49 8 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



During the interregnum the monopoly came to an end ; the 

 patent under which Pindar worked was declared by both 

 Houses of Parliament to be illegal and void, and the works 

 reverted to the landowners. 



At the Restoration an attempt was made to revive the royal 

 monopoly by parliamentary enactment, but the Bill introduced 

 into the House of Commons for this end was dropped, and 

 Charles II. proceeded to effect the same object by acquiring the 

 various works from their owners for a term of years, paying 

 them by annuities. In 1665 he was in position to demise the 

 farm of alum to a company at a rent of £4,260 per annum for 

 the first four years, and £5,260 for the remainder of the term, 

 the company also undertaking to pay the annuities, which 

 amounted to £3,500. 



This arrangement remained in force for fourteen years, when 

 the surviving members of the company surrendered their lease, 

 and the king restored the works to the various owners. This 

 appears to mark the termination of the alum monopoly. The 

 freeing of the trade was followed by the erection of a number 

 of new works along the Yorkshire coast. The trade reached 

 its culminating point about a hundred years later, when the 

 annual production was between 5,000 and 6,000 tons, produced 

 at sixteen works. After this, in consequence of the industry 

 having been taken up in other localities more favourably placed 

 in regard to fuel and to the introduction of new methods of 

 manufacture, the Yorkshire industry gradually declined and 

 became extinct. 



The industries of England have been established only after 

 struggle and sustained effort. The cases which have been 

 considered are to be regarded merely as illustrations. Similar 

 conditions attended the introduction of such diverse industries 

 as the manufacture of fine writing-paper and of tin plates. In 

 the one case, time after time skilled workmen were brought 

 over from the Continent to initiate the manufacture, which in 

 the course of a few years degenerated into the production ol 

 inferior qualities, such as packing paper, or failed altogether; 

 in the other, after repeated attempts, success was finally obtained 

 as the result of the invention of the rolling mill, which enabled 

 the plates to be produced of uniform surface mechanically, 

 thereby dispensing with the special manipulative skill required 

 for production by hammering. 



