The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-02 00:00:00

[PRICE SD.

TIIE ENGINEERS AND. THE BRIGLIToN
RAILWAY.
BRIGHTON, FED. 07.—Mr. W. Coningham, of
Kemp Town, presided over nearly .1,000 perauus,
consisting mainly of the employe., in the Brighten
Railway Company's w'orkshope,- at the Town Hall,
last night, assembled' for the purpose of hearing the
statements of Messrs. Usher and Newtor, who at
tended as a deputation from the Amalgamated So-
ciety of Engineer=. The great feature of the meeting
was the attendanen of Mr. S. Laing, chairman of the
directors of the London, Brighton, and South Coast
Railway, who took part in the discussion.
The CHAIRMAN stated that all doubt, if any existed,
as to the merits of the dispute, must have been en,-,
tirely removed by the issue of the "declaration
which the masters now required their workmen to
sign, and which he further made bold to assert that
none but a tyrant would have dared to attempt to
enforce.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Coningham read the
"declaration;" which prohibits the workmen from
joining or contributing to any combination which
seeks to interfere. with any master's arrangement?.
This was a direct interference v..ith the rights of
the subject, particularly after the highest legal au-
thority had, in a recent trial, declared it to be the
right Of workmen to combine. Even the 'organ
of the masters, the Weekly Dispatch, had declared
against them on this. point. An erroneous
impression prevailed that there was no ge-
neral combination among masters ; but there was
the very strong authority of Adam Swill; for be-
lieiVing-that masters were in a constant and aye-
tematic combination. This Mr. Coningham :sup-
ported by reading a passage front the " Wealth of
Nations." And not only had he himself verified the
truth of this in the nortb, but he had found that sec-
tions of the masters were often mixed up with tt e
strikes of the men. Mr. Coningham then went into
the hisfory of the dispute, and contended that ten
hours' work was as much as ought to be required of
a man, and that it was not the system of piecework
generally that was •objected to, as that pernicious
practice by which employers attempted to get extra
work at the ordinary rate. We constantly read in
the Times, the Daily News, and other papers of the
"Engineers' Strike ;" but it could not be too often
stated that it was not the men's strike, but the mas-
ters' closing of their doors, and thereby punishing a
number. of men
_who had nothing
_to do with the
dispute.
Mr. SAgNDERC, having denied that the Executive
Council of the Amalgamated Society had ever re-
quired a reduction of the hours of labour to eight, or
the discharge of unskilled labour, moved—
" That in the opinion of this meeting, any interfer-
ence ou the part of the employers, or any attempt to
'control the expenditure of their workmen's earnings, or
to punish them for contributing towards objects they-
may not approve, is an set of injusticc—(Loud ap-
plause)—and such as no body of artisans ought to sub-
mit to."
Mr. HANncocK having seconded the motion,
Mr. USHER commented on the " declaration" of
the Central Association of Masters. In, it they de-
clared themselves against all combinations which in-
terfered with the natural course of trade. But what
be asked were railway companies but combinations
interfering with the natural course of trade? The
engineers did not object to piecework, but only to
piecework the price of which was fixed by the: em-
ployer, and over which the workmen had no influence.
As for signing the " declaration" put out by the
masters, the men would never do it ; they were de-
termined to stand out till the masters came and rea-
sonrd with them.
Mr. noxious (employed in the Brighton work-
shop) said he came forward to correct a misappre-
hension, Ile agreed that piecework was » bad sys-
tem, and so was systematic overtime, and those who
originated the dispute had to complain of both. But
in the Brighton Company neither obtained; there
was no piecework, and the only overtime required
was when cases of accident or emergency arose, and
many men would be out of work the next day if the
necessary work was not. done at night. For this the
men were paid " a time and a half," and the men
were satisfied. Why, then, servo notices on the com-
pany against what did not exist here—piecework and
systematic overtime, and say that after a certain day
overtime must be paid double? . It was unjust to
the company who, by offering to remain neutral, Into
ddaoyne. tahwemeeskel,vtehsehroentmounr:
waA for
tpiuntv‘ti,ig moon
iinterl on five
days was.e
expensive, and less work was re quired, and it we'
thought better to take off a day from each than alto-
gether discharge a portion.—(Hisses and cheers.)
Mr. NEWTON said, if there was nothing to com-
plain of in Brighton the men would not complain.
The circulars were sent to all the employers, that
those who worked the evils ought to discontinue them,
and thulq, who did not would not be worse for know-
ing that the men wished others to follow their own
good example. The sole point in dispute in Brighton
was that the men felt inclined to assist those in other

places who were not fairly dealt with,
tamboueerpsnspeocilsaidsupport
tvr
the
hndt hege
in
Amalgamated
been should
Brighton,nis
discharged
i l
nnot.g
and
nds
Society,
oal
canusi
and the
thetheyhe,
which
restef a:
ni en t(
pi
mnots
iltfogl euohtgndtwhi
nretfi: twelve
five
dgwaeeyteskalfeowarveceitkahnesdhowed that continuous work could net
Londongwoortkomeit
as itgwooads threoigruilnatte. rest to
eaitc.neersv.s7ahsi n
h existedth e m
anon
nn
disposed Brighton.,
of
ti)Thetheir
rdli°rwne sac tgoeirslsl,
could not surelyhad
ncominnpolraein
enforhawdhitcohinttherefyerehadwituheetilimpuaisde. of the
othertmannerel
oialtedivmenot refused to work overtime
right of
thist
interfere and
Etswfiothr that the
son,mhtand they had nut claimed double time for
thenomloi
ece
on emergen-
cies,
so. They, then, had been neutral, and if
the company had not reduced the work to five days,
in order to deprive the mon of the means of subserit--
ing a day's wages to their brethren, then they had
observed a neutrality.-:-(Laughter.) But on the
auttr:rity of Mr. Fielding, he stated that the reduc-
tion to five days was made to deprive them of the
means of so subscribing. The over-hours' system
was an evil, and those who suffered from it asked its
discontinuance. For a month the masters took nu
notice of the letter. A 'deputation from Lancashire
then went to London and made statements which
were untrue, and then the Masters' Company
charged the Amalgamated Sc,ciety with wanting to
discharge unskilled hands :ud to reduce the hours of
labour to eight, which the society had never contem-
plated. They contradicted the assertion, 'aral the
masters in London then raid they had been misled by
the Lancashire deputation, and that if they had
knownptaeshilsnnapei\duceirecdrsorie.oenodii: 1
ntni.ayh:afairniAatitsnhhedditnee:
hdentsClenoanbnu:reotelechtsti
a,
connected
came
vidookev.ene:,
working
aha
many
reducedtecyhtffe,l,,ept.rhol
iorenyk oei
npratgs.o the
of the overtime system and of piecework they would
o
not have closed their shops. Bat then the .masters
charged them with other things which they masers
going to do.—(A. laugh.) The AinalLrainated Society
hineucllviasapa-s
was a benefit society, paying while in work, in order
that they might not be destitute when out of work.
It was better to keep in employment than to keep
them walking the streets in constrained idleness. lie
men present,
roir,kiwneagradaci
til, andsstehswaa.taas
any
with which
hadvrhi l seene
others m e nwwe-roerkidinleg; enigolid,t
After
nailnl,eotodhraeyusa,teyiwlietenke
pay would only pay for ttiinulants.—(Cheers.)
abolition
This
was the reason for opposing overtime, and this was
the head and front of their offending.
companyft
and oneemployed in
-s
fully and fairly
mt
towards
he
between was connected,them,for mwithout f
th e
feeling
ea ewgt
arasehadat
mdi
as
mistake.
tlhi ea t saw no
the
eo
tryeraasno
tn s
to w hctyatpetiht
capitalist
arose from misunderstanding. Mr, what ho conscientiously believed tog be few
on both sides
goo
general feeling of the • •
cnuyssotllitrtemployers and caPi-
Uwsohrekrmsaeind twashe
slave. Now, speaking for
himself, and
shouldt
Ili s ts, "tht.arat
There might be black
men in the flock ambut the greaterong rich men as well as poor men,
desired to elevateth portion
of
the capitalists earnestly.m.,
Speaking for hinesetef, condition,of the worki he
said honestly that tas an employerreof labour,
all with the
his sympathies were
, working classes, lie had known what it was to work
his way in the
to his own exertions. His mutest pride was to know
that he had been".
a working in A n himself, and he
wished for nothing more than to see every working
man in a condition to elevate himself socially and
morally, and to take advantage of opportunities of ad-
vancement.—(Applause.) His belie; then, was,
that if they trusted to chinbinations and associations
they would be grievously mistaken, and find them-
selves very much the worse for them. The realques-
Con at issue was, not whether overtime or piecework
bad, but whether the best
was gocd or mode of ele-
vating the working men was for each ore! to stand
alone or to enter into combination, which would be
sure to be met by combination on the other side—in
fact, a battle between the two classes. If they en-
tered into the history of trades unions they would find
that in the countries where the working wen stood
highest there were the fewest of these trades unions,
and where they were the most ready to combine ions,
and was the lowest. —Mint are thecountries ?)
The country where the condition of the labouring
classes stood highest, both for intelligence and in
A PeCalgArY Way the united States °
I was e of Arm-
d wordsadl pass,eoe .