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

TIIE RIVAL RIFLE FACTORIES.

Mr. Disraeli has stamped an entirely new ques-
tion with the character of high national import-
ance. It is so grave, he says, that it must ulti-
mately, and perhaps speedily, be brought to some
conclusion by the House of Commons. It does not
concern the representation of the people,- nor the
diplomatic relations of the kingdom, nor the dis-
tyibution of power between the two great parties,
nor the Chinese quarrel, nor the Maynooth Grant,
nor Popular Education, nor Church-rates. To none
of these subjects, notwithstanding its moment and
it's urgency, is it in any degree related. It arises
entirely out of the manufacture 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 be 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soon as possible superseded.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"—an improve-
ment on the origival Minie—is 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
much in the passage. According to the Birming-
ham manufacturers, this is an establishment 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 strict sense
of the word ; that it served particular ends, as was
the case in other departments, and that t 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 to 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 for the
sake 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 pretty 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 cam determine by their
own productions the proper standard of quality and
the fair amount of price. The result furnishes an
effective check upon the price and quality ruling in
othermarkets, and the producers for these markets
are proportionately incensed at an annoyance created
—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 rifles, and, 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, so
that, if there were not a great many rifles required
at once, this national shop might monopolise the
best part of the custom; and. take 'away so much
trade from the old manufacturing 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 somewhat
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
materially by the arrangement, since, 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 edea -more - important 'than
commercial and economical principles, and. that
-was that the- country should- be supplied with
the best article." Neither have the manufac-
turers thoshamal you any +rmn grnnnrl of rtnm -
plaint respecting the employment of public-
money for the purposes referred to. It is not as
gunmakers, but simply as-citizens, that they con-
tribute 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 Arms," 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, biit Mr. Disraeli and
his friends may undoubtedly require to be shown
that the conditions on which the argument is based
are actually fulfilled-tits other words, that the
Enfield factory can reiffY 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 said] "to suppose
that public works of this description were conducted
on so expensive a plan as' to make the articles pro-
duced more expensive than could be purchased
from the private trader. Take, for example;
Lancaster shells.- He had- -seen at Woolwich
the manufacture of those shells, and he found
that they -were not only =better than thoselsup-
plied by theetrade, but that they were manufac-
tured at abont one-third of the price. So it would
be in all things." 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 matter, and suspect that
his lordship took safer ground when he -described
the advantages of Enfield as consisting in a good
" standard of quality" and a certain amount of
supply. The sum total of the expenditure upon
the Enfield factory is presently to be printed wider
a single heading,. and then, perhaps, we can arrive
at a more accurate, estimate; on this
,point ; but,
though Government works may possess superiority
in particular respect?, they are not usually 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 thrift. 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 approved is
of a superior quality, and that the standard thus
obtained is decidedly higher. than it would other-
wise have been. Very possibly;. .too, if the cost of
maChinery and experiments' 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 bourse,
the country may as well get the 'benefit of these
facilities, as far as practicable. As a general rule,
private enterprise is better than Government un-
dertakings, but there are some cases where the
infallibility of supply and the abe,olute certainty of
excellence are -of ,such importance as to counter-
balance extraordinary expenditure. Among these
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.—Tin es.

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