The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

.AND

_
N EW S PAPER
DUBLIN, FRIDAY-14p
THE MONETARY CRISIS. I-
The Freemans Journal of this fitiO 4144 lOW
course of some remarks upon thgAirogteseortito;
monetary crisis in England and SccrtlandailtateS t
some vile miscreants are encleavourtnr,to efoltfi-ig
run for gold on the branches of the Irish
banks, the Provincial, the National, and4t )e Iptik
of Ireland itself being the establishment -scleCied•
as the intended victims of this wicked machination.
The Freeman observes :

" MI these establishments were, however, prudently
prepared for the possible outburst of such folly, and geld
was supplied in abundance to ail the branches. In Limb
rick and in Cork a partial run on the Bank of Irelf.nd,
the Provincial, the Nationil, and on the Savings-bank
was persevered in for a time, but abandoned when the
promptness of these establishments to meet the ,ftemand
became evident, and some of those who withdrew defy).
sits and obtained g,ll are now returning the gold to the
hacks. It is gratifying to see that in Ireland people are
recovering their reasoa before the mania had time to do
the only harm it was capable of doing here—compelling
the banks to restrict accommodation. It is quite true
that a universal and simultaneous run for geld on all the
banks would close every hack in the United Kingdom,
and probably produce almost universal bankrup'cy. But
no such run is possible, and no run that could be made
in Ireland could do more than give trouble to the banks,
and bring serious loss to the people who would be active
in it. It could not iej are the bank., which are now fully
prepared to issue any amount of gold that could by pom-
eorot he lastr a e
4.' '
t f
sibi ity be demanded, but it would prove doubly irjuri-
-0118 to the property, of thecountry, and bringirreinediable
ruin on
on many
Bannernowof tub rlisvtieorg,
aliaidudPir4Bp
to
td
commercial disasters in England, mentions as a re-
markable fact that only one of the many failures
that have been announced has touched the mer-
chants and traders of Belfast ; and in this instance
the effect of it will barely bofolt by the two or three
parties concerned. It is .10e a gratifying fact that
there are no failures to aline-twee iu Belfast. There
are, however, other announcements in the same
journal which are by no means of the same cheering
character. Of the powerleom weavers it says :
" We regret to hear, although such a course was
fully anticipated, that two of the principal firms in
Belfast engaged in the manufacture of linen by power
have resolved to run their engines short time. One of
the factories has already commeneed'working eight days
in the fortnight, and the other will next week be placed
on half time. This will greatly reduce the earnings of
several hundreds of workers, and subject them to une,
ussal privations, at the present high price of provisitime.
It is to be feared that the remaining powerloom houses
will be obliged to folios. the example. The reduction
of hours has no direct connection with the monetary
crisis, but is owing chiefly to the increase of stocks and
the disinclination to fulfil American orders, should such
offer, or oven where they are actually en hand."
The state of the cross-Channel trade, too, indi-
cates a remarkable depression of the trade between
the two countries,—
" We understand—and are not surprised to learn
that such is the case—that within the last few weeks our
import and export trade with the other side of the Chan-
nel has been checked to a considerable extent by the
present unsettled state of commercial and monetary
affairs. Two steamers arc now found sufficient fur the
Llverpool line instead of four, and those running to all
the other parts in England and Scotland only obtain.
partial cargoes either inwards or outwards. This is
scarcely to be wondered at when the outwa,-d-bound
trans-Atlantio steamers are leaving with, in some in-
stances. cargoes only one-eighth the neual amount."
But it is in the sewed muslin trade—one of the
moot important branches of commerce in Belfast—
tnat a great check has been given to the prosperity
of the capital of Ulst"r. The failure of the house
of Macdonald and Co. appears to have been se•
vercly felt in the north of Ireland. The Banner

says :
"That house bad grown and grasped until it became
too great for any ordinary man to manage its details.
The engine, though unfit to drive the cumbrous ma-
chinery, was forced on, until at length the boiler
burst, scattering dismay and destruction on all with-
in its reach. It has been well sad that, had the busi-
ness attempted by the firm in question been done by 30
houses, the trade, the country, and workpeople
would have been much better to-day. The failure of
Messrs. Macdonald has not only thrown out of employ-
ment the thousands of workers engaged by that firm,
but the dread of the peremptory sale of their stocks of
finished goods, and the effect it would produce on the
markets for several months afterwards, causes far-seeing
manufacturers to desist from production, well knowing
that every jabbed parcel of goods destroys, f-r the time
being, the real value of regular manufactures. This
feeling, together with the late panic in New York and
the pressure at home, has so acted on the trade here that
not one in every 20 of the girls formerly employed is able
to obtain work at almost any rate of wages. We must
not omit stating that, whatever may have been the short-
comings of the firm of Macdonald and Co. as regards
their policy in the market for goods. no charge could be
made against them as employers ; and we have heard that
since the suspension of the firm every single piece of work
in the hands of sewers through tho country hat been re-
gularly paid for as soon as it was returned to the head
warehouse in Belfast. As coon, however, as each sewer
fiui-hes, no further work is given. In the heyday of their
enterpri the Messrs. Macdonald kept abort 15,000 hands
in regular employment. Messrs. Lindsay, of Victoria-
street, had several thousand girls at work throughout the
country ; Messrs. S. R. and T. Brown were most exten-
sive employers ; J. and W. Wallace, Major, Brothers,
and a host of ethers gave full work and wages to almost
incredible numbers of girls and women, but nearly
all such sources of labour have been closed up, and
the vast sums so paid away no longer being comfort
to the firesides in cabin and cottage. In the case of
the sudden collapse of the sewed muslin trade no
warning note told of coming ill. A few months ago the
houses connected with the different branches were in

full work, and prospects of an active trade for a long
period were highly satisfactory. Irrespective of the
tens of thousands of females who have been thrown idle
in the provinces, there are now immense numbers of the
higher order of workers unable to find a single day's
empl ,ymert in Belfast. Engaged in the finish of goods
at the several warehouses in town two years ago there
were about 500 young women, and most of them were
of a very superior class, well educated for their rank,
well conducted in their habit, and in point of skill un-
equalled by any other grade of female artisans. Besides
these white workers,' there were not less than 2,000
girls and women engaged in the gray work— that is,
in embroidering go As for the several firm., local and
Scottish. 'roe wages so earned added materialiy to the
weekly income of many a bou;ehold. Good workers
could earn 6 to 7s. is the six nay,, and ordinary
h ends were able to make 3i. to 6-. Many of the
wives and children of working men were exceedingly
expert in sewing, and, after having attended to house-
hold duties, could have earned Is. a day. The total
amount of goods given out by all the houses in town at
present would not, we understand, give work to one
in 20 of these people ; and in the mass of young women
engaged in the finishing department the ratio of the
iole to the employed is no less extensive. Up to the
present, or at least until within the last fortnight, num-
bers of hands got partial work in finishing goods which
bad been in hand at the time of the first great change in
the trade ; but nearly all such sources of employment
are now dried up, and thus hundreds of well-conducted
and intelligent women will—most of them, at least—
be left without means of support."
As an instance of the gold mania among the
fanners in the county of Limerick, the Evening
Post narrates the following on the authority of a
local correspondent :
"A gentleman who fills several important agencies in
the south was applied to by a great many of the tenants
to identify them at the different barks, whence they de-
sired to withdraw their deposits. On the gentleman re-
monstrating with them on the groundlessness of their
fears, they put the sincerity of his explanation to the
test—' Would he receive their draughts on the banks
for their rent, not due till march next, and give them
receipts 1' He did so at once, and obtained checks for a
considerable am,unt."