The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-02 00:00:00

Indus+rial Partnership of Clothiers.

dends fluctuated from 8 to 6 and even down to 4 percent.,
and the works could not be carried on without the presence
of the police. In the first year after this colliery had been
turn©d into an industrial partnership, and 90 of the colliers
admitted as shareholders, the dividend rose to 10 per cent.,
a further amount of 2 per cent. was applied in accordance
with the rules, and a balance of £l,BOO was divided among
the men, according to the proportions of the work which
they had done. Three earlier attempts in which he had
taken part to establish tailors' associations in London failed
owing to various causes ; but even if this endeavour also
should prove unsuccessful, it would not shake his faith in
the principle on which it was started. The principle of jus-
tice must be introduced into the trade of England, or she
would lose her pre-eminence among commercial nations.
The existing trade system was simply that of over-reach-

ing everybody with whom business was transacted. Indus-

trial partnerships, on the contrary, admitted all parties to a
bargain—the capitalist, the workman, and the customer—
to share in whatever profits resulted from the transaction.
Mr. Edmond Beales, who was announced as a shareholder
in the enterprise, said ho regarded it as a method of carry-
ing out the great co-operative principle, which was calcu-
lated to effect most beneficial changes in the state of society
through its tendency to reconcile the interests of capital
and labour. The Rev. Dr. Burns, a director, gave detailed
information as to the mode of allotting shares, the probable
amount of calls payable, the economic working of the sys-
tem, &c. He also regarded the co-operative principle as an
important agent for improving the condition of the mass of
the people; speaking of whom, by an easy transition, he was
led into a dissertation first upon the enfranchisement of the
masses, then on the probable future of the Reform ques-
tion, and finally upon Mr. Bright's recent visit to Dublin.
"Ireland was dark enough ; they wanted a Bright man there,"
&c. Capt. Grosvenor, M.P., said no one would venture to
deny that the relations between labour and capital were
often of an unsatisfactory character, and spoke with feeling
and earnestness of his desire to do everything that might
tend to bring about a healthier and better state of things.

was curious that the chairman should have mentioned

"iron railings" in connexion with industrial partnerships,
remembering what prominence a kindred topic had recently
acquired. He hoped that when the principle that evening
advocated was carried out to its legitimate results, they
would always hear of iron railings manufactured and none
pulled down. Tho Rev. Mr. Dixey proposed a resolution
commendatory of the principle of industrial partnerships,
which was seconded by Mr. Laurence, president of the
London Tailors' Trade Society. Mr. Laurence explained
and defended the leading idea of trades' unions, which was,
he said, to obtain for working men a share of the profits
gained by their masters. If that share could be obtained
through the instrumentality of associations like the pre-
sent, it would be for the interest of the men themselves to
give up their trades' unions, which entailed upon them
heavy annual sacrifices, but which, as matters stood, were
a necesiity to them. Last year by an expenditure of £2,000
the tailors of Loudon became sharers in profits to the ex-

tent of £50,000 or £70,000, from which they would other-
wise have been excluded. After some further observations
by gentlemen upon the platform, the resolution passed
unanimously, and the proceedings closed with a vote of
thanks to the chairman.

Terrific Steamboiler Explosion at Bristol.

SEVEN MEN KILLED AND GREAT DESTRUCTION

OF PROPERTY.

Yesterday one of the most terrific boiler explosions that
has been known at the above city occurred in the liver
Avon, near Rownham, Bristol Ilotwells. A powerful
steam-tug, called the Black Eagle, and belonging to the
port of Cardiff, was engaged to tow a barque down the river
from the Cumberland Basin, and thence across the channel
to the Bute Docks, Cardiff. The vessel. had passed the
Rownham Ferry, and had almost passed the commanding
row of houses known as St. Vincent's-parade, when the
boiler of the tug suddenly exploded, with an amount of
violence which not only shattered the vessel to pieces and

consigned every soul to an instantaneous death, but which
shook the block of residences already named to the foun-
dations, and shattered the majority of them in an extraor-
dinary manner. One large fragment of the boiler, after
passing over the quay wall without touching it, deposited
itself upon a gravel-walk beneath an avenue of trees which
there skirts the river. Others, however, and these, too, of

far greater proportions in weight, were hurled to distances
which almost appear incredible, ono fragment, which was
estimated to weigh a ton,,alighting on the residence of Mr.
Wilkinson, managing engineer of the Port and Pier Rail-
way Company, a five-storey house, located at a distance of
at least 100 ft. from the spat where the explosion took place.
It carried in the roof, and occasioned much damage to
other parts of the premises. At the residence of Mr. Bru-

ton, secretary of the South Wales Union Railway Com-
pany, a portion of the funnel and numerous fragments of
the beams and ribs carried awaypart of the coping injured,
the roof, and drove in the roof of a back kitchen. At the
house of a gentleman named Powell, next door but one to
this, the most marvellous part of the damage was commit-
ted. An enormous mass of iron, measuring over 15ft. in
length and estimated to weigh 3 tons, was hurled high
into the air, and after carrying away a large portion of the
roof and sweeping off in its course a portion of the chim-
ney-stack, was precipitated into the garden, at a distance
of at least 140 ft. in a direct line from the part of the river
where the catastrophe occurred. Another weighty piece of
iron was projected to a still greater distance, and pieces of
plank and timber and fragments of iron work and cordage
were thrown about in all directions, and scarcely a house on
the Parade escaped without windows broken, tiles displaced,
and other matters of injury. There were many narrow
escapes of personal damage and death. A large coaling
shovel came whirling against ono of the windows of 311..
Bruton's drawing-room, and after sheltering the framework
and glass to pieces, and breaking a Venetian blind almost
literally to atoms, it bounded into the apartment. The
extent to which the houses were shaken may be gathered
from the facts that the masonry of a raised terrace in front
was to a large extent displaced, whilst the inhabitants state
that their residences shook as if from the convulsions caused
by au earthquake. The extent to which life has been sacri-
ficed cannot at the time we write be positively ascertained.
It is believed that the crew of the tug-boat consisted of a
captain, five men, and a boy. Only one body, believed to
be that of the captain, had been recovered, and that had
been conveyed to the " General Draper" Inn to await an
inquiry by the coroner. The occurrence has occasioned the
greatest possible sensation, and the spot is being visited by
thousands.

EMIGRATION FROM THE MERSEY.—Yesterday the
emigration officials at Liverpool completed their
usual return of the exodus from Liverpool, and, although
the fact is not stated in the statistics, we understand that
a large number, about 6,300, of 1 he emigrants have gone to
Texas direct. During the month ending October there sailed
to the United States 24 ships under the Act, with 7,091
steerage passengers, of whom 606 were cabin and 6,485
steerage; of this number 2,612 were English, 208 Scotch,
2,451 Iri.h, and 1,211 were foreigners. To Canada there
were four ships, with 1,061 passengers, of which 163 were
cabin and 898 steerage; of this number 380 were English,
52 Scotch, 181 Irish, and 278 foreigners. To Victoria there
were two ships, with 701 passengers, of whom 94 were
cabin and 607 steerage ; of this number 252 wore English,
23 Scotch, 304 Irish, and 28 foreigners. In " short" ships
there sailed—to the United States 1,021 passengers, to
South America 73, to Victoria 54, to Africa 40, and to the
West Indies 35. From a rough calculation it appears that
during the past month upwards of 3,600 Irish emigrants
have left Liverpool for America.
STREET MURDER IN LIVERPOOL.—At the Liver-
pool Coroner's Court yesterday an inquest was held on the
body of Alexander Montgomery, a coloured seaman.
From the evidence it appeared that on Tuesday evening
he had a quarrel with another seaman, named Morgan, in
Oldhall-street. They had a scuffle, and directly after-
wards it was seen that Montgomery had received a stab
in the abdomen. Ho was taken to the Northern Hospital,
and died in a few minutes. It was shown in evidence that
the parties Lad met and quarrelled a short time before, and
that in the interval Morgan was heard to threaten that
he would kill the deceased before he went to bed. A
verdict of " Wilful Murder" against Morgan was returned,
Lnd he was committed for trial under the coroner's
warrant.

Last evenings meeting, numerously attended by members
of the clothing trade, working men, and others, was held
at the Cambridge hall, Newman-street, for the purpose of
explaining the principles of industrial partnerships, with
especial reference to an organisation recently founded in
the metropolis. Ihe association, calling itself " The In-
dustrial Partnership of Clothiers (Limited)," with a nominal
capital of £25,000, in shares of £1 each, aims at the forma-
tion of an establishment in a central position, for the manu-
facture and sale of articles of clothing, conducting its busi-
ness according to a system hitherto unknown among shop-
keepers in London—that of dividing the profits to arise
from its operations in stated proportions between the capi-
talist, the workman, and the customer. Mr. Hughes, M.P.,
presided, and in the course of his introductory statement
referred to the change made in the law of partnership 18
months ago, when, for the first time, employers of labour
were enabled to admit those under thorn to participate in
the profits of a business, without risk of their becoming
partners, entitled as such to a voice in the management.
By that wise kw, of only five clauses, industrial partner-
ships had been rendered possible. Though London consi-
dered itself always in the van of civilisation, the North had
taken the lead in this matter. In ono district what was
called " a little concern" up there, but which, nevertheless,
employed some 80 or 90 men, was already in full work,
manufacturing iron rails and wires ; in this partnership
the shares were of such small amount that every work-
man who chose to do so could become a proprietor ;
moreover, to those who were unable to pay for shares
themselves, shares were allotted in proportion to the amount
of work they had done for the concern. At the end of the first
half-year's operations, this little company divided no less
than 10 per cent. on the capital embarked, besides a further
payment of 7i per cent. on the amount of wages earned
during the working period. There was another case, that
of a colliery in Yorkshire belonging to a Mr. Briggs and his
family, which for many years had been a central point in all
the troubles arising out of strikes in that district. The divi-