The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-20 00:00:00

OUR FACIORY SYSTEM IN 1861.

The figures which we are about to place before
our readers have exclusive reference to the cotton,
woollen, worsted, flax, hemp, jute, hosiery, and silk
factories subject to the Factories Act. They are
taken from a return just made by order of the
House of Commons.

In the United Kingdom there were in all 6,378
factories, which contained 36,450,000 spindles ; and
490,866 power looms, which engaged 230,564
hand-loom weavers. The aggregate steam power,
according to the average indication, and expressed
in horse power, was 375,294 ; and the water power,
measured in the same way 29,339 ; together, there-
fore, equal to 404,633 of horse power. The total
number of hands employed was 775,534, whereof
308,273 were males and 467,261 females. This
gives an average of 121 hands to each description
of factory. The number of children under 13 years
of age attending school was 54,411—namely,
23,863 boys and 30,548 girls.
Coming to the separate countries, we observe that
in England and Wales there were 5,652 factories,
having 33,095,500 spindles, 444,233 power looms,
and 204,847 powei-loom weavers; that the steam
power was 328,747, and the water 20,003 ; and
the whole number of hands tngaged was 642,607-
-the males being to the females in the pro-
portion of 27 to 37. Scotland reckoned. about
one-tenth of the number of England's factortb:;, and
not one-tenth of her spindles. The number of the
former was 568, of the latter 2,615,220. Something
like the same proportion was attained in respect of
the Scotch power looms, which numbered 40,073 ;
and the weavers, 23,294 ; the steam power was
34,609, the water 5,960; the number of hands at
work, 95,055. The proportion of males to fe-
males offers a remarkable difference, when com-
pared with the same ratio in England, it is
as 25 to 70 ; the excess, be it observed, of the
female population in Scotland is much greater
than that which obtains in our own
country. North of the Tweed, the female factory
hands are in a duplicate ratio to the male, as com-
pared with the ratio in the country to the south
of it.

Ireland has 158 factories only ; numbering 739,205
spindles. The power looms were 6,560, and the
weavers 4,423. The total number of persons em-
ployed was 37,872—the males being 11,490 and the
females 26,382 of that number. Here, as in Scot-
land, the female hands are more than 2 to 1.
THE BRITISH COLONIES IN 1838 AND .1858.—
To the statesman and to the philosopher no
page in the history of England is more instruc-
tive than that which treats of the rise, the Vicissi-
tudes, and the successes of our colonial do-
minions. Contrasting their state in respect to
i
population, revenue, and trade at an
nterval of
twenty years, we have, in the present day,
every cause to rejoice at the career which, in the
future, they seem destined to run. In 1838
we had 24 colonies; in 1858 we counted 32. In
the former year, the population was 3,859,000 per-
sons ; in the latter, 8,149,000 ; being equal to an
augmentation of 4,290,000, or 111 per cent. In
'3B, the revenue they raised was £2,381,000 ; in '5B,
it was £10,256,000; which was equal to an increase
of £7,875,000, or 330 per cent. The value of the
Imports in the earlier year was £16,137,000; in
the latter, £50,614,000; showing an increase of
134,477,000, or 214 per cent. The exports from
the colonies were in 1838 valued at £14,904,000,
and this amount stands against £43,017,000 in
1858, being an increase of £28,113,000, or 190 per.
cent.

SOUTIIAMPTON, Wed nenday.—lnformat ion has
been received by the agents of the line at this port. that the
Hamburg-American Company's screw steamer Borussia,
which was to leave New York on the Bth inst., would not
leave till the 12th or 13th, and she is not, therefore, ex-
pected to arrrive off CJIVCS before Tuesday or Wednesday
next. The North German Lloyd screw steamer New
York, Captain G. Wenke, sailed hence at two p.m. to-day
for New York, with German and English mails, 274 pas-
sengers, 850 tons of cargo, and 40,000 f. from Havre. She
takes no specie from England,