The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-17 00:00:00

THE ?EN PER CENT. MOIHMENT AT

MANCHESTER.

The movement for an advance of wages among
the operatives at Manchester and in the surrounding dis-
tricts goes on with tit:Labatt El vioour. No matter what aro
the relative pieces paid by rattlers at pr, sent as compared
with whets, the cry is still " ten per cen!." Messrs. Christi-,
of Penfield, pay the highest wages in the neighbourh oil,
but their hands raise the cry of " ten per cent.," and like the
other turnouts, repeat it with a pertinacity akin to fanati.
cam. The weavers of domestics on strike had a proemion
through Manchester on Thursday, headed by a hand of
music, and carrying banners inscribed "1500" (the
number on strike), and " ten pEr tent. and no
surrender." A large proportion of them were young
women. A meeting of them was held at the
Carpenters'-hall the same evening, when the secret of the
unreasoning charaver of their proceedings was readily
discernible in that of their orators. These were chiefly
men who have been leaders of socialist, chartist, " freedom
to industry," and ether movements in past times, and who
are clever at uttering fluent noeseuse, though they have
never yet shown themselves deter tweet to conduct any
one movemeut to a successful issue. A resolution was
snored and adopted to the effect that, considering the pre•
sent slue of prosperity, the operatives were justified in
striking for a 10 per cent. advance, and pledging all pre•
sent to juin the Weavers' Trade Union now forming.
Amongst the strange doctrines u'tered by the speakers un
this occasior, a man named Cooper told them if they per-
severed " employers " would become an obsolete term,
since operatives would become their own employers.
A men named Matthews commented on the speech
of Mr. Wilson Patten, at a late agricultural
meeting, and said that masters having displaced all
the lab Mr they could by machinery as applied to manufac-
tures, were now going to try the same course with agricul.
tine. One speaker told them the maters could well afford
to give this advance, but land at or not they must give it,
and charge the extra price on thAr customers. S.,me of
the speakers complained of want of support, and it ap-
peered that the subscriptions of last week only reached
tenpence per head for the people on strike. At a meeting
of employers held a few day a since, it was resolved to send
a deputation to Christie's mill to point out to the operatives
the obstacles in the way of compliance with their demander
and it was explained to the meeting that this firm were
already paying very high wages. They had, until recently,
employed their hands siaty-five hours per week, and
had taken off five hours without lowering their
wages, leaving them in a very advantageous posi-
tion. It was stated that the dispute about wages,
however, only applied to a small number of Meurs. Chris-
tie's viorkpeople —the etrippcn and grinders. The places of
these men could have bccu reaaily supplied by other hands,
glad to accept the same wages, but the great bulk of the
hands in other branches stepped in between them and their
emplo)ers, and said they would only work on condition that
the old strippers and grinders were employed. On Wed-
nesday the deputation of masters went to Penfield, and
had en interview with a deputation of the operatives, who
introduced a delegate also from Stockport. The interview
was productive of happy consequences. The strippers, alter
a long argument, abandoned their position, but the
grinders, it was found, had a more substantial
ground of complaint, having continued to do the
same quantity of work iu 60 hours which they formerly
did in 6,5. The deputation suggested that some assistance
should be given them, by way of lightening their labour,
and the result is that the whole of Messrs. Christie's hands
have agreed, with this modification of the dispute, to
resume work without increase of wages. The bands at
several other mills have given notice of a strike, including
part of the spinners at Messrs. Birley'e, who had already
received an advance. A rumour was mentioned on the
Exchange that the masters at Preston had agreed, unless the
hands there gave up the claim of 10 per cent. now urged,
they would close all their mills for three months—each
master entering into a bond for 5,000 f. not to resume busi-
nese without leave from the others.