The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-11 00:00:00

NEEDLEWOMEN, S INSTITUTION.

Last evening a conversazione was held at the
residence of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Alers Mulkey, in
Harley-street, in aid of the Institution for the Em-
ployment of Needlewomen, which was set on foot
about a year ago in premises in Lamb's Conduit-
street, and has now its head-quarters in a more com-
modious building in Hinde-street, Manchester-
square. The company, principally ladies, number-
ing between 200 and 300, included several members
of the nobility and many persons of station and in-
fluence who take an interest in the unfortunate
class for whose benefit. the society.has been esta-
blished, and whose unhappy lot in the metro-
polis has for years been the subject of public com-
miseration. The the Bishops
Earl of Shaftesbury,
. of London and Oxford, Miss Burdett Coutts, Lady
Londonderry, Lady Glasgow, Lady Ducie, the Hon.
H. Byng, Col. Daubeny, and several members of
Parliament, and many of the metropolitan clergy
were present. A report, prepared by Miss Ellen Bar-
lee, the secretary and lady•superintendent, and read
by the Hon. Mr. Byng, stated that the objects of
the society are to improve the condition of needle-
women by providing for as many as its means
will allow constant employment and a higher rate
of remuneration, which it seeks to attain by stand-
ing between them and the first employer, instead of
the usual middleman, and by receiving work from
Government, from shops, and from private sources.
The institution, as first started in the beginning of
last year, was placed on a footing to employ about
100 needlewomen, but during the year about 250
women received work, some for a brief period, and
others as permanent members of it. The work
done was worth more than £6OO, and the
current expenditure was about £350. In
January last a Government contract for
46,000 shirts was obtained, and since then
between 7,000 and 8,000 shirts have been made,
principally at branch establishments, which have
been opened in different districts of London. Abo:tl,
ay drivingseemployment,
themh
0 deserve encouragement,
400 women are now receiving emploYillne ..e
and the amount already received or in couz of
payment from Government on the
means for
upwards of £770. Of the needlewo:weeCo_alin:ovrf:
th
Lon-
don, estimated at some 30,000, the managing °IP
futile to hope to
com-
mittee state that it would be I
u meet
butwbeenlehfictondaulle,ted andby openingre
without the fear
roefgwuolarrkp
that the regular-slop-work, with
owfitlahckP t oe cwr.a.Places
blue
dishonest
attendant misery, Will not
its
sl iving,th
starvationey trust
and_
fall to the lot of those .
sovietY -
wi ,
11 at the same
•
time, operate
and that the ood work and
incentive tog good behaviour in
as an The main dependence of the
others.
Government work, which i institution is
'
upr and suited to the commons of a coarse de-
scription,
workers. It is
princiP
alldistributed to the
•
parishes in populous
districts where these Workers abound, and given
out to them to do at
their own homes. If, how-
ever, the society can be placed on a sufficiently large footing, there are •other kinds of Go.•
vernment work it will various
larger
the
can apply for, and the
contract that can be received, the higher will be
the war.6es given to the needlewomen. But among
the women the institution desires to relieve a large
number present themselves who work far too well
to be employed on Government work, and to meet
their case omployment is provided for them from
shops and private sources.

WALMER CASTLE.—The intended sale of the
furniture and effects at Widmer Castle, which has been
advertised for the 13th inst., will not, we understand, take
place, in consequence of the purchase by Lord Palmerston
of the entire property from the executors of the late Mar-
quis of Dalhousie.

- The Nondeur has the following :—" Several
journals have published a letter concerning the prisoner
Mires, pretending that his confinement was particularly
severe. The truth is, that the regulations have been ap-
plied in this case exactly as in any other; and it is altoge-
ther without any good reason that the attempt is wade to
persuade the public that a persecution ea" when the
*Us fullY juotify the manures a(loptEl."