TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 151 



hundred muskets, 17s. each, ready money, in one week after delivery in the Tower 

 of London, and that they were to be allowed 3s. for the carriage of every one 

 hundred- weight. This document bears date 5th of January, 1693. There is little 

 or no information as to the progress of the manufacture till the commencement of 

 the present century, when the military records denote the capabilities of the trade 

 at that period. The following is the system at present pursued in carrying on this 

 manufacture in Birmingham at the present time. The manufacture of the various 

 parts of the gun, as barrel, lock, Sec, are distinct branches. These several parts 

 are collected by the manufacturer, known as the gun-maker, and by him are set 

 up. The chief branches are : — Stock-making, barrel-making, lock-making, fur- 

 niture-making, oddwork-making ; and for military guns there are in addition, 

 bayonet-making, sight-making, rammer-making. The stocks are of two kinds — 

 beechwood and walnut. They are brought to Birmingham, cut from the plank 

 into the form of the gun. Beech-stocks are grown in this country, chiefly in 

 Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. Walnut-stocks are, with few exceptions, im- 

 ported from Italy and Germany. On reference to the Directory of the present 

 year, we find 599 names of manufacturers engaged in the different branches of the 

 trade. The list of workmen employed estimates the total number at 7340. Of 

 these 3420 are engaged in producing the materials, the barrel employing 700, the 

 lock 1200, the bayonet 500, and so on. Setting up these materials into guns 

 employed 3920 men. Of these the three chief branches are the stockers, screwers, 

 and finishers. Each of these branches, with its subbranches, is estimated to 

 employ 1000 men. The outworking system leads to the employment of a con- 

 siderable number of young boys. No very correct estimate can be given of the 

 rate of wages earned by the workmen in the gun-trade. During the past ten 

 years there is little doubt but that the wages earned in this trade have probably 

 exceeded those in any other. It is a very common practice in many of the branches 

 for a workman to employ several assistants, whether working in the factory of his 

 employer or as out-door worker. Strikes have occurred in the gun-trade, but 

 happily not frequently. The gun-makers engaged in the military arms trade are 

 associated together, one object being the regulation of wages to be paid to work- 

 men. The men, in like manner, act together, the respective leading branches 

 having their own organization. Masters and men each know the strength of the 

 other, and have, on the whole, so arranged their mutual dealings as to avoid dis- 

 putes. The Birmingham workmen are much more highly paid than those of Belgium 

 and France. This low price of labour gives our Belgian rivals a great advantage ; 

 on the other hand, the better paid and better fed English workman can accomplish 

 an amount of work far in advance of his Belgian workfellow ; and the English 

 manufacturers possess a further advantage in the more extended application of 

 machinery, the use of which in Liege is discouraged by the cheap rate at which 

 hand labour can be obtained. The Birmingham gun-makers have long been aware 

 that a more extensive use must be made of the advantages which they possess, and 

 this has lead to the erection in Birmingham of an establishment for the manufac- 

 ture of guns by machinery, on the interchangeable principle. We must give 

 America credit* for the introduction of this system. It was from thence it was 

 brought into this country. The total number of processes under which an Enfield 

 musket of the pattern 1853 undergoes is upwards of 600. Guns made by this 

 system will interchange ;■ that is, that any part of one gun will fit another. The 

 factory of the Birmingham Small Arms Company is now in working operation. 

 The system is there carried out in its full integrity. It has been planned on a 

 scale to produce 1000 guns per week. There are upwards of 300 machines at 

 work, but at present it has not reached its full power. The number of guns now 

 made there is about 500 per week. The proving of barrels was first provided for 

 by a charter granted by Charles I. to the London gimmakers. No public proof- 

 house existed in Birmingham till 1813, when an Act of Parliament was obtained 

 giving the necessary powers. A second Act was obtained in 1815, which remained 

 in force till 1855, when the inventions of modern days rendered the establishment 

 of new regidations necessary. By these regulations the security of the user was 

 .greatly improved. Under this Act the gun-trade is recognized as an associated 

 body, to which all are entitled to belong who carry on the trade within ten miles 



