The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-12 00:00:00

COOPERATION AT LEEDS.

A public meeting was bald at Leeds on Wednes-
day, with the object of taking steps to form an Industrial
Co-operative Boot and Shoe Manufacturing SocieLtz
eland of a 'baited number et paagaleaves holding
of the value of U. each. - There wee • easy aaasaii.
ance, and • great deal of interest was taken in the pro-
ceedings, the object being one which has created consider-
able attention of late amongst the working bcotmakers of
the town. Mr. Robert tidy was in the chair, and after
an opening speech, in which be spoke of the benefit' of
the co-operative system, and referred to it as a remedy
against trade disputes, an explanatory report wee read,
which stated that eighteen workmen had already identi-
fied themselves with the scheme, and that the movement
bad arisen out of a feeling of dissatisfaction with their
condition as operatives, their prospects as to the future,
and with the present relations between capital and labour.
Mr. John Holmes argued at some length that if
wealth with its advantages rose more rapidly than pope-
lation those advantages should be shared pro rata with the
' parties concerned. He would ask Alderman Tathara to
consider the po nt—to consider how population and wealth
had increased,and the rate at which the division of wealth
had been made between capital and labour. Taking broad
numbers, during the sixty years which elapsed between
1 1801 and 1881 population had inineased at the rate of 100
per cent., and taking the income-tax returns—and he
thought they would find no better index wealth had
increased at the rate of 500 per sent., or 400 per cent.
in excess of population. How had this excess been
divided ! In the year 1861 he found that the pee-
-1 cencage which had gone to labour had not reached more
than 25 per cent. —but putting the amount at 60 per
cent., as much as 165 per cent. had gone to capital.
He stated that the average life of a working man was
twenty-two years, while among the wealthier classes
the average rate reached forty-four years ; and sub-
mitted that with the unequal distribution of capital to
which he referred the lives of the ppoooorexrr classes were being
shortened as the lives of the wealthierclauee were being
lengthened. He therefore camruended the object which
the meeting had in view—cooperation—fairly and ear-
nestly conducted, being, in his opinion, the meet likely
means under present circumstances for working men to
adopt who wished to better their condition in society,
and were anxious for a more equitable distribution of
I wealth. Mr. Councillor Gaunt gave some hints as to how
1 a co-operative society should be conducted—advising
thaughtfulnese, care, the exercise of business tact, eco-
nomy in labour, with every desire to do the work which
bad to be performed thoroughly and satisfactorily ; and
was followed by Mr. Alderman Carter, who generally ad-
vocated the principle of cooperation. Regarding the
I price of labour, he said that if the question was left
I entirely to supply and demand, and if no higher
principle than buying in the cheapest and selling in the
1 dearest market entered into the contract between the
master and his men, the question would just be one rook-
ing itself into getting as much from the men, and giving
them as little in return as possible. It was correct that
wherever capital was on the one side and labour on the
other in antagonism supply and demand would regulate
wages ; but where the capitalists and labourers were one
in working together there would be no antagonism, and
workmen would get the advantage of everything, He
knew one firm in Leeds who put 40,000/. a year put of
clear profit, or 8001. a week. Would it be unreasonable to
ask that that firm should have 1001. a week for themselves
and that the 7001. should be divided amongst the men
It had been said they had to deal with things as they
wen; but they were trying to alter things, thinking as
they now stood that they were scarcely right. In the
first place, they hardly thought the laws of the country
were right which allowed one man to ride 100 miles in
straight line over his own land. What was government
for if it did not look after the interests of the people!
Good government was that kind of government which
gave the largest amount of happiness to the largest num-
ber. What property was held sixty years ago in England
by :100,000 freebold,ne was held now by 30,000. The
little men had had to give way to big ones, and the land
of the country was passing into the hands of a few men.
What they wanted to begin with was that there should be
such arrangements with reference to the law of primoge-
niture and entail, and to the sale and transfer of land, that
a man could just as as easily buy his WV. worth of land
as his 501. worth of hoots and shoes. If the difficulty were
thus taken at the beginning, men would not have to argue
for a long time that the state of things which exist made
supply and demand to rule the price of labour. The
speaker afterwards dwelt on the advantages that were
likely to be derived from the working of the society whose
claims he had been asked to support. At the close of the
meeting a good number of those present came forward,
and put down their names on the list of shareholder.. It
was intimated that the tailors and the workmen in some
other trades were likely to follow the example.

THE ART EXHIBITION AT LEEDS.—Promises of
contributions to the Executive Committee of the National
Exhibition of Works of Art to be held at Leeds in 1668
have been recently received from the Marquis of Lothian.
the Marquis of Lanadovrne, the Earl of Clarendon. the
Earl of Hardwick°, the Earl of Denbigh, the Earl of Brad-
ford. Lord Taunton, Lord Bolton, Admiral Sir G. Broke
Middleton, Bart., C. 8., Sir John Lowther, Bart., Colonel
Townley, Csptain Warrington Carew, and many others.
The trustees of the Royal Institution of Liverpool will
also, when the time arrives, liberally permit 26 fine paint-
ings, chiefly from the Italian school, selected by Mr. T.
Waring, the chief commissioner, to be exhibited in the
galleries at Leeds.
Locat GOVERNMENT OF THE METROPOLIS.—
The Home Secretary having fixed the sth of November to
receive a deputation on this important question, it has
been resolved by the Metropolitan Municipal Association:
to hold a conference of vestrymen of London to consider
the bills introduced by Mr. J. S. Mill. M.P., to be held in
the Vestry Hall of Saint James's, Westminster, on Mon-
day, November -I, the vestry having kindly granted the
use of the hall for that object.
EAST INDIA USANCES. —We understand that a
meeting of the directors of the East India hanks hair been
convened for Monday next, to take into consideration the
advisability of making an alteration of the present usence
from India from four to six months. The imam° was
formerly six months and was altered to four during the
penis last year, and as it has acted most prejudicially to
trade, a return to the old mane will doubtless be hailed
with general satisfaction by the mercantile community.
SERIOUS CHARG E.—At the borough police-court,
Shrewsbury, yesterday, Mr. Thomas Andrews, chemist and
druggist, appeared in answer to a summons charging him
with the committal of an aggravated assault upon Martha
Jane Cheeeeman. The Iwcoccutrix, a modest-looking
girl, 16 years of age, is an apprentice to a milliner, and on
Saturday last, being in great pain from the toothache, she
went to the defendant's shop and asked for something to
relieve it. The defendant prepared and gave her a mixture,
and then asked her to walk into the waiting-room, which
was partitioned off from the shop. He here gave her
some port wine, and while she was drinking it he pulled
down the blind, and then placing her on the sofa, commit-
ted the offence complained of. The prosecutrix said nothing
about it till Monday, when she told the servant, who
subsequently told her mistress, and on Wednesday the
girl was sent over to Oaweetry, to communicate with her
mother, who at once came to Shrewsbury and instituted
the present proceedings. The defendant totally denied
the charge, and called his shop:nap and a boy to move
that during the time the prosecutrix was in the sitting.
room the blind was up and the door open, and tliat they
several times passed in and out, the defendant also being
once or twice called into the shop. The magistrates said
the case was very clearly proved, and to mark their sense
of the gravity of the offence committed they would send
the defendant to prison for one month, with bard labour,
and without the option of paying a fine.
LIGHT BREAD.—A number of Hereford bakers
have been fined for selling bread under weight ; some of
the loaves were actually eve ounces short. In defence,
one of the delinquents protested that it was the fault of
the respectable public, who said, " We must not have our
food touched or contaminated by the loaf of the poor. We
must have it moored, Retched, and scolloped in order to
make it different."
_ . . .

Yesterday the Liverpool coroner held an inquest
upon a widow (Mary Daley), who was killed by the car-
tridge or warping of a title fired at the volunteer review,
Liverpool. on Saturday. She died on Wednesday of a rise-
tuned skull. No blame was attributed to any persen, and
an open verdict was returned by the jury.