TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 22Sh 



" 12th. Do not court opposition or publicity, nor fear it when it conies. 



" 13th. Choose those only for your leaders whom you can trust, and then give 

 them your confidence." 



The principles by which the society whose progress has been described is distin- 

 guished from the numerous joint-stock societies established vmder the Limited 

 Liability Act appear to me to be these : — 



1. To make the material improvement of the working-class subservient to their 

 social and intellectual advancement. 



2. Neither to give nor take credit. 



3. To keep the governing body under the constant and vigilant superintendence 

 of a proprietary resident on the spot, and the greater part of whom are acquainted 

 with the nature of the operations carried on with their capital. This is a cause of 

 their success to which, I believe, attention has not yet been directed, but which is 

 very important. 



On these principles two questions arise — 



1. Are they sound ? 



2. Are they applicable to manufacturing operations, as well as to stores for the 

 sale of goods ? 



On these questions I do not profess to dogmatize. I see this institution esta- 

 blished and carried on for sixteen years under my own eyes. I am naturally desi- ■ 

 rous to investigate its character ; it is an inquiry of no small importance, and one 

 which I think ousrht to receive the careful attention of this section. 



On the Price of Printing Cloth and Upland Cotton from 1812 to 1860. 



Bij Alderman Neild. 

 By two tables (which are printed in detail) he showed the price of a description 

 of cloth known as |-72-reed printers, in each year, from 1812 to 1860, by which is 

 meant 72 threads of wai-p in the inch, and the best class of this description of cloth 

 has 88 threads of weft in the same space. This description of cloth is now in part 

 superseded by a ~ cloth, which, assuming it to be of the same quality, will measure 

 in the grey 25 yards long and 36 inches wide. Although the ^ are giving place to 

 f , the comparison in ^ was continued throughout. The present difference m value 

 between an 80-and a 72-reed wiU be about 9d. per piece. He mentioned a remark- 

 able circimistance, showing the astonishing superiority of power-loom cloth over 

 hand-loom. As buyers of cloth, they applied a very close scrutiny to every lot of 

 cloth purchased, as to the warp, weft, length, breadth, and weight. The accuracy 

 with which one piece compares with another in all these particulars, in the produc- 

 tions of first-class makers, was surprising — the item of weight, however, being the 

 one in which the greatest difference is to be apprehended. But even in this, the 

 difference the first makes in large quantities of cloth would not be more than 

 about five ounces in cloth weighing 5 lb. 2 oz. (that is, taking a number of pieces, 

 and weighing each piece singly) ; but taking the average of a number of lots of 20 

 pieces each, thus extending over thousands of pieces, they will not vary more than 

 from 1 to 2 oz. ; whilst, taking the case of the 80-reed cloth named in the first six 

 years of this table, a variation was found in cloth pui-porting to be the same of from 

 51b. 1 oz. to 6 lb. 4 oz. The two most remarkable years were 1814 and 1825. The 

 first (1814) was soon after the Continent had been closed to our manufactures for 

 probably 20 years, and when it was believed (to quote a saying of the time) " there 

 wovdd not be a piece for every village." The excitement became intense, and 80- 

 reed grey printing-cloth rose from 25s. per piece to 49s., and one style of prints rose 

 from 44s. id. to 63s., or from 19d. per yard to 2s. 3d. A much superior article of 

 the same class is now sold for lis., or about 4fd per yard, so much better, both in 

 design and execution, and brilliancy of colour, that, if the production of 1814 were 

 placed side by side with the production of 1860 at two-thirds of the price, the price 

 of 1860 would be taken, and the one of 1814 left. The year 1825 was one of extra- 

 ordinary speculation and excitement, principally, if I remember rightly, in raw cot- 

 ton. The manufacturer endeavoured to keep pace by advancing his cloth, and f -72- 

 reed printing-cloth rose, in that year, from about 13s. 6d. to 19s. This, however, 

 had the effect of almost putting a stop to the demand ; and sales, except to a very 

 limited extent, were out of the question. The result was, a great accumulation of 



