264 SMALL INDUSTRIES AND 



branch, that we fully realise the importance of 

 the petty trades in England. This is what we 

 are going to do, mentioning first what belongs 

 here to the great industry, and studying next 

 the small one. 



Following the classification adopted by the 

 Factory Inspectors, we see first that the gas- 

 works belong to the domain of the fairly big 

 establishments (seventy-eight people on the 

 average). The india-rubber factories belong to 

 the same category (125 workers on the average) ; 

 and amidst the 456 glass-works of the United 

 Kingdom there must be some big ones, as the 

 average is eighty-seven workpeople. 



Next come mining and metallurgy, which 

 are carried on, as a rule, on a great scale ; but 

 already in the iron foundries we find a 

 great number of establishments belonging to 

 the middle-sized and small industry. Thus at 

 Sheffield I saw myself several foundries em- 

 ploying only from five to six workmen. For 

 the making of huge machinery there is, of course, 

 a number of very large works, such as those 

 of Armstrong, Whitworth, or those of the State 

 at Woolwich. But it is very instructive to see 

 how very small works prosper by the side of 

 big ones ; they are numerous enough to reduce 

 the average to seventy workers per establish- 

 ment for the 5,318 works of this category. 



