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

8d to

AUSTRALIAN TRADE.

The Australian letters 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—
titm they were not encumbered with the heavy !:!r,
.
stocks hitherto complained of. The escort receipts
from the Victoria goldfields for the first half of
the present year had been 4,417,8281. agait.st
5,435,9361. in the corresponding period of 1856, and
the shipments 5,011,920!. against 6,352,2041. The
resolution of the Government of Victoria to admit
the Mint coinaga of New South Wales as a legal •
tender would, it was thought, cause most of the
English sovereigns circul,tion 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 --
" The far greater portion of the cargoes of the Lon• -
don ships lately arrived have been extensively damaged, • - -
and no doubt the London underwriters will be very
averse to write particular average on Melbourne inset.
rances, except at very exorbitant rates ; but the faul
lies not with the merchants hale, who, it~ need scarcely
be re-narked, however well im,ured, are nearly always
in more respects than one losers by sea-damaged goods, .
and we are sure that they would but too gladly be
parties to some sy,tem of supervi,den which would check
the overloading of vesels at home, and from which cause.•
-
chiefly the damaged. state of the cargoes arises. Parties..., --
tarly 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.. •
sels, and opens their seams, - and allows the water ;
to cline through like a riddle. If the London brokers
will not be more careful in filling ships up, par-
ties here will be obliged to give instructions for.
bidding fine goods to coma in any vessel having railway
plant and t'inber 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,
flue goods through and through, without
,leaving•any:.
traces of salt water on the outside package, and there:':-:
is always much difficulty in getting LI iyd's agent to
certify properly, and the underwriters tske hold of every::
possible advantage, it the certificate is not fully worded, -
to dispute payment. While on this subject; we have to•
call the attention of our readers to the instructions -Sent'
lately by Lloyd's to their agent, which bind him not to
authori A) a sale on underwriters' account of go As which

are damaged by the labels btiug dis&gurtcl, or washed
off by salt water ; and as it seems that fresh difficulaps
are daily started by the London trndetwritEre,, _
iug claims, it would be as well if some combined- 'aotiag
on the part of imparters here wore to put the WLble
matter on some settled and satisfactory basik."

FACTORY INSPECTORS' REPORTS.

The reports of the factory inspectors for the half-.
Sear ending 30th April last are•just issued as an
Svo. blue-book. That of Mr. Ti. Horner is long. •
In the half-year he says the reports of the sub-in-
specters mark by the letter R in at least four facto- ,
ries out of five ; and when that letter is omitted, _
in most cases the irregularities have not been of a •,
serious nature. Still, he believes, over-working
prevails to a great extent. Still less, he adds, does
R mean thet all reaseneble precautions have been
taken to prevent accidents from unfenced horie
zontal shafts and other machinery. Tue example
if those who have taken precautions has been
followed to a very limited ex!eut. Then follow tabue
lar statistics of accidents. Those from machinery ,
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
by falling down hoist wells. Three appear to have
been caused by machinery proper, as a raising-gig,
the carriage of a self-acting mule, and a drum. -
Much space is occupied in discussing the inutility
f the fees paid to certifying surgeons for reporting 2
accidents, which has cost 8,8011. 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 iu 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 millowuer, under the penalty of pro-
secution and fine, must report such accident ; and
" the formidable numerical art ay of accidents Which
the inspectors are bound to report every half-year
'gives a most exaggerated and false idea of danger
from factory employment, and creates a mischievous
prejudice in the public mind against it." Mr. Hor-
ner 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 Si. to 201. each), have been distributed to
Fell° ols attended by factory children."
The education clauses of the Factory Acts, tend
what 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. Hornet statestliat in his
district (which has more factory children than any
other), this statement is to a great degree. errone-
ous. 113 admits that a lark e proportion of the
ithildren holding school certificates have received no
in,truction of any value ; but for this -he says the
legislature alone is to blame in passing a 'clolusive
law, requiring factory children to be educate,d, but
providing no more than that children should be for
so many hours daily within the four wells of a
place called a school, and that a -weekly certificate
-co that effect should be given to the employer,
signed by a person designated schoolnaatter or
schoolmistress. Nut a word is said as to the nature
or quality of the instruction—that of an infant
school is deemed sufficient for the certificate. The
result is overcrowded schools, incompetent teachers,
ind, if not untaught, only half-taught children.
Mr. Horner's remedy would be to multiply good -
schools, and thereby extinguish 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
hirers, and thus received the whole-,of the instruc-
tion qualifying them to be teacherse They learn
generally as quickly as those attending school the
whole day, and some of them have gained Queen's
scholarships, first-class certificates, and have been
appointed tecond and even principal masters of
good schools. Mr. J. A. Nicholls, in answering
the queries as to the Britsh School, Great A.ncoats-
street, Manchester. adds :
" I have no hesitation in stating my opinion that
the factory short tim e system is the most favourable to
the extension of education among the , childreu of
he working claeses of any scheme yet devised ; and
I am satisfied from my own experience • that the
progress of the children, on account of the regu-
larity of their attendance, is as great, if it,does not
exceed, the progress of those wire attend the whole
day with the average regularity of national school
children. I wish the system may be extended to
every empleyment in which children are engaged.
There is very often a differuity to find 'boys who
might become cauciidates 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. Tnis is the great
difficulty of the system ; and., therefore, I have had
to get boys whose parents are beAer off,, and are
able to maintain them through' all contingencies."
Altogether the evidence is s•trongly in favour of
the half-time system. Mr..Herner etteefrom a paper
read beiore the Glasgow Philo ,ophieel :Society, iu
March last, by Mr. G Anderson (partner in a large
ilex factory there), the declaration tbat'"Vhe half-
tnee system established by the facteieracts, consi-
dered as an educational measure, is a complete
failure." Mr. Horner ,shows . that Whilst in the
whole of Lanarkehire, in 82 cotton, woollen, worsted,
and flax factories there were only 23$ children, there
were 308 in four cotton mills in Aslitein-undet-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 21,534 children, only three millowners we o
proceeded against for neglect ng t o have certificates
of school attendance. "Many millowners who now
employ child' en 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 years
of age." Mr. Herner next gives his reasons for
objecting to Mr. Anderson's suggestion of au edu-
cational
thisdistrict certificate
theca
hasd an
been
pae
gcrtaindguiaTl increase
In
some time in the number of half-U[llore.-
, onee of the
largest concerns, which employed no children under
13 till the close of 1849, now employing'. 224. " The
principle of combining regular attendance at school
with wages yielding employment is so valuable and
important, that it would be wall if a careful inquiry
were instituted to ascertain under what modifica-
tions it could be applied to other employments be-
sides that in factories." In illustration„. Ir.
ner gives in an por-
pendix a long statement, by Mr.
Spottiswoode,
Zile Queen's priuter, of -the system
adopted in their establishment.
i
In. one case, near Oldb.at') seeing a blank certifi-
cate,
of school attendance for the foregone week,
Horner asked some of the children thee--eause of
their absence, and the answer was " the master was
drunk." Of course Mr. Horner declared that the
certificates of this master will no longer -be valid.
The report closes with a list of the places in which
factories have been visited during the half-year.

Sir John Trelawny, Lady Trelawny, and family, foe
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 connected with
the recent session of Parliament.