The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-13 00:00:00

TllE GREAT LUXE3IIII:RG RAILWAY.

That funny difficulty—the Belgian railway ques-
tion—has come up again, though in a pleasing
manner. The origin of this dispute was a proposi-
tion that the Great Luxemburg Railway should be
leased to the East of France Company, the scheme
being opposed by the Belgian Government, w' ich
passed a law enabling it to forbid the transfer of any
Belgian line to a foreign firm. France bullied, but the
little State held out, and finally won. It was
agreed that the lease should be set aside and an
arrangement for through traffic made instead. We
are now informed that this agreement has been com-
pleted, and that it pleases all parties. The Belgian
Government approves of it. France, at all events,
raises no objection. And the arrangement is said to
be very favourable to the Great Luxemburg share-
holders, many of whom aru Englishmen.

FOREIGN NOTES.
WORKING CLASSES IN TIM UNITED STATIS.

Mr. Robert Coningsby has furnished the Spectator with
another letter on the working classes of America. Cali-
fornia has found great favour with the working men, and
those who leave it are generally anxious to get back again.
The climate is pleasant, while wages are high and the
food is cheap. The great want of California is
female labour. Men are frequently employed
in occupations that ordinarily belong to females.
ome facts taken from the Californian Labour Exchange
,hew that rough and unskilled labourers got upwards of
:fifty shilling a week besides their beard and lodging.
Engineers were provided with work at rates varying from
fifty to eighty &liars per month with board. Carpenters
found work at wages from three to five dollars a day, and
so on through sheets of official figures vouched for by the
Governor of the State. It is not surprising under these
circumstances that during the season the labourers
af Europe pour into the United States at
the rate of over 1,060 a day. When strikes
take place in the United States, the working
men generally get the best of it. In Philadelphia
the gasmen cut short the dispute with their employers by
turning out the light, and the masters had to give in.
There were two nights during which not a dollar could be
turned after dark in a city of 800,000 souls. There is not
the same facility for combination for the purposes of a
strike in America as in England and the men do not
possess funds like those of our trade societies. It is to be
observed that the trade societies in America mix them-
selves up more in political matters than ours do, and a
secretary of a union declared that if they had wealthy
Lodies like our Amalgamated Engineers, they would
elect their own President and appoint working men as
Foreign Ministers.

Although trades unionism is rapidly spreading in
America, it is not likely to have much influence on the
future of the Continent. Men of sufficient ability to
officer societies can generally find in America some more
profitable employment. Sydney Smith said a Bishop
should never argue with a Dissenting minister, but invite
him to dinner ; and Columbia appears to do this with her
trades union secretaries.
A VALUABLE DISCOVERY.

Professor Davidson, of the United States Coast Survey,
has just made a valuable discovery. While visiting
Alaska during the late eclipse he came upon a mountain
range of iron ore of great extent, having an elevation of
2,000 feet. It caused a local variation of ten degrees in
the compass.