OUR LONDON LETTER.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1219, 30 January 1878, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER.

[WHITTEN’ SI’EUIALLY TOR THE ULOBE.J London, December 13, The following is the concluding portion of our London correspondent’s letter, which a pressure on our space prevented ns from publishing in yesterday’s issue -.-- In another part of London, or rather at Westminister to be accurate, the law courts have offered some cases worthy of a few observations. One of tho most remarkable was an action instituted by a merchant named Williamson, in Calcutta, against Messrs Barbour and Co., of Manchester, who acted as his agents in this country, and I mention this case as being one of peculiar interest to commercial people in the colonies who may not be aware of the remarkable system of over charges which this case brought, to light. Mr Williamson complained that Messrs Barbour had been over charging him in almost every item of their account —in plain English had been practising an almost daily swindle upon him, and lie asked that the whole of the accounts, extending ever several years, and amounting to many hundreds of thousands of pounds miglib be thrown open to official inspection, in order that the true state of affairs might bs disclosed and recompen o made to him. The defendants offered tho moat strenuous resistance to this application, and alleged that what they had done was warranted, by tho custom of trade in Manchester—a remark which brought down on them a tremendously severe rebuke from the Master of the Ralls, who tried the cnee. Indeed so great was the excitement felt in Manchester about this case that every day, as the hearing progressed, a verbatim report of the trial was sent through by telegraph to that city, and published there in an evening paper, which had for the time an enormous circulation. The defendants lost the day, and Sir George Jessel granted the prayer of the plaintiff’s petition for a better account. I hear, however, that tho matter will not bo gone into further., Messrs Barbour think it “ Better to bear the ills they have Than fly to others that they know not of,” and so will not expose the secrets of their trade in a way which might bring down other actions on them, but will be content to pay Mr Williamson a handsome compensation to forego all his legal claim.

It is not alone in the Manchester trade that deception is practised. For years I have been familiar with the constant complaints about the oversizing of cotton yarn and the addition of China clay to tho manufactured article, and I relied on other fabrics, such as linen and silk, as being something better worth people’s money. Now I find that a great part of what is sold as silk in London is not the filament of the little worm, but is, five-sixths of it, a compound of jute and what is termed “solidified dye.” I have been shown some splendid specimens of this fraud, for ladies tell me they can hardly enter any but tho very first-rate shops without an attempt, being persistently made to foist this stuff on them. The trick will ‘ not last long in London, and that is the reason why I have mentioned it here, for an immense quantity of this bogus silk has been manufactured, and when it will not go off at home it will be sent to the colonies. May I add one little secret ? This fraud may be easily detected by taking two little samples, unravel one, and the jute may be picked out by the naked eye. Steep the other in a little tepid soft water for some time. If there is any superfluous dye in it the color of the water will soon reveal it.

Outside tho trading classes crime is as rife as ever. The leading thing now on in the Criminal Courts is a case in which a solicitor is charged with having, in conjunction with three other men who are also in custody, forged duplicates of lenses of property to an enormous amount, and by means or this fraud obtained, on mortgage of the forged deeds sums amounting to about £300,000. Tho fraud was ingeniously conceived aid very cleverly carried out, for people supposed to have the greatest acumen have been taken in by it. A singular attempt bas been made to procure the escape of Dimsdale, the principal party in this crime. The gaoler in whose custody Dimsdale was removed from the Police Court after each examination bas been “ got at,” and a lady, about whom all we know at present is that she knew the prisoner “in happier times” was sent to the gaoler’s residence to offer him £SOO to connive at the escape. I judge from the man’s statement that lie was not so much disinclined to take the money, as possessed with a fear that he should bo found out. Any way he armed himself with tbe law, and when tbe lady finally made the offer to him, out from beneath the table jumped a detective officer, who took her into custody and before a magistrate. The judges in the Divorce Court have been busy separating cc uples whose marriages have proved unhappy, and I note that very many of the petitioners are persons who had not long entered into tho conjugal state. Most of the cases are of a very ordinary type, but when Lady Scott comes forward to tell us how she discovered that Sir Claude, her husband, was “carrying on” with Lady Clinton, the public are more interested and declaim against the morals (or rather immorals) of Mayfair. Lady Clinton is of the Roman Catholic faith, and her priests advised her husband to put her in a convent. He did so, but she ran away and joined Sir Claude Scott on tbe Continent. For this escapade she has been divorced from Lord Albert; but nothing is publicly said as to Lady Scott, who, it strikes me, is the suffering victim in this case. I must not close this letter without some reference to the labour “ difficulty,” as it is now.a-days called, for I find the matter is one affecting you in New Zealand as well as most employers in the old country, though in a different way. Tho subject of unemployed labour in New Zealand was brought before public attention here by Mr Burnett, the secretary to the Amalgamated Society of Encincers, one of tiie most expanded of the trade unions in this, country. He, denying the trutli of Sir Julius Vogel's recent speech about the flourishing condition of the colony, states that tho society with which he is connected has three branches established in New Zealand, and that for some time past the reports sent home have been of a very gloomy character. Commenting upon this discrepancy, one of our evening newspapers referred to tho deputation that waited on the Mayor of Dunedin in tho hope of his being able to procure them employment on some public work, and it was represented that four hundred mechanics and labourers stated that they would be glad to take five shillings per day for their labour if they could find employment. This article at once drew a reply from Sir Julius Yogel, who stated that he had inquired respecting the meetings reported to have been held by the unemployed in certain parts of New Zealand, and in reply he had received a telegram from Sir • George Grey, staling that at thesp meetings the Government , had offered work to the unemployed at 30s per week, but that very few had accepted the offer. Here the matter'rests ns far as the colony is concerned, but- it is an episode in a very remarkable history of affairs at home. Just at. the beginning of winter tbe masons, who have always been the foremost in every agitation amongst the building trades in London, struck for another advance of wages, which the masters, who had several largo contracts on hand, refused to concede. The men turned out, and have not met with any public sympathy or support. The masters have presented a very bold and determined front, and they have gone to some considerable expense to bring over masons from Germany and even from America. Scarcely a week passes now without men arriving “from ilie Continent, and now we have this extraordinary spectacle—that while our own artisans are idling about, taking eighteen or twenty shillings a week strike pay, one of the largest Government buildings in the metropolis is being erected with foreign labour at a profit to the contractor, for the Germans save money out of a rate of pay less than tho London masons lave received for years past,