AND ON THE CONTINENT.

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people, of which I made up several, reminded me of those of theZittau hand-weavers mentioned by Rechenberg (2).

Interesting observations were made in this direction by a hand-weaver from Macclesfield , formerly president of the trade societyof the hand-weavers-—since dissolved—on a journey to the Con-tinent in company with the President of the Macclesfield Chamberof Commerce (3). His report shows that the position of the hand-weavers in Macclesfield is worse than that of their like at Crefeld.“ It is not to- be denied,” says the report, “ that the hand-weaversof Crefeld are far better clothed than the weavers at Macclesfield ”(page 24). “We came to the conclusion,” continues the report,“that the average wages of the -weavers at Crefeld were higher,and the standard of their social comfort was better, than inMacclesfield ; that extreme poverty, in which a greater portion ofour cottage weavers are involved, does not exist in Crefeld ” (p.26). On the other hand, the report says in regard to Maccles-field : “If lower wages are a means against the dying-out of anindustry, Macclesfield ought to-day to be one of the most flourish-ing communities in the world” (page 38). “No silk weavers onthe whole of the Continent have such long hours of labour as ourweavers” (page 47).

In spite of all this it is not to be denied that the industry ofMacclesfield is being strangled by a continuous decline; that it isbeaten, especially by Crefeld, in the English market itself (4).This is due to various reasons. For one, the better accommo-dating of Crefeld to- the taste of the market, especially of theLondon market, thanks to the better technical instruction, thesuperiority in designs and colours, etc. The consequences ofthese are that- the weavers in Crefeld have far more regular em-ployment, that they also receive longer warps than in Macclesfield (150 ells against 20 to 40 ells). The German industry possesseshere, therefore, according to this report, in a peculiar degree thatadvantage, as far as this is possible in the branch of a hand andluxury industry, which otherwise in general (for instance, also

2. Compare pp. 42 and 43.

3. “ A Macclesfield Handloom Silk Weaver at Lyons, Zurich, and Crefeld,”1886. The publication of the report of the journey was refused by theChamber of Commerce at Macclesfield . For a glance at the report I amindebted to the gentleman who travelled with him.

4. Thus the report of the Travelling Commission closed with the words •—“ Give hack to injured Macclesfield her trade, long lost to Crefeld.”

P