DISTRESS IN ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1027, 23 January 1879, Page 2

DISTRESS IN ENGLAND.

Feom the Amerioin journalH, to hand by last mail, we learn more of the distres at home than appears in the English papers, which suppress, as far a possible, these indications of trouble, and tha mercantile and financial failure* noted, give only a suggestion of the widespread popular distress. Wages in th • cotton mills have been reduced 20 per cent, within a few months, and a furthereduction is threatened. Under th.; pressure of American competition, tha mills are working an average of tw>thirds time only. Many have alread entirely stopped. In Blackburn, out o: 80,000 inhabitants, eight to ten thousand cotton operatives are out of employna mIn Oldham, the mills have had ulmn* constant losses during 18 months. ho Greenacres Spinning Company, one of thtmodel workingmen's companies, who med to divide 30 per cent., lost 10,000 dollar the last quarter. In Preston, 3 -i,OO • spindles are idle. The wages reduc tion in the coal and iron trade ha.averaged 15 to 20 per cent, during the l:i.-.i year. The average wages of Scotch miners, 75 cents; Welsh, 85 cents ; Nor thumberland, 1 dollar 25 cent-*. At Wolverhampton and other commercial and iron centres, hundreds are actually starving ; families are without food for day • in succession. Similar stones come f com Sheffield. A reliable correspondent therisays:—The distress is deplorable and harrowing to beho d. I never witnessed anything like the present scarcity awl poverty. Sheffield, also, is feeling th«severity of the American and German competition. A year ago in England, th building trades were comparatively brisk . n some cases workinm were actually oh a strike for better wages. Now, they ar glad to get work at even lower rates tb*t. then. The tin mining trade, also, is in >i state of great stagnation. The same i true of the potteries of Staffordshire. N industry is doing well. The best th i can be said of any is that they are work ing full time, and just managing to live. The destitution among the working peoplis appalling. Hundreds are living ir houses stripped of furniture, without Aland arc dependent upon the generality " their neighbors. Prompt measures of relief are being taken. Soup kitchens \vVbe opened, and children's dinner* sunnli»in a few days. The number of men an" women out of employment, and thereforin need of the comuian nece-waries of lif« : is too large to be provided for by priva'e or local charity, and the Government \vi\have to step in with aid.