The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-29 00:00:00

Important Meeting of Ironmasters•

The preliminary meeting of the South Stafford

stiire ironmasters for the current quarter was held
yesterday at Birmingham. Most of the leading
houses in the trade were represented. Major

Thorneycroft, of the firm of Thorneycroft and Co.,
of Wolverhampton, presided. The reports made
by individual firms throughout the district as to the
general condition of the trade Werq satisfactory, and
it was stated that there was a vast improvement in
this respect since the last quarter day. So far as
South Staffordshire is concerned there is a steadily
increasing demand for the best brands of finished
iron of all descriptions. And prices are firm. Pig_
iron, too, is in good request at rates (for cer-
tain descriptions) fully half a crown in- advance of
those of three months ago. A general feeling pre-
vailed that it would be imprudent to attempt to
make any advance in the rates for manufactured

iron, which now runs as follows :—Marked bars

10s.; best bars, £9 10s.; sheets, singles, £lO ;
doubles, £ll 10s. ; angles, £8 ss. to '£9 ; nail
sheets, £9 ; latten, £l3 ; rods, £8 10s.; hoops, £9
10s.; gas-strips, £810s.; Canada plates, £l3 ; best
boiler plates, £lO ; common, £9 10s.; and other
descriptions at proportionate rates. Some interest-
ing questions affecting the future of the trade were
then discussed. The wages question and the tariff
rates charged by the railway companies for carriage
of iron to London were the Chief topics before the
committee. %Vith regard to the former it will be
remembered that at the recent conference of masters
and men at Wolverhampton, it was stated that,
notwithstanding the conventional usages of the
trade sanctioned the payment to the workmen for
puddling a shilling per ton for every £1 in the
price of bars, the men were receiving 9s. 6d. per
ton, whilst the maximum price of the best
bars was only £8 10s. per ton. The, proposal
of the masters was a sliding scare, with a mini-
mum rate of wages at the rate of Bs. per ton, how-
ever low the prices of manufactured iron might
go, anka.maximum of 10s. 6d. per ton, no matter
how high-the selling price ; and to this there was a
request by the representatives of the puddlers for a
uniform rate of 9s. 6d. or 10s., irrespective of the
market value of finished iron. The committee now
considered the whole subject, and, after a long dis-
cussion, it was ultimately postponed for a formal
resolution, which was stated would be sent by the
men on the 30th inst. This resolution will be com-
municated- to the masters of the Wolverhampton
district, from whom the above proposal emanated,
wtthout the approbation of the whole trade. The
committee then went into the qu'stion of the rates
charged by the various railway companies for the
freightage of iron from this district to London in
comparison with the tariff of similar merchandise
fram other great centres of industry throughout the
kingdom. A long report was read, in which seve-
ral serious discrepancies in the rates were pointed
out greatly to the disadvantage of this district.
Wolverhampton being taken as the starting point
in their calculation, it was found that the fate per
ton for bar iron from that town to London-126
miles—was 17s. 6d. per ton ; from Wolverhampton
to Cardiff, also 126 miles, the charge was 9s. 2d. ;
from Wolverhampton to Glasgow, 275 miles, the
charge was 20s. per ton, being only 2s. 6d. more
than was charged for the 126 miles between Wol-
verhampton and London. From North Stafford-
shire to London the rates are the same as those from
South Staffordshire, although the distance from
North Staffordshire is much greater than from South
Staffordshire ; but from North Staffordshire to
Liverpool the charge is only ss. per ton. The Mid-
dlesborough ironmasters can send a ton of iron to
London, some 300 miles, for 18s. 6d. ; while from
Milton, 235 miles, the charge is 11s. These discre-
pancies were strongly denounced by the ironmasters
present, and it was suggested that a committee
should be appointed to lay the whole subject in a
paper before the railway companies, and that the
committee be empowered to consider and report
on the best means of redressing these grievances.
In the course of the discussion a proposition was
received from an influential company, offering to
construct a barge canal which should convey iron
from the South Staffordshire and Eadt- Worcester-
shire iron-making district at the uniform rate of
10s. per ton.