Flemings are beginning to compete with us, and the American tariff operated injuriously on heavy goods. The japanners (about 500 in number) have not experienced these reverses; their earnings vary from 20s. to 30s. a week.

The great depression in the hardware manufacture will appear from the subjoined summary of prices.

A STATEMENT of the Comparative Prices of Hardware Articles in and near Birmingham for Four several Periods.

The exertions making by foreigners to improve their manufactures, preclude the hope of any general and permanent advance in the scale of wages in this country. Our mechanical superiority is declin

ing. The latest machines introduced into the cotton trade are of foreign invention, and even in the remotest part of the continent machinery on the English plan is invariably employed. In lieu of an advance in wages, we must look forward to a reduction in the price of food by the repeal of our impolitic Corn - laws. Without cheap food, we cannot have low wages; still low wages are indispensable to successful competition in the markets of the continent.

To show our relation to the foreigner in this respect, I shall abridge from the Westminster Review (No. 36) a short statement of the Cotton Trade abroad; it will also afford useful points of comparison of the rate of wages, employment of chil dren, and hours of working in this country and on the continent.

The

France. In 1831, a population of 200,000 was employed in the cotton manufacture in this country. The average wages paid are 5s. 8d. a week. hours of labour are generally twelve; and fourteen in Alsace. Power-looms have not made much way in France, but in Alsace their number is increasing fast, and they succeed well. In 1830, France exported cotton goods to the amount of 2,192,2407. of which 1,483,6407. were printed cottons.

Switzerland. The population employed in the cotton manufacture, is at least 28,000, and children are admitted into the factories at ten years of age. The hours of labour average eighty per week, and are often fourteen a day. The average wages paid are 4s. 5d. No. 40 twist can be produced, every thing included, at 14 d. per lb. when the raw material costs 83d. In England, with cotton at the same price, it costs 14d. As nearly as can be calculated, the average wages in an English coarse mill are 8s. 4d. The fine twills of the Swiss, and the better descrip

tion of prints, have successfully competed with the English.

Prussia and the Rhenish Provinces.-Here the cotton manufacture is extending, though it has not reached any considerable extent. The number of persons employed on spinning alone is 9000. They work sometimes twelve, but oftener fifteen or sixteen hours a day. Power-looms have been introduced into the Rhenish provinces. Wages not ascertained.

Saxony. In this country, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Elberfield, the cotton manufacture is just commencing. Children are admitted at six or seven years of age, and the hours of labour are twelve a day. The average wages paid, are about 3s. 6d. a week. They can compete successfully with English yarn as high as No. 50 for warp, and No. 80 for weft.

Austria. The cotton manufacture is rapidly advancing in Hungary, Austria Proper, and the Tyrol. It is, however, of recent growth. Children enter the mills at eight years of age. In the Tyrol, the average wages are 3s. 9d., and they can produce No. 40 twist at 15 d. per lb. when the raw material is 8 d.

India.-Spinning manufactories are only just commencing their existence; but the vicinity of the raw material and the excessive cheapness of labour afford great advantages. There is a mill containing the best machinery, and 20.000 spindles lately established about twelve miles from Calcutta. They work seven days in the week, and eleven hours a day in winter, and thirteen or fourteen in summer. A spinner gets 7s. a month; a piecer 3s. to 4s.

United States of America. From a report to Congress in 1832, it appears the quantity of cotton yarn produced was 67,862,652 lbs. The number

of males employed, 18,539; of females, 38,927; total, 57,466. The average wages of each person employed was 14s. 11d. The average for all ages in a cotton mill in England are about 10s. and when many power-looms are employed, 12s.

XXIII.-DIET, DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND MORALS OF THE MANUFACTURING POPULATION.

"The population," says Dr. Kay, "employed in the cotton factories, rises at five o'clock in the morning, works in the mills from six till eight o'clock, and returns home for half an hour or forty minutes to breakfast. This meal generally consists of tea or coffee, with a little bread. Oatmeal porridge is sometimes, but of late rarely used, and chiefly by the men; but the stimulus of tea is preferred, and especially by the women. The tea is almost always of a bad, and sometimes of a deleterious quality; the infusion is weak, and little or no milk is added. The operatives return to the mills and workshops until twelve o'clock, when an hour is allowed for dinner. Amongst those who obtain the lower rates of wages, this meal generally consists of boiled potatoes. The mess of potatoes is put into one large dish; melted lard and butter are poured upon them, and a few pieces of fried fat bacon are sometimes mingled with them, and but seldom a little meat. Those who obtain better wages, or families whose aggregate income is larger, add a greater proportion of animal food to this meal, at least three times in the week; but the quantity consumed by the labouring population is not great. The family sits round the table, and each rapidly appropriates his portion on a plate, or they all plunge their spoons into the dish, and with an animal eagerness

satisfy the cravings of their appetite. At the expiration of the hour, they are all again employed in the workshops or mills, where they continue until seven o'clock, or a later hour, when they generally again indulge in the use of tea, often mingled with spirits accompanied by a little bread. Oatmeal or potatoes are however taken by some a second time in the evening. The comparatively innutritious qualities of these articles of diet are most evident.*"

It is not from actual distress many workpeople use this unsatisfactory and noxious diet, but from bad habits and management. A large proportion of them have wages sufficient to supply them with solid and wholesome food, were they well laid out, instead of being squandered in vain luxuries or enervating excess. To preserve them in health, their diet ought to consist of animal food, wheaten bread, and malt liquor, and not much liquor of other kinds. From the long hours of labour, and close atmosphere in which they are confined, the operative feels the necessity of some artificial stimulus. Coffee, tea, and beer of good quality are most suitable for this purpose. Instead of relying on these in moderate quantities, what do the manufacturing labourers do? Many of those receiving the highest wages are in the habit of spending a portion of their leisure after working hours, especially on a Saturday evening and during the Sunday, in besotting them

* The Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes employed in the Cotton Manufacture in Manchester. 2nd edit. pp. 23-4. By James Phillip Kay, M. D., London, 1832.

It is remarked in one of the parliamentary reports on prisons, that persons in confinement, especially if it be solitary, require better and more substantial fare than those at liberty. The reason assigned is the depression and exhaustion of spirits consequent on the want of objects to engage the attention, and this applies to the monotonous occupations of manufacturers and artisans.