The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-04 00:00:00

2cu Sees he had state 3 would have some weight
with , House, and would induce Hon. Membe.rs to
pause befera they sanctioned the Bill. He held ire his
hand a document which showed the progress this
branch of the trade had made. In the United States,
twenty-five years ago, the trade was unknown.
Ire the year 1839 they produced upwards of
100's000,000 yards of calico of the value of very
nearly 2,500,000/. sterling. They had increased
their own productions year after year, at a
rapid etc. Our exportations to that country
had been diminished year after year, till they were re-
duce], in the year 1839, to between 8 or 900,000
pieces. One point which he (Mr. Williams)
wished to olisarve upon, and upon which a great deal
had been said dsefoie the Committee, was the supe-
riority now enjoyed by the French in their pro-
duction of this article. That superiority was
attributed to the French having a long term
for the copyright of designs. Now he believed that
t her circumstance had no influence whatever in producing
tl,O superiority which the French now enjoyed.
His opinion was that it was entirely owing to their
haying established schools of design at the public ex-
}nose in all the departments of manufacture, which
now existed in that country ; and so great was thi
ability
ie carrying out designs, that they had undoubtedly a
supeeiolity over every other country. But if the same
means ;sere adopted in this country, and selwols
of design veer established, we would not he one tittle
behiud the sc'rench, either in taste or ingest city,
in the production of derigns. There was one remarkable
fact, and it was, that :sore than a year and a half ago a Bill
had passed Parliament to establish a copyright in de-
signs for twelve months for all descriptions of both ar-
ticles. The producers found that no protection an all.
In the great and extensive trade of the manufacture
of silk, in which it was computed that not less ohan
from .50 to 100,000 patterns were annually produeied,
not 2.t) of these patterns were registered. Could such
grounds then as these be rested upon by the parties
who sought for the extension ? The pets,sing of the
measure nos: nought to be made law would be most in-
jurious and most detrimental to these most important
branches of the manufactures of the country ; and
he ~could therefore move that the Bill be reed A second
time that day twelve months.
Mr. GISBORNE seconded the motion.
Mr. SHE IL had been at considerable pains to ob-
tain the most coriect information on the subject, and
it appeared to him that there were great difficulties law
the way of settling she matter to the satisfaCtion of the
persons interested. Tire embarrassment which the
subject presented seemed somewhat less with respect to
thepaper-hanging trade. The operations in paper-staining
were slower in their nature, and the patterns were of
longer duration. The French mode of paper-staining
was decidedly supetior to ours, and if we could have
improved our designs by the extension of the copy-
right he had no doubt that the French paper would
have been long since banished from this country.
Another consideration was, that there was no difference
of opinion among the parties concerned in the trade ;
and before the Committee no party interested in the
trade came forward to give evidence rigs inst the ex-
tension of the copyright in paper-staining. That was
not the case with respect to the calico trade ; for with
respect to the extension of the copyright in the. calico
trade considerable dissension existed.—(Hear, hear.)
Tee Scotch. printers seemed almost unanimous with re-
spect to the propriety of the existing copyright. He
(Mr. Shell) believed that there were sixty-sesven
printers in Scotland, originally sixty-four, in favour of
the extension of it. He heard that there was anothor
both, of printers in Scotland favourable to the extension
of tfie ctenyright, and they produced annually about four
millions otl.eicces. In Ireland there were twodistinguished
manufacturcre• Mr. Duffy and Mr. .1-lanry,who produced
excellent designs, and who were naturally in favour of
the extension. In I:J.anchester the deeference of opinion
on the subject rose to a
hitch of excitet.etento Both the
Hon. Members for Mancheester were opt, osed to the ex-
tension, and one cf them made a speech on ehe subject
attended with such effLet, that it a"cquired all
• the ts.lents
of the Hon. Member for Inverness :o remove /hat cf-
feet. It was not wonderful, under those circun. ,seances,
that those who had nothing but the public good a,,,heart,
and did not participate in the feelings of those whys ap-
peared as witnesses before the Committer, should e nape
rience some difficulty on the subject. Even the C
oni-
mittee, after hearing a great deal of evidence on the s. tsb.•
je.ct, were far from agreeing—six were for reporting #
the subject and six against it, and it was only the cast- -
ing vote of the Chairman that decided it. Tios
Committee agreed to no definite period of exten-
sion, they merely agreed to the principle that the
term of the copyright should be extended. The
Honourable Member for Belfast, who had shown
great sagacity and experience on the subject, could
not soy that in selecting the period of twelve months
he was justified by the Report of the Committee.
'lacy might take it for granted that the period of copy-
right should be regulated by the period for which it
was granted. Were three months adequate for that
purpose? He did not think they were. The season
lasted for more than three months ; and yet, after the
lapse of three months. some copyist, iyieg is wait, with-
out undergoing any expense or incurring any eisk, might
deluge the market with a pattern of an inferior fabric,
render the original pattern vulgar, and far less valuable.
It had been said that if the extended copyright had
been at first introduced into this country, we should
now be able to enter into competition with our conti-
nental neighbours. It was true, however, that this
country even still carried on a more prosperous trade
than France. In 1839 the French exported only
34,000,000 of yards of calico, including printed and
not printed goods ; tchile, in the same year, Enst-
land had exported 751,000,000 of cotton goods.
The lion. Member for Belfast had introduced the
perilous word " imitation" into the Bill, by which he '
opened the door to endless litigation. It was already
difficult enough to ascertain, under the provisions of
the 3d and 4th of George 111., what was " a copei."
--(Hear, hear.) He thought the copyright ought to
be extended, but not beyond six months ; and witeh
the hope that it would be reduced to that limit, )3x3
would vote for the second reading.—(Hear, hear. )
There were already five Acts of Parliament, and thi
would make a s;xth. it would save much expense and',
uncertainty if they were all condensed into one—
(Hear, hear)—and if the lion. Member for &Haste
would accept his SC:ViCCS for that purpose, he would,
willingly give him all the assistance in his power.
Mr. GREG said, that from all the attention he
had been able to give to the subject, he was convinced
that the Bill would do more mischief than good. He
thought that in most cases the protection was a loss to
the public, and rarely a benefit to the individual.—
(Hear, hear.) In the case of mechanical inventions,
probably not one, certainly not six in the hundred, of
patents was useful to the inventor. In the case even of
Watts and Bolton, the invention of the former
illustrious man was of no benefit to the part-
ners until after their patent had expired.—(Hear.)
All experience showed that if the first manufacturer
made his article good, and sold it at a reasonable price,
he would have an almost undisputed sale for it. Hes
was confident that the Bill then proposed would inflict
injury upon the calico trade at large, and in partioular
upon that town which he had the honour to represent.
A short copyright, secrecy, despatch, and moderate
prices were the only protection that could be afforded.
Though the present time was short it was effectual ;
if extended to twelve, or even six months, the security
would be diminished, and the trade would be invoked
in constant litigation. He must observe, that aleaosl
all the great printers had agents in France, who sent
over to this country every new pattern as it came out.
If these identical patterns were protected, it was not
too much to say, that those who sought to
pass ibis
Bi:1 would themselves be the victims of it. When
orders came from different parts of the world, how was.
the merchant to know who was the inventor of the
patterns, or whether apatterns, particular pattern hadoo
nwe' t
cowuld.
or three months to run ?,---(Hear, bear.) H
he execute the orders in time if he had to make the
hear.) At pre-
necessary inquiries?—(Hear, h
sent there was certainty andco_nficed:rtein:,jotehy be not only; under the ex-
tended period there would n
hesitation and doubt in
constant litigation, but
and extensive business,
the transaction of impofrhetaain't
e trade materially, and in the
printers themselves. Th
all which would damag
end none more than
the
eecad a petition signed b , 164 e
c talico
Hon. Gentleman then rof
le manufacturers in the neighbour.
the largest wholesu
hood of Manchester in support of his vie ws. No one
export trade gaged in our could doubt the,
who was en
*tion which it feel to
great compel • contend with in fo-
reign
countries. Any one might learn that from c the
Dr. Bowrin or
reports of g, the evidence taken before
the Export Duties Committee. Seventy thousand:
hundred weight of cotton goods were annually exported
to foreign countries : and three-fourths of the
manufac-
tures of Switzerland were exported. The f
act was that
we could not compete with foreigners in any species of
cotton manufacture which required a considerable
por-
tion of individual labour. Yarns
were constantly
sent out to Germany to be dyed, and now
came
back ayai
n
to Glasgow and other towns in this ountry. c did
not think if the Bill
then before the House were
pass that any limits could be put to litigation. The
Lord Chancellor could knot determine what was a
copy and what. was an original, and Juries would be
equally unable to decide in such cases. 09 the whole,
atter having given the subject the most mature conside-
ration—after having conversed with a number of per-
sons the best acquainted with the subject, and after
with regard to
having read all the pamphlets printed
if—he could not remove the impression from his mind
that, taking the interests of the community, and of the
trade at large, into account, the Bill would be attended
with a degree of injury more than commensurate with
any individual advantages with which it might be at-
tended.
Sir 11. PEEL observed that the Committee which
had been appointed.to inquire into the subject then un•
der their consideration had been appointed at his sug-
g stion, in the caurse of last Session. He had attended
etett Cemmitee with no prepossession, certainly, in fa-
vour of the extension of the copyright of designs—he
had feared that the consequence of the extension might