The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-23 00:00:00

7118 CLEVELAND IRON TRADE.

(From Bigland and Warner's Circular.)
At the solicitation of many of our friends, we beg to lay
before you a statement of the iron trade for the past year,
more particularly with reference to the north-eastern coun-
ties of England, with which we are more immediately con-
nected. At a time when the unsettled and lowering aspect
of foreign affairs has brought almost every branch of
manufacture to its most restricted and bona-fade limits, the
comparison of districts becomes a matter of serious im-
portance—and it is a fair assumption that a trade, which
can hold its own during such a year as the past, will, under
mere favourable circumstances, assume a leading and in-
fluential position. Tho general aspects and statistics of
the three great iron districts of Scotland, Cleveland, and
Staffordshire, for 1861, present some curious and interest-
ing features.

To Staffordshire the year has been disastrous. Thirty-
two furnaces have been blown out since 1860, and no less
than seventy-nine in 1860 and 1861. The increased make
per furnace has partially counteracted this reduction, but
there is no doubt that the production is very
materially lessened. This is mainly owing to the
scarcity and costliness of their iron ores, an element
which will increasingly cripple the operations of Stafford-
shire. High classed irons are still in fair demand, but
at high prices ; and even with a large admixture of
foreign ores, and the extensive use of Durham coke, Staf-
fordshire is still unable to maintain the competition with
dist, icts, the natural advantages of which mark them as the
destined riource6 of supply.
Scotland, at the close of 1861, has brighter prospects. It
is true that the deliveries of pig iron have only exceeded
those of 1860 by 20,000 tons, but this is not a discouraging
fact, considering the interruption to the American trade.
During the year prices have ranged between 475. and 525.
for mixed number warrants, closing at 48s. 9d. But the
increase of stock in Scotland is the most discouraging fea-
ture. On the Ist of Jan., 1860, the stock of pigs was 390,000
tons ; on the Ist of Jan., 1861, it was 460,000 tons ; and
on the Ist of January, 1862, it was 566,000 toss, showing a
steady preponderance of supply over demand. An increase
of 176,000 tons in two years is a significant fact which the
Scotch makers will do well to heed. It may be the policy
of a few large makers to glut the market until the smaller
men can maintain the fight no longer, but it is very ques-
tionable policy, and may in this case, as it has often done
before, bring calamity on the heads of those who adopt
it.

Let us turn to our own district the seat of the
Cleveland iron trade, for under this title it is fight-
ing its way—and as the Cleveland iron trade will, we
doubt not, eventually take the first place in the mar-
ket. Here the results are in strong contrast to those in
Staffordshire and Scotland. During 1861, 66 furnaces have
been in blast, showing a reduction of only 2, and these
have yielded a make of 609,400 tons. There was in Jan. 1,
1861, a stock of 70,053 tons ; but on Jan. ], 1862, we find
that stock reduced to 52,453 tons, being 17,600 tons less this
year than last. Thus we find that in addition to 609,400
tons—the• make for the year—there has been upwards of
17,600 tens sold, not put into stock as in Scotland; or, in
other words, passed from the maker to the middle man, as
a means of raising money and keeping down the otherwise
ruinous competition of the open market. This is a distin-
guishing feature of the Cleveland iron trade; the sales are
to consumers, and the figures represent the actual tons
used, and not merely transferred, It has been common to
hear sneers about the slow progress of the iron trade in
Cleveland; and there is no doubt that had the warrant sys-
tem expanded hero to the full extent it has in Scotland,
many more furnaces would be in blast, and many more
works in progtess. We are far from wishing to see this
result. The warrant system has its advantages, and may
become an importont adjunct to the trade of this district, but
meantime, we may congratulate the ironmastors of Cleve-
land on the sound, healthy, and legitimate character of
their tra@le, and predict with confidence that the success of

1861 (for the result is certainly a success, when compared
with other districts) is but the forerunner of that prospe-
HO, which mtist eventually crown their efforts and enter-
prise. Prices-of Cleveland iron have ranged from 48s. to
41s. for No. 1, and from 465. to 445. 6d. for No. 3, present-
ing a lower average than Scotch prices, doubtless in con-
sequence of the trade being bona fide, and not subject to
the protecting influence of the store yard.
Such is an abstract of the year 1861, as regards the
three general iron producing districts. The current year
does not open very encouragingly. The state of American
affairs involves so much uncertainty as to the future, that
extended operations are checked, and transactions are, to
a great extent, limited by actual wants; but with a large
market opening in France, with increasing shipments to
Italy and the Mediterranean ports ; with India, calling
for more iron roads to her cotton fields; and Russia map-
ping out her vast continent with grand trunk lines, we can-
not take a very gloomy view of the coming year. Iron has
become an essential in every trade, a staple in every manu-
facture; in fact, the world's progress is on iron roads, and
we hazard nothing in the assertion that the cheapest mar-
ket for production must, in the end, become the greatest
source of supply.
It may not be in 1862 that the iron trade will resume its
prosperity, but already the shadow of it is stealing
over the land, and when it comes, all the past and
present aspects of the trade warrant the belief that the
local advantages of Cleveland will secure for it a full share.

A Wiesbaden letter says This year th© gain-
ing establishment is to be subjected to infinitely higher
taxation than heretofore. The sum of 14,000 florins a-year
hitherto paid is to be raised to 154,000. It is thought that
the rumour of the total suppression of the gaming-houses
here is not correct."

ROYAL COLLEGE OFSURGEONS.—The following
gentlemen passed their primary examinations in anatomy
and physiology at a meeting of the Court of Examiners on
the 22d instant, and when eligible will be admitted to the
pass-examination :--Messrs. James Atkinson West Spence,
John Shepherd, Henry Albert Pattinson, and Donald
M'lver, Edinburgh; James Bruce, Charles Edward Addi-
son, and Edgar George Pottle, St. Bartholomew's Hospital ;
Henry Seekamp Ward, Edward Jas. Pollock, and Alfred
John Matthew, King's College; Acheson George Bartley
and Alfred Patton, Belfast; Annesley Lamb and John W.
Williams, St. George's Hospital; John Nicholson and
Thomas Theodore Steward, Birmingham ; Wm. Daven-
port, Glasgow; John Castaneda, University College;
Augustus Reeve Senior, Charing-cross Hospital; Wm.
Saunderson Wyman, St. Thomas's Hospital; Thos. F.
Baker, Leeds; Elthem Wood, Toronto; and John Morri-
son, University of Louisiana.

SNOW TONGUES.—The Boletin de llfeclicana of
Madrid states that in Great Britain a great demand has
arisen for the snow-cured Sereida Tongues prepared by the
mountaineers, and the impetus thus given to a deserving
and industrial population is very great. As no salt what-
ever is used in the process, the mildness and richness of
flavour in the meat is preserved, and they are rendered
extremely acceptable to refined palates, as well as being a
great delicacy for yachting or sea voyages. They are
packed in threes for the English markets, and there sold at
an extremely low price. The consignors assure us that
Mr. Osborne (of Ludgate-hill, London), to whom they are
f,l warded dit,ct, guarantees that five times the quantity
wculd bo readily parted with if our pouple would apply an
increased attention to them when snow is sufficiently plen-
tiful.