The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-11 00:00:00

TRADES UNIONS.

At a conference of representatives of trades unions,
held at Edinburgh, to consider the various questions
connected with capital and labour, a discussion took
place on the subject of Messrs. Hughes and Mun-
della's Trades Union Bill, to be introduced in the
House of Commons, entitled "A Bill to amend the Law
relating to Trade Combinations and Trade Unions."
The necessity of special legislation for these societies
was combatted by several speakers, who at the same
time considered that the Combination Laws should
be repealed altogether, and not amended, being
detrimental to the interests of working men. The
chairman held that if a man on strike commits an
assault upon a man who has filled his place, the com-
mon law is quite sufficient to punish the offender.
It was proposed that the Conference should adopt
resolutions to embody in a bill, but this was over-
ruled as a bold stroke to take, and motions having
been made for the adoption of the clauses of the
bill under consideration, amendments were proposed
by other speakers. and ultimately carried.

MISS BECKER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN,

A. lady has ascended the platform, and held forth
at some length upon the subject of the political
rights of women. Miss Becker, in speaking at a
public meeting at Crewe, held to consider Mr. Jacob
Bright's bill for the purpose of extending the
parliamentary franchise to women house-
holders, said that she would ask why, women
should not be represented in Parliament P
She thought that a nation did itself great injustice
in refusing. to avail itself of the influence of women
in determining its laws and customs. Under the
reign of Louis Philippe in France, women used to
hold many civil offices, such as those of post-
office and other clerks, but they had since
been deprived of these privileges, because they
had not got sufficient political
influence, In
the same way, in England, when a farmer dies,
his widow may wish to keep on the farm, but she is
not allowed to do so because she has no vote.
Miss Becker saw no reason why a sharp,
clever girl should not have the opportunity,
not only of receiving primary and secondary educa-
tion, but of passing through the higher schools and
obtaining Government offices in the same way as her
brothers. With regard to the opinions prevalent
about married women, it was supposed, she said,
that when women married, they entered into
a kind of haven, and had nothing to do
but to live upon their husbands. She thought that
there were a great many married women who main-
tained their husbands. Moreover, if a man had to
cook his own food, and sweep his own house, he
would not be able to earn so much wages as he does
when he has a wife to do it for him. The speaker
ridiculed the idea of women losing the benefit of all
those chivalrous politenesses which men now
gave them, if they were invested with political
status.

CONCERTED ACTION IN THE RELIEF OF THE POOR,

A conference of ministers of all denominations
interested in the social welfare of the East of London
has been held, to receive the report of a committee
appointed to consider the desirableness of united
action in the relief of pauperism. The Rev. W. H.
Milman, after reading the report, called attention to
the evils which attend the entire absence of all system in
the distribution of relief. The opinion of the committee
was that great waste and injustice must follow the
want of organisation in charity. The remedy pro-
posed was that in certain defined districts all dis-
pensers of charities should unite together, and with
the board of guardians, and act according to the
special circumstances of the district. No relief
should be given until each case had been
investigated by an experienced person, a classi-
fication of cases would be rendered possible
by concerted action, and a full knowledge of all the
agencies of the district. This classification would
shew where poverty was chronic, in which case it
would be handed over to the guardians, and where
it was the result of misconduct. In the
latter case the societies would be relieved
from the burden of assistance. The chairman, the
Rev. 11. Cummins, dwelt upon the i rupolicy of com-
bining relief with religion. The best plan was never
to take money in one's pocket when paying religious
visits to the poor, and, vice vcrsd, never to talk
religion when distributing charity.

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
It transpires that some of the paupers of the St.
Pancras Workhouse have an exceedingly unnatural
objection to witnessing the dying agonies of their
fellow paupers. A woman died of consumption about
midnight two or three days ago ; no screen was put
around the body, and it was allowed to remain all
night in the ward. About seven or eight in the
morning a patient died of heart disease in the next
bed, and it was suggested at the inquest that she might
have been frightened, and that a screen ought to be
placed round dying persons. The matter, as our
wards are at present constructed, is an exceedingly
difficult one. As the coroner pointed out, it is horrible
for sick paupers to witness the dying agonies of their
companions ; and on the other hand it must be equally
horrible to announce the doom of the expiring man
or woman by drawing a screen round the bed. Cannot
the wards be divided into boxes—at all events for the
more serious cases ?