The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-01 00:00:00

TIT !RUNT AND CoA 1, TRADE.

WOLVERHAMPTON, Wetinos3.!:iy Aftermion.—An im-
portant meetin, of the iron trade of South Stiff irdshire
has just been hel,i at the Sw,in Hotel, in this town ; the
influence of the resolution o,)me to at which, it is hoped,
will.not be to add to the embarrassment —no doubt only !
temporary—which is at present felt at some few eta
blishments in the trade.

Recently the workmen throughout the South Stafford-
shire aid East Worcestershire districts have waited, in
deputatii,ns, upon their several employers asking fir an
advance of wages Tuey state that they have a right to
this, because of the present price of manufactured iron
being higher than it was diving the last alai the previous
quarter ; and they supplemented their appeal by advert-
ing to the existing high price of provisiors.
The reply which the men generally received gave them
no encouragement to expect that their application would
be met. Each empl yr, however, expressed his deter
ruination to abide by the deeision winch the 'Jade, as a
body;might come to upon the subject. At the works,
however, of Messrs. Foster, at Stourhridge, and at other
works in that neighbourhood and at Brierley Hill, the
men have given notice tor an advance of wages, and
their notice having expired without their demand being
complied with they are now out on strike.

With the view of a,certaibing the sense of the trade
generally upon the best course to be now pnrsue3, a
meeting was called for, and held this afternoon, at the
Swan Hotel in this town. The ironinasters of the dis-
trict attended in large numbers, and, after an animated
discussion, unanimously passel the following resolu-
tion : ---" That, looking at the position of the iron trade,
as affected by the present monetary state of the country,
and also to the fact that the wages now paid to puddlers
are higher than the usual proprtion to the declared
price of iron, the claims of the puddlers be most strenu-
ously resisted."

The demand for merchant iron is not so good as it
was, and the pig market is rather languid ; but first-
rate houses are not inclined to give way much. This
temporary falling off must in a great measure be attri-
buted to the tightness of the money market. The decree
issued in France to exempt from duty for three years
castings, bars, and sheet iron, when used for ship-build-
ing purposes, will greatly assist the South Staffordshire
ironmasters, as there are none who can compete with
them in these commodities. The wages of the puddlers
still remain, in some instances, an open question. Mas-
ters are certainly not in a position to advance them at
present. A. meeting was held in this town on Wednes-
uay to consider these demands, and was atttended by
most of the leading firms, but adjourned for a week
without arriving at any definite decision. In the mean-
time the notices given by the meii at several of the
works will have expired, and it will be seen what course
will be taken. The disinclination of the masters to make
the advance no doubt arises, in sozne degree, from their
having lately made an advance to the colliers, but if it
were not for the approach of winter coal could not
maintain its price: The demand is quite independent
of the consumption by mills, forges, and furnaces, and
arises from the great outlet by rail and the increase re-
quired for domestic purposes. The remand for white
iron-stone, gubbin, and other ores, the produce 14 the
district, is nct so good as it was, and the price has re-
ceded a little, but this temporary drawback is expected
to be of only short duration, especially if the money mar-
ket gets easier. The present high rate of materials will
prevent malleable iron sruin being much lower than it is
at present, and as far as coal is concerned there seems ne
probability of that being reduced at present. The col-
liers attend their work regularl y and the distr ct gene-
rally, srPfar as labour is concerned, with the exception of
the puddlers, is free from agi,ation.
Mr. Thomas glington's statement of the principal
orders for castings, machinery, rails, &c., ascertained by
him to be in the iron markets of London, Dublin, au,'
Glasgow, show :-1. Orders contracted for during the
last few months, and now being executed by Gla=goss
ironfounders—large quantities of socket pipes f-r Aus-
tralia, India, Italy, Canada, United States, South Ame-
rica, Germany, England, and Ireland ; raii way chairs
_ _

for Nova Scotia and Canada. 2. New orders-10,000
yards socket pipes, 2 engines, boilers, and wrought-iron
tank for Great Grimsby ; 2,000 tons of additional pipes
for Italy ; 4 iron screw steam-boats for Turkey ; a con-
densing pumping beam-engine fir Derbysh re ; 200 to
300 tons of good second-hand rails f)r Swansea ; 2 or 3
tank locomotive engines for Nlalichester, pumping engine
for Hereford.— Wolverhampton Chronicle.