“A HUNDRED YEARS AGO”

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6850, 4 March 1929, Page 9

“A HUNDRED YEARS AGO”

Third WJLA. Lecture

There was again a large attendance at St. Andrew's hall for the third public lecture of the season, arranged by the W.E.A. and Victoria University ‘‘College. The Mayor s£r. A,. E. Graham) presided. After a brief resume of the facts connected with the inventions of industrial machinery, and of the steam engine to drivo that machinery, the lecturer (Mr. A. Ernest Mander) went on to show how this development, known as the Industrial Bevolution, 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 first who are the organisers of the new industries, the employers, the millowners,” said the speaker. “Before the industrial revolution tho rich class in England consisted of the landowners in the country and tho merchants in the towns. But these new inventions opened up wonderful opportunities for tho enterprising mechanic. Three Generations. “Erom 1770 to 1800 is, roughly, tho period of this first generation of the new industrialists —hard men, hard with themselves, utterly indifferent to others, caring nothing for tho finer things of life. Then, roughly from 1800 to 1830 we have the socond generation. In this period we mark some slight improvement of manners and morals, a dawning sense of social responsibility. Unfortunately, the growth of a liberal spirit is checked in this period by the effects of the French Bevolution and by the long strain of tho war with Napoleon. But 1830 to 1860 is the period of the third generation; and this is the period of reform. Manners and morals; the humanitarian movement; the abolition of the worst forms of child labour; a vast improvement in conditions generally. Culture and enlightenment increasing; a sense of social responsibility growing stronger; the Victorian agel It is really astounding what a change occurs in the whole life of England between 1830 and 1860-70. The explanation offered may not bo the main factor in it; we shall deal with its more fundamental causes next week. But the fact to recognise is that 1830-70 is the period in which the new world begins clearly to emerge from the chaos and horrors of the period of the industrial revolution. ’ ' Labour Conditions,

Mr. Mander proceeded to describe the condition of the working class during the period 1790-1830. He gave word-pictures of the state of affairs in the ruined villages, and then the life in the new factory towns. Tho old English weavers and their kind were not, to any appreciable extent, absorbed in the new industries. The bulk of the labour was furnished by women and children; and there was also a flood of Irish immigrants. The Boyal Commission on Immigration in 1826 reported that “tho vast migration of the Irish has been one of the mam means of reducing wages in England.” Other evidence was quoted to support this. Finally a quotation Was given from a man who certainly was not biased by any national or religious prejudices—Engels, the international Socialist. Writing in 1844, Engels said that “the English worker is still somewhat civilised and needs more than the Irish immigrant who goes in rags, lives on potatoes, and sleeps in a pig-sty. But that does not prevent the Irishman's competing with the Englishman for his job, and gradually forcing the level of wages (and with it the English worker's level of life and civilisation) down to tho Irish level.” Uiemployment and Wages. “With an abundance of child labour, an abundance of women's labour, and an abundance of cheap Irish labour to compete with, tho English and Scottish workers were in 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 tho equivalent in New Zealand to-day of about £3 a week for mechanics and tradesmen, 25s a week for labourers and factory hands (male), and 18s, a week for women. In most industries the hours ranged from 72 to 84 a -week. Trades Unions. Mr. Mander gave a brief account of the trado union movement during this period. For the first 25 years of the century, unions were prohibited. Nevertheless, unions still existed, sometimes openly, but usually as secret societies or disguised as friendly societies. It was during this period that, there arose most of the great friendly societies which still exist; and at the beginning they were mostly trades unions in disguise. Hence their secrecy their boodcurdling oaths, their fearful threats against traitors, their secret signs and passwords. At this time, strikes and riots were inseparable. Violence bred violence, and riots and furious desperation on the one side was met by harsh repression and vengeance on the other. On both sides there -was intense class hatred and fear. From 1790 to 1840, the rich and the poor, the employers and the workers, regarded each other as deadly foes. This was quite a new thing in history. Quito new! But in this period was born that class antagonism which ,in somo quarters, still survives. The bad old days are left behind us; but the passions aroused in this period were instilled in their children by those who had suffered under the old conditions. Tho legacy of fear and hatred has not evaporated even yet; for, like many sentiments which have become traditional, it tends to persist long after the conditions which produced it have passed away. Only by understanding conditions in England a hundred years ago can wo understand many of the feelings of classconscious workers, even at the present time and twelve thousand miles' across the world.