The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-19 00:00:00

!-THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVET4ING, SEPTEMBER 19, 1859.

pit 8,40ps from any ca-use during the week, the butty
knows that many of the men will go to the public-
house:. The profits, arising to the butty from this
sourc e enable him to take a contract to work a pit

at a lower rate. Nel ,ertheless, considering the idle-
ness and iemoralis ation to which the butte sys-
tem contributes, it is the opinion of many'persons
that the masters lose by it in the main. As to its

being necessary to get change to pay the men
through the public-houses, it is an argument of no
force. It is perfectly easy for the master to obtain all
the change necessary to pay any number of men, if
ha •desires to do so, from his banker. Many publicans
ar.d retail tradesmen are also glad to hand over
t'neir superfluous change, as it accumulates, to a
neighbouring large employer. To send the men to
the public-house, in order: to remunerate the publi-
can for giving to the but ty gold and silver which
he would under ordinary- circumstances send to a
bank, is superfluous, and an_ encouragement to drink-
ing habits as well.
But although a few master's may have been, and
a few others may be, successful in doing away with
the butty system, it does not follow that under pre-
sent circumstances many could. If done at all, it
must be a work of time.

and coke from other districts. It is only necessary
to add, that if the resistance to the proposed reduc-
tion of wages on the part of the colliers in question
is founded on just and reasonable grounds, those
classes of men who have already been reduced may
with as much reason demand that their wages
should be again raised ; a process that, in the pre-
sent state of trade, would speedily shut up nearly
every iron work and colliery in the South Stafford-
shire district, and throw the bulk of the iron trade
population out of employ."
The resolution founded on this statement was—
" That the attempt of the thick coal colliers of the
Oldbury and West . Bromwich district to maintain
their rate of wages at ss. a day, and the proceedings
to which they have had recourse in furtherance of
their object, in the face of the serious and long-con-
tinued depression in the state of the iron and coal
trade, is unreasonable and unjust, and will be stre-
nuously resisted."
The above " fair and dispassionate statement,"
and the resolution founded on it, were signed by
upwards of 50 coal and ironmasters in the district.
Among the names, which include nearly every firm
of importance in the district immediately concerned,-
are many gentlemen unsurpassed in the manufac-
turing world for high integrity, for an enlightened
and, generous regard for the welfare of the people
under them; and for a due sense of the responsibilities
which belong to their position. No right-minded
person iii the district would hesitate for a moment to
accept as.scrupalously true the plain statement to
which such a body of gentlemen have placed their.
names, and as their full justification for the course
they felt obliged to pursue. With the colliers
themselves it had its effect, and by the following
week they had nearly all resumed work at the re-
duction proposed by the masters, after a disastrous
and ineffectual struggle of 15 weeks.
It may reasonably be asked whether the facts so
fully and so temperately laid before them by the
masters were before unknown to them ? By no
means. They were fully cognisant of them, but
they preferred to listen to bad advice from persons
of their own class, and others who took upon them-
selves to interfere, who had nothing to do with the
matter—one described as a " herbal doctor," and
others as little competent to direct them aright.
Their conduct during this' period, when many
among ahem were suffering severe privation, was on
the whole quiet and orderly. The police, how-
ever, were strong and vigilant. If, as was thought,
the general absence of violent prOceedings, such as
used formerly. to occur on these occasions in this
district, indicated a moral- improvement in the mass
of the colliers,. it cannot be said that the course they
took in determining upon a strike, under the circum-
stances of the case, showed that their intelligence
had increased in equal proportion, or that much ad-
vance had been made towards the right understand-
ing of each otherbetween the masters and their men,
and towards that mutual confidence which might be
looked to as the effectual' guarantee against the per-
petual recurrence of these unfortunate contests.
Accordingly, within a few weeks after the appa-
rent settlement of the question, it was re-opened ;
and in the second week of November notice was
given on behalf of the Oldbury and West Bromwich
colliers that unless an advance of 6d. a-day was
given (their previous demand having been for ls.),
they would cease work. In a few cases; which were
stated to be exceptional, the demand was acceded
to ; but the masters as a body adhered to their
resolution. No very large number of the men
put their threat into execution, but by the second
week in December about 1,500 men .were " on
strike" in the two districts east and west of Dudley,
and were addressed by their leaders, and en-
courage& to hold out, and'to support each other by
the united action of 'the men of both districts.
Again, in January and February, the leaders en-
deavoured to incite the men to a demand of the
advance; .but gradually labour was generally re•
sumed, and has so remained. • •
In the meantime, during lhe' period over which
these struggles extended, great distress was felt by
the men and their families, and much loss was in-
flicted upon the masters and upon the whole com-
munity. When the strike commenced the iron
trade was said to be "reviving ;" the men,' hoVe-
ever, " would not wait," but, acting On bad advice,
made a premature demand for an advance of wages,
which their masters could not grant, and then; by
ceasing to work, caused many orders to be lost to
the district, and stimulated the supply of coal from
neighbousing coalfieldss, so as to prevent the con-
sumers in South Staffordshire from being alto-
gether dependent upon the coal raised there. The
natural result will be that, as soon as the demands
of trade decline there will be a larger proportion
of the colliers of South Staffordshire and East
'Worcestershire out of employ, and it must be some
time before the trade altogether returns to its
natural channels. Many shopkeepers asserted that,
rather than incur again the losses from want of
custom, and from extra expenses, and from contri-
butions to the men on strike, they would leave the
district altogether. A gentleman, largely engaged
in the coal trade, published an address, recommend-
ing a compromise, in order to put an end to the
strike, in which he stated that still, in the first
week in December, many collieries were closed, and
many others had only a few men at work—that all
interests were suffering, that
.partial ruin to many
was inevitable thousands of pounds per week,
formerly paid as wages, having ceased to
circulate —and that the buyers of coal,
manufacturers, :and housekeepers, were paying
dearer for their coal, either by using an
inferior quality, or by an advanced price, or both.
EDUCATION—PRIZE SCHEMES.
So far as the raising the general standard of
intallir,enee among the working colliers by a better
elementary education may be looked to as one of
the means of curing this state of things, much has
been done for'several years past in that direction.
Ample opportunities of good instruction have been
provided all over the
ro district,n fi vaendtothseevesutimyeualiirss of'ih
the prize schemes, now
existence, has been felt every year
r more and more
in the greater numbers of children able to satisfy
the requirements of the examination, and the larger
amount of sound elementary instruction possessed
by the generality of the candidates. It had been
feared that as the children of the working classes
had to compete with the children of shopkeepers
and superior artisans, an utolua proportion of the
prizes would be carried off by the latter, and conse-
quently the children for whoa.° special encourage-
ment these associations were instituted would derive
little benefit from them It has, however, not
By making the smaller prizes
tforur turned outm tore beelementaryrequirements much the
most numerous, an ample share of them has fallen
to the children of the working daises, especially so
called, and that this share has increased greatly is
-shown by the fact, ascertained by Mr. Norris, that
whereas three years ago one in 'seven of the prizes
was gained by the children of that class, this year
the proportion has been one in four. 'Nevertheless,
for their greater
by the
encouragement, it has been deter-
minedhdley Association to teEastD
Dudley
con-
fine the money prizes in future to .the children of
working men in the employ of 'the iron and coal
Masters and the proprietors of glass works, and to
give the books and honorary prizes to the children
of other classes. The prizes of these two associa-
tions were distributed this year on the 16th .of
May, at Walsall, by the Earl of Lichfield, who
occupied the chair. The Lord Bishop of Lichfield,
Lord Hatherton, the lord lieutenant of the county,
the Archdeacon of Lichfield, the Rev. J. P. -Norris,
her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, several of the
pr:ncipal employers of the district, and a large as-
semblage of spectators, were present ; also several
working men who had accompanied their children,
for the gratification of seeing them receive the re-
wards of their industry and application, and such
encouragement for future good conduct as was given
in the addresses which were delivered.
The niain object of a prize scheme is, in the words
of the circular of the Birmingham Educational As-
sociation, that the result of school attendance should
be, to all the children, that before leaving school
they should be able " to understand what they
read, and write so as to be understood."
That this result is not now attained in the case
of the gseat majority of the children attending the
ordinary day schools of the kingdom is well known.
It is adverted to in the circular of the Committee of
Council on Education to her Majesty's Inspectors
of Schools of 30th September, 1857, and again in
the circular of 27th February, 1858, in which it is
also stated, that " this fact is made apparent from
all the earlier examinations under every prize
scheme."
That the prize schemes are causing an increase
in the proportion of those who beforeleaving school
have aequired the rudiments of education to such an
extent as to render it probable that they will re-
tain, if not improve them, is shown by the reports
of the examinations. But that they reach, or are
likely to reach, the whole mass of the children, in
the colliery districts especially, is not, in the pre-
sent state of the adult population in those districts,
to be expected. I find, on inquiry that although
the proportion of colliers' children engaging in the
ciAnpctition is in moat localities slightly increasing,
it is nevertheless still small, the great majority of
such children being still removed from school at or
before the age of ten to go down iltie pits. Although
many good impressions may be made and much
may be learnt before the age of ten, which may be
also kept up and improved by the evening school,
the fact is otherwise as regards the mass ; 'little is
learnt, and that little is frequently lost, and but
seldom improved.
The effect of the prize schemes seems to be now
pretty well ascertained to be, to produce a greater
amount of exertion and consequent acquirement
amoeg the more active intellects in the school, and
to a certain extent to stimulate many others who dO

not ultimately compete for the prizes in consequence
of irregularity of attendance or of being sent to
work, and further, to excite emulation among the
masters, and to give them the satisfaction of seeing
a recognition of their efforts in the public distribu-
tion of prizes and cards of merit to their best pupils.
The number of boys who have thus been brought
before the eye of the public in the ten prize schemes
in mining districts during the past year has been
nearly 3,000._

It may reasonably be expected that out of this
numb€r, which, occurring and increasing annually,
presents, in the course of a few years, a considerable
aggregate, there will be many whose faeulties will
have been fairly prepared for further cultivation in
the line of the special requirements of mining in-
dustry.
That there is great room for a class of meta pos-
sessing much' higher acquirements than are now
common to fill subordinate situations of all kinds in
and about the collieries, is generally acknowledged.
The question arises—are any means being pre-
pared by which an opening might be afforded to
those lads who have shown ability at these prize-
scheme examinations, or otherwise, to receive that
special instruction which would be useful to them
in their callings, and might qualify them for those
subordinate situations, and also by which the class
of subordinate agents generally might have oppor-
tunities of acquiring a more scientific knowledge of
the principles which they have to apply in their
daily duties.

ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL.

( From the Times.)

Our columns of Saturday last contained the ordi-
nary record of the death of one of our most eminent
engineers, Mr. I. K. Brunel. The loss of a man
whose name has nowler two generations, from the
commencement of this century to the present
time, been identified with the progress and the
application of mechanical and engineering science,
claims the notice due to those who have' done the
State some service. This country is largely in-
debted to her many eminent civil engineers for her
wealth and strength, and Mr. Brunel will take a
high rank among them when the variety and mag-
nitude of his works is considered, and the original
genius he displayed in accomplishing them. He
was, as it were, born an engineer, about the time
his father had completed the block machinery at
Portsmouth, then one of the most celebrated and
remarkable works of the day, and which remains
efficient and useful. Those who recollect him as a
boy recollect full well how rapidly, almost intui-
tively, indeed, he entered into and identified himself
with all his father's plans and pursuits. He was.
very early distinguished for his powers of mental
calculation, and not less so for his rapidity and ac-
curacy as a draughtsman. His power in this re-
spect was not confined to professional or mecha-
nical drawings only. He displayed an artist-like
feeling for and a love of art, which in later days
never deserted him. He enjoyed and promoted it
to the last, and the only limits to the delight it
afforded him were his engrossing occupations and
his failing health.
The bent of his mind when young was clearly
seen by his father and all who knew him. His
education was therefore directed to qualify him for
that profession in which he afterwards distinguished
himself. His father was his first,, and perhaps his
best tutor. When he was about fourteen he was
sent to Paris, where he was placed under the care
of M. Masson, previous to entering the college of
Henri Quatre, where he remained two years. He
then returned to England, and it may be said that,
in fact, he then commenced his professional career
under his father, Sir I. Brunel, and in which he
rendered him important assistance—devoting him-
self from that time forward to his profession exclu-
sively and ardently. He displayed even then the
resources, not only of a trained and educated mind,
but great original and inventive power. He poe
sessed the advantage of being able to express or
draw clearly and accurately whatever he had
matured in his own mind. But not only that ;
ke could work out with his own hands, if he
pleased, the models of his own designs, whether in
wood or iron. As a mere workman he would have
excelled. Even at this early period steam naviga-
tion may be said to have occupied his mind, for he
made the model of a boat, and worked it with loco-
motive contrivances of his, own. Everything he did,
he did with all his might and strength, and he did
it well. The same energy, thoughtfulness, and ac-
curacy, the same thorough conception and mastery
of whatever he undertook distinguished him in all
minor things, whether working as a tyro in his
father's office, or as the engineer of the Great
Western Railway Company, or, later, in the con-
ception and design in all its details of the Great
Eastern. Soon after his return to England his
father was occupied, among other things, with
plans for the formation of a tunnel under the
Thames. In 1825 this work was commenced, and
Brunel took an active part in the work under his
father. There are many of his fellow labourers now
living who well know the energy and ability he
displayed in that great scientific struggle against
physical difficulties and obstacles.of no ordinary
magnitude, and it may be said that at this time the
anxiety and fatigue he underwent, and an accident
he met with, laid the foundation of future weak-
ness and illness. Upon the stoppage of that under-
taking by the irruption of the river in 1828, he be-
came employed on his own account upon various
works. Docks at Sunderland and Bristol were con-
structed by him, and when it was proposed to
throw a suspension bridge across the Avon at
Clifton, his design and plan was approved by Mr.
Telford, then one of the most eminent engineers
of the day. This work was never completed. He
thus became known, however, in Bristol, and when
a railway was in contemplation between London
and Bristol, and a company formed, he was ap-
pointed their engineer. He had previously been em-
ployed, however, as a railway engineer in con-
- nexion with the Bristol and Gloucestershire and
the Merthyr and Cardiff tramways. in these
works his mind was first turned to the construction
of railways, and when he became engineer of the
Great Western Railway Company he recommended
and introduced what is popularly called the broad
guage, and the battle of the guages began. This
is not the place or the time to say one word upon
this controversy. No account of Mr. Brunei's
labours, however, would be complete without men-
tioning so important a circumstance in his life.
Considering the Great Western Railway as an en-
gineering work alone, it may challenge a compari-
son with any other railway in the world for the
general perfection of its details, and the speed and
ease of travelling upon it. Many of its structures,
such as the viaduct at Hanwell, the Maidenhead-
bridge, which has the flattest arch of such large
dimensions ever attempted in brickwork, the box-
tunnel, which, at the date of its construction, was
the longest in the world, and the bridges and tun-
nels between Bath and Bristol deserve the attention
of the professional student. They are .all more or
less remarkable and original works.
Ii the South Devon and Cornish railways there
are also works of great magnitude and importance.
The sea wall of the South Devon Railway, and,
above all, the bridge over the Tamar, called the
Albert-bridge from the interest taken in it by the
Prince Consort, deserve to be specially mentioned,
together with the bridge over the Wye at Chep-
stow, as works which do honour to the genius of
the engineer and the country too. It was on the
South Devon Railway that he adopted the plan
which had been previously tried on the London and
Croydon line—viz., of propelling the carriages by
atmospheric pressure. This plan failed, but he en-
tertained a strong opinion that this power would be
found hereafter capable of adoption for locomotive
purposes. It is impossible, in such a rapid sketch
•as this of his energetic and professional life, to do
more than notice, or rather catalogue, his works.
It was in connexion with the interests of the Great
Western Railway that he first conceived the idea
of building a steamship to run between England
and America. The Great Western was built ac-
cordingly. The power and tonnage of this vessel
was about double that of the largest ship afloat at
the time of her construction. Subsequently, as the
public know, the Great Britain was designed and
built under .Mr. Brunel's superintendence.
ship, the result, as regards' magnitude, of a
few years' experience in iron shipbuilding, was
not only more than double the tonnage of the Great
Western, and by far the largest ship in existence,
but she was more than twice as large as the Great
Northern, the largest ship which at that time had
been attempted. While others hesitated about
extending the use of iron in the construction of
ships, Mr. Brunel saw it was the only material in
which a very great increase of dimensions could
safely be attempted. The very accident which be-
fel the Great Britain upon the rocks in Dundrum
Bay showed conclusively the skill he had then at-
tained in the adaptation of iron to the purposes of
shipbuilding. The means taken under his imme-
diate direction to protect the vessel from the injury
of the winds and waves attracted at the time much
attention, and they proved successful, for the vessel
was again floated, and is still afloat.
While noticing these great efforts to improve the
art of shipbuilding, it must not be forgotten that
Mr. Brunel, we believe, was the first man of emi-
nence in his profession who perceived the capabi-
lities of the screw as a propeller. He was brave
enough to stake a great reputation upon the sound-
ness of the reasoning upon which he had based his
conclusions. Fr ,m his experiments on a small
scale in the Archimedes he saw his way clearly to
the adoption of that 'method of propulsion which he
afterwards adopted in the Great Britain. And in
the report to his directors in which he recommended
it, he conveyed his views with so much clearness
and conclusiveness that when, with their approba-
tion, he submitted it to the Admiralty, he succeeded
in persuading them to give it a trial in her Ma-
jesty's navy, under his direction. In the progress
of this trial he was much thwarted; but the Rattler,
the ship which was at length placed at his disposal,
and fitted under his direction with engines and
screw by Messrs. Maudslay and Field, gave results
which justified his expectations under somewhat
adverse circumstances. She was the first screw
which the British navy possessed, and it must be
added, to the credit of Brunel, that though she had
originally been built for a paddle ship, her perfor-
mance with a screw was so satisfactory, that nume
rous screw ships have since been added to the
navy. Thus prepared by experience and much per-
sonal devotion to the subject of steamnavigation by
means of large ships, he, in the latter part of 1851
and the beginning of 1852, began to work out the
idea he had long entertained—that to make long
voyages economically and speedily by steam required
that the vessels should be large enough to carry the
coal for the entire voyage our wards, and, unless the
facilities for obtaining coal were very great at the
outpost, then for the return voyage also ; and that
vessels much larger than any then built could be
navigated with great advantages from the mere
effects of size. Hence originated the Great Eastern.
The history of this great work is before the public,
and its success in a nautical point of *view. is ad•
nutted, as well as the strength and stability of the
construction of the vessel. More than this cursory
notice of this last memorial of his skill cannot now

be given. All the circumstances attending the chip
struction, the launching, the trial of this great s
are before the public. It would hardly be just,
however, to the memory of this distinguished engi-
neer if we were to conclude this notice without an
allusion to his private characta and worth. VeW.
men were more free from that bane of professional
life—professional jealousy. He was always relay
tl assist others, and to do justice to their merits.
It is a remarkable circumstance that in the eariY
part of his career he was brought into frequent con-
flict with Robert Stephenson, as Stephenson
with him, and that, nevertheless, their mutual re-
gard and respect were never impaired. Brunel was
ever ready to give his advice and assistance when
as
ever Stephenson desired it, and the public will re-
collect how earnestly • and cordially during the
launch of the Great Eastern Stephenson gave his
assistance and lent the weight of his authority. to
his now deceased friend. Such rivalry and such
unbroken friendship as theirs are rare, and are
honourable to both.
The death of Mr. Brunel was hastened by the
fatigue and mental strain caused by his efforts to
superintend the completion of the Great Easternu,
Bt
and in these efforts his last days were spent.
we must not forbear to' mention that for several
years past Mr. Brunel had been suffering ,from illless
health 'brought on by over-exertion. Neverthe
he allowed himself no relaxtion from his pro of
°,
sienal labours, and it was during the perio,'
bodily pain and weakness that his greatest difffent"
ties were surmounted and some of his greatest
works achieved. Possessing a mind strong the
consciousness of rectitude, he pursued, -in si le_
g
hearted truthfulness, what he believed to be the
course of duty, and in his love of and devotion to
his profession he accomplished, both at home and
abroad, on the continent and in India, works, the
history of which will be the best monument to his
memory. With an intellect singularly p
and acute, nothing escaped his observation in
owerful
any branch of science which could be made avail
able in his ,own pursuits, yet it, was accompanied by
humility and a kindliness of heart which endeared
him to all who knew and enjoyed his friendship.
The very boldness and originality of his works, Of
which he was never known to boast, while it added
to his fame, added no little to his anxiety, and no
infrequently encompassed him with difficulty--
" Great was the glory, but greater was the strife,"
which told ultimately upon his health and strength,
and finally closed his life when he was little more
than 53 years of age. We have left unnoticed
many of his works, and many deserve the attention
and study of the young engineer. They will' find
their record in professional works, and in them his
works will hereafter be fully described and consi-
dered. Mr. Brunel .was a member of the Berl
Society, having been elected at the early age of 26.
In 1857 he was admitted by the University of
Oxford to the honorary degree of Doctor of Civ
Laws, a distinction of which he was justlyproudil