The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-24 00:00:00

COMBINATION OF WORKMEN BILL.-
SPECIAL MEETING OF JOINERS.

Last night a special general meeting of the members of
the Liverpool Ship Joiners' Society was held in the
Assembley-rooms, Circus-street, " for the purpose of pe-
titioning parliament relative to the Combination of
Workmen Bill, in order that the existing laws may be
so defined that there can be no possibility of uncertainty,
and thereby put an end to the disagreement between the
doctors of the law as to the distinction between the article
of labour in the market, and that of any other article of
merchandise,"

Mr. JAMES FITZPATRICK, vice-president of the society,
was called to the chair, and opened the proceedings by
stating that they were met to adopt a petition in favour of
the bill that was brought into parliament by Messrs.
Drummond and Duncombe, for the purpose of defining
what working men should by law be permitted to do in
order to enable them to protect the only article of which
they were possessed—their labour. The bill had been
rendered necessary in consequence of two of the most
eminent judges of the present day—the present Lord High
Chancellor and Mr. Justice Erle having given two op-
posite opinions with regard to the state of the law in re-
ference to the Combination of Workmen's Bill. Work-
ing men had hitherto thought that they were at liberty
peaceably to persuade their fellow-men to demand an
advance of wages • but it now seemed, from the decision
of Mr. Justice Earle, that if a workman endeavoured so to
persuade his fellow-working man, he was liable to an in-
dictment. After some further remarks, the Chairman
called upon
Mr. S. DOWLING, who proposed the first resolution,
involving a petition to parliament to the effect " that the
house would pass an act to amend and explain the 6th
George 4, c. 129, to the intent that it shall not be unlawful
for workmen to agree among themselves at any time as to
what wages they will receive, or the hours or time they,
will work in any manufacture, trade, or business, and that
it shall not be unlawful peaceably to carry out any resolu-
tion, regulation, or agreement, made in pursuance of the
statute, or unlawful to persuade, or endeavour to persuade,
any journeyman, or other person, to ask a certain rate of
wages for his labour." The speaker, at some length,
insisted that the effect of Mr. Justice Erle's decision, and
that of the Queen's Bench,. would be to oppress the
working man, and deprive him of those privileges which
the capitalist enjoyed with regard to obtaining the best
price for his merchandise.
Mr.. JAMES MAXWELL seconded the resolution, in an
energetic address.

Mi. JOHN TAYLOR, and• some other speakers,, sup.
ported the resolution, whichon being put to the meeting,
was carried unanimously..
Some other resolutions were proposed and carried, and
the meeting terminated about ten o'clock.

Tasmanian papers announce the escape of O'Donoughue,
the Irish convict.

The Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel has arrived in Aus-
tralia, and been appointed a magistrate of Victoria.
A COMMITTEE has been appointed by a body of sub-
scribers, in Glasgow, to construct public baths for the
use of the citizens..

THE POPE has.ordered the Roman artist,,Jacometti, to
execute in marble a statue representing " Judas giving the
kiss of treason to our Saviour," which is to be placed in
one of the upper halls of the Vatican.

ON Friday last the foundation of upwards of two
hundred dwellings was laid at Dumbarton, on the Clyde.
These houses have been called " The new town of Dum-
barton."

CONSIDERABLE DISSATISFACTION exists among the
public of Glasgow at the very meagre accommodation
which the government propose to assign at the new
general post-office, now in the course of erection in that
city.