The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-18 00:00:00

KfRKINTILLOCH.

Mr. Boy's, of Kirkintilloch, said—Kirkintillock contains
above 5,000 inhabitants. About 3,000 are employed at weav-
ing of muslins, and of a description well known in the trade by
the name of lappets, a piece of. goods for which the weaver
was paid Is. 7d. ,n 1834-5, was, in 1836, reduced to Is. 50.
in .1837-8, to Is. ; in 1839-40 it-advanced to Is. 3d. ;
and in 1841 it again fell to Is. id. The weekly wages made at
these prices is 7s. 5d., 6s. 10d., ss. lid., ss. 11d., 4s. I Id.,
from which falls to be deducted Is. lid. for keeping up his
loom. So miserable have the weaving body in the place be-
come, that a system has been resorted to by great numbers of
thorn, which is revolting to even the ordinary feelings of our
nature, and which may be stated as follows weaver rents
a shop containing 4,6, 8, or 10 looms, which he contrives
to get furnished, and which he then fills with boys and
girls, which ho collects from the poor-houses, and from
tamilies who are in great destitution; these children are set
to work, confined anti pushed on in many cases by the
necessities, the avarice, Cr the misconduct of those who
have them in charge, forming scenes of drudgery, irregularity,
destitution of education, clothing, and comfort, which are
enough to shock the feelings of every person who has the
slightest conception of even the low order in which a human
being ought to spend his existence, and all this may be set
down to the low state to which the moral feelings are fallen, in
consequence of the downward progress of the manufacturers,
which form the staple dependence of the town. Such a state
as that to which the weaving population of Kirkintilloch is fast
hastening, calls for the immediate and serious'consideratien of
the Government of the country.—(Cheers.)
The Rev. Mr. DUNCAN, of Girvan, said the population is
upwards of 0,000. There are 2,000 hand-loom weavers in the
town. Although I cannot say that there are any altogether
unemployed, yet, as they depend entirely on Glasgow and
Paisley for employment, their prospects are of the most dreary
description. Work which was in 1813-14 paid Bd. the ell is
now paid at the rate of lid. and 2d., so that a weaver who at the
former period could with ease earn 20s. a-week, can now earn
no more than from 4s. 6d. to ss. As to the state of crime, I
win instructed to say, that far fewer petty thefts are committed
than might be expected, considering the extreme destitution of
the people. In answer to the 4th query. I ant instructed to
say, that with the exception of the provision merchants, the
working classes generally can scarcely be reckoned among the
customers of the other tradesmen mentioned ; and with these
their purchases have gradually declined, and were never lower in
amount than at present. As to the state of education, I may
mention that while we have a parish school excellently con-
ducted and numerously attended, comparatively few of the
children belong to the weaving population—probably not more
than 20 in 30, out of 120. Our Committee authorises me to
to say, that the inhabitants are all but unanimous in wishing an
immediate and total repeal.
POLLOKSHAWS.
Mr. Heeroa, Deputy from Pollokshaws, read to the meeting
a report, by Provost Corbett, of Pollokshaws, and William
Hector, writer in Pollokshaws, Deputies appointed by the Pol-
lokshaws Anti-Corn-law Association, to the general meeting to
be held in the Trades' Hall, Glasgow, which was full of inte-
resting details like the following. We pass over the hand-loom
weavers, whose condition is known to be most wretched :
Cotton-Spinners, Steam-Loom Weavers, Quarriers, La-
bourers, and Bleachers.—These classes keying obtained con-
stant employment during the past year, they have not felt the
pressure of the times so much as other classes of the popula-
lation, although the wages of many of them are reduced to the
extent of 20, 30, or 40 per cent. .
Inability to Purchase Clothes.—The-change. within the last
ten years in this respect is very striking and lamentable.
In seventeen cases of respectable weavers, investigated by the
Deputies, not one was found where a single article of clothing
had been purchased within the last two years. Mr. William
Nicol, the oldest and most extensive draper and cloth merchant
in Pollokshaws, states that he has been 28 years in business,
and that he has had ample opportunities of knowing the condi-
tion of the population generally during the whole of that time.
Ho says that they have been retrograding fast—that families
who, for many years, were regularly able to make pretty ex-
tensive purchases of body and bed clothes, have entirely ceased
oduonudts ; wa'ne rde
thator,
fhoart-,
ofsh
jout
ihoegr
ss
~a
rwe .neor
toy
api
to do so—that, in cases
tiler y spent
1 in this way,
l
in general, there is a great and observable change for the
worse in the personal appearance of whole c 1 asses of the people,
arising front their total inability to purchase clothes.
Inability to procure Provisionresiad i n one of the oldest
established, and most extensive grocery and provision
'
shops in Pollockshaws, it was found that as many as fifty sales
take place per day of the following quantities of groceries and
provisions, viz., one halfpenny worthl
of bof
tea, one halfpenny
, one halfpenny
worth of sugar, one halfpenny wor 1. utter,
That very rarely so much
worth of herrings. as a quarter of
a pound of tea is purchased at once or a pound of sugar.
The Crowding together of the Population.—ln the parish of
h
Pollok or Eastwood, there has been, within the last ten years,
as ascertained by the census, an increase in the population of
of 1,012, while the number of new houses built within that pe-
riod does not exceed twelve, and these do not afford accommo-
population.
dation for 200 of tho increased Thus 812 of the
flew population have been crowded in upon the former occupiers
of houses, who were already overcrowded.
The Increase of Paupers and of the Poor's Rate.—
There has been a regular increase of the paupers on the parish
poor's roll for several years past, and a corresponding increase
in the assessment. In the three winter months of 1838, No-
vember, December, and January, the average number of pau-
pers on the roll was 82 ; in the corresponding three months of
1841 the number was 102, being an increase in three years of
20 paupers, or 25 per cent.
In conclusion, the Deputies would remark, as the result of
their own observation and of the inquiries now made, that a
material change for the worse is gradually taking place in the
appearance and condition of the population of this parish, and
although all are not suffering alike, yet Poverty and its attendant
consequences are but too visible among the great body of the
people.
ABERDEEN.
Mr. WILSON, from Aberdeen, showed by a table of imports
at Aberdeen, that the imports in British vessels were decreas-
ing, while the imports in foreign vessels were increasing :
tsrroers AT ABERDEEN BY BBITISIi VESSELS.
Vessels. Tons.
1834 90 ...............14,607
1840 90 .....,.....15,678