The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-22 00:00:00

STRIKES.

The strike at Preston still continues, and there is much
speculation as to how it will terminate. The operatives
alone are sanguine as to the success of their movement.
All the local papers suggest a judicious submission to the
proposed reduction ; general commercial opinion is in
the same direction, and throughout the town, among
all independent circles, the idea predominates that
the step which the operatives have taken is not
a very wise one, and that in the end they will have to
give way to the proposition of the masters. In some depart-
and it is confidently expected that they will belargely supple
mented by subscriptions from other towns. The opera—
tives on stike have received their first relief. It has come
solely from local union funds, and ranges, it is said, from
7s. to 10s. per head for those in the spinning and weaving
departments. On Tuesday night the question as to
further increasing the relief given to spinners will be con-
sidered by the executive. There is a tendency in favour
of emigration among the operatives. In about three
weeks, unless some concession is made by the opera-
tives, nearly 16,000 of them will be thrown out of
work, the masters having fully made up their minds
to abide by their original decision. It is dis-
tinctly stated that the bulk of the masters, are, and have
for some time been, losing money. Not six of them, it is
mid, are working to a profit. Manufacturing property
nas become a drug, and there are some mills in the town
which cost upwards of £40,000 each, which are now in a
good condition, but which cannot be sold for anything
dke half that amount. All those mills making cloth—
grey shirting-s, &c.—for the Indian market are losing
money on account of the depressed state of business in
that country, and at present there is not the slightest sign
of any improvement. It is calculated that in Preston
the spinners and manufacturers lose at least ls. on every
piece of grey (371 yards), and that the merchants and ship-
pers thereof lose from Gd. to ls. The aggregate number
of operatives in Preston is about 30,000. The principal
manufacturer in the town, who is in the Master's Associa-
tion, has given no notice of a reduction, and it is thought
tie will not do so ; but many of the other employers are
not so favourably circumstanced with regard to orders,
and with them it is argued that there is no other alterna-
tive but reduction. At two or three of the mills where
strikes have occurred a few of the hands are working at
s reduction of 10 per cent.
.A
great meeting of operatives' delegates was held on
Sunday at Preston. The following resolutions were una•
nimously passed :_g, 1. Believing as we do that the
operatives of Preston have made every reasonable conces-
sion by offering to submit the matter in dispute to arbitra-
tion, or to suffer a reduction of 5 per cent., we consider it
our duty to support them to the utmost of our ability. 2.
chat we employ no paid delegates in this struggle, and
that if any district requires a person from Preston to lay
the case before them, we send one of the operatives, and
the district requiring him to pay the expenses." Other
resolutions as to "ways and means," were afterwards
passed.

Great distress exists in Blackburn and East Lancashire,
.)wing to the condition of trade. On Saturday the reliev-
ing officers of the Blackburn Union were engaged from
early morning until late in the evening in dispensing relief
:o the numerous applicants. In the whole union 4,271
persons were relieved, 970 of that number being able-
bodied operatives. There are now some 2,000 more persons
on the books of the union than there were two years ago,
and of course the weekly cost is something enormous.
During Friday and Saturday last 1,500 persons were
relieved at the Blackburn office, and during the five
previous days there was an average of eighty per diem.
Gloomy and distressing accounts of the homes of the opera
tives are given by those in the habit of visiting, and the
prospect is in no respect reassuring. In the course of the
next fortnight or three weeks four more mills will be
finished working up, whereby nearly 2,000 more hands
will be thrown out of employment.

The strike at Denaby Main Colliery, Yorkshire, also,
still continues. Although every possible effort has been
put forth to settle the dispute, the masters refuse to allow
the men to work on any terms save their withdrawal from
the Miners' Union. A number of men are at work, and
these are provided with board and lodgings on the pit
premises in
'order to prevent any interference on the part
of the old hands.

The Government of India has sanctioned the
employment of 2,000 European troops on public works in
the Himalayas.

FATHER, IGNATIUS. —On Sunday night the Rev.
J. L. Lytle (Father Ignatius) conducted a religious service
and preached at Store street Music Hall, Bedford-square,
which was crowded. There was a marked modification
in the treatment of the service, compared with the
ritualistic tendencies that were apparent in the rev. gen
tleman'F procedure in the same ball immediately after
his temporary inhibition, some months ago, by the Lord
Bishop of London. Intonation was entirely abolished.
the utmost simplicity characterising the whole of the
service, genuflexion and cros.,:ings being also less pro.
fuse. Prayers were read by the sew, preacher in a plait
surplice, assisted by a brother of the order, also in a
plain surplice. Mr. Lyne preached habited as a monk,
with embroidered purple stole, and large metal crucifix
suspended from his neck. A pair of ordinary candles and
candlesticks had taken the place of the large ornamented
candelabra that adorned the altar table on the last
occasion of the rev. gentleman's appearance at the p 4.33.9
' _