Dec. 21,] 



THE NEWSPAPER. 



[1844. 



became worse towards evening, accompanied by a driz- 

 zling rain. The weather is now again cold, but fine. 

 I'- Royal Exchange. — On Wednesday the Royal Ex- 

 change, as far as the merchant's area, was thrown open 

 to the public. No one was allowed to enter Lloyd's 

 "room," or any other part of the building, as these 

 8eTeralIy being private property, are not under control 

 of the Gresham Committee. Public business will not 

 be commenced by the merchants, captains, &c, till the 

 1st January, and it is supposed that by that time general 

 curiosity will be satisfied. It is expected also that the 

 proprietors of the several shops will then have completed 

 their arrangements to be able to commence business. 



Statue of William the Fourth.— On Wednesday the 

 colossal statue of His late Majesty, William the Fourth 

 waa raised on its pedestal in King William-street, facing 

 London-bridge. ' The figure is 15 feet 3 inches in height, 

 and weighs 20 tons. It was cut out of two enormous 

 blocks of granite, and the work has occupied the artist, 

 Mr. Nixon, nearly three years. The dress of the statue 

 appears to be that of an Admiral's uniform, a cloak 

 hanging gracefully over the shoulders. The right hand 

 bears a scroll. 



Court of Common Council. — At a court held on 

 Thursday, the report of a committee, recommending the 

 grant of 500/. to the committee for erecting baths and 

 wash-houses for the poor, was brought forward and met 

 by an amendment, that the report should lie on the 

 table. On a division, the amendment was negatived by 

 49 to 41. Another amendment was then moved, that the 

 sum of 200/. be granted instead of 500/., which was car- 

 ried by a large majority. 



Parliamentary Committee- Rooms. — It is understood 

 that the Commissioners of Woods and Forests are about 

 to erect, in New Palace-yard, temporary committee- 

 rooms for the House of Commons, and Courts for the 

 Vice- Chancellors, in immediate contiguity with West- 

 minster Hall. The defective accommodation afforded to 

 the con ittees by private houses in the neighbourhood, 

 with the exorbitant terms demanded for rooms of which 

 the greater portion is inapplicable to such purposes, has 

 suggested this arrangement, which, in addition to its 

 other recommendations, will have the obvious advantage 

 of keeping the business of the House, and of accommo- 

 dating its members, almost under the same roof. 



Redttction of the Three-per-Cents. — A report has 



been in circulation that the Chancellor of the Exchequer 



has some plan in view for the reduction of the interest on the 



Three-per-Cent. Stocks, and that the frequent interviews of 



late with the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Bank 



of England have had reference to that subject. The Times 



says ** We do not find that it has obtained much credit, 



if any at all, among the moneyed interest in the City, who 



are disposed to treat it as a feeler thrown out for the 



purpose of collecting opinions, whether there would be 



any chance of succeeding in such a measure. As far as 



the matter has been discussed at all it may be stated that 



opinions are against its practicability, owing to the very 



large amount of stock of that denomination. The rumour 



in the mean time is creating considerable alarm among 



a large class of dependents upon the public debt, who 



believed that they were perfectly safe from any reduction 



below three per cent. 



State of the Poor — Lord Wiiloughby d'Eresby has 

 written two letters to the Times on the present state and 

 prospects of the poor, which have excited great atten- 

 tion. In these letters his lordship recommends three 

 measures of relief to the attention of Government: — 1. 

 Employing the poor on the highways, to be paid by a 

 rate levied on all classes, as at present, the remuneration 

 to be one-fifth lower than the wages of independent la- 

 bourers. 2. A labour rate, every payer of which' may 

 receive the value of his money in labour upon his land, 

 the rate to be a power vested in the Board of Guardians, 

 to be called into operation as the want of employment 

 might render it necessary. 3. The removal of an import- 

 ant feature m the present Poor-law,— the offer of the 

 workhouse to able-bodied labourers as a test of destitu- 

 tion, which, his Lordship says, is but too often emploved 

 as a means of coercion and systematic reduction of 

 wages. His Lordship, in reference to the first plan, ex- 

 plains his proposal that the pay for work on the roads 

 should be one-fifth lower than the wages of independent 

 labourers, by expressing his conviction, that an average 

 of wages lower than Us. a-week when wheat is at 60s. 

 the quarter, or 10*. when it is at 50*., must reduce the 

 labourer to a condition below that in which any member 

 of a civilised state ought to be suffered to remain. 

 Lord Wihoughby also says that he recommends 

 a lower rate of remuneration to such labourers, 

 because he wishes the highways to be a provision 

 in the hands of the Board of Guardians against 

 temporary and casual want of work exclusively, and 

 not to interfere with the regular employment given 

 W 6 ,^ "In my humble judgment," says his 

 Lordship, -the condition of the labourer would be greatly 

 ameliorated by either of the three plans alluded to, or bv 

 a judicious combination of them. Allow me to add 'a 

 few words in illustration of their operation, if combined. 

 In such a case, the ordinary remedy for want of employ- 

 ment would be labour upon the highways. The district 

 surveyor would be most active at those seasons when 

 agricultural employment is always slack, and might be 

 empowered to sell and purchase materials according to 

 the wants of the several districts. Such undertakings as 

 building bridges, raising and lowering roads, &c, would 

 be a resource against any extraordinary stagnation which 

 might occur. If it came under the observation of the 

 Board of Commissioners that any parish in a Union was 



m the habit of throwing a disproportionate number of j 



men on tne hands of the surveyor, the remedy would 

 lie in the application of the labour-rate for a certain 

 period — a remedy which would not need to be often 

 repeated. The labour-rate being in operation, and all 

 the able-bodied men in a parish in full employment, if 

 any man were discharged as incorrigibly negligent and 

 idle, the Board, after due inquiry, would offer him the 

 house, and his support would be transferred from the 

 labour-rate to the regular poor-rate. The same course 

 would be taken with any impracticable character in the 

 employ of the surveyor. It is next to impossible that 

 out-door relief could ever be required. I am by no 

 means an enemy of many of the provisions of the present 

 Poor Law. I am ready to admit that the union work- 

 house, with an improved classification of its inmates, 

 might become an advantageous refuge to some classes of 

 the unfortunate, and a proper plan of correction to the 

 idle and profligate ; but these are no reasons why the 

 more opulent should absolve themselves from the duties 

 they owe to society ; and miserably deficient in wisdom 

 and religion must a nation be, which can point out no 

 path except through the portal of a prison to the in- 

 dustrious and unemployed labourer." 



Repeal of the Malt-tax. — On Friday a very numerous 

 meeting of tenant-farmers, from various parts of the 

 kingdom, was held at the Freemasons' Tavern, to con- 

 sider the propriety of agitating for a Repeal of the malt 

 duty. Mr. A. Spottiswoode (the Queen's printer), who 

 was described to be a considerable landowner, was called 

 to the chair, and said, that there were no doubt several 

 gentlemen present who were acquainted with the subject ; 

 and he trusted that it would be discussed with that good 

 temper which was essential to its proper understanding. 

 The object, he believed, was to do good to those who 

 naturally looked up to the landowners and farmers for 

 support and assistance, and he would only say that the 

 class to whom he referred had not hitherto received that 

 fair protection to which they were entitled. — Mr. R. 

 Baker, of Writtle, moved the first resolution, as follows : 

 "That the first source of national wealth being the 

 labour of our industrious population, the first object of 

 laws for the regulation of society should be to encourage 

 industry by such enactments as will best secure perma- 

 nent and profitable employment for those who live by 

 their labour, and unless permanent relief is given by a 

 removal of the taxes, or revision of the currency, they 

 will be unable to effect that object." The resolution he 

 said affirmed a simple proposition, which he appre- 

 hended would not be denied, namely, that the industry 

 of the people was the true source of national wealth. 

 That being so, it was essential that productive industry 

 should not be crippled. It was quite clear that those 

 taxes which fell more directly on the productive classes 

 tended very materially to diminish the comforts of the 

 people. The malt-tax perhaps more than any other had 

 that effect. Having examined the subject in all its bear- 

 ings, he was justified in asserting that the tax on malt 

 was equivalent to the whole rent of the land. Every 

 one engaged in agricultural pursuits, and the poor 

 labourer more particularly, was interested ; but he was 

 not disposed to call for a repeal of the tax upon that plea, 

 for he wished that it should be regarded in a wider point of 

 view. That it had a serious effect upon the farmer every 

 practical agriculturist must be well convinced. In his 

 own county, Essex, it required two years' cultivation to 

 grow a crop of barley ; but what farmer would think of 

 doing so, subject to the enormous duty on malt ? It was 

 owing to this that so much land was out of cultivation. 

 In former times the farmer found his labourers in good 

 home-brewed ale, and paid better wages to his men. No 

 doubt the rate of wages was the first consideration, but 

 it was equally true that the discontinuance of the old 

 allowance of good strong beer had produced much dissa- 

 tisfaction amongst the labouring classes. That he con- 

 ceived to have been one of the main incentives to that 

 moral disturbance which had produced the commission 

 of those horrid outrages unhappily too frequent in the 

 agricultural districts. That discontented feeling was, he 

 believed, fairly traceable to a reduced standard of wa^es, 

 and in no little degree to the discontinuance of the 

 labourer's customary allowance of beer. The labourers 

 were not only worse paid, but they had got worse beer, 

 and less of it. Some gentlemen might say that that was 

 a very trifling consideration, but with the labourers it 

 was a matter of serious complaint. The malt tax affected 

 the tenant farmer most materially. In the fattening of 

 cattle he was compelled to resort to the use of oilcake, 

 the product of foreign countries, so that all the meat 

 produced by the British grazier was opposed in his own 

 market. The tariff had caused great dissatisfaction 

 amongst that class, but if the malt duty was taken off 

 they would have no reason to complain of foreign com- 

 petition. It wa3 well known that five quarters of malt 

 were more than equivalent to one ton of oilcake ; that 

 was one way in which the malt duty affected the farmer. 

 There was another point still more entitled to attention. 

 What was the present position of the British farmer as 

 contrasted with the century in which the French revo- 

 lution took place ? Whilst prices had declined, the cost 

 of production had nearly doubled. Things could not go 

 on thus. The farmers had a right to call on the Legis- 

 lature to remove that most oppressive impost on the 

 land. It should not be forgotten that the Currency Bill 

 had reduced the then value of land 33 per cent., but of 

 that no account had been taken. Should the present 

 policy be persisted in, it would lead to the ruin of the 

 country. There was only one of two courses to be 

 adopted — the Government must either reduce the taxes, 

 or give the people the means of paying them. As 

 respected the malt duty, we should put it on the 



shoulders of those best able to bear the burden— U0Gn 

 the owners of property. The poor labourer ought to b- 

 exempt from taxation. If it were true that " the 

 poor should never cease out of the land," it was right 

 that they should be protected. The condition of the 

 agricultural labourer had for some time been discussed 

 by the various agricultural associations, bat thev bad 

 done nothing to benefit the labourer. Here and 'there 

 some strips of land had been set apart for cottage gar- 

 dens ; but to what extent could that benefit the labourer > 

 He was not an enemy to allotments ; they were g- ; od 

 savings-banks for the man who had constant work • but 

 a working man must look to wages— regular wages', for 

 the wants of a family. If the farmer could not cultivate 

 his land profitably, he could not pay his labourers. If 

 the allotments were let, as they often were, at a rent 

 higher than to the rich occupier, the allotment system 

 could do no good to the country generally. If the malt 

 duty were abolished, the labourer would no longer have 

 occasion to resort to the beershop, for he would be 

 enabled to brew his own beer at one-fourth of the price 

 which he now paid. It was said that the credits 

 given by the Government to the great maltsters en- 

 couraged the growth of Barley. That he denied. 

 The only way to promote the cultivation of B.irlev was 

 to take off the duty. There would then be no want of 

 capital, because, in addition to the encouragement held out 

 to the growers of Barley, the manufacturers would be 

 relieved from all the annoyances of the Excise collections. 

 But if it were supposed that he would be content with 

 the repeal of the malt-tax, he begged to state that the 

 repeal of the malt-tax should only be considered as a 

 step to further concessions. Public opinion would do 

 the rest. — Mr. W, F. Haines, of Monk's-hall, Essex, 

 seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously*. 

 — Mr. J. Ellis, of Barming, Kent, moved the next reso- 

 lution, — "That it appears by Parliamentary returns, 

 that in former periods the working-classes of the country, 

 both agricultural and manufacturing, enjoyed and con- 

 sumed three times as much per head of nutritious and 

 invigorating malt liquor as they have done since an 

 enormous duty was laid upon malt, while, on the other 

 hand, the comforts and luxuries of other classes, the 

 consumption of foreign wines and spirits, and of dele- 

 terious and demoralising compounds, have greatly in- 

 creased." — Mr. Fife seconded the motion. He considered 

 that this was a great struggle to be made for the benefit 

 of the labourer ; and he only regretted that it was likely 

 to be warmly opposed by those who, with all their 

 pretended sympathy, were reluctant to do anything for 

 the substantial benefit of the poor man. For his part, 

 he would not be content with anything short of a total 

 repeal of the malt duty. — Several other declaratory re- 

 solutions were supported by Mr. Ellman, of Surrey ; 

 Mr. Knight, of Edmonton; Mr. Penfold, of Fenny 

 Stratford; Mr. Purser, of Copsal, Bedfordshire; Mr. 

 Bennett, of Luton ; Mr. Maydwell, of Uxbridge ; Mr. 

 Stone, of Leicestershire ; and other gentlemen. It was 

 finally agreed that the meeting should use its best en- 

 deavours to procure a total remission of the malt duty. 



Fatal Accident at Drury Lane Theatre.— On Satur- 

 day night a melancholy accident took place during the 

 performance of the "Revolt of the Harem," which has 

 deprived the stage of the best English dancer of the day. 

 In the second act of the ballet, the ladies of the harem 

 are discovered bathing, among whom Zulica, the royal 

 slave, Miss Clara Webster, was one. During the scene 

 the gas placed at the bottom of the stage, or under the 

 sunken portion of it, where the water pieces, or waves, 

 are placed, caught the light drapery of Miss Webster s 

 dress, and in an instant her whole person was enveloped 

 in flames. This frightful event, taking place on the 

 stage, in the sight of the audience, the whole house was 

 in consternation, and screams issued from the ladies m 

 the front of the boxes and pit, who were the first to per- 

 ceive the accident. The unfortunate y<fung lady rushed 

 round the stage, actually in one blaze, uttering the most 

 heart-rending cries, and in her agony seized on Madame 

 Plunkett's dress, but this lady had the presence ot 

 mind to avoid close contact, and thereby saved her- 

 self, although her own dress was, for a moment, on 

 fire. Miss Webster at last rushed towards the wing, 

 and was caught in the arms of a carpenter, who wita 

 great presence of mind threw her down and rolled himsei 

 over her, and thus extinguished the flames, though, it 

 appears, at his personal risk, for his hands and i ac « ar * 

 said to have been much burnt in the effort. Miss 

 Webster was instantly taken to the green-room, where 

 it was ascertained that her arms, bosom, and face wer 

 severely burnt. Surgical aid was without a moment a 

 delay procured, and the young lady, by desire ot ne 

 friends, was carried to the residence of Dr. Locock, m 

 Hanover-square, and afterwards to her own reslden ^ e 

 The accident was of so sudden occurrence that the wn 

 scene did not occupy the space of two minutes, i 

 intensity of Miss Webster's sufferings was very grea, 

 but it was hoped that she was in a fair way to*ara 

 recovery until Monday night, when she gradually sun 

 under the injuries, and expired on Tuesday morning, a 

 inquest was held on Thursday, at which Mr. W ^^r, 

 coroner, pointed out the necessity of preparing theatric 



and other light dresses with a solution of alum or m 

 riate of ammonia, which renders them incombustible. . iu 

 Jury coincided in these views, and returned a verdict v 



Accidental Death. . fnrg 



The Late Bank Robbery.— The governor and director 

 of the Bank of England have authorised Mr. HoDier, 

 solicitor for the banking house of Messrs. Rogers a n 

 Co., to issue a circular respecting the late TObb ° r J |t 

 that firm, calling upon the different houses to wfcom 





