The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-24 00:00:00

THE WORKING CLASSES AND TRADES

UNIONS.

The proceedings at the late International Congress of
Workmen, where such strange theories were propounded,
give peculiar interest to an article entitled " Les Associa-
tions Ouvribres en Angleterre," by Dr. Montucci, which
has just appeared in the September number of the Revue
Britannique. We glean from it the following curious
calculation, by which the author endeavours to chew
what the workman gains by contributing to a trades'
union :—Taking the most common case, that of wages
ranging between 30s. and 40s. a week, suppose the work-
man to pay into the savings bank the 4s. a week he now
pays to the union. There his money will, at the lowest,
produce 3 per cent. interest, payable every six months.
As the workman gets nothing in that shape from his
union, it is but fair to admit that, in the case under
consideration, he leaves his interest to accumulate in
the savings bank. Now, calculating the produce of his
capital at compound interest, with the regular weekly
increase of four shillings, the workman at the end of twenty
years will find himself in possession of a sum of £3BO.
Allowing for illness and other mishaps, let it be £3OO.
Now, it is clear that, with such a capital at command, a
shop may be opened, some profitable business or other may
be carried on by the wife, while the husband, not older
than fifty, perhaps, at the time, earns his wages as usual
at his master's establishment, with the certainty of having
secured comfortable means of living for his old age.
Comparing this hypothetical state of things with the real
one, the author of the article shews that the workman who
contributes to the union fund at the end of twenty years
has nothing; that by belonging to the association he loses
not only the £lO a year to which his subscription amounts,
but also, on an average, three months' work per annum,
in consequence of strikes and other direct or indirect inter-
ference with the regular course of business ; so that his
means are reduced to £72 per annum, instead of £llO, as
they would be in the former case. G alignani.

LAW AND POLICE.

_,,..

FORGERY UPON LORD DUDLEY.—Mr. F. A. Farrar, or
6 and 7, Clement's-lane, City, described as a solicitor, anc.
Mr. John Hullett, a clerk, residing at Waterloo, near
Cossham, Hants, have appeared before the Lord Mayor,
on remand, at the justice-room of the Mansion House, on
the charge of being concerned in forging and uttering a
bill of exchange for £BOO, purporting to be accepted by the
Earl of Dudley, with intent to defraud. At the last ex-
amination it was proved that the prisoner Farrar began
an account at the bank of Messrs. Williams, Deacon,
and Co. on the 10th of July last with £2lO ; that it bad
been increased from time to time ; and that two of the
cheques, proceeds of the discount of the forged bill, for
£250 and £155, were paid in there. Many cheques were
cashed payable to Hullett—altogether amounting to £3OO.
The bank had now a balance in hand on the account of
£221 Ss. 2d. The solicitor to the Earl of Dudley gave his
opinion that the signatures were forgeries. Lord Dudley
was six days' journey from London. After bearing the
evidence of several more witnesses, tending to discredit
the signatures, the Lord Mayor remanded the prisoners
for a week, and declined to take bail.
A SWINDLER.—A man of military appearance, said to be
the son of General Warren, has been charged at the Mary-
lebone PoYce-court with obtaining goods under false
pretences. It was shewn that he went to Messrs. Thomp-
son's, in Conduit-street, and ordered an outfit for India to
the value of £450, pretending that his name was Daniel,
and that he was an officer in the 3rd Dragoons, and had
been ordered to go abroad at once. A gentleman named
Daniel bad been gazetted to the 3rd Dragoons, and cn a
letter being addressed to him the fraud was discovered.
The prisoner had also obtained goods of value from other
shopkeepers. He was remanded that their cases might b.
investigated.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo has accorded
to the shopkeepers of Madrid the permission to open their
establishments on Sundays and fête days.

THE DEAN OF ST. PAT.7I2S.—The health of
the Very Rev. Dr. Milman is gradually though slowly
improving.

The Dublin Corporation have adopted the
Elllll3 resolution passed by the Cork Town Council, express-
ing an opinion that "the time has come for the liberation
of the Fenian prisoners confined at home and abroad."
THE CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.—It is stated that
in consequence of danger being apprehended to the inte-
rests of the preference shareholders by the proposal of the
directors to pay a further dividend upon ordinary stock,
and the unsatisfactory character generally of the principles
adopted in the accounts just published, further legal pro-
ceedings are in course of being taken against the company
with the view of obtaining a judicial examination of the
books and officials of the company, and a decision upon
the alleged illegal practices adopted.
The Miliwall Shield has stood another severe
test triumphantly. After having previously received
fourteen rounds from the 9-in. and 10-in. guns without a
single important damage to its interior side, it was attacked
on Tuesday by the 12-in. gun at 70 yards, with battering
charges of 74i1b. of powder. The tremendous 600-pounder
Palliser shot was stopped dead, embedded 22in. in the iron
and basking of this splendid structure, although the whole
shield was driven back at one blow a distance of six feet.
The Gibraltar shield was destroyed in ten rounds from
the 9-in. gun.
CHILD MURDER AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.—On
Tuesday evening a married woman named Culross, resid-
ing at Edinburgh, killed her child, a girl about a year
old, by cutting its throat from ear to ear. She also
attempted to take her own life by wounding her neck in
several places. Her husband, who is a sculptor, left this
country for America about eighteen months agr), and he
had repeatedly urged her to join him there. She, however,
refused to leave Edinburgh. She has been in ill-health
for some time, and the medical gentlemen are of opinion
that she was insane when she committed the murder.
THE MIDLAND RAILWAY EXTENSION. The
Government Inspector of Railways, Colonel Rich, accom-
panied by Mr. J. Allport, the general manager, Mr.
Barlow, the engineer, Mr. Campion, the resident engineer,
and Mr. S. Waring, the agent for the contractors, has
completed his official inspection of the Midland Railway
Extension from Bedford to London. The works were
found to be satisfactorily executed, the permanent way
being ready for traffic. A large number of workmen are
now engaged in preparing the approaches to the terminus
in anticipation of the opening of the line on the Ist of
October.

SUDDEN DEATH FROM HURRYING TO CATCH A
TRAIN.-011 Sunday morning Mr. H. Jennings, carrying
on business in High-street, Strood, left his residence in
company with his wife and daughter, with the intention
of proceeding to Woolwich for the day. Soon after enter-
ing the train at Strood Mr. Jennings was seized with a
fit, and on the arrival of the train at the Higham station
he was removed from the carriage for the purpose of being
conveyed back to Ili.; residence. A vehicle having been
obtained he was driven to Strood, but before he could
regain his residence he had expired, death having resulted
from apoplexy, brought on, it is thought, by the excite-
ment of his hurrying to catch the train.
THE KING OF SIAM AN ASTRONOMER. —A letter
from Bangkok, dated August 2, says :—" The Supreme
King of Siam is a very
observant astronomer. His collec-
tion of scientific instruments would do honour to any
European philosopher. He himself edits the almanac
which is published at Bangkok ; and he now, with a num-
ber of the most intelligent persons of his Court, has left
his capital for Wai-Wan, in the Gulf of Siam, where he
will direct the observations of the total eclipse of the sun.
it will be curious to compare the report of an intelligent
Oriental sovereign with those of the various missions who
have baen carrying oa their iaycstiptivns in different tro.
• -. _
pical regions."