Those

is my near neighbour, and he comes in and we talk over the government. His heart is sore with disinterested grief for the sufferings of the people. "Don't they deserve to be "decently governed, and to be allowed a little happiness and prosperity? "they are so docile, so contented; are "they not a good people?" were his words as he was recounting some new iniquity. Of course, half these acts are done under pretext of improving and civilizing; and the Europeans applaud and say, "Oh, but nothing could be done without forced labour !" and the poor Fellaheen are marched off in gangs like convicts, and their families starve, and (who would have thought it) the population keeps diminishing. No wonder their cry is, "Let the English Queen come and take us!"

I don't see things quite as the English generally do; but mine is another Standpunkt, and my heart is with the Arabs. I care less about opening up the trade with the Soudan, and all the new railways, and I should like to see person and property safe, which no one's is here-Europeans of course excepted. Ismail Pasha got the Sultan to allow him to take 90,000 feddans of uncultivated land for himself, as private property. Very well. But the late Viceroy granted, eight years ago, certain uncultivated lands to a good many Turks, his employés, in hopes of founding a landed aristocracy, and inducing them to spend their capital in cultivation. They did so, and now Ismail takes

their improved land, and gives them feddan for feddan of his new land (which it will take five years to bring into cultivation) instead. He forces them to sign a voluntary deed of exchange, or they go off to Fazoge-a hot Siberia, whence none return. I saw a Turk the other day who was ruined by the transaction.

What chokes me is, to hear Englishmen talk of the stick being "the only way to manage Arabs,"-as if any one could doubt that it is the easiest way to manage any people, where it can be used with impunity.

If you have any power over an artist, send him to paint here; no words can describe either the picturesque beauty of Cairo or the splendid forms of the people in Upper Egypt, and, above all, in Nubia. I was in raptures at seeing how superb an animal man (and woman) really is; my donkey-girl at Thebes, dressed like a Greek statue, "Word es Sham" (the rose of Syria) was a feast to the eyes; and here too, what grace and sweetness! and how good is a drink of Nile water out of an amphora held to your lips by a woman as graceful as she is kindly! "May it benefit thee!" she says, kindly smiling with her beautiful teeth and eyes.

As to interest and enjoyment, I don't think Italy or Greece can equal the sacred Nile, the perfect freshness of the gigantic buildings, the beauty of the sculptures, and the charm of the people.

But the days of the beauty of Cairo are numbered: the superb mosques are falling to decay, the exquisite latticewindows are rotting away and are replaced by European glass and jalousies. Only the people and the government (in spite of a little Frankish varnish here and

there) remain unchanged. L. D. G.

THE public must now be tolerably familiar with the story of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers, and of the numerous societies, founded upon the same prin

ciples which, in various parts of the country, have already accomplished such great things for the working people, and given earnest for the future of still greater

achievements in their behalf. It has heard something also of other and more genuine examples of "co-operation,"where associates not only trade but "work" together, where the labourers are also the capitalists, and wages and profits return to the same hands-experiments which, small as have been the actual fruits they have hitherto yielded, form yet, in the opinion of those who have most deeply pondered the problem of industrial reform, the most solid grounds of hope for the future permanent elevation of the labouring class. 1 But there is, besides these, a third species of "co-operation," prevailing throughout some large industries in Great Britain, which has not, so far as I am aware, received any consideration in the numerous and instructive discussions which have within the last few years taken place upon this subject, but which is nevertheless well worthy of attention. I refer to the I refer to the method of employing labour which prevails extensively in mining and other analogous occupations, and is known as the "bargain" or "contract" system. Having lately had an opportunity of witnessing this system in the slate quarries of North Wales, I will describe briefly the method and its results. It will, I think, be seen that it is a genuine instance of " co-operation one, moreover, which exhibits the beneficial tendencies of that plan, in some respects in even a more striking light than other and better known examples.

The mountains of North Wales, as is well known, constitute the principal source of the wealth of that region. They are extremely metalliferous, containing lead and copper ore, besides sulphur; but their most important constituent is the slate formation. Veins of this rock, varying in thickness from four and five, to four and five hundred, yards, and traceable, in some instances, for a length of many miles, traverse the country, but more especially the

1 See an article of great interest in the Westminster Review for April, 1864, entitled, "Strikes and Industrial Co-operation," in which the whole subject is handled with remarkable ability and knowledge.

mountain ranges of Carnarvon and Merioneth. The importance of the industry to which they give occasion may be judged from the fact, that three slate quarries-those of Penrhyn, Llanberis, and Festinog-give employment to not fewer than 7,000 men, representing a population of perhaps 20,000 persons. These are, indeed, by much the principal of the slate quarries in that region, but they form but a small fraction of the whole number. It is impossible to wander in any direction over the mountains of those two counties without finding abundant evidence how widely the popular enterprise is engaged in this branch of production. No

mountain side is so inaccessible that the slate prospector has not reached it, and the most secluded glens and passes are heard to echo the thunder of the quarrier's blast.

The great majority of the slate quarries are worked by companieseither private co-partneries or joint stock companies; but a few, and notably the two largest-the quarries of Penrhyn and Llanberis are in the hands of individuals, the proprietors of the mountains where the slate-formation occurs. In the former case the capitalist or capitalists working the quarry pay a royalty, which is generally one-twelfth of the produce. It must be observed that the slate does not, as is frequently supposed, and as might be inferred from a cursory glance at a slate quarry, constitute the mass of the mountain in which the quarry is cut. It runs in distinct veins which, on rising towards the surface, deteriorate a circumstance to which is due the risk which this mode of employing capital so largely involves; for it is always difficult to say from the appearance of the vein at the surface what may be its quality at a lower depth. Before this can be known, a mass of from two or three to sometimes twenty or even thirty yards in vertical depth must be removed-a tedious and costly operation, which must be completed before slate-quarrying, properly so called, begins, and which is often performed to no purpose; the quality of the rock, when thus ascertained, not

proving such as to justify the further prosecution of the work. Cases have been mentioned to the writer of quarries having been abandoned after 20,000l., of others having been given up after 80,000l. had been expended on preliminary operations. This incident of slate-quarrying serves to explain what will be presently referred to-the unwillingness of the working quarriers to embark their savings in this kind of speculation.

The business of making slates is an exceedingly simple operation-one, however, which not the less demands from the workman no small amount of intelligence, exactness, and dexterity, besides a good deal of practical acquaintance with the nature of the materials with which he has to deal. It consists in detaching the slate formation in blocks from the mountain side; in sawing the blocks when thus detached into suitable sizes; lastly, in splitting and dressing, so as to bring them into proper shape -a process which is performed sometimes by machinery, but more generally by hand labour. It is to the industrial arrangements by which this operation is carried out that it is desired now to invite the reader's attention. They are as follows:-The portion of the slate which it is proposed to work is divided into sections carefully marked out, which are let out as "bargains" to as many small co-partneries, consisting generally of three or four working men. These co-partneries "contract" to produce slates-each from the section of the rock assigned to it-according to sizes and shapes at so much per thousand. The men who take part directly in these contracts form, perhaps, a third of the whole quarrying population; they are, as might be expected, the older, more experienced, and better-off portion of it; the remainder are employed by them as labourers at fixed wages under the name of "germyns," apparently the Welsh equivalent for "navvies." The capital employed in the undertaking is furnished principally by the proprietors or lessees, as the case may be, of the quarry; but a portion is also provided by the 66 contractors." Thus the former supply the

larger and more expensive machinery, such as the tramways, waggons, steamengine, if there be one, pumps, slatesaws and planes, &c. while the latter furnish the smaller tools, as well as the gunpowder used in blasting. The practice, moreover, being to pay wages monthly, this supposes, on the part of the workmen-unless so far as they may have recourse to the pernicious aid of the tally-shop-an amount of saving sufficient, at least, to support them during this interval of delay. The relations of the actual workers having been established on this footing, and the contracts entered into, the functions of the principal capitalist or capitalists are thenceforward of an extremely limited kind; they consist chiefly in keeping the machinery in proper order, and seeing to the number and quality of the slates turned out. As for the rest-the plan of operations adopted, the distribution of the labour, its superintendence and reward-of all this the "contractors" undertake the sole and entire

charge. It should be added that the "contracts" are supplemented by an understanding, doubtless originating in the felt necessity of mitigating for the working men the inevitable risks of such undertakings, to the effect that, where from the inferior quality of the rock, as ascertained on trial, the returns fall below a certain standard, the reduced earnings of the " contractors shall be aided by a "poundage," or additional allowance, varying inversely with the amount of their gains. This poundage, so far as I could make out, though for the most part regulated by custom, is also in some degree discretionary on the part of the owner of the quarry, and is not the same for all districts. It applies, however, only to the less fortunate class of "bargains ;' the better" bargains" are amply remunerated within the terms of the contract.

Such, in brief, are the arrangements under which industry in the Welsh slate quarries is carried on. I think it will be seen at once that this "contract system" constitutes a true case of " Cooperation." It is at least certain that

it fulfils what I venture to think are the most important conditions of that method of industry: there is associated effort; there is common interest in the results of the work; and these results depend, subject to the natural conditions of the case, and the customary qualification of the strict contract just indicated, directly on the energy, skill, and mutual good faith with which the workers perform their part. It has also been said that the "contractors" advance a portion of the capital; but I should not be disposed to attach much importance to this as a distinctive feature of the "contract system;" for, though as a matter of fact the men who take part in contracts have generally accumulated some little capital, and though this circumstance no doubt facilitates in some degree their proceedings in carrying out the undertaking, still the possession of capital does not by any means constitute an indispensable condition to becoming a contractor, it being always easy for a man of good character to obtain the requisite tools and materials on credit from small shopkeepers established in the quarrying districts, and established chiefly with a view to supplying such needs. The

only item of capital which in practice the contractor is in the habit of advancing is the money expended on his own support during the monthly interval that elapses before the returns to his industry come in; and, so far as this is concerned, the " germyn" whom he

employs a labourer at fixed wages has an equally valid title to take rank as a capitalist; the earnings of the germyn" being also postponed for the same period of time. The value of the experiment, therefore, and that which entitles it to be regarded as an example of "co-operative" industry, lies, in my opinion, in the other conditions to which I have referred-in the fact that the system enlists working men in a joint undertaking, of which the results for them depend in large part on the skill, energy, and conscientious zeal with which it is carried through..

And now let us endeavour to appre

ciate the bearing of these conditions on the well-being of the quarrying community. We shall consider in the first place the position of the contractor, who, as I have already said, represents about a third of the whole quarrying population. He will not, of course, for a moment be confounded with the important and generally wealthy personage by whom our railways and great public works are carried on. The latter, a capitalist pure and simple, has no other relations with the actual workers than that of paymaster. But the contractor of the slate quarries is himself a manual worker-generally, indeed, a skilled worker, taking to himself the more difficult processes of the undertaking, but still in the strictest sense a working man-working in the same place, and often at the same operation, as the labourer whom he employs, and socially in no respect his superior. But, though a manual labourer, our contractor is also something very different from the ordinary labourer for hire. His remuneration is no fixed sum, but depends upon the success of his exertions, which he has therefore the strongest interest to increase to the utmost. Nor, again, is he to be confounded with the labourer at task-work. In the first place, the undertaking in which he embarks is of an altogether more important character than any that falls to the lot of the ordinary task-work labourer. Before he commits himself to his engagements, a calculation, not altogether free from complication-requiring, besides an acquaintance with arithmetic, and a tincture of mathematics, some practical knowledge of the different qualities of certain rocks-must be performed. Then the undertaking itself comprises several distinct operations-quarrying, cleaving, dressing-the carrying out of which, effectively and economically, calls for deliberation, forethought, and organising skill. Again, the contractor, while a labourer himself, is also a purchaser of the labours of others, holding towards his "germyn" the position of a capitalist proper, and is thus led to look at the business of production in

some degree from the point of view of an employer-a circumstance which may go some way in accounting for the noteworthy fact, that in the districts of the slate quarries strikes are unknown. Lastly, and to this I attach the greatest importance of all, the contractor is a member of a partnership, acquiring rights and incurring responsibilities in relation to his fellow-contractors, taking part in their labours on equal terms, sharing their anxieties, and interested in common with them in the ultimate result of their common efforts.

But the influence of the arrangements I have described is not limited to the class which comes immediately under their operation. A circumstance which gives especial importance to the status of the contractor in the slate quarry is that, placed as nearly as possible midway between the position of the ordinary labourer and that of the capitalist pure and simple, it forms an easy steppingstone for the elevation of the masses from the precarious position of dependence upon the general labour-market-a position which, if there be value in experience, is absolutely incompatible with any substantial and permanent improvement of their state.

The mode in which the ascent is made will be illustrated by a remark made to the writer by the lessee of the Dolwydellan slate quarry-a gentleman to whose kindness he is indebted for most of the information contained in this paper. In reply to a question with reference to a difference in the rates of wages prevailing in different localities,

he observed that the men before us would be very slow to leave their present occupation even for the prospect of a considerable advance in their wages— because," he explained, pointing to a large quarry hole filled with water, "soon as this is pumped dry, there is

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66 SO

not a man amongst them who does not 'know that he will have a chance of a "share in the new contracts which will "then be opened." Thus the labourers who have not yet attained to the rank of contractors are ever working in full view of an early promotion to this

position, their attainment of which, however, depends entirely on their success in recommending themselves to the favourable consideration of the owner of the quarry as well as to that-an equally important condition-of their own fellow-workmen, without whose approval and co-operation they would hope in vain to take advantage of the opportunities which are daily opening. Even the less important class of workmen, they who are employed in clearing away refuse, also pass occasionally into the ranks of the quarriers proper, and ultimately into those of the contractors, and thus feel in some degree the stimulus which such prospects supply. The whole society is thus kept constantly under the incentive of the public opinion of the élite among its own members a state of things which serves to diffuse throughout the entire organization an influence of the healthiest kind.

Nor has the beneficent tendency of these arrangements failed to become effectual in the actual condition of the population of the slate quarries. Their ordinary earnings, according to information supplied to me from various sources, may be set down as follows:

For carters of refuse from 12s. to 178. per week. For "germyns" (quarriers at fixed wages, many of whom are mere boys), 12s. to 20s. per week.

In a

In the case of the contractors the variations are much more considerable; the results ranging from 31. to 8., and occasionally to 10l. per month. small quarry near Dolwydellan which I visited, three contractors had just concluded a bargain," in which they had netted for the month of July the sum of 97. each. On the whole, so far as I could make out, the earnings of the contractors average something like 56. monthly.

These rates are, I should suppose, about equal to those prevailing in corresponding occupations-I mean occupations in which the toil, risk, and skill are about the same-in the most favoured industrial districts in England; and such a result is surely very creditable