The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-19 00:00:00

THE TEN HOURS BILL.

:MEETING OF THE SHORT-TIME DELEGATES.
On Wednesday a meeting of the whole of the delegates was
held in their rooms, No. 2, Northumberland-court, imme-
diately after the division ou the second reading of the Ten
Hours Bill. The object of their mrsting was to convey
their thanks to those Members of Parliament who took part
in the debate, also to devise the best means of securing the
final success of the measure. Mr. Jehn Leech, of Rudders.
field, was called to the chair.
The following answer to the delegates' memorial to Sir
Robert Peel, which was presented to him on Saturday night,
was read to the meeting :--

" Whitehall, Feb, 17.
" Gentlemen,—l have received your communication of the
13th of February, addressed to me in your capacity of dele-
gates from the operatives of Lancashire and Yorkshire.
" I am not disposed to deny the special obligations which
are imposed upon me, on account of the relation in which my
family has stood towards that branch of industry to which
your letter refers.
" But the duty implied by those obligations is that I should
take that course which I conscientiously believe to be just
towards the working classes, and conducive to their perma-
nent Ti elfare and, as I consider further legislative restriction

-
EDINBURGH. FEB 16.—Y.st,rdav afternoon a meeting
was held ir. the Music-hall, fir the purpose or formally esta-
blishing this society, which was provisi•atally insiituted in
September last. Or, the !notion or D. Hide, !Livid Milner
Esq., of Milne Grades, rusk the choir, arid lisvirkg briefly
stared the ~bject of the ineetieg. he poi,ted out various
needful improvements to the r,r(rition or
the labouring
classes of Scoflame such a. the i oprro ~.enof their cot-
tages and ga,d,ais, aleor .0 men of r hot hy and
bort&gar ey=tein., arid ..bse. vett that .• ocir; v like the cne
•
they bad me, esf*.bli,:: r,,, inotnoting these and
similar improvem ,er 1 err. ,•!,,,
I. , affirming that in
Dr. MacKeezia, Si
..rdinary seasons great distress exiared anemg the labouring
classes in parts .4 Scotland, and that. a socier) like the En-
glish one for improvieg the condition of toe labour-leg classes
was here greatly needed, proceeded t:r give a very inreresting
ace •turt or rho English sei eiety, itieenjoys the patronage
the Queen and Prince Aloert, and is sui p.e.,e‘t by a vast
uninuer of the uobiley. Drawiei; diza,...tion that
exists between the labouring classes in England and in Scot-
land, he observed that wLat had been productive
of so much benefit to the poor and to tue community
in England, was equally applicable, and would be equally
beneficial in Scotland. Here, as in the south, there were
labourers and mechanics w o might be greatly benefited by
having as much garden ground as they centa 'properly culti-
vate, but, in addition to these, there are the crofters and
fishing classes here, which, under their present circumstances,
are continually exposed to destitution. Dr. Mackenzie ob-
served that these classes exist ; that it is impossible to sweep
them away, for if removed from estates they flock into vil-
lages and towns, and there become generally pauperised and
demoralised members of the community. He then generally
described the wretchedly inefficient cultivation pursued by
the crofters, and the unskilful practices of the fishing classes ;
he maintained, however, that the abuse of the croft or small
holding was no valid argument against small holdings pro-
perly cultivated. Having the responsible duty of superin-
tending vast numbers of people on the west coast, belonging
to the croft and fishing classes, he had felt it his duty to in-
quire whether they could be made to support themselves, and
into the means of effecting this. Unfortunately, although
many proprietors had made isolated attempts to unprove
their people, although excellent directions had been given
them, these were found to be inoperative, and there was no
society such as the one they were now met to establish, pro-
vided with practical plans and suggestions; he had, there-
fore, to search after the materials for the improvement
he was desirous of effecting. Fer this purpose he visited
about five years ago the estates of the Earl of Gosford
and of Colonel Close, in Ireland. The people on their estates
a few years before very closely resembled the depressed and
spiritless portion of the Highland community, but Mr.
Blacker, an eminent agriculturist and philanthropist had suc-
ceeded in raising the destitute small tenantry on the estates
under his charge to a position of great comfort; and he had
effected this chiefly by employing agricultural overseers to
' enforce the most advantageous methods of cultivation among
the small tenantry. He (Dr. Mackenzie) had also inspected
the rural improvements effected by the late Mrs. Gilbert on
her estate at Eastbourne, in Sussex. Time prevented his
entering into minute, but be was surprised and delighted to
find that Mrs. Gilbert's 400 small tenants, :not only were
able to pay punctually higher rents, but that on poor south-
down land, they raised far heavier and more productive crops
than the neighbouring large farmers. He did not wish to
make invidious contrasts, but he was convinced, from long
study and experience, that there was no physical necessity
for small tenancies being so unproductive as they are under
existing mismat.agement. Dr. Mackenzie then detailed the
lit tied ifficult les he had encounter ed in calm encing at Gairloch
similar improvements to those effected by Mr. Blacker; but
under the direction of agricultural inspeciors, the cotters had
not only drained their new crofts, upon each of which im-
proved cotteges had been erected, but they had effected
more work than was anthipaled or appointed them, and
although the potato failure had come upon them
before they were in a position to derive adequate
benefits from impruyemeids in their husbandry,
yet they had better prospects before them than
they otherwise would have had, and he 11A no doubt
that if these improvements had been three years in advance,
the poor people would have been independent of the potato
failure, because it would only ferin A portion, instead of the
major part, of their rural produce. 1)r. ill .ckatzie then ad-
verted-to the succes• wired' had at' errted the tishin/ crews
Le had prevailed upon lard ,uturnu to pursue under improve•
melds the cod and lieg fishing. hese crews were as desti-
tute as their nei_ hbours of potat..es, hut their resources from
fishily; etrabled them to purelerse meal without difficulty. it
was, he observed, by thus developurg the renounces of the
p.-ople and country the dew itu itai is to be avoided, and as
this was most eflici• n• Iv to be dime ilir,:ugh the medium of
an .fficieet sot ie.y, such as he trusted the pree•nt one would
wove, be Oegged to move the adoption et the r..soluttou he
I had read.

E. R. MA(21)4)1414E11,, Esq., having seconded it, in an
ap-
propriate speech. the motion was carried nem. con.
The Rev. D. 'l'. K. DRUMMI )NI) adverted to what he had
himselt witnessed of destitution among the peasantry, and
cordially moved—" That, finding that numerous landed pro-
prietors and other benevolent persons in September last, pro-
jected and provisionally established such a society as that so
urgently required, under the appellation of the Scottish
Patriotic Society for improving the condition of the labouring
classes,' the meeting approves of and confirms the same."
1)r. WEST moved a resolution, defining the objects of the
society to be the improvement of costar husbandry, the
diffusion of agricultural education, the improvement of cot-
tages and gardening, and of the dwellings of the labouring
classes generally; together with kindred means for inducing
provident habits among the people.
Professor JOHNSTON, in an able speech, dwelt upon the
importance of sowing the germs of future agricultural im-
provements in the minds of the rising generation, and con-
chided by seconding the resolution.
A highly influential general committee was then ap-
pointed, after which a vote of thanks to the chairman having
been proposed by Professor Gregory, and seconded by
D. Davidson, Esq., of Strath, the meeting separated.