Star.
London, England, 1825-09-19 00:00:00

COMBINATION.

A combination on tire part of the journeymen shoe
snake's, attended with 'serious hardship to the masters,
has subsisted live for several weeks past. The journey-
men lately made a strike to compel the masters to raise
their wages. In this they were successful; the masters,
from the &Ili( ulty of procuring hands elsewhere,having
found it recess:fly to submit to their terms. But this
concecsion was no soarer made, than ne.w and harder
conditions were dictated by the journeymen, and these
the latter have been using the must unjustifiable Means
to enforce. The combiners insisted that the masters
should employ them exclusively, and in the first in-
stance, to do their work, without being allowed to bring
strangers into the town ; or, in other words, the masters
were to be prohibited from choosing their own servants.
This led to the trial of is case before the Magistrates
last week. It appeared that one of the masters had
engaged two individuals from the country to work for
him ; but on their teaching the town, they wire inter-
c4ted by scouts employed by, and in the pay of, the
journeymen, whose province it seems is to give in-
timation to strangers of there being what among the
number is called " a block in the place," and either to
get them to join the combination, or provide them with
money to proceed to annther town.
With' et joining the combination, the two individuals
e,ferred to assigned the " block" as a reason for not
fulfilling their engagement; and, in consequence, they
were brought before a Magistrate, who, after invesri-
gating the matter, ordained these parties to fulfil the
engagement, and granted a warrant for committing
them to prison in case of failure ; at the same time in-
timating, that if they were troubled or molested in any
way by the refractory workmen, they would he pro-
tected and the offenders punished. It appeared in the
course of the investigation, that the combination was
not confined to Copar, but extends over the whole of
the linked Kingdom, funds being contributed by the,
journeymen in all considerable towns to support it, and'
a regular correspondence being carried on with the
%%hole.. In this way, whenever a place is in " block,"
the journeymen 'obtain ri lief from the general fund, and
they are provided with " tramp tickets," which enable,
them to travel from place to place free of expense t.
themselves, when that is necessary to give effect to "the
block." In this way they are enabled to bid defiance
to the masters ; and to carry on a system, which, in
its consequences, must be not less hurtful to them than
to the general interests of society.—Fife Herald. ,

The only cases of any interest tried at the Middlesex
Sessions, on Saturday, were of a nature which prevents
us Iron& reporting them.
EXPLOSION BP GAS.—The family of Mr. Latter,
pawnbroker, in Broad-street, Ratclige Highway, were
.011 Wednesday evening last, greatly alarmed by the
!ordden explosion of gas, whiclt- took place on the
Introduction of a lighted candle. The explosion
vas instantaneous; and although several persons were
present at the time, fortunately no one was hurt. It
seems there ate two rival Gas Companies, and two sets
of mains and pipes in the same street; and they impute
the blame to ach other.
During the performance of Divine Service, on Friday
evening last, by the Rev. Mr. George, in Shouldham-
street Chapel, Bryaustone-squ4re, the congregation was
thrown int., a state of alarm, by a great part of the
ceiling siring way. and with the rafters tunibling Lto
tlie body of the chapel, hut uo 'Kalil:AL happened.

c 4 TA ST R OPIIE A I' PORTSMOUTH. :
The following is an official letter on this meland
subj- ct, by the Chief Commissioner of Portsma___
Doc k-yard
As it is not improbable that erroneous statem-nts of
the fatal accident which occurred upon the day on
which the Princess Charlotte was hunched from the
Dock-yard at this port, may obtain currency, it will no
doubt be satisfactory to the Public to receive an au-
then.icated account from me of this melancholy event.
On Wednesday last, the day of the launch, the tide rose
so rapidly, and to so unusual a height. that the ship
was obliged to be launched sooner than was antici-
pated ; the same great rise of water occasioned such a
powerful pressure against the gates of the South East
Dock in the Basin, as to cause the= to burst inwards.
and to carry with impetuous violence into the empty
dock the bridge which rested upon the gates, and with
the bridge the persons who were unfortunately passing
over it at the time, on their way to see the launch. Tire
torrent of water which rushed into the vacant dock be-
low overwhelmed the unhappy individuals, and I grieve
to say, that notwithstanding the active and prompt ex-
ertions of those who beheld the dreadful catastrophe,
and of the boats which immediately hastened to the
spot, but few persons were rescued from their perilous
situations. Ti:e proper means were immediately re-
sorted to for the recovery of those who were picked up,
in which the Surgeons of the Dock.yard were most hu-
manely and ably assisted by the Medical Gentlemen of
the place. The following is the list of those wt:o were
restored to life, and of those who are known to have
perished:
RZSTORSO To Ltra—Mr. Salmon, St. Georges•square, Port-
I sea; Mrs. Bloomfield (a soldier's wife), the infant of ditto, the
sister-of ditto; Mrs. Mitchell, of Charlotte's how, and the daughter
of ditto; a boy, name unknown.
" DILOWNID-Mr. Deering, a Midshipman of the Victory ; Mr.
Stanfield, a Custom-house Officer (has left three children); Mr.
Showers, a dealer in chips ; Mr. Hart, a slopseller, Portsmouth ;
the daughter of ditto, aged 17, and nephew of ditto,aged seven;
a malt servant of Mrs. o.boroc, of Broomfield ouse. Young
Wornen—Froggett, aged '2O, daughter of a labourer; Knight, 18 ;
ditto, 14, daughters of a sawyer. Boys—Bull, two; Taylor, 15,
painter's apprentice; Hewett. 14, father a wheelwright; Nineram,
14, father a shipwright; Leal, 12, mother a widow with seven
children; Hawse, 15, father a shipwright.
" Every exertion has been made to find the bodies of
other sufferers, and every endeavour to ascertain wha
persons are missing. From the best information I have
been able to obtain, it appears that there may be still
five or six bodies not found, but this is as yet uncer-
tain. The list already given tells a melancholy
tale, but it is consolatory to my own feelingr,
as it will be to the relatives of the sufferers, and
satisfactory to Abe Public generallr, that no human
foresight could have averted the dreadful calamity, and
that it was entirely unconnected with the preparations
made for the launch ; and further, that it happened at
time when, most providentially, no persons were em-
ployed at work in the Deck ; for had that been the
case, the disaster, severe as it is, would have been ten
times greater.

"GEORGE GREY, Commissioner.
" Portsmouth Dock-yard, Sept. 17, 1823."

An intelligent Gentleman of Portsmouth, who was
with nine other surveyors from London, within twenty
yards of the fatal spot, and in half a minute would
have been upon it, describes the scene as follows : " I
was within twenty yards of the bridge when I heard a
scream, and looked towards the bridge ; it had the ap-
pearance of an inverted arch, and I distinctly saw seve-
ral persons run off at both ends—l should think from
fifteen to twenty. In a moment a dreadful crack was
heard, and another scream from the persons precipitated
into the water • at the same instant a tremendous rush
of water issued the dock, which was impelled with
a rapidity not to be conceived but by those who saw
it, forming a stupendous wave, bearing on its surface
nisny of the struggling sufferers, mingled with large
fragments of broken timber, all of which was dashed
with inconceivable fury against the further end of the
dock, and which, from its impetuosity, again rebounded
in a curling wave, whose height was at least ten or
twelve feet above the level of the yard. carrying in the
tremendous conflict the bodies of the sufferers, large
pieces of timber, cloaks, hats, and clothes of the unfor-
tunate victims, and again rushed back to fill the hollow
which had been crested in the surface by its own velo-
city. • Oh! my God! my God!' was the exclamation
of the beholder ; and a momentary stupor took possession
of the mind, which was affected by the conviction that,
the unfortunate victims must in that instant have been
dashed to death against the stone work of the basin. The
silence was but for a moment ; for immediately after-
terwards appeared in different parts of the basin the
bodies of the sufferers, some in the agonies of death,
others in a state of insensibility, and one or two appa-
rently not much injured, but still exposed not only to
the horrors of drowning, but to those of coming in
contact with the pieces of shattered timber, which
the agitated uproir of the water was dashing
one against the other. Persons on the bank stripped
their coats and hats, and were about to plunge in to res-
cue such as were near the brink ; but for some minutes,
until the agitated surface of the water was stilled, it
would have been perfect madness; and those minutes
were fatal to several. There was one person, apparently
an interesting female, with short dark hair, and appa
rently a purple pelisse, who was uncommonly buoyant.
I said to her, take hold of that piece of timber, and it
will save your life. Sbe heard me. and clasped in her
hand a mere chip. Some one threw an umbrella to
her, but she was too fir gone to reach it. I rushed to
the other end of the basin, and urged a boat to come
(and they wanted no persuasion); as it passed the wharf
I jumped into it. and pointed out the spot where I had,
one moment before, left this female. She was gone;
but we had the satisfaction to save an old man, who
was lifted ashore; and again we proceeded in the work
of mercy. The female rose again, I think from the
buoyancy of her clothes, and was rescued by the intre-
pidity of two individuals, whose names deserve to Isere•
corded amongst the most valuable members of society;
one was a Lieutenant in the N ivy, and the other a young
man in coloured clothes, who I have ascertained is a
tailor of the name of Seagrove. The Lieutenant (Purvis).
with a coolness peculiar to his profession, jumped into
the water and got hold of this female, who was still
sufficiently conscious to lay hold of him, and to hold
with a firm grasp, and it seemed eats enieiy doubtful
whether or not both would have sunk together : he
kept her off from him, but still supported her for a
long time, when Seagrove jumped into the basin to
his fescue, and effected the sa e.y of both, by con-
veying a rope across a piece of ttml.)er, and all were
brought to shore, and ti e ternale, I understand, restored.
I have heard her name, but I will not give it, lest it
should be mistaken. Whoever she is, she owes her
hie to these two ; and it is difficult to say which is most
dcserring of praise.. Two s•ikrs also exerted

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