Page 2 Advertisements Column 6

Otago Daily Times, Issue 98, 10 March 1862, Page 2

SOtTi'llLA-l-il). We have fiivertargil! papers to March !• Vv? 'i make the following extracts :— The Waicatii'.—Cori'ontl Morton has returned from his second journey to the Wakalip, or Upper Matsiura, diggings, and, though he has brought down no additional news of importance, he has brought with him :i siniill sample- ol ihu gold already procured there, and states ihsit the exploring party already on the ground wore in good health and spirits. Mr Stirling's party hail arrived, and were about to commence operations at once. Other prospectors are about to start for the same district—some to look for gold, other:? with a view to the sale of store;;. As the Chief Constable intends paying a visit to tlie "Wakalip in the course of a feiv days, we shall probably lie able to give some more detailed account ofthe results of the different operations of the different prospecting parties, who will then have been at work some time. Death isy Drowning.—A lamentable accident occurred on Wednesday night, by which a_ young man named Hamilton Stuart, a resident of this town, lost his life. lie parted, from some companions about eight o'clock, saying lie was going to sleep on board the "Prince Albert, which is lying alongside the Jetty ; and it is supposed that, the night being very dark, he missed bis footing and fell into the river, and was drowned. His body was recovered the following morning. . The L-axd Revenue. —In January the sum paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue was .£9104 16s ; in February, a short-month, it was L 4793 lGs 8d ; the two months' total being L 13.993 12s Bd, or very close upon L-14,000, and L2OOO received in two months in excess of the amount estimated for three months. We have reason to believe, too, that the February total would have been close upon LSOOO but for an accidental detention of letters preventing the taking up of a quantity of rural land applied for. It is also worthy of note, that ofthe amount received in February, LI 548 was realised from the sale of 34 town sections, namely, 14 in Riverton, which realised LS2G, giving an average of L 37 4s per section, or close upon LISO an acre —and 20 in Invercargill, which realised L 1022, showing an average of L2O 2s per section, and being above 1,200 an acre.

CO - OPERATIVE, REFORM, AND TRADE MOVEMENTS OF THE WOKKING CLASSES. (From the London Observer.) Three great and important movements are now in action among the working classes of our population, deserving the serious consideration of the Legislature, no matter ■what class of politicians he may belong- to, the philanthropist, the political economist, and, in short, every observing and reflecting man who desires human progress. The most important movement is, probably, the cooperative one, embracing-, as it does, the most intelligent, the most provident, and the most wealthy portions of the working- class. The leading men in this movement are generally those who have been, and are, connected with Trade Societies, and have brought their knowledge of organisation thus acquired to bear upon it. In embracing this movement they, however, carefully guard against it being supposed they undervalue the importance of their Trades' Unions, but they say that the co-operative system can be made a powerful auxiliary on their behalf. Tins co-operative movement is not, as many suppose, merely confined to "buying and selling goods and produce to a number of families or individuals combining a portion of their maws, and expending in the purchase of groceries and provisions at wholesale prices, which they retail to themselves or their customers as they require them, paying cost of management, rent, &c, out of the proceeds, antl dividing the profit, if ary, or sharing the loss, at stated periods, but Las, within the last twelve months, taken much higher ground, launched out into a more extended field of operations, and resulted in the formation of numerous joint-stock companies of workmen in different parts of the kingdom, ready by the aid of capital, obtained by their united contributions, to undertake almost every description of manufacture. It may be said things of this kind have been tried beforcand failed. Unquestionably so. Hutthotfir.e and circumstances are very different. Since thu porkd when Societies similar to those under consideration were attempted on a small scale, the working classes have made considerable advances in knowledge and habits of self-government, and it must bu also recollected there was at tiiat time no Limited Liability Act in operation. The alterations in the Friendly Societies Acts, but especially the Limited Liability Companies Acts, have given a ircshimpulse to the formation of these co-operative trading Companies, or, if the terra is liked better, co-mercantile Companies. The term " co-operative," however,- is correctly applied; for when artisans join together for Hie production and sale of their manufactures, or when they join with capitalists to produce work, they arcstrictiy engaged in co-operation. Those persons, then, who have not paid any or much attention to the subject will be surprised to hoar that the co-operative Associations of this description have sprung and are springing up all over the country, comprising every variety of manufacture, as may bo seen by the following notice of tne moru important Associations. The London Building Company, which was formed by the operatives in the building trade at the time of the lock-out in ISiiO. This Company has met with great success, anu is in a position to tender for contracts with any of the large building firms. A Trades Newspaper Company has also been established by the Trades' Union, to print and publish newspapers advocating and defending these principles, and are now issuing a weekly newspaper. Several large associations are now forming in the metropolis amongst brickhvyeis masons, bookbinders, and other trades. In lloekJale there has existsd for the last two years, a OottonSpinDiiig Company, composed entirely of operatives, who have a large paid-up capital, with "a mill and extensive premises in full operation. In^ the same town also are extensive flour stores and mills, owned, by the operatives. Spread nearly throughout the whole of the populous towns of .Lancashire and Yorkshire, are associations of a similar character. In Leeds the carpenters and joiners are on the point of inaugurating h, large building company. In Edinburgh, arising out of the strike in that city among the operatives'in the building trades, a strong building company is iji full operation. Jt was formed about six months s}ncs, with a capital of-£IO,OOO and shares of £1 each. It has been very successful, and lias almost its full complement of subscribers ; and a second society is in couvss of formation. The Edinburgh society commenced work by purchasing a piece of ground in one of the most aristocratic districts of the city, between Cannonmills and Stockbridge, on which are now in course of erection five blocks of buildings, each separate block containing eight houses, two storeys high, each house having three distinct apartments, with the requisite conveniences, with a plot of ground attached suitable for a garden. On Wednesday, the 23rd of October, the same day on which the Prince Consort laid the foundation stone of the Post Office and the Educational Museum, a large number of workingmen and their families assembled to see the foundation stone laid of tile best co-operative building- in Edinburgh, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Dr. Be"". The whole proceedings passed oil' to the satisfaction of all present, and the building is now in rapid course of ercctiou. At High Wyconibe, Bucks, the chairmakers have a working association, by wliick means they are enabled to keep those of then-members unemployed by the regular masters in full work, ajany other cases might be mentioned of the progress of these companies,. but enough has been given to. show'"how they" lire spreading over the country, and the success they are meeting with. With respect to the co-operative stores for the wholesale purchase and retail of grocery and other goods to the members, there is hardly a parish in the metropolis, or a town of any size in the country, but what possesses one or more of them, and some of those large companies above noticed have sprung out of these humble beginnings. The co-operative system is essentially a work-ing-class movement, instanced by the elite of that class, and one well worthy to be encouraged by .all who desire to see working men raise themselves in the social scale. In politics, also, a great movement, arising cut of the Trades' Unions, is being inaugurated. The executive council of tiie united trades of Glasgow, representing 35 of the principal Trade Societies in (hat city, have takou the initiative in a new reform nioyement, and have j list issued a"temperately-worded address to' their follow-tradesmen, urging on them the Hecessity of bringing their trades' organization to bear upon the question of reform in the ensuing .session nf Parliament. • Accompanying this address ia a copy of the form of a memorial which it is intended shall be signed and presented to Vicount Palmerston. The address has already borne fruit. The London Trades' Council, representing about thirty of the principal London trades, are about taking active measures, and are organizing a strong Committee, to be composed of . the leading men amongst the trades, whose object shall be, in addition to furthering the claims for manhood suffrage, the ballot, and other points of reform, to take steps for pr procuring the working classes a hearing at the House of Commons as to their right to be fully represented in that house. There can be little doubt that ao soon as it becomes known