The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-30 00:00:00

THE BUILDERS' LOCK OUT.

Last night the weekly meeting of the Metropoli-
tan Trades' Delegates was held at Shaftesbuiy
Aldersgate-street---Mr. M‘Lanchlan, delegate from
the Type-founders' Society,-in the chair. Although
the evening was very wet- and disagreeable there
was a large attendance of delegates.
The CHAIRMAN, in introducing the business, said
he was not aware of any material alteration in the
position of the parties in this struggle; but it ap-
peared to him that they were bound under the cir-
cumstances to stand more closely together, shoulder
to shoulder, than they had ever done. The question
at issuelad narrowed itself more and more dis-
timetly. It was now simply whether trades' unions
should exist or not, and upon that point they must
concentrate all their energies.
Mr. POTTER, Secretary to tho Conference, said
that the chairman had truly told them that there
was little alteration in the state of affairs. 'What
change had taken place was in fact of an unfavour-
able character. Many of the employers who had
induced, by means of their foremen, workmen to
enter their employment upon the non-presentation
of the decument, had, within the last week turned
round and demanded that the workmen should
agree to the declaration. In some cases the men
had refused to do so, but seeing that they had most
of them been out of work sixteen weeks, it was no
wonder that some were disheartened and disposed to
accept work on any terms. Seeing this was the
case, the Conference had passed a resolution that
any member of the building trades should be at
liberty to accept employment where the "document"
was not presented individually. That resolution, he
believed, had given general satisfaction, and, he
hoped, would lead to the re-employment of many
now " locked out." (Hear.) lie regretted to say
that, in the course of that day, an attack had been
made upon the delegates from the Conference,
who were deputed to pay the labourers at the
Mitre. One result of which they saw in the torn
coat before them (pointing to a very dilapi-
dated garment at the back of the platform). The
police had been called upon to interfere, but had
declined to do so, and the money in the possession
of the delegates had actually been carried off by
force. Their great difficulty all along had been
with the labourers, and now the time had come
when it would be necessary to take a different
course. The first step taken by the Conference was,
to reduce the dividend this week to 3s. 6d. to skilled
artisans, and 2s. Gd. to labourers ; but there was
this explanation, that the various skilled trades had
discontinued their payments of one-third of their
levies into the general fund, and thus, though there
would be a nominal decrease to the skilled artisans
on the general dividend, there would, in fact, bean.
increase. The Conference, however, had been sub-
jected to such annoyance, disturbance, and danger
recently, that it had been determined to remove
from the Paviors' Arms to a more private and more
accessible office, for really business purposes, and he
hoped that change would have the approval of tho
delegates. (Rear.) On the whole, he regretted to
say that there was so little prospect of the speedy
settlement of this dispute, that they had been
compelled to take these steps with respect to the
labourers. In fact, life was not safe under the cir-
cumstances. They had been again and again de-
frauded by the labourers ; and, seeing that there
was no chance of satisfying the demands of the
lat,ourers, they had resolved to discontinue all pay-
ments in future. The number •f artisans and
labourers paid the dividend last week was about
5,000, and the sum was about £BOO.
Several questions were put by delegates with
respect to the charges made against the labourers,
which were answered in detail, the general effect of
which went to establish the charge of gross fraud
in many instances, and in some of violent and
brutal treatment of those deputed to pay the money.
In one case it had been discovered that returns
had been sent in for one hundred labourers more
than were entitled to it ; and, upon the death
of the man who got the money and divided a
ss. instead of a 3s. 6d. dividend, his successor
did the same, although he could not show
the number of claimants formerly fraudu-
lently represented as being entitled to a share
in the funds. The discovery of these frauds had
led to the removal of the Conference to a private
office from the Parlors' Arms, where the lives of the
members of the Conference were in danger ; and
unprotected as they were by the police, they were
bound to take the best means in their power to save
themselves. The labourers had at all times consti-
tuted nearly one-half of the whole number paid
from the general fund, and as the labourers paid
little or nothing to that fund, it was necessary to
leave them to their own resources. One shilling a-
week from the labourers who were in work would
be amply sufficient to pay all those who were out.
These explanations appeared to satisfy the dele-
gates, with the understanding that the whole ques-
tion was under the consideration of a special com-
mittee.

A motion recommending the Conference to dis-
continue paying the labourers was discussed for
some time, but ultimately it was agreed to leave the
decision with the Conference, to which the del 'gates
passed a vote of confidence.

The subscriptions (including £5O from the boiler-
makers and iron shipbuilders, and £2O from the
pianoforte makers) amounted to about £l3O.
During the last two days the contributions re-
ceived from the provinces in aid of the lock-out fund
by the Conference has been about £l5O.
A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the
proceedings last night.