ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 43 



of life, labour on the continent is, in very many instances, 30 per cent, below 

 the price it commands in this kingdom. This estimate is based on calcula- 

 tions where there is no room for any great diiference in the nature of the 

 work performed, common brick-making being assumed as one of the standards 

 of comparison. In the manufacture of iron itself this difference is occasionally 

 still more remarkable. Colliers, miners, mechanics, iron workers, in short, 

 every one engaged in the process appear to be receiving 20 to 30 per cent, 

 below the rates current in this country, and in some cases double, and more 

 than double, the wages paid abroad are earned in our English iron-works. 

 The ii-on-masters here have endeavoured to meet what would be an intole- 

 rable burden in the production of an article made up almost exclusively 

 of labour, by adopting means for reducing its amount, often considerably 

 in advance of those met with in foreign establishments. After all this has 

 been done, however, it leaves us to contend with an extra charge of at least 

 1.5 to 20 per cent, in the item of wages, which, in the majority of instances, 

 will be found to annihilate any advantage of position we may otherwise 

 possess. 



It must be clear that when this country has to compete with foreign 

 nations in articles invoh-ing a still higher amount of labour, such as steam- 

 engines and other kinds of machinery, the difference in wages just alluded to 

 acts still more prejudicially to the advancement of our national industry. 



To the political economist, the question of the future of our iron trade, from 

 its magnitude, cannot fail to be one of great interest. The extent also to 

 which steel has lately taken the ])laee of iron in the arts, necessarily confers 

 upon this material a conspicuous position in any consideration ho or the 

 metallurgist may bestow on the subject. This becomes more necessary from 

 the fact that only a very limited number of ores are capable of affording iron 

 of the necessary quality for the production of steel, by any of the processes 

 now in existence. It is of importance, therefore, to know that even in 

 Austria, Sweden, and Germany, where suitable mineral for this purpose does 

 occur, it is found in quantities quite as limited in extent as prevails with us ; 

 in France also, where preparations for manufacturing Bessemer steel on a 

 very extensive scale arc being made, large quantities of ore are required to 

 be imported from Algeria and elsewhere to obtain that kind of pig iron which 

 their own minerals alone arc found incapable of supplying. 



The great strength, however, of our own position as iron manufacturers, it 

 appejirs to me, must bo sought for in these incomparable fields of coal which 

 constitute so important a feature in our mineral wealth. I am very sanguine 

 that the advantages thus secured to us will, notwithstanding present diffi- 

 culties, maintain the iron trade among the most prominent of our national 

 branches of commerce. This conclusion is arrived at from a consideration of 

 the various circumstances connected with the use of coal and the means 

 possessed by different nations of satisfjang the constantly increasing demands 

 this use creates. In Great Britain we raise annually something like 

 100,000,000 tons of this mineral, of which 10,000,000 are exported, and 

 about 20,000,000 are devoted to the use of our iron-works, leaving thus 

 70,000,000 of tons for consumption in other descriptions of manufactories, 

 purposes of locomotion, and for domestic use. In France and Belgium 

 together, less than one-fourth of our production is obtaiucd, and this only by 

 gi'eat exertions being made to obtain the largest possible quantity their mines 

 are capable of affording. After satisfying the requirements of the iron-works 

 of these two countries, not much over 15,000,000 of tons would remain for 

 carrying on those operations in which, with a smaller population, we are 



