The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-05-21 00:00:00

FACTORY BILL COMMISSION.

On Monday evening, John Elliott Drinkwater; Esq., I3arister-
aV•Law, Alfred Power, Esq., and John Charles London, M.D.,
arrived in this town (last from Leicester and Nottingham) for
the purpose of pursuing their inquiries as one of the branches of
Mr. Wilson Patten's commission. They took up their resi-
dence at Scarborough's Hotel, where they still remain- On
Tuesday they commenced their labours by calling upon the.
Mayor of Leeds, Mr. Sadler, Mr. Robert Hall, and Mr. Win.
Osborn, whose names appear on the face of the proceedings be-
fore the select committee upon the Ten Hour Bill. They next
addressed a note to each of several of the principal manufactur-
ing firms of the town, requesting the attendance of a gentleman
at Scarborough's; a similar invitation was also sent to Mr.
Sadler, Mr. R. Hall, and Mr. William Osborn. Instead of one
member fromeach of the firms alluded to, all the partners of
each house waited upon the commissioners, so that the opponents
of the Ten Hour Bill greatly outnumbered the friends of that
measure. Nothing.could have been more urbane than the de-
meanour of the commissioners. Mr. Drinkwater stated the
object of their visit, and their desire to enter upon their duties
of inquiry in the most agreeable way to all the parties from
whom they desired information, and he called the gentlemen
then present' together, he said, for the purpose- of mutually ar-
ranging someplan of investigation calculated to elicit the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. A long discussion
took place. Mr. Drinkwater, speaking for his colleagues, said
he wished to hear both sides, and should be particularly glad to
examine intelligent operatives. He proposed that the proceed-
ings of the court should be assimilated to those of courts-mar-
tial; that Mr. Sadler, Mr: Hall, Mr. Osburn, Mr. Oastler, or
any other gentleman, should attend on behalf of the Ten Hour
Bill, and that an equal number of millowners should be present.
That if the inquiry were prosecuted in more than one room at a
time, still an equal number one or more, should be in each room,
to watch the proceedings, to he allowed to put any questions
they thought proper through the chairman, and to be at liberty
to address the commissioners on any part of the evidence; that
the notes of the commissioners should be open to the inspection
of the gentlemen attending ; that their notes should also be ap-
pealed to, if necessary, by the commissioners for the purposes
of explanation; but that no publication should be permitted
while the commissioners remained in the town or immediate
neighbourhood. So far all was plain sailing-. Mr. Sadler re-
quested to have a public court; that is to say, a court that should
be open to those of the public who might wish to be present
' while there was room. He also thought that a short-hand-
writer should be introduced to take full and accurate notes of
the proceedings. The commissioners objected to both these
propositions. They said that they did not deem a public court,
in a broad sense, necessary, nevertheless they should be glad to
examine any proper witness who might come forward volun-
.tarily, or be brought forward on either side. As to a short-
hand-writer, they considered the presence of such a person ob-
jectionable on the ground that it would be setting up an autho-
rity in some respects superior to the authority of the commis-
sioners; they also deemed his presence unnecessary, because no
immediate publication of evidence could take place. Some of
the millowners present also strongly objected to a short-hand-
writer's presence, and more than insinuated that Mr. Sadler's
object was publication, which intimation that gentleman met by
au utiequivocal and indignant denial. After a great deal of de-
bate, the parties split upon the points of the public court and
the short-hand-writer, and no arrangement was entered into
so far as the supporters of the Ten Hour Bill were concerned.
On Tuesday evening a meeting of Operatives took place, at
which it was determined not only not to recognise the Commis-
sion, but to protest against it. On Wednesday evening • another
meeting was held ; the result of the discussion before the Coro-
mi§sioners was discussed, and it was unanimously determined
that the Operatives would not communicate with the Commis-
sion in any way, on the e-round that it constituted a tribunal
adverse to the ten-hour bill in origin, adverse in spirit, adverse
in object, adverse, probably, in instruction ; adverse; also, in
their refusal to hold a public court and to admit a short-hand-
writer, according to the request of the friends of the Bill. On
Wednesday a deputation of Operatives waited upon the Com-
missioners, and presented a protest against its inquiries on the
ground of non-necessity, the propriety of legislative interfe-
rence having been proved before four Committees and by the
passing of two bills, namely, Sir Robert Peel's and Sir John
llobhouse's ; the question of ten-hours, the protesters con-
tended, being irrefragably established by medical testimony of
' the highest character, and the opinion of every disinterested
man or woman of humanity who would take the trouble to
think. On Wednesday evening a placard was issued to this
effect :

" TEN-HOUR BILL—The Commissioners have arrived in
Leeds, and the Operative Short Time Committee have presented
their protest. against- the Commission. The children from all,
the mills and factories of Leeds will ►resent their protest against'
that unnecessary measure, at eight o'clock on lhursday eveu-

ing, May 16th. They, will assemble ii the Preemarket at half-
past seven, and proceed from thence to Scarborough's Hotel,.
where the Commissioners will be assembled. N.B. The chil-
dren are requested to meet in their working dresses."
Accordingly, soon after seven o'clock, a crowd began to as-
semble in the market place, which before the appointed time
amounted to several thousand persons. A procession was then
formed, which proceeded up Kirkgate, down Briggate, and
along Boar-Lane, headed by a white flag, inscribed " Ihe Ten
Hour Bill," and the remains of the banner representing " A
Scene in Water-Lane at five o'clock in the morning," which
was so gallantly rescued from the Yellows by Mr. Sadler's
friends at " the battle of the, standard," which7took place in
the Cloth-Hall yard on the nomination-day. Frorathis banner
was suspended an old " patten," and just above it the word
" No," in allusion to the mover of the Commission. Almost
all the children were habited in their work-clothes, and at the-
head of the procession were two very young lads, we should
think not more than seven years old, with greasy blue faces-
and slips, carried on the shoulders of some of their older com-
panions. On arriving at Scarborough's Hotel; about half a
dozen children, boys and girls, were introduced to the Commis-
sionvs for the purpose of presenting the protest against the
Commission as unnecessary. The crowd, which was composed-
principally of children, and amounted to at least ten thousand
persons, waited for some time in front of the Hotel, expecting
to hear the result of the interview, and about half-past eight
o'clock, Mr. Foster announced from one of the windows that
the protest had been presented, and recommended the specta-
tors to repair to their respective homes. The crowilthen began
to disperse, and in a little time the area was quite clear- '
Mr. Oastler afterwards waited upon the Cominissiotiers; and
protested against the Commission as needless. He stated se-
veral reasons which led him to adopt that course ; the princi-
pal were that the Commissioners had been sent down to solve
the question whether it is proper that infant children should
be worked in factories longer than ten hours a day, a question
which would be answered in the negative by every reasoning
being. He considered that if he, as a supporter of the Factory
Bill should take any, part in the proceedings of the Colt-
missioners, it would be like appealing to the decision of an ad-
verse Jury, though he did not wish to be understood as imputing
partiality to the Commissioners. Again, granting that he might
deem it expedient to recognize the Commission; he could not
get over the difficulty occasioned by witnesses who were exa-
mined before the special Committee, having been discharged-
by their employers on their return from London. It would be
scarcely possible to get operatives to tell all they knew, when
they were aware that. the almost inevitable consequence of
their doin' so would be a discharge from their employ.
Mr. Drinkwater admitted the force of the latter ground of
objection, and said he did not know how it could be obviated.

The Commissioners' plan of proceeding is this. They spend
the present week in visiting the principal factories, anu ae--.
quainting themselves with technicalities and the general rou,
tine of business, so as to be prepared for a perfect understanding
of the evidence. On Monday they will begin. to examine wit.
nesses.

-
iir NEWRY.
44
....\
..\ The St. George Steam Vessel
Will sail for the abort, with Goods and
Passengers, on Saturday, the 25th int One o'clock, p.m.
Apply at the St. George Steam Packet Company's OJEces,
21, Water-street, and Clarence Dock.

By order of the Executors.
On WEDNESDAY, the 29th instant, at Six o'clock in the even-
ing, at the Golden Lion, in Dale-street, Liverpool,
ADWELLING-HOUSE, on the south side of Bridport-
street, in Liverpool, containing in front, and in breadth
at the back, 15 feet, and running. in depth to Ward-street, on
the east and west sides, 44 feet 9 inch ,or thereabouts, in the
occupation of Mrs. Shaw.
Two DWELLING-HOUSES oining, on the south side
of Bridport-street, together with ti DWELLING-HOUSES
behind the same, fronting, Ward-street, containing, in front to
Bridport-street and Ward-street 30 feet, and running in depth,
on the east and west sides, 44 feet 6 inches, in the occupation
of Mr. Sharp, Mr. Webster, .Win. Turner, and Thomas Black-
burne.

The tenure is Leasehold under the Corporation, for two lives,
aged respectively 43 and 38 years, and for 21 years after the
decease of the survivor.

A well-built Freehold DWELLING-HOUSE, on the north
side of Grinfield-street, Edge-hill, containing in front 6 yards,
and in breadth at the back 7 yards and 1 foot, and in depth on
the east and west sides 20 yards, or thereabouts, with the privi-
lege of a passage of 4 feet wide at the back, as the same was
late in the occupation of Mrs. Clay.
For further particulars apply to Messrs. LEIGH and SAN-
DERS, Solicitors, Basnett-street.