The engine-makers of Newcastle and Gateshead are out on .strike
to demand a reduction of the hours of labour to 54 a week, *9 for every working day. If those are hours of actual toil, ex- -elusive of rest and food, the demand is a moderate one ; but the masters fear lest, if they yield, other demands should be pressed in the same high-handed way. They have, therefore, formed a league with other employers of labour ou the Tyne, have sub- scribed large funds, and are importing labour from a distance, and even from abroad. The engine-makers attack these new bands, and it is feared that the soldiers will have to be called in. Both parties strike us as in the wrong, the masters in not perceiv- ing that the men, if they are to be human beings, must have more leisure, and the men in not perceiving that to prevent an adult from working when he chooses to work is a theft of the wages he would earn. They might just as well claim the right to steal his spoons because if he gave them away their price would benefit the poor.
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