The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-08 00:00:00

THE EINE HOURS' 1110KEIFIENT.

An unfounded rumour is abroad that the Mair
chester Unity of 0:ld Fellows has actively inter•
fered to assist the workmen in the case of another
lock-out. The fact, however, is that at the annual
meeting at Shrewsbury last week one of the oldest
laws was simply amended. It provided that no
member should be allowed a " travelling card"
(being a passport for him to claim assistance in any
district), if he was out of employment through a
strike. The object of course was to prevent the
society being used as a means of support in objec-
tionable combinations, and to make the matter
more certain, a reason was added to the law in
these words :—" Trades' Unions not being coun-
tenanced by the Order." In practise the law was
never applied to deprive any member of benefits if
he was the innocent victim of a strike, but as there
was a doubt in the minds of some officers a propo-
sition was legally brought forward and discussed
for making the rule plain. Many deputies spoke
against its being altered in any way so as to
encourage strikes, and none more strongly than
Mr. Charles Hardwick, of Preston (author of "The
Manual of Friendly Societies"), who, from the ex-
perience of his own town, was able to offer some
valuable remarks. It was unanimously agreed
that the Manchester Unity should, as a friendly
society, remain strictly neutral in any dispute
between masters and workmen; and the 233 d
general law, as amended by common consent, now
reads :—" That no member shall be allowed a card
who has lost his employment through engaging in
a strike or turn-out for wages."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—Will you kindly insert in your next im-
pression the following correspondence, which has
taken place between the Building Trades' Con-
ference and the Central Association of Master
Builders, since the operatives forwarded their
memorial of 25th May ?
On behalf of the Conference, yours respectfully,
GEO. POTTER, Secretary.

Conference of United Building Trades,
, Rochester-terrace, Westminster, Juno 7, 1860.

To MR. WALES, SECRETARY OF CENTRAL ASSOCTA

TION.

Conference of United Building Trades, 11,
Rochester-terrace, Westminster, May
31, 1860.
Sir,—At a special meeting of the Conference,
convened last evening, for the purpose of receiving
a suggestion from yourself, to the effect that you
thought the employers would receive a deputation
if the Conference were to ask for oze—
Resolved,—" That the Conference are willing to
send a deputation if the employers wish to receive
one, that the question may be fully discussed be-
tween the two parties."
I am, sir, on behalf of the Conference,
Yours respectfully,
GEo. POTTER, Secretary.

In answer to the above, the following resolution
was received from Mr. Wales on June 6th :
" That Mr. Potter be informed by the Secretary
that the Committee of the Central Association de-
cline to renew any discussion on the nine hours'
question."

INAUGURATION OF THE RUST OF THE
RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN PAKINGTON IN THE
MUSEUM OF HASLAR HOSPITAL.

The bust of Sir John Pakington, executed by
Marochetti, and subscribed for by the medical offi-
cers of the navy, was placed in Haslar Museum on
Tuesday last, in acknowledgment of the great ser-
vice rendered to the medical department of the ser•
vice during the administration of the right hon.
baronet as First Lord of the Admiralty. There
were nearly 100 persons present, including Cap-
tain Superintendent the Hon. Geo. Hastings, th(
medical and other officers of the hospital and their
families, the medical and other officers of the fleet,
the Baron Marochetti, and the deputation, consist-
ing of Dr. Nelson, R.N., Dr. Rees, Deputy-Inspec-
ter-Geueral, Dr. Beith, R.N., Dr. Dobie, and Dr.
M'William.
After the deputation had been formally intro-
duced to the Captain Superintendent by Dr. Nisbet,
the medical inspector-general of the hospital,
Dr. M' WILLIAM delivered an address, in the
course of which, with reference to the selection of
Hasler for the reception of the bust, ho observed—
In requesting permission of my Lords of the Ad-
miralty—a permission which was most promptly
and courteously granted—to place Sir J. Peking-
ton's bust here, we considered that nowhere was
so appropriate for its reception as Hasler Hospital,
the chief of naval hospitals, an institution momover
associated with some of the greatest triumphs of
nautical medicine. It was hero that Lind, justly
designated by Sir Gilbert Blane, " the father of
nautical medicine," sent forth a century ago some
of those remarkable works which, by first clearly
pointing out what attention to the simple laws of
nature could effect, contributed so largely to the
health and comfort, and consequently to the effi-
ciency, of our seamen, and gave a high place among
the benefactors of mankind. It was here also that,
some years later, the able, energetic, warmhearted,
but ill-rewarded Trotter, physician to the fleet
under Lord Howe, gave to the world those
plans for sanitary and administrative reform
which have proved of lasting benefit to his
country. Seldom have such talents, combined with
so much zeal, been devoted to the public service as
were those of Trotter. A main object of his life
finds emphatic expression in the dedication of his
" Medicina Nautica" to Earl Howe, admiral, the
flag officers, captains, and other officers of the fleet
—" It has been my wish to make the duties of the
medical profession subservient to the comfort and
happiness of men that have earned laurels for you,
and given security to their country." To have been
the means of raising the health of our navy from
the lowest standard—a standard which long made
a ship of war an object of aversion to seamen—to a
degree which has no parallel among any other
class of men ; to have enabled the Channel Fleet,

whose very existence was at one time endangered
by the terrible ravages of scurvy, to keep at sea in
a state of health and high efficiency at a moment-
ous period in the history of this country ; to have
laid down a health system adapted to all time, to
all classes, and to all climates, are no mean titles to
glory; and that glory, so honourably earned, pos-
terity has awarded to the illustrious names of Lind,
Blane, and Trotter, whose peers in their own de-
partment—when we except Sir John Pringle and
Jackson in the army—none of our public services
have produced either before or since their day.
Coming down to later times we have the honoured
name, the reputation, far beyond European, of Sir
John Richardson—the undaunted traveller, the
man of science, and the skilled and humane physi-
cian. This museum, where he long and usefully
laboured, is of itself a monument of his devotion to
those branches of science which he illustrated. And
did it not misbecome me to speak of those still in
office and authority, I could with great advantage
to my case dwell upon the high professional attain-
ments, the long and eminent services, the rare ad-
ministrative power, the untiring solicitude for the
welfare of the service throughout, which charac-
terise the present director-general, and which, as
they have beneficially influenced the past, augur
favourably for the future of the department. I
might advert -to such names as Lord Brougham
and the Duke of Richmond in the Lords, and
Boldero, Wakley and others, in the Commons,
who have benefited the service by their advocacy of
the cause of naval medical officers. It will, how-
ever, be sufficient if you will bear with me while I
bring before you in a few words those statesmen
who, while holding the office of First Lord of the
Admiralty, thought it not unworthy of them to in-
quire into the condition of the medical department,
and make such changes and improvements as the
occasion demanded. And prominently in the fore-
ground of such a view stand the first Lord Melville
and Sir John Pakington. The bust of Lord Mel-
ville, executed by Chantrey, was placed here by a
generation of our brethren now almost passed away,
commemorative of him who, as First Lord of the
Admiralty in 1805, obtained an order in council for
the medical officers, which in that day was properly
regarded as the greatest boon that had ever been
granted them. To Sir Francis Baring and Sir
Charles Wood, who in 1850 and 1855 respectively
held the office of First Admiralty Lord, the grati-
tude of the medical officers is also due for the im-
provements effected in the department while under
their rule. Those who read the warrant of Lord
Melville of 1805, and that as well as the speeches
in Parliament of Sir John Pakington, in 1859, will
find a remarkable identity of object and purpose,
even of the language used on the two occasions, and
certainly an identity of view as to the course to be
taken in respect to the medical officers. Both
statesmen in framing their respective warrants, ap-
rear to have considered it quite as much a privilege
as a duty in endeavouring to provide for the case of
our gallant sailors, subject to all the horrors of war
cs well as to the baneful influences of climate, me-
dical attcsidance not inferior to that enjoyed by the
civil portion of the community. They were, in fact,
actuated not alone by the comparatively narrow mo.
tive of advancing the medical officers in rank, privi-
lege, and emolument, but also by the higher consi-
deration that the just elevation of those officers was
conducive to the well-being of every other class of
officers, indeed of the whole naval service, and con-
sequently of this country, which in the hour of need
looks to the navy as its rosin protection. For these
reasons it has seemed to us that this bust of Sir
John Pakington, executed by the Baron Marochetti,
and alike admirable as a 'work of art and faithful