ANSTIE’S OBSERVATIONS ON MACHINERY IN WOOLLEN MANUFACTORY. 
every street, and which the tedious pro- 
cess of indictment is found inadequate 
to suppress. In order to remedy this 
erying evil, Mr. Colpitts would arm the 
Jaw with a power, which we confess we 
cannot contemplate without fear. Upon 
conviction of the offender, Mr. Colpitts 
would authorise the police of the dis- 
trict to enter into possession of the guilty 
house, retain it during three years asa 
punishment for the first offence ; “ letting 
it, and superintending the management 
of it in allsrespects, deducting one-fifth, 
| or twenty per cent. per annum, from the 
annual produce of it, by way oi fine, 
and for the trouble of superintending it, 
rendering the surplus to the owner ; and 
pon a second conviction for misusage of 
uch property, to enter again into pos- 
ssion of it, for the natural life of such 
son.” 
- *€Tt may be necessary also to place the 
pawnbrokers business under improved re- 
|} gelations, for it is through them that the 
great mass of stolen property is converted 
into cash; their interests upon the money 
Tent ought to be reduced, and they should 
be compelled by law to give in to a proper 
THE use of machinery in manufac- 
| tures has often occasioned literary con- 
troversy,and popular turbulence. Some 
| persons see in it an unkind contrivance 
to render human labour less necessary, 
}to diminish the serviceableness, and 
abridge the comforts of the poor, and to 
Metamorphose the starved population 
of villages into mill-horses and steam 
{pumps. Others maintain, that to cheap- 
jen production is to increase demand; 
that a!l the creations of machinery are 
put more within reach of the lowest in- 
jeomes, and consequently increase the 
nforts of the multitude ; that the pro- 
fits economized maintain an increased 
|proportion of the enjoying classes; that 
eisure is won for man by casting labour 
upon nature; that if spinners are dis- 
jearded in one neighbourhood, weavers 
are put under requisition in another; so 
hat there is an eventual increase both of 
= quantity of work to be done, of the 
portion of polished and cultivated ex- 
tence maintained by that work, and of 
1¢ fixed and taxable property respon- 
@to the parish and to the state. To 
@ latter set of arguments appear the 
ore conclusive. 
Mr, Anstie thus states his hesitations : 
Wan. Rev. Vor. II. 
369 
office, (the police office of the district for 
example,) twice every day, triplicates of 
every articles taken in pledge in the course of ° 
thatday. What harm could attend a disclosure 
of their business thus far to a proper office ? 
This would often lead to an immediate detec- 
tion of the thief, and would almost totally 
deter them from offering stolen goods for 
pledge. Would it not also answer a good 
PuIpOHes in order to put a stop to chand- 
er’s-shops, and other petty traders, from 
buying stolen goods, to give a per centage 
upon the value by way cf reward, for stop- 
ping the goods, and the persons offering 
them for sale? The thief would here be 
placed in the situation, when he offered 
stolen goods for sale, of offering a reward 
at the same time for his own detection.” 
Some excellent remarks occur on the 
subject of granting licences to publicans ; 
some hints for the regulation of dray- 
men, porters, hackney coachmen, coal- 
dealers, &c. &c., are well worthy of at 
tention ; they might be carried into ef- 
fect without trouble, without expence, 
and we are persuaded the adoption of ' 
them would be advantageous to the 
community. 
Art. LXII. Observations on the Importance and Necessity of introducing Improved 
Machinery into the Woollen Manufactory, Sc. 
By Jounx Anstiz. Svo. pp. 99. 
«© In the further prosecution of the sub- 
ject, the arguments used for proving the pers 
nicious tendency of introducing machinery 
into the clothing business, may be comprised 
under the three following heads: 
«« Ist, It has been frequently objected by 
intelligent persons, and even by some manu- 
facturers themselves, that the introduction 
of machinery into the clothing business 
must he pernicious, as only a limited quan- 
tity of the staple article, wool, of our native 
growth, could be produced for our middling 
and coarser manufactures, and that the pos- 
sibility of obtaining an increased quantity of 
fine wool of the growth of Spain, for our.su- 
perior cloths, must depend on the demand tor 
that wool from France, Holland, &c. , 
«* The conclusion drawn from these sup- 
posed facts is, that machinery must be preju- 
dicial, by diminishing the labour necessary 
for the employment ef a great number of per- 
sons in making goods, without the possibi- 
lity, as we do not, in the opinion of the ob- 
jectors to the use of machinery, possess the 
means of increasing the manufacture, but in 
a very limited degree, even should the demand 
require it, consequently those persons could 
be no longer employed in the woollea business. 
‘« Qdly, The corruption of the motals Of 
the people, especially of the children employ- 
ed in the factories, in consequenceof collecting 
them together, has been considered as a for- 
midable objection to the use of machinery. 
Bb 
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