The Sun. — 1829-04-18 (London, England)

STATE OF TRADE.  The present commercial distress seems to pervade the whole kingdom to a greater extent than has been known for years, and probably in no part of it is it more seriously felt than in the cotton districts. Starvation is overwhelming the manufacturers, and the condition of trade is now such as to preclude the possibility of profit to any one, however great the capital he may have embarked. The wretchedness of the hand-loom weavers in Lancashire, by the state of the markets, is unexampled even in the silk trade, the average earnings of them being not more than 3s. to 4s. a head for able-bodied workers, whose daily sustenance is confined to two meals of thin watergruel with an occasional one of oatmeal porridge. Wheaten bread is a luxury they never enjoy; and this manner of eking out a wretched existence is too evident in their haggard cheeks to admit a single doubt of the truth of this distressing statement even for one moment. Many of them have, in consequence, been encouraged to quit such a life of degradation and misery, and to accept employment at power-loom weaving and dressing, which has been offered to them by several of the manufacturers of this town, whose establishments have been standing still during a protracted struggle, for a reduction of wages, cf fifteen weeks. Many families have arrived and have been set to work, and many others are preparing for their removal hither as soon as circumstances will admit, but some time must necessarily be lost before the factories can be corn' pleted with hands obtained by such slow means, amd from such a distance. The turn-out, which, We are sorry to say, first originated in this town, has now extended itself with so much influence, throughout this district, as we fear will amount to a general turn-out of the whole working class of the cotton trade ; for besides the whole of the fine spinners which are already out in Manchester, we learn the coarser spinners are about to undergo an abatement in order to bring them to the prices offered he►e, and that at Dukinfield, Newton, and Hyde, it has been deemed desirable by the masters there so to meet the opinions and feelings of the masters here, as by the step intended to be taken, so to equalise the prices of labour, as to place the trade on a more equal footing in the Manchester market. During the last week the bands of one concern in the town have returned to work :—the weavers at the new reduced price-16d. for 20 and 21 picks—the dressers at a provisional price ; if under 50 cuts at 3d, and above that number to 70 at 3}d.—and the spinners, though only part have yet gone in, are at wo►k, with the understanding, that if the other spinners return to their situations, the price they obtain shall be the price for the hands now at work, but if no arrangement be entered into at the end of a month, with the other proprietors of mills, then the price to be, with a little alteration, the same as before the turn-out.—Stockport Advertiser.  On Sunday night there was some rioting in Clare-street, Limerick, between some low ruffians who infest the City. The police, baying interfered, were attacked and driven into their guard-room, followed by the mob, uho pelted them with stones. Some of the police were more or less injured. The serjeant (Moors), to intimidate them, gave orders to fire some blank cartridges, but it rather enraged the party, who broke the guardhouse door. We are glad to say that seven of the ringleaders were arrested yesterday, arid committed for examination to-morrow. We regret to learn that two men, keepers on a property in Ballinvaner, near Kilmallock, were murdered on Sunday night, and their bodies thrown into a ditch.—Limerick Chronicle.