The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-30 00:00:00

THE PROJECTED STRIKE ON THE
NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
The announcement which has mo•fe than once
within the last few days been made public in this
imrnal, that the directors of the London and North
Western Railway were determined to resist anything
like a spirit of dictation upon the part of the men, and
that they were prepared to undergo a large amount of
inconvenience and pecuniary loss rather than submit
to it, has been fully verified.
Confirmed in their determination by the large
number of applications for employment which have
poured in upon them from engine-drivers and firemen
of undoubted respectability, the directors upon Friday
night issued the following notice :

" NOTICE TO THE ENGINE-DRIVERS AND FIREMEN ON

THE SOUTHERN DIVISION.

" The present state of suspense as to a strike ought
not longer to continue.

"If the men on the southern division, having no
grievance of their own, elect to leave the company's
service, the directors must at once carry out their plans
of temporarily reducing the number of trains, and put-
ting on the new handy, whose services are now available.
" The directors must, of course, continue to reserve to
themselves the right to make, from time to time, any re-
gulations necessary for the safe and certain working of
the line, though they have no intention whatever, unless
the men force them to do so by these threatened strikes,
to alter the regulations now in force as respects the
southern division.

" Each man is, therefore, called upon t) state whether
ho wishes to remain in the service of the company
under the existing regulations; if he does, the directors
hope to be able to retain him; if not, notice must be
given to him that his services will not be required- after
fourteen days.
" The directors do not wish to act harshly, but the
requirements of the public and the Government service
will not allow them longer to be subjected to the present
state of uncertainty. . .
" The directors recognise the manly and straightfor-
ward count) taken by a large number of the men; and
they her to show them that they have c insulted their
true interests by the conduct they have exhibited.
" By order, " THOMAS SMITH,
Chairman of the Locomotive Committee,
" Southern Division.
" MARK HUMS,
General Manager.

" General Manager's Office,
" Dawn-station, 27th I)ee., 1850."

Upon the same evening, as the men presented
themselves at the Camden station to receive their
wages, each one as he arrived was ushered into the
presence of Mr. M'Connell, the locomotive superin-
tendent, and Mr. Watkins, the assistant secretary. A
printed copy of the above notice was handed to him,
and in the case of some of the men an immediate de-
cision upon the question` was demanded, in other cases
a quarter of an hour's consideration was permitted, in
others half an hour's consideration, and some were al-
lowed until Monday to con over the matter.
This proceeding came upon the men quite unawares,
and as the question was put to each man per se, they
were of course unable to act with anything like con-
cert, and were involved in no slight difficulty. We
are informed, however, that only one man signed the
document expressive of his desire " to remain in the
service of the company under the existing regula-
tions," and that that man subsequently requested
that his name might be erased; all t f them, however,
expressed themselves satisfied with their own indivi-
dual poSitionv.

This exhibited a determination on the part of the
men which the directors were hardly prepared for,
and on Saturday a reprisal was made by the directors
by giving notices to some half dozen of the men, for
which they were equally unprepared.
Last night about fifty engine-drivers and firemen
assembled at the Railway Tavern, and, although the
meeting of Thursday bad been specially adjourned
until Sunday, our reporter was informed, when he
presented himself at the place of meeting, that none
was to be held, and that of course no business was to
be transacted. At this time, and, as it would appear,
for some time previously, the men were assembled in
solemn conclave, with closed doors; but at length it
was intimated that the doors were opened. We then
entered the room, and found the men all assembled.
They were conversing in groups, and but that it was
Sunday evening, one might have imagined that a
" convivial meeting" was being held.
After remaining upwards of an hour,
Mr. HALL said that they had met to discuss the re-
solution which had been passed upon Thursday even-
ing, and to receive the answers from the men upon
the various districts of the line in reference to it, but
sufficient time had not elapsed to permit of those an-
swers being received. In the meantime, however,
circumstances had transpired which led him to believe
that in a very short time an amicable arrangement
might be arrived at, and he begged to propose, there-
fore, an adjournment of a few days.
(At this time there was no chairman appointed, so
that the proposition could not be formally put, but it
appeared to meet with the approbation of all as-
sembled.)

We are informed that the month's notice through-
out the whole of the line will be deceded to by the
directors if a proper spirit is shown by the men, and
that even those men who have received notice to quit
will, under similar circumstances, be reinstated.