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

rnE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EViNING, NOVEMBER 16, 1864.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,—This day.

MARLBOROUGH•STREET.

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, tsnd 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 Lfil cted. By the aid of
this money, furnished 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 cmdi:ion of the bargain that the money
thus furnished should be applied as far as possible
in promotion of its immediate object—the employ-
ment 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 guide
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 betoro 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 £1,796 642 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 applicati-ns 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 been already
expended, and rather more than the £1,000,000, though it
is all bespoken, remains for expenditure still. Now, what
as 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 pa!odically 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 comparison 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 :

Number
£ Employed.
Ashton-under-Lyre 125,032 .. 150
Blackburn
Bolton 177,034 .. 299
lancliester
OALLam
Stalybridge
Prestoa
With these figures let us now contrast the fol.

lowing :
Number
Employed.
Bury
Glossop 16,401 392
Hurst
Stockport
Wigan
Now, if these figures are added up, it will be seen that
seven towns, with funds amounting to £312,518, were em-
ploying only 1,14) 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 doubt, 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 it 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 ba in all cases of public
utility, or, in other words, that they should be wanted for
the use and bent fE of the people, and if, therefore, certain
works were not
required, they could not be undertaken,
whatever promise of employment the prospect might offer.
We infer, however, from Mr 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 afbrded 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
operatives, and this, we think
appeared in themselves. Manchester, it seems,has applied
, should have had precedence
upwards of £lOO,OOO to the water.supply of the town—its
expenditure, indeed, having been almost exclusively de-
voted to that purpose. The purpose in itself may be un•
exceptionable, but if it has not contributed to the relief of
hands, wo think the money might
have been better invested, and that Manchester should
the unemployed cotton
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 the classes distressed will get
the benefit of the expenditure. We trust this will be the
ease, as far as practicable ; but we should be glad of some
better assurance than we can derive, on the whole, from
I from tht return b us.—Thnes.

The Execution of Muller.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.