The Express.
London, England, 1850-09-12 00:00:00

MORNDIOS AT THE MILLS.

About two miles sada half from the black and busy
town of Bolton. on tba road to Maaebester, i.e. the
village of Halehow Moor. Within the memory of
men still living, a dirty and dangerous road led in
this put of the county aero•s a lonely and unculti-
vated range of moors. Grouse and wild game started
at the s' ep of the traveller, and not unfrequently the
desperate highwayman put in his claim to notice in
the shape of a demand for your money or your life. A
single each lumbered along the heavy ruts arcs in the
fcnr-and. twenty hours, and a few cal arts in the week
made op the remainder of the traffic. How that is
all changed now! the pleasant village boasts already
its handsome church, its three or four diasealing
chapel,, its national and voluntary schools, its me-
chanic.' and literary institutions. No one can my
chain the village begins or ends, so imperceptibly
does it glide away into other villages and townships.
The mills, lying off the road, are severs! of them meg-
&Gant, and almost picturesque. Some of the newer
shops have a sort of country town pretension about
them; the solid good,, and the articles of taste and
luxury exposed in the windows, arrest the attention
of the passer by with the same arts as in Leeds or
Liverpool. Along the main thoroughfare, • little
from the centre of the village, lie heck enclosed in
pretty little shrubberies, or standing out more gaudily
to all the open glare of red brick, green lawn, and
prim gilder, the villas and mansions of the manu-
facturers. This striking change has been effected in
lees than 60 years, and it is all the result of cotton.
Abcut a quarter of a mile from the roadside stands
a large pile of building known in the vicinity as
Herd. y Mills. These are not the largest factories at
Halshow Moor ; but I select them for a visit in pre-
ferrules to the huge and well-conducted mills belong
ing to the Messrs. Barnes, because they are old build-
ings, acd offer strong contrasts to the more modern
works I shall have to describe by and bye at Hall.
w. 11, Egerton, and Preston. They were built
many yvais ago that is many years ago
for this species of property, to which fifty
years is hoar antiquity, so swiftly does it run to waste
by the prodigious energy of its internal machirery, or
became inconvenient by reason of new lights in me-
chanical science. The owners wire two brothers of
the name of Lord : men who began the world without
a shilling in their pcckets, without influence, or a
friend to advise or help them on their way. But they
were endowed by nature with zeal, ambition, end
untiring energy. The battle of life was at first a hard
one, but they persevered, and at length triumphed.
They have retired from betimes with ample fortune,
and in their old age enjoy the well won fruits of
their successful industry and enterprise. 'their ME•
tory is the counterpart of thousands in Lancashire
and Yorkshire.

A younger and more spirited proprietor, Mr. John
Thompson, has taken their place, in the hope of being
able by superior activity and sagacity to compete
with rivals who have mills erected on the newest
principles and supplied with the very best and moat
improved machinery. He is apparently a bold, self-
relying, ad prudent man, and no doubt understands
all the incidents of his speculation; but I am led to
believe that it is an unequal and dangerous trial of
strength and skill against the greatest material ad-
vantages. Machinery wears out very rapidly. The
genius of invention is always at work; and every year
introduces come fresh modification or improvement.
Every change, too, gives to its adopter adcitionsl
power. It saves fuel—it economises space—it dis-
places manual labour—it accelerates motion—it im-
proves the fabric—or it prevents the excessive waste
of material. In more important particulars there is a
gain. Bat in old mills it is often impossible to intioduoe
these new inventions at all : the building was erected
to fit the old machines, not the old mullion to fit the
building. Yet to meet the productions of the modern
mule or power-loom in the same market on such
terms is like having to contend with the ancient bow
and javelin against artillery and the bayonet.
To genius, however, all things are possible. Mr.
Thompson is said to have bought the Kersley Mills as
a man would buy an estate in Connaught : that is, as
a bargain, and with a thorough knowledge of its de-
fects. From what has already been done, I should
augur well for his success. With no mere sentimental
benevolence, he is nevertheless thoroughly conscious of
his great responsibility as an employer ; and
while pursuing his own ends with the un-
swerving steadfastness of a true Yorkshire-
man, he takes a liberal and enlightened view of the
social and moral duties which have fallen upon him
i n consequence of his having become " the second
providence" to a large portion of the inhabitants of
Halshow Moor. For his own sake, as well as for that
of his work-people, I hope he will succeed in his
experiment.
Through a kind of lodge, the visitor enters the
quadrangle of the mills. The engines are stationed
to the right, the offices to the left, and the main body
of the building in front. The power in operation is
about 70 horse. The number of persons employed in
the various departments is a little short of 300, of
which number 240 or 250 are females. Not
being • fine mill the temperature is al-
ways kept at a rate perfectly comfortable,
and salubrious—about an average of 60 degrees in the
summer time, 70 degrees in the colder months of
winter. The consequence is, that although the mill,
from its old age, cannot be kept as clean as could be
wished, or as tree from the smell of sperm oil, still the
health of the workpeople is remarkably good. In
the worst of the cholera time that disease never made
its appearance at Keraley.
As we walk through the various rooms it will be
convenient for me to give the reader, once for all, a
brief account of theprooessee through which the cotton
fibre payees in its way from the beg or bale in which
it is brought from New Orleans to Liverpool, to the
loom and the printing machine. The first room
we inter is the mixing room. The quality of the
wool, even in the same bale, is so various,
that in order to obtain a uniform quality for working
purposes, a skilful hand is employed to open several
begs at the same time, and so mix their contents as to
get the best possible average of quality. When the
Iwool is thus mixed up it is sometimes at once sent off
to undergo the next proms; but in fine mills it is
usual to make special mixings for each order, the
which are piled up to be gradually worked off. In
the larger concerns I have sometimes seen 10,000 i.
worth of wool so mixed and waiting for the machines.
The mixing room is generally dusty and unhealthy.
Minute particles of the fibre float in the atmosphere,
and are inhaled with every breath, and considerable
' quantities of duet, sometimes also fmtid and lever-like
smells, isms from the bags, when the cords are cut
asunder. The apartment in which this opsrat'on is
performed needs to be well ventilated, and a lama-
retto-like precaution observed. The germs of several
tropical dossiers may be ooaveyed is • bale of cotton.
The watching =chine stands in the next, or it
may be in the same room. This machine consists of
a tremendous wheel supplied with sharp metallic,
beaters, and revolving at the rate of about two thou-
sand circles in • minute. It is fed by means of a
frame of rollers made of wood, and revolving very
slowly. The whole is covered with a sheet-iron semi-
circular plate to prevent the escape of the fibre.
When the cotton wool is spread out oa a small plat-
form adjoining the slower rollers, it fa drawn through
and flattened, so as topeepaee it on passing out at the
other side to be s with terrific force by the
Water, of the rapid wheel : this blow separates the
seed of the plant from the pare fibre, and casts away
the fine particles of mud and dust which still adhere
to it.—A newly invented machine—patented by an
American—of which I maws specimen lately in the
' foundry of the Meows. Roberts, will it is thought
very considerably simplify and accelerate this process.
It is s huge and ugly implement, with strong iron
teeth, like those now need for tearing up the soil,
but bent to meet the fibre mad tsar it into light par-
tittles with the greater certainty. Should this inven-1
tion answer its end as completely m Mr. Roberta
—me of the best audacities is Eng Med
on the point—led me to expire it wale
a considerable Mange will probably fate
plasm in the earlier stages of tie snamfieshire in
maisequeses. Boss qualities of tattoo me at present
brought to Baglesd I. a state of great impurity.
Different qualities an often mixed is the game bag;
and a great deal of dirt end shell remain mixed up
with it. These latter, of coarse, are all rehire; they
render a great deal of trouble neesmary, and have to
be utterly throws away is the end. Why not throw
them away in the plaataticas P It is calculated that
about emefifth of the entire weight of cotton wool
is dirt se busk dace the slightest value. The
fa of laving this separated and thrown
away in Alneeien must be apparent, when it is con-
sidered that the carriage from the plantations to New
Wane or Mobilo, the piano of the Atlanta., 1

port and other dues, have all to be paid
on this dirt jest its if it were all pure
fibre. What per center this may amount to on
the entire. I have at present not the means of learn-
ing ; bat from a rough calculation, I fancy it mast in-
volve a loos to the cotton interests of not less than
from four to seven per cent. on the whole amount im-
ported. A prodigious lose.
Tee old invention of Eli Whitney affords an illos.
oration of the extraor .inary importance of such
machines. Toe wool now most largely imported into
England is coned Uplands; it is short in the staple,
acd its separation from the seed-pods so very &Moult
ea for many years to render its cultivation gait,
airless. Before 1793 the fibre was always sepa-
rated from the shell by hand; bat so tenacious is
the hold of Uplands on the chill, the labour of
paring them oust more than the wool would sell for
in the market. In that year Eli Whitney invented a
machine for this office ; and so effectual was it that
American cotton at once began to pour into England
and take place of every other. The genius of Whit-
ney gave his northern countrymen a comma, d of the
European market. The worthless vegetable became
through his means the chief et °with of half the great
northern continent.

Thus separated from the busk and sand, the cotton
is nett taken to the spreading frame, where it is laid
in layers of a reviler thickness, and coiled round a
thick wooden roller—a certain weight of the mate-
rial being formed into a lap of a certain width
and length. It is now ready fcr the catalog
engine. In this stage the opening and cleansing is
considered to be finished ; the process 'is henceforth
less dirty and disagreeable. A neifect system of
ventilation, such as no old mill in my recollection
enjoys, is requisite to make these first stages of the
manufacture healthful and pleasant. Some mills
there are in which tlie mixing and @entailing rooms
are almost an free from dust and floating particles of
fibre as a May Fair drawing-room; but this is not
the cue with the Keraley mills.
So far the fibre, of the wool cross and re-eross each
other in every direction. The clic, frame is used for
the purpose of drawing them all out longitudinally.
This was lormerly done by hand. It ibert Peel grand-
father of the late baronet—was one of the first to card
by the cylindrical machinery now in general use, and
Arkwright added an important improvement in the
form of the perpendicular frame fur disengaging the
fleece from the cylinder after pining through the
frame. Passing out of the card-room we come into
the drawing-room. These domestic terms sometimes
puzzle people from a distance nut a little, Whe n Sir
George Murray was an aepirarit for the honour of
representing a great manufacturing town in the north,
a curious imbroglio wu produced by a cotton spinner
telling him he intended to bring up his two sons in
habits of business, and with that view had kept one
of them in the drawing-room and the other in the
card-room so many hours every day. Thinking of his
own mansion in London, or pi rhaps of the salons of
the Cachou Club, the gallant pupil in the way of trade
could not understand how nth an arrangement
could tend to promote habits i f
_plodding industry.
As well send a boy to the C)dir Cellars!
The fleece slightly compared goes through three
other processes—drawing, doubling, end roving —all
operating to strengthen, twist, and diminish the
thread before it is Bully spun by the mule. Of the
loom I shall write in another letter.

W. H. D.

BRISTOL AND WEST OP ENGLAND FREEHOLD
LAND Socterv.—We understand that the Freehold Land
Movement so progressing at Bristol, and that large numbers
are taking steps to possess themselves of the elective franchise
through the operations of this society, of the formation of
which an account appeared in the Express a short time since.
HIGHWAY ROBBERY AND VIOLENCE.—At the
B ,rough Court, on Tuesday, three men, named William
I Divitos, Thomas Exton, aid Andrew .ii'lotre, were brought
up on remand, charged with robbing and ill treating en old
man named Thomas Whitehouse, on the night of Tuesday
week. The prosecutor had been in the hospital at the Man-
cheater workhouse., and unable to gives vidence against the
prisoners until Toe edgy. It appeared that he resides at Birch
Heath, near Tarporley, in Cheshire, sad hod been harvesting
in Yorkshire, and was on his return borne at the time of the
robbery. He had, however, come into Manchester is the
morning of the day named, and unfortunately 1.11 into the
company of the three prisoners, who in.. aced him to Return-
' pally them to several publie.housee, where he paid for drink.
The last place ♦isited wss the F..x leas, Jackson'►row,
where he left between eight and nine o'clock, and went on
Chester-road. When near the 11111.'e !it'd lon be stated
that he was attacked by the three prisoners, two of wham
carried him through some railings Into a field, the other
covering Me mouth to prevent him giving en alarm.
They then 111-used him and took 12e. 6i. from his pockets,
He Icy there for a while until he was discoveref by a soldier.
Mr. Harding appeared for the prisoner'. It was elicited
from the landlady of the last public-house they wen in that
the prisoners did not leave the hoses for some time after
the prosecutor had gone. The old man, however, dis-
tinctly swore to the prisoners being the men who attacked
him, and they were committed to the asaises.—.Unneherter
EZEIN4444Ir.

SITTINGS OP VIE INSOLVENT DEBTORS COURT.—
The sittings of the !swim' D,btors Court for the hoarier
of cases will be resumed on Tuesday next, when the Chief
Commissioner will preside. In accordance with a rule jut
smuts all future sues will be alio:red to three commissioners

in easseequessee of the continuod indisposition of Yr. Com-
ilialitelfil Huffs.

SUICIDE OF A SURGROS'S ASSISTANT.—Yeeerday
afternoon, a jury was impeached before Mr. II M. Waltley,
at the residence of Dr. S. Richards, No. 36. Bedford square,
Bloomsbury, on view of the body of Mr. W. Griffiths, aged
27, who committed self-destruction by awallowiag a does of
prosaic acid The deceased was assistant to Dr. Richards,
who has resided in Bedford-square for many years. Tbsd
gentleman left London on Saturday, to go to Paris, where
Mrs. Richards is on a visit to a friend, leaving the deceased
the care of his patients. Re had been for some time past
owasionally in a state of excitement, but there was nothing
parties's, in his saunter to induce a belief that he would
commit suicide. U. got up on Sunday morning last at his
usual time, and breakfasted with the children. lie un-
versed with teem as usual. and was apparently in cheerful
spirits. &me time alter be went up to his room, but he bad
not long been there before he was heard to groan heavily. The
door was broken open b 7 the butler, upon abide he was found
I.oy in a state of lasensibility. Mr. Ridley. surgeon,
Cliarlotte.street, Bedford-equare, was called in, who dis-
covered that the deemed had taken a guiltily of proofs
acid. A 3 muse phial was discovered which had contained
prude acrid, and it is supposed that the demand had draak
some of the contents, diluted in water.—The jury retuned
a verdict of Temporary insanity."
EASTER DORS.—For some time put there has been
considerable ill-feeling engendered in the minds of the
'inhabitants of Oxtoo, In Cheshire, by the retrea.ed attempts
of the Rev. Joshua King, rector of Woodebarch, to
enforce the payment of Raster dues by the inhabitants of
Orton. Sores of the charges made are excessively absurd,
such as—for a mm and his wife, sixpence; smoke, one
penny; for a hand (i.e., a person above the grade of an
agrkultaral labour), fourpence ; and for each person In •
house (above the age of 16 years), twopence. There are
also other ridiculous inns charged. Bme perms have
paid timeline, for the pupas el getting rid of the inapor-
tualties et the Rev. Mr. Cesherolt, the incumbent of Orton
Chapel, id aid of whose stipend Mr. Kies gives the Rater
dues. Other pamens have refused to pay, and of these ten
were summed haws the sew. Sir Edward Cast sad the
Rev. R. M. Pis*" a 31klasaleed, en Thursday; bat all
the oases were dbmised glees* ieformaiity. Some of the
people .amend mod very Wens laurnsp in Menne, to
the Rev. Mr. Ring.—Ligerpool Journal.
A Fscr.—On Thursday last, u a party of Num
belonging to one at her Majesty's ships just arrived from a
foreign station were walking up Point-street, Portsmouth
rather ,
elated with heavy wet, a baD, which had 'soaped
from a slaughter-house, came Tanning towards the Jolly
tars with his tall erect is the air, when all the am
jumped out of his walnept one, and he being as imams*
sturdy fellow, stood In the street directly is the way of the
bull, and haled hira is the following manner " Ball,
ahoy I bull, ahoy I I say, drop your peak and put year helm
a starboard, or you'll ma aboard of me I" The ball, eon-
Simla( hie coarse, came in contact with Jack sad capsized
him ; hat Jack, sot Ming intimidated, spear g from the
ground, end, shskiag his clothes, very good-ostundly ob-
served to the bull, " Oh, you lubberly beast, I told you how
it wadi be."

VO•cmiM3.—Williant Rowley, John Rowley, and
=Rowley father sad two sone, were 'barged on
7 bet with yeeeklag en lands la tie ocammisa of
IL Ramll. Bet. mar Little 11lozwith, WeMAL It appears
all he NM imaiwable time met (VW hams has been
nil immigwe the gam la the Femmes beimigiag to the
wins gentimies In that put el the conatry, In con-
mgeense r white they agreed Is isms • ameba of
gierimb ~ft • reward tor the apprehension' and son-
*Yin et poem heOerml. In many pane whom the
gime MO hunt eheat • number of bushes had beta
Miart their yreleetire, and on the "ming of the
hail pig ever soma of the grounds, one of the
i deemed that • number of them had been removed
llargiese where the partridge meat abounded, which pm
roma wraltita that then was romethiag intended at night.
Dogleg the mein be obtained the anistener of sword
elbeteAste, alms with him, planted themselma mar the
Me Mimi had been mowed. Late is the night
Eldon' *mem mode their apyrarsses, whim they all
dime aemateased Ardor • net, and in a awl time they
startM ems yeelebhges Into it, it Mit( pawed where the
balm bad 11.-- Tbe
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