THE DISTRESS IN THE NORTH.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 16, 2 January 1863, Page 2

THE DISTRESS IN THE NORTH.

As the days become shorter and more gloomy, the number of unemployed half- ; starved operatives in the north, steadily in- \?rru crea?es, and their prospects get more wintry J$L ci and bleak. Genuine alarm is now felt on the £fa\ subject, and a large amount of sympathy j^_ v and commiseration is manifested. And they j« ,: require it all. From the latest report of Mr. m^i Farnall the poor-law special commissioner, k ge it appears that out of a body 352,240 opera- j^ U) tives in the cotton manufacturing districts, jj^ no le-wor than 143,172 are wholly out of em- j*^ ac plo -Mient, and that 129,414 are working slnrt gg* time. Reckoning their wives aad children, the number of the coompulsorily idle and de- _J e stitutes probably reaches half a million, .i- J Week by week, too, it is increasing-, while fe ' the resources from the rates must necessarily -^ * be diminishing. In fact, many of the poorer L^. ' class of ratepayers have been themselves re- LL.joh o duced by the pressure of the rates and tho Is falling off of bus' ness, to a state of destitu- &i tion. The small tradesmen, dependent t upon the spendings of the populatuon, are vl rapidly disappear; .?? in the generl ruin. The . savings of years and such, other independent i^i , resources are nearly all gone ; and hundreds lt of thousands of people, accustomed by means m^ ( of their houest industry to live in comfort £g and in ease displaying tas.e, if not elegance, are now reduced to cold, bare, comfortless [^ ■ rooms, with, on an average, Is. 3d. to Is. 6d. „ a week to e.ich person to buy food, fuel, aud -. clothing, and pay rent. j- *> Gf the 4C0.000 persons usually employed ! *\ in Lancashire, more t"?.F.i 150,000 are now W • enti-ely out of employment, and more than h> " 120,000 are working short time. ?; ra< At the weekly meeting at Manchester of rir e1 Hie Executive Central Relief Committee, lj' held oi the ICth October (the president, Lord »f Derby in the chair), the following resolution p* ex w.as moved by Sir James Kay Shuttleworth V( and adopted:- --"That the Central Executive p n^ Relief Committee, in acknowledging through PP.] Sir Daniel Cooper and Edward Hamilton, f? . Esq., the patriotic and munificent donations, fry 1 first of LSOOO, and now of another donation SP of Llo,ooo, desire to express their strong H*? sense of the generous sympathy of her i Majesty's colony of New South Wales for |9 * the sufferings of the workmen of the cotton j~'°* districts, enduring increased hardships with i^f^ fortitude, and acquiescing in the national e| policy with remarkable intelligence and r-^? 1 loyalty. The Central Executive Committee B? nt likewise recognise in this spontaneous act of rl r 7 beneficence the eagerness of one of her s? ril Majesty's most nourishing colonies to prove gp r that reverence and love of the mother 3^> country pervade the most distant provinces H ea^ of the empire. That the honorary secretary |? *' communicate these resolution to Sir Daniel ; P 011 Cooper and Edward Hamilton, Esq."— At | D 3' the next meeting of the central committee at S Ou Manchester, held on October 20, Sir J. 1?. # snc Kay Shuttleworth read letters from Mr. p at lla.nilton and others, stating that LBSOO had i£ n been transmitted in bills to the treasurer, and B at< that the charges on those bills had been f\ ra defrayed by those gentlemen. Sir D. Cooper 5j had likewise assured Sir J. P. Kay Shuttltworth that letters received from the colony JJjj' , of Australia led him to believe that nearly {js Lfsooo, in addition to the .above remittance, would arrive by an early mail. Lord Derb' W^ stated that Mr. Maclure, the honorary sccre- ffiT tary, had just received still later intelligence fa by telegram from Sir D. Cooper, announcing s ° that he had receivec another sum of L7OO h|L s direct from a country district of New Soutli ||i| 0 Wales. H The total amount of subscriptions sent to ILJ the Mansion - house Committee, London, Lj amount to about LBO,OOO. — Home Neios. m ________ _^_^>^^^___^_^___^ $*