The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-12 00:00:00

FRANCE.

COMMERCIAL INQ UIR Y.
The following letter has been addressed by the Chamber
of Commerce of Lyons to Mr. Ducliatel, the Minister of
Commerce :

" Sir,—We regret that the shortness of the time which
remained from the date when we had the honour to receive
the circular you addressed to us on the 20th September, to
the period mentioned in that circular for entering upon the
commercial inquiry, has not enabled us to select a delegate
who would so far dispose of his time as to respond to your
call. We shall endeavour, by making a few observaticns on
the questions arising from your circular, to make up for
this deficiency : happy shall we be if we can throw any new
light on a subject which has given rise to such diversity of
opinions, and if, sir, we can lay before you arguments of
.such weight as to induce you to enter more boldly into
that path which seems to be imperiously called for by the
times in which we live. We are amongst those who have
expressed the wish for the laying on of duties in lieu of the
existing prohibitions. The whole of our answer of the
29th October, 1833, to a circular from your predecessor in
office, dated 27th August, of the same year, is founded on
that principle, and calls for its application. We continue
in the same mind ; our opinions are unchanged, not only
because we wish to see the national treasury benefit by that
which is now absorbed by smuggling, but also because we
are convinced that no confusion can arise from the laying
on of import duties, in such proportion as to enable the
manufacturers who have risen up under the prohibition
system, to regain, by degrees, the capital they have invested ;
this system cannot be met by any well-founded opposition.
It is, moreover, of the highest importance, that manufactu-
rers and traders should be thoroughly impressed with the
fact, that they are no longer to look up to the prohibition
system, and that they are not to enter into any speculation
founded on it.

" The transition from a prohibition system to that of a
well-regulated freedom, ought not to be sudden. It there-
fore is the duty of the Government to prepare the public
mind for the change. In this point of view, the inquiry
seems to be opportune. W e think, nevertheless, that if
the Government had previously come to a determination on
the articles used for manufacturing, and had made the same
known, the inquiry would have been more regularly carried
on. How is it possible to estimate the extent to which the
French manufactories will be able to compete with foreigners,
without first knowing what improvement may be effected in
their produce, either as to quality or as to price, by the al-
terations which must inevitably be made in the terms of ad-
mission of the articles which they consume ?

" For example, can a correct opinion be formed on glass
one of the first articles to be discussed, as long as there is
an uncertainty as to coals? The more or less cost of this
fuel increases or diminishes the price of the manufactured
article. It, therefore, will be but when the French manu-
facturer shall be able to ascertain the advantage to be de.
rived from using that important foreign article (coal), that
he will be able to make up his mind whether it is sufficient
to compensate for the chances he will run by being brought
into direct competition with the foreign glass manufacturer,
by modifications in the tariff. Most assuredly is this argu-
ment applicable to wove goods ; and if it be seriously in-
tended to alter the law which now applies to them, it being
~1,11 understood with prudence, the article hitherto prohi-
bited oust not be saddled with such an import duty, as to
antamount to a prohibition—or even with so
bhieginieaar'oly2
as :till to offer a premium to smuggling. This
liberty to import zaust not be beset with such restrictions
as to be little more th.;.n the mere show of such a faculty.
Nevertheless, this ma) be said to be the case from the
royal ordonnance of the Bth July last, relating to cotton
twist. Its regulations are completely faulty in two points :
" Ist. Because the import duty of 7fr. (ss. 7d.) per
kilogramme (2 1-sth lbs. nearly), to Which cotton twists
above No. 142 are liable, is equal to from 27 to 33 per cent.
of the value of that article, exclusively of the expenses of
freight, carriage, &c., whilst it is well known that the pre.
mium paid for smuggling on the frontiers does not exceed
18 to 20 per cent.
" 2. Because by limiting to the numbers above No. 142
the liberty to import foreign cotton twist, the above ordon-
nance does not comply with the wish we had expressed, the
object of which was to procure for the manufacturers of Lyons,
St. Etienne, and Nismes, an important diminution in the first
cost of an article of which they consume large quantities.
" The general consumption of those manufactories con-
sists in numbers below 100. Before the ordonnance, those
numbers were scarce and at a high price ; they are now
much more so, for by opening our frontiers to the higher
numbers, the ordonnance has in fact consolidated the mono-
poly of the spinners of the lower numbers, who for a time
were.in fear of losing it. Is it not physically impossible that
our manufacturers can compete in articles of silk and cotton
the demand for which daily increases with those of Rhenish
Prussia, who possess the immense advantage of being able
to obtain, under a duty of 5 or 6 per cent., cotton twist of
all countries, England included, those of which, in our ex-
hibition of foreign goods, are marked at from 45 to 75 per
cent. damper than the French cotton twists ?
" The royal ordonnance of the Bth July is but a half mea-
sure ; all its effect has been to produce a fall of about ter.
to fifteen per cent on the high French numbers. It would
be ae.Lrable to render it more beneficial and compreli et. sive ;
and we hot; no doubt that it would be an advantageous
stimulant to tte Y rench cotton spinning, to allow of the
introduction of the lou'er numbers of foreign cotton twists,
in the order and subject to the duties as follows,- viz.—
s. d.
English No. 20 to 50 fr. 2. 1 7
50 100 3 0 411 per kilogramme
100 142 4 . 32! i 2 1-sth lbs.
142 and up. 5 4 0
" We ardently wish such a measure may be adopted,
and we recommend it, Sir, to your most serious attention.
" We shall now speak of Wools.
The exorbitantly high import duty to whirl' foreign
wool is subjected has not tended to raise the pr:c..l of the
article in France. The agricultural interest, consequently,
has not derived from it the advantages which had been ex-
pected.
" On the one hand, the foreign manufacturer, no 1134-er
having us on his market, has been able to purchase anal
produce at a much cheaper rate than when we were op-
posed to him. This has enabled him to supply the con
sumer abroad, who used to apply to us, at a reduction pro-
portioned to that at which he had purchased the raw
material. Deprived of the fine wools they made use of in
-----
manufacturina• the articles for exportation, our manufacturers
have gradually seen the demand for their produce limited SocHtztNc;.—"l'lle ourt Journal," we observe,
" C
to the home consumption ; and have thus lost by rapid has very opp,T,tue..ely just non then ucopatthac. popular subject of
Sporting ; arm it will accordingly . ii a record of the
strides, the vantage ground they had obtained.
`Porting advelitm es of the week, during the season. " It is
" On the other hand, our manufacturers limiting them-
tegntion," says the Editor, " to offer a brief Chronicle of
selves to the supply of the home trade, have considerably
the doings dinoings of ' huunds, horses, and men,' during the glorious
reduced the amount of their purchases of French wool, be- months. But as we are not übiquitous, like the Irishman's
cause they have not had as formerly an opportunity of
bird, we must call upon our brethren,in pink and in green,
using a quantity of it mixed, in the goods for exportation. to assist us in the good work.; and beg of them, when they
It has followed that this article (wool) has fallen in price, hay,: kicked off their boots and toasted their toes sufficiently,
I
and that there is no chance of its getting up again, as long to ring for pen, ink, and paper, and send a right,, true, and
as our manufacturers shall have but ourselves for consumers. pournalarticular, acccunt, of their good things; .to the ' Court
, ,
" This fact, which we have just stated, has not, Sir, es- - .
J.

The following article on the manufactures of Scotland is
from Mr. Horner's Report to Lord Duncannon, dated
London, July 20, 1834 :
" 'lie total number of cotton, woollen, flax, and silk fac-
tories in Scotland, in which the machinery is moved by
steam-engines or water-wheels, amount to 388. It is pos-
sible that there may be some country woollen mills which
have been omitted by the surveyors, but if so, they can only
be on a very small scale. The chief scats of the cotton
and flax mills are in those parts of the country where
coal abounds, or is to be had at a cheap rate from the vi-
cinity of the sea ; and some great mills have been esta-
blished in situations distant from coal, where there is a great
command and fall of water ; but it is remarkable, that some
situations in Scotland, highly favourable for manufactures,
are without them, as, for instance, in the neighbourhood of
Edinburgh, where coal is very cheap, where there is a large
population to supply young hands, and where there is a sea-
! port to save the expense of land carriage, both for the raw
material and the manufactured article. With the excep-
tion of some large establishments at Aberdeen, and one at
Stanley, near Perth, the cotton manufacture is almost en-
tirely confined to Glasgow, and the country immediately
adjoining, to a distance of about 25 miles radius, and all
these country mills, even including the great work at Stan-
ley, arc connected with Glasgow bouses, or the Glasgow trade.
" The spinning of flax by machinery is the next manufac-
ture carried on in mills to a large extent. These factories
are even more numerous than the cotton mills, but are ge-
nerally on a smaller scale. The chief seats of that manu-
facture are in the counties of Forfar, Fife, and Aberdeen ;
they are chiefly engaged in spinning the coarser qualities of
yarns, but the finer qualities are on the increase. With
few exceptions, the woollen mills of Scotland are on a small
scale. Of the total number, 89, 71 do not employ fifty
people each ; and of these 71, there are 26 which do not
give employment to 20 people each. There are only six
;,ilk mills in all Scotland, and only three of these are of any
importance. The total number of persons employed in the
cotton, woollen, flax, and silk mills of Scotland, is 46,825 ;
of whom 13,721 (3,799 males and 9,922 females), are be-
tween the ages of thirteen and eighteen ; and 6,228 (2,552
males and 3,676 females) are under thirteen years of age.
There are a few under eleven ; their number, as stated in
the returns, amounts to 1,143 ; but that is not to be taken
as the number now in the mills, for I have found that since
these returns were made, some mill-owners have discharged
all under eleven, and taken on older children in their stead.
At the same time, I am inclined to think, that a deduction
of 100 would cover all who have been so discharged ; for it
was usually in cases whore two, three, or four only were
under eleven, and it was not thought worth while altering
the arrangements of the mill for so small a number. The
enumeration of steam-engines and water-wheels is not to
be understood as showing the actual number of engines and
wheels, because the returns for those mills where more
than one engine or water-wheel is employed, only state the
total amount of the power. It will be seen, however, that
the total amount of steam-power is 5,330 horses, and that
the water-wheels are estimated as equal to a power of
4,822 horses—making together a mechanical moving power
equivalent to 10,152 horses."
Of the 5,330 horses of steam power given in the above
rept.'rt, the town of Dundee alone produces 1,042, being
about one-fifth of the whole steam-power of Scotland.