1830.] 



Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire. 



237 



dependant; and bellerlng that the causes of its 

 distress have never yet been made the subject of 

 a full and impartial examination, feel it their 

 duty once more to petition both Houses of Par- 

 liament, praying that such inquiry may be in- 

 stituted during the ensuing Session, as may lead 

 to the adoption of those remedial measures which 

 alone can prevent this very important national 

 interest from sinking into a state of hopeless and 

 irrecoverable decay III" 



The distresses of the country experience no 

 abatement no alleviation but from the hand of 

 private charity, which can do little in so over- 

 whelming a visitation. We continue to receive 

 the most heart-rending accounts from all quar- 

 ters; and we fear that, unless we have a speedy 

 change, we shall soon have a still more melan- 

 choly tale to tell. The Barnsley weavers residing 

 in the villages of Kexbro', Darton, Cawthorne, 

 HOyland-Swaine, and High-Hoyland, are almost 

 to a man working upon the roads, or depending 

 upon parochial or individual relief. Many have 

 a family to support for a shilling per day, some 

 even not so much! At Huddersfield, Knares- 

 borough, and many other places, the condition of 

 the labouring poor is deplorable beyond descrip- 

 tion. Leeds Intelligencer. 



A very destructive fire lately consumed the 

 manufactory of Mr. Greenwood, at Wheatley, 

 near Halifax. Luckily no lives were lost ; but 

 no less than 1,500 persons are thrown out of em- 

 ployment by this melancholy event. 



A very numerous meeting has been held at Don- 

 caster of landowners, farmers, and others inte- 

 rested in agriculture, in order to consider the pre- 

 sent state of the country, when it appeared to be 

 the powerful feeling of all present, that something 

 must be done to relieve the present depression, or 

 irrecoverable ruin would be the consequence ; it 

 was, therefore, unanimously resolved to petition 

 the legislature, on the meeting of the Parliament, 

 to take into immediate consideration the state of 

 the country. Sir W. Cooke, bart., was in the 

 chair, and two of the county members, Messrs. 

 Buncombe and Wilson, were present. 



Most of the large towns in this county, will 

 soon be lighted with gas. Preparations are 

 making to light Ripon with that material. A 

 joint stock banking company is formed in York. 

 The capital to consist of .500,000, in 5,000 shares 

 of .100 each. There are .122,416. 6s. lid. depo- 

 sited in the York Savings' Bank, by 2,976 

 depositors. 



On visiting the poor of Leeds, by the relief 

 Committee, it was found, that there were at 

 least 4,000 persons in the town, whose average 

 earnings did not exceed one penny a day ! 



Something more than one-third of the cloth 

 manufactured in Yorkshire is exported, and less 

 than two-thirds disposed of at home. Therefore 

 the well being of our manufacturers must mainly 

 depend on the home market. 



The Hon. E, R. Petre, has been elected Lord 

 Mayor of York for the ensuing year. The gen- 

 tleman is a Roman Catholic. He will also be 

 the High Sheriff for the county ; uniting the two 

 offices in his person a very singular occurrence. 



The Yorkshire coast was visited by a dreadful 

 storm on the 9th, 10th, and llth, of January, 

 attended with two very high tides on the latter 

 day, which did great damage, at Scarborough, 

 Bridlington, and Whitby. At the latter place 



several houses were washed into the sea ; and 

 at Staithes, a village adjacent, no less than 18 

 houses were washed away. 



A new Cutlers' Hall, on a noble scale, is 

 about to be erected in Sheffield. 



The distress in the manufacturing districts of 

 Yorkshire, appear to be of the most appalling 

 nature. The sufferings of the poor during this 

 inclement season must be dreadful. 



LANCASHIRE. A meeting has been held at 

 Liverpool, when it was resolved to form a com- 

 pany for the purpose of applying to Parliament 

 for power to accomplish the great national under- 

 taking, of a rail-way from thence to Birmingham. 



The superb service of plate, weighing 1,200 

 ounces, voted by the merchants and other inha- 

 batants of Liverpool, to James Maury, Esq., late 

 American Consul in Liverpool, during 40 years, 

 was presented to that gentleman lately in the 

 Grand Jury room. 



No less than 10,000 persons are weekly relieved 

 by the soup committee of Preston, and one-third 

 of the population are actually receiving charit- 

 able relief in one shape or other. But this is not 

 all. No person receiving more than half-a-crown 

 a-week is entitled to relief ! a circumstance, as 

 the Preston Pilot observes, from which we may 

 form some estimate of the wretched earnings of 

 the 10,000 who are relieved. The probability is 

 that the average does not amount to two shillings 

 a-week. Notwithstanding the miserable state of 

 things, we are assured, upon good authority, that 

 Preston is " infinitely better off" than most of 

 the neighbouring towns. 



LINCOLNSHIRE. Jan. 8. Upwards of 2,000 

 persons attended the County Meeting, called by 

 several magistrates, the Sheriff having refused. 

 It was held in the Castle-Yard, Lincoln, for the 

 purpose of petitioning the Legislature for the 

 repeal of the malt and beer duties, when a rote 

 of censure passed unanimously against the 

 Sheriff for refusing to call the meeting, " thereby 

 shewing an unwarrantable contempt for the 

 wishes of the county, and setting a most danger- 

 ous example, tending to deprive the people of 

 England of their legitimate rights and constitu- 

 tional privileges." The petition to the House of 

 Commons was afterwards proposed and carried 

 unanimously.* Thanks were likewise voted to 



* Petition." We, the undersigned Inhabi- 

 tants of the County of Lincoln, call upon your 

 Honourable House, beseeching you earnestly 

 though respectfully that you would give your un- 

 divided attention to the unspeakable distress 

 which pervades the country. We humbly re- 

 present, that taxation, excessive as it was at the 

 conclusion of the war, has become far more so by 

 the change in the value of money. That it is 

 incumbent on the Government to accommodate 

 its expenditure to this new order of things, which 

 itself has created. That the burthen is now in- 

 tolerable, and must be lightened. We therefore, 

 under the perfect conviction that Taxes must be 

 remitted to a great amount, beg to point out to 

 your Honourable House the injurious nature of 

 the taxes on Malt and Beer. That they are hos- 

 tile to Agriculture, and are equally disadvan- 

 tageous to Manufactures, for they deprive us of 

 the use of our own produce, and sends millions of 

 pounds out of the country to purchase the pro- 

 duce of foreign soils. That they deprive the peo- 

 ple of their natural beverage, forcing them to the 

 use of noxious drugs and ardent spirits. That 

 these obnoxious taxes fall principally upon the 



