J 824.] 



many joars ago, but ilic increasin;? <1c- 

 niaud for raacbinery began four or five 

 years since. 



Do you know wliellier any slocking 

 machines are carried from England to 

 France? — Not slocking machines, but 

 !acc manufacturing maciiines ; I know 

 a great number of them liave been 

 brought from England. 



Where are they established ? — Most 

 of them are cslablislied at Calais, 

 Douay, St. Quentin, Rouen, and Paris ; 

 llicre is an immense number of Englisli- 

 iiien, in the neighbourhood of Calais, 

 employed in that trade. 



Are they prohibited from being ex- 

 jiorted from England ? — Yes, they are. 



How are they sent into France? — 

 They get any thing they want; any man 

 may get what he wants, if he will only 

 pay enough for it. 



Do you know what they pay for 

 smuggling them over? — 1 am told that 

 some of them pay thirty or forty per 

 cent. 



Where do they pay it, here or there ? 

 — They pay it on the other side ; they 

 make their bargain to bo delivered on 

 the other side. 



Do they make any of those lace ma. 

 chines in France? — Yes, ihey make 

 them now in considerable numbers. 



If the law in England had pcrmilled 

 machinery to go freely out, would all 

 those manufactories, that have grown up 

 in the last ten years, have been esta- 

 blished ? — Not to the same extent tliat 

 they now are for the machine maker, 

 hnt very little difference to the other 

 manufacturers. 



Would much macliincry go, if the 

 laws which now prohibit its exportation 

 were repealed? — Yes, I think so; be- 

 cause our manulaclurers have thougiit 

 that the English machinery is much 

 better than the French ; and were it at 

 the same price, if a machine cost in 

 France 150/. if a Frenchman could get 

 it from England at that price, he would 

 give it the preference, from the idea that 

 Ihe English was better than the French. 



You (liink the proficiency in I'rance 

 makes their machines now almost equal 

 to our own? — I believe they can make 

 lace as good willi their machines as with 

 the English. I have seen lace made in 

 Paris and in Calais, and Douay, which 

 I cunid not distinguish from the laco 

 made in I'jrgland, 



Are (lure any Englishmen who 

 work or (iiicct IIkisu lace machines in 

 France ? — I'hc lace machines in Friuioe 



on Arlizans and Machinery. Z"\ 



are generally directed by Englishmen ; 

 I do not know any mannl'ackry oi" lac, 

 or of machines for making lace, which i$ 

 not directed by Englishmen, or English 

 workmen employed. 



Are tliere any manufactories for the 

 spinning and weaving, which are lately 

 established ? — There are many establish- 

 ed, and increasing to a great extent. 



Did you say that the lace manufac- 

 ture is exclusively carried on by Eng- 

 lishmen?— I do not know any without 

 Englishmen. 



Would not the removal of the present 

 laws tend to increase the number of 

 machines?— Yes, but not of French ma- 

 nufacture ; they would buy their ma- 

 chines from England, as they intend to 

 change them, whether the prohibitory 

 laws are repealed or not. They have ?ill 

 the models of England in France at 

 present, and I do not know any machines 

 at Manchester, or elsewhere, the models 

 of which are not in France. 



You say, you know no machine in 

 Manchester which is not now in France ? 

 • — Not one that is generally known. 



Do you know, at the present moment, 

 that some of the inucliine manufacturers 

 in France obtain machines from Eng- 

 land, and sell them there frequently as 

 their own? — Yes. 



If the laws in England were repealed, 

 would not a great portion of the machi- 

 nery that is used in that country be 

 obtained from England ?— A very great 

 quantity. 



Would not tliat improve the manu- 

 facture of the difl'erent articles very 

 much in France?— Probably it would, 

 in some branches. 



Then the efl'ect of l!ie present laws is 

 to keep back, in some degree, the ma- 

 nufactures in France ?— I conceive the 

 present laws to have the cflect of com- 

 pelling the French manufacturer to 

 have his machines made at home, and 

 to deprive England of the manifest 

 advantage of supplying other parts of 

 the world, by throwing the whole trade 

 into the hands of France. I will stale 

 one fact within my own knowledge. 

 Tlic Pacha of Egypt had applied in 

 Jlngland lor cotton machinery, because 

 he was going to grow cotton ; upon 

 which he received an answer from diffe- 

 rent machine makers in England, 

 through his agent, lluit he could not get 

 that machinery in England, because it 

 was prohibited. He has directed his 

 views to France, and I know the party 

 who has written to him» they can supply 



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