THE DISTRESS IN LANCASHIRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 560, 23 August 1862, Page 5

THE DISTRESS IN LANCASHIRE.

It is possibld that for some little time yet the distress in the manufacturius: districts may increase rather than diminish. Already it is spread over a lara;e area, and includes a fir greater ims; of the artisan population than people at a distuuee at all understand or realise. Iv the smaller ccntivs of manufacturing- industry, fc'ich as W igan and Stockport, the lateht retunis— those of hut wt'tk— show tint destitution is gradually bat steadily reaching a larger number of those who are directly or indirectly dependent on the cotton mills for support. At Wigan, for ev.iiniile, five por cent, of the population are wholly without employment, and thus altogether dependent on Union relief or private charity for the means of sul)*istenc/\ Tiie number requiring outdoor relief is incrcasim* by upwards of a hundred every week. At Stockpnrt, out of 17,000 Innds usually emoloved at the mills, 7000 are altogether < ut of work, and about the same number working at short time. Of these upvaris of 4000 arc recrivintiparochial relief, while 300') fimilies, representing more than 10,000 individuals, are receivingweekly assistance from the local relief confmitffs. This is only an illustration of what v» goinjj; on throughout the whole of the maim factufing districts. Of course iv the larger towns, where the number of hands dependent on the cotton industry is f.u- greater, tiie distress arid destitution are multiplied in the saw proportion. At Blackburn, for uviuiidlc. the number depending on Union relief has during the last fo>v weeks increased, at the alarming rate of 1000 and upwards weekly. We ar« gla 1 to see that a committee has bnen formed at Manchester for the relief of the whole of the districts affected . At a meeting held a few days ago, under the presidency of the mayor, a committee waa formed for receiving contributions aud directing the administration of a fund for '■ the Relief of Distress in the .VfanutacturiD^ Di-jtiiots " The object of tiie committee, as .stated in the first resolution of the meeting " shall be the leceiving of contributions towards the relief of the ));e-=ent distress in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire. Ym lts-hire, Cheshire, anil Derbyshire, and the distributing the same through systematic orginisations." — Home ) News.