The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-04 00:00:00

Trades' Union Commission.

The commissioners held their fourth, and first
open, sitting yesterday, at Park-prospect House,
Westminster ; Sir NV. Erle presiding.
Mr. T. Connolly, mason, was the first witness
examined in respect to the 11th rule of the Masons'
Society, called the " chasing" rule, which prohibits
any member performing more than a certain amount
of work in one day. The witness explained that it
was a rule adopted by a vote of the society three
years since, and was passed for the following reasons
—Some employers, when they found a man in their
employ possessed of superior physical strength, had
been in the habit of encouraging that man, by an allow-
ance of 6d. per day extra, to perform as much work
in one day as his strength would enable him to per-
form, and then expect all the other men in the shop
to do the same amount. This system had been
found to act injuriously to the health of the men,
generally overtaxing their powers of endurance,
and it was to put an end to this system that what
was called the " chasing" rule had been introduced.
There was nothing in the rules of the society
to prevent an employer, if he felt so inclined,
giving extra wages to a man of more than
average skill. The society discouraged piece-
work as having a tendency to reduce wages,
and they opposed overtime as injurious to health.
The society, however, did not forbid working
overtime when the job required it, but claimed
for all such overtime payment at the rate of time and
a quarter, which had to a great extent done away
with the system of systexatic overtime formerly so
common in the trade.

Mr. E. Coulson, secretary of the London Brick-
ayers' Society, was the next witness. He said the
head-quarters of the society were in London.
It had 96 branches spread over the country, con-
taining about 5,700 members. Its reserve fund in
December last was £3,200. Its annual income
was about £2,700--the members paying 3d. per
week. Its objects were to support men out of work,
with the approval of the society, the relief of tra-
velling members, and the burial of deceased mem-
bers and their wives. The amount paid by the
society for strikes during the last six years had
averaged about £3OO per year. There was
no restriction by this society against a brick-
layer using both his hands in laying bricks, or
compelling him to use his trowel in oue par-
ticular hand. Statements that had been publicly
made to this effect were totally untrue. He had him-
self used both hands in laying bricks on what was
called inside work,but where good workmanship was
required—as in erecting an outside wall— it was im-
possible to use both hands in laying the bricks.
The society would not dream of interfering with
any man for using both hands, in laying
bricks. The society objected to piece-work, as
it occasioned work to be scamped; but there
was no rule against it, neither against over-
time, nor apprentices, though both were dis-
couraged. When a job was in dispute the society
picketed the premises by placing men on duty out-
side to dissuade men from seeking work there
pending the dispute; but it did not encourage any
intimidation. If a man violated the rules of the
society the members would not refuse to work with
him, but he would be sent to " Coventry." The
society were in favour of arbitration, but the diffi-
culty was to obtain arbitrators in whom both mas-
ters and men would have confidence. 'They had a
standard rate of wages fixed by the society, but no
man of superior skill was prevented obtaining more
if the employer would give it.
Mr. G. HOWELL, a member of the same society,
gave similar evidence. He had been several years
a foreman, and had often paid extra wages to men
of superior skill, but it was a practice discouraged
by the employers generally. I.le considered himself
a man of superior skill, and thought the system of
having a fixed minimum of wages had operated to
his advantage and to all like him.
_ _

Mr. C. WILLIAMS, secretary of the National As-
sociation of Plasterers, was then examined. His
executive committee sat at Liverpool. This so-
ciety had 128 branches, with about 8,000 mem-
bers. The number of members doubled within
the last two years. The objects of the society were
the protection of the trade and the relief of mem-
bers in sickness, with a burial fund attached. By the
protection of trade he meant the shortening the
hours of labour and the raising of wages. Individu-
ally he would prefer a reduction in the hours of
labour to a rise in wages, as more beneficial to the
men. The society looked after the interests of mas-
ters as well as those of the men. He gave several
instances of this ; amongst others the case of Mr.
Griffiths, who, iu August last, was building two
large hotels at Aberystwith. The men employed on
the job struck for a rise; of Is. a week. The commit-
tee investigated the case, and, finding the men were
in the wrong, requested them to resume work. The
men refused, whereupon the committee supplied the
builder with fresh men from Liverpool, by which he
was enabled to finish his work. No branch could
strike without the sanction of the committee after
due investigation. If the men struck without the
consent of the committee they did not receive
strike pay. The society men worked under a fixed
minimum rate of wages.
The examination of witnesses fcr the day was
here concluded.
The Chairman said if the commissioners did not
desire to go to Sheffield to open inquiry.there as to

the alleged outrages, the Home Secretary was pre-
pared to send another cotnmission for that purpose.
The commissioners thought the latter would be the
best course, and the Chairman said he would com-
municate with Mr. Walpole to that effect.
The inquiry was then adjourned.

The Saturday Afternoon Concerts at the
Crystal Palace.

The directors of the Crystal Palace are leaving
nothing undone to render their Saturday After-
noon Concerts the most attractive of the season.
That they are so is very conclusively proved by
the immense crowds that week after week throng
the concertroom. On last Saturday it was hardly
possible to obtain a seat or even standing room,
in consequence of the performance, for the first
time, at the Crystal Palace, and for the third
time in England of Schumann's " Paradise and
the Peri ;" the legend on which Moore founded
his most exquisite poem, is of Persian origin.
In the refined and romantic mythology of Persia,
the Penis . are equivalent to the Genii of the
Arabs, and the Fairies of the Western World ;
but they are more ethereal and less grotesque
than either of these, less of the devil than the
former, and more of the angel than the latter.
They are good, and, with the exception of the
angels, the most beautiful of beings. Driven
from Paradise, they became inhabitants of the
air, occupying themselves in good offices to men,
and subsisting on sweet perfumes. The subject
of the cantata is the attempt of a Peri to re-
enter Paradise—

" The Peri yet may be forgiven
Who brings to this eternal gate
The gift that is most dear to heaven!"
Twice is she rejected, when her offerings, the last
drop of blood shed by a hero in the holy cause of
liberty, and a life given for pure self-sacrificing
love, are not considered sufficiently holy ; but,
on the third attempt, when she presents the re-
pentance of a sinner, she is successful, and
once more re-admitted to Paradise. The story is
one which, in its grace and refinement, and
in a certain mystic ideality, must have been
peculiarly attractive to the genius of Schu-
mann, of whose music those qualities are so re-
markably characteristic. He appears to have first
entertained it in 1841, though it was not till two
years later that he seriously set to work on the
composition. The words were translated from the
original, either by Schumann himself or one of his
friends, and were, of course, necessarily altered
to suit the draniatic form into which he threw the
story. They have been since retranslated, and, it
is hardly necessary to add, that it would now be
difficult to recognize Moore's original charming
version.

With regard to the music, it is beyond doubt a
most remarkable work, and there is, perhaps, no
one who would have been more successful in the
treatment of a subject so fanciful and mystical
except Mend elssohn. It is throughout full of the
most beautiful conceptions and striking passages ;
but here, in a greater degree almost than in any
other work of Schumann's, we recognize his want
of power in developing ideas. Often during the
progress of the cantata we were absolutely
startled by a few opening bars, introducing a
theme as delicious as it was unexpected, and
seducing the mind to that repose which is so de-
lightful in the contemplation of a beautiful move-
ment. Suddenly the composer, either from sheer
inability, or from a peculiarly constituted mind,
lost sight of his original intention, and wandered
into that region of mysticism too frequently digni-
fied by his disciples by the name of elevated
beauty. With this one exception, Schumann's
" Paradise and the Peri," is not only beautiful
but grand. The one wail of the Peri so con-
stantly recurring—

" Ali, Eden ! ah, Eden! my heart pants for thee,
Oh, when will thy portals be open to me,"
is one of those inspirations that could have never
been surpassed and haunts one constantly. Again,
the solo and chorus, " Sleep on and dream in the
odour of rest," though not possessing the wild
originality of the former, is a most exquisite piece
of writing, and intensely dramatic. Only a
master could have produced it. As descriptive
music it is almost unequalled, and it was unani-
mously and most deservedly encored.
Coming to the performance, we must cordi-
ally say that no better interpreter of the music
of the " Peri " could be found than Madame
Lemmens-Sherrington. She possesses a most beau-
tiful voice that always arrests the attention by its
extreme freshness and (not an attribute unfortu-
nately of all artistes) its invariably tuneful quality.
She eminently belongs to that pure and exqui-
site school that numbered among its disciples
Sontag and Jenny Lind, but is now fast passing
away, and has at the present day but two or
three representatives. In addition, Madame Lem-
mens-Sherrington is undoubtedly one of the most
thorough musicians of the present time. Barely
recovered, as we were informed, and could easily
perceive, from an extremely severe cold, the diffi-
cult music of Schumann's " Peri," was on
Saturday a very trying ordeal for her ; but her
bsieng(iinesg sireldirrtiilsaend
we v,
heir ye
ho ng
re
eaant de r wparsa
iasl
el tchaant n coot u cbel
given.
liss Shewas
Robertinesu in
ppciertedderbsoyn, who bothMissJulia Elton
andhave
pleasing voices, but who, as singers, are yet ex-
tremely young and have much to learn. The
music allotted to Mr. Cummings was not very
telling or grateful, certainly not effective, but
he sang throughout in his usual good style.
Mr. Lewis Thomas was heard to great advan-
tage. The chorus sang unusually well and with
very great accuracy, and, as a matter of course,
Mr. Mann's orchestra played to perfection and like
the splendid musicians they are. The concert on
Saturday was certainly the most brilliant and
successful we have had during the present season.