HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 171 



poor-rate expenditure amounted to o2175. 18s. 3d. but it has 

 since considerably exceeded that sum. 



Wolverhampton is governed, under the county magistrates, by 

 two constables ; one chosen annually by the Dean's tenants, the 

 other by the inhabitants at large. 



Few towns possess greater local advantages than Wolverhamp- 

 ton for carrying on an extensive trade and manufacture ; situated 

 nearly in the centre of the kingdom, in the midst of the most pro- 

 ductive coal and iron-mines, and having a free and easy access to 

 the great rivers, Thames, Severn, Trent, and Mersey, by means 

 of the different canals which surround it, every opportunity is 

 afforded of conveying and receiving materials and merchandize. 



The skill and ingenuity of its mechanics, especially the lock- 

 smiths, have been known and established for ages, and though the 

 manufactures of this town are very distinct from those of Birming- 

 ham, they have, owing to the superior wealth and fame of the latter, 

 been generally (though improperly) classed under the head of 

 Birmingham wares. 



The articles peculiarly the manufacture of Wolverhampton, are 

 principally those of heavy ironmongery, having the materials so 

 essentially requisite for their cheapness, coal and iron, upon the 

 spot. In this class are to be reckoned locks of every kind and de- 

 scription, in iron, brass, and wood ; hinges, bolts, latches, screws, 

 &c. ; all kinds of edge-tools used by carpenters, wheelwrights, 

 cabinet-makers, smiths, &c. ; as axes, hatchets, hammers, gimblets, 

 files, &c. ; also articles for domestic use, as box-irons, candlesticks, 

 chafing-dishes, coffee and malt mills, fire-irons, rat-traps, &c. ; fine 

 steel toys, as cork-screws, snuffers, nut-cracks, sugar-nippers, 

 buckles, watch-chains, &c. 



Another branch of manufacture, for which there is a great and 

 permanent demand both for home consumption and foreign supply, 

 is tin and japan wares : several hundred hands are employed in 

 these various articles, and in forming the most elegant and expen- 

 sive tea-trays, both paper and iron, plate-warmers, tea and coffee 

 pots, caddies, inkstands, &c. 



To these may be added another class of manufacture in the brass- 

 foundry line, which employs a great number of workmen in an al- 

 most innumerable variety of brass articles. 



Amongst individual establishments of importance, is the chemi- 

 cal elaboratory of Mander, Bacon and Co. for the manufacture of 

 oil of vitriol, aquafortis, and other acids, spirits ef hartshorn, 



