The Express.
London, England, 1857-11-03 00:00:00

THE 004zwarmas OF zoill;PB:

John Foley, who on the 23rd ult, attended with a
nusnaons bodypf his brother coalwhippers, and accompa.
red by the Itay. Mr. Chropasys, rector of Whitechari,
and the Rev. Mr. Roma., of St. Peter's, Stayer, to re-
quest the intercession of re Lcrdchor with the rest-
orers upon their behalf, again ap before the Lord
of hie
Net yesterordship'day, at the Manim- to learn the rank
l. labours.
The Lord Mayor sad be wee sorry for the long delay
which bad taken pre in the matter, bat which wan owing
to the abseseetroes townof Mr. Cb.paitter. According to his
rilsbe (raced Mayor) had or information upon
sikomet of the rake to Mr. enter, chairman of the
orlownenf cranottlee, who bad slat him a full rawer to
timurourm. =dr by Yr.meyti and Mr. Reyna' ;
sted Moe stateamate win surly et varies with the
i rale of the raw as berthed by r. Forster, whose Wee
bad bra sent to Mr. Char end oho to Mr. Roma.
The from gentleora could set Mend owing to his absence
been town, and • Weer rent by the attar wee by no mesas,
in ha (the Lad Maya's) epinfea,• wathisotory reply to Mr.
Feettee. Dozing Ids reurray be bad always been Radom
to myna in parte sleterans bola being made bin him;
mil to the prat rehear ill kit he had done wrong In
Omar Mr. Cloraperys end Mr. Ransil to arks • public
stalanent laths abeana of 111r..Fonier. .

Foamy sald he should like to hues copy of Mr. Fontar's
Mar.

TIS Lord Mayor told him he would no doubt me both the
like In print ant morning, as the mess having published
the statement' made upon the part of the coalwhippers,
weld no doubt publish the reply.
=gibes ledi the seen. and the Lord Mayer handed the
Ware to the mortars
" London, Oct. 24, 1857.
"My lord,—l have reed in the Then newspaper of this
day the report of what gamed yesterday before your lordship,
on the subject of the coalwhipperi office, of which I am
chairman, and, as requested, I furnish what information I
Can respecting the matter.
" The statements made to your lordship pear to have
bum, firstly, that • greet number of coalwhippeeeap ere unem-
ployed, es employed, which is unhappily true, and
might have been meshed se truly 10 or 20 time in each of the last
twenty yens • seemedly, that digerecioss at proem! exist be-
tween the ecilwhippere sad melowners, in consequence of
the d uge of* naohr of men from the embehippere•
office; thirdly, the* the ondowners discharged these men
because they were prevented from allowing the old system
of employment at palate-houses from coming into full play
end your lordship le requested to act as arbitrator ea to the
pries the otalwhippere should receive for their labour.
" I am sorry to have to add, that this cruel and unchristian
conduct and motive is attributed to the coalowners by a
; se it might be fairly assumed by the pnbW
c 1
and loMahip, that such an amnion would not be
made by such a person without sufficient previoue in
Lien on his pert, it Is necemary that I should state
neither the Rev. Mr. Chanißeys nor the Rev. Mr. Rowell
made any inquiry et the coalwhippers" office, of any of its
servants, or of myself or any other of the committee, before
they stated thus publicly what we had done, and why we had
done it. Their statement shows a complete misapprehension
of facts, and could not poseibly have been made by those gen-
tlemen had they applied for information in explanation to
those whom they ware shout to mead.
" The evidence and report of the committee of the House
of Lords, which eat last eassion on this subject, will satisfy
your lordship that, in the words of the report, the grievance
of the men—uieuftideat employment, and a consequent de-
merlon of wages—era beyond the province of legislation.
When that committee set, the price paid by the office for
whipping male was 7d. a ton. There was competition, not
merely of half a dozen public-horses, but of contractors with
gas companies and coal merchants, for the discharge of coals,
of the many wharves where awn aro discharged by machi-
nery, and of the railway companies, who do not employ
whippers at all in the delivery of the large quantities of coal
they bring into London. he cost of whipping under pri-
vate contractors, and of discharging at wharves, was 6d._ a
toe, which, I should have stated, wee the olive charge also
for one kind of work—the discharging screw collier,. At
6d. a ton a man can earn 91. to I Is. a day, end at the rate at
which ships have been discharged, would average about
34. GI a day, meaning, of course, melt day on which he
worked.

We found that we could not obtain at 9,1. • ton enough
work to maintain the 80 gangs, or 720 men, in our office.
This was imeribed to mar charge being higher than that
made by other pezilee ; and we, after much consideration,
and after degassing the matter with a deputation of men, re-
duced our charge to Bd. During the short time that this re-
mained the rate, the office seemed to be g•ining work ; but a
strike of the coodwldpper• generally for 9d. a ton was made.
The strike did not begin among our man ; it began with
those who had been competing with them. It lasted about
a fortnight, during which time 9d. • ton was paid for the
ailtmed that id. a ton was the highest price at which
work fora large number of men could be procured, we first
offered to guarantee 18a. a week to 10 giLogs of men, who
would agree to discharge coals at that price. Finding that
while the excitement of the strike lasted there was no
chance of men coming to those terms, we next offered to take
60 gangs to work at 7d. • ton but without any guarantee
as to the amount to be earned weekly ; felt assured, how-
ever, that we could obtain good wages for that number at
that prioe. This het condition was accepted.
" 130 far, therefore, from any difference' now existing
between the office and the men, they ere now at work at
their own rate of wages, that at which they worked for nine
months, and the reduction from which led to a strike. But
we cannot undertake to find work for all that apply for it.
There Le not work In London for half the caalwhippers in it.
The quantit of coal discharged by machinery has steadily
and rapidly Increased, and will Increase the more rapidly if
the charge for whipping la railed. On the very day an
which the office resumed work after the strike, at 7d. a ton,
the private employers of coalwhippere were able to obtain
men at fiti. a ton ; and that is now tho usual charge outside
of our office. Under such circumstances, if we took on more
men, it would be with the knowledge that we could not give
sufficient employment. The great coalowners of the north,
who established and support the oiler, send it work enough
for the fifty gangs it now contains, and pay Id. a ton more
for their work than is offered by others; RO far are they and
the manager. of the office front acting in the feeling imagined
by the lice. Mr. Roweell.
" The only combination of the northern coalowners is,
therefore, in favour of the coalwhimers, and the committee
managing the 140 es have had no motive but to get all the
work they could for their men. They know that the late
strike, and the attempt to keep up wagers can have only in-
jurious effects on the men theniseivrs, decreseing the amount
of work —alreedy insufficient. It is imposeible to point out
any artsegeruent by which a living can do se, ured for an in-
definite number of men out of • limited amount of work,
and the problem submitted to 'tour lordsbtp'a solution yoster
day was nothing less. It is deeply to be regretted that the
teen themselves would not unite in supporting our office, by
all working from it at the rate at which they will work for
private employers, and even for publicans; and the commit-
tee can challenge those who had gone elsewhere fur work
before the strike and who refund to accept the offer of 18a.
per week guaranteed to 40 gangs, to state any point in which
Weir office is not entitled to preference by them over the =-
players for whom they are now working.—l have, &c.,
" J. FORWInn.
"The Right lion. Lord Mayor."
" St. Peter's, 13Day, N.E., Oct. 20, 1867.
" My Lord Mayor,—Enelosed Is Mr. Forster's sneerer to
the statement of Mr. Champoeye and myself, on Friday last,
relative to the coalwhippen. 1 have carefully reed the paper,
and compared it, line for line, with my own statement. I
cannot me that It contradicts one Hne of my own or Mr.
Champney's statements, and I am mod willing to wait on
your hardship to explain or compare the statements. With
many thanks en behalf of the poor men, your obedient err-
rant. T. J. Rowszbi.
"The Right Ron. the Lied Mayor."

WnirrrcuroN Cum.—Last night the half-yearly
meeting of members of the Whittington Club was held at the
Freemasons' Tavern, Mr. Medd, the president, in the chair.
The report of the committee showed that although they had
exercised a rigid economy, their expenditure, exclusive of
secretary's salary end rent of temporary office., being only
V., the receipts for the hallieer bad fallen 151. below the
aggregate expenditure.
emmt with
committee had notk
arid com-
t,8091., but expected to do eci in a tite days. "A
• ofoan
of
entertainments given during the halflear bad paned off
very satisfactorily, and a new series would be commenced
this day. The dispute the committee bad had with
the Duke of Norfolk, their landlord, had been re-
ferred to the arbitration of Mr. George Pownall,
an eminent architect, and Do had given an award
against the duke for 1,3381.3 e. 91, had also remitted 7121.,
being one.thd-a-half yeses rent, as having boon forfeited by
his grece,and hod also fined him the costa on both sides. The
unfinished pert of the building, which the committee had
taken into their hands, would that 3,5001. to complete, and
they had entered into a contract with the builders to finish
the building by Christmas next. The committee regretted to
oboes-we that of all those who bad enjoyed the benefits of the
institution only 268 had subscribed to the now building fond.
After some slight opposition, tho report was adopted • and,
the other business having been disposed of, a vote of thanks
WAS given to the committee, Mr. Lawson, and to Mr. Machl,
and the meeting broke up.
tiocrn K3NSINOTOft Muezum.—Dnring the week
ending Oct. 31 the editors have been as follows —On
Monday, Tuesday, sad Saturday (free days), 3.808 • on
Monday sail Tanday (free evenings), 5,062 • on the three
students' days (ailmiesion to the public, ei.), 679 ; ono
seadeute everaing (Wednesday), 2061 !nil, 9,035.

,
MULL Parts.— ONE SHILLING DAT. •••
MONDAY. Nov. L Abaladam Cie pert; 978
*Os, by lama Mu* 186 ; Mal Allan, 1,1 .