The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-07 00:00:00

TAINED BY PERSONAL INVESTIGATION.

!. Montrose, for these some years past, and until now, has
not been subjected to depression of trade, and want of employ-
ment, in the same rate as the surrounding towns in the same
county, but has continued to enjoy such stability as the ab-
sence of bankruptcies of its principal merchants and those who
employed the greatest number of individuals, was at least
partly, calculated to afford: And although at present such an
amount of destitution proportionally cannot be exhibited when
compared with other places, yet, when compared with former
years, it presents a tale of lowness of wages and want of employ-
ment, which evidently shows that it also is sharer to a large ex-
tent in the general depression.
" Its staple trade is, like the rest of the towns in Forfarshire,
flax spinning and linen weaving. Those employed at the spin-
ning, including foremen, &c., of the various departments of
the mills, have last week got notice of a reduction of
ten per cent. off their wages, to be carried into effect
in a few days. One flax spinning mill, which afforded
employment to eighty persons, has been standing alto-
gether for the last month. It is anticipated that should France
continue to exact the new duties on the importation into that
country of linens and linen yarns, that not fewer than from
500 to 600 person.; would thereby be thrown out of employ-
ment, as tLree of our principal mills have been spinning a'most
entirely for a considerable time past for that market.
"In the weaving there are at present about sixty
iele looms in the town, and about seventy weavers and
others thereby employed. Men employed in weaving
fabrics which require a considerable degree of strength
and skill, can earn, by working twelve hours a day, about is.
a week, exclusive of deductions. Women and boys, generally
employed at inferior descriptions of work, can earn, by work-
ing twelve hours a day, 4s. a week, exclusive of deductions.
'Frights are also suffering severely at present. In the case of
the master wrights, who generally employed about ninety jour-
neymen, all are paid off but twenty-six. Ship carpenters, in
two cases; being the
principal ship builders in the town ; one in
nine, in one case, of' journeymen formerly employed, is .noiv
receiving work, and in the other case, the most of the
men are to be discharged in a few weeks.
" Masons almost entirely idle, theta being no works
contracted for at present, but one smal house, nor any prospect
of any.

" awyers all unemployed.
" The shipping in a miserable state of depression, the owners
cnly sinking money ; and they contemplate, in a number of
cases, laying up their vessels, as, in the one case, they know
their loss, but in the other they do not. A great number of
seamen idle. Employed about the shore, about 70 men, earn-
ing on an average 7d. a day. Also above 100 carters with not
half-work. Discharged, two days ago, about 60 labourers, em-
ployed at draining, &c., in the neighbourhood of Montrose.
""Shopkeepers universally complaining, and:several principal
shops empty. The pawns filling rapidly, and, in some cases,
provision shopkeepers receiving articles of apparel, deposited by
their ewnet s in p:edge to procure a meal.
" Montrose, July 1, 11:42." _ _

" Kerriemuir, July 2, 1842.
" My dear Sir,—Having learned that y_ou had been dele-
gated by the Anti-Corn-law Association of Forfar to attend the
meeting to be held in London on the sth of July, and being
unable, from various causes, to send a delegate from this place,
I have been instructed respectfully to request you to represent the
distressed condition of the generality of our operatives at Con-
ference. In the expectation that you will feel disposed to ac-
cede to their wishes, I beg to submit for your information the
following particulars :—According to the information just fur-
nisLed by several respectable individuals who had been appointed
to canvass the different quarters of town, it appears that in the
early part of this week the number of weavers unemployed in
the town and immediate neighbourhood was between five and
six hundred, and it is likely that the numbers will, in a short
time, be considerably augmented, as several manufacturers
have intimated their intention of discha-ging an additional
number of their workmen. If to this number is added winders,
the greatest part of whom are out of employment, it may safely
be stated that at least one-sixth of the population connected
with manufactures are out of employment ; and of the generality
it may be said they are but partially employed. Wages for the
connnon -fabrics are es. or 6s. 6d., which will, on an average,
occupy a week in weaving; and out of this small sum house-
rent and other necessary expenses have to be paid. Owing to
the very depres ed condition to which many are subjected, the
poor-rates are double to what they were in 1840, when they were
first introduced ; it is this year -I s. 3d. per pound, and it will fall far
short of meeting the demand. Since the abolition of the soup
kitchen, which Irackto be abandoned for want of funds, several cases
have been mentioned of extreme destitution ; some have been re-
ported on good authority, to have been for several days
wi.hout food, and others have, it is asserted, been reduced
to the painful necessity of subsisting upon refuse of wheat, what
is commonly called third flour, a species of food unfit for human
use. Such, Sir, are some of the affecting statements which
have to be transmitted from this quarter, which I hope you
will feel disposed to make a proper use of at the Conference.
" Wishing that you and the other friends of justice and hu-
inanity, may be successful in your patriotic exertions,
" I remain, your obedient Servant,
"CHARLES DOIG, Secretary." 1
He would not detain the meeting further. It was time that a
remedy was passed, and he hoped that they would not leave
London until they had roused the metropolis on the subject.
Mr. SILITII said he had some few statements to make to the
meeting. Twenty-six families of 162 individuals living in his
neighbourhood, in Lancashire, were living on Is. 114 d. per
head. Sixty families, containing 372 souls, were living on
Is. 71-d. per bead. Sixty-five families, of 414 persons, were
Eying on Is. lid. per head; and eighty-two families of 536
persons, were living on 84d. per head. The work in his neigh-
bourhood was by the hamt-loom, and a man working fourteen
hours a day obtained 3s. 6d. a week at the lowest work, and
ss. Bd. at the highest. He knew a firm which had given twice
of closing their manufactory, whereby 400 persons would be
thrown out of employment. One of these men had been in the
same house 41 years, and he now earned 6s. 6d. a week. There
was another who had been in the same house 27 years, and
where he used to get 6s. 6d. he only now got 6d. These
men had to work three times as much as they used to do to
keep themselves alive. If there was an extension of trade
they would not have to work so much, and there would be
more people employed. They thought there was a remedy for
this. They had no confidence in the proposed measures of the
Government. The reduction in the duty on squirrels' tails
would nut revive trade.—( Laughter.) The reduction in the
duty on articles in druggists' shops would not restore trade.
They wanted something more substantial. They wanted a
good remedy. It was no use to say don't use exciseable articles.
The poor people cou,cl not use tea, or coffee, or any exciseable
article, arid yet things. were still the same. Teetotalism was
rapidly progressing, but it was doing so by main force.—
( Laughter and cheers.) With respect to the Income-tax, if
theY waited a little longer before they collected it, there would
he none to collect in his neighbourhood. Mr. Brookes
hid, at their last meeting in February, told them
what his profits were. He showed them that his
profits were little or nothing, and they would be
ipss now. Many of the manufacturers had not sold a cotton
piece this year. Many of the manufacturers had only made
one market this year, and that was on the Bth of February.
Naw, if they hail.free trade their warehouses would be cleared
at once. If they could but clear the warehouses, that would
help them. In his part of the country they were no soldiers,
they did not approve of fighting. War had been a long time
abroad, and they did net want to have it at home. They did
not like cutting people's throats—they had a better remedy.
They went at once for universal suffrage.--( Cheers.) They
went for the whole measure. The aristocracy would not give
them part, so they would lay their hands on the whole.—
( Loud cheers.). ,4 hey would go up the steps one by one, but
they were not allowed, and. so they would step at once to the
top. They were for the extension of the suffrage. One
man said to him when he came away. " Smith,
before these blessings come, we shall be dead. Do you think
we shall last to see them come ?"—( Laughter.) They should
come, and he hoped that such was the determinatkn of the
Delegates.—( Cheers. ) They must all go for the whole mea-
sure. They were sent there by the people; their seats were not
bought like those in the House of Commons. They represented
larger constituencies ; constituents, whose all lay in their hands,
who lived by their industry and labour.—(Cheers.) Let
them then all be united, and go for the whole measure—Univer-
sal Suffrage.—( Cheers. )
The Rev. Mr. Lunwowrii, of Leicester, confirmed the
s'aternents of the last speaker. As long as they had a Church
and State in union, they would have persons to persecute the

Mr. ItinGwaY, of the Staffordshire Potteries, then addressed
the meeting. He had no harrowing tale to unfold, but he be-
lieved he had such a tale to bring forward as would serve a
righteous cause. Up to the present period the Potteries had
been a prosperous district; but at the present moment it was far
otherwise. Distress had reached them, and he was sure that if
something was not done, it would increase to a degree unknown,
and never before suffered in that district. He trusted that the
present meeting won't' tell the country before they parted, that
their distress was such that it must be alleviated, and that her
Majesty's Ministers had n 3 excuse for not inquiring into that
distress. It was the last time the Delegates would meet, and, if
ju,tice was not done them, some other course must be adopted...—.
( Hear, hear.) The aristocracy ought to be told that the people
were determined to take care of their own rights, without
iuvadir.g the rights of others.—(Cheers.) All that they wanted
was-a clear stage and no favour, and that they were determined
to have.—( Cheers.
A DELEGATE asked whether any communication had been
received
from Sir R. Peel?
Thehe
meetingSF. t' l.
ET At
then
adjournedstated tha
till
ltlh
to
-day
elevent o'clock.
7

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SALMON.—The take of salmon along the coast has
during the last and present week been considerable. At
Ballantrae, on Tuesday, the number caught was much greater
than on any former occasion this season. A great partof them,
principally grilses, were brought to ow market yesterday, and
sold freely—trout, 4d. ; grilse, 5,1. ; and salmon, 8!..2d. per lb.
The stake nets at Burnfoet, Moulton, Prestwick, and Doon-
foot, have had each a fair share of salmon during the above
period, although in the former part of the season levr fish were
caught. These sell—trout, sd. ; grilse, 7d. ; salmon, ls. per
ih.—Ayr Advertiser.