430 [Assembly 



more importaat, and far more forcible, are those which may be 

 drawn from the prospective demand now springing up in our 

 cotton manufactures. The consumption of the raw material must 

 of necessity be governed by the machinery which exists for its 

 manufacture, and the spindles of Belfast, of Dundee, and of Leeds, 

 are already supplied with tlie produce of foreign countries. Not 

 so, however, with respect to flax and its adaptation to the cotton 

 manufactures. Millions of cotton spindles are ready at once to 

 take to the new material and spin it for you, without the slightest 

 alteration being required in their arrangement, A thousand tons 

 of cotton daily, or 770,000,000 of lbs. annually, are consumed in 

 our cotton manufactures, and the result of my recent experiments 

 has been such as to show that flax may be substituted for one- 

 half at least of this amount. In order, therefore, to supply the 

 new demand for a 7iew inaterial thus created, the produce of 2,000 

 acres will be required for each day, and the whole of the flax 

 grown in the United Kingdom does not amount to more than 

 one-seventh of the supply required for Manchester alone. It is 

 a duty imperative upon the agriculturists of the country to en- 

 deavor to meet this enormous demand, and not to allow it to pass 

 into the hands of foreign countries, which will inevitably be the 

 case, if they do not immediately exert themselves in this respect. 



Wool. — But not Manchester alone, but the woolen districts of 

 England, await with anxiety an increased supply of flax which 

 shall be available for the pm*pose of spinning in combination 

 with wool, upon the existing wool machinery. I will not trouble 

 you with statistics upon the subject of our woolen manufactures. 

 The populatian of Leeds, Bradford, and otlier towns in the woolen 

 districts, are kept in a state of prosperity by the employment 

 which it affords ; and the introduction of flax into that particular 

 branch of manufactures would have the effect of reducing tlie 

 price of material by 25 per cent., and of giving an increased 

 amount of employment in those districts. A firm in Bradford 

 has already taken steps to carry on the manufacture, and will 

 alone require the produce of 5,000 acres in the ensuing year. 



Deficient supply of Cotton. — In connection with the supply 

 of the markets already referred to, a further argument is to be 



