The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-18 00:00:00

THE WEATHER

METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS.

This Day,
• etween 8 and B. E. M. D. F. C. I. S.
9 a.m.
Nairn 30.32 48 44 E.N.E. 3 6 c. 4
Aberdeen
Leith
Berwick 30'30 61 46 I N.E. 1 9 0. 1
Ardrossan lll 53 50 S.W. 2 4 c. 2
Portrz sh
Shields 3012 46 42 N. N. E. 3 2 c. 2
Galway 3O 23 65 62 N. W. 1 1 b. 1
Scarborough 3Oll 47 44 N.E. 2 8 o. 3
Liverpool
Valentia
Queenstown 3Oll 62 61 S. 2 6 0. 2
Yarmouth 3O/9 47 46 N.N.E. 4 6 o. 4
London 3OlO 49 44 2 7 c. I
Pover 3026 49 46 N.E. 4 8 0. I 3
Portsmouth
Portland
Plymonth 30'25 j 54 51 E. 4 7 o. 4
I 'enzance 3028 55 53 E.S.E. 3 4 c. 4
Jersey

DISP u S Ilk, THE BUILDIVG

TRADE.

There is very little news to report of this dispute
beyond that the masters who have adopted the hour
system of payment have nearly all their full com-
plement of men, and some who have their shops
full are obliged to turn away numbers of good
hands seeking for employment under the new re-
gulations. The opposition of the Trades' Unions
to the movement gets worse and worse each day.
At a recent meeting of the trades on strike against
the hour system the men themselves proposed a
sort of compromise, by which they said they were
willing to return to work under the increased
scale of wages if the payment was calculated by
the day instead of by the hour, and if the masters
would consent to let them leave off work on Satur-
days at twelve o'clock instead of at one. As a
matter of course, these terms were at. once rejected,
for the masters saw clearly that when the men had
once secured their increased wages and reduced
hours, six months would not elapse before the old
agitation for the nine hours' movement would re-
commence with greater force than ever. The de-
pte ation was therefore informed that no proposi-
ti')n would be listened to which did not recognise
the hour system of payment as best for both mas-
ters and men. As a proof of this fact, we may
mention that some of the workmen in Messrs.
Lucas's yard came the other day to the foreman,
and asked that, as the evenings were long and the
nights fine, they might be allowed to work 12
hours. To this Messrs. Lucas replied that they
had adopted hour payment to enable the men to
work eight, nine, or ten hours as they might choose,
and that their yards should always be kept open
ten hours, but not beyond that, unless the majority
of their workmen wished. The men, however,
proved to be unanimous in their desire to work
twelve hours, and accordingly they now leave at
five for tea, and return at six to work till eight,
thus raising their weekly earnings from
335. to 395. Unfortunately, this step has only
exasperated the Trades' Unions to the very utmost,
as the p;clrc.t. cud union men show by increased
demonstrations of hostility to the men employed by
Messrs. Lucas as they enter and leave their works.
Mr. Myer's yard is exactly opposite Mr. Lucas's,
and the former gentleman unfortunately has in his
employ all ultra Union men, who sometimes turn
out to hoot and jeer at those of Messrs. Lucas as the
latter go to work. Of course, Mr. Myers is power-
less to prevent this, and, in fact, there are few, if
any, great contractors who have suffered more loss
and inconvenience from the yoke of the Trades'
Union than Mr. Myers himself. As, however, there
is a larger body of men at work at Lucas's than at
Mr. Myers s, nothing has ever been attempted in
the way of violence till yesterday morning, when a
mason of Mr. Lucas's, named Kitchen, who was a
few minutes later than his comrades, and therefore
alone, was set upon by some of the Union men,and
so fearfully beaten and kicked as he lay upon the
ground that he was obliged to be removed at once
to King's College Hospital, when it was found:that,
besides other slighter injuries, his ribs were badly
fractured from the kicks. The chief actors in this
cowardly outrage were a mason in the employ of
Mr. Myers, and another man, name yet unknown,
who was supposed to be one of the Trades' Union
pickets. The mason in Mr. Myers's employ wore a
large beard and moustache, but, sheltered by his
brother Unionists, he retreated to Mr. Myers's
yard, when he cut off his beard and whiskers,
and was then put over a back wall by his com-
rades just as the police were entering the yard.
So far, therefore, he has managed to escape,
but Messrs. Lucas are determined to spare
no trouble or expense in their endeavour
to apprehend and punish him. It is only surprising
that such an outrage as this has not occurred before.
The Union men and the paid pickets sent by the
Trades' Union collect in such numbers round the
works of Messrs. Lucas, and, indeed, all works from
which the Union men are on strike, as quite to
crowd and obstruct all the foot-ways. At Messrs.
Lucas's they remain thus nearly all day, taunting
the non-Union men as they enter and as they leave
work, sometimes hooting at them, and using all
sorts of taunts and insults. Now, when scarcely a
month passes without some poor orange girl or
miserable costermonger being taken up and fined
for obstructing the footway in their attempts to
gain an honest living, it is not too much to expect
that the police might also show their vigilance in
the case of these pickets. In their case no conceal-
ment is attempted as to their object. They are sent
by the Trades' Union, paid by the Trades' Union,
and loiter and crowd the pathway all day round the
entrance to the works openly with an attention to
annoy or intimidate the worknen who do not belong
to the union. This is, we think, a case where the
rather ill-defined powers of the force as to making
loiterers move on might with the utmost propriety
be exercised. It is to be regretted, though we can
hardly be surprised at the feeling, that Messrs.
Lucas's men are so angry at the attack on their
comrade, that a collision between them and the
Union men is feared. No precautions should be
neglected to prevent such a disastrous occurrence,
which, if it did take place, would amount to a serious
riot.