HC Deb 01 March 1830 vol 22 cc1064-5
Mr. Littleton

presented three Petitions from Staffordshire against the payment of labourers' wages otherwise than in money. The first Petition was from the Chamber of Commerce of the Staffordshire Potteries, stating that in their district no fewer than thirty thousand persons were employed in the manufacture of china and earthenware, and that the depression arising from other sources was much augmented by the practice of paying wages partly by Truck. The barter was not conducted upon equal terms. The masters obliged their workmen to take such articles as they pleased at their own price, and the latter were frequently compelled to sell these at a considerable discount in order to pay their rent, &c. The second Petition was from the shopkeepers and traders of the Staffordshire Potteries; and the third came from the same class of persons in Walsall, in Staffordshire: both complained that the profits of the Petitioners and their means of maintenance were considerably impaired in consequence of the system complained of.

Forward to