The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-11 00:00:00

NEEDLE WO2I.IE2PS IN BTITUTIO N.

-
Last evening a •conversazione was held at the
residence of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Alers Hankey, in
Harley-street, in aid of the Institution for the Em-
ployment of Needlewomen, which was set on foot
about a year ago in premises in Lamb's Conduit-
street, and has now its head-quarters in a more com-
modious building in Hinde-street, Manchester-
square. The company, principally ladies, number-
ing between 200 and 300, inoluded several members
of the nobility and many persons of station and in-
fluence who take an interest in the unfortunate
class for whose benefit the society has been esta-
blished, and whose unhappy lot in the metro-
polis has for years been the subject of public com-
miseration. The Earl of Shaftesbury, the Bishops
of London and Oxford, Miss Burdett Coutts, Lady
Londonderry, Lady Glasgow, Lady Dude, the lion.
H. Byng, Col. Daubeny, and several members of
Parliament, and many of the metropolitan clergy
were present. A report, prepared by Miss Ellen Bar-
lee, the secretary and lady-superintendent, and read
by the Hon. Mr. Byng, stated that the objects of
the society are to improve the condition of needle-
women by providing for as many as its means
will allow constant employment and a higher rate
of remuneration, which it seeks to attain by stand-
ing between them and the first employer, instead of
the usual middleman, and by receiving work from
Government, from shops, and from private sources.
The institution, as first started in the beginning of
last year, was placed on a footing to employ about
100 needlewomen, but during the year about 250
women received work, some for a brief period, and
others as permanent members of it. The work
done was worth more than £6OO, and the
current expenditure was about £350. In
January last a Government contract for
46,000 shirts was obtained, and since then
between 7,000 and 8,000 shirts have been made,
principally at branch establishments, which have
been opened in different districts of London. About
400 women are now receiving employment,
and the amount already received or in course of,E:
payment from Government on the contract '
f ion-
, upwards of £770. Of the needlewomen
~- ' don, estimated at some 30,000, the maeagi
where the
benefit all, but by opening places
com-
mittee state that it would be fatile
out c meet
well-conducted and respeetafthout the fear
to hope to
dishonest means for
regular employment,
owfitlahck hh°o „es-oar-slop-work, with
a living, they trust that
ettteedant misery, will not
its starvation pay and
who deserve encouragement
fall to the lot of those .
vi
ngt
ii, a the same time '
and that the society
d work and good operate
as an incentive t.ongue
dependence of the behaviour in
others. The main
work, which institution is
n Government is of a coarse de-
to the
scrip, .and suited eco
scriptien,
„may distributed to themmen Workers. It is
principally
" these parishes in populous
districts where workers abound, and given
out to them to do at their o '
NMhomes. If,
-how-
large the society Can
- be placed on a sufficiently
large footing, there are various other kinds of Go-
vernment work it willapply for, and the larger the
contract that
can be received, the higher will be
the wages
given to the needlewomen. But among
the Women the institution desires to relieve a large
number present themselves whe work far too well
to be employed on Government work, and to meet
their case ornployment is provided for them from
shops and private sources.

WALMER CASTLE.—The intended sale of the
furniture and effects at Walmer Castle, which. has been
advertised for the 13th inst., will not, we understand, take
place,
e
in consequence of the purchase by Lord Palmerston
of the entire property from the executors of the late Mar-
quist of Dalhousie.

- The 111oniteur has the following :—" Several
journals have published a letter concerning the prisoner
Mires, pretending that his confinement was particularly
severe. The truth is, that the regulations have been ap-
plied in this case exactly as in any other; and it is altoge"
ther without any good reason that the attempt ie made to
persuade the public that a persecution Week when the
fats ~llY justify t 14.9 moans adopted."