The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-10-21 00:00:00

MANUFACTURE UNDER DIFFICULTIES

A contributor to the Manchester Guardian gives some
account of " the reason why" French manufacturers are
so much afraid of competition with foreign industry :
The French manufacturer is in an unenviable
position, and from no fault of his own. He is quite
unprepared for competition ; he possesses neither the
material nor the nippers and stealers to fit him for the
strugg'.e of free trade with England.' His limited
capital is invested in mills and machinery, for the most
part used up and out of date. His workpeople are far
behind the same class with us ; they seldom put them•
selves about. In the mysteries of spinning and weav-
ing there is not one adept in ten thousand. It is as
if each workman for himself had made up his mind to
bring to hip occupation as much activity and intelligence
as would enable him to creep through the hours of
labour, and no more. To these drawbacks add that
every manufacturer is obnoxious to a host of annoyances
from the Jacks in office. The counting house, which
ought to be sanctified to the purposes of calico and to
those dedicated to the craft, is contaminated by the
eternal visits of cocked hats and brass-handled toledos,
as though military was jealous of what will eventually
result from steam power. None but Frenchmen could
have organised manufactures under such serious and
constantly-recurring impediments—such liabilities from
public events, and such uncompliant materials. Besides
all these, the Imperial government is labouring under
such a severe attack of tenderness for proletaires that
every precaution is taken lest their worshipful stomachs
should get out of order from cloy or indigestion.
Factory regulations are now so cruelly stringent that no
millowner is sure he shall not have his head shaved and
a job at picking oakum before he is a fortnight older. If
an operative do but get his hand scratched in a machine,
no matter how, the proprietor is subject to fine, im-
prisonment, bread and water, a felon's dress, and God
wot. A respectable manufacturer in the neighbourhood
of Lille is now condemned to this ignominious arrest.
We revolt at the petty meddling of our factory
inspectors ; what should we say to this ? Let us
sympathise with our friends across the Channel, and
bless our stars that neither Lords or Commons have yet
ventured to class us with the infamous outcasts of

mankind.
A few figures will exhibit a comparison of the cost of
manufacturing in England and France. Let it be a
cotton mill of 50,000 spindles :
England—A mill with 50,000 spindles, complete with
all improvements, £42,000. France—the `same £70,000.
England—Price of coals in Lancashire, 6s a ton.
France—Price of coals at Lille, 20s a ton.
England—A spinner minds 800 to 2,000 spindles, self-
acting mules. France—A spinner minds 300 to 500,
chiefly hand mules.
England—Duty on raw cotton and dyewares, nil.
France—Duty on same, heavy.
England=-Annual repairs of engines and machinery, 4
per cent. France—Annual repairs, 6 per cent.
England—Price of female labour (average) is 3d a
day. France—Price of female labour (average) is a
day ; more hours, but less work.

LADVERTISEMENT.]

TO SHIP OWNERS WHO ARE CAPITALISTS, AND
WISH TO KEEP THEIR MONEY TOGETHER,
AND NOT PAY HIGH PREMIUMS FOR INSUR-

IRON SHIPS

CLARE'S PRINCIPLE THE ONLY MODE THAT WILL ENSURE

SECURITY TO LIFE AND PROPERTY

WILL LAST A I AT LLOYDS FOR EVER.

John Clare, Junior's commercial experience developing
where the defects lie in what are called iron vessels, con-
structed by people who are not mechanics in either
intellect or skill, but upon the " tin-pot" principle, he will
leave that proportion of the trade to persons of that
class who have turned out sinking coffins to consign to
watery graves her Britannic Majesty's subjects who are
marine travellers in such things as the Orion, Ida,
Tayleur, Faith, Forerunner, H.M.S. frigate Birkenhead,
and many others, including a number of colliers that
foundered with their crews, all of which were inefficiently
and unmeehanically constructed, in accordance with the
" tin-pot" principle. The public are ignorant of what
they travel by when on board the present description of
iron vessels, as they are unsafe and unseaworthy from
their bad construction and the light material of which they
are composed upon the " tin-pot " principle.
If security to life and property he the desideratum the
marine department of the Board of Trade have in view,
they ought to put their authority (i.e. if that board is
sincere in its intentions towards the public,) into effect
forthwith, and cause a scale and mode to be laid down upon
which iron vessels will only be allowed to be built. Until
that io done, thee.° will bo no and fn vocreola fonnrioring,
&c., and sinking from collisions, such as the Imogene—
sacrificing some £60,000, but, providentially, no life. As
my attention has been directed to the art of iron ship-
building, to attain the climax whereby safety to life and
property is practicable upon scientific and mechanical
principles, the development of which appears to have
given Mr. Charles Bean (the editor of the Liverpool
Albion.) great offence, as it will naturally prevent
him puffing his friend, Mr. John Laird. of Birkenhead, in
the way he has done ; as the said person told me last
Wednesday, that he put that scurrilous document in his
publication, on the 6th inst., because I had been running
his friend (Mr. John Laird) down, which false accusation
I flatly donied. He qualified it, and said, no—but you
have his ships. Mr. Charles Bean said, if you give a tit,
you must take a tat. I said, if Mr. John Laird, or
any other person, calling himself an iron shipbuilder,
made coffins to drown people, I, as a man, would do my
best to protect my fellow .men from a watery grave. As
I was a man, and always treated every person as one,
that was a man in principle, and as I always as a rule
spoke of people as I found them, I only wanted the same
courtesy extended to me. I will take care Ido not commit
myself by an unmanly action. I told Mr. Charles Bean that
any person who might be annoyed at my ideas, and
provided I was right, might write as much as they chose
about me, if they attached their names and address to it,
then he could not be blamed; but he was much to blame
for lowering the dignity of the Albion if he 'were not the
concoctor of that document. As he stated that the poetry
at foot had given him and his friend, Mr. John Laird,
such great offence, which appeared in the Albion a short
time ago, for the good of the public, I again cause
it to be printed. The French floating batteries that
repelled the 64 lb. shot in the Crimea, and built from the
designs furnished by myself to his Imperial Majesty the
Emperor, also, the same plans being carried out by the
British Government at the close of the war, by building
at Messrs. Robert Napier and Sons, Govan, on the Clyde ;
Messrs. Palmer Brothers, at Jarrow, on the Tyne ; and
Messrs. Sammie, Brothers, at Blackwall, on the Thames.
Floating batteries from the same plans and designs as were
furnished by me at the request of the Admiralty on the
9th and 16th of July, 1855, but originally brought before
the Hon. Sir M. F. H. Berkeley and Sir Baldwin Wake
Walker, the Surveyor of the Navy, at Somerset House, on
the 11th of June, 1854.
This admission by the British Government building
Iron Floating Batteries, as thus described, is a convincing
proof that my ideas are sound and efficient in naval archi.
tecture, whereby ships may be constructed on scientific
and mechanical principles.

J ohn Clare, thou bast a good old name,
O ! shall it not be known to fame ?
• aply the sailor far at sea
N e'er shall forget to honour thee.
C an skill so well brought out as tbine
L ong fail as it deserves to shine ?
A h 1 Jack, as his pure draught he'll drink.
R eally full oft of Clare shall think.
E ach novice o'er his glass shall ask
Who was it made this water cask?
And men the proud truth shall declare
The inventor of this cask was Clare;
Nor casks alone, but o'er the sea
Clare's ships shall float from damage free;'
So sailors now shall drink pure water.
Nor fear the cannon.ball's dread slaughter.
Few are the dangers which environ
Ships made, as Clare's are made, of iron ;
Masts, spars, and ribs may well defy
Dangers from foes, from wave, or sky.
And when, far o'er the Atlantic sea,
Another home belongs to thee,
Your house of iron, all complete,
So strong, so beautiful. and neat,
Will make wife's, daughter's, son's!fond prayer
A blessing on the name of Clare.

TO SHIPOWNERS,
1W CUM LEVITATE.
PERSONS desirous of baying VESSELS
built that can neither Leak nor Sink may obtain
efficient Ships through the medium of the undersigned's
patents, who is now prepared to execute all orders
confided to him. JOHN CLARE, Jun ,
Sole Inventor and Patentee of Improvements
in Shipbuilding, Metallic Masts, Spars, &c.,
upon scientific and mechanical principles only.
21, Exchange-buildings,
by the Underwriters' Rooms, Liverpool.

ACCIDENTS,--On Saturday morning, a young man, named
William Morgan, a seaman, residing in
lived, lay
mounted on the roof of the house where be
and fell asleep there. As might have been expected, the_
consequence of this freak was, that he fell off the roof.
_H e
received several severe wounds and contusions, and bad.to
be conveyed to the Northern Hospital.—Yesterday morning,
a man, named Thomas Bell, dock gateman at the Wel-
lington dock, received a severe fracture of the leg from the
handle of the windlass used in shutting the gate.
Livzitroor. ROYAL hiPIRMAItY. —Week ending Oct. 18,
1856.—Admitted : In-patients, 50 ,• out-patients, 13 ;
casuals during week, 19. Discharged : In-patients cured,
1.5 ; relieved, and at own request, 10 • made out-patients,
9 ; irregular, I ; dead, 2 ; remain in the house, 166.
House visitors : Charles Freer, and Edward Gibbon,
Esqrs. Physician and surgeon for ensuing week : Dr.
Turnbull, and Mr. E. B. Bickersteth. House surgeon :
Mr. E. Morris. Junior house surgeon : Mr. Cecil
Webster. Chaplain : Rev. H. J. Garrod, B.A. Robert
Hutchison, Treasurer

THE BANK OF ENGLAND AND THE BANK

OF FRANCE

The last returns of the Bank of England and the Bank
of France are documents that required to be closely
scrutinised in connection with the present financil
condition of the two countries. The return presented
by the Bank of England being as unfavourable to that
institution as that of the Bank of France, although there
are some di,tinctive features peculiar to each. We
have now arrived at the third period of alarm at the
position of the Bank under the p-esent law by which it
is governed ; and if due consideration be given to the
subject, it is impossible to avoid seeing that the excite-
ment and alarm created at the present time are almost
entirely the result of the unsound principles upon which
the bank is compelled to act. As far as bullion is con-
cerned, there was nothing in the last week's return
calculated to create any anxiety ; the weak point of
the system was shown in the approach to a condition
in which it would be unable to issue a single note. We
simply ask whether an establishment like the Bank of
England ought to be placed in such a position with
nearly £10,000,000 of specie in its coffers ? Yet this is
the spectacle we are called upon periodically to witness,
without the slightest attempt being made on the part of
the Government to remove. By merely calling attention
to the facts of the Bank returns at such crises, it is by
no means satisfactory. If the simple transfer of a small
quantity of specie from the vaults of the Bank be
sufficient to disturb all the monetary and commercial
transactions of the kingdom, surely it must be of para-
mount importance to discover a remedy by which those
disturbance, can either be mitigated or prevented. Let
us glance at the returns of the Bank presented to the
4th of October. and we shall see that the liabilities and
assets were as follow :

LIABMITLES. ASSETS.
Notes in eireulation.X2o,926,lss Government debt £11,015,100
Capital ............. 14.553 000 Othtr see 3,459,900
Rest . 3.785,488 Government ditto 278

Public Deposits..... 7,759 499 I Other (Mt, 21,582,4,4
Private deposits.... 10,323,552 Coin and Bullion
Seven day and other

958,305

58.303,999

58 305,899

We have given the actual circulation in the amount of
liabilities, for the bank cannot be said to be liable for notes
in its own possession, which is the case with those under the
head of " Notes" in the banking department.
If the whole of the liabilites, including the notes in
circulation, be placed against the specie, it appears that the
proportion of the latter is only equal to about 18 per cent,
but as the bank places the greater part of its specie in the
issue department against notes, of which nearly two thirds
are issued upon the government debt due to the bank, and
other securites, the remainder of its liabilities, amount-
ing to £37,379,844, are represented only by a mere fractional
amount of specie, or less than two per cent ! It is owing
to the unfavourable position in which the affairs of the bank
are placed by these returns that so much alarm is con-
tinually created, and which might be prevented by the mere
transposition of the accounts. Let us take the law as it was
intended to operate, and plaee the amount of notes issued
against the securities they were intended to represent, and
the same account would stand thus :

ISSUE DEPARTMENT
Ca.

D a.
Notes Issued

14,475,000 I Government Debt 11,015,100
Other Securities 3 459,900
14,475,000
BANKING DEPRTMENT,
Ca.
6,451,155 Govt. Securities 11.464,279
14,555,009 Other securities 21.582,464
3,785,488 Gold coin and bullion 10,784,257
7,759,459
10,323,552
958.305

14,475,000

Da.
Notes in circulation
Capital
Rest
Public deposits
Other deposits
Seven day bills ....

43,830 999

43,830,gY9

This would be a far more rational mode of presenting the
accounts than the one at present adopted, because it
would be placing the specie in the department to which it
legitimately belongs, while it would remove that constant
alarm which is now created by representing the notes in
the banking department as the full extent of the bank's
power to issuenotes. The estimate of £14,000,000 in notes,
to be issued against inconvertible securities, whether comet
or otherwise as to the amount, was assumed on the ground
that the active circulation would never fall below that
point : why, then, should the bullion of the bank, which,
more strictly speaking, belongs to the depositors, be placed
against such issues? And is there the slightest probability
that the uneasiness which now prevails would have existed
if the accounts were presented as webave given them above ?
We believe that it would never have been thought of; for if
there be no probability of demanding cash for £14,000,000 of
notes, pray why should speciebe locked up to represent them ?
If those who framed the Act of 1844 be desirous of retain-
ing their favourite theory of separating the bank into two
departments, let them keep so much of it as relates to the
government under a disti❑ct form, and let the bank carry
on its own transactions without any such absurd restrictions
as those now adopted. We have stated before on similar
occasions, and we repeat it again, that the imminent danger.
of the bank has been very greatly augmented by presenting
such returns to the public ; and so long as they are allowed
to remain, these recurring panics must be the natural
consequence. If the sum of £14,000,000 be a
fair estimate of the notes that may be put into circula—
tion without specie, the country ought to derive the full
benefit from them ; but this can never be done while the
government deprives the bank of any part of its bullion
to represent them. By adopting the plan we have sug-
gested, only £6,451,155 in notes would be represented
by £10,784,257 in specie, an abundant supply to prevent
any uneasiness, either on the part of the public or the bank,
which is deprived of its capital by a fiction in the law.' We
appeal to the judgment of any practical banker or merchant,
and ask whether such a state of excitement as we have
witnessed during the last fortnight would have prevailed if
the capital of the bank had been given in its proper place,
instead of placing before that public the bugbear of " notes
in reserve ?" Is it right that an establishment like the
Bank of England should be placed upon this tottering
foundation, which a few idle rumours may contribute to
overthrow ?
It was the admitted principle of the Act of 1844 to allow
the bank to issue as many notes as it held specie for beyond
£14,000,000. Consequently the bank circulation by the
last return was below the authorised amount by £4,330,102 ;
and yet in consequence of a demand for less than
£2,000,000, its rate of discount was raised fifty-five per cent
in a few days.
In the arrangement of these accounts we have at once the
cause of the great alarm raised about the financial state of
the Bank of France. But there is great truth in the old
adage, "that people who live in glass houses should not
throw stones." This is the kind of structure which the
Government has made for the Bank of England, instead of
one of solid masonry, which would enable it to defy, with
success, the storms which it has occasionally to withstand.
Few would attempt to deny that the issue of notes upon
the public debt due to the bank (which we have always
regarded as a complete fiction in point of convertibility) was
permitted to be of advantage to the public as well as to the
bank proprietors ; but it cannot be so if the notes thus
issued are to be balanced by any part of the gold which
really belongs to the banking department. This is a point
of such vital importance in the arrangement of the ba❑k
accounts, that we feel certain such an alteration as we have
proposed would remove a great deal of that anxiety
which is now caused by looking up the gold in a depart-
ment where there is not the least chance of its being
required. The late Mr. Gurney told the unbelieving
government of 1847 that the public wanted notes—not
gold.
Under the system which we have reviewed, any external
influence upon the resources of the Bank operates with
redoubled force, and hence the excitement raised about
European speculation, and the conduct of the Bank of
France in its purchases of specie. But we think it would
have been wiser, and more to our interest, to have alleviated
those evils, than to have fanned them into a flame which
can produce nothing but unfavourable consequences to

ourselves.
Whatever may be the speculative propensities of the
French Institutions, such as the Credit Mobilier, and the
banking interests connected with them, the Bank of France
has only been a pas,ive agent in the recent pressure upon
its resources. It will be found on referring to the returns of
this Bank during the present year, that its note circulation
exhibits a remarkable degree of equability; and that it has
only been galled upon for specie to a large amount upon
sudden emergencies. The following return shows the prin-
cipal features of the bank for each month during the
current year :

Advances Advances
Notes in on Public on Railway
Circulation. Specie. Discounts. Securities. Securities.
Jan. 10.. 24,317.500 7.981,410 17,887,780 1,903,020 1,814,270
Feb 14:. 25,109,820 8.575,070 17,591 770 2,684.420 1 762.640
March 13 24,764,460 ' 8.563,890 17 285 860 3,442,659 1,833,490
April 10... 24,561,580 10,729,210 17,253,160 3,395,500 1,937,410
May 8.... 23.071,010 11,453 610 16,909,210 4,332,630 2,196 670
June 12... 24,483.180 11,451,840 15,313.400 4,653 510 2,317.210
July 10... 25.289,890 9,279.460 18 848.473 4,832.630 2.531.180
Aug. 14 .. 25,577,880 9.901,350 18.477.810 4,072,1591 2,288,''40
Sept. 11_ 24,821,060 9,432,100 17,565,510 3,611.850 2.218,160
Oct. 9.... 24,483,830 6,658,790 20,463,161 3 517,710 2,210,040
These figures show a remarkable degree of steadiness in the
bank circulation; but the Bank of France like the Bank of
England, is compelled to part with a larger portion of its
specie at one time, in exchange for its notes, than at another.
it was in July that a decrease of £.2,172,380 in the specie
reserve was eTperienced : and it was at that period that
we cautioned the rblie against too much reliance on
maintaining a large stock of gold in this country, in the
following remarks on the 12th July :—" The movements of
bullion have again interrupted that repose which so many
had anticipated wou`d result from the termination of war
and the arrivals of gold from Australia. We cautioned our
readers a short time since against too much confidence in the
mere arrivals of the precious metals into this country, from
the fact that they were sent here as the centre of distribution
to various parts of the Continent of Europe, into countries
where, as in England, gold was not a natural production,
and where the possession pf it can only be secured by the
commercial and financial operations between one country
and another. These operations have now become so rapid
in their influence through telegraphic despatches and steam
communication, that the foreign exchanges do not accurately

indicate the movements of the precious metals ; and those
who place implicit reliance upon them will frequently find
themselves deceived."

These were our opinions in July, and we entertain the
same views at the present moment. We have mistaken our
position ; and we have been blind against the new current
of events which have been created by modern civilisation.
So long as gold is made the principal basis of all national
and commercial credit, there will be a constant competition
amongst ?various nations to possess it : and we shall labour
under a fatal delusion to suppose that we can retain posses
sion of it by act of parliament, by a favourable state of the
exchanges, or by en advantageous balance of commerce.
The skilful capitalist laughs at all these antiquated theories ;
and as he knows that gold, like all other merchandise, can
be bought by those who can give the highest price for it, he
cin obtain it as well from the Bank of England as else-
where, so long as there is a stock on hand. Therefore, to
punish our merchants and traders for such transactions, is a
practice founded rather upon tradition than upon justice,
and demands a speedy and permanent removal from our
monetary code.—Bankers' Magaziae.