The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LeeNDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1841,

t tate, those brought up to that trade being only
half employed. He could further state that the earnings
of the men declined with the increased price of food. •
The Rev. Mr. BLAIR, of Dunfermline, entered into
some details of the distress existing amongst the people
of the district from which he came, and which was de-
lucible from the Corn-laws.
The Rev. Mr. INPDonoiLL, of Kilmarnock, said he
had furnished answers to sereral questions which the
Committee of Conference had addressed to him, and
which he would read to the .meeting, together with the
questions to which they referred. The Rev. Gentleman
then read the lollowing paper, which we publish at
length in this summary, believing that facts of this de-
scription are more important than mere speeches, how-
ever eloquent and interesting :-
1 Question 1. Are the working-classes in your neigh-
bourhood generally well emploYed or. otherwise ? State
the average weekly wages paid, distinguishing. between
skilled and unskilled labourers.--Answer:.'At scarcely
any sort of work is there constant employment, and at
present there are in this place about 600 hand loom
weavers (besides other classes of workmen) quite idle.
The average weekly wages are about Bs. ; but a few—
and those a very few-h--of skilful, well-employed opera-
tives (such as gunsmiths, printers, block-cutters, tanners,
skinners, .carriers, engineers, &c.) obtain from Iss. to
20s. per week.

Question 2. Has the amount of their earnings been
increased or diminished within your experience ?—An-
swer. Decreased at least 25 per cent. within the last
fourteen years, winch is the period of my residence in
this parish.

Question 3. How have you found the demand for la-
bour to be affected by cheap or dear food ?—Answer.
I am convinced that dear food has diminished the de-
mand for labour ; but have not the means of ascertain-
ing to what extent.
Question 4. Have wages risen with the rise of the
price of food and fallen with its fall, and in what pro-
portions ?—Answer. Wage's have not risen with the
price of food, nor fallen with its fall, but the contrary
has taken place, although not in a degree so perceptible
as can be stated with precision.
Question 5. Is the condition of the labouring popula-
tion, as a class, better or worse now, as compared with
former periods within your experience ?—Answer.
Greatly worse.

Question 6. What proportion do poct-rates in your
parish bear to those of former periods ?—Answer. The
poor rates have increased 75 per cent., and the popula-
tion about 10 per cent. in 1828. The following dates
and sums are extracted fronifthe parlsk records :
Amount of assessment for the poor for 1828 . £1,050
Ditto (for the first half-year) 1829
Ditto (for the last half-year)
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto . 1836
Ditto • .
1837
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Question 7. Refer to prison reports, and reports of
infirmaries, dispensaries, and other charities, for statis-
tics of the state -of crime, disease, and destitution •in
your neighbourhood now as compared with former
periods.—Answer. Crime in Kilmarnock, although not
of a very serious nature, was on the increase as the
population increased ; but for the last two .or three
years it has been rather on the decrease. This
decrease has, in part, been caused by the formation of
the Temperance or Teetotal Society ; for a number of
individuals who have become members, and who often
made their appearance in the police court, arenow leading
a life quite different from that which they led before they
joined the society. Disease and destitution have cer-
tainly increased very much within the last twelve months.
It is believed that malignant or typhus fever never pre-
vailed so much in this town as it has within the last six
months. Scarlet fever has also prevailed very much
during the same time, and has been very fatal among the
young. Indeed, such is the destitution among the lower
classes that where fever enters into a family there is little
chance of any of the members escaping being seized with
it, from the almost total want of the means to provide the
common necessaries of life, or to enable them to take
the neces.-..ary steps for promoting cleanliness in their
houses.'

Question 8. If your experience be in a rural district,
state whether the wages paid to agriculturallabouren
are regulated according to the number of their children'i

—Answer. In the rural districts in my neighbourhood
wages are never paid in proportion-to the number of la-
bourers' children.

Question 9. What is the state of the middle classes in

your district, such as the small traders ; and- is Vtheir
condition improved or deteriorated now as compared with
former periods within your experience ?—Considerably
deteriorated.

Question 10. Have you perceived any connection
between high and low-priced food, and an increase or
diminution of the funds of 'your religious and bene-
volent institutions?—Yes, I have observed a distinct con-
nection, and, of late, have been obliged to refuse many
applications for collections to charitable and religious
institutions, the great majority of my congregation
being now barely able to support themselves.
Question 11. Have you found any falling-off in 'the
numbers of your congregation in consequence of the dis-
tress occasioned by the high price of food ?—Answer.
Many who a few years ago were respectable, and contri-
buted cheerfully and liberally to the funds of the congre-
gation, are now unable to pay seat rents; and numbers, in
consequence of the want_. of decent apparel, who were
regular in their attendance on ordinances, never appear
in the church at all:

Question 12. Has there been any decrease in the at-
tendance of scholars at your Sunday schools, and if so,
to what cause do you attribute it?—Answer. The atten-
dance of the children of the humbler classes has greatly
decreased; and, upon the parents being visited by the
teachers, it was distinctly ascertained that a deficiency
of suitable clothing was the cause. I find it to be the
opinion of the most intelligent and enterprising commer-
cial gentlemen in the locality, that the depression of trade
and the gradual diminution of well-paid employment to
the working classes is occasioned solely and entirely by
the food monopoly.
Several other Rev. Gentlemen laid before the meeting
many striking and interesting facts relating.to the con-
dition of the labouring classes, and the share which the
Corn-laws have had in producing their deteriorated con-
dition, when the meeting separated.

The following is a more full account than we gave
yesterday of the proceedings at the meeting on Wednes-
day evening.

The Chairman resumed his seat shortly after four
o'clock, by which time the hall was densely crowded in
every part.
The Rev. Mr. THOMPSON, of Swansea, rose to move
the first resolution" That, influenced at once by feel-
ings of sympathy for the suffering poor, with whom their
official duties bring them into daily contact, and by a
deep interest in the success of that religion whereof they
are ministers, thisConferencd feels itself only acting from
a strong sense of duty in examining into the causes of
the existing distress, and, after the example of the Sa-
viour himself, in employing its utmost influence to alle-
viate or remove it."

The Rev. Mr. SPENCER seconded the resolution. He
congratulated the conference on their proceedings up to
that time. As ministers of religion they were bound to
relieve distress. The Corn-laws produced distress ; there-
fore plainly it was their duty to oppose them. Pure reli-
gion, they were informed in the sacred writings, was to
visit the poor and fatherless in their affliction, and what
would they say of the man who would walk into the
poor man's house, and, seeing the cause of his affliction
and distress, would take no steps to remove them? None
knew better than the Ministers of religion the cause of
the misery prevalent throughout the land. .That know-
ledge had brought together the powerful and influential
assemblage he saw around him.—(Hear, hear.) Out of
144 householders which constituted his parish, 126 were
in favour of free trade. The landowners thought them-
selves the best judges of what was for the good of the
country, afid maintained that, as a class, they were best
fitted to form a right.opinion. Admitting that to be so,
he would convict them out of their own mouths, for the
landowners of the Continent.and America, who were by
far the larger number, united in condemning unani-
mously the existing Corn-laws.----(Hear, hear.) After
showing the advantages that would flow to the country
at large from a repeal of the Corn-laws, the Reverend
Gentleman resumed hi,; seat amidst loud cheers.

After a few words from the Rev. Mr. Pnmars, of
Liverpool, the resolution was put and carried unani-
mously.

The Rev. Mr. FLETCHER intimated that, in addition to
those who had already spoken, not fewer than fifty Mi-
nisters had been specially deputed by their congregations
to address the conference. These. gentlemen were natu-
rally anxious to fulfil the trust reposed in them, by lay-
ing before their brethren the facts which they had been
requested to communicate and bearing upon the ques-
tion they had met to discuss. He would, in the name
of the Committee, press upon the succeeding speakers
the necessity of being as brief as possible in their state-
ments, as there was much business remaining to be
transacted. It was contemplated to address her Ma-
jesty.—(Cheers.) That illustrious lady, as appeared by
that day's Gazette, had appointed the lion. and Rev.
Baptist Noel one of her chaplains.—(Loud cheers, which
were repeated again and again.) Besides that, a petition
was to be drawn up and presented to Parliament.—
(Cheers.) He would not say much about Parliaments
then. They had a better Parliament there.—(Cheers
and laughter.) They were also to prepare an address
to the country—an address to every minister.of religion
—to every congregation—and, lastly, to the Methodist
Conference. (Tremendous cheering.) There were
50,000 Methodists in the kingdom, and not a Methodist
there. They must tell the people, and they would tell
them.—(Loud cheers.) To-morrow would be devoted
to the communication of facts and not speeches. They
would prepare the documents which he had mentioned
at the earliest possible period..
The Rev. Dr. PAYNE, of Exeter, moved the next re-
solution. All protective duties were a blot upon their
statute-book, and they should get them expunged as
soon as possible.—(Hear, hear.) Only let the Govern-
ments of the world let science, and trade, and commerce
alone, and they would thrive better than under their pro-
tecting care.—(Hear, hear.) He concluded by reading
the resolution, " That, in the face of the facts which have
come under their notice in their own respective neigh-
bourhoods, no less than by statements laid before them,
the Ministers composing this Conference cannot avoid the
painful conviction that much of the wide-spread distress
ef the present time is attributable to provision laws, in-
asmuch as they limit the supply, and thereby, enhancing
the cost of the common necessaries of life+ fetter indus-
try, [repress enterprise, divert the legitiniate employ-
ment of capital, and spread discontent and heart-
burning through the land." He denied that ministers
were unable to grapple with and understand the prin-
ciples of political economy. Their habits of thought
and close and consecutive reasoning, peculiarly fitted
them for its study. After recommending his brethren