The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-02-15 00:00:00

ALPACA MANUFACTURES

ill.•-• 11. AWL.
Mr. William Damon, wool broker, of the firm of Ed-
wards, Danson and Company, of this town, read a very
interesting paper on this subject, for the origin of which,
he stated, the members were indebted to the late secretary of
the society, Mr. Dirks, who had urged him to the present
essay three months ago. He furnished a succinct view of the
manufacture from the introduction of the wool to the present
time, and exhibited many beautiful silky specimens, in various
articles of wearing apparel. introduced
as article was first
as a marketable fabric by Mr. Benjamin Outram, a venerable
and scientific manufacturer of Greetland, near Halifax, who,
twelve or fourteen years ago, sold it in the form of ladies'
carriage shawls and cloakings, as curiosities. He had spe-
cially to order the wool fro& Peru, and it could then be ob-
tained only at high prices, so that half a square of the cloth
sold for from £3 to £4. Several of the specimens exhibited
had been in constant wear for upwards of eleven years. For
two years the manufacture was necessarily limited. About
1832 his (Mr. D.'s) opinion was taken as to the properties
and capabilities of the article, and he advised his merchant,
Mr. J. J. Began, of the firm of Messrs. Hegan, Hall, and
Co., of this town, that it might be safely imported at certain
prices, and if supplied in large quantities would become an
article of general use in our manufactures. Those gentlemen
consequently wrote to their own house in Peru to buy and
contract for all they could procure, at an unlimited price, and
the official account of the subsequent imports from that coun-
try was as follows :

From Islay
Quintals.
1834
1835 1834
1836 1099
1837......
1838 4593
1839 8555 4700
1840

From Arica
Quintals.
None.

32,996 8,200
Being a total of 41,196 quintals, of 1001 b. each, which was
4,200,0001 b. ; and in 1841 there had been imported into Li-
verpool probably about 2,000,0001 b., as in February alone
1,000,000. was introduced. Some also was brought to Eng-
land from France and America, and during the above period
a good deal was imported as sheeps' wool and llama wool;
so that,within 7 years fully 8 millions of pounds had been im-
ported, constituting the foundation of the alpaca manufac-
tures, the fabrics of which are now in such general use. The
stocks of the raw material accumulated until 1839, when a
speculative demand eased the market of perhaps £50,000
value, at 2s. to 2s. Gd. per lb.,—the manufacture still going
steadily on,—when in September of that year the subject was
brought before the British Association, at Birmingham,
where specimens of its manufacture, black as jet (without
dye), were exhibited, and tested by Mr. Addams, lecturer on
chemistry, &c., who stated that the natural black colour
could not be changed by chemical action.
Foreseeing the impossibility df obtaining anything like an I
adequate supply of the raw material from Peru to satisfy the
demand of our manufacturers, his (Mr. D.'s) attention was
directed to the importation of the animals; and the subject,
was brought before the Natural History Society in that
Royal Institution, from whose deliberations emanated the
publication of the pamphlet on the " Naturalisation of the
Alpaca," patronised and sanctioned by the Earl of Derby,
who had declared his unqualified opinion that the animal
might be climatised in this country, for the benefit of our
manufactures. Copies of the pamphlet might be had at Mr.
Wareing Webb's, Castle-street, a gentleman who, himself
from Birmingham, and connected with the nobility in the
midland districts, appreciated the value and importance of
the subject, by patronising the society ; and four living spe-
cimens of alpacas were exhibited at the Liverpool Mechanics'
Institution in July 1840, as well as at the meeting of the
British Association, in Glasgow, in the same year.
In 1840 and 1841 the alpaca manufactures made the most
rapid progress, and he now came to the epoch of its esta-
blishment as a national staple manufacture. In 1839 the
yarns of alpaca were regularly sent, to the French manufac-
turers, who employed them in their fabrics, in imitation of
silk, they being very much cheaper; and its use was obser-
vable in the goods retailed in many of the towns and cities of
the Continent, as recently noticed in the Ath en ceum. One
manufacturer alone was using the wool weekly in quantities
amounting to nearly double the annual production, accord-
ing to the statistical table given, as the exports quoted were
the accumulation of many years. Looking, therefore, to
the extension of our alpaca manufactures, we must seek in
vain to find an adequate supply from Peru, the animals being
chiefly concentrated in one district, a great distance from the
shipping ports, Islay and Arica being the only two from
which any Alpaca wool had been exported. In Lima and
Valparaiso the animals were so scarce, that they were con-
sidered curiosities, as in England.
The alpaca manufactures were extending in Scotland as
well as in Ireland. He (Mr. D.) had letters from Inver-
ness, in the north of Scotland, for yarns, to beautify the
Scotch tartan manufactures ; and also from the county of
Kerry (in the south of Ireland,) where the refuse of alpaca
wool .was spun by :the mountaineers into hosiery and other
fabrics. Thus were the alpaca manufactures extending
rapidly throughout Great Britain.
" Every thing," said Mr. Danson, " has been done by the
wool stapler and manufacturer to depreciate the raw material,
in consequence of the badness of the times, and the difficulty
of selling goads; yet the alpaca manufactures command a
free sale in the London, Yorkshire, Manchester, Paisley,
and Glasgow markets •, and the fabrics in Mouselin-de-
laine, Chasm' crapes, chene, cloakings, ' Norwich novelties
de sersenet,' hosiery, coats, surtouts, cravats, vests, and
fringes, as well as mixing with sewing silks, and other in-
numerable articles are of this fine material, exhibiting the
skill and enterprise of the British manufacturer."
He next noticed the difficulties attending the dyeing of de-
licate colours in this wool—such as royal blues, scarlet,
greens, and oranges, and which has been completely over-
come, from time to time, as indicated by the different and
beautiful.colours in the pattsrns of mouseline-de-laine, and
ladies' dresses. One of the latter was exhibited, and cost
only 50s. The royal blue was a splendid specimen ; some of
them had been in use in his family for four years. He then
showed 24 Peruvian costume drawings, just received from a
friend at Arica, in which the colours of the garments were
beautiful. The alpaca seemed by nature to be provided for
the protection of man, as well as of itself, from the in-
cessant torrents of rain that fell periodically in the mountains
of the Andes. He also exhibited a species of baize made in
England, to supersede .the alpaca domestic manufactures of
the country, and considered it only fair that we should take
their fine soft wool in exchange. He showed a variety of
vests, stocks, &c., of the alpaca, which had been in wear for
years, and which appeared_ as rich and glossy as silk,
and exceedingly durable ; also specimens of the wool in
its raw state, including a sample (staple) of black, taken
from a black alpaca, exhibited ae the Royal English
Agricultural Show here, in July last, belonging to Earl Der-
by, and Mr. Foot, his lordship's farm-agent, stated that
tins animal had 17 lb. of wool (alpaca) on it, which is now
worth 2s. 6d. per lb., and very saleable; whereas the usual ave-
rage of the fleece of a Scotch sheep is but 6 lbs., and the value
of it 4id. per lb., and bad to sell. The alpaca wool alluded
to appeared to be upwards of a. foot in length of staple. A
dozen specimens of beautifully figured shawls were also ex-
hibited, splendidly worked in flowers. These were only 16s.
each, and black and other colours of figured and plain alpaca
manufactures, called Orleans cloths, value 2s. to 3s. per yard,
in imitation of silk, well calculated for ladies' dresses : but
the shopkeepers did not know them as alpaca manufacture.
Mr. Danson concluded by inviting the company to, an in-
pection of the different articles, which were examined with
such interest, and excited grgat interest. •
GRANT'S PATENT FUEL.

Mr. B. PLATT brought forward some samples of Grant's
Patent Fuel, which is composed of anthracite coal and mi-
neral pitch, and moulded into bricks, one pound of which is
expected to evaporate eight pounds of water. He stated that
there were no coals in this neighbourhood suitable for this
manufacture, the best he had used were raised by Messrs.
Tayleur and Co., and one pound of which, by the admiralty's
test evaporated Gibs. lloz. of water. From a series of experi-
ments made, he stated that he had obtained the greatest heat
from an admixture of anthracite coal,, coke, and mineral
pitch. This, he considered, would be the best and most effec-
tual fuel, and would evaporate more water than Grant's
Patent.
The public business of the evening being now concluded
the members retired to the committee room, and partook
of tea and coffee before separating.
The forthcoming papers announced are :—On Flame.—On
Iron as applicable to ship building.—On Geology, as appli-
cable to the obtaining of permanent building materials.—On
Rotary Steam Engines.—On Hanging Iron Gates.—On
Climate.

The half-yearly meeting of the London and Birmingham
Railway Company took place on Friday, when a dividend of
4.3, per cent. for the half-year was declared.
LOVE IN A UNION.—A woman with several children, all
belonging to the parish of Olney, was a few months since ere
inmate of the union workhouse at Newport-Pagnell ; in the
same domicile, with three children, was a blind man—" Love's
blind they say,"—belonging to the parish of Lavendon.
After a residence there some time, a professional gentleman
from London applied to the governor to see the woman, and
ultimately succeeded in obtaining for her £4OO or £5OO to
which she was legally entitled. No sooner in possession of
her property than she sent for the blind man to London, paid
his passage, and married him immediately ! Thus, Love,
thou art confined to no rank or station : splendid palaces and
luxurious enjoyments, as well as.poor-law bastiles and pauper
privations, all own thy despotic sway as omnipotent and
everlasting.—Bucks Gazelle.

CORRESPONDENCE.