr,:a.,
that he
The Italian writers on that science—teen of u dosbt•M_
eiwttnewrtochutoeldquestion really before the house. 11 cusu
too narrow a view of the subject of political ecoemei.
ability—had arguebehugaenedir othewwthane
odsftrieismtegniriesecdtowfvipoicawlitiohileal:hifeOne.g.:7'
had claimed for themselves the prive. 111'14 am".

dered th iscieeme not merely with a view to the Kepi-
neon of 'wealth, but to the accomplishment of the
adveneement of the heahh, morality, and civilisation of
the ;teat mass of the community. Ile (Sir R. Peel) would
that charge was well founded or not, though
.I:b7hlewvedh.ththere political economists of this country confined
their writings to one bane of that very diversified subject ,•
but he was ready to argue this question on the extended
principles which the Italians would apply, and to inquire
into the proposition, not with a Yin,/ to the wealth of the
min tifacture's, or its mere Requisition, hut with respect to
its probable effect on the health, strength, comfort, and "rel.
hre of the great MUG of the labouring population. (Hear,
hear.) The ground upon which he shoald to-day give his
you, was, the conviction of his mind that it would nut be for
ou welfare of the working classes—that it would not be for
their intelh cute culture or social improvement, to impose'
restrictions on their hones of labour. (Hear, hear.) He
looked at the ques ion as it regarded the general interests of
the whole community, and he regarded with alarm the ow'
siderations so ably adverted to by the right hon. pentium&
opposite, the Viee-President of the Board of Trade (ldr. M.
Gilson). What was the present state of things in this
country ? Why, that at a time of comparative prosperity,
they were levying at this moment 6,000,0001., to be strictly
and actually applied to the relief of the destitute, and to the
maintenance of those who could not support themselves by
ordinary labour. (Hear, bear,) This important contagion
all sides were compelled to make. The security for
this relief was the capital, the maehivery, and the
labour of this couutry. And was not the lose of gain
sharpening the minds of other nations—the Germans, of
whom honourable mention had been made in the course of
the discussion ? Frenchmen and Italians were as desirous of
gain and the acquisition of wealth as were Englishmen,
while they were not inferior to them in intellectual acquire-
men's. And let him take capital, machinery, and labour ise
the elements 'if this country's prosperity : Every man hoped
for the continuance of peaoe, and in that event what impedi-
ment was there in the way of the employment of English
capitol, with its machinery and labour in foreign countries?
(Hear, hear.) Probably many foreign countnes would, in
the event of the restriction being put on the hours of labour
here, see the policy of inviting over these resources. (Heat,
hear.) Machinery was already exported, and in that item,
at least, them had not been any diminution. It was close,
then, that capital might be taken abroad, that machinery
was already exported, and it became necessary seriouely es
consider the remaining question, should labour be mes-
demned to remain at ho Te ? The noble lord, the mossba
for Lynn, was now a great advocate for the construed."' of
railways—that system of locomotion wee extending itself
both in England and on the Continent. The greater that
extension, the more would the means he facilitated of free
egress for the skilled manufacturers and artisans of this
country to the receipt of higher wages abroad. The preju-
dices of the English artisan to removal from his home, weft
fast declining from the English character. He read of
higher wages abroad—he read, further, that the ancient
hostility to an Englishman was ne more felt or encouraged—
he found he could reach Rouen, or any other place in France,
in 12 or 14 hours, and these facto, together with a feeling
pertly of curiosity and partly of a hope of gain, ought all to
operate upon this house as reasons why it could not continue
to control English labour as formerly when locemotion wee
difficult, and when prejudicesexeted and prevailed. Hebei
account were true, what then was the present position of the
house? Over the capital, machinery, and labour of the
country they had no command ; at this moment when the
manufactures and commerce of the country were exposed
to active competition abroad, it was proposed to place re-
strictions nominally on the labour of women and children—
but practically upon adult labour. (Hear, hear.) It was
proposed that to a man in the possession of health, and
having an anxious desire to labour now, foreeeeiag that age
or sickness may sooner or later incapacitate him, it should,
be mid, "You shall not work more than five days
in the week." (Hear, hear.) With the facilities to
which he (Sir R. Peel) bad already adverted for
the egress from this country of capital, machinery, and
labour, he must repeat that he feared the consequences
which might result from the decision of that house in favour
of such a proposition. Still, if the advocates of this measure
could convince him that it was possible that the great cotton,
silk, woollen, and linen manufactures, had take,, such deep
root in the: country that it would be impossible for ether
nations to compete with them—if they could convince him
that there were no prospective dangers, end that the measure
would *induce to the moral and intellectual improvement,
and to the comfort and social welfare of the great body of the
working classes—he should be almost tempted to yield
to their arguments, and to consent to a trial of this
further experiment. (Etter, hear, hear.) He believed
that the welfare of the country depended upon the
improvement in the condition and the elevation of the
feelings of that clam of society—it would not he safe without
it. But they were already giving them education and the
means of intellectual improvement, and, unless they also
increased their comforts—if, by legislative restrictions, and
not as now was the case in Ireland by the visitation of Pro-
vidence, those c onions were diminished or interfered with,
then the intellectual improvement of the people would be-
come a source of great danger. (Hear, hear.) He believed
that the source of the future peace, happiness, and prosperity
of the country must be in the religious and moral improve-
ment of this class of society. Was it then to their advan-
tage that the legislature should impose upon them
those proposed restrictions upon their labour? The
bon. member for Salford (Mr. Brotherton i who bad
to-night delivered a speech most honourable to himself, and
evinced feelings in which he (Sir R. Peel) must in a strong
degree participate, had said that the only question was, to
vote that a woman or child, under 18 yearn of age, shall
work ten hours a day. If that were the question, he (Sir
B. Peel) should decidedly be for eight hours, for he was
quite of opinion that eight hours a day was quite enough for
a young girl under 14, or • mother with three children, to
work ; so that if the debate turned upon this point, be (Sir
R. Peel) was not for a ten hours, but for an eight hours
bill, provided all the advantages, which it was said the
leisure thus afforded would give, were secured. He
did not deny the advantage of leisure, hut of this
he was perfectly convinced, that the real way to
improve the habits and elevate the character of the working
clears, was to give them the command of the necessaries of
life. (Cheers.) It was said that the measure was not in-
tended to diminish wages, which gave the means of com-
manding those necessaries. Why it would be one of the
greatest anomalies he had ever heard of in legislation, if it
were not intended to interfere with wages, to say that a man
should only work five days • week—that five days should
be the maximum of labour, and yet expect the master will
pay him the same amount, as though he worked six days.
The employers of England were now exposed to com-
petition with the manufacturers of America, Fraece,
Germany, and Italy, and was it common sense
to require them for five days' labour to give six
days' pay ? (Hear, hear, hese.) But, said the advocates
of this measure, "there is • mode of doing this." What
was that mode ? By straining all the faculties to accomplish
is 11 hours that which was the produce oflel2 hours' labour.
Now, if the master was compelled to realise the came amount
of production in II hours as was now effected in 12 hours,
the greater must be the strain on the tender faculties of
mind and body of the operative. Nay, the hon. member
for Leeds (Mr. Beckett) had declared his fears that
such would be the case. (Hear, hear.) But to
another view of the question. It was very easy to talk of
this as a matter of wages, but indeed of the wages
let them call it the "income" of the labouring man with
which it was proposed to deal. Upon that " income " this
measure would inflict an income-tax of the heaviest kind.
(Hear, hear.) Supposing a manufacturer had 1,500 people
employed on his premises, not engaged in the process of the
manufacture, but necessary for the conduct of the business;
by this restriction of the hours of labour, they would (suppo-
sing each of those persons earned 601. a year,) just deprive
them done-sixth of their income, and lay upon them a tax,
not of 21.185. 7d., but to the whole amount of the ten pounds
which they lest through this restriction, and take from him
not 3 per cent., but 10 or 12 per cent of all that he obtained.
Without referring to the debates which had taken place on
this subject, he would content himself with quoting a hick
authority, whom opinion in this respect was pregnant with
truth. In the pump before him it was stated that the
working classes, in a time of
_prosperity, part;cipated in the
benefits enjoyed by their employers, but not to the same ex-
tent as they suffered from deproatiees in the time of adver-
sity, so that it was absolutely necessary for them to realise
same surplus; for in the time of adversity it was sure to
be ail absorbed. And this effect would be wrought by the
endeavour to repeals wages through ill-advised legislation.
By this means also they would deprive them of the °prone-
lenity of laying by the 6!. or 101. which had so often
proved the foundation of the future fertilise and Indepen-
dence of the family. It was impossible to overestimate
the value of this saving of • 51. or 101, note. It was a ques-
tion for the father of a Sally, imitating the honourable ex-
ample of the eon, member for Salford, being left at liberty
to exercise all his faculties in time of health and prosperity,
and to call his family around him and declare that by
working hard in times of health, he could la' the foundation
of that fortune which hundreds in Lancashire bad acquired
by honourable exertion and high integrity. He had known
men who, when he was a boy, received their 26*, perm*
to hare acquired fortunes of 100,0001., and be did not
doubt the hon. member for Salford knew the individuals
to whom he alluded. (" Hear" from Mr. Brotherton.) Bet
would this be possible if the paralysing effect of legislation
should be applied to the restriction of the hours of labour ?
Impose restrictions on labour, and the avenues to advance-
ment would be cut off from the working classes, and the
workhouse in the hour of adversity would be only open to them,
Would not the able-uodied workman rush to Dover by spar.
liamentary train, and take his skill, his industry, his know-
ledge, aye, and his English character, to some foreign place
where, under a wiser policy, he would enjo the unrestricted
exercise of hie labour? (Hear, hear.) With moped
to th^ distribution of a man's earnings, he had be-
fore him a book containing an account which struck
him most forcibly. It was an account of two families
eiraMg, one Its., the other 9s. per week. The first
ate fisted of 9 persons, and the earnings were thue=
bated : for bread, 10s. 6d. ; rent, Is. ; fire, Is. ; washing,
11.—cieseeig 13e. 6d, per week, leaving 4s. 6l for clothes,
ha, neon, and meat. The second family consisted of 7 pees
etc, who, after expanding 6s. 6d. for bread, sad paying
for rent, fire, &c., had only 9d, left for clothing, meat, -stud
"her necessaries for a family. In the same book various
Illations were put to the Rev, Mr. Unstable and others, se
to how it was possible for a labouring man with a family Of
for 6 children, to exist upon 10s. per week. Mr. Mutable
"Plied that this was • problem not to be solved
by human calculation, all attempts to arrive at it have
meanly failed. Another gentleman, in reply to a similar
ripertion, said that he had never surxeeded in eliciting a ea-
tieeterysumer from the wives of any of the labourers who
ere in that position. (Cries of " Divide, divide.") He
K Peel) would not further interfere, looking at the
lour which had arrived (10 minutes to 6 o'clock). He
would conclude by declaring that heattached the highest 101-
Portance to the elevation of the working classes, and he
"t 4,1 against going Into committee on this question, not be-

woe he wanted a permanent fund for the purpose of taxa- i
tion, but because ho believed that the bill would interfere
with the comforts of the people ; because he believed that it
would endanger the great resources of the country ; because
he believed t at it would Clippie their energies and dissipate
the national wealth ; and feeling, as he did, special obliga-
tions to the working classes of this country—believing, as he
did, that this restriction would not be for their interest, he
reconciled himself to promote by his vote their welfare, al-
though he might offend them in doing so. (Cheers.)
The house then divided—
For going into committee
Against it lOO-90
The house then adjourned.

share of profi!, on acme At of the business ability which he
devoted to the concern.
The Amendment being withdrawal, Mr. Wteaaw proposed
another amendment fur 3,5001, wl.ich, after a short duces-
nos, wAs also withdrawn, and the original motion, for the
paLment of 3001. to each director, was agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN then moved a vote of thanks to Mr. oa-
bsrt, the general manager, and the managers of the several
branch banks, which was un.inimoudy adopt,d, and was
briefly acknowledged by Mr. Gilbert. Thanks were then
voted to the chairman, which that gentleman acknowledged,
and th•e proceedings then terminated.

THE SAMARITAN SOClETY.—Yesterday the fifty-
sixth annual meeting of the governors and subscribers of
this histitution, for too relief of various &airtime, for whirl
no provision is ordinarily made by public hospiffils, by as-
sisting them when discharged, affording surgical aids, and
the support of those convalescent patiente requiring country
air and sea bathing, was held at the institution, for the pur-
pose of receiving the report of the committee for the past
tear, and the election of officers for the ensuing year.
The report stated that the rec:ipts (including last year's
Wallet of 1741. 2..) amounted to 7601. 7a. 7d. ; tho expendi-
ture to 4991. Ils. Od.; the funded property amounts to
14,1411. A library has bees established for the use of the
in-patients of the hospital, which now consists of near 800
volumes or works of piety and religious instruction, biography,
natural and geaeral history. and works of us t ful information
and interesting nature. fLe officer, being elected, thanks
were voted to the chairman, and the meeting broke op.

moneyA
iety was held last
theft
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ep
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to ceonp
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77,tethninRY:p.
omffeeFelt.:o,re:r.R.
..tig.y.soTitoprotb;:::;7A,hd.
EM.Qtoctun:S. Nic several .thb
presided,
pon the molio',, that t
hrtsubject for diacu•riea:cl,:wdi s
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as
re
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eeding
be received, Mr. Stuart moved that it be referred to the
committee to consider, and further to re port upon, a series
of resolutions embodying numerous practical reforms—
among others, whether matters in Cetaneeiy might not be
disposed of by a master, without, reference tu' a judge;
whether businisn might not be better distributed between
the judges and masters; wh, dire many of the duties of
masters might not be diee',,,reed by subordinate officers;
and whether there might not be devised a more effectual
mode for taking "wun'a and disposing of the administrative
business. This mfe:ion, having been supported in an able
Weed], was 1118`080..ed by Mr. Commissioner Mule, but stew
nuouilY °V.mri.-d by Mr. Spence? upon the groubde that
these =Nen were not contained m the original reference to
the cfromittee, and that it would be a ri Section upon the
conly.nittee to refer back its report, which deserved and
emelt to be considered upon its own merits. Mr. Spence
accordingly moved the previous question, and the meeting
was occupied with this preliminary discussion up to the hour
of adjo ailment, when the consideration of the entire num-
Hob w.is postponed until the next meeting.
YtIGHTLY SHELTER FOR THE. HOUSELESS POOL
Yesterday, the committee of the above susseirtion stades
'-eport of the number of unfortunate individuals who have
sought shelter in the society's asylums during the incle-
mency of the weather sine' the 14th of December. In the
central asylurr, Playhouse-yard, St. Luke's, 6,094 mew,
women, end children, were admitted; in the eastern ay
11101, Glasshouse-street, East Sithfield, 4,807 ; the
western asylum, Upper Ogle-street, Marylebone, 6,677:
being a total of 16,578 distressed and homeless persona.
During the above period 184,426 rations have been distri-
buted.
STATISTICS OF CONVICTS.—On the Ist of January,
1846, the total number of convicts in Vas Diemen's Land
was 29,949, of which 7,236 were holding tickets of leave,
12,240 were prwbolders, and 10,473 were in the probation
gangs. Of the 12,240 pass-holderi, 3,509 were unable to
find work, and of the probationers 3,852 would reoeive passes
in the year 1846. Of convicts sentenced to transportation In
England the number received into ldillbenk prison in 1843
was 3,591, of which 2,420 were .rot to Van Diemen's Land ;
in 1844 the number received was 3.240, of which 1,888 were
sent to the colony ; and in 1815 the number was $229, of
which 1,629 were sent to the same colony. By an order of
the present government, transportation of male convicts to
the colony of Van Diemen's L ,nd has been discontinued.
The subject of transportation and convict discipline is to be
by Earl Grey.
broughtTtiE
WATERLOO Lb:Se/for:BT.?: e.DtoMilrolu'eyteesait,,RlArdaraldi,WcmidATl:dachEyead,Twiefsclikil,ortof rt.
Martin's, sold the building msterials of fifty brush, situate
in Broad-stmt, High-street, Centerbury-place, road, and
, street, at the west side of Lsmbeth Palace ; the ground they
occupy being required for the extension of this railway to
Waterloo bridge. The viaduct on which the trains will run
has already reached Lambeth-walk, having crossed the
Wandsworth, Kennington, and Vauxhall-bridge-reeds.
FlRES.—Yteterday, between 12 and 1 o'clock,
information was received at the various fire stations that a
fire was raging at Deptford. The engines of the Brigade
and West of England Company, with a strong body of fire-
men, were despatched thither ; and on their arrival, two
houses in Fisgon-row, Deptford, were on fire. One by
that time (a clothier and draper's) was entirely con-
sumed. The firemen exerted themselves to the utmost, but
by two o'clock both houses with their contents were re-
duced to a heap of rains.—About half-past nine, a.m., a ths
broke out in the workshops belonging to Mr, Willoughby,
carpenter and builder, Pearl-st;ein, slid Gravel-lane, Wap-
ping. Owing to the Combustible nature of the stock, and
also of the building, the latter being nearly all wood, the fire
travelled with great fury. The engines of the London bri-
gide, parish, and West of England office attended, but the
building was speedily burned down. The occupier was in-
sured in the Phecnix office.
THE RECENT COLLISION ON THE RIVER.—It has
been ascertained that the vessel which ran down the
schooner Rose was the Royal Victoria steam ship, 300-horse
power, Captain Miffidethwaite, the property of the London,
Leith, Edinburgh, and Glasgow Navigation Company. The
wreck lies in deep water, her cro,strees only being observ-
able at low water. The Trinity have placed buoys near it,
and lights at night, so as to warn vessels getting foul edit.
She has 150 tons of goods on board, comequently her raining
will be a matter of considereble difficulty. Captain Fisher,
of the City of London Harbour, inspected what is to be seen
of the wreck yesterday, and commenced the necessary ar-
rangements to lift her. The number of lives lost amount, it
is feared, to the extent already mentioned—seven ; two sea-
men, three passengers, and two friends of the captain.
INQUEST,YF.sTKRDAV.—UNWHOLESOME LODGINGS,
At the Shakspeare's Head, Wyetvetreet, Strand, before Mr.
Bedford, on the body of James Laban, aged 54, an ivory
turner. The deceased resided at No. 41, Wyeh-street, sod
had been in great disteem for some time past. He died sud-
denly on Saturday night last. The witnesses agreed that he
was in a very destitute condition, but did not think that he
died from starvation.—Mr. B. Brookes, surgeon, of Bedford-
street, Covent-garden, said that he had made a post modern
examination of the body, and found that the cause of death
was hydrothorax, that is, water on the chest. He could not
help bringing under the notice of the coroner and jury the
filthy state of the locality where the deceased resided, the
impurity of the air, the want of proper drainage and suffi-
cient light, all these most uncongenial to a man in his state
of disease. His room was in a filthy condition, and destitute
elf the necessary comforts of life. After ten years' expe-
rience as surgeon to the Strand Union, he could state that
the poor did not die so often, as represented, from absolute
want of food as from the impurity of the air they breathed.
He mild not speak in terms too condemnatory of
the neglect of sanitory regulations. The jury returned
a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.

IRELAND.
L DUBLIN, MARCH 2.
The country correspondents of the Cork papers
supply columns filled with descriptions of misery.
The parish priest of Coachford states his belief that
4,000 out of 6,000 souls who compose the population
of his pariah have not for the last three months had
" even fine substantial meal in the day." One in
every seren of the population is reported to be sick;
and of 300 families, among the most destitute, " not
less than three on an average in each family are
afflicted with fever, dysentery, or dropsy." The
mortality, as may be easily conjectured, is very great
under such circumstances; so many as forty adults
dying in one day.
There are accounts as afflicting from other districts.
In the city mortality progresses. The number of
deaths in the workhouse, for the week ending March
1, was 168. The total number in the Louse was
5,704, of whom 688 were in hospital.
An extensive land agent in the south informs me
that the farmers are girding themselves for the spring
work. The old potato ground, or, as it is called in
local vernacular, " the redigging," has been prepared
for oats, and other supplies, supposed to have had no
existence, are beginning to appear. The early
potatoes, however, are the great puzzle. The =an
farmers generally contrived to store a fair quantity of
seed, taking chance for the seundnesa They have
been so far fortunate that the are turned out
of the pita at least as sounclitst*tehsey were stored.
This result has given them courage, and they would
plant--but then the formidable risk. However, a
fair breadth will be faid under the potato throughout
Munster.
The registration for the whole Liberal party of the
Irish metropolis has been for years managed by the
staff of the Repeal Association, and the expenses de-
frayed from the funds of that body. For the last
year or two the Liberals or Repealer. have always
maintained a lead at the sessional registrations ; but
with the decline of the repeal funds the registry has
not been worked with vigour. The consequence has
been that the Conservatives have obtained majorities
at the late registration sessions. To counteract this sue.
eels, the Liberals—non-Repealer as well as &peeler.
—have determined to organise an association for the
express purpose of attending to the registration ; and
a meeting to arrange preliminaries was held to-day
at the Commercial-buildings.
Mr. Brenan, a gentleman who had been a mer-
chant in Dublin, and who at present resides in
England, has adopted a means to stimulate the people
to the caltivatito of the land, which it would bo tel

1