THE DISTRESS IN ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1422, 22 February 1879, Page 7

THE DISTRESS IN ENGLAND.

Auckland, February 14th. The following appears in the Herald of today, under the heading " Distress in England ; described by an old Auckland settler." It bears date Manchester, December 28th :—

"It gives one the heartache in Manchester just now to see the distress, which ia said to be deeper and greater than during the cotton famine. The other day a respectable-looking woman was seen by a butcher to snatch a piece of cat's-meat from the stall and make off with it. He followed her home, more in pitiful curiosity than anything else, and found herself, husband, and children devouring it raw. Instead of prosecuting he relieved her, and interested others to do the same. I fear there are thousands of such homes. This morning's Guardian contains two significant columns. One is a list of subscriptions for the relief of the poor, headed by LSOO from the Mayor, and another a list, nearly as long, of insolvent debtors. The correspondence columns contain littleelse. Every sort of ingenuity is employed to bring up the giving capacity of the people to a maximum. It is suggested that balls and dinner parties be dispensed with this year, and the money given to the poor ; and not a few, I imagine, will adopt the truly Christian suggestion. One lady pleads for the little bits of rag that are so generally wasted, on the ground that, cut up into pieces about the size of a shilling 1 , they will make beds for the shivering ohildren. At every churoh, in prayers and sermons, ths prevailing distress is alluded to. It is particularly keen among the respectable middle class. They have lived up to their means in prosperous times, and now find themselves suddenly without income, and UDable to obtain credit. People who live in comparatively large and comfortable houses are wanting bread. The other day a clergyman here found a family starving on 6s a week, who not long ago were in the receipt of LI2OO a year, and were among the most liberal supporters of his church. An advertisement offering a clerkship of 30s a week is sure to be answered by hundreds of clamouring applicants, many of whom have lived in luxury not long ago. Eighteen hundred of such applicants competed for a gas collectorship at 20s per week. Credit is almost gone. Nobody knows whom to trust, or for how long. Conversing about the state of trade, nothing strikes one more forcibly than the prevailing hopelessness. Nobody seems to see light in any quarter. An ex- Manchester merchant, who has done business in the city for forty years, gave me his opinion that the day is steadily coming when grass will grow again in Piccadilly. That is, of course, an exaggeration ; yet the prospect is dismal. Many mills are silent. Warehouses are glutted with unsaleable stuff. Nothing is doing on 'Change, except when the announcement of another failure brings people together to talk about it. Railway companies here have discharged hundreds of their hands within the last month, and are rpducing the wages of the rest. People abroad are ceasing to buy our goods, and we are becoming large consumers of theirs. In Manchester here, American calicoes aro finding ready sale, and are said to be cheaper and better than our own. Shops are beautiful with all kinds of fancy goods, but they are not English. Better days will come to Lancashire, but not yet. The people have still much to learn. The energy and skill which made the trade of Lancashire is all here yet, and will bring about a revival of trade; but English folks are very slow in adapting themselves to changed circumstances. While operatives have been striking, and manufacturers adulterating their goods, other nation? have been silently ripening in manufacturing skill, and now the discovery has burst upon them that we are beaten. Manufacturers will have to learn to produce an honest article. Foreign buyers will not have calico and clay when they can get calico. I know three large mills in this neighbourhood which are now running full time with some months' orders on band. The manager attributes this mainly to the fact that in prosperous times they never stooped to over-sizing ; hence their goods still find ready sale. Operates will have to submit to the inevitable law of supply and demand. It is sad to a colonist to have to write that in many cases they will have to work longer hours at lower wages, but there is no help for it. It is a miserable thing that in such times as these, when our goods can't possibly be sold at a price that will the cost of production, operatives should strike, as is the case at Oldham, rather than submit to the inevitable reduction of wages. The policy of the Union is in favour of short time, notwithstanding that Bhort time Increases the cost of production, and thus aggravates the evil which has brought all this misery about. It will require something like a revolution both of employers and employed to bring back Lancashire to its normal condition."