The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-07 00:00:00

DE. CEIV BE It 7,

WELSH IRON TRADE.

NEATB, DEC. 4.
serious disagreement has broken out between
the colliery proprietors and ironmasters of the
Aberdare Mineral district and the colliers and
workmen which has led to a strike of some thou-
sand ironmen, who are now " at play," refusing to
accede to the terms offered them by their late em-
ployers. The colliers have already proceeded to
acts of intimidation, and it is said that a requisition
has been sent for the military. As the district is
accessible by railway direct from London, a few
hours would be sufficient to bring down a regiment
to Aberdare.
The 'cause of this state of things is the sudden
stagnation in the iron trade, the price of rails hav-
ing, in a few weeks, fallen from 8/..105. to 57. ss.
per ton. There is no demand either for America or
India, the two best marts for Welsh iron, except
the home trade, and consequently the ironmasters
found the necessity of reducing the wages of the
men. These reductions on the Aberdare Valley are
to the amount of 20 percent. at the ironworks, and
10 to 15 per cent. at the collieries. At the old
prices a good workman could earn 265. to 30s. per
week, and the reduction proposed would have still
left him a fair weekly income, but in the Aberdare
district the colliers have one and all refused to ac-
cede to the reduction, and are out on strike, and
with little prospect of a return to work. Daily
meetings of the workmen have been held on the
mountain this week, at which they have resolved—
" 1. Not to accept any reduction of wages.
"2. That the men employed to look after the pumping
and ventilation and other underground work in the pits
should not be allowed to work.
"3. Not to pay the various shopkeepers and tradesmen
the debts owing for provisions had by the colliers during
the past month."

It should be explained that the practice is very
general in this district for the shopkeepers to give
credit to the colliers, the accounts of the latter being
paid monthly or fortnightly, as they receive their
wages. One shopkeeper alone in Aberdare states
that his Nov. accounts for provisions supplied to
the men are all unpaid, and they amount to at least
3001. Men of this class are generally very improvi-
dent, and live " from hand to mouth," so that there
is already great distress among them. Some of the
disaffected have gone so far as to threaten to help
themselves from the shops if the shopkeepers refuse
them the accustomed credit. On Wednesday night
a number of colliers visited the different pits, and
renewed their threats to the engineers working the
pumps, and yesterday morning a number of them
in a state of perfect nudity amused themselves by
running races directly in front of the house of one
of the masters.
The most serious part of the business is the stop-
page of the engineers. These men of course have
not had their wages reduced in the proportion of
the colliers, but the colliers have by their threats
prohibited them from working. The consequence is
that the pumping engines for clearing the pits of
the hourly accumulating water have been stopped
the workings are fast becoming flooded, and in
many instances this is so serious that it would take
weeks and months to restore them to their former
workable condition.
The Aberdare ironworks, belonging to Messrs.
Fothergill, have been compelled to announce a re-
duction of the "sale" coal wages 15 per cent., and
of the coal raised for the ironworks 20 per cent.
These terms the colliers refused to accede to, and
consequently the blast furnaces in these works have
been blown out, but the forges, giving employment
to 600 men, are still at work, the coal being pro-
cured from other sources. All the colliers (about
900) employed on these works are on strike, and
not a ton of coal has been raised for some days.
At the Gadby's works about 500 colliers are em-
ployed, and about 20,000 tons of coal are raised
monthly. The colliers having struck, the furnaces
are out and the forges at a stand.
At the Blaengwawr collieries about 500 or 600
tons of coal are usually raised daily, and from 800
to 900 men are employed. All the colliers are on
strike, and all the works stopped.
The Cwmgrach iron furnaces have also been
blown out some days, and the colliers on strike.
In the Rhondda Valley the colliers have also
turned out. The colliery proprietors, being at this
time at loggerheads with the Taff Vale Railway
Company, with respect to the transport dues along
that line from the collieries to the shipping port,
are in no hurry to resume operations.
At Merthyr the colliery owners and ironmasters
having resolved upon a reduction of wages of 20 per
per cent., the men held a meeting and came to the
determination to accept the terms for the present.
It is hoped that they will adhere to their wise deci
aim], and not be influenced or coerced by the opera
tions of the colliers of Aberdare.

TEE " SEPOYS" IN THE COUNTY

WEXFORD.

I DUBLIN, Thursday.—The Irish traitors who have for
some months been exhibiting their disloyalty by placard-
' ing tho walls of various county towns in Ireland with
exhortations to sedition, seem to be gro wing more anxious
to elaborate their compositions. Tie following atrocious
production, headed with piker, swords, and guns, was
taken down from the pillars of Castlehrielge, Wexford,
on Sunday, by the Rev. Mr. Stafford, and has been
sent by him to the press :
"Liberty. Equality. Fraternity.
Hurrah for Liberty I
Down with the Oppressors—down with the Tyrants !
Down with England ! ! !
A voice from the East shouts liberty I
Let us answer it. Let us be ready.
Sharpen your pikes, and look to your rifles, ye brave
and true. He is a coward who despairs now.
Without sympathising with the bloody Sepoys, let us
still hope for freedom.
Let all who love Ireland unite to drive out the
stranger, but without unity there is no strength.
Let my sons like the leaves of the shamrock unite,
A partition of sects from one footstalk of right,
Drive the demon of bigotry home to his den,
And where Eaglaud made brutes let Erin make men.
By the Rev. Dr. Drennan.
Erin Go Bragh."
Not content with this poetical incendiarism, the
" Sepoys " posted the subjoined on the walls of the
town of Wexford on the same day, from which it was
Om by the constabulary:—

"IRISHMEN

" Who wishes to be free?
" WhO will prove himself a true descendant of brave
fathers ?
" Who wishes with us to free his country I
" The time is at hand—let him be ready.
" Liberty approaches—Sad and sorrowful she asks, Is
there hop• left for the land of numberless sorrows ?
" Let us answer her call. Let us arm, once more
in the cause of freedom !
" The wrongs of 700 years are yours, 0, Irish people
—you are strangers in your own land ! I I
" Who robbed you of your country—who murdered
your patriots—who brought slavery on you—who
mocked and jeered you when dying of famine, and said
—Now will the Irish be exterminated I
"Who, I say, who, but England 1 !—Bloody Eng.
land I !

"Be ready then, I say, be ready, for the prophesied
,me is at baud.

" ROSGOATH.A."
Cornwall Church, in the Basle district, was likewise
desecrated by the following, which wai placed upon its
walls in the full sight of the congregation :

'AN ADVICE:

"Wexford men, if you are Men, if you be men, arise in
the defence of your Country. Down with the Protestant
Church. England is defeated. Hurrah for the gallant
Sepoys of India.
.g Now is your time. Strike for your Country. For
God is on the Catholic side, Aed the Devil on the Pro-
testant side.
"They send our men off; they send English Devils
here.

" Arise at last and avenge your ancestors of '9B,
Now is the time, defend your country with
[Here are figures of guns, pikes, pistols, &c.]
Take my advice, arise whilst Eegland is engaged.
"I remain your's a Man, and if every Irishman was
ike me Ireland was free."