The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-07 00:00:00

THE TEN HOURS BILL.

The death of Lord Wharneliffe, and the consequent
elevation of the Hon. John Stuart Wortley, M.P., to the
House of Peers, having created a vacancy in the repre-
sentation of the West Riding, the Central Short Time
Committees of Yorkshire resolved that the ten hours
question should be promptly brought before such candi-
date or candidates as might offer themselves, and that
the secretary sould solicit an interview for a deputation
from each of the Short Time Committees of the manu-
facturing districts of Yorkshire.
On Saturday, Dec. 27, the Right Hon. Lord Viscount
Morpeth, having, in compliance with a numerously
signed requisition of the electors, offered himself as a
candidate, intimating at the same time his intention of
declining to visit the several large towns, as on former
occasions, the secretary of the Central Short Time Com-
mittee immediately proceeded to Castle Howard, whence
his Lordship's address to the electors was dated the day
previous, for the purpose of soliciting an interview for a
deputation from all the Short Time Cemmittees of the
West Riding on this important subject,
He arrived at Castle Howard on Saturday evening,
and was most courteously received by the Noble Lord,
who, in reply to his request on behalf of the Short Time
Committees, that Lord Morpeth would fix a day upon
which he might be pleased to meet the deputation from
those bodies, expressed his readiness to meet them at
York. His Lordship at the same time stated, that if the
delegates thought proper to send him a written com-
munication, he would give it the same attention, and
save the deputies and himself the trouble of a long
journey. After some conversation on the factory
question, in which the Noble Lord showed considerable
interest for the improvement of the condition of the
working classes, the secretary returned, and on Monday
summoned a meeting of the delegates at the New Inn, at
Bradford, for Tuesday, the 30th ult., which was presided
over by the Rev. W. Morgan, 8.D., incumbent of Christ
Church.
After considerable discussion it was decided that Lord
Morpeth's suggestion should be acted upon, and the
following memorial was unanimously adopted, to which
his Lordship's answer was received on Monday :

" TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD VISCOUNT MORPETH.

"My Lord,—We, the delegates of the Short Time
Committees deputed from all the large manufacturing
towns of the West Riding, beg leave most respectfully to
state to your Lordship that the existing Act of Parlia-
ment allows the working of young persons in factories
for 12 hours a day on five days of the week, and nine
hours on Saturdays.
" That these hours of labour in factories are most op-
pressive, and that the shortening thereof is absolntely
essential to the well-being of the crowded population in
the factory districts.
"That the large proportion of females and young
persons employed in factories renders it the more neces-
sary to lessen this unreasonable length of toil, and that
the hours of working should be from six o'clock in the
morning to six o'clock in the evening, allowing proper
intervals for meals.

" That a majority of the House of Commons, includ-
ing most of the leading members of all parties, did in
the session before last give their support to Lord
Ashley's measure of ten hours working per day, but in
consequence of the opposition of the Government to this
just and necessary limitation their decision was subse-
quently reversed. That the factory system requires this
term of daily labour to be enacted for the purpose of
giving to the working classes and their families the
means of obtaining social comfort, with moral and reli-
gious improvement. That this great question can never
be settled until the claims of justice and humanity are
conceded by a legislative prohibition of the destructive
toil which many hundreds of persons are now doomed
to suffer in factories, inflicting upon these unoffending
individuals two hours longer labour per day than is re-
quired from adults who perform their daily labour at
other trades out of factories.

" Your memorialists, therefore, most earnestly en-
treat your Lordship's sympathy for their oppressed con-
dition, and in the event of your Lordship king again
called to take your seat in the House of Commons as
the representative of the West Hiding, that you will
gratify the expectations entertained from yonr Lord-
ship's benevolent character, by giving your influence
and support to the Bill which will be introluced by Lord
Ashley, for the restriction of faP.:,Ory
labour to ten hours
a day for five days, and tight hours on Saturdays.'

MOttrtfrrn 0 REtiLt.

" Castle Howard, Jan. 3, 1846.

Gentlemen,-1 have been favoured with the memo-
rial of the Delegates of the Short Tillie Committees of
the West Riding of Yorkshire.
" 1 willingly promise to them the sympathy they re-
quest with so much propriety and forbearance of lan-
guage, for the whole body which they represent; and for
their condition in lifes If I bow re-enter Parliament,
after the long interval of absence from its deliberations,
and without having had the many important questions
connected with factory labour specially brought under
my notice, I must reserve to myself entire freedom to
deal with the propositions which may be submitted for
adoption ; but I shall bring to their consideration a keen
feeling for the wants and wishes of the working-classes,
and a resolute determination to do my whole duty
towards them.
" I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
"Your most faithful servant,

MORPETH.

" The Delegates of the Short Time Committees
of the West Riding."

MELANCHOLY CASE OF SELF DESTRUCTION.—
YEOVIL, MONDAY, JAN. s.—Last night Yeovil was a scene of
great excitement, in consequence of the self-destruction of a
respectable female, named Hook, of Belmont-street, who
destroyed herself in a well. The deceased had recently lost
her husband, but had resided with a daughter, who kept a
school. On Sunday night she left her bed, and shortly
afterwards moaning was heard in the well. A young man,
named Vagg, a neighbour, proceeded thither, and succeeded in
dragging the body to within a few feet of the surface, when
the rope unfortunately broke, and before another could be
procured life was extinct. The deceased was very much re-
spected in the neighbourhood, where she had been many
years a resident.
SOUTH SEA ITOUSE.—Yesterday a Quarterly Court
of the proprietors of South Sea Stock was held at the Com-
pany's House, in Threadneedle street, to consider of a divi-
dend. Mr. Charles Franks, the sub-governor, in the chair.
The minutes of the last court were read and confirmed. The
Chairman acquainted the Court that the present was a general
meeting, for the purpose of declaring a half-yearly dividend
on the Company's stock. The accounts which had been pre-
pared pursuant to the Act of Parliament, would now be read.
The secretary having read the accounts, the Chairman, after
alluding to some of the principal items, moved that a divi-
dend of one-and-three- quarters per cent. be declared on the
Company's stock, and that the warrants be payable on the
sa.ne day as the Government annuities, viz., Thursday, the
Bth instant. The motion was put and carried, and there
being no other business before it, the Court adjourned.
CALCRAFT, THE EXECUTIONER, MOBBED.—lmme-
diately after the completion of the execution of the woman,
Browning, at the Old Bailey, on Monday last, a cab was ob-
served to draw up to a door of the prison, from which it 1-; as
known the executioner, Calcraft, would quickly emerge for
the purpose of going to perform a similar office at the gaol of
Horsemonger-lane, when a simultaneous rush was made by
the mob towards the spot, and in an instant the wheels and
roof, and every part of the cab that was available, was taken
possession of by the rabble, so eager were they to obtain a
glance of the functionary of the law. Calcraft soon made his
appearance, when the uproar of the assembled throng became
deafening. A posse of the police, however, wit° were at hand,
soon dislodged the intruders front the cab, which now quickly
passed off towards its destination, followed by hundreds whose
course were directed to the same spot.
PUGILISM.—In the course of the past year there
were u
nnto f
rloens
is 1 tol atno
2140071.parisziedefi.ghts, the stakes varying in
The Duke of Buccleucb, the Lord President elect
of the Council, is understood to have obtained an accession
of 25,000/. per annum to his Grace's large rent-roll, by the
recent demise of Ins uncle, Lora Montagu._