104 REPORT—1846. 
TABLE (continued). 
Acts passed for 
Years. ———_————}_ Capital authorized. 
New Lines. |Extensions,&c. 
£ 
1835. 8 11 4,812,833 
1836. 29 6 22,874,998 
1837. 15 27 13,521,799 
1838. 2 1g 2,096,198 
1839. 3 24 6,455,797 
1840. wie 24 2,495,032 
1841. 1 18 3,410,686 
1842. 4 18 5,311,642 
1843. 5 19 3,861,350 
We see from these figures, that in the two years 1836 and 1837, Parliament 
passed 77 railway bills, of which 44: were for new lines, and that the capital thus 
authorized to be raised, amounted to more than 36 millions of money. The 
length of the lines then sanctioned amounted in the aggregate to nearly 
1200 miles, and would call for the production of more than 500,000 tons of 
iron. The price of bar-iron, which in 1834 had been 6/. 10s. per ton, and 
in 1835 was 7/. 10s., advanced in 1836 to 11/., and this gave a powerful 
stimulus to the extension of the manufacture. So great a rise in the market 
value of the metal checked its use however for a great variety of purposes, 
and when, in the years following 1837, the railway speculation so far sub- 
sided, that only 15 acts were passed for the construction of new lines in the 
six years from 1838 to 1843, the price of iron fell as rapidly as it had previ- 
ously risen, and it could with difficulty be sold at less than half the price 
which it commanded in 1836. In this state of things, the iron-masters 
sought to lighten their loss by limiting the production, rather than by forcing 
their goods into use by lowering the price. This appears to have been done 
to a greater extent in England and Wales than in Scotland, where for reasons 
already explained, the cost of production had been so lessened as to enable 
the iron-masters to work to a profit at prices by which their English compe- 
titors were losing on every ton they brought to market. 
Since Mr. Jessop made his statement in October 1840, not any attempt 
has been made to ascertain the progress of the iron manufacture throughout 
England and Wales, from which any result can be confidently given. In 
Scotland, where the principal extension has occurred, several statements of 
the kind have been put forward. One of these, the correctness of which has 
been generally admitted by those whose knowledge upon the subject should 
give weight to their opinion, states the number of furnaces in blast in March 
1845, and the weekly and yearly produce from the same to have been 76 
furnaces, yielding 8250 tons of iron weekly, or in the year of 50 weeks, 412,500 
tons. At that time there were, according to this statement, 22 more fur- 
naces built and building, and the whole of these it was expected would be 
in blast in the course of 12 months from that time. It is stated by a respect- 
able firm in Glasgow, that in December 1845, there were 87 furnaces in 
blast in Scotland, the number at the end of 1844 having been 69; the in- 
creased make of pig-iron in 1845 as compared with 1844 is stated at 60,000 
tons. The lowest price at Glasgow in January 1844 was 40s. per ton, and 
the highest price for the year, caused in great part by the purchases of spe- 
