The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-15 00:00:00

The Lock-out in the Iron Trade.

The millmen feel confident that their suggestion
relative to the sending of puddled bars to the mills
at the finished ironworks in North Staffordshire may
be acted upon by the masters, who, they think,
would be pleased to have it in their power to re-
open their works. Like the committee of the
puddlers, the millmen's committee have received in-
timation that at two works the men have been
offered the opportunity of returning to work if they
will sign a document pledging themselves in no way
to assist the puddlers in North Staffordshire. The
works are not those respecting which application
was made to the executive of the puddlers at Brierly-
hill on Monday. They are situate between Bir-
mingham and Wolverhampton. The committee
object to their members signing documents gene-
rally, but in this case they see no reason why the
condition required should not be complied with.
The millmen are mostly the possessors of property
which they have been able to accumulate as savings,
and they are now mooting the project of starting a
works with their own capital so soon as this lock-
out shall have termiqated. They purpose to avail
themselves of the Joint-Stock Act, and to adopt
the ordinary rules of co-operative societies. They
have full confidence in their ability to carry on a
finished ironworks by these means, and they say that
they should not have contemplated such a step if
their masters had not treated them, as they con-
ceive, with a marked absence of consideration.

The millmen do not appear to be so generally of
opinion as the puddlers that the employers meditate
the destruction of the unions. Nevertheless, they
are preparing for the worst by retaining their funds
as long as is possible. That they are not altogether
devoid of fear on this head may be gathered from the
condition which accompanied the suggestion at their
meeting on Monday. It was that while the masters
sent puddled bars to North Staffordshire they should
give the men a guarantee that they did not in-
tend to interfere with the unions when conducted
in a manner that cannot be fairly considered
as trenching on the privilege of the employers.
Both millmen and puddlers in this district have a
dislike to men living in tenements belonging to their
employers; and both look upon masters who provide
cottages for their men as most likely to use their in-
fluence as landlords to the detriment of the tenants.
As the custom of housing men prevails to a great
extent in the north of England, it is chiefly there the
men think the ironmasters will insist on the annihila-
tion of the union. At the meeting in Newcastle-on-
Tyne, however, there were even less feeling dis-
played of antipathy to the unions than at the meet-
ings in Birmingham ; indeed, at the former meeting
there were some firms who were prepared to admit
that the Gateshead Executive had done its utmost
to prevent the men in North Staffordshire from re-
maining out. They would have been willing not to
lock out these men, but this was not the feeling of
the majority, and they gave way. In Birmingham,
however, the determination to lock out was unani-
mous. The Ironworkers' Association feel that they
have committed themselves in allowing the North
Staffordshire puddlers to strike. In extenuation they
explain that when the first meeting of delegates was
held to consider whether or not the reduction should
be accepted the delegate from North Staffordshire
announced, even before the discussion began, that,
a
could
conti-
nuance
deter-
mined
secure
tch re e
had
delegates
whatever decision they might come to, the men he
represented believed that theyd
that
even if
ul
theyifu
of the old wages. He said they ought not to
be a s asked etdo tore
resist
st work
anfyo for
reduction,le less, and
should refuse them help during their strike. The de-
legates resolved that the notice for a reduction should
be accepted, and they desire, they say, that North
Staffordshire should accept it, but as the latter were
determined to take another course they were per-
mitted to do so. At the same time they suggested
that they should be prepared to meet their masters
half way, and endeavour to get off with a'reduction
of 6d. instead of ls. a ton. Upon the latter sugges-
tion the North Staffordshire men at first acted, but
were unsuccessful. They then continued the struggle
for the whole of the old rate. Now that the dele-
gates, seeing the imprudence of their first step, desire
to retrace it, the North Staffordshire men complain
that they are being deserted, and state their determi-
nation to punish those by whom they conceive that
they have been forsaken. The executive say that
they are not the first men who have made a mistake,
and that they do not think that they ought to be
punished by either the masters or that portion of
the men who are disaffected, as they have done all
that they possibly could to prevent the consequences
of their first false step. They repeat that all the op-
position they could have originally brought to bear
against the men of North Staffordshire when they
resolved not to accept the reduction would have been
ineffectual to prevent a strike there. Their error,
they confess, lay in supplying the North Stafford-
shire men with funds during any portion of the
strike. But they say that they have done all in their
power to rectify that error. So soon as they saw
their mistake they ordered the North Staffordshire
men to withhold all assistance, and, at the same
time, they passed a resolution to expel them from
the association in the event of their refusing to re-
turn to work. The withholding of funds and the ex-
pulsion have, they state, been rigidly carried out
throughout the entire union ; the North Stafford-
shire men being no longer members of the associa-
tion, and their application for relief being rejected
wherever it is made. Their good faith in this respect,
the Executive state, they shall further give evidence
of by strongly appealing the Trades Unions at
the meeting of delegates on Wednesday not to afford
any relief to North Staffordshire, and there can be
no doubt that their appeal will be supported by the
three'delegates from the Millmen's Association, who
were appointed at the meeting of that body on
Monday, at West Bromwich. Next Monday a third
meeting of the delegates of the Ironworkers' Asso-
ciation will be held at Brierly-hill, at which the
chairman and secretary of the Brierly-hill Execu-
tive will report upon their interview with the dele-
gates in London ; but no delegate will be invited
from North Staffordshire. It is the opinion of the
Executive that, owing to the great extent to
which aid is withheld from the men in North Staf-
fordshire, they will not be able much longer to
refrain from going to work. On the other hand,
the North Staffordshire men proclaim that they are
not starving, but, on the contrary able to do with-
out the help which has been withdrawn by the exe-
cutives. They say that they are receiving assurances

of sympathy from many quarters,with practical evi-
dences of that sympathy from workmen and trades-
men in the potteries and elsewhere, who believe
that their labour is worth all that they are asking
for it.

While the masters are not opposed to any project
favourable to the return of the North Staffordshire
men to work, they still have no confidence in the
permanency of any arrangement the terms of which
could not be enferced by legislative enactment. They
say that the union has shown itself to be thoroughly
powerless to enforce its own decrees among its
own members, and that in the event of any arrange-
ment between masters and men the latter would be
sure to break it the moment that they saw it was
working against them and they felt they could do
so with impunity.

The masters in Scotland and South Wales are not
understood to entertain the some lenient views in
respect of the union as those by which the present
action of the employers in the north and south of
England is influenced ; and it is not unlikely that
they may stipulate that their taking part in the dis-
pute shall depend upon the English masters taking
a more decisive step in relation to unionism. No
such step, however, is now contemplated by the
associated masters in this country.
Information has been received by the millmen
that two large establishments at Jarrow are in full
work, no notice having yet been given.
Yesterday the secretary and some other members
of the Millmen's Association were in Wolverhamp-
ton taking the necessary steps preliminary to the
holding of a public meeting in that town. They
propose on the occasion of the meeting to explain
that they as a society and as individuals are in no way
responsible for steps taken by the puddlers on account
of which the masters have closed their works to all
alike. Having done this they intendto leave the public
to judge on the facts and to determine whether or not
they merit to be visited with the punishment which,
if it ought to be inflicted on any one, should
they maintain, be inflicted upon those who are guilty.
While making their provisional arrangements they
have met with much sympathy from persons of local
influence. It is the intention of the association to
hold similiar other meetings in other towns through-
out the ironmaking districts. Up to the time when
the lock-out commenced, funds were being sent from
the Millmen's Association to the members of the
society who, by the strike of the puddlers in North
Staffordshire, were kept in enforced idleneis. Now,
however, that the lock-out has placed all the mem-
bers upon the same level, relief has been withheld
from the North Staffordshire millmen until after the
next general meeting, when the precise amount per
member will be determined upon. The millmen's
deputation to the meeting of the deputies of the
London trade societies left South Staffordshire for
London yesterday evening. _ _

The pu ddlers':deputation left earlier in the day,
after the receipt of a message from London requiring
their presence in London sooner than had been pre-
viously arranged.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Tuesday.

Great anxiety prevails throughout the entire dis-
trict with regard to the result of the conference be-
tween a deputation from the turned-out iron-
workers and the Committee of the North of
England Lronmasters' Association, to be held in this
town this afternoon. At present everything is quiet
and orderly, in the hope of an early settlement of
the dispute, but if matters become involved and pro-
tracted, with the great number of men that are out
of employment, and others that would speedily be
knocked off, the consequences might become serious,
especially in some of the districts where the iron-
workers have not an opportunity of mixing up with
a superior class of workmen, who would keep them
under some restraint. Meetings of the workmen
were held at Spennymoor, Middlesborough, Wilton-
park, and Jarrow yesterday, when delegates were
appointed to wait on the masters' committee.
The proceedings were private, but it is understood
that the meetings were tolerably unanimous,
but moderate in their tone. A meeting of the Scotch
masters will be held to-morrow, when the lock-out
will be brought under consideration. But the im-
pression is general here to-day, as yesterday, that
the present stagnation in the iron trade and stop-
page of the works through this lock-out will be of
short duration if the north country employers have
their way. Of course, all interest is concentrated
in the committee appointed by the master's associa-
tion last week, for upon them devolves the. settle-
ment of the dispute. The workmen appear to be
bent upon consolidating their union. At present
there are two sections and two Executives. It is in
agitation to hold a delegate meeting of the whole
trade at once, with a view of consolidating the cen-
tral power in Manchester, or some other central
part, and not in two sections, but in one power, for
the government of the whole trade.
The conference of the deputation from the Northern
iron-workers with the masters' committee held in this
town this afternoon continued two hours and a half.
A number of subjects were discussed in an amicable
temper. The deputation from the men repeated that
they would not support the North Staffordshire strike.
The discussion took this practical form at last :—The
Northern masters, it was suggested, might send
puddled bars into North Staffordshire, and thus re-
open the mills, the men of all the other districts not
to interpose or object. The Gateshead and Brierley-
hill executives are called upon to give a definite
pledge to such arrangement. A meeting-of the North
country and Staffordshire ironmasters will be held
in York on Friday, delegates from the Gateshead
and Brierley-hill Union will attend, when terms of
arrangement will be submitted by the latter, and
there is great reason to believe they will be accepted
by the former, and so end the lock-out in the North.