Mr. Lockhartrose, in pursuance of notice, to call the attention of the House to some regulation on the subject of the Tailors' trade in the city of London. Combinations among this body were of very old standing, and called, even in ancient times, for penal acts. The oldest which he could find on the subject was in the reign of Edward 6; the next was enacted in the reign of George the first; and another still more severe in the reign of his present Majesty. It was found, notwithstanding, that those combinations had not only increased, but that they were conducted on a scale of great magnitude, and with such peculiar sagacity as to defeat the object of every penal statute. There were, within the bills of mortality, about 24,000 tailors, and of these 4,000 had been proved to be in a regular combination, provided not only with counsel, but with a fund of money. They were not content with aiding their own combinations, but even the combinations of other trades, particularly of the Calico Weavers. It was unnecessary for him to enlarge upon the danger of such combinations, or the probability of their taking a much more extended and different compass, unless speedily removed. He concluded with moving, "That a Select Committee be appointed to take into consideration the Laws regulating the Wages of Journeymen in the Tailors' trade within the bills of mortality, the state of the said trade generally, the combinations entered into by Journey- 590 men therein, and the effects thereof on other branches of industry."
§ Sir Thomas Turtondid not approve of the existing laws, but thought that no additional restrictive statutes should be enacted against the Journeymen Tailors.—The motion was then agreed to.