The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-05-20 00:00:00

COMBINATION LAWS.

FOURTH REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE
ON ARTISANS AND MACHINERY.

[Continued from The British Press of Monday, May 51
We have already said, that although we object to the
Combination Laws, as partial in their operation, as well as!
subversive of their object, we still think that efficient re-
gulations should be made to protect the masters from a sud-
den desertion on the part of their men, who, if they are
working on a contract entered into by their employers, should
not be permitted to quit his service till it is finished, and
he is enabled to fulfil his engagements ; nor indeed should
he be at liberty to quit it under any circumstances without
a sufficient previous notice. Proceeding through this Re-
port, we find no example in any other trade of the ferocious
and refractory spirit exhibited by the sawyers at Liverpool.
In the examination of BENJANIv Tay too R, a frame-work-
knitter, at Nottingham, the several combinations entered
into by that class of persons, of which the witness was one,
to raise their wages, are detailed with great candour, but
they were accompanied with no outrage ; they consisted in
deserting their work at a rate of wages which was so low
as to be inadequate to their maintenance. Sympathy is the
predominant feeling excited by the condition of this class
of artisans, as detailed in this evidence. When we come
to the manufacturers of Ireland, both the testimony of the
witnesses, and the mode of proceeding, is in character
with the eccentric habits and disposition of the natives,
' mixed up at the same time with great decision and firm-
ness of purpose. We extract the following as an example:

Jeremiah Houghton, Esquire, called in ; and examine".
In what line of business arc you ?—A woollen manufacturer.
Where is your manufactory f.--Celbridge, in the county of Kil-
dare.
Do you employ mane workmen ?—A considerable number.
Have you had any difference between your men and you, respect-
ing wages ?-1 have repintedly.
What have been the grounds of that difference ; has it been an
attempt, on your part, to lower wages ?—An attempt on my part, in
the first instance, to lower wagvol, and their IC3iStaIICA! ; it was in the
year 1813.
Do you recollect how long that rate of wages, you wialved to lower
from, had been continued ?—Probably eight or ten years ; it was
about one-halfpenny per yard in the weaving, that is, from three.
pence-halfpenny to threepence.
How long had you paid threepence-halfpenny ?—For eight or
ten yearn.
Do you speak of any particular kind of cloth ?—Yes ; bloom

coatlsmga.•
the same kind of cloth made in any part of England ?—There
is the name description of cloth manufactured in this country.
1)o you Know what wages are paid here it—Their wages vary from
twopence-halfpenny to threepence.
Are the Chnimittee to understand you pay higher wages generally
in your manufactory for your goods, than are paid in Engbind for
the some kind ?—We do.
To what do you attribute that ?-1 attribute it entirely to the
system of combination which exists.
Are provisions cheaper in your neighbourhood than in England ?
/a grmeral I liey are cheaper ; but at tunes, when large simultaneous
importations take ulace from different ports in Leland, to Liver-
pool for instance, the markets are so glutted that prmisiose are
chrtque is Liverpool, lifanchester, and eves in Yorkshire, than
they are with as; for what creates an abundance on this side is ab-
stracted from the other, and of course a rise takes place on our side
when a fall occurs here.
What do yon mean by prices having been raised by combinaties;
what combination do you allude to?—The combination amongst
the operative hands.
Have they clubs or unions far that purpose ?—Tea, to support
those aho are on the turn-out, as they term it, or those who ate
resisting the attempts of their masters to bring down the testes of
wages ; for instance. Mr. Winans, who has just now been examined,
had his hands off two or three months ; during
whichw period, if I
am correctly informed, my people smut them *Ad. n cven 401.
per week.
Did you pay the same rate of wages for the stone articles as Mr.
Winans ?-1 -believe much the sante.
Are we to understand, that the woollen trade do not strike as a
trade, but only men of particular masters ?—I believe the men of
all the masters who rousted the combination were in the same
strike.
When Mr. Willans's men struck why did not yours strike ?
The reason is ohcious; it would not have suited the purposes of
bath to have 'Knock at the same time, breasts it was neerrsory
i Mee shoed evut ribite to the support of those mho sere so-
n/re/4a.