The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 28, 1867.

RAILWAY BILLS.

Yesterday, in Lord Redesdale's Committee, the
Navan and Kingscourt Bill passed with special
amendments ; the Surrey and Sussex Junction Bill,
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bill, and the Mold
and Denbigh Junction Bill were passed without
amendments. In the committee held in Room D,
the Great Western Bill and the Rhymney Bill were
adjourned. In the committee held in the Painted
Chamber the London and North-Western (New
Works, &c.) Bill was adjourned ; the North Staf-
fordshire Bill was passed with special amendments ;
and the Wolverhampton and Walsall Bill was ad-
journed. Iu a fourth committee room the Midland
and Glasgow and South-Western Companies Bill
and the Midland Bill were adjourned. The Blyth
and Tyne Bill was passed with special amendments.
In the case of the East Gloucestershire Bill the
opposition was withdrawn, and the bill committed
for Friday.
In the House of Commons committee, Group 12,
the London, Chatham, and Dover Bills were ad-
journed until to-day.

THE GREAT FORGERIES ON THE LEEDS

BANK.

----+

Yesterday, again, Mr. Thomas Edgeley, a mer-
chant in Sermon-lane, City, who stands charged
with forging and uttering bills of exchange to the

amount of £lOB,lBO odd, with intent to defraud the
Leeds Banking Company, surrendered to his recog-

nisances, amounting in all to 14,000, before the Lord

Mayor, at the justice-room of the Mansion-house, to
undergo a further examination.
Mr. Poland (instructed by Messrs. Freshfields
and Newman) again conducted the prosecution ;
and Mr. Sleigh the defence.

Mr. George Chandler, clerk to Messrs. Coleman,
Turquand, and Co., the official liquidators of the
Leeds Bank, was recalled, and said the amount of

the promissory notes drawn by Van Cleeff to the
order of Watts and Co., and discounted by the
Leeds Bank, and which remained unpaid on the
10th of November, 1863, was £32,803 10s. Those
notes were retired by the proceeds of Maydampeck
Forest bills, with two or three exceptions. The
amount of Maydampeck Forest Company bills en-
dorsed by Watts and Co., and due on the stoppage
of the bank, was £48,613 lls. The total amount
of the Maydempeck Forest bills made to the order
of Watts and Co. was £67,786 175., and of the
proceeds of those bills £32,803 odd was used to re-
tire bills of Van Cleeff as they became due,
and £19,173 6s. to retire bills of the
Forest Company, making together £51,976,
which, deducted from the £67,786 odd, left

Before I saw him I had discounted largely for Mr. '
Edgeley, and those bills were always, I presumed,
duly honoured. I had reason to believe Edgeley
and Co. were doing a large and flourishing business,
and had the greatest confidence in them. I cannot
recollect the amount of Edgeley and Co.'s bills dis-
counted by the bank in any one year. How is it
possible for a man at my age, and speaking without
books, to say, having regard to a business of
£18,000,000 a year transacted by the bank? It
might be £lOO,OOO, speaking at a guess. It was
more like £lOO,OOO than £20,000. I saw Van
Cleef twice or thrice at Leeds. After he was intro-
duced by Mr. Edgeley I had little or no occasion to
see him. The interviews I had with him after hehad
been introduced by Edgeley would be very few. I
had very little to do with him personally. For any
business transaction it would not be necessary for
me to see him with Edgeley after the introduction.
I never did a business transaction with Van Cie&
except through his personal attendance at the bank.
I do not think at any of those interviews Van Cleeff
spoke of the Maydampeck Forest Company. He
may have done so, but there would be no necessity
for it. I had thought I first heard of Van Cleeff's
bankruptcy from you in this court—(a laugh)—but
I think I must have heard it in Leeds from Teale.
Before the form of the bills was changed I had a
communication from Edgeley on the subject. I be-
' lieve he suggested that they should be drawn in
favour of the Maydampeck Forest Company, and I
assented to it. The " position" had rendered it ne-
cessary, Van Cleef being in difficulties likely to lead
to bankruptcy. Whatever I knew about the
bankruptcy must have been through Edgeley or
Teale. At that time a large amount of the bills
of the Forest Company were running. The Forest
Company's bills were discounted, I understood,
to retire old bills; but I don't recollect, nor would
I undertake to say, that was not so arranged be-
tween Edgeley and me. There are letters, over
which I have now no control, which would show
whether that was so or not. I think it very likely
that in February, 1864, I sent Edgeley two draughts
for £l,OOO each to enable him to take up some of
Van Cleeff's old bills. I won't undertake to say
that I did not on various occasions discount May-
dampeck Forest Company bills to enable Edgeley
to take up Van Cleeff's acceptances. A legal in-
strument, I believe, was drawn up by Mr. Yewdall,
of Leeds, solicitor to Mr. Edgeley. 1 had a conver-
sation with Edgeley on that subject, in which he
told me Van Cleeff had executed to him an assign-
ment of the concession of the Maydampeck Forest
and of all his interest in it, and that that was to
secure him against loss by Van Cleeff. After that
conversation a document was placed in my hands
for a few days by Mr. Edgeley or Mr. Yewdall,
and was afterwards returned to Mr. Edgeley. It

is very likely I said on that occasion that it would
be a goad thing if Teale and Co. could be protected
in the same way, for it would have protected me
also. I believe it was returned to Mr. Edgeley. If

it had been a security of the bank I should have
kept it in the safe of the bank. I should not take
it home with me. I won't say positively, but I
think I returned it to Mr. Edgeley, or it might have
been to Teale. I know at least it went out of my
custody.
By Mr. Poland, in re-examination—Whatever
the document was, it was returned to Edgeley or
Teale, and that was the paper that Edgeley wanted
to get back, as he said, to be registered. When the
form of the bills was changed I certainly believed
the Forest Company had been formed, and that the
company took Van Clears interest. I knew nothing
about the company except what I heard from Edge-
ley or Teale, and I had every confidence in them.
Mr. Edward Henry Watts, formerly a partner in
the firm of Edgeley and Co., was recalled, and re-
peated the evidence he gave on the examination of
Devillers, and that was taken as part of the case
for the prosecution.
The further hearing was at this stage adjourned
until to-day, and in the meantime the defendant
was again admitted to bail—himself in £2,000, and
two sureties in £l,OOO each.

a balance of £15,810 for discount, commission, and
general purposes of Watt's and Co.'s business. The
bills of the Maydampeck Forest Company, payable
to the order of A. Teale and Co., amounted to
£84,820 6s. The proceeds of these went to retire
Van Cleef's bills, amounting to £29,518, which had
been endorsed by Teale and Co., and which were
running on the 10th of November, 1863, and also to
retire Maydampeck Forest bills which fell due to the
amount of £25,252 155., making a totol of £54,770
155., which, deducted from the £84,820 65., left
£30,049 lls. for the expenses of discount and general
purposes of the business of Teale and Co. The let-
ter-book of Edgeley and Co. could not be found.
Every other book of the firm bad been found except
that and a clasped ledger.
Mr. Edward Greenland, late manager of the Leeds
Bank, and who had been brought up to give evidence
on a habeas corpus from the House of Correction at
Leeds, was called by Mr. Poland. He said—lu 1840
I became the manager of the Bank, and continued so
until it stopped payment on the 17th of Sept., 1864.
I first became acquainted with the defendant, Mr.
Edgeley, about 1860. He was then carrying on
business in London in the name of Thomas Edgeley
and Co. Some little time after that he established a
business in Leeds in the name of E. 11. Watts and
Co., and that firm opened an account with the
Leeds Bank—a regular account for discount and
drawing. The firm of Alfred Teale and Co. had
also an account with that bank. It was opened dur-
ing the panic of 1857. Some time before 1862 I
discounted bills for Van Cleeff, whom Mr. Edgeley
had introduced to me. Those were trade bills
drawn by Van Cleef, on a third person, a
foreigner. Edgeley was with Van Cleeff when I
discounted them. Before I discounted for him I had
1
not discounted any of his bills for Watts and Co.,
or Teale and Co.
IO or 1861. Edgeley, whom
first saw Van Cleeff and
Edgeley together in
86
I had known well before, introduced him to me as a
respectable man—a man of property, and in a large
way of business as a merchant in France. After that
I discounted bills for Watts and Co. and Teale and
Co., drawn by Van Cleef, in favour of those firms.
I think about that time something was said about
the forest, but I cannot say what it was. The bills
increased very considerably after the first year. I
saw Edgeley on several occasions, and he explained
as a reason for the bills having increased that the
outlay for the forest was great, and that the returns
of the timber were delayed. I think I only ,
produced are some of Van
spoken. They are endorsed
dis-
counted bills once or twice for Van Cleeff himself.
Teale and Co., and I discounted them for that firm.
bills,TChleeeff'
That was in 1852. The bills I discounted for Watts
0 ff owu rh
iienh nlu mh
abveer
similar in form.
and Co. were Before November,
1863, Edgeley told me he had been out in Servia,
and gave me a description of the forest, saying the
timber was of great value, and that he should have
to go again. He said the timber could only be cut
when the sap was down, which would be at the fall
of the year. About the end of 1863, I think, I had
a conversation with Edgeley, and he suggested a
change in the form of the bills. He spoke of the
forest in glowing terms, and said a company was
being formed to get it out of Van Cleeff's hands, by
whom it had been mismanaged. The members of
the company were to be himself and Teale and some
French firms. Ile hoped also to attract English
capital into the businAss.
That was the purport of
what he said. He once showed me a document which
he called a concession of the forest of Maydampeck,
and that he did to show me that property was in
their hands, and that there was plenty of it He ex-
plained that he wanted to take it to the forest or to
some place to have it registered by the Government,
and I gave it back to him. No other document was
left with me as security for the discounts. Towards
the end of 1863 the form of the bills was changed.
They were drawn on behalf of the Forest Com-
pany, and signed first by oue Desire, then by Dinelli,
and lastly by Devillers, whom presumed to be the
managers. lam 72 years of age, and I have had
five months' i
pr-soa discipline and diet. 1 cannot
speak accurately as to names and dates. I have,
besides, on my Own mind the remembrance of my
own folly. When I first discounted Van Cleeff's
bills nothing was said about a forest company, and
I was not then aware he had become a bankrupt.
When I discounted the tills for Watts and Co. and
Teale and Co. I had not the slightest idea they
were prepared in London. They were all ante-
dated, and I assumed they had come from May-
dampeck. I had unfortunately too much confidence
in the parties, and thought the bills represented
property belonging to the Forest Company. I
thought, too, that E. Devillers, by whom they pur-
ported to be signed, had been placed there to man-
age the forest. If I had known the bills were pre-
pared in London by Bertrand, the clerk of Edgeley,
or by Edgeley himself, I should not have dis-
counted them. I bad great confidence in Mr.
Edgeley, and also in Mr. Teale, whom I knew to be
a man of large property in Leeds, including two
mills, a warehouse, and other property.
Being cross-examined by Mr. Sleigh, witness said
—Teale was a man of great reputation in Leeds as a
clothworker, and a man of property besides. In
addition to his mills he had large private property.
I could not exactly gay when i first saw Van Cleeff.

Sheffield Trades' Union Commission.

NINETEENTH DAY (THunsDAY).

At the sitting of the Examiners to-day, William
Stanley, secretary to the Brickmakers' Society, was
examined—He had only been secretary since May.
He produced the books of the society, and said he
was not aware that any had been destroyed. Leaves
had been torn out from some of the books previous
to his being secretary, but he could not tell by whom
they had been torn out. The cash-book, which had
originally been a thick book, now only contained
four leaves. Witness said he had not brought a
minute-book, for during the time he had been sec-
retary one had not been used, and he had never seen
one. It turned out, however, that among the books
he had brought there was a minute-book which
contained entries going back as far as 1855. Wit-
ness explained his possession of that book with what
he had previously said by stating that it belonged to
the Amalgamated Societies of Brickmakers and
Bricklayers. His society never made entries of their
proceedings. The fact of some of the society's books
having been mutilated was never mentioned in his
presence till he was secretary—that was less than
two months ago. When there was a talk about the
Commissioners coming down some of the committee
said it was a pity that the books had been mutilated.

He swore that he could not tell who made that re-
mark, and it was only after repeated cautions from
Mr. Overend that he was able to recollect a few of
the committee who were present at the meeting,
when the subject of the mutilation of the books was
talked about. He said it was customary for leaves
to be cut out of the books about every six months ;
but when they were cut out before the last occasion
he could not say. The books were produced, and
witness would not swear that the leaves had not
been all cut out at the same time.
Mr. Overend told the witness the Court had not
gone into the affairs of his Union, but his conduct
placed them in a very suspicious light indeed. He
was told to stand down, but not to leave the court.
William Henry Owen, formerly secretary to the
Brickmakers' Union, said they had no minute-
book in their Union, and he believed never had.
The Bricklayers' Union kept such a book, as they had
scholars among them. The books produced were
mutilated when they came into the hands of Stanley.
He (witness) mutilated the books himself on his
own responsibility after he had heard the Commis-
sion was to be appointed. He afterwards acquainted
the committee with what he had done. Stanley and
several other persons were present when he cut the
books. In mutilating the books he was following
the practice of his predecessors. The books that
came into his hands had been cut, as well as those
that came into the hands of his predecessor—one
Palmer. Another book was placed in his hands,
from which the leaved at the end had been cut, and
he admitted that it was " his handiwork."
Mr. 0 verend—l see the leaf at the end has been
pasted down ; why was that done ?
Witness—l thought it would look more work-
manlike.
Mr. Overend —And to conceal the fact that the
book had been mutilated ?
Witness—That was my idea.
Mr. Overend—You mutilated the books to pre-
vent us seeing what were the entries?
Witness —That is so, and that one mutilated book
might correspond with another.
Examination continued—There was no entry in
the book, with the exception of " committee's ex-
penses," of which he was ashamed. Under the bead
of " committee's expenses" was entered moneys
paid for refreshments and for the time lost. Each

member had a book in which his contributions are

entered, and that served as a check upon the cash-
book and a guarantee to him that his money has
been paid, even though our book has been destroyed?
Mr. Overend—What did the committee say when
you told them you had mutilated your books ?
Witness—They said the Commissioners would
make a great handle of it, and that I had done very
wrong. In fact, they lectured me.
Mr. Overend—How long did the lecture last ?
Witness—Oh, only a minute.
Mr. Overend—They then were not very sorry?
Witness—They did not appear to be.
Mr. Overend—When the committee said the com-
missioners would find fault what did you say ?
Witness--I said I was perfectly satisfied with

4ls ......•

what I had done ; the leaves could not speak. I also working at the trade that don't work in har -
tore out the leaves at my own house and burnt
mony with us, for they don't pay to the trade. But
them. Mr. Bagshaw says we must stop it and very quick.
Further examined the witness said Stanley found he as suggested a plan which i think will suckseed
well that is to blow up your place at Abbeydale in-
fault when the books came into his possession be- sted of Blowing up the place with the gunpowder so
cause they were mutilated. He thought Stanley as it cannot be detected as a trade outrage. He
had not given his evidence so straightforwardly as says every man out to have £2 10s. that as a union
he should have done. if not it is their own fault be says you out to give
In answer to further questions witness admitted a your men a price that will earn that amount andlive in smaller mansions than you do the Bargain is
case of rattening when a band was paid for by the made to fire your place if you do not give the prise
society. It had also, he said, been attributed to the and get shut of the boys and men that Bore and
society men that they had trodden upon bricks be- lap up i tells you the men is paid and the job will be
fore they became hardened, and that they had put done try the same man that took your bands and
pins and needles into clay which had been preparedi threw themnto the dam. Mr. Bagshaw says he
got the fork grinders their prise which they arc now
for the making of bricks. The effect of this would
having, and lie says he can get us ours if we will
be that the men who worked up the clay would have i stick to him and do as he tells us. we are sure to
their hands destroyed. He had heard of one non- win the victory. i think Mr. Bagshaw is worthy
society man having been shot at, but he had never of all prase for what he as done in Sheffield for the
heard of gunpowder being placed among a stack of
working men that belong the union. i hope this
bricks. About seven or eight years ago a Mr. v ill be a sufficient warning to you to comply with
Robinson, whose men were not paying to the Union, the trade and save your place from being burned
Signed by two double crosses.
had a can of powder thrown at his window, and he I afterwards saw Bagshaw, and he denied all know-
charged the Union with having instigated that out- ledge of the letter. Eventually, a revised list of
rage. Since he had been secretary he had set his prices was agreed to, and the dispute settled. The
face against rattening and all kinds of outrages. winter after I was shot at I carried a revolver,
The witness Stanley was recalled, and was told but I have not since. I sleep with loaded fire-
by Mr. Overend that there was no doubt he had arms in my room. After I was fired at I gave no
committed perjury. The Examiners scarcely knew information to the police, as I was afraid of the
whether they were discharging their duty in not consequences that might ensue to myself if inquiries
ordering him to be prosecuted. They, however, were made. If a man leaves my service without
had obtained the information they desired, and as notice, or for any other reason, I consider it best to
their object was not to punish, but to obtain infor- take no notice of it, as we are thoroughly cowed
mation, he would be allowed to leave the court. He down by the Unions. I do not think one dispute
had very much disgraced himself. in 50 for which there is a legal remedy comes before
Mr. Cutts, secretary to the Filesmitbs' Union, our magistrates, as we consider such a course would
was recalled, and was examined with reference to be useless.
some entries in the executive committee's book. He Mr. Barstow—Do you mean to say that the
admitted that all the entries between February and Sheffield manufacturers are such a lot of spiritless
June, 1865, were written at the same time. He creatures that they submit to all these things quietly
was ill during those months, and when he recovered like a lot of sheep ? We do. We cannot help our-
he made all the entries at one time. From a similar selves.
cause about two months' entries in the present year Mr. Barstow—Then, all I can say is you have
were made at the same time. He denied that any
deserved what you got.
other entries had been copied.
Witness—We have to submit to such tyrannical
Mr. Overend said it was a remarkable fact that dictation on the [Art of the Unions that we are glad
there was a gloss upon the ink, as if the entries had
to settle disputes as best we can. In cases of
only been written a short time ago, and all at the rattening I have felt it to be useless to go to the
same time.
police.
Witness accounted for that by saying that he used
At the suggestion of Mr. Sugg, Mr. Barstow
a particular kind of ink which retained its gloss six
asked witness why he connected the shooting at
or seven years afterwards. In proof of this he de-
himself with the Union, and why it might not have
sired the examiners to look at some entries made
been an attack by robbers.
six or seven years ago; Mr. Overend, after examin-
Witness replied that had the attack been by
ing the entries, said he was bound to say witness was
robbers they would have come to him when he was
correct. He denied that the union ever paid the
lying unconscious in his gig. Witness added—
expenses of a man named Owen to Newburn, Owen
Needham confessed to me a few days after he was
at the time being suspected of having committed an
convicted. I made some inquiries about Needham.
outrage. He also denied that the society paid the
a few days before I was shot at. The men of whom
expenses of Owen back to Sheffield when the out-
I inquired were known to Thompson. I never
rages bad been somewhat hushed up.
Thomas Roberts, secretary to the Table Blade charged Thompson after I was shot at with being
concerned in it. I gave no notice that I should not
Grinders' Union, admitted that rattening had been
resorted to in his trade in extreme cases. It was not take proceedings against him. I was never shot at
again. I have lately learnt that Needham went to
of common occurrence. He was not aware that any
A
outrage had been committed or threatening letter America immediately after I was shot at. The man
sent. There were nearly 500 members in the Union, with whom he lodged told me he went away at the
and the average number on the box, extending over end of 1862. I have no proof that Needham was
a period of five years, would be about 50. There in communication with Thompson at this time. I
were more now, as trade was bad. A good workman am told, however, that Needham showed a large
would earn £2 per week, and a man and a boy £3 sum of money before he went to America.
per week. Where no union existed a man had to do The Court adjourned until Friday morning.
£2 worth of work for £l. Most of the employers
were in a small way of business, and they took ad-
vantage of the men. The rules of the Union allowed
a man to have two apprentices. Ratteuing he be-
lieved would at once cease if the Union could legally
recover contributions from the members.

Edwin Sykes, scissor manufacturer, said that in
1865 he was asked to find employment for a lad
named Leadbeater, who was an apprentice to another
manufacturer, as he had no work for him. One day
Holmshaw, secretary to the Union, came to his shop
and threatened to strap the lad if he did not at once
go home. The lad ran off and witness saw him no
more. The following Monday when Holmshaw called
for his contribution he refused to pay it, saying
he would have nothing more to do with the Union.
Holinsha-.7 said they would make him pay. Soon
after all his bands were rattened, and subsequently,
when he persisted in employing a lad named Prior,
who had not been apprenticed to the trade, his shop
was broken into, and tools of the value of £25 were
destroyed.
Mr. Overend—Have you ever rattened?—Yes ;
but it is many years ago. One morning I was rat-
tened, and the next I rattened my neighbour out of

revenge.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

MANCHE S TER-THURSDAY.

Our market this morning was sl,,nderly attended, and the
fineness of the weather caused a disinclination on the part
of buyers to operate. We can make no change in the quo-
tations of this day se'nnight, but to effect sales h would be
necessary to make some concession in prices, which is not
willingly done.

BRISTOL—THURSDAY.
A small supplyof English wheat to-day, which mot with
a slow sale, and brought former quotations. Foreign was
offered at is reduction without at.racting attention. Bar-
ley met a better inquiry, and commanded fully late prices.
Oats in larger supply than of late, but only taken in real],
at barely previous currencies. In beans and Indian corn
nothing doing.

BURY ST. EDMUNDS—WEDNESDAY.
There was a fair show of wheat at this market to• dan
which sold at fully previous rates, and in some instances
an advance of is was obtained. The growing crop of bar-
ley is very unfavourably spoken of here to-day.

BIRMINGHAM—THURSDAY.
At to-day's market there was a meagre supply of wheat'
which sold readily, and quotations were quite as high 5'
last week. Barley only taken in retail, but quite as dear.
In fine oats the trade was firm. Beans rather cheaper, and
peas less inquired for.
Average prices : Wheat, 6Gs 7d ; barley, 34s 6cl; oats,
22s Od.

Mr: Overend—Have you not quarrelled with
your nephew P—Yes ; he robbed me of thousands,
and I turned him out. The rattenings I have re-
ferred to were not done by him.
Joshua Tyzack, member of the firm of Tyzack
and Sons, manufacturers of saws, files, and steels,
was next called, and said—We employ about 250
men, and have been involved in many disputes
with the unions. We have been obliged to comply
with the wishes of the union or we must have re-
tired from the trade. In January, 1856, we were
employing men who were obnoxious to the union,
and one of the places in which they worked was
blown up. A man named Needham was convicted
of the offence, and sentenced to four years' penal
servitude. I had an interview with Needham in
prison, and from what I learned from him I looked
somewhat anxiously for his return. This became
known, and one evening in 1862, after Needham
had come out of prison, as I was driving past a
small plantation towards home in my gig I heard a
shot fired. That was immediately followed by a
second, and on my looking round I saw the flash of
a third shot. The bullet fired on the third occasion
passed through the brim of my hat, brushing my
hair. I dropped down in my gig from excitement.
I believe both from the number and nature of the
reports the shots were fired from a revolver. As
soon as I recovered consciousness I got on the seat,
struck the horse, which had been standing, and im-
mediately two more shots were fired at me in quick
succession, but neither of them struck me. It was
a veryfine night, and I believe the shots were fired
from behind an old wall. The only reason I can
asssign for this attempt on my life was because I
had been making active inquiries after Needham.
I believe since the appointment of the Commission
Needham has gone to America. At the interview
I had with him in prison, he told me that Michael
Thompson, secretary to the Scythe Grinders'
Union, had given him £lO to blow up the works at
Dronfield. I was after Needham for the sake of
his evidence, as I wanted to prosecute Thompson.
'This fact became known, and to that I attribute
the attempt on my life. I had no quarrel with any
one at the time. I have a strong suspicion that
Thompson knew I was inquiring for Needham. I
have also received several threatening letters, but I
believe only one has been preserved. The letters
stated that if we gave machine knives to others
than grinders we might expect to be blown up.
We have been rattened several times and our bel-
lows have been destroyed. Once 14 of our men
were taken out by the union—we having received
no notice—because machine knives had been given
to the scythe grinders. We attended a meeting of
the men, and a number of most arbitrary conditions
were submitted to us as the terms upon which our
men would be allowed to resume work. Most of
the conditions were modified and the dispute was
settled. At the same meeting we were asked
whether we had not obtained the assistance of a
neighbouring manufacturer, Mr. Horne—our men
being ont—to enable us to execute an order. We
admitted we had done so, and the same night Mr.
llorne's premises were entered and a quantity of
tools and other property were destroyed. On other
occasions when our scythe finishers have been in ar-
rears with their natty our shops have been broken
open and the tools taken. Sometimes the tools have
been restored and sometimes not. At the beginning
of the present year the scythe grinders asked for an
advance of wages, and 1 refused to concede their
demands. On the 14th of February I received the
following letter :--
" Sir,—You say you will not pay the price asked
for, but you will 'ave to pay and glad you can. Mr.
Charles Bagshaw says he can make you pay any
price we 'ave a mind to ask for. Mr. Bagshaw says
you are robbing your men of their rites for not let-
ting'em 'ave their own apprentices. He says you are
ruining the trade for 'aveing so many lads in your
firm, instead of your men haying them, and men

EDINBURGH—WEDNESDAY.
Wheat on the top, 3s 6d down average, Os 7d down.
Barley on the top, is Od down average, is ld up•
Oats on the top, Os 6d up ....average, Os 2d up.
Beans on the top, 2s Od down average, 2s 4d down•
Total supply and sales.
Wheat 704 qrs sold 470
Barley l6l qrs sold 77
Oats 1675 qrs sold 877
Beans 4l qrs sold 38

Average prices.
Wheat, 62811 d I Oats, 33811 d
Barley, 3;s 9d 1 Beans 45s lld
Town-made flour sells as follows :—White, 5480 d ; extra
superfine, 52s Od; superfine, 50s Od; fine, 48s Od.

GLASGOW—WEDNESDAY.
To-day's market was fairly attended, but business was
dull. Wheat 2s per qr cheaper than last week. Barley
and oats were firm. Pea; beans, and maize sold in retail,
at unaltered rates. Flour sold at is per 2801 b cheaper, and
trade very dull.