202 report — 1859. 



use about 2500 tons of rags yearly, a great part of which is brought from Germany. 

 The number of males is increased to about 300, with wages at from 14s. to 21s. ; 

 and the females now number from 700 to 800, with wages from 5s. 6d. to 8s. weekly. 



Besides the home trade, they largely supply America, Australia, and India. 



They were the first to introduce the manufacture of envelopes into the North of 

 Scotland ; and, by the aid of machinery, they can now make 3,000,000 envelopes 

 weekly. 



The only disadvantage they lie under is the expense of coals ; but, on the other 

 hand, they possess an abundant supply of pure water from the Don, which, in the 

 manufacture of paper, must be of vast consequence. 



An extensive manufacture of wrapping-paper is carried on in the same neighbour- 

 hood by Messrs. Charles Davidson and Sons. 



Comb Manufacture. — As a very full and interesting account of the Aberdeen 

 Comb Works appeared a few years ago in ' Chambers's Edinburgh Journal ' (No. 396, 

 New Series, Aug. 2, 1851), it will not be necessary for me to do more than give the 

 statistics of the works of Mr. Stewart (formerly Messrs. Stewart and Rowell). These 

 works were established about the year 1830, and have been conducted on a very 

 extensive scale since that period. Not only was steam-power first employed here, 

 but the division of labour, and many important improvements and inventions were 

 brought into successful operation by the energetic proprietors. The materials em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of combs are tortoiseshell, horns, and hoofs. 



As a curious illustration of the value of labour, we give the following comparative 

 estimate of the produce of the three materials : — 



Increase per 

 cent. 



1 cwt. shell, val. £200, produces combs, val. £275 37£ 



1 ton horns, „ 56, „ „ „ 150 168 



1 ton hoofs „ 12, „ „ „ 36 200 



Regarded in this aspect, in the relation of labour to material, we find that hoofs 

 — intrinsically the least valuable of the three materials — become, with the appli- 

 cation of labour, the most valuable, that is, proportionally ; and the converse holds 

 good in the case of tortoiseshell. 



I may add that tortoiseshell has fallen in price considerably since the above table 

 was drawn up, but the proportion between the original value and the labour remains 

 about the same. 



The different kinds and sizes of combs amount to between 2500 and 3000, and 

 " the aggregate number produced of all these different sorts averages upwards of 

 1200 gross weekly, or about 9,000,000 annually — a quantity, that, if laid together 

 lengthways, would extend to 700 miles." 



The annual consumption of ox-horns is about 730,000, being considerably more 

 than half the imports a few years ago. The annual consumption of hoofs amounts 

 to about 4,000,000. The consumption of tortoiseshell and buffalo-horns, although 

 not so large, is correspondingly valuable. Even the waste, composed of horn- 

 shavings and parings of hoofs, which, from its nitrogenized composition, becomes a 

 valuable material in the composition of prussiate of potash, amounts to 350 tons in 

 the year ; and finally, as the crowning illustration of the enormous extent of these 

 comb-works, the very paper for packing costs £600 a year. 



The following may be given as an example of the extraordinary reduction in the 

 cost of combs effected by the power of machinery and the division of labour : — 

 Side-combs are sold retail at Id. per pair — an article, that, in its progress from the 

 hoof to the comb, undergoes eleven distinct operations. This comb, then, which, 

 thirty years ago, was sold to the trade at 3s. Gd. per dozen, can now be purchased, 

 in the same way, for 2s. Gd. per gross ! thus effecting a reduction in price of about 

 1600 per cent. 



There are employed at these works about 500 men and boys, and 200 females — 

 in all 700, or about four times the number employed in the comb-trade in all Scot- 

 land when the business was commenced. 



The wages vary from 18s. to 25s. for men ; boys and apprentices from 3s. to 4s., 

 and 10s. to 12s. ; girls, from 4s. to 9s. 



The comb-workers, some years ago, were noted for their dissipated habits, but it 



