The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-16 00:00:00

, WEDNESDAY EVhISING, NOVEMBER 16, 1864.

Public Works in the Manufacturing

Districts.

That the operation of the Public Works Acts in the
manufacturing districts should be watched with a solicitude
akin to suspicion is no more than natural. In other countries
the expedient is common enough, but not so with ourselves.
'We consider that such an employment of public money is
necessarily open to serious abuse, and if the emergency had
not been extreme, the occasion unparalleled, and the obli-
gation overruling, the Act would never have been passed.
However, while Lancashire did its own part in•the relief of
the distress produced by the Cotton Famine, and while the
public at large did the same, the contribution of the State

itself to the work of charity was represented by an advance
of nearly two millions sterling for the creation of arti-
ficial employment in the districts r fll cted. By the aid or
this money, fu: nished on easy terms, each township or cor-
poration might undertake public works which would not
have been undertaken otherwise, so that the demand for
labour thus produced might provide with fresh earnings
those operatives whose ordinary wages had ceased with
the stoppage of the cotton mills. There was little or no
restriction attached to the proposed expenditure, save that
the works undertaken should be of public utility, but it
was an obvious condi, ion of the bargain that the money
thus furnished should be applied as far as possible
in promotion of its immediate object—the employ-
mart of the factory operatives thrown out of work.
Of course as these operatives brought no avail-
able skill to their new labour it was inevitable that skilled
workmen from other trades should be employed to guid e
them, but it was understood that in the selection and exe-
cution of the works to be undertaken preference should be
given to such designs as would employ unskilled labour in
the greatest proportion,

We can now lay betore the public two pieces of authen
tic information on this subject. We can tell them exactly
what has been done in the aggregate, and we can let them
see in detail what was actually going on in the last week
of last month. The total amount of money set apart
for the purposes in question was £1,850,000, and
of this as much as £1,706,642 has been already ap-
propriated, although the greater portion of it remains
still to be advanced by future instalments. The un-
appropriated balance, therefore, is but little over £50,000,
and applications more than sufficient to absorb this sum
have teen made, Altogether, of the £1,850,000 originally
available, rather less than the £850,000 has bean already
expended, and rather more than the £1,000,000, though it
is all bespoken, remains for expenditure still. Now, what
was this fund doing for us in the week taken at hazard,
and how did it contribute to the mitigation of Lancashire
distress P Well, we are told that, including the pro-
ceedings in some eighty different places, it provided
4,002 factory operatives with wages, and most readers
will probably be surprised at the smallness of the pro-
duct, In fact, the product certainly is small, though a
god deal has to be added in the way of explanation.
To begin with, these figures must not be measured with
those which periodically indicate the recipients of relief,
When we report that 150,000 persons were relieved in a
particular week the number represents all the men, women,
and children of their several families; when we say that
4,000 factory operatives found employment under the Public
Works Act we speak of able-bodied men alone, each one
of whom supports by the wages of this employment the
remainder of the family. Thus adopting the usual
principle of computation, these works provided 16,000
persons with the means of living. Then, there were
supposed to be 2,000 more employed in getting stone
and other materials for the works in progress, which
would add 8,000 to the former numbers. Lastly, there
were 2,422 skilled labourers employed in the direction and
instruction of the others, which would give 8,000 more, so
that between 30,000 and 40,000 persons were finding sup-
port through this advance of public money. It is true that
the engagement of skilled labourers would not directly
diminish the pressure on the factory operatives, but still
their earnings were spent in the district to the advantage
of the small shopkeepers and the general benefit of the
neighbourhood. One other circumstance, too, should be
mentioned. Mr Rawlinson, the superintendent engineer,
informs us that in some places, and especially in Black-
burn, the factory operatives who had taken service in
these works, and acquired a knowledge of their new em-
ployment. made a point of returning themselves as "skilled
labourers," being unwilling to lose the benefit derivable
from the capacity which they had gained.
Nevertheless, it will doubtless be considered that all this
money should have employed a greater number of the dis-
tressed operatives, and that conclusion will be confirmed by
a oomparison of the proceedings and results at different
points of the distressed districts. We subjoin, for example,
the total amounts borrowed according to this return in the
seven instances where the demands upon the fund have
been greatest, and the numbers of factory operatives em-
ployed respectively at the places in question during the last
week in October :

N umber
Employed.
Ashton-under-Lytle 125,032 .. 150
Blackburn
Bolton
Manchester
Oldham
Stalybridge
Preston
With these figures let us now contrast the fol-
lowing :

Number
Employed.
Bury
Glossop 16,401 .. 392
Hurst
S'ockport
"Wigan
Now, if these figures are added up, it will be seen that
seven towns, with funds amounting to £342,518, were em-
ploying only 1,140 factory operatives, whereas five others,
with only £173,106 between them, were keeping 1,140
operatives at work. The case of Manchester in particular
is remarkable, all the more so, indeed, as that city has
actually received for expenditure the greater part of its very
large share of money, whereas in other cases, though the
loan obtained may have been considerable, the sum hitherto
applied has been comparatively small.
The contrasts above presented arise, no d oubt, from a
great variety of circumstances. In the first instance, the
nature of the works undertaken probably governed the
demand for labour, skilled and unskilled, and is is easy to
understand that the selection of these works was not
always entirely at the discretion of the authorities.

It was stipulated that they should be in all cases of public
utility, or, in other words, that they should be wanted for
the use and ben(fi of the people, and if, therefore, certain
works were not required,
they could not be undertaken,
whatever promise of employment the prospect might offer.
M
We infer, however,
fromr Rawlinson's report that some
local authorities have, "in their selection of works, thought
as much as sanitary improvement as of the amount of em-
ployment which would be aff)rded to indigent factory ope-
ratives," for that gentleman distinctly says that if they
have done so " it can hardly be deemed a matter of regret."
We feel by no means certain of that conclusion. The first
object of the public grant was certainly the relief of Lanca-
shire distress by the artificial employment of Lancashire
of all other objects, however desirable they may have
, appeared in
and this, we think, should have had precedence
themselves.
Manchester, it seems, has applied
upwards of £lOO,OOO to the water•supply of the town—its
expenditure, in-leed, having been almost exclusively de-
voted to that purpose. The purpose in itself may be ma•
exceptionable, but if it has not contrituted to the relief of
the unemployed cotton hands, we think the money might
have been better invested, and that Manchester should
either have done more or borrowed less, It will be little
satisfaction to reflect on the million of money still available
for the relief of the distressed districts during the impending
winter unless we can believe tho classes distressed will get
the benefit of the expenditure. We trust this will be the
case, as far as practicable ; but we should be glad of some
better assurance than we can derive, on the whole, from
from tht return before us.—Times.

The Execution of Muller.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Your report in today's paper of the exeeu•
tion of Franz Muller is entirety correct, with the
one exception that the unhappy man declared he
was innocent not while, but before, the Sacrament
was being administered to him. Soon after entering
his cell on the last morning I asked Muller again
whether he was guilty of this murder. He denied
it. I then said," Muller, the moments are precious;
we must turn our minds wholly to God ; I shall
question you no more about this, but my last words
to you will he ' Are you innocent ?' " He remained
silent for a minute or two, but presently exclaimed,
his eyes full of tears, and clasping his arms round
my neck, " Do not forsake me; stop with me to the
last." I was so struck with this that I consulted
with Mr Jonas, the
.Governor, whether the final
question should be put in the pinioning room or on
the scaffold. We decided for the latter.
The manner iu which this crime was committed
will never be known. 'My own firm conviction, de-
rived from the closest pt rsonal intercourse with the
prisoner, is that murder was not premedi ated ; but
that Muller, in want of money, and yielding to a
sudden temptation, attacked his victim for the sake
of robbery, and finished, in the despair of the mo-
ment, by killing him either with his own hands,
or by causing his fall from the railway carriage. 1
recollect particularly on one occasion, when I repre-
sented to him the crime as likely to have taken
place in this way, he answered not, but gazed at me
intently, and impressed me at the time with the
belief of the correctness of my supposition.
I have generally observed that Muller was
most earnest in protesting his innocence when
directly charged with murder. Statements such as
having never been in a North London Railway
train he made only in answer to pointed questions,
and, it seems, in order not to contradict previous
similar assertions.

His manner—simple, gentle, and apparently open
and truthful—was such as easily to deceive even ex-
perienced observers, and the wonderful self-posses.
sioa of this most remarkable character was never
more strikingly manifested than by his fencing with
words, the rope round his neck and the white cap
over his face, when about to confess his guilt at the
very last moment.
His last two. hours were all peace and prayer.
He repeated what he had said before, " If I had
died six months ago I should have been lost, but
now I entirely rely on God's mercy ; I have done
with the world and am ready to leave it.' He
stated all recent events had at times appeared to
him like a vision or a dream, adding that he had
passed in solitude through many terrible hours since
his arrest in America. He was full of meekness
and resignation, forgave frzely all his enemies, re-
quested me to write to his father that he should die
a happy and repentant man, and spoke in terms of
affection and gratitude of the prison officials, par-
ticularly of the Rev. Mr Davis and Mr Jonas, the
Governor. And I desire to conform to his sentiments
towards all the officers of the prison, and cannot
sufficiently express my admiration of the firmness,
combined with touching kindness and tenderness of
heart, with which Mr Jonas fulfilled his most try.
ing functions. It is a blessing indeed to have such
officers in such a prison.
In conclusion, I feel constrained respectfully to
call the attention of the proper authorities to what
seems to me a cruel and crying evil in Newgate.
Again and again on Monday morning in those last
solemn moments our prayers were interrupted by
the savage yells of the multitude assembled to wit-
ness the execution. Cannot the condemned cells be
placed in a position where the noise of hammering
and the shouts of the mob do not reach the ears of
the miserable culprit ?
I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient
servant,

LOUIS CAPEL, D.D.,
Minister of the German Lutheran Church,
Alie-street, Goodman's-fields.
4, Primrose-hill•road, Nov. 15.