Trade atid Covunoxe. 41 



and quality of flax, that of Belgian growth from Courtrai 

 being the finest. It is better scutched than our Irish 

 product, and there is no doubt that local flax leaves room 

 for improvement in this respect. Quality depends also of 

 course upon the soil, humidity, and the season. The next 

 block is the preparing mill, where the raw flax is first 

 treated ; it is dressed by hand, the rough flax being drawn 

 through combs to remove the dirt and particles of bark. 

 This is a very dusty process, and was very unhealthy ; but 

 now a cowl is fixed in front of the comb before each man, 

 communicating with a ventilator shaft, in which suction is 

 kept up by means of a rotary fan, so that all the dust 

 is instantly carried away. On this floor are also the hackling 

 machines, and machines for cutting the fibre into the middle 

 and two ends, thus making three qualities, suitable for 

 different purposes. These are now dealt with by hand, and 

 sorted into a number of qualities, which sorting requires 

 a good deal of judgment, and is of great importance. 



The first floor of this building is used for tow carding 

 and preparing, the second and third for flax or " line " 

 preparing, which includes "spreading," done by women who 

 feed the " line " on to leather bands, and the machine pro- 

 duces the "sliver," which then goes to the "drawing" and 

 "roving" machines. The east end communicates with the 

 spinning-mill by a six-storey building, on three floors of 

 which "rove" is stored on its way to the mill, and on the 

 ground floor of which is the mechanics' shop. 



We next come to the great spinning-rooms, 221 feet by 

 42 feet ; three of the floors are wet spinning-rooms. 

 The spinning machines are tended by women and girls; and 

 one may remark, en passant^ that not the least of the 

 causes of Belfast's success as a manufacturing centre is, 

 that its staple industries employ all the available members 

 of a working-man's family. Above the spinning-room is 

 the reeling-room, from which a wire tramway runs to the 

 drying-loft over the boiler-house. Here are the reeling 

 machines which take off the yarn on to reels, some of the 

 product being sold in the form of hanks and some on reels. 

 These go to the hand-loom weavers, of whom there are 

 still a considerable number. On the Henrv Street side are 



