The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-25 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 1868.

It is unquestionably always a difficult and lab°•
rious task to deal with widespread and severe dis,
tress, but seldom have the kindly and active distri
butors of public funds entered upon a more
perplexing and disheartening duty than that under-
taken in the relief of the distress at the East-end.
There can be no question whatever but that the
distress is very great and very extensive. Whole
families of respectable mechanics are reduced to
absolute destitution, the painabrokers' shops are
crowded, ordinary business is in some parts almost
at a standstill, the rents are in arrears, the brokers
in constant request, and the defaulters to the rates
are being summoned by the hundred. The scenes
of poverty and wretchedness which eye-witnesses
have from time to time recorded are most painful
and distressing ; and notwithstanding the large
sums contributed and expended in relief of the
prevailing distress, there is too much reason to
fear that many are even now short of the neces-
saries of life. So far as this view of the question
is concerned, the labours of the Executive Com-
mittee, though heavy, would not be difficult. Their
main duty would be to discover the truth of the
statements laid before them, and to distribute the
funds in hand to as good purpose as possible. But
there is another element in the affair which per-
plexes the wisest and most discerning. It is the
action of the Trades' Unions upon the principal
leaders of the distressed districts. The destitution
of the East-end parishes is, as every one knows,
due to the almost total stagnation of the shipbuild-
ing trade. But there is reason to believe that a
great part of this stagnation is due to the ship-
wrights themselves, who,. under the influence of
their Trades' Unions, dictate terms to the masters
with which they find it impossible to comply. If
the perversity or obstinacy of these men is the oc-
casion of the loss of business, which every one
connected with the Thames trade is com-
plaining of, it becomes a very serious consideration
how far the Committee are justified in
dispensing the public money among those who are
impoverished through their misconduct. Unhappily
the strike of the shipwrights throws out of work the
labourers and others who have no connection with
Trades' Unions, but whose employment depends
upon theirs. It is, on the one hand, very hard that
the wives and families of these labourers should
suffer for the fault of men over whose actions they
have no control, and whom they cannot attempt to
influence, but it is likewise very undesirable to
assist in any way, by public money, the mischievous
action of Trades' Unionism. This difficulty was
brought very strongly under the notice of the
United Executive Committee, at their meeting
held at the Mansion-House yesterday, un-
der the presidency of the Lord Mayor. Mr.
SA3I UD A, M.P., who has throughout taken an active
part in the relief of the present, distress, in which,
owing to his business experience, his assis-
tance has been most valuable, called
the attention of the committee to the
letter of Messrs. PONTIFEX and WOOD lin the
public journals of yesterday. These gentlemen,
shipbuilders, stated that 30 carpenters whom they
had employed temporarily at their works at Mill-
wall, upon the agreed wages of ss. Gd. a-day, with
an additional shilling on Saturday if they would
work till four o'clock, had struck work on Saturday.
They had given no previous notice of their intention,
but said they would not resume work unless they
were paid Bd. an hour and had the Saturday half-
holiday. Some of these had actually been unable
to come to work until Messrs. PONTIFEX advanced
them money to get their tools out of pawn. Such
a fact as this speaks volumes as to the difficulty of
dealing with men under the influence of the unions.
Mr. SAMUDA expressed his conviction that these
men " had
.been wiled away from their work by
the influence which was acting through Trades'
Unions, and that the course they had taken
must have been at the dictation of a
Trades Union." It might be argued, he said, that
the action of 30 men ought not to restrain the
charity
of the committee, but he thought it was a
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who might indirectly assist Trade Unions. Mr.
SAM UDA reminds the committee that in every in-
stance in which labour had an opportuniy of re-
adjusting its relations with capital d • uring the
period of the present exceptional distress at the
East-end, it had invariably, from some cause or
othee, failed to do so, and had endeavoured to
exact an amount of remuneration wholly beyond
the power of capital to afford it. The effect of
the strike of these 30 men may very possibly be
, that three times as many subordinate workmen And