Industrial England

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 8, 20 April 1911, Page 7

Industrial England

Sir Henry Truemnn AY nod, wlm is FV*"ro+n.vv of the "Royal Sorbet-*' of Art:-, >.."" written a work of no small interest an-' 1 vsilue J j the student of the lndnstvifil histoid of England. The tit]- is "Tnibvtrial "Eaicland in th° Middle of the Eighteenth Century" (London: John Miii-ray"). Most people have read of the Industrial Revolution Avhick folloAved the introduction of machinery and the improvement of the steam-en pi ne. and the application generally of scientific principles to arts and manufactures. From the revolution so effected came the development of the factory system, the destruction of the old domestic industries and the concentration of the people into cities, Avith its accompanying effects on the conditions, of agriculture. But Avhat feAV people are acquainted Avith is the state of affairs industrial previous to the change being made, when it Avas impending. "The author traces and describes the growth of the chief British industries and has gathered together a mass of interesting and. often very curious facts. IBs account, for instance, of the growth into importance of the cotton and woollen industries is full of out-of-the-way information, much of which we do not remember to have met with in other Avorks. Early m ~he eighteenth century there Avas .a strong desire to protect + he wool industry, indeed England, uoav the world's greo,b=-«t producer of cotton goods. was ac-tuallv the last to adopt the manufacture of cotton. as late as 1866 it Avas a loenal offence for any woman to Avear a' dress made of Indian calico. The author quotes from Leeky a curious case tried at the Guildhall of a lady Avho was accused of wearing a handkerchief of French cambric, the culprit being fined .£2OO. In the same year an attorney named Brecknock avenged liimseli upon Lord Oamden by laying an information before Judge Fielding that tn Chief Justice and three other judges "wore cambric bands in court, contrary to the Act of Parliament/ To those Avho believe that slavery was always a purely foreign institution may be commended the fact that until quite the end of the eighteenth century, the Avorkers in the

Scots coal mines were absolute slaves or serfs. The author says: However the custom arose, it is certain that up to 1775 the colliers' (and also the salters) were literally and legally slaves. A child who did not enter the mine was free, but with this almost nominal exception the colliers were born into slavery, and. continued slaves during their lives. They were sold Avith the mines, and Avere under the absolute domination of the owner, so long as he did not kill or torture them. In 1775 an Act Avas passed for their gradual liberation ; but this seems to have been ineffective, and the practice Avas only abolished by another Act of 1799. The special value of the work lies in the fact that it contains in a collected and readily accessible form information previously scattered about in trade aim local histories. The author has been assisted by Avell known authorities on various branches of industry—the section on ship-building, for instance, is contributed by Sir William White, the emiinent naval designer, and as he always notifies the sources of his information the bibliographical value of the work is by no means small. An excellent index is a Avelcome feature of a book, a copy of which should be found in every public library, and which is specially suitable for the book shelves of technical schools and similar institutions.