The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-15 00:00:00

7' H E TRUCK SYSTEM IX SCOTLAND.

Some striking revelations of the truck system in Scot-
land have recently been made by the special commis-
sioners of the North Priti.ch Daily Mail. The system,
with all its evils, prevails extensively in Lanarkshire,
where the tommy-shops and truck-stores are answer-
able for much of the degradation, improvidence,
and intemperance of the population. The men
complain bitterly of the quality and the prices of
the goods supplied them at the stores, and declare that
2s. 6d. does not go so far there as 2s. in the regular shops.
The wages in some parts are paid monthly, and men dis-
charged between the " pays " have often to leave without
a penny of money, only a truck ticket for the balance
being given them. Where there are no stores in connection
with the works, the employers often charge a shilling in
the pound for interest, but they prefer this greatly to
being compelled to take their supplies from the truck-shops.
Should there be a store, the man is expected to give
up the whole of his money, taking out as much
as he requires in goods, and leaving the rest to his credit.
It is with difficulty the men get hack any costs for their
necessary expenses. Two shilliuga in the pound is the
average allowed them. If the sZ;oreman has not
the goods required, he sometimes gives the man
an order on a local tradesman, and the latter
charges a commission on the order. If the men or
their wives sell the "lines" which they7get from the store-
man to testify that so much is due to them, they cannot
get the full value. Even publicans will not give more
than ls. 6d. for a 2s. line. If the man on receiving an
advance at the pay-office spends the cash in a shop
instead of taking it to the storekeeper, the next time he asks
for an advance he is refused, and does not get taken
into favour again without the intervention of the store-
keeper. This is called "sloping the store," and few but
novices try it. The women try ingenious expedients to
save a little ready money, and ask for the most useless and
unlikely things, in the hope that the storekeeper will be
obliged to refund the money. As a general rule, the
managers have so completely monopolised the custom of
their workmen that very little cash leaves their hands. The
same money passes back and fore between the store and the
office two or three times a day. On cashing days the pay
clerk exhausts his floating capital, and has to steal out
to the storeman to receive back his own coin. In this
way £2O will keep a large work going for a whole month
between the pays. The worst feature of the whole
system, however, is that nearly all these stores have
licenses to sell spirits and beer, and every facility is given
to the workmen to drink. The men are prevented from
subscribing to provident funds or clubs by their money
being withheld from them, but they are welcome to spend
as much as they like in drink.

A BOY KILLED DY DRINKING WHISKY.—A
boy named Patrick Hutton, ton years of age, died the
other day from drinking a quantity of whisky which he
stole from a cask at a public-house door, in Bailieborough,
County Cavan, Ireland.
PRINCE ARTHUR. —Under present arrangements,
Prince Arthur will proceed to Canada in the autumn,
where he will be attached to the Rifle Brigade. On his
return, in the following spring, he will probably join a
battalion of the same regiment which will be stationed at
Woolwich.
The India Council have sanctioned a building
for the India Museum ; orders have been issued to the
Board of Works to reserve the ground for it south of the
India Office, and to Sir Dishy Wyatt to prepare the
plans. The building is to provide rooms also for the
geographical department of the India Office and the
Iloyal Asiatic Society.
DEATH OF ME. DRINKWATER MEADOWS.•—
Another of our old actors has passed away. Mr. Drink.
water Meadows, for many years a prominent comedian at
Covent Garden Theatre, where he made his first appear.
ance as Scrub in " The Beaux Stratagem," in September,
1821, died at his residence, Prairie Cottage, Barnes, on
Saturday last, at the age of seventy-five.
"ONE SWALLOW DOES NOT MAKE A SIIMMER."—.•
Like the spendthrifts of old LEsop, we have rejoiced in a
premature spring, and like him our experience has taught
us that " one swallow does not make a summer." As I
write I have two dead swallows before me, killed like a
score or two of their fellow-wanderers by the "unkind"
and bitter east winds which have prevailed during the last
fortnight in May. I should like to know if this killing of
the house martins has been noticed elsewhere. A fort-
night ago house-flies were common, now there is not one to
be seen. —The Gardener's Magazine.

How SIGNATURES AGAINST THE IRISH CHURCH
BILL ARE OBTAINED.-A correspondent of a Bristol con-
temporary writes as follows :—" I sent my little boy, just
twelve years of age, to a shop in Baptist Mills for an
article there sold. The shopkeeper asked the little fellow
if he could write. On his replying in the affirmative, he
was asked to write his name on a sheet then presented to
him. Of course he was only too glad to show his skill in
penmanship, and down went the name, clear and legible.
On returning from the shop, proud of his achievement, ho
told me what he had done. Thinking I " smelt a rat " I
walked to the shop. I there saw the name of my child,
which, of course, I crossed off indignantly. These are
facts. I leave others to draw the inferences.—THE FATHER
OF THE CHILD."

MORE USES FOR PAPER,.—Of late years the
part played by paper in the manufacture of household
goods has been amazingly extended. We have had paper
collars and cuffs, paper waistcoats and wash-bowls, paper
pails and pipes—indeed, when it comes to paper race-
boats, which are successfully rowed, and even paper
" oil cloths," as they are sometimes called, habitually
trodden upon—what limits are there to this industry?
But now Mr. Pavy's new process for paper-making pro-
mises to carry the uses of this substance far beyond any-
thing hitherto looked for. He compounds it of several
sorts of animal and vegetable substances hitherto not
employed, and these being reduced to a pulp and bleached,
the completed fabric is a sort of felt, or, as it is said, some-
thing much resembling what the Japanese use for hand-
“L.uluLcly u» vlie In 11,s application as the
latter. It has pliancy, flexibility, strength ; it can be
sewed with the needle as easily and as tightly as any of
the woven fabrics which it is designed to replace. Already
they have made of it table-cloths, quilts, shoes, petticoats
(price 6d.), and hundreds of similar articles known to
domestic economy. - New York Times.

EXAMINATIONS BY THE SCIENCE AND ART
DEPARTMENT.—The annual science examinations of the
Science and Art Department were brought to a close on
Saturday, May 29. This was the ninth general examina-
tion that has been held since the establishment of the
system of aid to instruction in science in 1859. The ex
aminations are superintended by local committees. They
were in this way held at 437 centres this year, whilst
last year they were only held at 261. At that time there
were about 15,000 students under instruction, this year
there were 25,000, and the number of papers worked
sbews a similar increase, having risen from 13,112 to
23,997. The number of candidates in the various
subjects was as follows :—ln geometrical drawing there
were 2,547, last year there were 1,337 ; in machine
drawing 2,997, last year 1,671 ; in building, construction,
and naval architecture 1,993, last year 1,206 ; in ele
mentary mathematics 2,302, last year 1,390 ; in highs'
mathematics 85, last year 33 ; in theoretical mechanics
631, last year 353 ; in applied mechanics 284, last year
167 ; in acoustics, light, and heat 1,350, last year 769 ; in
magnetism and electricity 2,490, last year 1,033 ; in inor-
ganic chemistry 2,160, last year 904 ; in organic chemistry
210, last year 123; in geology, GO9, last year 309; in
mineralogy 67, last year 38; in animal physiology
2,227, last year 1,182 ; in zoology 303, last year 293 ; in
vegetable anatomy and physiology 144, last year 112:

in systematic and economic botany 90, last year 73 ; in
mining 48, last year 41 ; in metallurgy 120, last year 81,
in navigation 303, last year 219 ; in nautical astronomy
107, last year 86 ; in steam 148, last year
.106 ; and in
physical geography 2,786, last year 1,516. This is the
first examination at which the scholarships of £lOO pet
annum, founded by Mr. Whitworth, have been compete('
for. There have been about 120 candidates for them, an.'
as soon as the results of all the theoretical examinations
have been made known the practical examination will bt
proceeded with in the manner detailed in the minute of
the Lords of thcCopinlitteo of Council on Zdtmkt4,_