The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-13 00:00:00

gTELKE IN TILE MANCTLESTER-BUILDIP
TBADE.

For some time past great differences have existid i 4 the
Manchester building trades, and on Saturday the greater
part of the stonemasons connected with the gat'
chester lodge struck work. The main question
dispute concerns the reduction of hours, the
wishing to make the day's work nine hours 113;
instead of ten, while the rate of wages, 335., rerasdoeu
the same. The masters refused this proposal, and in latt
October the men gave the required six months' notice of tbeil
resolution. This notice expired on Saturday last, and severfd
attempts at conciliation having failed, the strike was resolVed
upon. The employers, who had not expected this, asked
for a week's extension of the notice with the view of fur'
ther negotiations, but to this the men refused to accede.
Tho masters allege that tho men are opposed to the use of
machinery and of quarry-dressed stone, but tits
workmen state that they have no such objections.
The carpenters and joiners also demand a reduction of their
hours of labour, while the employers sock to apply the hour
syBtem, and a six months notice is now pending betwcee
them, which will exp.° on the Ist of May. It is 11°1)61,
howcv, r, tl.at the dispute in this branch of the trade Will
be arnicab'T sAthql.

SERIOUS LABOUR RIOTS IN BELGIUA

As announced by telegraph, a strike, accompanied hi
disturbances, has taken place amongst the workmen, pudd'
lers, and colliers of the extensive coalworks and machined
establishments of Messrs. Cockerel], near Liege, in Del"
gium. The details given by the Belgian papers make
it
appear that the cause of this great strike was the unporl;
larity of the manger. On Friday the men congregatia
together near the workshops, and seem to We
given the masters considerable alarm. They were,
quiet, however, until a party of ten gendarmes k elavai
was seen approaching. These soldiers were hooted hi
some of tile workmen, but the rest remained quiet.
Another small party of soldiers arrived and were,
hooted, but still no disturbance of consequence tool'
place. But during Friday night a great number
of the workmen assembled, and assailed Messte'
Cockerell's establishment with stones, breaking windosil

and doing other damage. The burgomaster, the pollee,
and the soldiers ran to stop this attack, and were
greeted with a shower of stones, several of the part,
being very severely wounded. Three battalions of troopo
were then summoned to Scraing, the name of the village.
During Saturday the men on strike assembled in greyt
were:
numbers, and attempted to prevent others going to Wit
work. They then hooted the soldiers, and assaulted
them with stones. The soldiers made a some
without using their weapons, but ultimately *
regular fight took place. Most of the gendarmes were
wounded with stones, and many of the workmen sustain,;
severe injuries. The accounts agree in stating that tie
ll
causes of the'strike were very.triN ial, but it is, nevertheleA
increasing in proportion.

THE NORTHALLERTON ELECTION

PETITION.

In opening the .I.Vorthallerton election petition agsl
the return of Mr. John Hutton, Mr. Serjeant O'Bri
claimed the seat for Mr. Johns on the ground that Aft.
Hutton had obtained a colourable majority at the l 0
election through bribery, undue influence, and intimidF
tion. The constituency numbers about 800, and beiu
somewhat of an agricultural borough there are villages
rounding it, in which live hand-loom weavers, who covet
nothing so much as a small patch of land on which r
grow produce for family use. The system of provid4
such.pieces of land for poor voters appeared to have bee::
first introduced by the agent of Mr. Miles in 1865, air
nothing (the learned counsel. said) could be so temptia
to these humble men. Offers of such land were eagerlil
sought after, and offers of that kind had been made 151
Mr. Hutton's agents. One instance of such bribery WI
alleged against Mr. Hutton himself. Another branch:
Df the case was undue influence, but the learned serjealP
was not able to lay the evidence of agency before the court"
Mr. and Mrs. Causfield were the first witnesses examined' ~
and they proved an offer of a bit of land for a yeti
Joseph Barker, the rag-gatherer said to have been cot;
rupted, described how he had resisted the tempter, and ...
voted for Mr. Johns. Potter Roberts appeared for a lee%
time to have been living rent free. He said he had alwall
understood he was to pay no rent so long as he voted blue'
rh6 judge remarked that the whole thing was too obscull
to found a charge of bribery upon.. Thomas Lazenbil,
ease was one of the most serious the petitioner relied
upon. He voted blue and voted early, having _never
been inclined to the yellows ; and the will
Df his evidence went to show that he had vote;
honestly, and that he had not been bribed with £s' s''.
alleged by the petitioner's counsel. 'William Henry Waltopt
brother of Mr. Hutton's agent for election expenses, all
in assistant surgeon, was the person said to have give°
Lazenby, the last witness, £5 on the night before tll°
election. He was called by Mr. Serjeant O'Brien, and ii
said he took no interest in the last election, and he had P°.
paid Lazenby anything for his vote. Several workmen 0.
to have been intimidated were examined, and the effect
the evidence upon the judge's mind was that the opcuil
Df the petitioner's counsel had not, so far, been provar
When it had, his lordship said, there would be an emit°,
the election.
The Rev. W. Stubbins, the minister of a small Baptl •
congregation, deposed that he had lost numbers of his 00
gregation because he voted for the Yellows.

The bill brought in by Mr. Charles Reed, gra'
Bazley, and Mr. Graves, to exempt Sunday schools ou
ragged schools from rating, contains two operative clan
s°3
which the first is indicated in the title, and the secoo
provides that the act shall not extend to Ireland.

A movement has been proposed in the Blackburn
and Preston districts to obtain a repeal of the customs dtll
_..
of 5 per cent. levied in India on cotton cloth imported fr°'
Europe. It is asserted that this duty is about equal to tbo
cost of weaving tho cloth, and it is urged that the remissio°
of the duty would greatly improve the condition of the 02t4
ton trade.
The Irish Court of Common Pleas having held 0)0
Mr. Weguelin was responsible for the acts of bribery °°l;
mitted by him between the period of Lis arrival in Yongl`,,
as a candidate and the dissolution of Parliament and isstd°l'
of the writ, has pronounced his election void, Sir JosePll
I+l.Kenna has proceeded to Ycughal and commenced t 0
canvass the constituency.
From a return issued on Monday we learn illAt
on tae Ist July, 1868, the number of paupers of all classed
relieved in 655 unions in England and Wales was 071,387111
compared with 925,544 on the Ist July, 1867, on increaso
45,843, or 5 per cent. The number of adult able-iodic
paupers relieved on the Ist July, 1868, was 155,208, an
crease of 10.543, or 7.3 over those relieved on the Ist
1867.
A parliamentary return has been issued giving tl3ei
names and sentences of those Fenian convicts whom it
not proposed to release. Of those convicted in Ireland,
elusive of military convicts, there are now twenty-three Coll;
fined in the United Kingdom, and nine in
.Australia. full!
of the former and one of the latter are under sentence .°
penal servitude for life, and the others for periods varying fr°4
twenty to five years. There are also in the convict lor,ol'
sons sixteen persons who were convicted in England, t111::6

of whom are under sentence of penal servitude for life, e 7,
for fifteen years, one for ten years, and the other for sere.
and five years.
A destructive fire took place early on Monday rit°l;l3n;
ing on the premises occupied by the members of the .1,115'1,
Carlton Club, in Lower Regent-street, and adjoining the 65
lery of Illustration. The policeman on duty saw 0151 Co
issuing from the basement, and ho immediately gave
alarm. The fire engines were soon in attendance, and the
inmates were, after considerable difficuly and clanger ,
the rescuers, soon in a place of safety. Notlyiti
standing the efforts of the firemen the flames coraplete tfo
consumed the interior of the building, from the basement
the attics. The damage done is very considerable, and 14
loss will fall on the Royal Exchange Fire and other age'
The cause of the fire is at present a mystery.
A Conference convened by the Standing Cora rl3lO
tee of the Yorkshire Board of Education on Middle 0111 i,
Education, for the purpose of eliciting the opinion of solv:)°,lt
masters on the provisions of the " Endowed Schools 13/",:i
was held on Saturday, in Leeds. The Rev. Canon gas 0,
York, presided, end there was a good attendance of gel)-,1.0,
men connected both with public and private schools. Thel:tj
visions of the bill which affect these schools were discussed to
considerable length, and opinions were expressed advert,
the exclusion of the seven public schools mentioned in 4161
tion three from the proposed examinations; and in fav011;110
some modification of restriction which requires that ;01
masters of endowed schools should be in hOly orders, 513:
the constitution of the Educational Council. The feeli"t,l
tiro masters of private schools appeared to be very getleol9
in favour of the examinations being extended to the sell°
in which they are interested.
The. Liverpool C'ourier states that the first 'efft,
steps have been taken to set aside the will of the 16t°t
Samuel Holland Moreton, whereby the whole of 111°•rvf,
perty, to the computed value of £30,000, is bequeathed °,
Goss, Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool. The cite
stances under which the will was drawn by a local priest' fir:
our contemporary, appear fully to justify the allegation OW
icos
Moreton was not of disposing mind when the document bif
thrust upon him as he lay, apparently unconscious, 00 036,
deathbed. A caveathas been lodged against the 103 !11, Air.
District Court of Probate, and there is every reason 1." itf
ticipate—unless the Roman Catholic Church .ahand°/I.,s•eet,
pretensions voluntarily;7Alat tha-P4.4 1111.fOr
A 11intim