TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 167 
Census of the Province of Canterbury, New Zealand. 
By Henry Joun Porter. 
On the Census of Sydney, New South Wales. By Henry Joun Porter. 
On the Money Grants of the British Association. 
! By Professor Poitiers, F.R.S. 
On the Rise, Progress, and Value of the Embroidered Muslin Manufacture 
| of Scotland and Ireland. By Joun Strane, LL.D. 
This branch of manufactures was first commenced in Scotland in 1770, and ex- 
tended to Ireland in 1780. Few exhibit such a division of labour as that of sewed 
muslins. The spinning of the yarn for making the cloth—its warping and weaving, 
and the reeling of the cotton for embroidery; next the designing and drawing the 
patterns, either on the stone or zinc plate—the block, stereotype or copperplate en-= 
graving—the printing of the patterns on the cloth—the despatch of the different 
pieces of printed cloth to at least 400 or 500 agents in Ireland—the distribution of 
_ them throughout the country for embroidery—the return of them to the agents, and 
their transit back to Glasgow—their examination and preparation for the bleacher— 
the various operations through which they pass at the bleachfield—their return to 
the Glasgow warehouse, there to be made up, ironed, folded, ticketed, arranged ac- 
cording to quality and price, placed in fancy-paper boxes, and packed ready to be 
despatched either to the home or foreign market. The history of an embroidered 
collar or handkerchief could indeed tell as varied a tale as that of the famous ‘ Ad- 
ventures of a Guinea.’ 
While a large portion of the labour employed in this industry depends on Ireland, 
the chief seat of the manufacture is in Glasgow; there are thirty-five to forty manu- 
facturing houses in Glasgow; one or two in Paisley ; and about a dozen in the north 
of Ireland. 
The gross value of the sewed muslin manufacture of Scotland and Ireland last year 
_ amounted to a little above or below a million sterling. There were employed in it 
2200 weavers, 450 pattern printers and pressmen, 200 designers and salesmen, and 
3680 females occupied within the warehouse doors in the various manipulations of 
sewing, darning, ironing, making-up, &c.; while in the work of embroidery itself, 
there might be 200,000 females employed in Ireland and 25,000 in Scotland. The 
annual amount of these, according to the average rate of weekly wages paid to such 
_ parties, is as follows :— 
Per annum. 
Weavers, average wages per week ....14s, -..- £80,800 
Pattern printers F6.0)se 0 vided ese ek 13s.6d.  .... 15,795 
Designers and salesmen ............-- 43s.10d. .... 22,790 
Females in warehouses ........-.000+ 7s. llid. .... 76,128 
£195,513 
Embroiderers in Ireland...... HOARE TR. Pen Saar 400,000 
4 Scotland .......... CC Bie 80,000 
£675,513 
__ Adding to this the cost of labour in spinning the yarn for the muslin and the cotton 
- for the embroidery, in bleaching the goods, in making the fancy-paper boxes, baskets, 
&e. in which the finished goods are packed, it will not be too much to assume that 
_ the embroidered muslin manufacturer pays for labour a sum little short of £700,000 
ayear. The truth is, among the many industries of Great Britain, there are few into 
_ which labour enters more deeply than the muslin embroidery manufacture, and in 
which the labouring classes have a deeper interest. 
b9 On the Advantages arising from the Improvement of Tidal Rivers as 
exemplified by the State of the Clyde. By Joun Strane, LL.D, 
_ Though the area drained by the river above Glasgow is 736 square miles, and sends 
