MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 620, 16 October 1863, Page 5

MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.

PUBLIC WOSKS VEBSUS EMIGRATION.

the Economist, July 11.)

By the aid of Lord Derby's statement, made in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening, and wiMi some authentic ar.d recent returns lying before us, we are able to lay before our readers in a succinct form the present position of aS'airs in the rninuf teturin» districts, and to venture some conjectures as to their future. That there has been a marked end progressive improTement during the whole of the present year there can bs no doubt. The distress reached ifc« climax in December, 1862. At that time out of rather more than 500,000 operatives, 2 -7,000 were wholly out of work :— tliei-e are now (June 30) only 168,000 in tint case. In December, the entire number in receipt of relief wa3 500,00", of -whom 260,000 were dependent on the Guardians of the Poor: the number now is only 300,000, of whom 167.0 '0 are dependent on the guardians alone. At the first date, tha estimated loss of wayps to the unemployed or pirtia'ly emp'oyed was about" L2s9,GOo per week ; it is now only L 133,000. The sum expended monthly by Relief Committees has reached L9O 010 ; it is now oi.ly L 53 000. Tills improvement is traceable to a combination of causes- fir- 1, t3 an actual increa33 of w.>rkiathe factories, aiisincr from a renevel, though a fluctuating, demand for cottoa fabric?, and a mcd irate, though uucertnin and perhips temporal y, dr:p ia the price of the raw material ; to an uudoubted amount of drafting off of come of the more stirring an I adventurous artiians into tlio flax and wott-ted tr.!do=, both of which nave been ilourbhinz and busy ; thirdly, though to a very small extent, to emigration to foreign shores : and fourthly, and we believe principally, to ernplo\menfc in out-door occupations, — a source of Telief, however, which is in its nitwe casual and can scarcely bs expect-d to last much bsyond the completion of the harvest. The prospect of further improvement, or even of the contuiuanc- 1 of tae actual improvement, mu3t of course depend primarily upon the supply of cotton. If tin's shou'd increase at a liberal rate, the pi ice will fall, and the resumption cf work by the minufacturara will be gradual and csriain. Tiieie can be no doubt that the markets of the world are becomiug every month ban-r of cotton goods. There is no doubt that the high prices of raw cotton which Lave prevailed have stimulated the growth of that needed material in all quarters of the world. Toe oaly questions arc, how soon wi'l bare markets m'hiea cou timers to purchase freely and to give remunerating prices, and how soon will the supply enable mills to meet that renewed demand to tlie extent of five or six days' work a week when it arises ? Both these at 3 problematic as to date: all we can say is tint the tendency is strong and tolerably steady in that direction. Already the cotton supply (otLer than American) is 50 per cent, greater than that of l(u.t year. IMPOSTS DUHING THE FIRST SIX MONTHS. 1862. 18d3. Brazil 78 000 94,000 Egypt 100,000 138,000 India 29'>,0d0 454,000 Various 14.0'J0 30,000 487,000 724,000 Of the enormous sum?, amounting, according lo Lord Derby, tD nearly (too millions, -wlreh have been promised loor actually placed ia f-e hsnds of the various Relief Committees by the voluntary beneficence of tha public, about L600,C00, va are informed, is still unexpended. Tlie Poor Law Boards have now, moreover, the row«?r of borrowing inon^y on the seeunty of rates, besides such othsr facilities and capabilities as may be supplied to tuesn by the Bill now under discussion T-iere are ample means, therefore, extant for meeting the distress in the manufacturing districta. even if it should last for Hraa then a twelvemonth longer, and should augment (for a time at least) in severity and extent as may probably be the ca»e after harvest operations are a-, an end. Bub 300,000 or 40J.000 persjns cannot be maintained in iillenfS3, even where means a r e ample, without muchiff nnl demoralisation. Tne bread of charity, even when not bitter, is never ahognber wholesome. It is natural, therefore, that men's minds shouH be again agitating the questions whether something ought not to be done on a laig-j ecale either to remove or to employ this vast supernumerary population ; and while some are considering Mr Viliiers' Public Works Bill, others aie stiil recurring to the fancied resource of wholesa'e emigration. The difficulties in the way of any scheme of this Daturewe have already more than one i S3t foith, and we need only briefly recount them again. The first objection is that these people, though tt-mpora-riy unemployed, are not pennimeatly redundant. Within two years at th » outside, it is is all but certain that every one of them will be wanted at Lome ; for as lodjj as the bare backs of the world are as many as they us- d to b3, and as long R3 they caD be clothed with no cheapt-r material than cotton, there pan be no doubt ttat^soon-r or later, all the mills in Lancashire will again be in full work, with or without America. And to send skilled laborers — skilled in a special occupation — across the ocean at great expense, only <o letch them back mv to whh them back) twelve or eighteen mo:it l :s afttrsvard-% does not seem on the free of it a very sag*cious proceeding. The second con-idaradon i* that to produce any decided effect upon the numbers that burden us at home, tha emigration would have to be oiganisedupon a practically impossible scate. The removal of fewer than 30.UU0 or 40,000, out of a total of 300,000 or 400 000 (one-tenth), would scarcaJy effect an appreciable depletion in tlie lab >v market ; yet would perplex mo-t organiser- to an a-ee for the deportation of even 10 ; 0G0 in any reasonable spnee of time, to quarters where they were wanted, aun where proper preliminary provison could hi ma<ie for their Uue housing fee :inu-, and employment ;— and te send them forth without such provision would bo almost a crime. TwothirJs of them at leaM;, it must be remembarert, are women and childr3n— ons thiid young women ; — and though young womc-n are much needed in some of lur colonies, especially in the Australian ones, they are, as all experience a? shown, precisely the most di'iicult and embarrassing of all cargoes to convey to the Antipo-le". The mere shipping would not be tasy to find, of a fitting- «-ort, i'it large numbers. — Thirdly — and this, perhaps, r. the most important and conclusive poia& of all —the factory p-pu-Jation are not adapted for ths rough, it.tl out door work of colcnrs:— they would succj-d there much worse than ordinary labourers; — they would fael the inevitabla h rdships of the life- more severely;— for, as we said before, they are aUin-door and skilled artisans, and iny&t of them are women aod children, whom it would bo RtfiUh and cru.-i t) expose to t'io trials of a new and utterly uusuitod and uudesiieu •xistence. Of Mr Villiera's Bill for encouragi-ie; public works in the datre^sei unions, we hav3 said so much before that we have left ourselves very iittie to s<y now. The bill liM been received with favor in both Houses of Parliament, and has been ppproved of by all those

who are sno t competent to speak the s-nss of thn distr'rts to he. bpneiitted. It will now be for foe (litt-icN themselves to ujc the powers which the J < gislature lirs conform '1 ninn th^m with zeal, >i\it,li diiigen 'c n.\J wUh jud^iii «". ( >Ve do nt'u doubt hut tl.afc hiivy v.ill <!o so, ti^u^'i we avo 10? sur 5 . tint, if t'ley do, t".o re-ult v ill be, to a very im^orfanl extent, ex dudve to the object wh'wh we have in vi-w.

The relief desired w : ll have '0 be eouc;lifc — not in ens panip^Ji 'ut i;\ the combine 1 operation of a variety of i.iliu?nct;«. rvliei'A'ion, c -.ignition, increase I hums of woik, public improvement?, ar.J eleemo c ?naTy pi', mnst allco-opar.vte to hel us ovtr the tump rary cii-is.