The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-24 00:00:00

THE BUILDER6' STRIKE.

At the close of another week on Saturday no
material change had taken place which would war-
rant the expectation of an immediate termination
of this dispute. On the contrary, it would seem as
though destined to run through all the stages of
which we have had exparience in former protracted
and obstinate struggles between masters and men.
The masters having failed to coerce their former
workmen into the acceptance of the declaration by
simply locking them out, have now resolved to try
what the effect of a legal prosecution will be under
the provisions of the law known as the Combina-

tion of Workmen Act. A large master builder
has commenced proceedings against a leading
member of the Ma.lons' Society for intimidation,
the person selected being one of those who en-
deavoured to negotiate an amicable conclusion
with the masters. Mr. W. P. Roberts of Man-
chester, the well-known " Attorney-General" of
trades societies, has been retained to defend in the
case, and arrived in London on Saturday night for
that purpose. The news of this intended proceed-
ing on the_part of
.the employers excited great in-
terest and warm discussion at the various meetings
of the trades, and will, no doubt, be referred to
strongly at an aggregate meeting of the metropoli-
tan trades, which is to be Weld in St. Martin's-hall
to-night, for the purpose of reporting progress and
keeping the movement alive among the London
societies.

On Friday evening Mr. Patter, the secretary to
the Conference, arrived in town, having addressed
numerous and enthusiastic meetings on Tuesday, in
Birmingham, and on Thursday, in the Free I rade
Hall, Manchester. Resolutions were unanimously
passed at both meetings pledging the trades to sub-
scribe liberally to the maintenance of the London
operatives, in their struggle to defend the legal
rights of the working classes. That these resolu-
tions are not mere words, is shown by the continu-
ous and steady remittances received by the Confer-
ence. On Saturday among the contributions received
were the following .
Wootwieh Committee, £11; London Coach Makers'
Friendly Society (Crown, Broad-street), £10; a Few Friends
of the Coachmakers, 9s. ; Friendly Society of Coach
Painters, £l5 ; a Skipper in the East, Bs. ; United Labour-
ers' Society of London, £3B ; Cart Wheelwrights' Society,
£2 10s. ; Shipwrights' Society, Port of London, £25; Car •
penters' Arms, Woolwich, Ll ; Chairmakers and Carvers
(Coach and Horses, Milbank), £3O ; Chatham Committee,
; London Upholsterers' Trade Society (Green Man,
Soho), £2 4s. ; Evans and Brothers, 1 12s. ; Second So-
ciety of Joiners (second donation), £10; Metropolitan
Society of Painters, 10s. ; Dry Gas Meter Makers, Glover's,
Clerkenwell (weekly), L 1 Os. 2d. ; Men at Nine Elms, £2
17s. Gd. ; Watson's Workmen, Finchley Common, £1 Os.
6d ; Leamington, £2 19s. ; Typographical Society of Liver-
pool, £2O; Bristol, £7 18s. 4d.; East-end Cabinetmakers'
Society, £5 ; Worcester, £3 ls. 10d . ; Coopers' Society of
Bristol, £2 10s. ; Exeter, £2 lls. ; Langley's Shipyard,
Deptford, £1 10s.; Deptford Dockyard, £1 ls. ; General
Subscription by Mr. Cox, £23 Os. 4d.

The Conference consider the position of the ques

tion as highly favourable to the workmen, when
this rapid and steady supply of funds is coupled
with the fact that the list of defections from the

Central Employers' Association continues steadily to
augment in number. They state that the following
is the complete list of firms who, up to Saturday
evening, had ep ened without the document (uncon-
ditionally) :—Aldin, South Kensington : W. Jack-
son, South Kensington ; Eyers, Whitechapel ; H.
D. Austin, Bayswater ; W. Spicer, Brompton ;
Evans, Brothers, Whitechapel ; M‘Lennan and
Bird, New-road; Heath, Bishopsgate-street ; Bell-
man, Buckingham-street, Fitzroy-square; W. J.
Thorpe, Peckham ; Jackson and Shaw, Westmin-
ster ; Rowe, Camden Town; Moxon, Victoria Park;
Nixon, Lambeth ; Todd, Milner-street, Chelsea ;
Rudkin, Paddington street ; Haward, Quebec-
street, Stangate ; Wells, Bermondsey-street; Jay,
City-road; Battenbury, Camden Town; Wardle
and Baker, Millbank ; Coleman, Bermondsey ; Pa-
trick; -Westminster-road; Lawrence, New-road ;
Axford, Finsbury ; Ashby and Son, Bishopsgate-
street ; Mills, Westminster; Drews, Back-hill,
Clerkenwell.