The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-01-29 00:00:00

jail 29, TRD
-ATRE.

THE WATCH MANUFACTURE OF LIVERPOOL. THE NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY BIS

atCe
o o
nWt
eemwpeorrea
rc eyr toafi nsl
t 0 Theyo young
possession of
Aa goodbodown
ea,tchhoiws
eavnero,bijse cot
plagueof am btiotiiotns
nowoanielyr,blrikeoekaiobgadanwaipfepooiroatmfaeloste,
Iforiseinndg.a
boat,You aorre
ocorantili:
tarnaddioogthcelrassseims.ilaTr
hoorAgvaanisl,ihnowtheveeirr,ehr:;,,enugthi
discovery that he is being overcharged.,
not
way train, by placing too implicit confidence in the deceit- peculiarly penchant for biscuits, hesinaaforol,;
ful oracle. For years past, such has been the high repo- discovery
by those sad fellows the biscuit baker,,o,
tation in which the manufacture of this town has been
held, that a Liverpool watch and a good watch have been following fashion :
that theY area
regarded as synonymous terms. The names of any of our We have no hesitation in saying
sted they
most unmercifully. We have te ~„eso
leading makers, affixed to an article, was received as a people
foul of them in a fit of virtuous indigniw
extortion, and have taken care to have
c;f,4e,
guarantee of excellence in every market ; and the prices advance against them as a most seericiinus_Al
Saturday
yre
joining
gto
tfihned
I:srae,ee.toki
which were readily obtained were almost double those paid 21bs. of Vds.cuits from al,,!eotseednialtaoc
an
ecill'aux
to our foreign competitors. Why was this the case ? It --. charged
r enwick streaetp,aaanad were charged 6d. a P"Dn'oci
was because they made a point never to turn out of their
hands an inferior article. If must be borne in mind, when
estimating the importance of this fact, that not one buyer and the public..
for
.11„st se
in a dozen can tell for himself whether twenty shillings or go to such naughty shops again ; •' :-••
Very shocking
Weof tshheoubldakseerrlotuhsulys to .
are doing, according to his own statement„o,l,,
fifty shillings worth of labour has been expended in finish-
we are dependent mainly upon the character of the maker.
taste, v" scl
chiefly American, which has no more ~ al
ing. For the truth of the workmanship, and its quality, The price of flour of which these biscuits ar,i`e
than D" 1
As a proof of the estimation in which the watches of ment of pigs' lard or dirty butter, ._,.d.
Liverpool are held in foreign markets, we may state that dried, doubly pulverised, and hastily baltc..o
the lowest five-pair jewelled lever works, without cases, allude to can well afford to sell their hisc_u:a
exceed 10lb. for the shilling, and very' tasteless ,Toll
are worth, and readily command, 84s. abroad, whilst the better flour than they use, at Id. in the one"-
French and Swiss article, in gold cases, can be imported lb. in the other, at a fairpro/it.
into this country at 80s. each watch. The foreign buyer We must really, however, call upon tleheglo
gives this extra price because be knows that it represents back" a little here ; and remind him as' facti,
the additional labour bestowed in construction and in resort to grossly palpable exaggerationsol
_l4
finish ; because he knows that a first-rate Liverpool watch may be excused if they pay very little regard
possesses the all-important qualities of correctness as a elusions, In the first place there is na'.„ing
time-keeper, and durability ; whilst the cheap French or in the market as flour at 101 b for the 01;4,
Swiss article is only a toy. The home buyer is rapidly want pig flour. The sour flour, used to 'l.O
making the same discovery. At this moment we see the ter calicoes and Bolton muslins, brings 11'Yt ,
French and Geneva watches a drug, hawked from door to the next place, even with sound
flour 1,0,.,
door, and vendible only at canting auctions, through the baker could afford to make biscuits at isu.,,
;
medium of sweeteners, or sham bidders. True it is, that 3d. per lb. The article, which our c°l'i
every article so vended displaces an Fnglish article, and supplied with, or might have been at the,Y,,
throws some poor workman out of bread ; but we have the the best which is capable of being
made
assurance that the imposture must at length be found out, English flour, and of the quality used ey
and the higher-priced native article be preferred by the fectioners. The cost of this flour is nearly sensible portion of the public. named by our contemporary.
With such a competition to sustain it is clear what He goes on to urge that the bakers of,
ought to be the policy of the British watch-maker. Com- ought, with free trade, to sell them at een'
pete in price with the foreigner he cannot. His study ced prices, and asks—
therefore must be to keep up his reputation for superior " Why don't they? Because they have Os
quality. No common article ought to be allowed to leave tomers, who eat, but never think."
his hands ; nothing, which he cannot fully and honestly By the way, we may mention that one 0f '
warrant. Such, we are happy to observe, appears to be question supplies the
Earls of Derby, Se',,,n''
the conviction of the majority of the trade in this town, mersdale, and the leading families in the dis 4
by an address which is now before us, emanating from the well known for his excellent manufacture, tr's Watch-finishers' Association, and calling upon both are to be found upon the table of the waste a
workmen and employers to lay aside the suicidal policy, of Trinity-house. Our contemporary, howec adopted by a portion of them, of attempting to compete "to have a reform in this matter," and the,eji
with the foreigner by the production of a common and offence against fair dealing is not immedis',, low priced article. It is clear that, so far as the foreign to publish the names." No necessity for sill market is concerned, only a temporary profit can be ob- cise of daring. All the world know wh.,,° e,
tained, followed inevitably by the ruin of the trade, which, question are, and that they are highly resr f
we repeat, is only maintained in its present state by the men. They have reduced the price per lb, °n
reputation of our makers for producing the best work. already to the extent of the reduction in lileri
The imposture must at no very distant period be detected. per lb., and what more can they be exPee,lot
Even more absurd and impolitic is the attempt to rival the our contemporary expects that a
as of P
foreigner in cheapness in the home market. The law places a pound of perfect biscuits. such as these, a bar against our producing anything like the commodity putting wages, rent, taxes, &c., out of the qii supplied us in a finished state from France or Switzerland. gether, he is much mistaken, as he may lesfie
It may not be generally known that to enable a maker to at any respectable shop, which it would he,,
hall-mark the case of a gold watch at any of the Assay if he had done before getting into so
Offices—London, Coventry, and Chester, it must be of a frame of mind as he must have been in
fixed high standard. If under that standard the hammer the diatribe to which we refer.
of the assayer smashes the work without compunction.
Owing to this regulation it is that we are driven to export
our watches without cases, which are manufactured for
them in the foreign market. The French or Swiss article,
however, need only be of the colour of gold or silver ; is
always greatly below the legal standard of this country,
and is often either Mosaic gold or gilt.
Another strong season why the workman, especially,
should to the utmost of his power discourage the manu-
facture of cheap and common articles, intended to com-
pete in the market either with the foreigner or with the
maker of established reputation, is the fact that such
competition must inevitably lead to a reduction of wages.
The watch finishers of Liverpool, who not very many
years ago, were a highly paid class of men, ought by this
time to have seen the consequences, in their own changed
condition, of lending themselves to the selfish ends of the
slop masters, who have done so much to injure the repu-
tation of the trade in this town.

LATEST INTELLIGiSCP.

(EY ELECTRIC TELEGIA/ )

LONDON MONEY MARKET.—YSsj,,,r,
The Market opened weak, and Consols felt ,oro
Account, but later in the day recovered on ,V0)1
closed steadily. Consols Avcount, 96i to i; I.!p
W
Bills,
t ;
518' h
troe e
6- Three-eam- Q. r roenrd
London
r Stock,C ent
1961
• to 1,
Quar 5, 1 to 2 prem.

LONDON SHARE MARKET.—YESTOP;
d
The Share Market opened fiat, improved, anol
rally better. Midlands, 44 to 5 ; ditto HalfsL,
North Staffords, 10i to 10; Old Dovers, "'2i
No. 4, reg., 6k, scrip., 61 to 1; caledonians,),
Preference, 71 to to 8}; Eastern Counties, 1,1 to
Northerns, 13k to 13 dis.; Great Westerns, 'A
Fifths, 71 to f dis. ; York and North Midland
Mexicans 291, to 1.

THE AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENTS.

le Nebrated Ti

144
wl',l'd
kPPear it
erf T"P 's
VE/
oritianc

airs, Haller
To Te
°llehides
-.BllNiti?ichard

Ino,. ortßow
' Op Tr' Mela"
ml
F1V134 e°44fler.;
%tort IbA, by
ai
Ta P. • erne[
pr
tliEr,llPo(
\TI
Feder Goon SR.
lbe .

)flowing
el

stye
'ikra Cona

C, 411 th,
"14ittee_roo
eolveizr