The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-09 00:00:00

The Trade Outrages at Sheffield.

Mr. Overend and his co-examiners—Mr. Chance
and Mr. Barstow—have just made a report to the
Trades' Union Commissioners of their inquiry into
the Sheffield outrages. They say :--
" The first subject which engaged our attention
was that of rattening. Rattening is a mode of en-
forcing payment of contributions to and of corn-

pliance with the rules of the union. The wheel-
bands, tools, and other materials of a workman are

taken and held in pledge until he has satisfied the

society by payment of his arrears, or by submitting
to the rules which he has infringed. At first it was
denied that the unions connived at this practice,

but we had not proceeded far with our investiga

ion before it vas admitted on all hands that ratton

ng had been for a long time prevalent in the grind.
ng trades and in all trades connected with them. 1

is fair to the unions to say, that in the majority of

cases where the demands of the union have been
complied with, and a payment of a small sum for
the expenses of rattening has been made, the pro-
perty taken has been restored. Rattening is always
done in the interests of the union, and very corn-

monly by the direction of the secretary, who nego-
ciates with the party rattened for the restitution of
his property. In some cases a member of the
union, without express authority, rattens another
member who is known to have incurred the dis-
pleasure of the society, and takes his chance of
having his act adopted by the union. Recourse is
seldom had to the police to recover property so
taken away, but application is almost always made
to the secretary of the union immediately the loss of
tools, &c., is ascertained. The practice of rattening
is well known to be illegal, and persons detected in
illegally taking away property have frequently been
convicted and punished. The excuse offered by the
unions for this system is, that in the absence of legal
powers rattening affords the most ready means of
enforcing payment of contributions and obedience
to the rules of the union. Many articles of Shef-
field manufacture require for their comple-
tion the labour of various classes of work-
men. For example, the manufacture of a saw re-
quires the work of the saw-grinders, the saw-
makers, and the saw-handle makers. All these
workmen form separate branches of the saw trade,
and are in separate unions. They are, however, all
amalgamated together for mutual support. In case
of default by any member of any of the branches,
or in case of a dispute with the masters, as the
grinders' tools are most easily abstracted, and as
stopping the grinding stops the whole saw trade,
the course commonly adopted is to ratten the
grinders, although the dispute may be with the
sawmakers or saw-handle makers, and on the
matter being arranged the other branches indemnify
the grinders for their loss of time and for expenses
incurred. An attempt is often successfully made to
saddle the whole course of the rattening, as well as
the cost of supporting the men while out of employ-
ment, upon the masters, even where he is no party
to the dispute, on the ground that he ought to have
compelled his workmen to comply with the rules of
the union. The system of rattening generally
proved successful in effecting its object. If, how-
ever, the person rattened continues refractory, he
commonly receives an anonymous letter warning
him of the consequences of his obstinacy. If this
warning is disregarded, recourse has been had to
acts of outrage, the nature of which will be under-
stood from a perusal of the cases actually investi-
gated by us."

A number of cases, as they affect each union
are taken in the order of time of their occurrence,
With regard to the Saw-Grinders' Union the ex.
a miners say :

‘‘' The fact of these outrages having been done in
the interest of the trade was well kown to the union,
and although in one or two instances individual

members had protested against them, yet no-
thing like an investigation had been demanded,
nor had there been any general vote of con-
demnation of these acts until the case of Fearne -
hough occurred, when public indignation was aroused,
and then the outrage was denounced, and a reward
was offered by the anion for the detection of the
offenders. The whole of the above offences were
concerted by Broadhead, and sums amounting to
nearly £2OO had been taken by him out of the funds
of the union to pay the parties who committed them.

Although these acts were not proved to have been
directly authorised by the union, there must have
been a knowledge, or at all events a well-grounded
belief amongst its members that they were done, not
only in the interests of their society, but through
the agency of some one or more of their governing
body, and we report that all the above outrages
were promoted, encouraged, and connived at by the
Saw Grinders' Union; and that the Hereford-street
outrage was promoted
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Clark,
Dennis;
Phineas (dead); Hallam, James ; Pearce, George ;
Shaw, George ; Smith, Elijah (dead); Taylor, John
(dead)."
In conclusion the examiners say
We have now given an outline of all the cases
of importance which were submitted to us for inves-
tigation. Mr. Thomas Thorpe, managing clerk to
Mr. Albert Smith, clerk to the magistrates for the
West Riding of Yorkshire and borough of Sheffield,
prepared for us a list of cases supposed to be con-
nected with trades unions, and which had been
brought before the justices within the last ten years.
It comprised, in addition to the outrages mentioned
in this report, 166 cases of rattening and 21 cases of
sending threatening letters. A very small propor-
tion, however, of the persons rattened give informa-
tion either to the police or to the justices. Most of
the outrages we have investigated were brought be-
fore the justices, and although in several cases large
rewards had been offered for the detection of the
perpetrators, the offenders have with two or three
' exceptions remained unknown up to the period of
the inquiry. We believe that there are about 60
trades' unions in Sheffield, of which 13 have pro-
moted or encouraged outrages within the meaning
of the Trades' Union Commission Act, 1867. We
have to report there has not occurred within the
last ten years any act of intimidation, outrage, or
wrong promoted, encouraged, or connived at by
any association of employers. IV° point to the
year 1859 as the one in which outrage was most
rife, and we notice with pleasure that it has di-
minished since that time. During the course of our
investigation matters connected with trades' unions
(such as the number of apprentices allowed to each
workman, and the class from which they may be
taken, the remuneration of labour, the restraints
exercised upon voluntary action, and the rules and
general policy of trades' unions) have frequently
been brought before our notice. These, however,
are questions for the consideration of the Royal
Commission sitting in London, and we purposely
avoid making any observations upon them. At tho