INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISE.

Southland Times, Issue 1205, 4 February 1870, Page 3

INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISE.

Sir Titus Salt, Bart., of Saltaire, one of the newly-created baronets, was born in 1830, being the son of Daniel Salt, Esq., of Morley, near Leeds, and as he is one of those creators of new methods of increasing the comfort and wealth of mankind by manufacturing skill, some account of the marvellous results of his enterprise will be interesting. The peculiar achievement of his invention is that of introducing the 'wool; of the South American alpaca into the'tfextile manufactures of this country. Since then it has been worked up in a variety of combinations with silks or cotton warp threads, and sometimes with mohair, to produce fabrics of different kinds of texture, having different degrees of softness and fineness, but all possessing, a brilliant lustre, . and the quality of durable strength. The vast establishment at Saltaire, erected by Mr Salt nearly eighteen years ago for the accommodation of this branch of industry, and of his other works, is one of the most admirable monuments of true liberality of conception, and of ability to organise and execute a grand design, as well as of the power of commercial capital and credit sagaciously employed. The opening festival, attended by half the nobility and landed gentry of the county, as well as by the neighboring millowners and merchants of. Bradford, Leeds, and Mancheater, was a memorable event in the history of Yorkshire. This substantial and handsome building, of the light brown stone quarried in that district, covers a space of twelve acres, being 550 feet in length, and stands in six stories, 72 feet high, with a front of Italian architecture, extending parallel to the line of railway from Bradford to Skipton and Lancaster, in the green valley of the Aire, surrounded by the bold Yorkshire hills. The railway and the canal and river, spanned by, an iron tubular bridge, afford convenient access for traffic. The resident population of 3,000 or 4,000 souls, who subsist on the employment afforded by these great works, dwell in a village, or rather a little town, which Mr Salt has built for their habitation. It is laid out with perfect neatness and order, pomprising hundreds of small houses, arranged upon a consistent plan, which is devised on good sanitary principles ; and it contains every needful institution, churches, parsonages, and Disenters' meeting houses ; a covered market with shops ; schools, lecture halls, libraries, and other means for the social improvement of the people. It forms a complete industrial colony, worthily bearing the name of its founder. Mr Salt, as head of the firm of Titus Salt, Sons, and Co., has borne a part in promoting the corporate and mercantile interests of Bradford, having served the office of Mayor of that town, and of president of the local chamber of commerce. He is also an active county and borough magistrate. He was elected M.P. for the borough in May, 1859, and held his seat till 1861 as a decided political Liberal. He retired only because the midnight sittings of the House of Commons did not suit his healths One of his most recent acts has been a donation of £5,000 to the Bradford Fever Hospital;* besidea a small annual endowment. Sir Titus, as we must call him, married in 1859 a daughter of G-eorge Whitlum, Esq., of Great Grimsby, and has several children.

A Shobt Eitlb fob Assubeks. — The Saturday Review says that a rule derived from the history and position of the best life assurance offices is that the accumulated fund of a sound society . should be at least eight times the., amount of the annual premiums, or should be at least one-fourth of the money assured. The position of the beat offices would be much more truly described by saying that their accummulated fund is ten times the amount of their premium revenue, or one-third of the sum assured, and there are offices which have a fund twenty times .the amount of their premium revenue. But the insurer need not apply a rule which only. a few offices could satisfy^ and the rule which would bid him be content with' eight times the annual premiums is quite safe. Almost every society publishes the amount of its premium revenue, because it makes a great show to parade the receipt of a j large yearly income. When, therefore, an | insurer has an office proposed to him, he should simply multiply the premium revenue by eight, and decline to insure in that office unless the last returns show that the society has an accumulated fund, invented in first- class securities specifically described, equal to eight times the premium revenue. Of course there are many excellent, sound, trustworthy offices which do not possess an accumulated fund eight times the amount of their premium revenue. Young offices cannot possibly possess such a fund; But then J insurers ought to have somedistirictreason for insuring in a young office. Physical Changes. — The changes taking place on the surface of the earth with which the hand of man has nothing to do, are very remarkable. Jersey and Guernsey are slawly sinking. People anxious to see them need not as yet be iv any hurry; but their places will, perhaps, some day, be marked by lightships, anchored to what is now fertile soil. Meanwhile, new islands rise in another hemisphere, and Chili and Sweden are being slowly elevated, to attain a height no man can guess. To these changes, as we said, man contributes nothing ; but he has a hand in effecting changes which, it is calculated or speculated, may alter the features of an entire continent. We have read something lately of the natural desire of the Grovernment . to preserve the forests of India. Deprived of them India would soon become a desert like Sahara, but : should Sahara become covered with forests, what would be the consequences to Europe ? In truth, the desert is being slowly encroached upon. Wells are | being sunk, and around each well the [desert begins to blossom.