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    Untitled Article

    THE BTJTLDEES' STRIKE . There seems a prospect of the dispute coming to a close , since we hear that some builders employing a large number of hands have abandoned the ' docu > ment , " the result of which is that their shops have been re opened . Mr . Jay is one of these . Mr . Myers , of York-road Lambeth , the other day invited the masons recently in his employ to return to work without the " declaration , " but they refused to accept the offer , until one of a similar character was tendered to the carpenters , joiners , plasterers , painters , and the various other branches of the building trades now locked out . Very many artizans

    are strongly opposed to the nine hours' movement , which is by no means a popular one ( though the Conference have not yet given it up , as is erroneously supposed by some persons ) . Effective measures are being prosecuted , not only by the masons but by the bricklayers , plasterers , carpenters and other branches of the building trades , for the purpose of raising ample funds in support of the lock-outs . It is expected that in the course of eight or ten days the Conference will receive from the members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers another contribution of £ 1 , 000 ; and during the week several meetings in aid of the cause of the operatives have

    been held in large provincial towns . In fact , funds continue to flow in abundantly to the treasury of the executive sitting at the Paviors' Arms . Mr . Nixon , of York-road . Lambeth , has withdrawn the declaration from his establishment . A meeting of the working-men of D . artford and its vicinity , in aid of the lock-out , was to be held last evening , in the large room of the Bull and George , High-street , in that town ; and an aggregate meeting of the . building trades in London is to be held oh Monday evening in St . Martin ' s-hall , Long-acre , when members of the Conference " will report progress , and lay before the meeting matters of great importance . " A number of carpenters and joiners who had resumed work at the shop of Messrs . Brown and Robinson , Worship-street , under the impression that the declaration had been withdrawn from that esta ^

    blishment , left in the course of Thursday in consequence of having received information that the declaration was not ' withdrawn .

    Untitled Article

    THE GREAT EASTERN . Conxbaky to the general expectation the Queen has not honoured the great ship by an inspection during her stay in Wales . The Prince Consort , however , went on board , and examined the vessel with , great interest ; he was received with marks of great respect by the crews of the various ships in the harbour , and by the spectators , who testified their loyalty to the sovereign by the vigorous -welcome they gave to her husband . The "TTimes remarks that many of the principal requirements of the Board of Trade still remain to be done , and' adds : — " Done they must and will be before the ship leaves ; but we mention the fact that they still have to be effected as a reason for our belief that tho great ship cannot and is not

    likely to start before the middle or end of next month , if she leaves this winter . No bilge and feedpumps have been fitted to the main machinery , which is still dependent on its feed ^ water being supplied by the donkey-engines . This , aB we have before pointed out , is a most objectionable arrangement , as , in case of the . donkeys breaking down ( and , in spite of every care , on both trial trips they have always done so ) , tho engines have come to a dead stand . As this is a matter which can only affect the speed of the ship , and not in any degree interfere with its safety , the company , of course , have a right to their own way ; but if they have any regard to the commercial success of tho Great Eastern they would be wise to adopt every precaution against tho possibility of a / slow

    voyage ; The water-tight compartments exist only in name , for various apertures , such as doorways and ventilation holes have boon qut in thorn ; so that in case of an accident this element of safety would be totally wanting . As to tho main conditions insisted on by the Board of Trade before the vessel can receive her passenger certificate , to do these as they ought to be done will require a delay which makes it absurd to expect that the Great Eastern can possibly leave JBngland during this month . There is one precaution , however , which , though not required by the Board , is so imperatively : necessary that unless it is adopted , riot even Bailors would venture now to ptartfor Aruerloft In the Great Ktfatorh . We . nrtean preoa ^ tlon against cold . Only those * who know whjit a NprtUAiflOrloan winter Js \ or who have been off the ^ anfcs . ojP % wfolindlan * l towards the end of November caij , ' apfrreclftto tUo severity of the cola

    which prevails there . Yet throughout the whole of the Great Eastern there is not yet a single stove or hot-air pipe fitted to prevent either crew or passengers from almost freezing in such weather . It is true that these will all be put up before the vessel leaves , but this is only an additional element of delay , and one which makes it still more certain that the ship " cannot leave ait the time stated . If the Great Eastern go to sea next spring , her run is likely to be one of great success , for by that time both ship and engines will be in full working order , which they most certainly are not now . If , on the contrary , her trial . trip across the Atlantic is hnrried forward , it is more than probable that the

    whole journey will prove a failure in speed . The engineers will fear , and most reasonably fear , to drive the engines overmuch , for a break-down within 10 miles of land , and a break-down in the middle of the Atlantic in a . winter ' s gale are widely different things ; and the vessel labouring only for a single day in a heavy sea will soon find out the weakest point in her engines . Apparently there has been some miscalculation as to the size of her boilers to generate the steam-power required , for , though the boilers have done their duty admirably it is believed that at full steaming the screw and paddle engines can find employment for more steam than the boilers are equal to supply .

    As regards the trip to America in . a commercial point of view—that is , to realise money by exhibiting the ship at Portland or New York— it is certain that for this year the time is past . To arrive in the United States in the middle of winter , when even with the Americans the season of travel is over , would be to make a failure of the whole affair . It has been suggested that on leaving Holyhead she should rather go round to Southampton and there be thoroughly fitted for sea in the best style of ocean-going steamers , taking in her supplies of rope , spare spars , and extra boats ( none of which are yet on board ) , and , in fact , completing her with every ¦ . requisite ; and reducing to system her extensive internal administration .

    tioii of whose magnificent conception they had then met to celebrate . Did not every Englishman feel it as it were a part of the national honour that that noble ship should succeed , and was it not a source of grief in every household throughout the land when her first trip from the river was attended witn an unfortunate mishap ? Sometimes the schemes of our great engineers appeared to be in advance of their age ; but it should be remembered that locomotives were now careering over the land at a speed which in the memory of many living men was regarded as fabulous . He could not but think that the step taken by the Great Eastern Company would before long be crowned with success , and would place

    England in the first rank among nations in shi p ^ building as she was in every other art . The Right Hon . W . E . Gladstone , who was also present , made one of his most successful speeches . He said , in returning thanks : — "In my opinion , the position of a public man in England , although it may be in many respects one of care and difficulty —for-we have a vast , perhaps too vast , an empire to administer—is yet in many other respects a position of singular felicity . For we serve a sovereign whom it is a delight to serve ; and if in her we have a noble mistress , we have likewise a noble master in the British nation . I have ever felt , under whatever vicisistudes of public affairs , that we live in a country

    where no sincere and honest efforts of a minister to perform his Jpublic duty in the long run fail to meet with adequate and ample justice . I have to suggest that you should drink ' Prosperity to the Trading and Manufacturing Interests of this Country / That prosperity has , as I have said , little to do with my personal existence , but it has a great deal to do with my official existence . And the comfort of that official existence—I have lived long enough to know very well- —depends mainly upon the condition of these interests . I venture to tell you that the last quarter ' s revenue presents a return the most satisfactory that we have witnessed for several years past ; and if you ask

    me why , I apprehend it was in a very great degree owing to the activity of trade / that activity of trade being in turn' in a great measure founded on the very great moderation of the prices at which the people . are procuring their provisions . We have lived in times of a diversified character—times in which much has occurred that may be of a doubtful complexion , but in which on that very account the mind rests with the greater comfort and satisfaction on all that betokens real progress in what concerns the interest of mankind . I do not believe that in the whole history of the world an instance can be found either of an age or a nation in which it has do

    lii the meantime she still , remains a show ship at Holyhead , visited , daily by thousands and thousands . Almost every hour brings in heavily laden passenger trains . Holyhead is full to repletion , and woe betide the unlucky traveller who comes by the night train ^ in the expectation of getting a bed . The daily number of visitors is greater now than ever it was at Portland , and all the chief seaports of the United Kingdom where the Great Eastern could stay , and very many also where she could not , are clamorous in their solicitations and invitations to get her round . .-

    The Times of yesterday made the following announcement : *— " The anticipations which we have expressed that the long delay necessary to really fit this ship for sea would prevent her departure for America either during this month or the next have thus far been realised . At a board meeting held at the ship at Holyhead on Wednesday afternoon , the date of departure for America was postponed , sine die , and orders' were given that all money paid for passages to the States should be returned . At present no time can be fixed for the transatlantic

    voybeen graciously conceded to a Legislature to . so much for the benefit of the people committed to its charge as it has been given the British Parliament to do in the present era by the changes which it has circumspectly and wisely , but bohlly and effectually , introduced into the whole ol our commercial policy . Permit me to quote n few lines written a century and a half ugo , in a spirit truly prophetic , by one of our distinguished national poets . —I allude to Pope . In an early work of his , termed ' Windsor Forest , ' he penned words which might wo 11 be taken as indicating liis prescience of the repeal and fundamental recon $ truction of our navigation system . He eays 2 —

    age until good progress has been made towards fitting out the ship-in thorough sea-going completeness—a work which , we need scarcely say , will in * volve considerable time . Though some disappointment may possibly bo felt in England , and a good deal more in America , at this indefinite postponement , yet , on the whole , the directors have taken a prudent course both for the passengers and shareholders in thus , as far as is in their power , placing the first real voyage beyond the chance of mishap or shortcoming of any kind . It is now almost certain that the vessel will not start for the States this

    • Tho time shall come when free as waves or wind , Unbounded Thames shall flow lor all mankind"Whole nations entor on each awelliuo' tide , And seas but join tho regions they divide ; Earth ' s distant ends our glory shall behold , A » d the New Wo « ld lauuch forth to neck the Ola I ( Cheers . ) That which the poet thus predicted wo have seen completely realised ; and of that change in the commercial system of the country , so far as its laws were concerned , wq have beheld this day m the harbour of Holyhead the most remarkable ana conspicuous result . I venture , gentlemen , humour atieastiu

    year . " The directors of tho London and North-Western Railway Company gave a -grand banquet on Wednesday evening , at the Royal Hotel , Holyhead , to the directors of the Great Ship Company and a large party of distinguished gentlemen , to celebrate the arrival of the Great Eastern steamship at that port . The Marquis of CuAiwoB , as chairman of tho railway company , presided , and snid , "All connected with the London and North-Western Railway could not on such an occasion help reverting to what had befallen since the invitations to that dinner had been issued , or could fail to remark that they had ,

    but sincerely , to assure you that I have « qualification for asking you to drink to ^ the prosperity of our trade and manufactures , that my own life and exertions ore cordially devoted to that odjoot ; that , amid all the difficulties ot politics , amid all the vicissitudes and disappointments of Jlie , amid the uncertainty which attends all ow avccuiatlons , I find a comfort and satisfaction in '" inwng that it la , jn our power , if wo will sedulously » ot ourselves about it , by a judicious economy undan enlightened legislation to do something , at least , towards raising the condition of theiu « uct of ' ovx fellow-countrymen , and providing that Jhe ro anau bo some lightening of the bunions which human . mq entails on tho noble-minded artisans of the poasantry of Encland . ( Oncers . ) That , in my opinion , is *

    alas I no longer a Stopbenson among them . It was that marvellous man ' s genius which had devised the means of passing the rugged straits of Menai , and of carrying galleries through those rocks and shores of Wales which had long defied , until tho days . of Telford , the engineering skill of this country . Those who had known Robert Stephenson had lost a dear friend , while England had lost one of her children who had raised the name of a humble family to a position not only of British , but of European reputation , but they hadpjlso to mourn the untimely end of another son of genius , whoso fame was equally cUfl \» sQcl throughout the Continent , and the

    complesolid ground of satisfaction } for that I " »»«>» » "" honour and a delight to labour . And , confident in your sympathies , I ask you heartily to unlto v » th ine in good wishes and earnest anxiety for that extension of enterprise and that remuneration ot capital in the trade and manufactures ol tliia c ountry , of which wo know . that a main- pare

    Untitled Article

    1168 THE Ii . ' E AI > E K , flftx . 5 QQ . Oct . 22 , 1859 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1859, page 1168, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2317/page/4/