1 824.] on Artizans and Machinery 



Vm^s can go to onr record -oflTices, and 

 examine a sprcification, confaininj; a 

 description of llic best machines we 

 have, because tor all (be most valuable 

 machines patents are obtained ; specifi- 

 cations are by law registered there, and 

 tlie offices are open to any man, and 

 copies may be obtained at a small 

 expense. 



Do you think the Combination Laws 

 tend to disturb the harmony that should 

 exist between workmen and their em- 

 ployers?— I think they do. 



Do nut ihe men consider the laws 

 against combination as exceedingly op- 

 pressive to them? — Yes they do. 



Are not ti)e Combination Laws a 

 bond of union among the men, and the 

 frequent cause of tlie combinations that 

 take place ? — I believe tiiey have tied 

 the bonds firmer than ever. 



Have you ever known any strikes or 

 combinations of workmen in any trade ? 

 — Many in my own trade, and several 

 in others. 



Is not a strike made witii very great 

 reluctance, and chiefly where they feel 

 Ihe pressure from inadequate wages? — 

 Not alway.s, but generally so. 



Have Ihe demands of the workmen 

 for wages, on such occasions, been un- 

 reasonable? — The demand for wages 

 lias not been so unreasonable as applied 

 to good workmen ; but the demand for 

 uniformity of wages has been unrea- 

 sonable. 



Has not the present system frequently 

 made both masters and men unreason- 

 able on such occasions? — I believe it has 

 that tendency. 



Have the men in general succeeded 

 in their demands on occasions when they 

 have struck? — Yes, in our business Ihey 

 have always succeeded. 



Docs not their success or failure de- 

 pend on the state of the demand and 

 supply in the particular branch at the 

 time ? — Entirely so. 



Mr. Francis Place. 

 Have you any experience as to the 

 exportation of machinery from this 

 country? — Yes, 1 have, to the amount 

 of 100 tons. 



'Jo what part of the world ?— To Chili, 

 in South America. 



What kind of machinery ? — I export- 

 ed a flatting-mill of great power, and a 

 mint ; that is, 1 exported four complete 

 coining presses. 



Does the law prohibit the exportation 

 of these machines? — It does. 



How then did you contrive to export 

 (hem ? — Under orders in council. 



419 

 Under what denomination? — Ma- 

 chinery. The Act 2G Geo. III. c. 89. 

 forbids the exportation of rolling (flal- 

 tiuir) mills, and the parts thereat, and it 

 names many of those parts ; among 

 otheis, beds, pinions, pillars, and rollers. 

 Application was made to the Council, 

 lor leave to ex[)ort a flu t tin (/-mill, and a 

 numher of presses used for coining : 

 leave was not granted. Application 

 was then made for leave to export the 

 machinery in parts, care being taken to 

 use no one of the names mentioned in 

 the Act, as the names of any parts or 

 pieces of machinery prohibited; pillars, 

 for instance, were not called by that 

 name, but described as bars of wrought 

 iron, a certain number of feet in length, 

 and of a certain diameter, having a male 

 screw cut at one end. Caps were de- 

 scribed as masses of bell-metal, having 

 a female screw cut through them ; and 

 so with the other parts. Orders were 

 granted in the terms requested ; and, at 

 the bottom of some of the orders, the 

 words other jnachinery were added. 

 When the order contained tiiese words, 

 all the machinery that could be got 

 ready in time for the ship was put on- 

 board. 



Do you know of your own knowledge 

 whether engineers or other individuals 

 have exported considerable quantities 

 of prohiliited machinery? — Yes; I am 

 acquwinted with most of the engineers 

 in Ihe metropolis. They are constantly 

 making and exporting prohibited ma- 

 chinery, either by means of orders in 

 council, or by disguising it for other 

 persons, who then ship it. As the en- 

 gineers, however, will seldom undertake 

 the shipment themselves, the quantity 

 thus sent is comparatively sniall with 

 what might be exported if the law were 

 repealed. 



Are you able to state, thai, if the 

 exportation of machinery was permitted, 

 there would be a great demand in Chili, 

 and other places?— I know there would 

 be a great demand. The fliitting-miil 

 and presses I sent to Chili were not set 

 up tiiere. When the Spaniards, last 

 summer, regained possession of ijima, in 

 Peiu, Ihey destroyed the mint there, 

 and broke all tlie machinery, before they 

 evacuated tiie city. 



Arc you not aware, that extensive 

 mining comjianics are aliout to be 

 established in different parts of South 

 America, which will require great 

 quantities of machinery ? and, if the 

 laws against the exportation of nia- 

 oiiincry arc repealed, is it your opinion 



that 



