The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-23 00:00:00

The Lock-out in the Iron Trade.

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WOLVERHAMPTON, Wednesday, March 21.

Messrs. Lloyds', Fosters', and Co., of Wednes-
bury, are now reopening their works, on the basis
of an undertaking to be signed by their workpeople,
whereby the latter bind themselves to refrain from
supporting, either directly or indirectly, the men on
strike in North Staffordshire. Two of Messrs.
Lloyds', Fosters', and Co.'s workmen—at the re-
quest, they said, of their employers—waited upon
the Executive at Brierley-hill yesterday afternoon,
to obtain the sanction of that council to their agree-
ing to such an undertaking as a condition to their
being allowed to resume work. The undertaking
which Messrs. Lloyds', Fosters', and Co. required
to be signed was conveyed to the council, who for-
mally approved the document and signified that
approval in a written reply addressed to the firm
who had sent to them. At the request of the depu-
tation they wrote a second letter to Messrs. Lloyds',
Fosters', and Co., in which they stated that they
had not sent any money to North Staffordshire
since the 4th of March, and that they still discoun-
tenanced, and should continue to discountenance,
and do their utmost to prevent any assistance what-
ever being sent by any members of the association
over which they presided to the men on strike there.
Of Messrs. Lloyds', Fosters', and Co.'s requirement
they could not, therefore, but approve ; for it was
founded upon the views and sentiments which the
Executive entertained, and, as far as they were able,
enforced. Both documents were couched by the
Executive in most respectful terms. So great an
antipathy have the men of South Staffordshire to
the signing of any document, that the deputation
from Wednesbury representingtheir order hoped the
reassurance of the Executive, as conveyed in the
second note described, to the effect that they had
made no alteration in their practice since the 4th
instant, of sending no money to North Stafford-
shire, would be sufficient for their employers,
and so prevent the men from being called upon to
sign ; but the undertaking to which Messrs. Lloyds',
Fosters', and Co. require them tolattach their sig-
natures is so simple, and one which so thoroughly
expresses the views of the men, that it is not thought
that upon reflection they will object to it. From the
commencement of the lock-out the firm mentioned
have been engaged in the manufacture and working
up of Bessemer steel, andthe fact of the Patent Shaft
and Axletree Company having kept their works on
led to the expectation that Messrs. Lloyds', Fosters',
and Co., who are also producers of similarly wrought
metal, would not long keep their works closed. Then
it was known that the firm had large contracts under
hand for supplying iron for bridge building and other
purposes, which they could not break without en-
tailing serious losses upon themselves and greatly in.
conveniencing others. The great body of the iron-
masters therefore regard Messrs. Lloyds', Fosters',
and Co.'s works as coming under the designation of
a " special case."

The emigration scheme is being taken up very
warmly by the districts, and money on that account
in considerable sums is being sent in to the Execu-
tive, the districts acting upon the suggestion of the
Ekecutive, and moving in this matter with allpromp-
titude. It is intended to obtain grants of land in
Queensland, and to send out 50 or 100 families in
every company, by whom separate settlements, it is
proposed, shall be formed. With the assistance that
the union is able to afford it is thought the emi-
grants will be able to hold their own till their first
crop comes in.

The Brierely-hill Executive have just sent out sub-
scription ships, headed with an appeal, in which they
say :

" Contributions are urgently solicited for the support of
the members now thrown idle by the compact of the
ironmasters of England to lock out all their workmen until
a comparatively few men in North Staffordshire accept the
employers' terms. There are now upwards of 4,000 mem-
bers thrown upon the funds of our association, and the
northern council have 4,000 men in the same situation, also
there are 1,800 millmen cast upon their funds, making a
total of 9,800 persons who will require support, and for
whom we appeal to the members of the other trade societies
and the public. We give the number only of our own mem-
bers, but an immensely large number of our neighbours are
thrown idle, to whom and to whose families we must give
such assistance as now is or may be placed in our power.
The efficiency and existence of trade societies are acknow-
ledged by all parties to be dependent on the issue of this
struggle in the iron trade."

Committees have been appointed in all the dis-
tricts to conduct the operations for raising contri-
butions. Books of printed checks having a counter-
foil have been prepared for circulation among those
members who may be able for a time to do without
relief. The checks will be given instead of money.
and they will be cashed by the executive when the
holder finds it necessary to present them. The same
class of checks will be distributed as money to other
classes of members, who will be able to negotiate
them at the business places of those tradesmen with
whom the executive have been able to make the
necessary provisional arrangements.
The usual weekly meeting of the ironmasters was
held to-day in front of the Swan Hotel,, in Wolver-
hampton. There the masters were confronted by a
larger number of their operatives than assembled last
week.

The committee of the Ironmasters' Association,
who held a meeting in the hotel, after a lengthened
sitting announced that they had every reason to feel
confidence in the Alillmen's Union, and in their in-
tentions being honest as far as regarded their desire
to go to work, and the advice they gave to the work-
men out on strike in North Staffordshire. The action
of the Brierely-hill Executive proved the committee
felt that their professed advice to the men to
return to work was insincere, and rendered any
statement of theirs utterly unworthy of credence,
judging alone from their remarks at the meeting of
the trades' unions in London on Wednesday last ;
nor could the masters allow that they had any con-
fidence in the Gateshead Union. The committee
considered it advisable that the masters in North
Staffordshire should see the men in their district and
hear what their difficulty is, and why they do not
go to work.

The masters of Staffordshire wish it to be known
that they are as ready to meet their men as are the
masters of Gateshead to meet the men of their dis-
trict. Hitherto, however, there has been a disposi-
tion on the part of the masters to meet their own
men only; but even these have lately remained alto-
gether away from the works, and therefore there
has been no means of communicating with
them. It is nowproposed that a few masters should
meet a number of men selected from the general
body of the men on strike. At such a meeting the
masters will show themselves prepared to come to
reasonable terms with the men, but there is no rea-
son to conclude that if the men should demand as a
necessity to their returning to work that they should
receive the wages for which they struck the masters
will concede their demands. If such should be the
conditions of a settlement which the North Staf-
fordshire men impose, then the masters see no
means of bringing about a cessation of the lock-out
before the men are compelled to return to work,
other than that involved in the introduction of non-
union men in North Staffordshire ; and the commit-
tee are taking steps to bring about such a conclu-
sion. They had before them a proposition from aper-
Sonwho professed himself fully competent to carry it
out, whereby it is hoped this result maybe attained.
The offer made to the committee was, that if he should
be guaranteed protection he would open an office at
Dudley Port, inSouthStaffordshir• e thepmpose of
collecting together 500 non-unionist puddlers ready
to go to work in North Staffordshire at the furnace
which the men on strike there decline to work. It
is guaranteed that the required protection having.
parties, been obtained for all •
es,both in South and
Noith Staffordshire, the required number of D
itd-
south dlers shall be ready to leave the and com-
mence work in the north of the county. After ample
consideration the committee determined to accept
the offer, and a member of the committee, who is a
deputy-lieutenant of Staffordshire, at once, on behalf
of the committee, put himself into communication
with the Earl of Lichfield, Lord-Lieutenant of the
county, to obtain the needed protection.
The crowd of workmen in front of the Swan
Hotel lingered about some time after the ironmas-
ters generally had left, in the expectation that Mr.
Samuel Griffiths would addreSs them from the bal-
cony ; but Mr. Griffiths did not comply with their