The Express.
London, England, 1868-01-31 00:00:00

The apparent disinclination of the artisans am-
ployed in the East London shipbuilding trades to
accept the recent offer of work, although at •
reduced rate, has had a moat discouraging and de- '
pressing effect on the endeavours of many who '
have, front the very beginning of the distress,
exerted themselves most assiduously to the relief
of those suffering from its effects. Moreover, it is
not unlikely to influence very unfavourably the
flow of contributions in aid of the various relief
funds at the very moment when an united and sys-
tematic plan of operations has been virtually de-
cided upon by the leading committees and organi-
sations. It should, however, be borne in mind that
a very large proportion of those attending the Bur-
dett-hall meeting did not belong to the ranks of
the unemployed, being principally skilled artisans
from the various dockyards, chemical factories,
chain and anchor works, and other river-side esta-
blishments. Not a few of these entertain strong
unionist proclivities. Still there were present a
sufficient number of unemployed shipbuilding
operatives to give a kind of representative cha-
racter to the meeting. That the men are eager for
work, and that they are unwilling to work except
at the full rats 0f_m5...2122.21...1........atel be Le.

-11M-011111111ffiser same,
as they may appear. Yet it by no means
follows that their reluctance to acoe2t work
on the terms offered by Mr. Bullivant cannot be
overcome. The promoters of the meeting appear
to have committed an error in not convening a pre-
liminary gathering of say fifty or sixty of the
leading artisans, for the purpose of discussing the
project before it was submitted to the meeting.
As at was, many of those present naturally regarded
the scheme with some suspicion. It seemed to
them a kind of trap or decoy. They did not
qiiestioax the motives of the projectors, but they
bid A very strong although unfounded suspicion
that some interested parties were at work in the
background. Besides, to not a few the remedy
seemed worse than the diem% The, great
majority appeared to entertain an idea that
were the reduced rate of wages accepted,
it would within six months become the maximum
rate on the banks of the Thames. With respect to
their complaints respecting certain abuses of the
middle-man system, the men—so far as several of
the smaller yards are concerned—do not speak alto-
gether without book. Indeed, this middle-man
iznsatem has more to do with our labour disputes
generally seems to be acknowledged. The
more that employers come into direct contact with
those employed by them, the less the tendency to
mutual quarrel. In some of our largest manu-
facturing establishments, where strikes and
lock-outs are unknown, it has been the
custom, whenever any alteration in the
rate of wages or the hours of labour was con-
templated, for the heads of the firm and several
of the leading workmen to meet in friendly con-
ference ; the various foremen, managers, middle-
men, and other officials on the part of the masters,
and all trades' unionist agents on the part of the
men, being rigidly excluded from the same. How-
ever, it is certain that if the shipbuilding trade of
the Thames is to be retained, the rate of wages
must approximate much more closely than hitherto
to that paid elsewhere. During the Crimean
and American wars the demand for vessels was
extremely large. There was a difficulty in procur-
ing artisans, and wages ruse proportionately, each
successive rise tempting more and more operatives
into the trade. With the return of peace oar com-
parative monopoly of ocean traffic terminated, and
with it the unnatural prosperity of the Thamesilltip-
building trades. The eriaseiel punka et teettireitly
precipitated the crisis. Practically during the
American war the Transatlantic shipbuilding trade
drifted into our hands, but after the termination
of the conflict it resumed its olden channels. Our I
sympathy with the Confederates has, therefore,
cost the Poplar artisans dear. Had we been less
prompt in recognising the Confederates as belli-
gerents, American commerce would not have been
driven so largely into British ships, English ship-
building would not have received so powerful a
stimulus, fewer artisans would have been attracted
into the trade, and the reaction would have
been so alight as to be scarcely perceptible. But
1 these things cannot now be remedied. We
have to do with the evil as it exists. It is
absurd for the English artisans to expect to receive
—at any rate for many months to come—the old
rate of wages. They must consent to approach the
rate given on the Clyde, and to borrow a leaf from
their Scottish brethren. The difference in house
1 rent in Glasgow and London is considerably less
I than is assumed by the Poplar artisans, the dimi-
nished coat of house accommodation in Glasgow
being occasioned by the prevalent system of living
in " flats," whereas the London artisan is not con-
tent unless he can have possession of his own cot-
tage from basement to roof. The Scottish work-
-1 man also will make a hearty meal of a basin of oat-
, meal porridge at a cost of lid. or 2d., while, on
the other hand, the English artisan would be sadly
1 diacinitented if he did not have a breakfast posting
lat least three times that sum. If the men
wish to retain their position, they must conform
to the altered state of their circumstances. Any
attempt at impossibilities will merely plunge them
deeper into the mire. It is falae kindness to,
advise otherwise. While thus the labour question
is slowly entering on a new phase in Poplar, the
partial amalgamation of the various East-end
relief committees is being rapidly proceeded with,
although the East London Mission and Relief
Society still—to some extent—blocks the way.
The reason why Mr. Robert Baxter exhibits so
much reluctance towards any fusion of the society
represented by him with the other organizations
seems to be in consequence of its primary
object being to promote the religious edu-
cation of the pour, their physical neces-
sities being apparently a secondary conside-
ration. However, the tide is beginning to turn,
and such associations as the Bethnal-green
Em-
ployment and Relief Committee are coming in for
, a larger—but by no means too large—ahare of the
public help hitherto monopolised by their more
pretentious and less useful rival. One point con-
nected with the unemployed remains, however, to
be cleared up—namely, their alleged refusal, ac-
cording to Colonel Maude, to accept remunerative
employment. This arises in not a few cases from
the acceptance of work generally invoking the
necessity for the removal of the men and their
families to other districts--an expense the men are
utterly unable to meet in the present condition of
their finances. True, they might leave their fami- 1
lies behind fur a certain period, but in such a case
neither parish guardians nor relief com-
mittees would contribute anything towards
the support of the wives and children,
and the cost of maintaining himself and
his family separately vrAild soon be found to reduce
very considerably the remunerative character of a
workman's weekly earnings. A great deal has ,
lately been said respecting the extent of the distress
in South London, and so far as East Greenwich
and portions of Deptford and Rotherhithe are con-
cerned
there is unhappily too much truth in the
various assertions made respecting the amount of
destitution prevailing in those places, many of the
artisans on the south side of the Thames having
been formerly employed in the Poplar shipbuild-
ing yards. Many also found occupation in the
various river-side establishments, but the prevail-
ing stagnation of trade having affected these latter,
want of employment and distress are the
inevitable results. A very large proportion of
the destitution in South London is, however, of a
chronic character. In Newington, Walworth, Ber-
mondsey, Rotherhithe, and Deptford, are large
districts from which distress and suffering are never
absent, and it is a significant and illustrative fact,