The Sun.
London, England, 1825-11-19 00:00:00

INDEPENDENT GAS COMPANY.

FOR THE SUN.
MACHINERY.

Mg. EDITOR-The present era is remarkable
for many and unquestionably great improvements
in the Mechanic Arts,, General Science, and Com-
merce. These improvements are every where
,conspicuous in the multitude and convenience of
our dwellings and public buildings of every
description ; the public roads throughout the
kingdom, the numerous canals for all articles of
burden, and the construction of our travelling
tarriages for speed and safety—advantages which
reflect honour on the Arts, and the country
which•has so highly cultivated them, and directed
them to the national benefit. The great spirit
of invention, and progress in the Mechanic Arts,
is also to be greatly admired in all their vast va-
riety and importance, not only as these things
are the fruitful and powerful offspring of art and
genius, but as they are a demonstrative •proof of
the rising character of the British nation, and of
the rapid growth of science in general. The
application and augmentation of the mechanic
powers towards the alleviation ,of human labour
its unquestionably a benefit to man, relieving his
shoulder from the burden, and the load which
levelled him in condition with the beasts. All
the great factories in the kingdom shew this,
where formerly the operations were performed
by excessive labour and toil, and at an expence
of human strength, now happily avoided.
The great question is, and it ought to be one
of the first in Political Economy demanding a so-
lution, whether the general introduction of the
new machinery in the -manual arts and trades
will ultimately benefit society, and imprOve the
condition of the lower and middling classes ?
Whether time creating of new facilities in plough-
ing, sowing, reaping, threshing, combing, spin-
ning, weaving, printing, &c. &c. will or will not
throw out vast multitudes of hands heretofore
employed and maintained in these trades and oc-
cupations, and prevent the bread of multitudes
•f the rising generation every where, and daily
training up to live by industry and honest la-
bour ? It is much to be lamented, that whilst
one-half of the nation is engaged in training up
the children of the poor in school-learning and
industry, the other half are busied in devising
scl►emes and inventions to frustrate all their la-
bour. Not only are individual exertions made
in all parts of the kingdom for the establishment
of the new machinery, but even Companies and
Associations are daily forming with a view to
operate on the largest scale, and with the most
powerful effect.
It is necessary that some facts should be stated
in one or other branch of manual manufacture.—
A correspondent of yours, for June 24, 1824,
'has done this in a clear and intelligent manner,
and I shall, for the accommodation of such of
your Readers as may not have a copy at hand,
extract from it some remarks of that Correspond-
ent, relating to the subject. He says—" That it
was estimated, about six or seven years ago, by
three of the most experienced cotton-spinners in
Great Britain, that the quantity of cotton thread
produced on all average by each worker, com-
pared with that which one person could have
spun on the single wheel, as was the practice be-
fore the late inventions of A RKWRIGHT and
others, was then as 120 to 1, that is," one person
produced as much as 120 could have produced
previously to these inventions. There are now
about '280,000 persons engaged in the spinning,
of cotton-thread in this country-280,000 mul-
tiplied by 120, gives 33,600,000 as the number
of operatives who would have been required to
produce as much cotton-thread on the old plan,
as is spun in Great Britain at present. Political
Economists generally reckon one in jive, a pro-
ducer ; but say one in three : then it follows that
it would require the working part of a population
of more than one hundred millions of human
beings,so produce on the old single wheel as much
cotton-thread as 280,000 workers are enabled to
manufacture, in consequence of the mechanism by
which they are assisted. Now the spinning of
cotton-thread is only one particular branch of
one particular manufacture. The same improve.
snents have been trade in wool and flax spinning;
in weaving, bleaching, dying, printing, dressing,
&c. every species of cloth for the garments
of the world :—in the various hardware manu-
factures—in the letter-press printing, and en-
graving, &c. If we reflect, says he, for a moment
on these facts, we shall be convinced that the
mechanical power, which is now at work for
Great Britain and Ireland, exceeds the effect
which would be produced by the manual labour
of several hundred millions of active adults—
certainly of more than the working population of
the world."

Your Correspondent's Political Remarks have
a weight and reference of the highest conse-
quence, and ought to be considered. " Is it
possible," continues he, " to press the following
question too earnestly on the attention of the Bri-
tish Cabinet and Legislature, on the attention of
the modern Political Econornists,and of the public?
-Seeing that labour is admitted to be the source
• whence all wealth proceeds, how does it happen,
that with this enormous increase of labour at our
controul, by which wealth may be created more
than sufficient to maintain in full comfort much
,more than six times our present population—that
thousands of our fellow-subjects should yet exist
in poverty and misery, and that the [rish peasant
starves for want of food ? And may we not con-
clude, that every system of Political Economy
which overlooks the influence of this overwhelm-
ing and increasing power, whatever merit may
attach to it on account of ingenuity and talent
in other respects, is totally inapplicable to the
present state of things in this country. When
the public shall have time to reflect upon these
.facts, and to trace the inevitable consequences to
',which they lead, then shall the means of apply-

lug this new power in practice for the relief of
Ireland, and of the poor and working classes in
Great Britain, be made obvious to all. The mo-
dern political economist will be enabled not only
to comprehend its applicability to the altered
state of society, but also constrained to admit
th,,, absolute necessity which exists for the change,
to stay the ihcreasing wretchedness of the Irish
peasantry, and the present gradual descent of
the British labourer to the same point of degra-
dation."

Leaving the above remarks, I propose a mea-
sure most expedient to be prepared against the
consequences of any calculations or miscalcula-
tions on the subject, and that it would be a most
salutary provision against all surprise, to make
that the basis of our national prosperity, which
has been the basis of all nations and national
riches and strength from the beginning of the
world, and that is the agricultural resources of
the country the labour of the field was the first
employment of man ; the tillage of the ground
is the most wealthy and certain, the most bene-
ficial and permanent of all employments ordained
by the Almighty Creator, and a never-failing
source for all supplies. There is nothing to be
compared with the resources of Nature, and the
numerous waste and unoccupied lands ordered
into immediate cultivation by our Legislature,
and put under some new and enlarged regula-
tions, would be a most safe and easy expedient
for the employment of our rising population in
the event of any great and sudden emergency.
It appears to be a fair deduction of reason,
that the more extensively the powers of machi-
nery are applied and brought into operation, the
less will be the demand for hands in all branches
of manufacture, the reduction of hands and
expences of wages being the first objects of
the proprietors ; therefore, when that period
shall arrive when the universal establishment of
these new powers shall take place, what is to be
expected but a vast and overwhelming mass of
the lower and industrious classes thrown out of
employment and out of bread ? It is true the
present state of our manufactories appears flou-
rishing, and may induce us to look forward with
a fair prospect. But let us not be deceived—the
time will certainly come when these powers will
compete, when they shall attain that equilibrium
which will ultimately reduce all their advantages
to one common level, and destroy the very inte-,
rests and profits they were intended to create.—
Then the manufacturers will find themselves at
a disadvantage, and not one jot the more bene-
fitted than under the old system. Such an event,
however, is far from desirable—it is to be hoped
that such consequences may not be experienced.
Yet it is possible, unless some restraining law be
provided to counteract the universal application
of the new machinery to the manual arts. In the
meantime our unemployed poor must increase ;
and until such time that our country prisons and
houses of correction are found relieved in some
proportion from their miserable contents, and our
poor-houses exonerated from the burden upon
them, there can be no argument in favour of the
new system of things, and their utility to the
State. The heavy calendars of Courts of Ses-
sions, and numerous committals on the Vagrant
Act, show the necessity and urgent expediency
of opening new sources of employment, on prin-
ciples of a real and effectual-nature, not depend-
ing on parochial support, but on more lasting and
substantial sources. The expellees of coloniza-
tion and transporting of any considerable number
of our labouring poor to remote lands have al-
ready been felt too heavy for any continuance of
such plans, and the unhappy condition of our late
settlers in South Africa, has rendered the scheme
too inhuman and unpopular to afford any relief
from such projects. The lowest estimate of trans-
porting a convict to Botany Bay is 20/., besides the
expence of bringing them back again when their
term is expired—a sum which has been found so
considerable for the punishment of petty theft,
and so ineffectual for the suppression of crimes,
that, other and less expensive modes are con-
templated, among which the adoption of the
tread-mill gives a signal notice. This species of
punishment is, however, questionable as to its
real effect on the unfortunate individuals, who
are hereby rendered the more hardened and des.
perate, and lost to every idea of reform and cha-
racter in human society. Humanity suggests the
prevention of crime by adopting such measures as
remove the cause ; at least in abating the positive
evil by a positive good, and the surest and most
effectual plan appears to be that which nature
itself points out to us, and which a little plain
reason may qualify on such a scale, and in such
proportion, as may be extended to all classes of
the labouring poor, and give labour to all that are
able to work: the labours of the field are those to
which I allude, and it seems a project worthy of
the consideration of the Legislature, whether, if
a bounty of Parliament, granted and extended
to the great landholders of the county on condi-
tion of letting, at an easy rentage, shares and
allotments of their lands for the establishing of
small farms, might not be one plan, among others,
for the immediate relief of every county and
parish in England. The example once set could
not fail of succeeding, provided it be done on
principles of equity and fairness between subject
and subject. And if such a scheme might not
take, then let there a proportional tax, in some
increasing ratio, be levied upon all unoccu-
pied land by the acre—that is to say, inclosed
land where labour is not employed, either for
the benefit of the proprietor or the public good.
This would be productive of a considerable re-
venue to Government, and it would have its cer-
tain effect of augmenting the agricultural interest
and wealth of the country.
Mr. Editor, my proposition was to point out
the probable consequence of multiplied ma-
chinery extended to oar manual arts and trades ;
and that its effects upon the nation will ct me sud-
denly upon us whenever it shall happen ; and my
conclusion is, that we ought to be prepared
against any sudden emergency : I have therefore
adventured to suggest my ideas as to one or two
propositions, for the consideration and remark of
such of your Political and Parliamentary readers
as may cause to examine them.
I am, Sir, yo &c.
X.Y.Z.

Yesterday a number of shares in the above
Company were put up for sale by public auction, by Mr.
WILLIAMS, at the Auction Mart. The room was crowded to
excess long before the time appointed for the sale, by share-
holders of the above and the Imperial Gas Company.
Mr. WILLIAMS, in putting up the first lot, viz. five 251.
shares in the above Company, which he described as a lucrative
undertaking, and one from which great advantages would be
derived by the shareholders, stated That 201. deposit had already
been paid upon each share, and that consequently there was
only 5/. more to pay.
A Gentleman inquired if the shares were to be sold without
reserve ?

111 r. Wrr.r.rams.—Certainly. We have not met here for
amusement, or to ascertain what the shares are worth in the
market, but to make a bona fide sale of them:
Mr. Box inquired whether it was to be a transfer of property
from one person to another ? and if the shares were to be trans.
ferred to the name of the purchaser, or was it only a new mode
of increasing their capital resorted to by the Company ?
Mr. DENHAM, a shareholder, said that gentlemen who pur-
chased shares would not ~et them transterred into their names
unless they were approved of by the Directors. Ile should
certainly oppose the sale, because a short time since he bought
a number of shares which the Directors had refused to transfer
into his name until he could prevail upon seven other share-
holders to pay:up the deposits upon their shares, and was in-
formed that when he did so, the Directors would consent to his
becoming a proprietor, but not till then. At present he had
nothing to show for the property he had purchased. He had
applied for a copy of the deed of transfer, which the Directors
required him to execute to enable him to consult his legal ad-
viser upon the subject; but that he had refused him, although
he offered to pay the expence of making it.
Mr. WILL lAMS-1f the Directors will not transfer the shares
I am aboat to sell into the names of the purchasers, I will un-
dertake to return them their money.
A Gentleman observed, that it was a well-known fact that
upwards of 500 transfers had been made within the last six
months.

Mr. Box said, it was absolutely necessary that the share-
holders should know something of the financial affairs of the
Company, as, not being a corpotate body, each shareholder
would be personally liable for the debts contracted. He should
like to know whether the Company was in a solvent state
or not.

Mr. WiLtiAsts said he had every reason to believe that a
very handsome dividend would be paid shortly.
Mr. Box—When, and to what amount ?
Mr. WILLIAMS—I believe in December, but to what amount
I cannot inform you.
Mr. DENIIAM—Can you not give us some further informs-
mation about this property.
Mr. WILLIAMS—I believe you all know AS much about it
as I do.

Mr. DENITAM—No ; certain rumours are afloat, and we
wish to know if there is any foundation for them.
Here there were loud cries of " Go on with the sale ; those
gentlemen only come here to cause a disturbance, and to depre-
ciate the value of the property about to be sold."
Mr. DENHAM—If the Company is in the state you represent
it to be, no observations of ours can do it any injury.
Mr. Box—lt is impossible that a dividend can be paid
shortly, when the Company are supplying gas at a rate of 60
or 70 per cent lower than any of the others, and when even the
old-established companies on the average did not make a profit
of more than 5 per cent. He had no objection to a fair compe-
tition, but he felt that one or other of the companies would soon
be cut up.

Ir. Ni,"! r. LI A MS-A fter the opposition that has been made
to the Company, I have no doubt but that the shares will soon
fetch a handsome premium.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Box—. That's very likely, when they are now at from 4
to 5 discount. The Directors were endeavouring to draw the
public into a concern which is at present generally believed to
be in a ruinous condition.

Mr. Wir.r.rnms—l really must proceed with the sale.
Mr. Box again attempted to address the auctioneer, when
the noise and confusion was so great that a word could not be
heard. Several gentlemen requested that an officer might be
sent for.

Mr. WILLIAMS said, the persons who caused the disturbance
should hear from him shortly in a manner that would not be
pleasant to them.
'Mr. Box—lt is your duty to do justice between the buyers
and the sellers.

Mr. Wit.t.tnius—After the great interruption I have met
with, I shall pass the sale, although it will be to the injury of
my employers to do so; and those gentlemen who have caused
this disturbance, I dare say, will have no objection to give me
their names and addresses, as I am determined to bring actions
against them tbr conspiring to depreciate the value of the pro-
perty I have offered for sale.

A shareholder observed, it would be better to indict them for
a conspiracy-.
The gentlemen (Mr. Box and Mr. Denham) then gave Mr.
Williams the required information, and he immediately pro-
ceeded to the sale of some other property. The above proceed-
ings lasted an hour and a half, and during the whole time the
utmost disorder and confusion prevailed. The sale was post-
poned sine die.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, Nov. 18.
DEVATNES V. NOBLE.

The argument in this case was brought to a conclusion, being
the fifth day of hearing.

POWELI. V. MOUCIIAT.

The LORD CHANCELLOR appointed this case, which we
described yesterday, to be heard on the 12th of December.

LADY ANSONV. BRITISH MINING COMPANY.

The SoLicyroa-GxNEttat. moved for an injunction to re-
strain the defendants from working certain mines in Cornwall,
of which they had become purchasers, and from disposing of
the shares therein, and From removing any of the machinery
therefrom, and from proceeding in any way to deprive her of
her right to shares which she had purchased, and from taking
any steps in the Stannary or other Courts to compel her to a
forfeiture of the same. Her Ladyship had bought the shares
of a Mr. Thomas for 4,5001., on condition of his working the
mines at his own expence. She also lent him 3,000/. upon the
security of other shares in other mines. He parted with his
entire interest to the defendants, members of the above Com-
pany, and then the officers of that Company gave her notice to
furnish her quota of the expence of working the mines, and in
default of so doing, manifested the intention of compelling a
forfeiture in the Stannary Courts, the terms of her contract and
bond with Mr. Thomas notwithstanding.
The Loan CHANCELLOR said, that he did not know from
this form of proceeding that he could call upon the defendants
to do any thing, as there was no proof before him that they
were a legal company. At any rate there was no such hurry as
to make an ex-parte motion necessary : the bill was on the file,
and Lady Anson's shares could not be_ disposed of in the face
of that. Her Ladyship, if she acted in this case without ad-
vice, had done that which ladies were sometimes known to do
—she had acted unwisely. Let notice be given to the other
side, with a subpwna, and the cause might be heard this day
fortnight.
VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, Nov. 10.
GOODCHILD V. WILKINSON.
This cause was instituted by the Vicar of Hendon, to recover
payment of the small tithes of that parish. It has been long
pending in the Court, and reports of the various proceedings
which have been taken in its course have been before the pub-
lic. The defence to the claim of the Vicar is, that the lands in
respect of which tithes are now claimed have been exempt from
the payment of them from time immemorial. In support of
this defence, proof was adduced that before the making of
Doomsday Book the lands were held by the Abbot and
convent of Westminster, discharged of tithes. On the part of
the plaintiff evidence was given of a grant by the Abbot and
convent to a layman, of the lands and tithes, and this breaking
the prescription de non decimando, which must be traced to begin
in an ecclesiastical person or body, and must also be continuous,
it was contended that the right to the tithes had revived in
the incumbents of the church. There were many other minor
points connected with the case which are now omitted, as well
because they have already been frequently stated, as because
upon, that which is here stated the decision of the question must
rest. At the last hearing of the cause in this Court, an issue
was directed to try whether at the period of the dissolution,
when the lands theretofore held by the abbot and convent of
Westminster were granted out, they were discharged of tithes.
That issue was tried in the Court of Common Pleas, and the
veid.ct of the Jury found the following three points, viz.—that
at the dissolution of religious houses in the reign of Henry
VIII., the lands in question belonged to the abbot and convent
of Westminster; that die abbot and convent composed one of
the greater monasteries; and that they held those lands dis-
charged of tithes. A motion was now brought on for a new
• trial of the issue, and Mr. Sergeant Vaughan and Mr. Sergeant
Bosanquet appeared for the plaintiff and defendant, whom they
had represented on the trial, assisted by Mr. Sugden and Mr.
Home, who had held briefs upon the former occasions in this
Court.

The Judge's' report of the trial was read, and Mr. Sergeant
Vali CHAN was heard in argument for the new trial at great
length, when
The VICE CHANCELLOR stopped the further proceedings,
and said it appeared to him that the law as well as the fact had
been mistaken, not only by the Learned Judge, but by the
Counsel who had been engaged in the trial at law. The ques-

tion depended upon the fact of the immemorial prescription.—
That prescription stood in the, place of a grant, because it sup-
posed a grant. The intermediate grant by the abbot and con-
vent of the lands out of which the tithes were to be issuing prov-
ed nothing by itself against the prescription, because it was
made to a layman, and who was at that period incapable of
taking a grant of tithes. The question, therefore, was not
whether the abbot and convent held the land discharged of
tithes, but whether at the dissolution the lands were and re-
mained so discharged. His Honour was compelled, therefore,
to send the cause again for trial. He had no objection to alter
the form of the issues, if the parties would agree on both sides;
if not, the original issue must be again tried before a Jury.
The parties did not agree, and therefore the same issue is
to be tried.