The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-03 00:00:00

TECE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY MORN! NG, MAY 3,. 1844.

party or the stock when they entered the wilderness.
-Men shook their heads, and deemed it the rash act of
insanity ; yet, the party reached Adelaide in safety, al-
though strange to say, they were in more than one in-
stance indeb:od to the sagacity of the friendly natives in
their party, from being cut off, or perishing in the
wilderness."

IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

The Bill for finally Abolishing Imprisonment for
Debt, which was read a second time in the House of
Lords on the motion of Lord Cottenham, is a valu-
able fruit of civilisation. Growing intelligence has
by very slow and almost imperceptible steps infused
into the English people an apprehension of this
great maxim of legislation—that the recovery of
debts should be the object of laws affecting debtor
and creditor. The idea seems obvious when stated,
and yet the world has been a long time arriving at it.
Legislators appear to have been long in doubt whether
creditors would prefer the property or the carcase of
their insolvent, and to have indulged them with a
somewhat capricious dominion—sometimes over the
one, sometimes over the other object of desire. The
stern edict of the ten tables—de debitore in parks
secando, has, in spirit, never wholly expired among
us. A mercy has been shown to house and land,
which has been denied to flesh and blood. If the Eng-
lish creditor has not taken his knife, with Shylock or the
old Roman usurer, he has wielded a scarcely less formi-
dable machinery of bolts and bars. Engines of
infliction he had in plenty, degradati,,n and
confinement fur all, and starvation besides for
the truly insolvent debtor. But the misfortune always
was, he was yet without that for which all these
instruments of evil were given him—a remedy.
The landed estate of the debtor was beyond his reach.
It is but lately that realty has been made liable for
the debts of its deceased owner. The greater part of
the property of this kingdom used to be sur-
rounded by a kind of magic circle, within which the
laws of honesty could not penetrate ; and the Legis-
lature, instead of boldly breaking the charm, and
paying every man's debts ont of his property, at-
tempted to turn the flank of the evil,—to extort justice
by persecution,—to arm the creditor with powers of
vexation instead of powers of sale,—to satisfy his vin-
dictiveness instead of his bill delivered.
Most of our readers have probably heard of the
peine forte et dune of ancient times. The English
law, as every one knows, is exceedingly just and mer-
ciful, and especially is wholly unwilling to condemn
any man without hearing what he has to say. But
this used to beget a difficulty. What was to be done
when a prisoner persisted in saying nothing? Most
persons would say at once, " speak for him." Enter
a plea " net guilty" if you please, and proceed with
the trial. Not so the scrupulous lawyers of ancient
days. They preferred to squeeze a plea out of him.
They laid him- naked on his back on the floor of a
low dark chamber. They placed on his body "as
great a weight of iron as he could bear, and more."
They gave him on alternate days three morsels of the
worst bread and three draughts of standing water, and
so they fed him " till he answered;". or, as it was more
accurately expressed in later times, " till he (lied." The
treatment of our debtors was conceived in the same spirit,
though carried out with less completeness. The obvious
remedy was not boldly seized by the law, but was left to
be extorted by a process of gradual torture. The land was
not taken, but the debtor squeezed till he gave it. This, at
least, Lord Cottenharn states to have been the principle of
the old law. But justice requires us to add the ingenious
arrangement by which its inefficiency was provided for.
The rich man who had property to pay his creditors
was allowed to spend it comfortably in the Fleet or
Marshalsea. On him the squeezing was neutralized.
On the pennyless alone fell the horrors of real impri-
sonment. The screw was only allowed to be effective
where nothing could possibly be effected by its appli-
cation. But now, at last, people are beginning
to find out what they want, and how to get
it. Facilities are given them for getting their money,
and the debtor's carcase is redeemed from their fangs.
The late Bankrupt and Insolvent Acts made consi-
derable inroads on the whimsical principles of other
days, though not without some peculiar whifii-
sicalities of their own. Every one is familiar with
the pious fraud by which a ruined nobleman, for
the benefit of himself and his creditors, ap-
pears before the Commissioners in the guise of
a bankrupt dealer in horseflesh ; and Lord Cottenham
amusingly commemorates the learned horror which was
felt on the bench some thirty years ago at the supposi-
tion that an insolvent debtor could be guilty of conniv-
ance at an arrangement for dividing his property among
his creditors. Lord Cottenham's Bill is to put an end to
all this.

"It proposed to arrange a system under which the
debtor would be enabled, without going to prison, to
deliver up his property for the benefit of those to whom
be was indebted, and it gave to the creditor, on his part,
the power of compelling the debtor to make the conces-
sion. Having done this, the Bill proposed to abolish the
right of imprisonment for debt altogether."
Proceedings in rem are to be facilitated, in personam
abelbhed—and further, the useless distinctions between
bankruptcy and insolvency are to be swept away. This
is what it should be—efficient, simple, and unoppressive.
The law at present is none of these. It is in some re-
spects even worse than it was ten years ago. It was
then severe, but it was available. You could catch your
knave speedily, and keep hold of him when you had
got him. You had him in prison before he knew
ywohieirrehe you cowl p:)frhanpost,ice, make
ap-
pearance, and other legal delays, which intervene
between your claim and his imprisonment, give
terms. vaskoawnd ththeenpa3;
him ample time to take himself and all he has far be-
yond your reach, if only he plays his cards with tole
rable dexterity, long before you have arrived at that de-
sirable consummation. And thus, without adopting to
its full extent Lord Cottenham's startling deduction that
nineteen out of twenty insolvents are injured men, be-
cause their creditors do not find it worth while to incur
the expense and trouble of inflicting on them the full
amount of possible punishment, we can fairly say that
the present law is at once unjust and unavailable—in-
efficient against those who wish to escape it, oppressive
upon those who stay to suffer by it; and we are heartily
glad that we are to have no more of its useless vexations.
There remains little now to observe upon, and that
little our readers ought to divine before we record it.
Of course the Bill did not pass without some little no-
tice of impediment. Of course, Lord Brougham came
forward to have a finger in the pie. Of course, he was
cognisant of a " document on the same subject," pre-
pared by a Noble and Learned Friend, which, of course,
" he had himself to a certain extent revised." The docu-
ment, of course, embraced a most extraordinary degree
of, information on the subject, and an infinity of
the most valuable suggestions for the reform of the law
of debtor and creditor that by any possibility could ever
be brought together." Of course "15 different systems
of foreign mercantile law had been examined," of which
Lord Brougham glibly threw in some half dozen speci-
mens. Of course, Lord Brougham proposed that fur-
ther proceedings should be stayed till his foster child
had been duly appreciated. Of course, Lord Cottenham
consented with a grumble, and postponed the Committee
on the Bill till that dayfortnight, when (we hope Ne may
add, in conclusion) it will, of course, be carried without
farther delay.--Times.

THE TEN
HOURS' BILL.
To the Right Honourable and Hoourable the Members
of the House of Commons, the following Statement
of Facts is respectfully submitted by the Deputation
of the Master-manufacturers and Millowners in the
county of Lancaster:—
We, the undersigned, forming a deputation from the
Associated Master-manufacturers of the county of
Lancaster, having taken advantage of the Easter recess
to institute inquiries into the condition of the operatives
in all the cotton-mills of the district, and having
obtained minute returns, each of which is authenti
cated by the signature of the owner of the mill, beg leave
respectively to submit the results to your consideration.
It will be convenient to classify these results under
several heads, and to arrange them in the order usually
adopted by those who have made the most serious
putations on factory labour.
DISTANCES TRAVELLED Br SPINNERS AND PIECERS.
On this subject returns have been obtained from 377
firms, of which 308 spin up to 705., 40 from 70s. to 110 s.,
and 29 from 110 s., upwards ; in all cases the calculation
has been made from actually counting the number of
steps and measuring the distances. The following is the
result :

308 mills, spinning up to 70, give an aggregate of
2,761 miles 808 yards, or an average for each operative
of 8 miles 735 yards.

40 mills, spinning front 70 to 110, give an aggregate
of 319 miles 1,571 yards, and an average of 7 miles 1,755
yards for each operative.
29 mills, spinning from 110 upwards, give an aggre-
gate of 201 mild 1,002 yards, and an average of 6 miles
1,873 yards. The general average from the whole is
8 miles 1,246 yards, which, it will be seen, is a little
under the average given by Mr. Henry Ashworth, whose
calculations were based upon the length of the yarn spun.
It will be interesting to compare the process by which
this result was obtained with the actual counting and
measurement of steps. Taking the extreme case of 28
hanks of yarn produced by a spindle in. a week, the
length of yarn will be 131 miles ; but, as each carriage
traverses forwards to spin and backwards to wind up, we
have 27 miles for each mul.e, and 54 miles for a pair of
mules in a week, which, divided by six, the number of
working days, gives an average of nine miles per day.
This calculation refers solely to the spinner ; but the
piecer, who has to traverse diagonally between the
frames, would have to go a greater distance if a thread
broke at every stretch ; but this is notoriously not
the case.

AGES AND SEXES OF FACTORY OPERATIVES.
• Under this head we have returns from 412 firms,
.
314 of which are assessed the annual sum of 179,767/.
to the poor's-rate, authenticated by the signatures of the
proprietors. The total number of persons employed
in these mills is 116,281, of whom 95,642 are able to
read. They are thus classified in per centum pro-
portions :

Per Cent.
Under 13 years .. .... 3 9-20 Females
13, and under 18 ...29 7-20
{{{_!.,FFeeeamrnmleaaasllleeesss
/Females 116341-10
18, and under 21 —l9i Males
121117150
21, and udder 40 ...40eamleasles 9lBl 32-55
40, and upwards...... 7 3-5 Males -10

25.1 Males
Married
Females 91
From the returns it appears that 10,721 married
females are employed in the 412 factories, and, as it has
been taid that such employment tends to reverse the
condition of the sexes, care was taken to ascertain the
employment of the husbands of these women. It was
found that 5,314 were employed in factories, 3,927 wore
engaged in other trades, 821 had no regular employment,
and 659 are unaccounted for, in consequence of the
limited time given for the preparation of the returns.
Out of the 412 rnillowners, 167 have reported the fo'
lowing accidents occurring within an average period of
20i years ; viz.:-72 occasioning death-168 loss of
limb, and 13 not specified-196 have reported that no

accidents involving lo: s of life or limb have occurred in
their factories, in an average period of 13i years. The
proportion of accidents, therefore. appears to be about 1
death per annum in 104 mills, and 1 loss of limb in 41
mills. From 49 of the mills no returns have been made
with respect to accidents. It appears, then, that 411
mills employ 116,281 persons, averaging 282 in each
mill. In 104 mills, employing 29,328 persons, only one
fatal accident in a year occurs. In 41 mills, employing
11,562 persons, only one accident occasioning loss of
limb occurs in a year. So favourable a result as to ac-
cidents probably cannot be found in any other industrial
occupation in this country.
From the return of accidents (by coroners, &c.), sent
with this return, it appears that out of upwards of 858
accidents, occasioning loss of life, only 29 (or 3 2-5 per
cent.) have been occasioned by Factory Machinery,
while 79 have been caused by carts, &c., and 85 in
coalpits.
The above return shows that no less than 82 per cent.
of the whole number of factory operatives can read,
while it appears from the registrars' returns for England
that about one-half of the whole population of the
country do not know how to write their names.
Some of the millowners have neglected to make a re-
turn of the amount of wages paid by them ; but returns
have been made by millowners employing 112,796 ope-
ratives, and the total amount of net weekly wages paid
by them, is 57,8811. 18s. ld., or the average weekly,
wages to each operative of 10s. 3kd. net, being a re-
duction of 2d. per week in the average wages of each
operative since 1833, as shown by a similar statement
then published of 151 mills employing 48,645 persons.

In all the manufacturing districts there are several
trades, such as those of colliers, engineers, iron-founders,
machine-makers, builders, tailors, shoemakers, &e.,
which do not employ female labour; and to the wives
and daughters of the persons engaged in such trades the
spinning and weaving mills aftbrd the means of contri-
buting by their labour to the support of their families.
From inquiries made in Bolton in 1836, it was found that
there were more than 3,000 operatives engaged in those
trades from which women were excluded, and conse-
quently a vary large number of families would have been
stinted in their comforti, if not deprived of some of the
necessaries of life, had the resources which they derived
from the labour of their female relatives been inter-
rupted. It is perfectly well known that, where employ-
ment for females cannot be obtained in mills, it is sought
for in mines, collieries, and other branches of industry,
involving occupations far more injurious to health and
dangerous to morals than those of mills and cotton fac-
tories. This is felt by the females themselves; they pre-
fer mills to most other occupations, and even to do-
mestic service.

The per centage of persons above forty engaged in
mills is 'only 7 2-5 per cent.; this does not arise so
much from superannuation, as frost the number of
mill-hands who are enabled, by their savings, to
enter into superior occupations. Of these 197
have been traced in the town and vicinity of Ashton-
under-Lyne--the short space of time allowed, and
the obvious delicacy and difficulty of such inquiries
having necessarily limited the field of observation. Of
these 197 we find that 14 have become master-spinners
and manufacturers, 61 shopkeepers, 42 publicans and
beer-retailers, 11 grocers and tea-dealers, and the rest
have found other respectable' means of obtaining a livli-
hood. We submit that there are very few industrial oc-
cupations which would afford similar evidence ofadvance-
ment in a single locality.
It has, indeed, been stated that in the year 1841 seve-
ral distressed spinners were found in mean and degrad-
ing occupations ; but it must be remembered that the
greater part of that year was a season of depression,
when mills were working short time. And, even if the
returns were perfectly accurate. they would only prove
that a compulsory working of short time, which depressed
markets can enforce more strongly than any Legislatiwe
enactment, deteriorates the condition of the operative,
and subjects him to want and degradation.

EFFECT OF A TEN IIOURS' BILL.

We hare estimated the loss ou a Ten Hours' Bill from
the returns of the standing charges, wages, and other
expenditure of mills, which have been supplied to us by
large manufacturers. Taking 100,0001 as the sum em-
barked in an individual concern, the following are the
results :

The fixed charges. taken upon the
usual and admitted authority of
practical men, amount to £17,150 per annum.
This charge now falls upon a pro-
ductive power of 69 hours per
week.
By reducing the hours of working
to 59 per week, the effective pro-
ductive power will be in the pro-
portion of

14,700

Mill-owner's loss will be 42,450 per an.
The Wages:-
69 hours' wages £25,613
59 hours' wages ..., 28,913

Loss to workpeople £3,700

£6,150 per an.
The effect of these additional charges, estimated upon
the manufacturing cost of these concerns, will be 12 to
12i per cent., and, therefore, a " Ten Hour Bill" would
virtually become a bounty of 12 to 12i per cent. on the
extension of foreign manufactures. _ _

All the statements which we have made are based on
the returns sent to us by gentlemen of known character
and established reputation. We are not only willing but
anxious -to afford every opportunity of scrutinizing the
accuracy of these returns to any Members who may
wish to examine them ; or, if it be desired by either
House of Parliament, we are willing to have them
printed for the use of the Legislature.
On behalf of the Committee.
R. H. GREG. T. H. BIRLEY.
HENRY HOULDSWORTH. LEWIS WILLIAMS.
JAMES MURRAY. THOMAS ASHTON.
EENRY ASHWORTH. DAVID HARRISON.
London, April 27, 1844.