The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-08 00:00:00

TO MR. JOHN FIELDEN, M.P.

—ln the public

1 of your intended speech en the
laws

sugar duties, after quoting from my report on the poor-
a passage relative to the handloom weavers, you add, " those
words were written by a man, who in the very same report
recommended the abolition of out-door relief to the people
whose poverty he described, but whose industry he ad-
mitted, and who recommended the workhouse test as a sub-
stitute."

As a poor-law commissioner, I was an eye-witness in 1832
to the sufferings of the handloom weavers, in Lancashire,
and brought their condition under the notice of parliament
in a description, the force and truth of which you admit by
citing it. In the same report I bore willing testimony to
their industry, their patience, and reluctance to apply for
relief. I should have deemed it useless vigour to subject
such a class to any workhouse test, and I disclaim having
made such a recommendation. The report which you assert
contains this recommendation is in your hands: cite from it
then, if you can, and confute me. If you fail to do so, I
must say, that in making this assertion you have taken an
unwarrantable liberty with me, and with the truth.
You also assert that I recommended the abolition of out-
door relief to handloom weavers. I deny it. I neither re-
commended the abolition of out-dpor relief to them, or to
any other class; having always been of opinion that such
relief, under the control of local vigilance and intelligence,
might be most extensively andfsatisfactorily administered.
These sentiments are expressed in the following passages of
the report in question :
" The effect of the poor-laws regarded as a national
charity may be seen to advantage in Manchester. The quan-
tity of distress and suffering alleviated is extremely great,
and it is a satisfactory part of the management that many
poor widows, with families, aged, and infirm persons, are en-
couraged and aided in their schemes for keeping shops, &c.,
which turn their industry to the best account."
* * * * * * * * *

" The tendency of the population to resort to and accumu-
late in towns is peculiarly strong in this county, and, conse-
quently, almost every town contains a large population of
poor, with country settlements. When such persons be-
come chargeable, the usual course is to apprise the overseer
of the place of settlement, who, if the liability is clear, gives
a direction to the overseer where the pauper is, to relieve
him as one of his own poor, and undertakes to pay the sum
so advanced. This system is unquestionably open to abuse,
and some check by visitation is requisite, but on the whole
it operated beneficially to the country townships. By mu-
tual candour and fair dealing between the overseers, litiga-
tions and removals are diminished, the poor are less har-
rassed, and probably are less burthensome, as the} are gene-
rally better able to earn a living where they remain."
These passages show that the report is far from being op-
posed to out-door relief in general ; and as to the particular
case of the handloom weavers, half of the very page, from
which you quote, is occupied by arguments in favour of the
practice of allowing them out-door relief. That practice is
also repeatedly sanctioned, so far as my humble opinion
could sanction it, by the commendation bestowed on the ma-
nagement at Manchester, at Wigan, and other places where
it prevails. In the borough which you represent this prac-
tice is thus noticed—" The affaii s of the poor, at Oldham,
have long been well managed, and the inhabitants have never
bee❑ degraded by extensive pauperism. The members of
the select vestry, carefully chosen from different parts of the
township, usually perform personally the duty of visiting the
poor at their abodes, by which means they are able to exer-
cise on the cases relieved an exact discrimination, to which
the excellent condition of the township is mainly to be
ascribed. After providing for the aged, sick, widows, with
families, and the usual dependants on parochial aid, the
handloom weavers require their principal attention. They are
said to be reluctant to apply for relief, but are generally
compelled to come when they have three or four children
under the age, (ten years,) at which children can find em-
ployment in the cotton mills. The select vestry has taken
great pains to shift these weavers to more profitable occupa-
tions. Situations have been procured for many of them in
power loom factories ; their families have been provided for
in the township, whilst they were learning to work at the
looms, which requires about a fortnight. Thus their num-
bers have been diminished, as the power looms, of which
there arc now several thousands in Oldham, increase in
numbers, and there is reason to expect that handloom
weaving, of a coarse description, will be gradually extin-
guished at Oldham. The weavers here are considered an
orderly and industrious class."

The report states, that the poor rates in Lancashire had
been greatly augmented by the transition from hand to power-
loom weaving; and that the fall of wages of hand-loom
weavers, in the course branches, had followed, as the natural
consequence of an invention, which compelled manual labour
to compete with steam power. As the result of such com-
petition could not be doubted, the report commends the
efforts made to procure for those weavers new occupations,
and urges the weavers to embrace them ; observing, that
" The prospect of that part of the country is indeed me-
lancholy, if hand-loom weavers, with youth, strength, and
opportunities, reject the means of independence, and are
suffered to remain burthensome to the public. The former
occupation is gone for ever, and it is only by exerting them-
selves, in new walks of life, that they can reasonably expect
to be raised from their present abject condition." In the
same spirit, after detailing the miserable manner in which
they lived, I added, " This statement proves the necessity of
relief, but it ought, at the same time, to caution overseers
against the danger of perpetuating such wretchedness by a
system of bounties in the shape of parish allowances. Hand-
loom weaving, in its coarse branches, is completely super-
seded, as a profitable employment, and ought to be abandoned
with all possible despatch. It is gratifying to observe that
the number of weavers is diminishing (though in various
degrees) in all large towns ; that few young persons there
are now brought up to weaving ; few new looms are made,
and nothing is more common than to see a solitary weaver
working amidst vacant looms which have been deserted for
other occupations."
In thus describing the hopeless condition of the weavers,
in the course branches of manufacture, I fall under the ban
of your assertion that " It is nonsense to call hand-loom
weaving a worn-out trade." The experience, however, of
eight years since the report was made has tended to confirm
my opinion ; and in your proposed remedies, if carried into
effect, I can see no sufficient grounds for altering that opinion.
I, therefore, do not regret my attempt to impress on the
overseers, and also on this most numerous and destitute class
of weavers, the propriety of effecting a change in their
employment as speedily as possible.
There is nothing in the advice which can interfere with any
fair claim for out-door relief, or justify the representations
which you have made, and coupled with the name of

Your obedient servent,
GILBERT HENDERSON
2, Harcourt-buildings, Temple,
June 4, 1841.

SHIPMASTERS' ASSOCIATION

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SIR,—I have noticed, with considerable interest, the
rise and progress of the Shipmasters' Institution in this
town, and amongst the many laudable objects of that
establishment, I noticed at its commencement, as one
of them, the improvement in class and character of
the sailor. To accomplish this object, they have com-
menced a shipping office, but on such principles as
will only defeat its own object. I will venture, therefore,
through the medium of your valuable paper, to call the atten-
tion of that association to some ideas which, in my humble
opinion, would tend to the improvement of the moral charac-
ter of sailors, and be hailed by all respectable shipowners as
the best method by which they can have their ships satisfac-
torily manned. The present competition between shipping
office keepers of this port, and the consequent league between
them and boarding-house keepers, is carried on in such a
deplorable manner, that our young and inexperienced sailors
are deluded into the most distressing circumstances ; and
even many of the more matured class of seamen under the
notion of the landlord having considerable interest with the
shipping-office keeper is induced to become a willing dupe to
the well-known practice of the boarding-house keeper and
the " crimp."

The remedy of this palpable, this crying evil amongst our
brave, hard, but ill-protected seamen, is in the hands of the
shipowner. And I flatter myself not one of them will be so
regardless of either their own interest or the interest of the
sailors, as to disregard any truly English and liberal plan by
which these men might be rescued from such deplorable
thraldom. I would suggest, therefore, that a respectable,
competent examining officer be appointed by the ship-masters'
association, at a fair salary, with as many active, respectable
young men under him, as may, from time to time, be required
for the purpose of seeing the men on board, &c. That no
charge be made to the sailor for providing him with a ship ;
but that the owner of the ship pay 2s. or 2s. Gd. for each
man put on board, and whatever might be the nett proceeds
over and above the actual expenditure, that they be paid into
some charity, at the discretion of the committee, most
closely connected with the benefit of sailors. By these
means, at least, the good would be separated from the bad,
because any good and steady sailor would save his halfecrown
which he has now to pay, and secure himself a ship and em-
ployment through this institution, whilst the careless, regard-
less, and those without character, would still be found in the
hands of shipping-office keepers. The ship-owner would
also know the real character of the men put on board, whe-.
ther landsmen, ordinary seamen, or whatever class he may
be, the truth would be known to the captain; a matter, it
must be admitted, of vast importance. It now frequently
happens, that a ship goes to sea under the supposition that
all the crew are sailors, and the error is not discovered until
some special and urgent duties call them to the test; this
may happen before the ship has well passed the dangerous
banks contiguous to this port; and there have been some in-
stances of ships being obliged to return to the river in the
best manner they coud, to get more efficient crews, and it
may not be too much to infer that both ships and lives have
been lost from this cause ; frequently others have proceeded
with men (on their articles) as able seamen, but who have
been comparatively useless during the voyage, and yet fed at
the owner's expense ; and supposing the captain or owners
bring the cause before the magistrate (on the ship's return),
some wages are almost always awarded, though the ship has
suffered in a two-fold degree by these men having been at all
on board the ship. This frequently happens, and if it can be
so managed that the captain actually knows the kind and de-
scription of men that are put on board his ship, I contend,
that though the owners would pay 2s. Gd. per man, instead of
one shilling as they now pay, they would benefit largely by
the kindness so shown to the sailors, and poor Jack himself
would save his hard-earned half-crowns. Besides, protection
would be given to the good and deserving sailor, whilst the
bad ones would be detected in time to prevent a fraud being
practised, alike upon the owner and upon those good sailors
who have to perform too often double duty on their account.
I must beg you will call the attention of that respectable
body, the Shipmasters' Association, to this important subject,
and 1 trust they will, without delay, make public their inten-
tions thereon. In conclusion I would remark, that some
well-defined and efficient plan should be adopted for cashing
sailors' notes ; that the respectable boarding-house keeper
may be in no wise injured by the adoption of the plan recom-
mended above.—l am, Sir,
A FRIEND TO SAILORS.
Liverpool, 7th June, 1841.

P. 5..1-It may not be premature to suggest that any sur-
plus monies derived from this plan, be presented to the
Sailor's Home, which some of our generous and philanthro-
pic ship-owners and merchants are so kindly labouring with
in this town.