The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-04 00:00:00

VICTORIAN.

The total traffic receipts on the Victorian Government
railways from Jan. 1 to Sept. 22, 1864, amounted on 196
miles of railway to .£351,388, and for the corresponding
period of 1863 to £323,506, showing an increase of £27,882.

MISSING SHIP.—The Ellen Vair sailed from Neath
on the 16th of November for Portre•►th, and has not since
beenheard of.

CRYSTAL PALACE.--Saturday, Dec. 31.—Admis-
sions by payment, 1,560 ; ditto by season tickets, 3,565
total, 5,125. Total for the week, 80,823 ; ditto since, lUth
of June, 1854, 16,381,689.

A THANK-OFFERING.—The parish of Little
Easton, Essex, has sent, through the Rev. V. Knox Child,
a Christmas thank-offering of £4 to the National Lifeboat
Institution.

THE 'AMERICAN AND CANADIAN MAIL STEAMERS
DUE AT LIVERPOOL THIS WEEK.—There are three
steamers due at Liverpool this week with the Anierican
and Canadian mails—viz., the Hibernian, City of Cork, and
Cuba. The Hibernian would leave Portland, Maine, on
the 24th ult., and may, therefore, be expected to reach
Greencastle this evening, or early on Wednesday
morning ; and the City of Cork, with corresponding ad-
vices from New York, may be looked for off Crookhaven
or. Queenstown on Wednesday evening or Thursday
morning next. The new Cunard steamer Cuba, commanded
by Captain Stone, late of the Africa, with the mails from
New York on the 28th ult., may be expected to reach
Crookhaven or Queenstown on Friday evening, or early
on the morning of Saturday next.
COPPER SALES IN CORNWALL.—The standard at
the copper ore ticketing in Cornwall on Thursday was
£125 135., being a slight decline on the sale of the previous
week, but an increase on the month of £1 2s. The produce
was 64, and the price per ton £5 25., being an advance on
the month of about Is. 4d. per ton of ore. The quantity
of copper ores sold was 3,826 tons, equal to 239 tons 3 cw
of fine copper, and realising £19,532 ls. 61

AMONG THE NAILERS.—" Hals Owen," says
Mr. J. E. White, reporting to the Royal Commis-
sion on the Employments of Children and Young Persons
the evidence collected by him, assistant-commissioner, on
the metal manufactures of the Birmingham district, " Hales
Owen is the only town on the direct road from Birmingham
to Stourbridge. The principal employment of the place is
the,wrought-nail manufacture, carried on in small forges ad-
joining the homes of
,the greater part of the cottagers, and
to a great extent by women and children. While I was in
a cottage where I found a boy with a bare foot bandaged
up, lamed by a burn, a sound of many voices singing
swelled gradually near, and the boy, limping on his stick
to the door, cried, Oh, mother ! there's the nailers com-
ing ;' and there passed by a crowd of several hundred
men, women, and children, singing a hymn, of which two
lines, contrasting strangely with their look and errand,
were—

" ' And not a wave of trouble roll
" ' Across my peaceful breast.'

They were coming from the villages near Dudley to hold
a meeting in Hales Owen, to see if they could get out'
the nailers who were working against' them there, their
strike having already lasted eleven weeks. It's heart-
breaking work' said the woman. Among the many chil-
dren in the crowd were two little boys, apparently six
years old or not much more, dragged along by the hand by
a woman, propably their mother, footsore and lame from
their march. To see such infants made to take part in a
strike, and march miles to swell a meeting to spread it, w"
a sight which gave but a poor idea of the consideration they
were likely to meet with in their work at home .....
nailer at Hales Owen said to me, The parents carry them
on into the night as long as their strength lasts when the
work is wanted quick—it's no use beyond, but, as far as
they can, they are partly obligated to work. I should. not
like my little boy there, now five, to begin before Tne, and
he shan't if I can help it, but if I am any ways obligated ho
must. He is but a little morsel, and if I were to get that
little creature to work I should have to get a scaffold for
him to stand on to reach, and with that it would be like
murder-work, as you may say. It don't agree with children
at first, the work being always hot. In summer the little
ones, being afore the fire
all the time, sweat so till it runs down
their faces like anything. Then they fret more with the learn-
ing and sweat more—fret wonderfully the little ones do. I did
so myself when a little one, and even when a big one (grown
person) frets, he's bound to be warm and sweat. Then the
young ones often burn themselves, perhaps aommet ti
in a week. Four years ago, my boy, then 10, got twoiieces
of the iron in at the top- of his trousers, and before they
could be got out they dropped and catched his leg, burning
two wounds as big as a crown-piece, and tfie scars are there
now and always will be.
He played nine weeks for that,
and cost me a sovereign for doctoring, besides losing his
work. The young ones should not work so long as they do.
My son there, now 14, has to work hard from 6 a.m. to 8
p.m. to make 8-14. to 9d. It's many hours to be stiving up
in a hot shop.' The son looked delicate. He can read; his
sister aged 17, who. works as a nailor, can read but little.
I got these answers from a lad of 13, a nailer, in the same
town :—' Heard about Jesus ChriSt at the Church school,
but it's so long since that I've forgot about Him. Do not
know whether He did miracles or wonderful things, or how
He was killed, and have not heard of Noah and the flood.
Jesus made the world in six days. The Queen has a name
it is Prince.' A resident magistrate stated. to As a
class, the nailers are more ignorant than the miners. They
are not wanting in intelligence, but are rough and untaught.
Large numbers of adults cannot read, and few can write.
The children begin nailing very young. I have seen some
at work apparently of not above 7, others 8, and many at
10. The parents work late at the end of the week, but Ido
not think, as a rule, the children work so late, because they
could not stand it, and their work is of little value.'"