The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-02 00:00:00

1,014 00.1 q, TU ESDAY 14:.*V VNE 62, 186 V

present; but in all respects, notwithstanding the
immense numbers in attendance, the proceedings
were most efficiently condila-a The arrival of the
Duke was announced by a discharge of cannon, and
he and the mayor, at on ;o proceeded, in eaupany
with Lord Calthorpe, to plant the " inauguration
treed." The only observation made by the Duke
was—" By the permission of the mayor I have now
the honour to say that the park is open to the
people," and, as might be expected, enthusiastic
cheering followed.
It is impossible to describe in detail the extraor-
dinary illustrations and exhibitions of the day, but
it may be safely said that, owing greatly to the
munificent liberality of Mr. Radcliff, the mayor,
and the popularity of the Duke of Cambridge, no
fete has ever boen celebrated here with such eclat.
The terms upon which Lord Calthorpe assigns
the ground as a working man's park may be stated
in a few words. So it is given by a contemporary :
" If the use which the public make of this ground
for the next two summers prove that they really
desire a park for the purposes of recreation, I will
at once take measures for giving them a long lease
of it on merely nominal terms. If, on the contrary,
it is not used to anyextent, I will take it for granted
that such a park is not required at present, and will
reserve to myself the right of either extending the
experiment or of keeping the ground wholly under
my control."
Amongst other gentlemen we noticed present
during the day (in addition to tliosa mentioned)
were Mr. Adderley, M.P., Mr. Newdegate, Mr.
Spooner, M.P., the High-Sheriff and Under-She-
riffs of Warwickshire, and other influential pariies.
The entire expenses of the festivities are paid by
Mr. Ratcliff, the mayor, viz., the cost of the open-
ing of Calthorpe-park--dinner to 214 gentlemen to
meet the Duke of Cambridge at Dee's Hotel—a free
concert for the people in the Town-ball—and a free
ball for the people in the Broad-street Music-hall.
To-morrow his Royal Highness will visit the
principal manufactories of the town, and before his
departure to London will' luncheon with a select
party at Dee's Hotel.

THE VA T, RIFLE FACTOIIIES.

---~-

Mr. asraeli has st Luiped an entirely new ques-
with tl;e cliarteter of high national import-
anco. It iy so gave, he says, that it intiA ulti-
unat,dy, and perhaps speedily, be broaght to &Ana
conclusion by the House of Commons It does not
concern the repreTientation of the nor the
diplomatic rola'ions of the kingdom, nor the dis-
tribution of power between the two great par:irs,
nor the Chinese quarrel, nor the Maynooth Grant,
nor Popular Education nor Church-rates. To none
of these subjects, notwithstanding its moment and
its urgency, is it in any degres related. It arises
entirely out of the mmufacture of Small Arms for
the use of her Majesty's forces, and even here is
independent altogether of any principle involved in
the actual equipment of the troops. The question,
in short, is not whether our soldiers shall ba armed
with new rifles, but where and by whom these
rifles shall be made.

Our readers will recollect that some time ago a
Government factory was established at Enfield for
the construction of the new weapon, by which it
was evident that the regulation musket must be as
soon as possible superseded. This establishment,
we were assured in the debate of Friday evening,
had not up to March last turned out a single rifle,
but it must at any rate have turned out most influ-
ential model, for "the Enfield rifle"—ein improve-
ment on the original Minie--•-sis now the title of the
British weapon half over the world. However, be
this as it may, the factory is evidently obnoxious
and abominable in the eyes of the Warwickshire
gunmakers, and Mr. Spooner and Mr. Newdegate
conveyed the wrath of their constituents to the
ears of Government without suffering it to lose
muoh in the passage. According to the arming-
ham manufacturers, this is au establi-limeot main-
tained out of the taxes to which they themselves
contribute for the purpose of damaging their own
position by its " competitive" operation. On the
side of the Government it was declared that the
factory was not "competitive" in the s:rict sense
of the word ; that it served particular ends, as was
the case in other departments, and that it was of
great utility to the public. We think the last of
these arguments will be the safest one to rely upon.
. It is of no use splitting hairs in attempting to
define the precise conditions which would give any
establishment a "competitive'' character in its
relations io another. In substance, the Warwick-
shire manufacturers are no doubt right ; indeed, to
suppose otherwise would simply be to assume that
the wearer cannot tell where the shoe pinches. If
the good folks of Birmingham did not feel the pres-
sure they would certainly not complain of it. Lord
Palmerston argues that to prove competition it
would be necessary to consider the Enfield estab-
lishment as working against private factories fur the
s tke of better profits, just as opposition shops do.
This, of course, is not the case ; but, although the
Enfield people may have no design of underselling
the Birmingham makers in open market, the latter
are undoubtedly kept down in their terms and up
in their work through the instrumentality of the
former, and this is pre ty much the essence of the
petition. At Enfield. the Government authorities
can not only investigate with patience and accuracy
every successive improvement suggested in the con-
struction of the rifle, but can determine by their
own productions the proper standard of quslity and
the fa'r amount of price. The result furnishes an
effestive check upon the price and quality ruling in
°Vier markets, and the producers for these merlcets
are proportionately incensed at an annoyance creatscl
—as they urge by way of gravamen—out of the
taxes contributed from their own pockets to the ser-
vice of the State. Moreover, the Government factory
is certainly intended to turn out rifl s, an 1, we
should hope, in considerable numbers ; it would
also, as a matter of course, be appealed to in the
first instance for any supplies that were needed, s)
that, if there were rnt a great many rifles required
at once, this national shop might monopolise the
best part of the custom, and t dee away so much
trade from the old manufactuting districts.
We do not see, therefore, how it can be denied
that the Enfield factory does operate as a " compe-
titive" establishment in most of the essentials of
competition. If it were not for this factory the
Birmingham gunsmiths would certainly have more
guns to make, and would probably be able to make
them at a somewhat less expense and a setnewhat
greater profit. But to admit this much is not to
admit that the manufacturers in question are en-
titled to these advantages, or that there is any error
of policy in the establishment at Enfield. On the
contrary, it appears to result directly from the ar-
guments employed that the public service gains
ina,tet tally by the arrangement, sine-', in so far as
the army is supplied from the open trade market,
it is supplied better and more cheaply ; and, as Mr.
Drummond tersely remarked, " There was one
thing which was even more imlort3.nt than
commercial and economical principles, and that
was that the country should be supplied with
the best article." Neither have the manufac-
turers themselves any true ground of com-
plaint respecting the employment of public
money for the purpo4es referred to. It is nut as
gunmakers, but simply as citizens, that they p9ll-
- to the Imperial Exchequer, and as citizens
they have a common interest with all other classes
in the objects proposed. If the Enfield factory
has really the effect of cheapening the annual
vote for " Small Arena," the country at large gets
the benefit, and taxes will be so much lighter in
Birmingham, as well as everywhere else. The duty
of Government is to consider the advantage of the
whole nation, not of any particular class, and when
all classes thus forego their particular interests the
aggregate gain becomes the property of the entire
community.

All this'is so very plain and rudimentary that it
scarcely needs propounding, but Mr. Disraeli and
his friends may undoubtedly require to be shown
that the conditions on which the argument is based
are actually fulfilled—in other words, that the
Enfield factory can really take the lead and set the
example in the construction of first-rate articles at
low prices. Lord Palmerston delivered certain
doctrines upon this point in very comprehensive
terms. "It was a mistake," he raid, "to suppose
that public works of thin description were conducted
cn so expensive a plan as to make the articles pro-
duced more exp:tnsive than could be pureh rsed
from the private trader. Take, for exampl-,
Lancaster shells. He had seen at Woolwich
the manufacture cf those shells, and he found
that they were not only better than those!sup-
plied by the trade, but that they were manufac-
tured at abont one-third of the price. So it would
be in all thing,." If this is the fact we can only
say that "all things" ought to be supplied from
Government establishments ; but we confess to
considerable doubts in the mat' er, and suspect that
his lordshi2 took safer ground when he described
the advantages of Enfield as consisting iu a good
" standard of quality" and a certain amount of
supply. The sum total of the expeaditure upon
the Enfield factory is presently tole printed u'idtr
a single heading, and then, perhaps, we can arrive
at a more accurate estimate on this pint ; but,
though Government works may posses superiority
in particular respects, they are not usual y distin-
guished for economy. It was said, with perfect
truth, that if the Enfield factory was a competitive
establishment as regarded the Birmingham houses,
so the national dockyards would be competitive
establishments as regarded the shipbuilding trade ;
but, though Portsmouth and Plymouth may turn
our better men-of-war than the yards on the
Thames or the Clyde; we doubt if they have much
to show on the score of frugality or thzilt. In
fact, it would be rather difficult in a Government
establishment so to bring every outlay to book .as
to get at a true result.

To make a long story short, we believe that if all
the expenses of the Enfield estAblishment from
its very beginning were fairly reckoned, and
charged, as they should be, to the account of the
weapons now producible from the factory, it would
sot be found that the Enfield rifle was exactly a
cheap article, or so cheap, in fact, as might have
been procured by open contract at first. But we
believe also that the pattern at length approvel is
of a superior quality, and that the stindard thus
obtained is decidedly higher than it would other-
wise have been. Very possibly, too, if the test of
machinery and experithents be set aside as incurred
and satisfied once and for all, the actual weapon
may now be turned out at less expense than would
be involved in a private factory where no such
capital had been sunk, and, as a matter of course,
the country may as well get the benefit of these
facilities, as far as practicable. As a general rule,
private enterprise is batter than Government un-
dettakingq, but there are some cases where the
infallibility of supply and the absolute certainty of
excellence are of such importance as to counter-
balance extraordinary expenditure. Among tLese
cases the manufacture of small arms for the use of
our troops may deserve in some degree to be
reckoned, but the experience of the last few years
shows that anything like pressure will inevitably
distribute the demand, not only over all England,
but over foreign countries too.—Times.
IA

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