The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-26 00:00:00

Sheffield Trades' Union Commission.

SEVENTEENTH DAY (TUESDAY).
At the sitting of the Commissioners to-day,
John Wood, a sawmaker, one of the auditors of
the Sawmakers' Union, was called at his own re-
quest, and stated that he never saw such an item in
the society's accounts as £7 10s. expenses paid by
Mr. Barker. He denied that he ever passed such an
item, or, indeed, ever saw it. He was aware that
Barker bad been in debt to the union in the sum of
atout £l7 or £lB. lie admitted that he had been
a bad auditor, and that he had not gone carefully

through the accounts.
Mr. 0 verend—Then you have not done yourself
much credit in coming here, because you have
shown that you have audited the accounts im-
properly. The item might have been in or it might

not, for anything you can say.
John Blenkiron, the other auditor, also denied
that there was such an item as £7 10s. paid to Mr.

Barker.
William Dronfield, honorary secretary to the De-
fence Committee and secretary to the United King-
dom Alliance of Organised Trades, was the next
witness. He said, as secretary to the Defence Com-
mittee, be issued a circular in February last to the
secretaries of the various societies in the town and

neighbourhood. The circular had reference to the
Commission sitting in London and the Trades'
Union Commission, and, among other things, it re-
quested that information might be given as to the
outrages committed in each trade, the method of
enforcing claims, &c. The answers in the circulars
returned were read. The answers returned by
Broadhead created some amusement. The question
_ .

relating to outrages was filled up with a list of the
crimes with which the public has lately been sur-
feited, and, added Mr. Broadhead, with reference to
Linley's case, " Whether these outrages on Linley
were perpetrated by union men or others has never
been ascertained." At the end of the list he wrote—
" And there is the Hereford-street outrage, which I

was nearly forgetting (if it is to be attributed to our
trade)." He also professed the readiness of the
officers of the union to attend before the Commission

and give evidence of what they knew, " which was
very little." As to the mode of enforcing claims,
he said, "If the men cannot be prevailed upon to

observe the rules and regulations they often get
rattened, but as a general rule the bands are re-
storei when the difficulty gets settled. A few of
the societies admitted the practice of rattening as a
means of enforcing claims, but the greater number

of them said the only means they had was " per
suasion," and in the event of that failing calling
out the men with whom the refractory members
were working. The course adopted by some was
to strike members who were iu arrears from the
benefit of the union. The only societies which ad-
mitted rattening were the Saw Grinders', having
200 members ; the Scythe Grinders', 60 members ;
and the Sickle and Hook Forgers', 190 members.
The Edge Tool Grinders, a small trade, admitted
annoyance, but not rattening. On the contrary, of
the societies who had filled up schedules, societies
numbering 4,000 members denied rattening alto-
gether. Sixty schedules were sent oat, and replies
from 40 societies only were received. Broadhead
said rattening prevailed extensively. Witness
could not speak of his own knowledge to that. He
was not prepared for Broadhead's statements there
at all, and he did not believe that rattening pre-
vailed to the extent he stated. He believed it was
confined exclusively, or almost exclusively, to the
grinding branches. There are 34 trades united
together in the Association of Organised Trades of
Sheffield, and of this number 18 are grinding trades
In some trades, as, for instance, the saw trade,
there is an amalgamation or understanding among
the unions of the several branches, by which one
branch assists another in enforcing obedience upon
the members. In this way the grinders " rat" for
the other branches of their own trade, the other
branches bearing the expense. That is effective in
this way, that when the grinders are stopped the
other branches are necessarily brought to a stand
also. In such cases it seems to have been the prac-
tice for the trades for which the grinders rattened
to pay the wages of the grinders for such time as
they were unemployed in consequence of the rat-
tening. Battening has existed among the grinders
because of the facilities afforded for the carrying
off bands and nuts, especially in the old grinding
wheels on the rivers, to which there was the easiest
possible access. Witness believed that the granting
powers to the unions to recover contributions from
members in the County Court would do away with
rattening. It could only then be used to coerce
members into joining the unions; and that object
could be accomplished by the union men refusing to
work for employers who had non-union men. The
practice of rattening ceasing to be used to enforce
payment of arrears would fall into general disuse.
He did not think the unions were prepared to give
up their rules restricting the number of apprentices
but they could be enforced by " taking out" the
men where necessary.
In reply to Mr. Overend, witness explained that
the old grinding wheels were worked by water power.
The wheels were, as a consequence, built upon the
streams running down the valleys surrounding the
town, mostly in lonely situations. There were low
buildings, exceedingly easy of access. He believed
the facilities thus afforded for taking wheel bands
had originally led to the practice of rattening which
was peculiar to Sheffield.
John Wilson, pen and pocket blade grinder, gave
evidence to the effect that he was formerly a mem-
ber of that Union, but he left it in consequence of
things being transaeted of which he was ashamed.
On one occasion he saw a man come to the society
and get paid for blowing up a wheel at Dronfield.
Some little time afterwards he ceased his connection
with the Union. He said that rattening was exten-
sively carried on in his own trade, and that the money
for it was paid out of the funds. He also said that
rattening was carried on in all the grinding trades.
If rattening failed to make members pay or to in-
duce them to adhere to the rules, force was resorted
to, either by the men being withdrawn from the
shop where the refractory members worked, or the
master was asked to use his " good offices," which
meant, witness said, that the screw was to be put
on. He considered that the majority of unionists
in the town went into the Unions voluntarily, but
he said there was a large number of society men who
joined Unions through fear of their tools being
destroyed.
Henry Cutts, secretary to the Filesmiths' Union,
which consists of the file cutlers and forgers, was
the next witness. The society was in affiance with
the grinders and hardeners for the purpose of car-
rying out the rules of the Union, but not for the
purpose of committing outrages or rattenings. There
had been a few rattenings of men in the trade, but
they had not been done with the knowledge or sanc-
tion of the society. One case of rattening occurred
during the lock-out which took place in 1866. The
man who was then rattened was working in com-
pliance with the rules of the Union, and witness at-
tributed the rattening to private malice. Another
case of rattening occurred during the same lock-out,
the man rattened being a member of the Union and
receiving box pay. In February, 1864, the men
who were working for Mr. Wm. Torr, a file manu-
facturer, were taken out by the Union because he
was not paying according to the statement of prices.
He remembered Mr. Torr's hardening cistern being
pierced, and the hardening water in consequence
running away; he also remembered that in the same
year Mr. Torr's warehouse was broken open and
some of his books taken away. He knew nothing
whatever of the warehouse being broken open. At
th It time Mr. Torr's men were out, and his manu-
factory was picketted—that is, men were stationed
outside, so that when men applied for work they
should be informed why the others were out. Ile
could not give any reason for Mr. Torr's warehouse
being broken open ; he knew that all his men left
bins with the bitterest feelings of enmity against
him. He was not particularly obnoxious to the
trade, so far as he knew of, except this—that he re-
duced the prices of his men. His men had come out
on three different occasions, and at length he agreed
to pay according to the statement of prices, and the
men resumed work. At the request of Mr. Torr's
manager he furnished him with a list of the
men wt-to had been out and the SL Which the