The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-24 00:00:00

TEE STRIKE,

A negotiation is now in progress calculated, in
,he event of success, to detach a large and respect-
ible section of the skilled artisans in the building
trades from the nine hours' movement, and, even in

the case of failure, to have an important bearing
upon the future course of the strike. Emanating,
too, as it does from that particular body of men
themselves, and making a concession on their part,
while it asks one from the other side in return,
with the view to an amicable termination of this
unhappy quarrel, the proposal appears to be one
which, on its merites, deserves a favourable consi-
deration from the Masters' Executive Committee.
Yesterday a deputation from the Society of Opera-
tive Masons—a trade association having, perhaps,
the most perfect organisation of any in the kingdom,
and extending over the whole country—waited by
appointment upon Mr. Myers, the eminent master
builder in the York-road, Lambeth, and in the
course of a long interview submitted through him
to the Masters' Executive Committee, who are to
meet again on Tuesday, a proposition for ending the
strike so far as the masons as a body are concerned.
The deputation consisted of Mr. Richard Harnott,
secretary of the Central Committee of Operative
Masons, which is located at Bristol, another mason
from that city, and two other members of their
craft resident in London. The proposal they made
to Mr. Myers is understood to have been this—that,
speaking for their constituents, who are presumed
to be the whole of the masons on strike, they are
prepared to abandon the nine hours' movement, and
to work ten hours a day as usual, provided the
members of the Central Association of Master
Builders agree to withdraw the declaration. It is
said, also, that should there be any customs regu-
lating their handicraft, which the masters regard as
grieTances, they express their willingness to dis-
cuss them with their employers in a friendly spirit,
and with a view to their mutual interests. This
is the substance of the reconciliation which the
masons submit to the Masters' Executive Com-
_ _ _ _

CRIML

Sept. 23.

OLD COURT.
(Before R. M. Kerr, Esq.)
Robert Westley, 58, a respectable-looking man,
was indicted for misdemeanour.

Mr. Pearce conducted the prosecution, Mr. Met-
calfe was counsel for the defendant.

The offence imputed to the defendant was that in
Le course of his examination before Mr. Murphy,
Le Commissioner of the Insolvent Debtors' Court,

he committed wilful and corrupt perjury, and the
circumstances under which the alleged offence was
committed were of a somewhat peculiar character.
The prosecutor was Mr. Gilman, an extensive
wholesale boot and shoe manufacturer at Norwich,
and who also has an establishment in London, and

it appeared that in the year 1853 one of his travel-
lers, a Mr. Barnes, was at Reading in the course of
his journey soliciting orders, and he saw the pri-
soner, who at that time kept a boot and shoe shop
in Minster-street, Reading, and he ordered goods
of him to the amount of between .£6O and £7O, and

these goods were subsequently supplied. Mr. Barnes
upon a subsequent journey applied to the prisoner
for payment of the account, but he made some ex-
cuse, and promised to call at the London establish-
ment in a short time and pay the bill. He did not,
however, do so, and when Mr. Barnes next went to
Reading he found that the shop was closed and the
prisoner had decamped, and he could learn no tid-
ings of him. From this time until the beginning
of the present year nothing transpired relating to
the prisoner ; but Mr. Barnes happening by acci-
dent to be in the shop of a shoe manufacturer in
White Cross-street, the prisoner came in, and he
immediately recognised him as the person who had
favoured him with the order at Reading. He
made some inquiries, and ultimately traced the pri-
soner to Cambridge•street, Hackney, where he ap-
peared to be carrying on the business of a baker,
and upon information being given to Mr. Gilman,
he commenced an action against him to re-
cover the amount of his debt, and the action
was subsequently tried at Westminster, and re-
sulted in the jury giving Mr. Gilman a verdict
for the amount of his debt. The prisoner, it ap-
peared, immediately after the action had been dis-
posed of, filed a petition in the Insolvent Court,
and on his schedule he disputed the debt of Mr.
Gilman, and when he was examined by the Com-
missioner he swore that he had not kept the shop
at Reading, that it was the business of his brother,
Charles Westley, and that he had merely ordered
the goods from Mr. Barnes as his agent ; and it was
upon these statements that perjury was alleged
against the defendant. Several witnesses were exa-
mined, from whose evidence it appeared that the
defendant had lived for two years at Reading, and
that he was always known as Charles Westley, and
that ho took the shop where the goods were sup-
plied and signed an agreement in that name, and
that no other person was seen in the transaction,
and no one had ever heard of a brothor ; and, in
fact, every one of the statements made by the de-
fendant before the Commissioner was distinctly dis-
proved.
Mr. Metcalfe, at the close of the case for the pro-
secution, raised several technical objections to the
indictment, some of which the learned Commissioner
consented to reserve for consideration by the Court
of Criminal Appeal, in case it should become neces-
sary to_ do so.