THE object of this paper is to collect together a few facts which are to be found scattered about, and to exhibit the present extraordinary and wonderful degree of magnitude and perfection to which the production of textile fabrics by power in this country has arrived.

They were collected in 1856; but there has been, even within the last four years, a very considerable increase and extension of the various factories in the country.

FACTORIES IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN 1856.

There are four classes of raw products convertible into textile fabrics: these are cotton; wool and worsted; flax, hemp, and its tribe; and silk. Wool and worsted, although the same material, are of a different nature, and require to be manufactured in a different manner: they are therefore treated of separately; and it is usual to divide the textile fabrics into five classes.

The cotton-trade represents more than one-half of the whole of the textile

fabrics.

The woollen manufacture, once the chief textile industry of the country, ranks second in importance.

Worsted, which is obtained by separating the long fibre of the wool from the shorter staple, ranks as the third."

Flax is fourth; and silk is the fifth and last.

There are various methods of exhibiting the extent of these manufactures, in some of which, perhaps, the order in which I have enumerated them might be varied; but, taking the general importance and probable value of the several branches of manufac ture, the order in which they have been named will be found the most correct.

Statistics have been procured at intervals, by the inspectors of factories, with reference to the establishments under their supervision; viz., those in which either of the raw materials enumerated are spun or manufactured. No account has ever been taken of the print-works, bleaching and dyeing works, lace-factories, &c., which are excluded from the operation of the Factory Acts; and the following figures refer, therefore, to those establishments only in which the first processes of manufacture, up to and including the weaving, are carried on by the aid of water or steam power:

As I have before stated, the above figures refer only to persons employed in establishments subject to the provisions of the Factory Acts, amounting to 682.407; and I have estimated, after making various calculations and consulting the best authorities, that there are 887,369 persons employed upon textile fabrics in establishments not under the provisions of the Factory Acts: which two classes of persons have dependent upon them at least 3,000,000 of unemployed persons; representing a total of 4,568,082 persons dependent upon the textile fabrics for their maintenance, being in the proportion of sixteen per cent, or one-sixth, of the population. But there are others, though not directly employed upon the fabrics themselves, equally dependent upon the prosperity of textile manufactures for their subsistence. For instance,

Those engaged in the procuring of coal (at least 3,000,000 tons are consumed per annum in factories, print-works, &c.); those engaged in the procuring of iron, engine and machine makers; those engaged in the leather-trade, in the manufacture of grease, in the procuring of oil, dry wares, paper, skips or baskets, and of various minor arti cles used in manufacturing establishments; those employed in warehouses, &c., &c.

At a moderate computation, I reckon that the above persons and their families would raise the number of those dependent upon the textile fabrics to twenty per cent, or one-fifth, of the population.

FACTORIES IN EUROPE.

Such is the manufacturing power of British factories. I regret that the means do not exist for comparing all these statements with the statistics of foreign countries. Although in some countries accurate accounts are taken, by the government, of the various occupations of the people, and the size and extent of industrial establishments, yet so much of that which is performed under the factory system in England forms part of a domestic system abroad, that it is not easy to institute a comparison with foreign countries; and I am obliged, therefore, to limit the comparison to "cotton fabrics," for the which I have obtained the following statements of the principal countries in Europe:

The above number of spindles—say, in round numbers, 10,000,000— are know to be in operation in certain countries in Europe, being those most engaged in ind trial pursuits, and containing an aggregate population of 160,030,050, "If to the ro maining countries, containing a population of 35,000,000, we give 4,000,000 #plul which is a very large estimate for Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Grevce, Dentotri Holland, &c., it will be found that the continent of Europe gives employment t 14,000,000 spindles. To this number must be added the probable number in op in America, which has been estimated not to exceed 7,000,000. There will thin bai total of 21,000,000 out of England, tended by every variety of race, each with t different characteristics and habits; while in Great Britain alone there are 25,000,00 tended by industrious, intelligent, and steady operatives.

From a comparison of the table just quoted with the first table, the following results are obtained: That, in the United Kingdom, there is one person employed in a cotton-factory to every seventy-two of the population.

The larger proportion of spindles in the factories of Germany, Russia, and Bar ria, is owing to the very recent introduction of the factory system into those countri and consequently to the erection, in those countries, of large spinning-mills. F instance, there are only eighteen cotton-factories in Bavaria; but one of them contains 95,000 spindles, and another 40,000: whereas, in this kingdom, the comparison is mult with all classes and descriptions of factories, some built seventy or eighty years since in which cotton undergoes some process or other of manufacture by power.

VALUE OF MANUFACTURED GOODS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, AUSTRIA, AND FRANCE.

In the spring of last year, I made, for the International Statistical Congress, some calculations of the amount of capital invested in the factories of this country, and d the value of the manufactured goods produced in the year 1856. From these calcula tions, it appeared that £55,000,000 worth of cotton goods were manufactured; of which £17,000,000 worth were consumed in this country, which is at the rate of ab twelve shillings per head. This is, perhaps, a moderate estimate; for the consumpt of cotton goods in 1859 has been calculated by Mr. Bazley, M.P., at £23,000,000, or fifteen shillings and five pence per head per annum. This latter sum, however, repre.

sents the whole value of cotton spun and manufactured, divided by the population; the calculation I had made was the value of cotton goods consumed as cotton go annually in this country. A large quantity of cotton is used for warps, in comb nation with wool and worsted; and these goods are commonly classed as woollen and worsted fabrics, and the value of the cotton used in them is included in their generál value. Cotton is also used in a variety of ways with the other filaments, and, in fact, enters into every species of textile manufacture: so that my calculation of £17,000,000 đổ cotton wares consumed may be considered as a fair, though perhaps a moderate, esti

No. of Persons employed.

In Austria, about 400,000 persons are engaged upon cotton, of whom, probably, 300,000 are hand-loom weavers; and they produce goods to the value of £8,000,000, which are consumed at home, and averago 4s. 7d. per head.

The value of the woollen goods was £6,000,000, or 3s. 4d. per head.

The linen manufacture of Austria is said to give employment to 3,500,000 persons, the larger portion of whom are hand-spinners; only 100,000 spindles being contained in factories. They produced goods to the value of £6,000,000; being at the rate of 3. 40. per head.

In the silk industry, 800,000 are employed, and produce goods to the value of £5,000,000, or at the rate of 23. 10d. per head.

The case of the United Kingdom and Austria stands thus:

The former, with 750,000 cotton-workers, produced £55,000,000 worth of goods; or cach worker produced to the value of £73: the latter produced £8,000,000; of which each worker produced £20 worth.

The former produced woollen aud worsted goods to the value of £36,656,545: the latter produced similar goods to the value of £6,000,000.

The former, with 290,731 persons engaged in the flax and linen trade, produced goods to the value of £15,100,000; or each worker produced goods to the value of 251: the latter, with 3,500,000 workers, produced goods to the value of £6,000,000; of which the workers produced 34s. worth each.

The former, with 139,235 persons engaged in the silk manufacture, produced goods to the value of £18,900,000; of which each worker produced £136: the latter, with 800,000 workers upon silk, produced goods to the value of £5,000,000; of which each worker produced £6 worth.

The textile fabrics produced in the United Kingdom, with a population of 27,000,000, were valued at £125,000,000; while in Austria, with a population of 35,000,000, they amounted only to £25,000,000.

The relative quantities consumed per head are as follows:

It is a pity that a similar comparison cannot be made with the other countries, of which some particulars are given in the table, in order that the manufacturing capacity of this country might be tested with that of Prussia and Saxony, for instance, who are our rivals in the production of some classes of fabrics. We are likely, however, to press our claims now for some share in the supply of textile fabrics in France. Before the recent treaty, our fine cotton-yarn was indispensable in France for the manufacture of lace; and consequently it was admitted, while coarser yarns were prohibited: and it cannot be doubted, that the superiority of our cotton goods, taking into consideration quality with cheapness, must, before long, commend them to the French people, who now pay dearly for cotton goods, because they are compelled to consume home produce, of which their consumption, however, does not much exceed that which we have found to be the outlay of the Austrians. The following value of the French manufactures is taken from Mr. M'Culloch's Dictionary; who states that it is more moderate than most of such statements, which are generally apt to be exaggerated :

and each country has exhibited a desire to supply their own looms with native-spun yarn. Hence has arisen an anxiety among manufacturers, that the universality of our commerce is threatened with a serious inroad; and it has been stated that foreign goods have been exhibited in this country at a price which it is considered will affect the prices of similar goods manufactured in England. I believe, however, that none but an occasional inroad upon our supremacy as manufacturers need be appro hended....

With much that there may be to deplore in the present condition of the workingclasses, and with much that may need amendment, this meed of praise cannot be denied to them, that they have not abused the opportunities which the factory-regulations have secured to them. Politically, morally, and socially, the manufacturing districts are daily and hourly advancing. No one who mingles with the workers in factories, whether of textile fabrics or metals, can fail to observe the intelligence of a large number, and the well-informed minds of many; and to those who, like myself, labor in their midst and for their welfare, it is no slight happiness to be able to feel this, and to mark that their social and moral progress is sure, although it may be gradual, and that manufac turers themselves approve the law, support the administration of it, and bear witness to its efficiency in having banished many evils which formerly abounded in the factory districts.

Turning to the difference in character between the British and foreign artisan, there is a clear and marked difference in their mode of working. The Englishman, steady, active, persevering, and attentive to his work, keeping pace with improvements, adapting himself readily to altered circumstances, seconding the increasing exertions of the iron man, not overworked by an English factory-day (ten and a half hours), answers to all the exertion that is demanded of him by increased speed or varied pro cesses in a factory; while his foreign competitor, already fatigued by his twelve or fourteen hours of daily work, is not in a condition, if he had the natural disposition, to expend an increased amount of daily exertion upon more complicated machinery, or by reason of increased speed of spindles and shuttles: he is less active, less attentive, and less steady in his work, than the English operative. In 1853, after a visit to some of the chief manufacturing establishments in Prussia, I stated the result of my observations as follows:

"Comparing the amount of work that can be turned out by an English operative, the skill and intelligence with which he performs his work, and his capability of adapting himself readily to mechanical improvements, it was admitted by every manufacturer to whom I spoke upon the subject, that, with the sole advantage of cheapness of labor, they could not compete with English manufacturers; and they feared the recent restric tions of labor in Prussia would affect the power of production: for the Prussian factory-operative labors at least ten hours per week more than his English competitor; and, if employed at the loom in his own house, his labor is not restricted even to those additional hours."

And again, in 1855, after visiting some of the French establishments at Rheims, Rouen, Lille, Roubaix, &c., I was satisfied that Englishmen and English factories had nothing to fear in comparison with our neighbors: and to draw the comparison closer, which I am able to do by referring to the details of some large cotton-spinning mills, both in this country and abroad, I find, that, in the largest spinning-factories in Austria, the proportion of persons employed to spindles has not reached so high as one person to ninety spindles, except in one case; viz., a factory in Bohemia, containing one machine numbering a hundred and forty-four spindles minded by one man.

In Bavaria, the cotton-spinning trade is of recent introduction; and the factories are described as well built, and containing excellent machinery: yet I find, in two of the principal establishments, one of 95,000 spindles and 1,200 hands; the other, of 46,000 spindles and 600 hands, that the proportion of persons employed to spindles is, in one case, 1 to 90; in the other, 1 to 80.

That I have not overrated the superiority of the English operative as a workman capable of getting through his work in a manner very much superior to the foreign artisan, I may refer to the table of the number of spindles and of persons employed in foreign cotton-manufactories. The comparison which I propose to make is perhaps not strictly accurate, as representing what an English spinner can do, and what a foreigner can perform; but it is generally correct, as showing the number of spindles compared with the number of persons in the same factory. The average is as follows:

Woollen and Worsted.
Linen, &c.
Bilk.

It is not, perhaps, necessary to pursue these comparisons further. As far as they go, they prove that in our cotton factories is embarked more than one-half of the capí tal embarked in similar establishments in the whole world. They prove that the industrious populations of Austria and France produce, in comparison, only one-fifth, and one-third of the quantity of cotton goods produced at home; or, if allowance be made for the difference of the population of the three countries, Austria produces only one-sixth and France one-fourth of the cotton produced in this country. They prove that our population can afford twice and three times the amount of clothing indulged in by the Austrians and French; and they prove also, that, while we not only clothe ourselves with comparative luxury, we send to every part of the globe, and we will send to them if they will admit them, as many of our moderately priced comforts and luxuries of clothing as they may require, and thus we may help to raise the comforts of our neigh bors to a degree of equality with our own.

ADVANTAGES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AS A MANUFACTURING COUNTRY.

The rapid extension of manufacturing by motive machinery in this country gave to manufacturers a start in the race of commerce, which has been held for some time. The power to import English machinery, and the vigor of our manufacturers, have not been thrown away upon foreign manufacturers. We see the factory system developing itself more and more abroad. The hand-loom is being supplanted by the power-loom,

the Small States of Germany, one persou to the United Kingdom, one person to

But, referring to the principal cotton-spinning factories of my own district, I find that the proportion in the cotton-spinning factories of Lancashire, in 1856, was 1 person to 180 spindles. This does not mean that one person was employed in minding only 180 spindles; but that the proportion of persons of all classes in the whole of the spinning-factories in Lancashire was 1 in 180. I do not know the size of the spinningmules abroad; but, in this country, it is not uncommon for a man and two assistants to mind 2.200 and 2,400 spindles. Contrast the painful efforts of the old spinner, laboriously turning his wheel with one hand, and with the other producing the solitary thread, with the three well-paid operatives, producing 2,400 threads at once, and turning off daily 220 lbs. of yarn, measuring 400 miles in length.

Then, as regards the raw material, I believe the advantage will always remain with this country, from our superiority as merchant-carriers, from the command of capital for improvements in the transport of produce, and from the immense quantity con sumed in this country, which will give our market the preference.

It is generally believed that the capital required for the building, plant, and working of a factory in this country is considerably more than would be required abroad. I am not able to offer an opinion upon this point. The sum required for the erection and machinery of a cotton-factory has been so variously estimated, that it is difficult to arrive at a correct result. It has been usual to calculate the expense at so much per spindle; and this estimate varies from 13s. 6d. to 26s. 6d. per spindle: but, in Austria, it is stated that the average estimate is 12 florins, or £1 per spindle; and, in Bavaria, the estimate of the two factories to which I have already referred, more than £1 per spindle. But I am firmly persuaded, that our freedom from fiscal and police restraints gives so great an advantage to our manufacturers, as to compensate for a greater outlay of capital in buildings and machinery. . .

No. 108.

ECONOMY OF MATERIAL, AND IMPROVED PROCESSES.

Within a very few years, the economy of the factory has been greatly improved in this country. There are the improvements in machinery, the whole of which have for their object the substitution of the iron frame for the human hand. There is increasing economy in the use of materials, the utilization of waste substances, and the remanufacture of old materials. The breaking-up of existing machinery, and the substitution of new, is a marked feature in the present era of manufactures. I scarcely spend a day among the cotton-factories of Lancashire, that I do not find, in one or more, either lengthening of spinning-machines, redistribution of preparatory processes, or introduction of new machinery. At one of my recent visits to a cotton-factory, the intelligent proprietor referred to a room in which he had had new machinery within the last two years; and he was about to replace it with new, which would require one hand less to tend it, and would produce one-fourth more work. The cost of the alteration would be covered in less than a year. A remarkable instance of the economy of labor is to be found in the substitution of cylinder-printing of calicoes, &c., for block-printing, by which one man and one boy do the work of one hundred men and one hundred boys; and this mode of printing has been brought to such perfection, that ten colors can now be printed at once. Another instance of the remarkable advance of improve ment came under my notice still more recently. Some new machinery was pointed out to me, in a newly built factory, of such remarkable self-acting power, that I have obtained from the proprietor the following particulars in respect to it.

The process is for preparing wool up to the spinning.

The plan in general use a few years since, for the same amount of work as performed by the new machinery, required the following hands:

But, with this new preparatory machinery, he has put up improved spinning. machines; and here again he dispenses with the labor of six men and nine young persons and women, out of forty-four persons: so that, instead of employing thirty-three men and seventy-four young persons and women, he only employs thirteen men and twenty-nine women and young persons. These improvements have been chiefly caused by the scarcity of labor. The woollen hand-loom, of which there has been a large number, is being rapidly replaced by the power-loom, and chiefly because of the dimi nished quantity of adult male labor; and, in the cotton-districts, there has been for some time a considerable deficiency. And we may look for continued improvements in manufacturing processes, which will be necessary to meet the increasing demand for textile fabrics; but these innovations are not always against the interest of the operative. If a manufacturer cannot find hands sufficient for his factory, and I know many whose complement is never filled, they must replace, if possible, their old machinery with that which performs more work with less human aid: and it does not follow that the price of human labor is diminished as a consequence of these alterations; for we have seen, at Nottingham especially, where the old stocking-frames have been succeeded by what are called round-abouts and rotary frames moved by steam-power, that the stocking-weaver is able to earn very considerably more at these new frames, which have reduced the price of at least one-half of certain classes of hosiery, than he could at the old stocking-frame.

There is, doubtless, greater care in the use of the various substances requisite in the operations of a factory than formerly; but there is still room for greater economy. For instance, the consumption of grease and oil is no small item in the current expenses of a factory: but it has been used with a. careless waste, covering the floors with grease, which accumulates; and the dirt sometimes forms a thick, uneven crust over the whole factory. But the use of self-feeding apparatus, and of cans for delivering the exact quantity of oil required by each spindle and wheel, has tended greatly to economize the use of an expensive material, and to render the rooms clean and healthy. I am assured that a saving of one-fifth of oil might be effected by a careful lubrication of the machinery. The adoption of cleanliness, and of improved methods of ventila tion, I conceive to be most important elements in the economic use of the material A well-ventilated room, clean floors as well as walls, and proper change of air, will enable a man to work with more vigor and attention than if he were confined in a room, close, ill-ventilated, and reeking of grease and dust.

"man."

There are several factories in my district, in which all these improvements have been carried out in a liberal and discriminating spirit. I can bear testimony to the cheerful and healthy condition of the persons employed; while I am assured by the proprietors, that, in promoting all these plans for the physical amelioration and comfort of their hands, they consider, as manufacturers, that their work is better and more expeditiously done.

It has been well said by Lord Palmerston, that dirt is only to be condemned when it is in the wrong place. Now, a factory is certainly not the place for the accumulation of dirt; nor is the stream which flows in its vicinity the proper place for its reception. All offensive and dirty matters used to be freely discharged into the nearest stream: but now the dirty and greasy washings of factories and herein I allude chiefly to woollen and worsted factories are conducted to a tank; and, by a very simple process, the watery particles are discharged, and the residuum is reconverted into a fatty substance, largely used for candles and the manufacture of soap. In one establishment alone, I am assured that a profit of £800 a year, after paying a rent of £200 to some neighboring factories for their refuse, is made by this conversion to useful purposes of the dirt which formerly polluted the stream and neighborhood.

It has been found that old materials form very good substitutes for new. The bits of raw cotton which do not pass through the machines, the ends of rovings and yarn, the flaws which are broken off, are all carefully preserved, and undergo several modes of preparation, by which they become serviceable for various purposes. It is the same

with wool, with flax, and with silk; but the chief utilization of old materials is in the manufacture of new coats out of old. A Polish Jew, or an Italian beggar, is generer considered one of the dirtiest objects with which we can come in contact; yet it is t impossible that some of us may at this moment, happily unconscious of our f wearing some portion of the cast-off habiliments of a Polish Jew. Ceats, trussen &c., after having been well worn in this country, are shipped off for the German pen and after having been distributed where most in request, and thoroughly used up a garments, they return to us as woollen rags. They are sorted into qualities; and tog then go through a machine called a "devil," which tears up the bits of cloth, as delivers them out as wool, which undergoes again the various processes of cardig spinning, &c., and, being mixed with new wool, again becomes cloth.

It is calculated that at least 45,000,000 lbs. of woollen rags are annually consum which is about one-fifth of the whole of the material, new or old, now used in t manufacture of woollen cloth. Twenty-five years ago, the price of the best wa rags averaged about £1. 4s. per ton; but the present demand for them has ruled the price to £1 per ton. When these rags were first introduced, and for some y afterwards, they were only of use if they contained nothing but wool originally; ot the demand became so pressing, that the rags of fabrics made of cotton and word, and of cotton and worsted, are no longer rejected. They undergo a process called "estrage tion," by which the cotton is destroyed, and the woollen fibre is preserved and util Although rags are very generally used in woollen factories, they are principally ma factured at Dewsbury, Batley, and the neighborhood near Leeds; in which it a estimated that from 7,000,000 to 8,000,000 of yards of cloth are annually manus tured, of the value of £1,500,000.

CONCLUSION.

I have thus endeavored, but I feel with indifferent success, to point out a few of the incidents in the manufacturing of textile fabrics in this country. It may be try said, that we clothe the whole world; for we export annually, of calico and woven ea goods alone, sufficient to make an under-garment for every man, woman, and chin the universe. The cotton-yarn annually spun in this country, reckoning it to be of an average size, would reach 600,000 times round the earth; and our looms produce annually 3,000,000,000 of yards of calico.

The cotton-factories contain one-half of the cotton-spindles of the rest of the war'! and can produce cotton better and cheaper than in any other country. They spind.. 50,000,000 of miles of yarn, from which our looms weave daily 10,000,000 yards calico or other goods.

1

Can it be wondered at, that there is a party of politicians called the "Manchester School"? It is common for us to condemn those who seek to maintain class-interests but do not all endeavor to support their own class? The army and navy, land-owTJP%, coal-owners, iron-masters, all keep their own interests before them: the manufacturis do the same. They have wealth; they have intelligence; and the 6,000 or 7,000) 12% ters have the responsibility of being, in the aggregate, the mainstay of nearly one-f of the population of the country. Let it be considered to what infinite ramiticati the effects of short time are felt, and felt most by those who receive the lowest rate of remuneration, and who are the least provident of all, and the weight of the responsite lity of these manufacturers will be seen to be no light one; and fairly may they ma tain, with no selfish views, that it is the duty of a government to secure "the amount of happiness for the greatest number."

REMARKS OF MR. P. L. SIMMONDS.

greatest

Mr. Simmonds said, that having lately had to prepare new editions of Dr. Ure's "History of the Cotton Manufactures," Ure's "Philosophy of Manufactures," and other commercial works, specially treating of the textile manufactures, he had necessary become familiar with the extraordinary progress which had been made in all, whether is this or in foreign countries, in the last quarter of a century. The subject, however, wis so comprehensive, that it would only be possible to allude to one or two commercial and statistical facts bearing upon it. Unfortunately, as Mr. Redgrave had observed, there were but very insufficient data available as to the manufacturing industries in forcin countries to enable us to institute any thing like fair comparisons. The parama importance of the textile manufactures of this kingdom, both as regarded the soul progress, comfort of the people, and extension of foreign commerce and civilization, no one would be disposed to deny; seeing that they gave employment to one-fifth of the population, and that we had twice as many spindles at work, and (within 14,00) or 15,000) nearly as many operatives employed thereon, as all the countries of the cos tinent of Europe. But, as had been well pointed out by Mr. Redgrave, the subsidury employment given to many other trades should be taken into consideration; and, if these could be estimated in any way, they would be found also to reach a very large For instance, even in the case of skips, or baskets, which had been alluded to, the aggregate cost of these must be something considerable; for he knew, that, in one factory, the cost of the stock of skips amounted to £2,600. Highly as he appreciated the very interesting paper which had been read, he could have wished that Mr. Redgrave had brought down his statistics to a later period. The year 1856, just after the conclusion of the Russian war, was scarcely a fair criterion to judge of the progress and position of our factories, spindles, and their produce at the present time. Mr. Redgrave, from his official position, might have been able to bring down the returns of factories and spindles to a later period than four years ago. And so with the exports and home consumption: official returns existed, and data were available, from th estimates might have been framed for even the past year. In contrast with the return submitted by Mr. Redgrave for 1856, he would offer the following estimate, as a closer approximation, he thought, to the position of the four great textile industries at the present time, or for 1860:

sum.

Now, in explanation of this table, he would offer a few remarks. Firstly, with respect to cotton. The value of the manufactures consumed in this country, it was difficult to arrive at. Messrs. Du Fay and Co., and other competent authorities, went so far as to estimate it, a few years ago, at one-third more than that exported; but he considered this too high now. Indeed, it was questionable whether as much was used up here as was shipped; although there were numberless ways in which cotton was worked up, as had been already stated by Messrs. Bazley and Baines, in mixed fabrics, in paper, and for many economic purposes, which ought to be considered in the esti mate. Our exports of cotton manufactures and yarn had certainly doubled in the last ten years. In 1850, we shipped £28,400,000; in 1855, £34,800,000; and, in 1860, £52,000,000. The imports of raw cotton had also doubled in the same period. In 1850, wo received 6034 million pounds; in 1855, 892 million pounds; and, in 1860, 1,391 million pounds. Passing next to wool and worsted, for he would take these two manufactures together, the value of the trade had progressed more favorably than even Mr. Baines had stated; although it had the disadvantages of high price for raw material, and difficulties of labor, which had been so clearly pointed out. With respect to the home-production of wool, Mr. Baines estimated it at 175,000,000 lbs.; he (Mr. Simmonds) calculated it at 200,000,000 lbs.: but these opinions were, of course, conjectural; although he had taken some pains to arrive at an approximation to the truth. The net imports of foreign and colonial wool (less the re-exports) were, in 1850, 64,000,000 lbs.; in 1855, 70,000,000 lbs.; and, in 1860, 118,000,000 lbs. The imports of woollen manufactures, including yarn, &c., had been to the value of £9,000,000 in 1850, £7,700,000 in 1855 (a year of war), and £16,000,000 in 1860. He thought he was not far wrong in estimating an equal amount for home-consumption, in a country where warm clothing was so essentially necessary, and so generally used by all classes. He would pass next to the linen-trade. There were more than 100,000 acres under culture with flax in Ireland, and at least £12,000,000 of capital employed in the trade. Our foreign supplies of flax had been declining; for in 1850 we received 1,822,918 cwts., while in each of the past years we had received less than 14 million cwts. But there was a fibrous material brought in, and largely worked up now at

Dundee with flax, which ought not to be lost sight of; and that was jute, of which we imported upwards of 1,000,000 cwts. in 1859, -a quadruple increase since 1853. Our exports of linen manufactures had not increased very rapidly: the value of the shipments in 1850 and 1855 was £5,000,000; and, in 1800, £6,600,000; but the bulk of this manufacture was used at home, and was fully double the value of that exported. The last textile for notice was silk; and here, too, the principal quantity made was used at home. The value of the exports stood in the following order: 1850, £1,250,000; 1855, £1,524,000; 1860, £2,400,000. On this textile, having no cther data to go upon, he was content to take the estimates of Mr. Redgrave for 1856. The total value, from the data and estimates he had submitted, showed an increase of fully 50 per cent upon the returns submitted by Mr. Redgrave; and, even making all reasonable deductions for error, they would give, he thought, a fairer estimate of the magnitude of the trade, and of the present aggregate value of the textile industries of the king. dom. There was but one other point he would touch upon; and that was the inciden tal mention made of the utilization of waste substances, the collection of the blowings and droppings, the recovered grease in the wool-factories, the reconversion of old rags, and mixed fabrics, &c. These had risen into such importance, that woollen rags, at one time worth only £4, now, we were told, fetched £40, per ton. He was glad to find that these secondary products were not considered beneath notice by Mr. Redgrave, since he (Mr. Simmonds) had been taken to task rather severely lately for dwelling upon them in a paper which he read before the Society. The use of these had been stigmatized as a fraud upon the consumers, and a disgrace to the manufacturers and to the country; but, in truth, the reconversion of old wool was a matter of neces ity, arising from the dearth of raw material and the demand for cheap goods. The incidental mention of these, and the extent to which they were used, would at least, he hoped, have the effect of causing more attention to be given to the extended production of all the staples for textile industries so much in demand among our manufacturers, aud upon which the comfort of the people, the wealth of the country, and the extension of our foreign trade, were so largely dependent.

THE number of persons in Lancashire directly engaged in the various branches of the Cotton Trade, in 1859, is estimated at 400,000 persons. The wages paid to these 400,000 persons in Lancashire, at the present average rate of 10s. 34d. per week, would amount to £205,833 per week, or £10,653,000 per annum.

It is estimated that 28,000,000. spindles and 300,000 looms are employed in cotton spinning and weaving in Lancashire. It has been estimated that the cost of a pinning-mill and all the requisite preparing machinery is from 23s. to 24s. per spindle; and of a weaving establishment, £24 per loom: and that the value of the present mills and machinery is 18s. per spindle, and £24 per loom.

:

Annual average from each furnace

Soon afterwards, the difficulties in the way of using coal were overcome, and the manufacture extended rapidly. The number of charcoal furnaces decreased, but the quantity produced by each was considerably increased. The following table shows the state of the trade in 1788:

From that time to the present, the manufacture has steadily increated. The f lowing tables give the state of the trade in 1851-57: the particulars are extracted in 1 the Mining Records, published under the direction of Mr. R. Hunt, in comodi with the Museum of Practical Geology, London. The importance which Scotland la assumed in reference to the iron-manufacture is especially worthy of notice.

ENGLAND:

Lancashire and Cumberland

50,950

cuke

n

2

19

Total quantity of charcoal-iron in Britain in 1788

Total quantity of iron in Britain in 1788

"

1740

Increased produce of pig-iron.

About the year 1796, it was contemplated by Mr. Pitt to add to the revenue by a tax on coal. This met with a powerful opposition on the part of the manufacturers and consumers, especially those in the iron-trade. A committee was appointed, witnesses were examined, and the measure abandoned as unwise and impracticable. The following table exhibits an abstract of the facts collected, and shows the rapid progress of the iron-trade in the eight preceding years: —

The mean average price of the pig-iron, "mixed numbers," deduced from all the sales of the year, was £3. 10s. 2d.; which gives the market value of the pig-iron made as £12,838,560 per annum. If we assume that the make of iron has increased in the same rate since 1857, it must now amount to 4,250,000 tons.

In connection with the above, we insert the following table from Mr. Kenyon Blackwell's paper on the Iron Industry of Great Britain, read before the Society of Arts. It gives the estimated production of crude iron in the various countries.

The following table gives the annual production of steel in various countries:

In referring to the above, it will be seen that Great Britain produces as much crude iron as all other countries put together; and a great portion of that iron, being converted into bars and plates, indicates a large and important article of production, article of immense value to the country, of great demand at home and abroad, and justly entitled, not only to improvements and economy in its manufacture, but to the generous support of a liberal and an enlightened government.

NOTE. To produce a ton of pig-iron requires about three tons of coal.