The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-26 00:00:00

The North Staffordshire Strike.

A meeting of delegates from the London trades
was held last evening at the Bell Inn, Old Bailey,
for the purpose of hearing from Lord Lichfield " an
explanation as to the proposal for arbitration he had
made to the puddlers of North Staffordshire, with
the view of bringing the strike to a close, and as to
how his proposal was received both by the masters
and the men." About 150 delegates were present,
and a special deputation was also present from the
North Staffordshire men—Mr. Mildred, carpenter,
in the chair.

Mr. ODJERS said the meeting had been convened
by him as secretary of the Trades' Council, at the
special request of Lord Lichfield himself.

Lord LICHFIELD, who was very warmly received,
then proceeded to detail at some length the reason
which had induced him to interfere in the matter.
Both the masters and men had agreed to accept the
principle of arbitration, but the masters were only
willing to arbitrate provided the men would resume
work at the reduction, and the men refused to
arbitrate unless they were allowed to resume work,
Pending the arbitration, at the old prices. A
middle
course suggested itself to his mind, and
that was to refer the wages question to arbitra-
tion, the men, pending the proceeding of that
arbitration, to draw wages on account. He pro-
posed this, in the first instance, to the masters, by
whom, after several objections,' it was accepted,
with the addition that he (Lord Lichfield) should
appoint the arbitrators, whose names should
be finally sanctioned
by both parties. He then sub-
mitted his proposal to tliem
men, by whom, he re-
gretted to say, it was rejected,
previous
and who in his pre-
sence reaffirmed their
consent to resume work at
methe
n old
to reconsider
not to
prices. He en-
deavoured to induce the
their
all
determination, but in vain, and his efforts had
been fruitless. It had been said he had failed from
his not having made the men fully acquainted with
his proposal, but this he begged to deny. They
thoroughly understood him, and he well understood
them. (Hear.) His lordship then proceeded at
length to express a strong opinion as to all trade
disputes being settled by arbitration, which
would do much to prevent the serious system
of strikes and lock-outs, and thought some legis-
lative enactment should take place in further-
ance of such object, towards the accomplishment of
which he was willing to lend his aid. His lordship
sat down amid great applause.
Mr. EDWARDS and Mr. WADDELL, the delegates
from North Staffordshire, then addressed the meet-

ing in explanation of the reasons which had induced
the men in public meeting assembled unanimously
to reject Lord Lichfield's proposal, although at the
same time they fully appreciated the kind and dis-
interested efforts of the noble lord. The men heard
his lordship's proposal with attention, and fully un-
derstood it, but felt it their duty to reject it, mainly
on the following ground :—That if they had been
wishing for an advance of wages, and had agreed to
arbitrate, they could not expect to receive those ad-
vanced wages pending the arbitration proceeding,
and therefore they ought not to be called upon to go
in at reduced wages offered by the masters while the
arbitration was going on. Again, they could get no
definite reply if they resumed work, drawing money
on account, how long such an unsatisfactory state of
things would last. They, however, had offered to
divide the proposed reduction with the masters, and
instead of being reduced is. per ton, to resume work
at the reduction of 6d. per ton, but the masters would
not consent, and the men had fallen back cn their
old resolution, not to go back to work except at the
old prices. (Hear.) 3
A long and animated discussion took place, both
on the position taken up by the men on strike and
on the general principle of arbitration.
Mr. Cr. POTTER then proposed a resolution appro-
ving the conduct of the North Staffordshire men,
and recommending the masters and men in that dis-
trict to act on the principle by which the dispute in
the Scotch iron trade had been just settled, by a
meeting between the masters and men.
Mr. Davis seconded the resolution.

Mr. HOWELL moved an amendment, to the effect
that the men in North Staffordshire be recommended
to accept the proposal of Lord Li bfield.

Mr. GUDE seconded the amendment.
After some discussion the meeting broke up
amidst considerable uproar.

City Sewers Commission.

--......--

Yesterday the Commissioners of Sewers of the
City of London assembled at Guildhall, for the
despatch of public business. The chairman, H. De
Jersey, Esq., Deputy and Under-Sheriff, presided.
The Commissioners were occupied for some time
in hearing summonses, which had been taken out
against the contractors for not duly cleansing and
watering certain districts within the City, and in
some cases fines were imposed. A report was also
brought up from the General Purposes Committee
with regard to the propriety of requiring the contrac-
tors for scavengers work to sweep and cleanse the foot
pavements at the same time the carriage ways are
done; and also as to the mode in which the streets are
now swept ; and whether any improvement could be
adopted therein. The committee, after considering
the subject, came to the conclusion that to require
the performance of such work would cause a large
additional annual expenditure without any satisfac-
tory results. They stated that under the Police Act
it was the duty of every householder to keep the
fronts of their houses properly swept and cleansed ;
and they suggested that the City Commissioner
of Police should be written to to take proceedings
under the act by requiring the police constables to
proceed against persons neglecting their duty, and
that a public notice should be issued to the inhabi-
tants of the City upon the subject. The committee
further suggested that in all future agreements the
contractor should be required to cleanse and water
the main thoroughfares more frequently and to
water the main streets once on Sunday mornings in
dry weather. Also that the streets which were gra-
velled should be watered three times a day.
The report was agreed to, and it was decided that
tenders for the performance of the work for the year
ensuing should be received on the 9th May next.
A second report was brought up from the General
Purposes Committee, which stated that they had
viewed the iron carriage-way pavement in the Pou-
ltry, which was so generally objected to by the inha-
bitants, and that they recommended it should be
removed as soon as possible.
'lie consideration of the report was ultimately
adjourned.
Dr. LETHEBY stated to the Court that during the
last week the contractors of the railway works in
Liverpool-street had used some of the new railway
between Liverpool-street and Sun-street for the
purpose of burning brick earth, and that a complaint
had been made by some of the inhabitants of the
district of the nuisance occasioned by it. He had
therefore made inquiries into the matter, and had
ascertained that the operations were not to be con-

tinned ; indeed they were not then in action. He
also reported to the Court that complaints had been
forwarded to him from the medical department of
the Privy Council.of the condition of the composing
room of the Public Ledger office, at 6, St. Dunstan's-
passage, Great Tower-street ; and having visited it
he found that, in a room under the level of the
pavement of the dimensions of 39ft. by 13ft., and
9ft. high, and having an area of 4,563 superficial
feet, there were 16 persons occupied from about 2
o'clock in the afternoon to 3 or 4 o'clock the follow-
ing morning, and that (in addition to the over-
crowding of the place, the atmosphere was vitiated
by the burning of 16 5-feet gas burners. The ven-
tilation of the place was very defective, and he
submitted that orders should be given for the im-
provement of the ventilation of the room by having
bands over the gaslights connecting with the shaft,
which would convey the product of combustion to
the furnace chimney.
The suggestions of the medical officers were at
once adopted and ordered to be carried out.