The Express.
London, England, 1853-07-14 00:00:00

IRONMASTEfI. QVA RTERLY MEETING.

WOLVERHAMPTON, JULY 13. The quarterly
meetings of the irunmaiters of Statradshire end Shrop-
shire, for the current quarter, commenced at-Waleale ves.
terday • the second meeting has been held here today.
At Waisale the attendance was thin and very few orders
were given, but as reseed@ the o her business transactions
of the meeting, they are reported to have been of a most
satisfactory character, accounts having been minctually
paid. At this town to-day the attendance was larger, but
be no means in cansiderable a. we hove seen it, but
amongst those present we observed most of the largest
waken of the district ; several who are inter-
ested in the Welsh trade, as well as bu7ers
and agen s fern both London and Liverpool houses. the
reports as to the condition of the trade are of a far more
satisfactory character than they were a month since' when
at some Cl the works they were approaching a stand. The
reduction of price resolved upon at the preliminary meeting
at the S'awponey has already had a most salutary effect
upon :he trade • • g•eat many orders have already come in,
especially from 'America, and to-day they were offered with
considerable freedom. the stork of pigs has dim Dished
here, and to a much greater extent in Scotland. With
this, ton, we may couple the enc,uraging fact that the
demand for sheets for the Clyde is not only very
large, but it is daily increasing. These and other
circumstances have had the tffeet of "stiffening"
the trado (to adopt the phraseology of those en.
gaged in it), and present appearances would seem to In-
' dicate a steady maintenance of prices fur some time at least.
Of ciurse there is still a certain amount of underselling, as
indeed would be the case under any circumstances, because
of the difference of the make and quality of the iron, to say
nothing of the needy class of makers whose necessdies force
them to accept prices below those required by the trade ;
no are assured, however, that this has very much subsided,
and, as foreign orders come in, it is probable there will,
hereafter, be less of it than at the present time. The manu-
facturers' stocks of iron are anything but large, and there
seems to be amongst that class an opinion gaining ground
that prices have for the present reached their minimum,
especially in view of too tact, that nothing short of a return
of the madness of last antemn and winter can check the

enormous foreign demand for the commodity, which is
just now tngnu,mg to be required by many novel purpose*,
without even having in view what is required for new rail.
roads and for sewerage, large as the demand for both is
certain to be. For a time this was checked by the spccu
lotion of last year, which just burst in time to save the
entire American trade, for it is quite certain that, having
regard to the large import duty and the freight, couple
with the price which bar iron had reached, and the uncer-
tainty that existed as to those prevailing even for a
week together, it would have been quite impoisible
for the States any longer to have been consumers of British
iron ; fortunately the bubble burst in time, and assuredly
none have greater cause to rej nee that it did so than the
great bulk of the Staffordshire iron tiade, for most of them
had large contracts unfulfilled at the time the advances took
place, and neither being pig makers nor having any accu•
mutation of pigs in stock, they experienced not only consi-
derable inconvenience, but were also considerable losers by
the advance in the price of a commodity of which they
were the actual manufacturers. It is to be hoped that the
mischief is now pretty well over, and that the trade is
returning to something like a healthy state. Altoge-
gether the meeting to-day was a mast satisfac-
tory one, and although a very large portion of
•he business of these meetings stands over as usual
fur the chief meeting at Birmingham to-morrow,
everything we heard to-day was of a very cheering cha-
racter, not only as regards the iron trade, but the general
trade of the district. Accounts were met as usual, and the
manufacturer here are very well off for orders, as they
have been all through the season. The manufacturers are
all in full work, and Wolverhampton, invariably bustling
mid busy, is said to be even in a more thriving condition
than usual; such is the information we receive from these
on the spot, who should know,—and certainly our own
observation leads to the same conclution.

JUBILEE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UN/ ON.

Last evening the jubilee of this institution was
celebrated by a public meeting, at Exeter-hall, Strand, Mr.
W. B. 0 trattentr, founder and president of the union, in the
chair, supported by Mr. James Nisbet, Mr. Thomas Thomp
son, who had assisted him in the work of forming the insti-
tution, and many other gentlemen interested in the success
of the undertaking.
The proceedings having been opened with prayer,
The CHAIRMAN remarked upon the success which had at-
tended the operations of the society since its commencement.
Fifty years ago there were but 21,000 scholars in all the
Sunday schools, whereas the number had now increased to
upwards of 140,000. There cool t be no doubt that great
and important benefits had arisen from the proceedings of
the union, and ho trusted that its friends and promoters
would continue in the good work they had hitherto so sue-
ces•fully carried on.
The SECRETARY then read the report, which gave a ge-
neral view of the objects and progress of the union, and
stated that it had beta proposed to erect a suitable build•
ing on freehold lead for the purposes of the society at a
cost of 10,0001., less than that sum not being sufficient to
effect the object in view. During the past few years the
union had awed in the erection of new school-rooms by
granting 7,1100:. for that purpose in various parts of the
country. The union had opened the schools to infanta, and
had delivered the younger scholars from the drudgery for
merly attendant upon the A B C and elementary classes.
It had also assisted in procuring a cheap Bible for Sunday
scholars, and had established the principle of a uniform
Scripture lesson in Sunday schools. The scholars were
largely indebted to the union for their lending libraries,
the number of libraries granted up to the 314 March,lB33,
being 2.7f,0, the value of which, at the publication price,
was 16,7621., but fur which the schools only paid the cum
of 6 5871. uvenile periodical literature originated with
the Sunday-school Union.. They had provided a
library of reference and circulation, comprising about 3,000
volumes, to which the members of the union had access at
a nominal subscription of le. per annum. The total
amount of grants made out of the funds of the union
from the year 1831 to 1833 for berevolent nurposes, was
28,7041. 24 7d., and of this sum 7,1181. Is. 7d. bad been
received by the schools of the metropolis. The report eon-
eluded by expressing a hope that the jubilee of the Sunday-
school Union would be the starting point of a new career
of usefulness.
. . .

The Rev. GRORGB Solve of Poplar, proposed, and the
Rev. SAMUEL WARD, a negro minister from Canada, se•
conded the first resolution, expressive of gratitude to Pro-
vidence for the great lilessings which had attended the pro-
ceedings of the society since its commencement.
The resolution was adopted, and was succeeded by
several others, having for the it obj. ct the support and en-
couragement of the Sunday-school Union.
The meeting then separated.