A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 79, 2 March 1929, Page 6

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND. LABOUR PROBLEMS. Further interesting glimpses of lab. our conditions of 100 years ago veto Given by Mr A. E. Mander, " hen he delivered the third of a series or w E A. lectures on the subject in St. Andrew’s Hall oa Thursday evening. The Mavor, Mr A. J. Graham presided. Having briefly given a resume oi the facts connected with the inventions of industrial machinery, and of the steam engine to drive that machinery, the lecturer went on to show how tins development, known as the industrial revolution, ruined the old cottage industries of the villages of England. He then described the rapid growth of the factory system in the midlands and the north. “But perhaps we should notice nrst who are the organisers of the new industries, the employers, the mill-own-ers,” said the speaker. Before the industrial revolution the rich class m England consisted of the landowners in the country and the merchants nil the towns. But these new invent! on J opened up wonderful opportunities loti Ane enterprising mechanic. I THREE GENERATIONS. I “From 1770 to 1800 is, roughly, till period of this hrst generation of tliP new industrialists —hard men, liar* with, themselves, utterly indifferent® others, caring nothing for tne nna» things of hie., Then roughly, Iroj itJOO to 1830, we have the second ge» oration, in this period we mark son* slight improvement of manners an® morals, a dawning sense of social vM sponsibility. Unfortunately, t| growth of a'liberal spirit is checked . M mis period by tne effects ot tB French Revolution, and the lo® strain of the war with Napoleon. B« 1830 to 1860 is the period of third generation; and this is tip period of reform. Manners and ms£ a Is; the humanitarian movement; abolition of the worst forms of ch» labour ; a vast improvement m conations generally. Culture aud eniig® enment increasing;, a sense ol socjp responsibility growing stronger; vm Victorian age! It is really astounß ing what a change occurs in the wH lire of England between 1830 and loW',o. The explanation offered may fpt be the main factor in it; we bP deal with its more fundamental caUKS next week. But the fact to recoggtte is that 1830-70 is the penoclgKn which the new world begins clearly.Jo emerge from the chaos ana norijop of the period of the industrial revQßlr tion.”

LABOUR CONDITIONS. I’ Mr Mander proceeded to describeJfce condition of tne working class dur ng the period 1790-1830. He gate wampictures of the state of affairs in ruined villages,' and then the life in new factory towns. The old EngHpn weavers and their kind were not, jjo any appreciable extent, absorbed inJMJ® new industries. ' The bulk of the laatpr was furnished by women and cbiidapi and there was also a flood of lrishjgfnmigrants .... With an abun - ance of child labour, an abundance pt women’s labour, and an cheap Irish labour to compete with,jjjthe English and Scottish workers wereVtn a hopeless plight. The lecturer discussed the various rates of wages. Measured by the cost of living, the workers in England a hundred years ago;were earning the equivalent in New - Zeeland to-day of about £3 a week for mechanics and tradesmen, 25s a week’Star labourers and factory hands (male), and 18s a week for women. In most industries the hours ranged from 72 to 84 a week. . . After giving descriptions of factory life, Air Alander went on to the continual rioting and disturbance which characterised the period. This occurred not so- much among the igifetory workers as among the displaced workers in. the old ruined village tries. All over the country there was continual rioting. Wild scenes on 1M( moors at night, when bands of Luddite* gathered to attack isolated mills wt wreck the machinery! A vividword -pio ture was given of such a scene. T|w French revolutionaries had promised send a French army to assist any othto people which revolted. Like the RSt sian revolutionaries of 129 years lafS the French endeavoured to incite St world-wide revolution.

Pitt, the Prime Minister, tookstrdjM action. Troops were distributed 111 over the country like an army of odim pation. 15,000' trained soldiers (fo whom Wellington was begging the Gfff eminent) could not be spared to gop; the war, for fear of a revolution jp England. Especially about the timeSo the battle of Waterloo, when prfie were at their peak, England esca& revolution and disaster only by jP* hairsbreadth. TRADE UNIONS. Mr Mander gave a brief accountt* the trade union movements during |jhi period. For tire first twenty-five yjai of the century, unions were prohibifiec Nevertheless, unions still existed, sbm< times openly, but usually as saere societies are disguised as friendlyffioi iety. It was during this period -Mfe there arose moK of the great frienc ly societies which still exist: anj; l the beginning they were mostly tndi unions in disguise. Hence their their blood-curdling oaths, their fia ful threats againsc traitors, utie secret signs and passwords. At this time, strikes and riots nil inseparable. Violence bred i riots and furious desperation on ($1 one side was met bv harsh repreMC and vengeance on tlie other. On bot sides there was intense class hatipt and fear. From 1790 to IS4O, the kg' and the poor, the emplovers and™ workers, regarded each other as delg foes. This was quite a new history. Quite new! But in this perac was born that class antagonism waiej in some quarters, still survive. fTI bad old days are left behind usybi the passions aroused in this period lire instilled in their children by those£wl had suffered under the old condition The legacy of fear and hatred hairdo? evaporated even yet; for, like mil sentiments which have become tirad tionil. it tends to persist long the conditions which produced it ha’ passed away. Only by understand® conditions in England a hundred _vjji ago can we understand many of f|§ feelings of class-conscious even at the present time and tw« thousand miles across the world. £