The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-30 00:00:00

REPORT ON. THE MINING DISTRICTS.

Mr. Hugh Seymour Tremenheere's report on the
ruining districts for 1856 has just been published in the
form of a small blue book of 56 pages. After reporting
the extension of associations for giving prizes in schools
to South Wales and elsewhere, the commissioner urges
the necessity of a measure to compel all boys between
10 and 14 years of age, who work below ground,
to attend some school for 100 hours every six
mouths—a measure which, in the general opinion of all
concerned, would be of great service, both to the labour-
ing mining population and their employers. There-is a
general concurrence in the principle of the proposed
measure, and a few objections of detail are satis-
factorily disposed of by Mr. Tremenheere. The
extorts at improvement made in the great mining dis-
tricts of Monmouthshire and Glamorgaeshire are next
noticed. The Chartist outbreak of 1839 having
alarmed the proprietors, impelled them to action, and in
successive years the great majority have taken some steps
to provide for their people better means of moral, reli-
gious, and general instruction, and to facilitate the phy-
sicalcomforts and decencies of life, among these large and
rapidlpeollected popula'ions. Gratifying instances of
this care assd forethought are given in the report. Toe
unfeminine employment of women upon the " pit-
banks and cinder-tips" has long been indicated as de-
grading to the female character, and as fraught wish
many and most obvious evils. A woman of this class,
so brought up, and from an early age marries at or
soon after 20 ; and how, it is asked, is she qualified
for the discharge of the conjugal duties ! She does
not know how to keep a house clean and tidy ; she
cannot cook ; she is ignorant of the first principles of
economy, and she knows nothing of the management of
children. In connexion with this branch of the report,
the neglect of some special instruction and training in
nearly all female schools for the labouring classes ie very
properly pointed out as an evil that might easily be re-
medied, and various suggestions are made with this view,
which, if carried out, could hardly fail to be moetbene-
ficial. The strike in the principal coal and iron districts
in Scotland occupies tho remainder of the report.
The loss of wages between March and June (when
the strike terminated) is estimated at a minimum of
500,0001., but this very imperfectly represented the total
loss inflicted upen the community. The strikes are
likely to take place from time to time in Scotland, and
the employers are urged to adopt, without delay, such
measures as may tend to abridge their duration. Mr.
Tremenheere thinks that it is possible, were the effort
fairly made, to establish so much confidence between
workmen and masters, as should satisfy the former, when
a demand for an increase of wages was resisted by the
latter, that they really could not afford to comply with
the request. And so with relation to a lowering of wages,
the facts upon which the master founds his plea for
reduction should be patent to the men. Mr. Tremen-
heere deplored the fact, that whenever any difference
arises between masters and workmen, the question is
immediately seized upon by delegates, " whose direct_l
interest it is to aggravate every existing cause ofndbes
pate, and bring forward as many others ash,ca
made available,' and who, by generalising t e quest-
tion of wages for the whole district,eldio a grea
might
tombe-
deal of harm ; for one master, ofbyuherisais.fal'e.7mig
anotherentirely inue
et
shtei
munication, easy working of his psi
ables
em eto affordlocality.
Butmuch
thbetterese wages
ersthaarne
mated by paid delegates.h The results of strikes are par-
ticularly noticeable in t e
1." The increase of crime.
The low living produces
2 uponT hteh
increaseosst
eof disease. in them
low fevers, and if wet or cold weather comes on soon
after a strike and before the stock of clothes, which has
usually been much reduced by being sold or pawned,
can be replaced or recovered, an increased rate
of mortality is the consequence. 3. Demoralised
habits. The same observers, having experience of
strikes for upwards of 30 years, notice with regret the
injury done to the habits of a workman and his family
by a strike. The loss of their usual resource of wages
drives them to resort to means of saving themselves from
starvation which an honest and well-behaved workman
would not previously have thought himself capable of.
Some get into debt to an amount which tempts them to
become dishonest ; others perambulate the country
begging, or rather often extorting money or food ; others
send their wives or children, or • both, on the same
errand ; in all cases their self respect is impaired or de-
stroyed, and when that is gone the descent is easy to
crime and degradation.
The Marchioness (Anne) -of andonderry has arrived
at Garron Tower, her ladyship's seat in the north of
Ireland, from Seahain Hall.
The Earl and Countess of Sandwich are entertainin g
a select circle of friends at Hinchinbrooke Park, Hun
tingdonshire.