The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

AUSPRAIJAN

The Australian let ters received yesterday by the -
mail steamer Columbian give, on the whole, a satis•
factory account of the markets both at Sydney'and
Melbourne. Although they presented little anima-
tion they were not encumbered with the heavy
stocks hitherto complained of. The escort receipts
from the Victoria goldfields- for the first half of
the present year had boen 4,417,823/. against
5,435,9361. in the corresponding eriod 1856, and
the shipments 5,011,9201. against 6,352,204/. The
resolution of the Government of Victoria to admit
the Mint coinage of New South Wales as a legal
tender would, it was thought, cause most of the
English sovereigns in circuhtion to be gradually
sent back to this county. On the question of the
marine insurance on gcods consigned to Australia
the Melbourne Journal of Commerce has the fol-
lowing remarks --
" Tae far greater port'on of the cargoes of the Lan-
dau ships lately arrived have been extensively damaged,
and n 3 doul.,t the London underwriters will be very
averse to write particular average on Melbourne insu-
rances, except at very exorbitant rates ; but the fad
lies not with the merchants h3i e, who, it need scarcely
be remarked, however well insured, are nearly alWays
is more respects than one losers by sca-darnaged gOode •
and we are sure that they. would but too gladly 1u:
parties to some system of supervi3ien which would check
the overlcadirg of vessels at home, and from which cause
chiefly the damaged state of the cargoes arisen. Particu-
larly of late, since so much railway iron and material is
carried, all the cargoes arrive mere or less damaged,
as the tremendous weight put in strains the yes•.
eels, and opens their seams, end allows the water :
to came through like a riddle. If the London brokers
will not be more careful in filling . ships up, par-
ties here will b 3 obliged to give instructions for- •
bidding fine gcods to come in any vessel having railway
plant and timber on board. The latter article we may
remark is even more objectionable than iron, for if
shipped in wet weather it always steams and damages
fi:e goods through and through, without leaving any
trages of salt water on the outside package, and there
is always much difficulty in getting Ll ,yd's agent to
certify properly, and Vie underwriters take bold of every
possible advantage, if the certificate is not fully worded,
to dispute payment. While oa this euti.je.ot, we have to
call the attention of our readers to tae instructions sent
lately by Lloyd's to their agent, which bind him not to:
authorise a sale on underwriters' acconnt'of gords which
are damaged by the labels being disfigurtd, or washed
off by salt water ; and as it seems that fresh difficulties
are daily started by the London underwriters in settl-
ing claims, it would be as well if some combinel action
on the part of importers here were to put the whole
matter on some settled and satisfactory basis."

FACTORY INSPECTORS' REPORTS.

The reports of the factory inspectors for the half-
year ending 30th April last are just issued as an
Svo. blue-book. That of Mr. L. Horner is long.
In the half-year he says the reports of the sub-in-
spectors mark by the letter R in at least four facto-
ries out of five ; and when that letter is omitted, •
inmost cases the irregularities have not been of a -
serious nature. Still, he believe, over-working
prevails to a great extent. Still lese he adds, does
It mean thet all reasonable precautions have been '
taken to prevent accidents from unfenced hori-
zontal shafts and other machinery. The example •
f those who have taken precautions has 'been
followed to a very limited extent. Then follow tabu-
lar statistics of accidents. Those from m tchiuery
present a total of 905, of which, however, 554 are _ •
described as "lacerations, contusions, and other in- • •
juries," leaving only 351 more serious cases, of
which only 12 proved fatal. Of these seven were
caused by the bursting of a boiler, and three others e
by falling down hoist wells. Three appear to have '
been caused by machinery proper, as a raising gig,
,he carriage of a self-acting mule, and a drum.
Much space is occupied in discussing the inutility -
if the fees paid to ct rtifying surgeons for reporting
accidents, which has cost 8,801/. since 1844 ; and
Mr. Horner firmly believes that in his district three-
fourths of that sum has been expended without any •
good whatever. If any person in a factory makes '
a false step and sprains his ankle, so as to be unable
to work next morning, the accident must be re- '
ported. The millowner, under the penalty of pro- '
secution and fine, must report such accident ; and
" the formidable numerical array of accidents which
the inspectors are bound to report every half-year
gives a most exaggerated and false idea of danger 1
from factory employment, and creates a mischievous -'
prejudice in the public mind against it." Mr. Her- -
leer would still require all accidents from machinery ;
to be reported. The report next shows how 20
grants, in the aggregate amounting to 2051. (vary- •
from 5/. to 20/. each), have been distributed to
schools attended by factory children."
The education clauses of the Factory Acts, end •
whit is called the half-time system, occupy 15 pages
of the report. It has been confidently and re- '
peatedly stated that this long tried experiment has
proved a failure ; but Mr. Horner states that in his
district (which has more factory children than any
other), this statement is to a great degree errone-
ous. He admits, that a , lare e proportion of the •
children holding school certificates have received
instririon
aloneof isy
to blamevalue;b in passingutforthis a
d
h e set
legislature
law, requiring factory children to be edticated, but
proVidiug no more than that children should be for
so many hours daily within the four walls of a
place called a school, and that a weekly certifica'e
to that effect should be given to the employer,
signed by a parson designated schoolmaster or •:
schoolmistress. Nut a word is said as to the nature
er quality of the instruction—that of. an infant
school is deemed sufficient for the certificate. • The
result is overcrowded schools, incompetent teachers,
and, if not untaught, only half-taught children. 4.
Mr. Horner's remedy would be to multiply good .
schools, and thereby iesetinguish mock schools. In
April last he sent four queries, as to•pupil teachers, '
to the masters of some of the best factory schools in
his districts, and the replies, which occupy six
pages, are interesting, and bear out his conclusions. '
Most of the pupil teachers had previously been half •
timers, and thus received the whole of the instruc-
tion qualifying them to be teachers. They learn
generally as quickly as those attending school the
whole day, and some of them have gained Queen's •
scholarships, first-class cart ficates, and have been,
appointed second and oven principal masters of
.•
good schools. Mr. J. A. Nicholls, in answering •
the queries as to the Brit.sh School, Great Ancoats-
street, Manchester. adds :
" I have no hesitation iu stating my opinion that
the factory short t him system is the most favourable to
the extension of education among the children of '
he working classes of any scheme yet devised ; and' .
I am satisfied from my own experience that the '
progress of the children, on account of the rega-
laxity of their attendance, is as great, if it does not
exceed, the progress of those who attend the whole
day with the avenge regularity of national school'
children. I wish the sys•em may be extended to'
every empl yrnent in which children are engaged.
There is very often a diffinety to find boys who'
might become canciitlafes for the situation of pupil'
teachers, whose parents will, or, in faCt, can afford'
to let them work a whole year without wages,•
which, after all, may not be paid should the boy be
unsuccessful at his-examination. This is the great
difficulty of the system.; and, therefore, I have had
to get boys whose parents are better off, and are
able to maintain them through all contingencies." •
Altogether the evidence is s`rongly in favour of.
the half-time system. Mr. Horner cites from a paper
read beiore the Glasgow Philo •ophical Society, in ,
March last, by Mr. G Anderson (partner in a large
flax factory there), the declaration that " The half
time system established l,y the factory acts, consi-
dered as an educational measure, is a complete
failure." Mt. Horner shows that whilst in the
whole ofLanarkshire, in 82 cotton, woollen, worsted,
and flax factories there were only 238 children, there
were 308iu four cotton mills in Ashton-under-Lyne;
so that this county, and not the neighbourhood of
Glasgow, is the district for judging as to whether
half-time is or is not a failure. In four months, of
1,104 factories inspected in this district, employ-
ing 21,554 children, only three millowners we.
proceeded against for neglect ng to have certificates
of school attendance. " Many millowners who now
employ children have found out that they had been
long needlessly subjecting themselves to inconve-
nience, from these mistaken apprehensions, and bad
deprived themselves of the advantage of having,-
trained instead of untutored piercers of 13 yeas
of age." Mr. Horner next, gives his reasons Tor
objecting to Mr. Anderson's suggestion of au edu-
cational certificate and an inspecting schoolmaster.
some
theclose
In this district there has been a gradual increase for
largest concerns, which em
no ployed no children under
13 till time
in
of 1
principle of combining regular attendance at school
with wages yielding 0 "
employment is valuable and
1113,
If v he a 1
mfv toi tie nrg ,• one of the
The
a 224.
important, that it would be well if a careful inquiry
were instituted to ascertain under whet. modificae
tions it could be applied to other employments bo-
Spottiswoode, the Queen's printer, of the ,system
sides that in factories." lanlnilillgustsrtaattisaomn,elnlr Hor-
nerb.ymr
gives in an appendix.
ofladopted
ri
etd in theirseeing
aesbtaialenliksheiat
certifi-
cate of school attendance for the foregone week,: Mr.
Horner asked some of the children the cause„of
near boys
aodl
their absence, and the answer was " the Master was
drunk." Of course Mr. Homer declared that the
certificates of this master will no longer be valid.n
The report closes with a list of the places in which
factories have been visited during the half-yeae.

Sir John Trelawny, Lady Trelawny, and family, aro)
on a visit to Plymouth for a few days. The hon. baronet
will address a meeting of constituents at Tavistook on
Tuesday evening next, on political topics conneetedvith
the recent session of Parliament.