The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-08 00:00:00

AITE_RA27U_RE.

Wrongs whiOh cry for Redress. Letter I. By
Thomas Hopley, F.S.S. Houlston and Wright.

Mr. Hopley is well known as an earnest labourer

in the cause of human advancement. He has striven
hard to diffuse a knowledge of the great truths of
physiology through all classes, and we have no
doubt he has been the means of instructing many
in those laws of nature, which, if infringed, bring
such a heavy punishment. The necessity of air
and exercise have formed the subjects of several of
his admirable lectures, which treat equally of the
requirements of rich and poor. But the wants and
sufferings of the labouring classes he strives more
especially to impress upon us. He appeals to the
powerful and wealthy on behalf of those who
cannot make their own voices beard. He speaks
for those who have beyond all others a claim on the
attention of society—the hbnest, labouring poor,
whose highest ambition is " a fair day's wages for
a fair day's work," and whose life-long struggle
for an honest livelihood is sorely hindered
by grievances beyond their reach. He does not
solicit alms for those who can work for themselves

—he does not ask for aid for any eleemosyna-.7
institution—excellent as many of these undoubt-
edly are. He asks for justice, simple justice—that
men should not be forced to labour beyond their
strength for an unnatural time, on pain of offending
their employers ; but more especially that women
and children should not be forced to labour for
sixteen or eighteen hours a-day in a temperature of
130 deg. His revelations respecting the bleaching
and dyeing works are especially painful, and it is
with great regret we see that a motion brought
forward the other night in the House of Commons
to effect an improvement in this matter, was dis-
missed, on the ground that it had ben decided a
year or two back, when a committee of inquiry was
held on the subject, that the time had not arrived
for legislation, and that nothing had arisen to
change that decision. It is almost incredible that,
with such a mass of evidence before them, the noble
lards and right honourable gentlemen who composed
that committee should have arrived at that conclu-
sion. There are plenty of eager agitators for
political questions; there is no lack of ready re-
formers on other points, of eloquent speakers to up-
hold the dignity of the constitution, and to descant
on the danger of its overthrow. Diplomacy, cur-
rency, the reform of the - representation, the im-
provement of our military and naval services, can
find advocates, orators, logicians, but the plea of
the women carried fainting to the " wasting shops,"
and the children falling asleep standing at their
work, is no reason for interfering with the interests
of the master manufacturers. A few extracts from
the evidence will speak for themselves.

State to the committee what the usual hours were ? . .
The cases that I particularly noticed were those of young
children and women, in which a set of young persons of
the ages of from nine to nineteen, twenty, and twenty-two,
worked, as an ordinary thing, from six in the morning to
twelve at night (eighteen hours) ; that was varied on the
Friday, in which, beginning on Friday morning, they
worked all Friday night, and down to tea-time, which was
about five or six on the Saturday evening (thirty-five or
thirty-six hours).
Did that frequently occur P—That was, with some sets,
the constant work. . . . A young woman suffered from
it, which caused me to investigate the case, and she, I know,
had been working at that rate for three weeks constantly ;
. . . her constitution suffered so much that she never
recovered ; she died under my ministration.
Do you recollect any other particular instance of over-
work ?—I asked her the longest time she ever worked at a
stretch, and she said " three nights and two days ;" being
about sixty hours, in which she never left the works, and
never paused, except a short time for meals.
Can you tell the committee what ages girls generally
begin to work at ?—Thoy work as young as nine or ten; I
think nine and ten, to eleven.
Are you able to say whether girls of that very young age
work the same number of hours ?—They work the same
hours; a set must work together.
Will you give your opinion as to the effect 6f these Tong
and, except health
theve hours upon the workers ?—lt struck me that it was injur-
their rystsreorinogusolnye;s,tnhaont
etheeoynipd anrsetmatdutite.lymangrewy
of them died.
[Witness "did not single Mr. Ainsworth out for especial
anmiadversion, but spoke against the system;" he gave Mr.
Ainsworth
condition of his credipeop let for-be. "]ing " most anxious to improve the
Lord John Manners—Therefore you would, upon the
whole, think that Mr. Ainsworth 's -works afforded rather a
favourable than an unfavourable specimen of the manage-
ment of bleaching works in that part of the country ?---4
should. _ _ -

Mr. Butt—Would you consider that
sitfx,ugnadregur tinheentin
favour do-
minion of a benevolent man, anxious to promote the tem-
poral and spiritual 'welfare of his people, these excessive
long hours
ofou legislativeprevailed
i
it
In other words they do
unwbt
ef edz ebsneu
re'
e very?r—e
d llnel co irdee. on d
1 y .
SAMUEL PRICE, examined—
Mr: Butt—How did you awaken them (alluding to .the
little children of the above-mentioned establishment, when
they fell asleep "standing at their work") ?—Many a time
by shouting, and at other times getting a board and rap-
ping it on the table, making a loud report that used to
startle them, and I could keep them awake then for an
hour, or more than that, perhaps, by frightening them.
I believe Mr. Ainsworth is considered a good employer ?
—Yes, he is considered a very honourable gentleman.
Albert Bowley is an operative employed in the trade ; is
well acquainted with its, customs ; has known numbers of
women and girls at work in a very high temperature " from
six o'clock in the Morning" till "two and three" the fol-
lowing morning; has known them not to go home for
two or three nights ;"" "
they have laid down upon the
pieces to rest themselves :"
Mr. Davidson—Do you mean to 'say that if the work-
people did not work the extra hours, or if any one or two