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    HOUES OF LABOUB IN FACTORIES . A new bill on this subject has been introduced . It limits the hours of labour of women , young persons , and children , in the factories of the United Kingdom , to ten hours during the first five days of the week , and to seven and a half on Saturdays . In fact , it restores the Ten Hours' Act of 1847 , and extends its application to children from the ages of eight to thirteen , who are at present excluded from the operation of the act for shortening the hours of labour . Mr . Cobbett introduced the bill . He gave a history of the former acts for the limitation of the hours of labour , and

    showed how the masters had evaded them in manycases , by the introduction of the shift system . It was found in the court of law that the words of the statute of 1844 were not sufficiently explicitto priecludethis evasion . Where the Factory Act has beon honestly carried eut , its good effects have been plainly seen . The people employ very well indeed the two hours allowed them by the act . Many of the men are going to school , with the prospect of becoming good scholars in a short time . Wages have materially advanced , and are still improving ; many of the men are industriously cultivating small plots of ground ; and the women are more attentive to their domestic duties , and make their husbands more comfortable in their homes . The Compromise Act of

    1850 unjustifiably extended the hours of labour from ten to teh and a half hours , and on Saturdays to seven and a half hours . In addition ' to restricting the labour to ten hours , the bill now introduced proposes to stop all motive power from half-past five in the afternoon till six in the morning , and on Saturday it should be stopped so as to limit the hours of labour to seven and a half hours . Those who have carefully considered the question , consider this the only effectual remedy for the evasions of the Factory Act now practised . Heavy fines are also proposed in the bill . In conclusion , Mr . Cobbett showed the necessity of this bill , by stating , on authority , that the annual mortality among the children of factory operatives amounts to * 60 out of every

    100 . Mr . Fielden supported the bill . Mr . Wilkinson deprecated any interference of Parliament with the hours of labour . Lord Palmerston consented to the introduction of the bill , without stating what course he might take on the second reading . He then stated that he intended himself to bring in a bill for limiting the hours for the employment of children . What he should propose was , that children should not be employed earlier than six in the morning , nor later than six in the evening .

    " I really think , to have little children from eight to twelve years of ago brought out on a drizzling morning in winter at half-past five o ' clock , often obliged to walk three or four miles from the place where they live to the place where they work , to be kept there till the evening , and then to have to go the same distance back alone , with snow on the ground , I really think , I say , that , where that practice prevails , nobod y can be surprised at the extreme mortality of factory children . It is a matter of considerable delicacy to interfero by legislation as to the employment of those who are fully of age to detormino for themselves , who ought to be considered free a / rents , and ought to be at liberty to work if they think fit ; but m y own opinion is , that mill-owners are not pursuing their own

    real interests by dealing with tho persons employed as if they were more machines , as if the longer thoy could work the more profit could bo made out of them , and as if all other considerations should bo sot aside except the quantity of work , and the greatest numbor of hours' work which could bo got out of human boinga . My own opinion is , that employers would do better—and I know that a great numbor of them do act upon fjjhat consideration—to reflect that those oporatiyes aro moral and intelligent agents : that , unloss thoy give them that moderate degree of leisuro which is essential for their health , and for their domestic economy , thoy aro not making out of thorn that amount of roally good work which thoy might do under ft better system . " Cobbett

    Lord John Manners praised Mr . ' s proposition , and characterised Lord Palmerston ' s as unsatinftictory . He denounced with greiit warmth the Compromise Act of 1850 , and the eyatcmatic and shamolew evasions of that act by master manufacturers . It ia necessary to take away the facilities for those ovasions , to make tho owner directly responsible , and to impose such penalties m will lurgcly diminish the illegal gains . Mr Homer ( one of tho factory inspectors ) had characterised tho mill-owners an " uiutornpuloug law breakers ¦ " -and although the restriction of tho motive nowor might naturally bo viewe d with apprehension , yet when tho master * evaded nil other laws , thoy should , make a trial of this meant , of prevention .

    Sir Gkomgm Gkey corrected Lord John Manners . Tho " law-breaking" among tho inill-ownom was exceptional , not general . Tho ad . of 1850 had worked well- it added half an hour to tho time of labour , but it nmdo the hours fixed and certain . Sir George ox-Lbbo ( 1 roRTct that Lord Pal . ncrston did not at once condemn tho proposal to rortriot motive power ; every eminent tataunan had repudiated iaoha wane . Mr . tS «» Bmw and Mr . W . J . Fox condemned tho act

    of 1850 , as ungenerous and unjust j and Mr . Wilson Patten denied that the mill-owners of Manchester evaded the act . His remarks on the injury that would result from the restriction , of the motive power , drew from Lord Paxmerston a remark , that " the only motive * ., power hd- proposed to restrict was that of the children / ' ¦ Mr . Labouohere objected to Mr . Cobbett ' s bill as novel and important . It restricts the hours of adult

    labour , and prevents the labouring man from using that which is his only capital—the labour of his hands . Mr . Booker supported the bill , as tending to "the protection of the bone and sinew of England . " Lord John Russell pointed out that Lord Palmerston had said nothing approving of the restriction of motive power . The only observation he had made on that point was , that he would not vote for the restriction of adult labour . After some remarks from Mr . Newdegate and Mr . Bali ., leave was given to bring in the bill . SCOTCH BANKRUPTCY LAW . Lord Brougham : brought before the House the peculiar defects of the Scotch Bankruptcy Law , prefacing his statement by presenting several petitions from eminent commercial English firms interested in Scotch trade , praying for an alteration in the law . In Scotland , the trustee of the bankrupt ' s estate is elected by a majority of the votes of the creditors , and to obtain these votes , he must canvass directly and indirectly . While the election is pending , the estate is often deteriorated , especially in cases where it consists of seasonable goods . The trustee is a paid officer , paid while the case is pending , and thus he has an interest in not doing his duty—in allowing the proceedings to linger on . But the trustee is also a judge- —he has to adjudicate on the claims of the creditors , and to decide points of law , equity , and fact . Yet he is often incompetent- — sometimes not even an accountant . Prom the decision of the trustee , appeals can be made to the Sheriff ' s Court , to the Court of Session , and finally to the House of Lords ; and such appeals are frequent . The commissioners to the sequestration ,-who have to fix the trustee ' s salary and to audit his accounts , are also

    elected by tho auditors , and are often utterly unfit for their duties . The consequence of this state of things not unfrequently is , that the bankrupt ' s solicitor or some friend is elected trustee , his sureties are found to be worthless , commissioners friendly to the trustee and the bankrupt are appointed to fix the trustee ' s commission and to pass the solicitor ' s bill , and hence there is a total absence of that protective cheek upon the trustee ' s charges and tho solicitor ' s costs which is essential for the interests of the creditors ; and , instead of adopting- the salutary change which was introduced into

    the English law by Lord Cottenham ' s Act , and taking away from the creditors the power of granting or withholding the certificate , the Scotch law , remaining in the same state as the old English law , leaves this power entirely in the hands of the creditors . There may be parts of the English bankruptcy law which aro less applicable to Scotland than to England , and there may be some points on which the Scotch law is better than tho English ; tho whole matter should bo referred to the commissioners who have been recently appointed , to consider the possibility of assimilating tho mercantile law of tho two countries .

    JUVENILE MKNDICANCY . Lord Siiai ? te 8 bury baa explained the necessity and tho scope of his new bill . Ho illustrated the state of tho rising gene ration by many anecdotes and quotations from reports of City missionaries and magistrates . Ho submitted to 100 City missionaries tho following question , with a view to ascertain what was their experience on this point : — " How many do you cstiinato , having lived an honent life up to twenty years of ago , have afterwards fallen away , and entered on vicious courses ? " Tho answer from almost every missionary wan , " Not 2 in 100 . " This ia u clear proof that childhood whs tho seed timo of crime . Two objections havo been mndo to his proposals—first , that tho worlchouHO should not bo made a place of detention , or havo in any

    dogrco tho character of a prison ; and , second , that as a cormequonco of their adoption , largo additional masses of want , clamorous for relief , would bo thrown upon it . But it was not intended to give tho workhouHQ tho character of u prison , but to take precautioiiH against tho claims of tho paronts to recover tho children for the worst and moxb sinister purposes . With so groat an object in viow , it would b o worth while to incur Homo slight rink of additional oxpenne , though , from ininuto inquiries which ho had mndo , ho wnfl convinced that nothing of tho worfc would occur . A largo proportion of the parents aro perfectly capable of maintaining thoir children . Tho meiifMro proposed would clear tho » treot « of nine-tenths of tho mendicant ** nud vftgiwt 1 * h ° infested thorn , eapecutfly when backed ,

    by two or three strong convictions . He rejoiced to state that his views had the full concurrence of a great number of the police magistrates . The present is the very moment for making the experiment of such a pleasure . The Common Lodging Houses Act has begun to clear out those dens ot infamy and schools of vice ; . the increase of the wages of the labouring classes has taken away the slight pretext that exists for mendicancy ; the police were never more active , and

    experienced than now , and the magistrates never more enlightened . " Now is the accepted time ; now is the day ° of salvation . " Now is the time to try a measure which avoids all mention of penalties upon children , of houses of correction , of discipline for juvenile delinquents ; which is one entirely of mercy and prevention , and which , under the blessing of Almighty God , would anticipate to a very great degree both the gaoler and the hangman .

    Some difficulties in the working of the bill were anticipated by Lords Campbell and Brougham . The bill is therefore to be referred to a select committee .

    SIMONY . The laws at present in force against simony being restricted in application , Mr . Robert Phillimore seeks to amend them , so as to include all acts of simony . From an early age , this offence has been accounted a grave evil in the church : the ecclesiastical law makes it void , and Crown proclamations have denounced it " as execrable in the sight of God . " A statute of Anne forbad clergymen to simoniacaYly obtain , directly or indirectly , any ecclesiastical benefice . But this did not apply to laymen . There is an old act of Elizabeth , which , in intent , clearly prohibits the

    simoniacal contract , but the judges have construed it to prohibit only contracts for vacant livings , the sale of the next presentation being held lawful . In the case of Fox v . Bishop of Chester , the patron of the livingsold the next presentation while the incumbent was on his death-bed , and though Lord Tenterden decided that the sale was illegal , yet the judges reversed the sentence , and established the legality of such sales . In doing so , they advised an extension of the law to the prohibition of the " sale of the next presentation . " This prohibition is now proposed . It has been said , "You are going to touch the rights of property , " . but when the House passed the former acts against simony , and when they passed the Reform Bill , did they think of the rights of property ? The true and original

    principle of these presentations is , that the right of presenting is a spiritual trust , in essence , and the right of property in the presenter is subordinate or accidental . Mr . Phillimore then quoted scandalous advertisements , where the advantages of good houses and trout-streams were carefully set forth , but where there was not , one word requiring in the clergyman any qualification for the cure of souls . He concluded by stating that he had carefully guarded tho prpparation of tho bill , so that it should be prospective and not retrospective in its operation . It did not touch the question of advowsons at all ; it only had reference to the sale of the next presentation , which ho thought ho had demonstrated to tho Houso was a continual source of profligate and shameless abuse . ( Chcors . )

    Mr . Bouveme , anxious that tho Customs' Act should go into committee that day , ( it boing- Wednesday , when the Houso , by rule , adjourns at . six , ) moved tho adjournment of tho debate ; but Mr . George Itrnvr , objecting to this course , moved , as an amendment , that Mr . Phillimoro ' s bill bo read that day six months . He accused Mr . Phillimoro of mistakes and fallacies . It is not simony—it is not illegal—in a layman to purchase tho next presentation to a living . The right of tho next presentation in a chattel real . Tho new bill confiscates the property of persons who had made a purchase under tho existing law . One gentleman hud paid 15 , 000 / .

    for the next presentation , for his oldest son . By this proposed law his interest would bo seriously prejudiced . It was to bo regretted that tho property , in those presentations , was not disposable , by tho State , for tho spiritual welfare of tho people , and Mr . Phillimoro ' s object would bo a work of benevolence , but " wo must tuko tho greatest euro not to ailed ; tho riglitn of property . " Indeed it iniiy bo doubtod whether tho Crown would not use thin property , if in ita poHHOssion , rathor for political than for npiritual purpose ** . At all oven | , fl , simony 1 mb remained unaffected since the time of Henry VII I . I and this bill destroyed tho property established

    in that practice . As Mr . Butt and u wuicooding Hpoukor proceeded , Mr . WiTflON ( Secretary to tho Treasury ) uttompted , inoro than onco , to stop tho debate , that tho Customs * Act might bo committed , but Mr . Bankicb got up , at ton ininutoH to six , and insisted upon apcaking , " irrespective of tho convenience or inconvonumco of tho Govcrmnout . " Ho then » noko ugainat timo until nix , o ' clock , whon tho Houho adjourned , without fixing u day for tho resumption of tho debute , —Mr . I ' mixi *

    Untitled Article

    Jujly 9 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 653

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 9, 1853, page 653, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1994/page/5/