The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-16 00:00:00

COUNTY COURTS BILL.

Lord BROUGHAM reported this Bill after one sitting
of the Select Committee, and he had great satisfaction
in doing so. The Committee had sat three hours, and
had fully discussed the Bill. He bad the honour of
being chairman of the Committee, and the Bill had been
as fully discussed as if it had been before the Committee
for the three months, and he had to tender his thanks to
all the parties concerned for the facilities they had
afforded.
The report was then brought up.
LOSS OF THE ORION. _ _

---
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY moved for a copy
of the contract entered into between the Post-office and

the steam-company for the conveyance of the mails
between Greenock and Belfast. That contract had done
away with the sailing of the packets between Port
Patrick and Donaghadee, and it the packets had been
continued between those ports the time of the sailing of
the packet would have been identical with that of the
loss of the Orion, and all the passengers might have
been saved by the packet which would then have left
Port Patrick.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE said there was
no objection on the part of the Post-office authorities to
produce the contract in question, but he must observe,
notwithstanding what had fallen from the Noble Mar-
quis, that the present system had worked exceedingly
well, and no complaints had been made, and he believed,
moreover, that even if the route between Port Patrick
and Donaghadee were restored by the Admiralty, the
Post-office would make but very little use of it.
The Earl of EGLINTON expressed his preference
for the old route.
The motion was then agreed to.
Petitions were presented in favour of the Ten Hours
Bill by the Bishop of SALISBURY, from Ashton•under-
Lyne and other places ; by the Bishop of OXFORD,
from places i❑ the west riding of Yorkshire.
The Duke of RICHMOND also presented several
petitions to the same effect, and reminded the House
that in another place 1,209 petitions had been presented,
signed by 248,746 factory workers, i❑ favour of a real,
efficient Ten Hours Act. He would not now occupy the
time of the House, as he would have an opportunity of
speaking on the subject by and by, but he thought it im-
portant to remind them that the factory workers were
extremely eager and anxious for the maintenance of the
Act of 1847 in all its integrity.
The Earl of RODEN presented a retition against in-
te-ference with the property of the Established Church
in Ireland; also, a petition from Huddersfield, against
the admission of Jews to Parliament.
FACTORY BILL.

Earl GR ANVILLE then moved that the House re-
solve itself into Committee on this Bill. It would not be
necessary for ban to go at any considerable length into
a discussion of the great question how far it a as possible
to promote the moral and physical advantage of the fac-
tory operatives by legislative enactment. He entertained
strong opinions on the subject, but luckily it would not
be necessary to develop them, the object of the
Bill being merely to obviate what the Government be-
lievt d to be ti e spirit of the existing law, and certain
inconveniences which were found to arise from certain
portions of ir. Their Lordships would remember that
the main provisions which regulated the labour of young
persons and women in factories, were to be found in the
Act which passed in 1833. Considerable modifica-
tions were introduced into that Act in 1844, and
amongst others, the 26th clause, which was the origin of
the Bill now before them. In 1847 another Act of Par-
liament was obtained, making no difference in the pro
visions of the former, with the exception of altering the
hours of labour from twelve to ten. The 26th clause of
the Act of 1844 was intended to prevent the system of
relays and shifts!. In the first instance it had that effect,
but some millowners thought it not sufficiently stringent
for that purpose. The difference between relays and
shifts was this; under the relay system, a fresh set of
persons were put on and kept at continual labour; under
the shift system, the same persons were employed for a
certain dumber of hours, and then sent out, but came
back again, and under this system, although they began
work at half-past five in the mornieg, they would still
be Lund at work at half-past eight. The supporters were
all of opinion that this interpretation of the clause was
illegal. The decisions of local magistrates were very
various; and it was thought by some a fit subject for legis-
lative enactment; but it was thought by the millowners
and operatives that it would be more satisfactory to have
recourse to a court of law. The question came before
the Court t'f Excht quer, and Baron Parke, in delivering
judgment, stated the deliberate judgment of the Court to
be, that whatever might have been the intention of the
Legislature to prevent relays and shifts, the words of
the Act were not sufficient for that purpose. Upon this
being known, the system of relays and shifts became
more general, and the attention of Lord Ashley was na-
turally called to it. In mentioning the name of that
Noble Lord, he must be permitted to say that, however
he mtht stop short of his views on some points, and
however diametrically opposed he might be to them on
others, it was impossible for him or any other Member
of their Lordships' House to deny that, considering the
labour, the toil, and the sacrifice of what most public
men thought objects of a laudable ambition, the opinions
sad views of the Noble Lord were entitled to a great
weight and authority.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord
brought a Bill into the House of Commons explanatory of
what were considered the motives of' the Legislature.
He found that the clause by which he sought to carry
out his views would be ineffectual, and introduced a
second tied a third, and although the clause was paid
attention to for three consecutive days, and was drawn
up in consultation with four of the most eminent mem-
bers of the legal profession, the Noble Lord with his ac-
customed candour admitted that it would not accomplish
his object. The matter was then taken in hand by the
Government, and his Right Hon. Friend the Secretary
for the Home-office paid a great deal of attention to the
subject, and was in communication with a great many
millowners, and with the delegates of the factory ope-
ratives, and the result was the present Bill, which met the
exigencies of the case, was in accordance with the spirit
of the existing law, and which, while it would prevent its
evasion, would be on the whole agreeable to the majority
of the millowners and factory-workers. Lord Ashley
consented to its introduction, and gave up the Bill
into the bands of the Government. By the present law
the labour of young persons and women was restricted
to ten hours on the five first working days, and eight
hours on Saturday, but the limits during which the work
was to be performed were from half-past five in the
morning to half-past eight during the first five days, and
till half-past four on Saturday. The proposal of the
Government was to limit the range from fifteen to
twelve hours on common days. He believed that that
which the operatives were most anxious to obtain was
the half-holiday on Saturdays, so that after dinner on
that d ty they might have a reasonable time for making
their markets, and for their physical or mental improve-
ment. Now, be certainly thought that it would be un-
fair to the millowners to place on them all those restric-
tions without givii g them any corresponding advantage.
It was, therefore, proposed by that Bill that, while the
duration of labour should be extended to ten hours
and a half during the first five days of the week, an
addition of half an hour should be made to the
half-holiday on Saturday; and he believed that such
a measure would be practically a Ten Hours Bill,
That measure had received the appproval of a great
majority of the House of Commons. But the Noble
Duke opposite (the Duke of Richmond) might ask how
had the proposal been received in the country, and might
tell them that it was very distasteful to the operatives
in the manufacturing districts. Now, it was true that
the agitation against the measure had been vigorously
conducted, but it should be remembered that that agita-
tion had been headed by one ° entlemau who bad par-
ticular experience in agitating factory operatives, and
assisted by another who was held in great regard by
those operatives, while it had received encouragement
in the shape of advice and money from political i arties
in London, and while ab we all, th parsons so agtating
had been able to raise the plausible cry that it was the
intention of the Legislature to deprive the operatives
of 112.1 boon which had been promised 19 shem in the