The Express.
London, England, 1865-05-12 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL TREATIES WITH PRUSSIA AND

AUSTRIA.

The President of the Liverpool Chamber of Com-
merce has received the following letter from the Freelo-
ad" respecting our commercial relenicos with Prussia sad
Austria : _ -

-
Foreigsnace, Mey 9,1866.
Sir,—l am directed by Lord Kama to acquaint you, for
the information of the chamber of commerce over wbich
you preside, that her Majesty's ambasaador at Berlin, having
addressed to the Prussian government certain questions as
to the position of her Majesty's government with regard to the
new Zollaireis tariff, bee received in reply authoritative in-
formation to the following effect :—L Great Britain will be
admitted to all the Mashie of the new tariff of the Sca-
venge Stated an the let July next, whether
the treaty between Gnat Britain and the Zan-
' vends be concluded or not at that date. 2. The
tariff of the Zollverein States, which will some into force
on the Ist July next, will embrace all the reductions con-
templated by the Fnuico-Germaa treaty of 1862, isdudiag
those for 1866. In commimicatiog the above information
the Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs requested that the
attentiou of her Majesty's government might be called to
the two following points, although he added that the events
to which they related were nut likely to happen :—L Should
the treaty recently concluded between Austria and the Zell-
vereigu not come into effect, their mistimes will continue to
be regulated by the treaty of 1853, which grants certain
preferential rights to Austria until the let of Ja-
nuary, 1866' and in that ease Eaglend, in com-
mon with other powers, would not be admitted to
those rights until the lest named date. Should the treaty
be accepted and ratified at Berlin and Vienna, Great Britain
will be admitted to all the exemptions and radiation of
daty accorded by it to Austria from the Ist July, 1865. 2.
In awe the commercial and political mistime of the Zoll-
verein should not be entirely regulated with all forsiga
States before the first of July next, Es land and the other
States which are freely admitted to the benefits of the new
tariff might incur the obligation of exhibiting certificates
of origin on goods imported into the SoUvereio.—l em, sir,
your most Madinat, bumble servant, A. H. LsTaicri.
To the Presideatal Striae/6er of Commerce, LiverpooL

DISPUTES IN THE BUILDING TRADE AT
PLYMOUTH.
--•---

The relations between the employers and the
employed in the various brooches of the buildicg trade,
which for some time past. have not been altogether satis-
factory—as evidenced by more than one strike--threaten
now to experienoe en absolute rupture. The origin of the
misunderstanding which basso onexpectsrUy assumed an as
of such importance lin, we believe, in the dissatisfaction
of the woes, bricklayers, sod excavators at the system of
sub-contracting ; and this is the vital, although not the
only point in dispute. As always ba2pens in such cease,
there is a coosiderable disparity between the statements
put forward by each side ; nor is it very easy to express in
definite terms the exact origin, coarse, nature, or extent of
the dispute. But, as we have said, then is not much
danger of being wrong in saying that, if the question of sub.
contracting were disposed of, the prospect of • settlement
would not be very remote. However, be this as it may,
the masters are unanimous in feeling that some at-
tempt must be made to smart their position, and to take
combined action in the matter. They declare that the
men have attempted to impose upon them a code of rules
which they refore to accept ; and since some of the men,
in consequence of that refusal, went upon strike, the
masters mme to the conclusion that it was in-
tended to conquer them by piecemeal and in sections—
in short, the position resembled very that of the
iron-misters-mistersduring the recent s ; aod the master
headers of Plymouth have resolved, in self-defence, as
they allege, on the MUDS method of dealing with the
matter. The result of their dotes misatiou was the follow-
ing invitation to the men issued by the whole of the
government contractors, and the majority of the Whims
and lime and stone merchants of the neighbourhood
"Notice to Workmen.—The workmen now oe strike in
consequence of the mon.adoptiou of a ' code of rake;
submitted to us for our guidance, an hereby invited to
return to their work on Monday, the 15th instant, and to
signify their williegosee to do so ea or before ten o'cissek
a.m. on Saturday, the 13th lost." la order to give effect to
this invitation, however, and to show that the masters were
seriously determined to carry the matter through, on the
sense day another notice was issued, informing the men not
on strike that on and after next Monday it would be the
painful duty of the 000tasotors to dismiss them, unless
before that time the men on strike consented to resume
work. It must be further explained that the contractors
for the various government works is the neighbourhood
have represented their position to the heads of the respective
departments, who have consented to the stoppage of the
works until the settlement of the dispute. Both the
naval and the military departments have intimated their
intention not to press for the carry ing out of the contracts
within the stipulated time, so that there is plainly a deter-
mination to offer no embarrassment to the masters in the
straggle. Supposing—which, however, we sincerely trust
will not happen—that the men maintain their t atti-
tube, and that no arrangement has been arrived at by Mon-
day, the result will be that nearly 4,000 men in all will be
thrown out of employment, and according to the usual
average, more than 16,000 persons will be deprived of thin
daily bread.— Warm' Daily Mercury.