The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-14 00:00:00

THE TURN-OUT AT STOCKPORT.

The strike of the factory workers of Stockport has at
length become a " great fact." The men made these
propositions to their employers:—To adopt the ten mile cir-
cuit from Manchester as the basis of the average of the
wages to be paid ; or to pay the advance of ten per cent.
at once ; or to refer the question to arbitration. To none
of these propositions have the employers paid any atten-
tion, and on Friday week the working classes met in the
open air, to the number of between ten and twelve thou-
sand, and then determined to quit work unless the ten per
cent was conceded before the expiration of their week's
notice. _ - . .

On Monday, the members of the Master Manufacturers'
Association held a numerous meeting at the Warren Bul-
keley Arms Inn. The returns of prices paid in the various
places were carefully examined, and on Wednesday
another and more numerous meeting of the employers
was held at the same place, when it was unanimonsly re-
solved to give an advance of five per cent. upon the self-
actors and mule spinners, and eight per cent. to the thros-
tle spinners. The weavers' averages were revised, when,
the Stockport list being above the averrge, it was deter-
mined to make no change in that department. The
average was taken in respect to the old district extending
thirty miles from Manchester. It was discovered that the
Stockport masters had been paying from one to three per
cent. below the average to band mule and self-actor spin-
ners : five per cent below to throstle spinners ; but above
the average for power. loom weaving. Rumours, however,
got afloat amongst the weavers that their application would
not be conceded, and another public meeting was therefore
held that night in the Cattle Market, and was attended by
about 13.000 persons, all engaged in the factories. The
decision was, without an exception, in favour of " The ten
per cent., and no surrender." On Thursday morning
the hands quitted the mills, their demand being ten per
cent. The workpeople of eight mills, five of them being
of the more extensive establishments in the borough,
ceased work by the close of the day. The strike then
fairly commenced.

On Friday, thousands of the operatives, male and fe-
male, paraded the streets, and called at the different mills
which were to become vacant, as the notices expired in
rotation, various branches falling due at various hours.
Their conduct was most peaceable ; their advice to the
thousands as they turned out of the mills being, " Pre-
serve peace and respect property." The procession thus
became gradually more formidable, and, as it moved from
place to place, the operatives composing it, sung to the
air of " Oh, Susannah," a ballad on the ten per cent.
In the course of the day it transpired that several of the
employers, not connected with the Manufacturers' Asso-
ciation, had acceded to the application for the ten per
cent. throughout the different branches, and the work-
people resumed labour amidst much cheering. Those who
had agreed to give the advance were—Mr. Cooper, Port-
wood ; Messrs. Micholl, Lucas, and Co., Chestergate ;
Ur. Hullum, Hillgate; Mr. Hulme, Hillgate; Mr. Wheil-
,don, Portvvood ; Mr. Williamson, Hope Hill; Mr. West,
:Carrs ; and Messrs. Newton and Scattergood. Others
ale spoken of as likely to " come in" at the commence-
ment of the week. But those who object comprise the
largest concerns in the borough. The numbers likely
to be on " strike," speaking in round numbers, may be
• 30.0•30.

Symptoms are already presenting themselves of the loss
which this unfortunate turn-out will occasion, even to the
employers themselves, large numbers of the best workmen
havin.quitted the town, in search of better wages or
betteremplovment in the manufacturing towns of Lan-
cashire. On Friday there was an agent in the town, from
some extensive cotton mill recently erected in the neigh-
bourhooe of Ashton, prepared to engage 300 hands at
improved mages and constant employment ; 60 of the most
experienced spinners were speedily engaged, and he was
negotiating for 250 weavers,
The authcrities have taken every precaution by calling
in supernumerary constables, &c., for the preservation of
order, but at present there is no probability that the
workpeople will commit any disturbances.—illanchesier
Courier.

THE GARSTON DOCKS will be opened on the 21st

igstant,

TAE Cotwrr COURT, on Friday, in a case in which
a married woman was summoned on account of a debt
contracted by another woman, for whom she had given
her word, the judge decided that a husband could not be
made responsible for debts contracted by a wife upon
another person's behalf, unless it could be shown that
the husband authorized her.

TRANQATLANTIC STEAMERS.—The Liverpool and Phi-
ladelphia screw steam-ship City of Glasgow, Capt. Wylie,
sailed on Wednesday afternoon, with 1 assengers and
a fair cargo, for Philadelphia. On Tues y afternoon the
United States Mail Steam-ship Baltic, Capt. Comstock,
arrived off the Bell Buoy, but, owing to the state of the
tide, eras unable to cross the bar, but landed her mails at
7, p.m., by the steam tug Tiger. She left New York on
the 28th ult. She brought 241 passengers and 43'600,000
in specie. The British and North American Royal Mail
steam-ship Niagara, Leitch, commander, took her depar-
ture from the Mersey about noon on Saturday,for Halifax
and Boston, with the usual weekly mails and a fair com-
plement of passengers.

SINGULAR AFFECTION OF THE LONGS.—An inquest
was held yesterday, before the borough coroner, on the
body of a man unknown, who died on Friday evening,
under the following circumstances :—Mary Manning, the
wife of Richard Manning, residing in Addison-street,
said, that about seven o'clock on Friday evening the
deceased came to their house, and asked for lodgings. She
objected to him at first, and told him he looked very ill.
Deceased said, " for God's sake don't turn me out." He
said he had come out of the hospital, and was to return.
Witness told her daughter to put him in bed. About
eleven o'clock he asked for a drink of water, which was
supplied to him. Nothing more was heard of him until
Saturday morning, when he was found dead in bed. Mr.
George Kemp, surgeon, said that he had made a post
mortem examination of the body, and found the cause of
death to have been disease of the lungs, from natural
causes ; the right lung was completely epatized, and
weighed the enormous weight of flee pounds.
STEAM TO AFRICA.—The first annual meeting of the
African Steam-ship Company was held on Saturday—Sir
John Campbell presiding.—when a dividend was declared
at the rate of 5 per cent. for the six months ending the
15th of April last. The report stated that, although the
first voyages in a line of such novelty, and including so
many calling-places, could only be regarded as experi-
mental, all the vessels of the company had kept satisfac-
tory time. All the company's steamers at present
running—namely, the Forerunner, Faith, and Hope—

have answered the expectations entertained, and the
Charity is now being fitted with her engines, while the
Northern Light will be launched in July. With regard
to the traffic, both direct and intercolonial, its develop-
ment has confirmed the calculations of the directors, and
additional advantages are looked for from the abolition of
the soap duty, which will greatly stimulate the palm oil
trade. Arrangements have therefore been made to pro-
mote a semi-monthly line from Liverpool, and particulars
of which are to be submitted hereafter. In relation to the
dangers of the trade, the results of the introduction of
steam are shown in the fact that the company have not
lost one of their men by accident or tropical diseases, none

of them„ even having been laid up f3y
number of shares were to be 12,500 of ;Ca

ach, but only

11,008 have been issued, and it is not proposed to put forth
the remainder. On these ILOOB, payments have been
made to £l29,792—aimm that will be sufficient for all the
purposes of the undertaking during the present year. At
the close of the proceedings a special vote of thanks was
passed to Mr. Macgregor Laird.