The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-26 00:00:00

seriptions had been raised for them by some humane and be-
nevolent persons, and a soup kitchen had been established,
which gave away great quantities of soup. In Preston all the
in:lk were in full work, but the number of card room hands
had been reduced ‘2.5 to :10 per cent. since 18:37 arid 18:13,
owing to the improvements in machinery.
Sir R. PEEL—Has the number of mills incroased within the
last six or seven years?

Mr. GARDENER-I think not.
Mr. BIGGS, of Leicester, repeated to Sir Robert Peel the
statements which he made at the Anti-Corn .law Conference
in the morning, nearly in the same words-.they will be found
in our report of the Conference..
Mr. J. WALEER stated that trade of all kinds in his neigh-
bourhood (Bury) was exceedingly depressed. He was a part-
ner in a foundry and machine making establishment ; the
wages raid by the firm of which he was one, in 1836,
.837, and )838, were about 8001. a week ; they now only
averaged about 3501., which was a decline of more than one-
half. The weekly wages of their own men varied from 16s. to
405.; they were generally an honest and intelligent class, and
in consequence of the scarcity of employment, were wandering
about the country in a state of great destitution. He Lad two
foundries in Bury, one of which had been closed for more than
twelve months, though the wages in 1838 and 1839 averaged
from 1601. to 170/. per week.
Sir R. PEEL-Bury is not suffering so much as Stockport
or Manchester?

Mr. WALKER—I believe not; but the distress in Bury is
still very great.
Mr. ASHWORTH could assure the Right Hon. Baronet that
the account of the distress which existed throughout the
couutry had not been exaggerated. In the Poor-law union of
Bolton, which consisted of 25 townships, and contained a
popufation of 90,000; the number receiving parish relief was
between 12 and 13,000. Engineering was carried on to a
great extent at Bolton, and many engineers, excellent work-
men, were wholly unemployed; they were selling off their
furniture piecemeal—a chair to-day, a table to-morrow, the
bed next, and every article of clothing followed. The rates
had considerably increased, and out of a rate made in March,
1841, amounting to uVwards of 21,000/., only 9,0001. had
been paid up to March in the present year. The class of dis-
tress was not that of mere animal privation ; the paupers in
Bolton were a class of men of a peculiar quality of mind—men
who understood all the chemical processes discovered
to the world by a Davy, and the mechanical in-
ventions disclosed by the master mind of an Ark-
wright and a Watt ; they were men in whom much
duty and religious feeling were alike conspicuous with mecha-
nical genius and skill. It was too late now to consider the
various avenues whence this distress had sprung, but a remedy
must be found; and the evident remedy was a repeal of the
Corn-laws. He did not speak rashly of the repeal of
the Corn-laws, nor without having first deeply consi-
dered the suNect. Their best workmen were leaving the
country, and could net be retained in it. H:s foreman, who
had been in his employ for the last nineteen years, and who,
with his family, earned 250/. a year, left for America a short
time ago. Previous to leaving, he asked him why he was
quitting England ? His reply was that his family had been
educated as mechanics and engineers, and that he deemed the
fate of this country was sealed ; before he died, he wished per-
manently to settle his family. A man who had returned from
America informed him (Mr. Ashworth) that in Mississippi
and Ohio there was great abundance of corn, but that the
people were quite destitute of clothing ; all they seemed
to want was, a better intercourse with us, that
they might be better clad. Curtis, of Ohio, corroborated that ;
he said that the people's clothes were fastened en them by
strings made of the bark of trees, as they were • not able to
purchase tapes, buttons, and thread. At New Orleans he saw
barrels of wheat and provisions come down the river in such
plentiful supplies, that after immense stocks had been pur-
chased
a large quantity could not meet with a sale, and that re-
mained at New Orleans till it became so putrid that a pesti-
lence and fever were the result. Last October there were '
fears entertained in England of the harvest, and some doubts
were entertained of the security of the Bank of England ; sothat
whilst the Americans were naked, that which should have clothed
them was locked up in the warehouses of our manufacturers;
and whilst we were starving, that which should have been food
for us, was putrid and rotting on the quay of New Orleans.
A gentleman from Sydney had informed him that the agricul-
turists of that place were in the habit of holding meetings from
the:years 1819 to 1823, in order to obtain some protection to them.
selves, such as that enjoyed by the landowners of this country, and
they originated in the following circumstances :—A tender was
made to the Government Commissary to supply wheat for the
convicts at 3s. 6d. a bushel, who refused it, because the
price was too high, adding that. he could get it cheaper from
Van Diemen's Land. Then the agriculturists held meetings
in order to exclude wheat from Van Diemen's Land by
irn-
posing a fixed duty upon its importation into Sydney. The
Governor of Sydney said it was a good thing to have a free
importation of corn and cheap bread, which would greatly
tend to inerease the prosperity of the colony; he said that he
would not lay a duty upon wheat or a tax upon bread, remem-
bering that the Government were the chief consumers of bread,
having so many criminals to victual. A few people thought
that ruin to the agriculturists of Sydney would follow this step
on the part of the Governor, but the result proved them to
have been mistaken in their surmises; numbers of people had
taken to sheep rearing and wool growing, and the quantity of
their exports to London and Liverpool, was annually increasing
at a great ratio ; the value of laud had greatly increased, and
Sydney had become the chief supply of animal food to Van
Diemen's Land ; many had directed their attention tow haling,
which had turned out a very profitable speculation, the land
was devoted to pasturage and vineyards, and wheat also rose in
price, • thus benefiting the wheat growers of Van Diemen's
Land; in fact, general prosperity had followed.
Sir R. PEEL—You will admit that I have diminished the
protection to agriculture more than has ever been done within I
any six months at any rate ?
Mr. ASHWORTH thought it was only a nominal alteration
which had been effected in the Corn-laws; a duty of 3s. had
been subtituted fur 135., and 6 feet of water might drown a
man as well as 6 yards. Neither would the tariff he very be-
neficial to the poor man ; out of 22 millions' worth of articles
Ilea it embraced, 16 millions were left untouched ; and the six
m;lliens' worth that it did affect would not assist the starving
operative. Did the poor man care for French boots and shoes,
co:Tr:elks, silks, and perfumery?
Sir R. PEEL—It is rather shallow to say that the poor do
not care for cosmetics. It must be recollected too that I have
made a great reduction of the duty on the importation of meat.
Mr. Asiiwoaeir said that pork was purchased at Cincin-
nati for Ba. a cwt., whilst Sir R. Peel had imposed a duty
of 14s.

Sir R. PEEL—Ss., not 14s. I think we had better not dis-
C 1153 the tariff.

Mr. ASHWORTH said it was no wonder if we imposed a
duty of cent. per cent. upon American pork that they should
impose a duty of 35 per cent. upon our manufactures.
Mr. Asirrox merely wished to refer to the great emigra-
tion that was going on from this country to America. The
best, the careful, steady, industrious men, were leaving all the
manufactories in England. He thought it was absolutely ne-
cessary that the good hands should be kept at home.
Sir R. PEEL—Should you say they went to America to
invest what money they had in hand, or to get employment?
Mr. ASHTON-I should say to obtain employment.
Mr. 13nooKE said it was his good fortune to come from a
part (Huddersfield), whore the distress was not near so great
as in the cotton and other parts of the woollen districts. That
he attributed to the fact that the fancy woollen trade was the
staple manufacture of the place. A great many people, how-
erer, the best of their men, had gone to America. For
the last thirty-three or thirty-four years there had been
a very useful and industrious class of men amongst
them, called " domestic manufacturers," who manufactured
perhaps four or five pieces a-week ; these men as a body were
almost extinct, most of them having been reduced from a state
of comparative affluence to the condition of workmen for others,
and many of them were in the receipt of parish relief. It was
not for him (Mr. Brooke) to suggest remedies, but he did not
think this a Corn-law question ;he regarded the Corn-laws as
a great evil, but he did not believe them to be the only cause of
the distress ; his opinion was, that until there should be a com-
plete removal of all restrictions upon commerce, this country
would never attain to that grandeur which she once possessed.
Though he did not agree with the Right Honourable
Baronet in politics, he must say that he was happy
to see that was the opinion entertained by the Right
Hon. Gentleman, and he was glad to see the reins of Govern-
ment in the hands of oue than whom no one had more power
to carry measures of relief, orthe contrary ; he hoped the mea-
sures with which the Right Hon. Gentleman had begun,
would ultimately lead to the complete emancipation of trade.
Mr. A Kaovp, Jun. stated that he belonged to one of the
largest firms in Halifax, employing 2,000 hands, and paying
wages to the amount of 1,0001. a week. The worsted trade
was now in a better condition than that of the cotton or woollen
trade ; yet was it in a worse condition than it was a few
years ago, and the prospects for the ensuing winter were very
bad. Articles made entirely of worsted, which formerly con-
stituted the staple trade, such as merinos and lastiogs, were
difficult of sale. A large manufacturer in the neighbourhood
of Halifax, bad just commenced working short time. Several
spinners of worsted yarn, at Bradford, had been working short
time or stopping part of their machinery for the
last twelve months, and wages also were falling.
The only trade left which was possessed of life and vitality, was
that consisting of mixed goods of cotton and worsted, printed
or fancy-woven, figured or embroidered. The Germans were,
for some years back, their best customers in these articles.
The large and sudden imports from the Continent, which at first
were paid for in gold, caused an abundance of bills on London,
and rendered the exchanges favourable to sending out goods.
The balance of our exports and imports was eventually paid for
in geode, and during a period of extreme depression in the
home trade, owing to our deficient harvest, the Gerrcan trade
was comparatively brisk, and was the main outlet of our goods.
The fancy trade employs fewer hands and requires more capital
than other branches. Many operatives are out of employ ;
those suffering most are the hand combers and weavers.
In the town and parish of Halifax, we have great
diversity of manufactures. We have the cotton, the
worsted, the spun-silk, the carpet, the carded-wool,
wire-drawing and card setting. It was this great variety of
occupation which had kept the population more steadily em-
ployed than in other districts depending solely upon one parti-
cular branch. The cotton manufacture in his district was in a
wretched state. A large mill and weaving-shed, within two
miles of the town, employing several hundred hands; bad been
standing for nearly six months. There had, been, a tolerable
demand for cotton twist for fancy-made gooda, otherwise,
probably, two-thirds of the hands in his neighbourhood
would have been at a complete stand. Very few
of the self-acting mules were at work. There was for-
merly an extensive trade in low woollens. Great quan-
tities were manufactured for the West Indies for clothing
the slaves. It is but justice to those manufacturers to
state, that they petitioned tor the abolition of slavery, under the
full conviction that it would ruin this trade. It had done so.
The emancipated slaves refused to take another yard of that
' cloth: which they considered a }idge of that slavery, and the
trade and property of the manufacturers had been more reduced
than that of the West India planters.
Quarter Persons receiving Amount In-door.
ending out-door relief Z. s. d. Accounts.
June 25...1838... 3,704
1839... 4,184
d.
1840... 6,072
1841... 6,169
2,916 2 8 ... 336 19 1
1842... 8,531 3,489 5 7 . . 4"5 7 0
Thus the number of persons receiving out-door. reliet was in-
creased 130 per cent. since 183t3, and the amount paid 85
per cent. The number of vagrants passing through Halifax,
and relieved at the vagrants' office, in the same period, was as
follows

In 1839 ..
1840 9 722
1841
1842 2:97.2 For the first six months.
9,182
The butchers stated that the number of oxen killed in Halifax
market, during the last six months, had seldom amounted to
thirty per week, whilst the number killed, five or six years
ago, was never less than sixty-five or seventy. Good joints
were still ready of sale, but coarse pieces, such as were formerly
sold to the working classes, in pieces of three, tour, to six
pounds weight, can scarcely be parted with now, even in small
pieces of done pound weight each. A corn and prov,sion-dealer
who had been in business twelve years and a halt, stated that
during the first eleven years of his business he did not lose 100?.
in bad debts. From January, 1841, to July, 1842, he lest in
bad debts 465 L 2s. by 67 people. Of these 67 people—
, 11 had gone through the Insolvent Court.
3 were bankrupts, who paid nothing.
5 made assignments.
17 ran away to America or elsewhere.
3 compounded.