The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-24 00:00:00

WOLVERTON MECHANICS' IN-
STITUTE.
WoevenToer, FRIDAY.—The mechanics employed
at the works of the London and North- Western
Railway Company at Wolverton, where a new town
has of late years sprung up. the fruit of the com-
pany's operations, have, with a laudable desire for
their own intellectual improvement, for some years
supported a mechanics' institute on a small scale,
with a moderate but well selected library and scien-
tific apparatus, and have occasionally engaged lec-
turers to address them on various scientific subjects.
Hitherto, however, they have been much cramped in
their exertions by the want of a suitable lecture- room ;
and, with a view to remedy this defect, they have of
late been collecting subscriptions from various quar-
ters. In order to help on this good work still fur-
ther, they determined to usher in the Christmas
festivities this year by a soiree or tea party on a
grand scale, to which all connected with the rail-
way might be invited. The directors vry gene-
rously granted them the use of one of the large
worhshops for the occasion, which was accordingly
cleared of its usual contents--forges, hammers, and
half-constructed engines—nothing being left but the
immoveable machinery of the room, which were gaily
festooned with evergreens, and converted into sources
'of ornament. The room was brilliantly lighted with
gas, which sparkled at every corner in the shape of
crowns, stars, cornucopias, &c. ; while intermingled
with the evergreens were numerous flags and union
jacks, imparting an agreeable novelty to the other-
wise monotonous green. In this hall upwards of
1,500 men, women, and children were comfortably
assembled, all in the most exhilarating spirit of
gaiety, and enjoying the festive occasion in a high
degree. The meeting was entirely one of local in-
terest, and not the least interesting on that account.
On the platform were Mr. Carr Glyn, M.P., Mr.
Smith. Mr. Creed, and several other of the directors
and officers of the company; while the body of the
large hall was filled with the workmen and their
families, who are dependent on their enterprise; and
it was most gratifying to observe, throughout the
evening, the kindly feeling subsisting between the
employers and the employed.
Grace was said, and thanks returned by the Rex.
Mr. Freemantle, of the New Church, at Wolverton.
Mr. J. E. M'CoNaTELL superintendent of the loco-
motive department for the southern division of the
railway, who took the chair, then addressed the meet-
ing. After alluding to the cheering and gratifying
scene which met the eye on this occasion, he stated
that this was the first meeting of any extent that had
been held to support a railway mechanics' institution,
and it was properly at Wolverton that such a meeting
should take place, as this was the first place which
was exclusively constructed for railway servants. It
was to he regretted that the Mechanics.; Institute here
had not kept pace with those in other places; but he
was glad to think that a better time was at hand.
Wolverton was the principal repairing station of the
London and North-Western Railway, where 500
mechanics were regularly employed. There were
220 engines connected with the place, running
3,000,000 of miles a week, and consuming in the same
period 1,000 tons of fuel. It must be evident, there-
fore, that mechanics in all departments were em-
ployed here; and if Wolverton was transferred to
the wilds of America, it would possess within itself
all the materials necessary for comfortable sub-
sistence and for civilization.—(Hear, hear.) He was
glad to be able to say that the character of the people
was most exemplary—that they had conducted them-
selves peaceably and orderly at all times. It was
not to be forgotten that the liberality of the directors
had placed within the reach of their servants here
every facility for education, as well as the oppor-
tunity of attending divine service; indeed, much of
the good conduct of the people was to be attributed
to the exertions of their excellent clergyman.--
(Hear, hear.) There was another feature connected
with the meeting which must not escape attention.
It was evident that the social repast of which they had
just partaken must tend to excite kindly feelings
towards each other, and smooth down those little
asperities which naturally existed in every large
establishinent.—(Cheers.) The Mechanics' Institu-
tion had been in existence ever since 1840, but
hitherto it had not made much progress. Latterly
the members had been more united in their views, and
he hoped that they would now go on with more
vigour. He then referred to the approaching exhibition
of industry in London, which he had no doubt would
show great inventive talent on the part of' the opera-
tives of this country; but he held that that talent
must be stimulated and brought out by mechanics'
institutions, or he feared it would be dormant and
useless to the conntry.—(Hear, hear.) The London
and North-Western Railway was among the first to
encourage education among working men, and their
txcellent chairman, who was present—( Loud cheers)
—had done all in his power to increase the com-
forts of those employed by the company, and to
enlighten their minds, by providing for them
teachers and clergymen, and seeing that they did
their duty. He therefore had great pleasure in
proposing for their consideration and applause,
" Prosperity to the London and North-Western
Railway."—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. GLYN here came forward, and was received
with loud cheers. He said it had been his good
fortune, on more than one occasion, to attend at
Wolverton on interesting celebrations. He had
witnessed the opening of the schools—he had as-
sisted at the dedication of their church, but on no
occasion whatever had he felt such gratification as
he now experienced in meeting them on the present
occasion. On the former occasions his colleagues and
himself had attended to discharge, as trustees of the
company, the duties and responsibilities which their
station imposed up them. They had thought it
right, amidst the mixed assemblage collected here,
that their school should be open to admit the children
of the parents of all denominations.—(Loud cheers.)
They had thought it right, also, to assist the liberality
of the Radcliffe Trustees in promoting the founda-
tion of a new church, to extend to their servants
connected with the Church of England, and to the
neighbouring districts, the benefits of spiritual instruc-
tion ; but he had received from the present ceremony
stronger feelings of gratification—and cold must be
the heart which did not—for it conveyed to his mind
corroborative evidence that they appreciated the
efforts which had been made for them, and had
spontaneously come forward to carry them on.—
(Cheers.) They were engaged in a great and noble
work ; but though they were so engaged let him
entreat them to reflect that, after making provision
for their own spirituel instruction, beheld their highest
duty, as parents and as citizens, was to provide for
the education of their children, which was the ground-
work of everything valuable in their future life. Let
them remember that they lived in a country—and
blessed be. Heaven for it—where men in the lowest
classes, if they had only a proper school education,
might rise to the very highest situations. In this
happy country there was no degree, no grade, no
exclusion existing, which could prevent any well-
educated youth from arriving at that elevated posi-
tion to which their less fortunate fathers could not
attain. He need not remind them of instances—he
knew that instances would be familiar to all of them;
but there was one instance which he could not re-
frain from mentioning, because it was his good for-
tune to be thrown often into contact with that cele-
brated man—he alluded to George Stephenson.—
(Cheers.) He was a man who had his failings—as
which of them had not—but he maintained that the
life, the rise, and the position of that man was an
honour to himself and an honour to the country in
which he lived. He had, from time to time, heard that
gentleman detail passages from his interesting life; he
had heard him recount his privations and industry,
with which he struggled in his early life ; but that
which struck him most, and made the deepest impres-
sion on his mind, was when he recounted the zeal, the
toil, and the privations which he underwent in order
to insure the best possible education for his only son.
—(Loud applause.) And he appealed to them, was
not that father repaid fur all his privations and all his
toil ? Did not that son even in the lifetime of his
father repay everything that the father felt, and
everything that the father endured ? Had he
not perpetuated the honourable name of his father,
and did be not now hold a European character and
reputation.—(Loud applause.) It was needless for
him to repeat such instances. They were too in-
telligent not to feel—and to feel strongly—that,
however anxious they might be to carry on the work
of self-education, yet their primary duty as parents
and as citizens was to take care of the education of
their children. Reply upon it, that cost what it might,
that was a cost which they never would regret. There
was another cause of congratulation to which he
might allude. In celebrating this occasion, they
were honoured with the presence of gentlemen who
were not so immediately connected with railways as
as they were, and he was anxious to bespeak their
kind consideration towards those who held the admi-
nistration of those undertakings. At the present time
they were assailed with cries on every side ; and far
be it from him in -any assemblage to extenuate or
attempt to deny that deserved reproaches had been
cast upon those who ought, from the position they
held, to have considered themselves trustees for
others, and not to promote their own selfish ends.—
(Cheers.) But was it right or fair that those who,
from their earliest date of railway enterprise, had