The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-29 00:00:00

THE COST of FACTORY LABOUR

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—There is one consideration which appears to
have been quite overlooked in the recent debates on
Lord Ashley's amendment, but which, nevertheles has
a very close and important bearing on the case. One
of the objections most strongly urged against this
amendment was the fall in wages which its adop-
tion must necessarily occasion. But it does not
seem to have struck any one, that if the operative
get higher wages for twelve hours than for ten,
the labour given also costs him more. From the lan-
guage commonly held on this subject, one would sup-
pose that the strength he spends in his day's work had
its source in some inherent and independent power
of life,- and was a gift of God, free of all charge,
to its possessor. But not in the living body, Sir,
more than in the steam-engine, is force generated
without consumption of .material ; and for the extra
two hours' labour a proportionate addition of aliment
must be taken. But to the nature of this aliment
these two hours are by no means indifferent. It is
the last hour or two of toil, when the body i 3 weary
and jaded, which, by impairing appetite and diges-
tion while it parches with thirst, drives the operative
to drink. It is not a matter of accident, or choice,
but one of physiological necessity, that under these
circumstances he resorts to what in common language
is called the stimulus of spirituous liquor. The
alchohol consumed is necessary to the repair of the
exhausted force ; and thus, Sir, it may be clearly
shown, setting aside the moral considerations to be
drawn from the argument, that the last two hours'
labour, by the necessity it brings of support of a
more expensive kind, costs the operative nearly the
full price he obtains for it.
But it surely can never profit him, in the long run,
even in the matter of wages, to work day after day
beyond his strength. The slight excess of daily in-
come is sure to be wasted again in the more frequent
attacks of illness that must occur. In the case of women
and children, especially, this retribution must be fre-
quent and severe. There is no escape from it : no
compromise can be made. With a fatal necessity,
all infringements of the great conditions of health
take their revenge on the pocket by the expenses of
sickness. The blunders we have committed in our
internal administration are full of illustrations
of this truth. Thus, in the prisons in which a
starving allowance used to form a part of the disci-
pline, it was invariably found that more money was
spent in " extras" on the order of the surgeon than
would have supplied every prisoner with a sufficient
and wholesome. diet. So that it is ever found in
these, as in other matters, that the right thing is in
the end the cheapest ; and I have no doubt, Sir, that
a profound and practical conviction of this was in the
minds of those operatives who declared to Sir G.
Grey that it would be better for them to take less
wages than to work the present hours.
If you think, Sir, these few reflections may in any
way serve the cause of these people, the insertion of
them in your valuable journal will deeply gratify one
who would be most unhappy were a single word left
unsaid that could be spoken in their behalf.
A PROVINCIAL PHYSICIAN.

THE HAMPSTHWAITE GHOST. •
Perhaps no similar affair, if we except the Colliugham
ghost, has greated greater consternation in the minds of
the credulous and superstitious, nor caused more specu-
lative opinions among those more sceptical and better
informed than to allow these remains of dark and
superstitious ages to take possession of their minds,
in this age of reason and refinement, than that of the
Hampsthwaite ghost, as mentioned in the Conrant of
the 14th instant. It has been the country gossip for
many miles round, and numbers have flocked to
the place from different neighbouring towns and villages
to witness, if possible, its nocturnal peregrinations and
internal antics. Some have been so much alarmed by
this invisible visitant from t,be world of spirits, as they
supposed, as to declare they would never again, while
clothed in matter, seek the society of such an immaterial
being. While others, of stronger nerve, and better
judgment, have expressed their opinions that it was not
a disembodied spirit, but the work of a biped or quad-
ruped, yet still without being enabled to detect the of..
fender ; and the whole matter has been enveloped in the
most profound mystery until a few days ago, when we
understand the Rev. Mr. Shann, who is the owner of the
property, and not willing to be persuaded nor easy to be
duped by such a strange affair, procured the assistance
of an active and ingenious policeman, from Leeds, who
by lodging three nights upon the premises, unravelled
the whole mystery. And surely a more ingenious con-
trivance, or better conducted scheme, could not have
been put in operation for this purpose than the one re-
ferred to. It is supposed to have been the freaks of the
servant girl. She had, in some part of the house,
concealed from view, a ball suspended by a string,
and to that another string was connected similar to the
connections of a bell-wire ; this was constructed in such
a manner as to allow the ball to come in contact with a
thin ceiling, or partition, when pulled by the attached
string, which caused the ball to rebound with a greater
or less degree of force to suit the caprices of the opera-
tor, which by her mechanical skill, in working either by
light or strong jerks, made the noise appear either in
a remote part of the house or near at hand.
This was the greatest perplexity to those who went
for the purpose of discovering the affair ; while at one
moment it seemed almost lost in the distance, at
the next, booming close in the ear. In addition to the
the above mechanical contrivance, she had also others, it
is said, by scratching and thumping on the floor when
opportunities offered. Since the above discoveries, the
girl has been dismissed from her situation, and since then
this evanescent intruder has discontinued its visits. What
can have been the motive of this foolish girl, or whether
she has had instigators, we cannot tell, but some of the
ultra-suspicious gossips in the neighbourhood, and who
love to dwell upon the marvellous, assert that she is
possessed of a demoniacal spirit, and that since the com-
mencement of these fantastic freaks, they have discovered
an alteration in her general appearance, especially by a
strange obliquity of vision. We understand that she is
a nativo of Kirkby.Overblow, and has been in Dalby's
service three years. Does it not appear strange that
this affair should have been so long concealed from the
inmates of the house, especially as Miss Dalby, as we
are informed, was her sleeping partner ?—Correspondent
of the Yorh Ootrot,

Major-General Sir Robert Sale is to be Quarter-
master-General to the Queen's Troops in India, vice
Churchill. deceased.
PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE,—We understand
that 11014 A shloy Mitouplai6s extending his benevolent
exertions to the case of the unhappy officials compelled to sit
during the debates in the House of Commons. The Ten
Hours' Bill for the regulation of the factories is to be followed
by a measure limiting the speeches of certain long-winded
Members to a duration of only ten mitinte§! Thl§ §chone is
to be introclueeft ?I,§ Tsll.l 3111inte Pill far the regulation of
the unsaiis-factories.—Punch.
THE CONVICTED MURDERER,—The execution of
George Lowther, who is now lying in Yorlr Castle, order
septenee of death, for th@ 111nrtier of the gamekeeper of the
Marquis of Normanhy, will take place on Saturday, the 13th
of Apra, should a reprieve not be received in the interim.—
York Courant.

- ----
THE- MURDER AT BRIGULTON.—SOOD after his trial
and conviction at Lewes assizes, John Lawrence was removed
to Horsham Gaol, in front of which he is to be executed on
Saturday, the Gth of April. A very large subscription is
heing raised for the wife a 44 1111C1 orj l au children cif the late
Cll4 1214GWe