AND ON THE CONTINENT.

01

tice and much hand labour. In 1S50 there were in liouldsworth’sline spinning-mills 7 - 5 operatives per 1,000 spindles; as earlyas 1885, in the same mill, not more than 3 operatives.

By the following figures is clearly shown the great advantagewhich Lancashire enjoys by reason of this state of affairs, even incomparison with its own past days, as well as against its presentcompetitors. l’ei- 1,000 spindles and accessory preparingmachinerv there were at the commencement of the “ eighties ”( 20 ):- '

In Bombay ,, Italy „ Alsace ..„ Mulhouse

25 operatives13 „

9-5 „

7*5 ,,

In Germany (1KG1)„ „ (1S82)

,. England (1837)„ „ (1887)

20 operatives

8-9

n

n

3

ii

According to the Enquete, there were in Germany itself the mostextreme variations. Whilst in Baden and Suabia only 6 opera-tives were employed to 1,000 spindles, this number increased inSilesia to 14‘75 operatives (21).

On the other hand, India shows us, since 1884, extraordinarydevelopments, about which details follow. There can be no* doubtthat Germany also has reduced the number of operatives per 1,000spindles since the Enquete. From a great quantity of materialslying before me for 1891 and 1892 I cull the following, which,however, refer solely to leading and technically distinguishedspinning-mills. The average for Germany is certainly higher : —

Switzerland , per 1,000 spindles

(> 2 operatives

Mulhouse ,,

5’8

Baden and Wiirttemberg, per 1,000 spindles ..Bavaria , per 1,000 spindles

Saxony (new and splendid spinning-mills). )

G*2 „

6’8

7.9

per 1,000 spindles .. .. .. (

<n

Vosges (old spinning-mills)

8*9 „

Russia

1GG ,,

The average counts of yarn spun by all the spinning-mills men-tioned are between 20’s and 30’s. The table shows the mostfavourable conditions for the south-west corner of Germany , where

20. Compare Manchester Chamber of Commerce (“Bombay and Lanca-

shire.” p. 2), according to which 30,000 spindles in Bombay require 750operatives; and Jeans: Statis. Soc. (Dec. 1884), p. G65. Similarly Merttens;Manchester Statistical Society, April 18th, 1894, p. 1G9. The report of theGerman “ Enquetekommission ” for Cotton and Linen Industry, p. 8, givesthe figures for 18G1. Further, compare Jannasch: “ Die europiiische

Baumwollindustrie” (1882), p. 53; Andrew: “Fifty Years’ Cotton Trade,”

p. 2.

21. “ Protokolle,” pp. 3, 33, 397 ; further, pp. 19, 54, 73, 98, 289. Statist.Ermittl, I., 1G.