The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-23 00:00:00

Lambs lees than lest week, sad 152 Cattle and 1,504 Sheep and
L.rabs more than the corresponding week List 'tor. Priem remain
unchanged Pena last week's quo ati ns.
Nott&ICH, Sept. 20.—Our market exhibited a tolerable
show Ist store cattle; trade was du.l MI buy. C. few; and nearly hAtt
temaieed ans-ld at Met we pt Les. Fat Beasts small thaw, and
trot. very dui at6.l. to C.. p^r stone. The pen, badly filled ;
Isnubs • good sate. Ewes of on sips a dull !de. a.. 1 not bad rol I.
Fat Kamp GC to W. Cdt per stone, and rot a clearance made. Gaul
store 1445, Ns. to Wu per bead. fat Pork. ts. Gd. to ss. Gd. pet
stoat.

HARDWARE.—Binninowsx, SEPT. 20.—There has
not been any material alteration in the state of trade here
sines our last report; in some of the lighter branches of our
manufactures there is a trifling improvement; the jewellers
ar: better off for orders, and in some of the light steel toy
trades the demand for goods has increased, chiefly in cense-
nthnefacfoturenignin
have,mark eitt.n:lnhne
derstood, shared largely in the orders received in cense-
jrpen
nn cue n
sf
ando d
epnapreiceerimaeved liefromara
quence of the Exhibition ; at moat of the leading manufac-
tories the hands are all in full work. It is perhaps worthy
of notice that the foreigners arc by far the most considerable
patronisers of this latter description of manufacture. It
is hopzd, and may indeed be fairly anticipated, that
the rivalry amongst the various manufacturers will
lead to the production of decorative designs more
correct in an artistic point of view, and some-
thing less pretentious and elaborative in point of orna-
ment. Messrs. Jensens and Bettridgo have, as is well
known, done much to improve this most beautiful branch
of manufacture, and many fine specimens of their produc-
tion have recently found their way into Spain and the va-
rious parts of the Levant. From the former the orders
have been exceedingly large. The button trade, chiefly in
the Florentine department, is rather brisker than it was a
few weeks since, but in the various branches of fancy
buttons there is still much depression ; the recent attempt
to re-introduce the wear of fancy gilt buttons has not, it is
(eared, been in any way successful, notwithstanding the
many beautiful specimens, elaborately chased, which such
manufacturers as Arinfield and Smith and Kemp, have
produced. Indeed, the mode in which it was at-
tempted to revive this trade was not exactly such an
one as would be likely to succeed, and bygone experience
has shown that it is almost impossible to force or revive a
trade in an article after the tide of fashion has set in
against it : that such is the fact, and that the indisposition
of the public to wear gilt buttons rather increases than
otherwise, cannot (we fear, for the sake of those concerned)
be doubted. The same revulsion of fashion occurred in the
article of gold seals ; not a great many years ago no incon-
siderable number of our cleverest mechanics were employed
in chasing gold seals,'and a great deal of money was earned.
thereby; suddenly the fashion went out, and as a conse-
quence a great number of persons were thrown out of an
employment which does not appear likely ever to return.
The manufacturers of gold and silver pencil cams,
and other small articles of utility, are for the most
part, it is understood, well supplied with orders ;
the home trade orders in these branches being almost
continuously good. A similar remark applies to such arti-
cles as brooches, of which hundreds of thousands are manu-
factured here annually, and a very large proportion sent
abroad, of the common ones especially, to Germany. The
gold chain makers are busy; for this article the demand for
the home market has increased to a prodigious extent
during the last seven years—an immense number are made
—and at some of the manufactories the machinery em-
ployed is amongst the curious and interesting of all the uses
to which it is made available in our manufactures, although
many remarkable improvements have been made iu nearly
every branch of our manufactures within the lust twelve
months; amongst others is an ingenious contrivance
by the proprietor of one of the electro-plating manu•
factories (Mr. Sturge's), by which the teapot is
stamped out of the metal, and perfected without a
seam In this comparatirely new branch of our manufac-
tures the trade is very much increasing, as the articles produced
are vastly superior in all respects. During the past year
the orders have very greatly increased; at the present time
there arc many more hands employed in every branch of
the trade than at any former period. The steel pen makers
have been well supplied with orders throughout the year;
notwithstanding that the means of producing hare been so
greatly improved and augmented of late, the demand seems
to increase in even a larger ratio, such is the enormous
consumption in almost every quarter of the globe ; with
this, cheapness has probably something to do, pens being
now sold at somethiug like 3d. a gross wholesale—a price
of which Mr. Gillett, the first maker (and that not a great
many years ago), could never have dreamed, when he made
every pen with his own hand, with tools made by
himself, and sold his pens at something like a shilling
a dozen in the ordinary way. Such, however, have
been the improvements introduced that at the present
time the steel as rolled and the pen hewn out, fashioned,
and almost perfected, by the aid of machinery. The manu-
facturers of gas-fittings report that the state of their trade
is satisfactory; this branch of business has been greatly
cultivated during the last few years, and has now become
one of considerable importance ' • at the present time there is
a very excellent trade doing, and at prices which have suffered
comparatively little from competition. Some of the manu-
facturers at Sheffield have recently entered into this busi-
ness to some extent ;and as workmen are not very plentiful,
many have been decoyed away from their employment
here with the promise of higher wages, which in the
ordinary course of business, as times go, cannot very well
be maintained. It is remarkable, too, hat Sheffield is as
notorious for its trade strikes as this town is for the absence
of them. The edge-tool makers have now, and have had
for some time past, a very good supply of orders ; the
great trade at present in this branch is with South
America, although, of course, there is a very
general market for such articles as arc included under
this head ; the number of persons in the trade is compara-
tively limited in consequence of the large capital required
to carry it on. The trade was riling rapidly, and became
brisk in 1842, '43, '44 : in the last year, in consequence of
the great advance in the price of iron, a decline took place,
the manufacturers not being able to ebtaiu an increased
price anything like proportionate to the increased cost of
the raw material; during the last three years, however,
the trade has improved, until the present time. when, iron
being at a low figure, materially contributes to its pro-
sperity. Wire-drawers : Track: steady ; the men working
full time. Gun-makers : This trailsis rather brisk than
otherwise ; has been above the average throughout the
year. The lamp and chandelier makers are very full of
orders, a great number of them being for abroad; this trade
has made rapid strides during the last two or three years,
the designs being of a much superior character artistically ;
it was formerly the practice to employ persons as modellers
and draughtsmen, who were capable only of producing fanci-
ful designs ofa showy and saleable but inelegant character ;
specimens of these might have beeni seen in the Birmingham
Exhibition in 1049, and may even now in the Great Exhi-
bition, as the contributions of second-rate house's ; the pub-
lic taste has, however, a good deal improved of late ; and to
this the first class manufacturers of this town, such as
Winfield, Messenger, and one or two others, have mainly
contributed. In this branch especially, but indeed iu
almost every other, the quality of the articles produced in
this town has undergone a rather important change in the
last seven years ; very much better goods are made, and the
class of old " Brummagem" goods are now manufactured to
a very limitedextent, for the reason that they would scarcely
find a market. In such articles as lamps and chandeliers
this applies most especially, there being now scarcely
anything of a meretricious character to be seen
in any of the first class show rooms. Notice of
other branches is reserved: generally the trade of
the town appears in a very -healthy state ; the ma-
nufacturers are not only not failing, but that they have
made money during the last four or five years will scarcely
be denied; neither are the merchants or the factors com-
plaining; and our artisans were never better to de in the
world. Of course this will be excepted to by the mulligrub
school, because the founder of it, having been getting rich
for a long course of years, has been always anxious to make
it appear that manufacturers arc manufacturing at a loss—
that merchants are trading without any adequate compen-
sation for the risk of their capital ; and that competition is
ruining everybody, but the ruin long predicted seems no
nearer, and nobody, except the units of the mulli-
grub fraternity, appears to discern the " black cloud."
Reference to the town has been made at greater
length than usual, but not more so than the subject
demands; of the district it is more difficult to speak, be-
cause of the diversity of the trades and their peculiar cir-
cumstances; upon the whole trade is steady ; Walsall (so
long the seat of the saddlers' ironmongery manufacture)
has perhaps suffered, but for the most part the manufac-
turers appear to be thriving in their quiet way. Some
parts of the district is just now suffering from those
terrible trade strikes which have in all times engendered
much mischief, and inflicted so much injury on all con-
cerned, but which these misguided men (who earn wages
such 1111 many skilful and educated persons would gladly
obtain) have never yet, with all the consequent privations,
seen the folly of; in the neighbourhood of Dudley the
horse-nail makers are on the strike on one of those frivo-
lous pretences which the masters have resolved not to give
way to. The best that can be said of the generality of men
employed in South Staffordshire is, that they are reckless
and improvident, so far as regards themselves
wgrianisevancett-emirongeemrsp,lnyaenrsd seelyfiserb,
rea:iddy utnnprianieiinpel e din ton!
time of prosperity ; never prepared for a time of adversity.
So far their conduct contrasts in many respects with the
masters; the condition into which the iron trade has been
plunged has exemplified this position. Notwithsta=
the troublous times which the ironmasters have
through, and have still to encounter, no attempt has Wm
' made to reduce wages from the price paid when iron wee
81. or 91. a ton, although in all probability were an
like a rise to take place, the men would strike for nit
vance. Such is the condition of their undisciplined minds,
and its attendant results. In our report last week the iron
trade was declared to be rather firmer. Exception has been
taken to this in some quarters, but further inquiry corrobo-
rates our previous announcement. The large ironmaaters
are universally agreed that the trade is more healthy
throughout. It is rumoured that additional furnaces will soon
be put out of blast ; the sooner this is done the better, so
that the make may be so far lammed as to secure remune-
rative prime. Recently the great ironworks at Pontypool
have been taken by Mr. Dimmack, a gentleman well known
in the iron trade, residing in the neighbourhood of Wolver-
hampton. The demand for tin-plates is brisk; the makers
are all exceedingly busy, and at 'Milton new works are in
course of erection for the manufacture of this article.

Tun Palm or Cosa.—On Wednesday last
Kann. Fre= and Daw, of Plymouth contracted to supply
600 quarters of wheat to the Royal William Victualing
yard, for the use of the na; 300 quarters of red wheat,
at 30s. tki. per quarter, and WO quartets of white wheat, at
41a. per uarter, at the Devonport workhouie. On Friday
Kr. G. contracted to supply tha in-door sad sta-
des, poor with bill at Ns. Cd. pa sick.