TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS, 161 
woollen and worsted manufacturers, whilst the quantity exported in 1857 was 15,142,881 
Ibs., making an aggregate of 175,142,881 lbs. of English wool. The exports of 
English wool, both in the raw state and in the first stage of manufacture, namely, 
yarn, were great and rapidly increasing. Thus the farmer was deriving benefit from 
the freedom of trade, and English wool was resuming its flow through channels which 
legislation had closed for five centuries. It was for our manufacturers to take care 
that no other country made a better use of their native raw material than themselves. 
The author then glanced at the history of this ancient manufacture up to our own 
times, and observed that they ought not in that Association and in that Section to 
withhold the honour due to the high intelligence, manly spirit, and wonderful disin- 
terestedness of Lord Milton, afterwards Earl Fitzwilliam, who, whilst representing 
the great seat of the woollen manufacture, Yorkshire, advocated the removal of pro- 
tection from the manufacturers, and, although one of the largest landowners, contended 
for the removal of protection from agriculture. It was a matter of just pride for this 
Association and for Yorkshire to remember that that enlightened and high-minded 
nobleman was the first president of the British Association. The woollen manufac- 
ture, in its various branches, was very extensively diffused. According to the last 
Factory Return, it prevailed in twenty-two counties of England, ten of Wales, twenty- 
four of Scotland, and six of Ireland. More than one-half of the operatives employed 
in the woollen factories were in the county of York, namely, 42,992 out of 79,081. 
The worsted manufacture, on the other hand, though for some centuries it had its 
chief seat in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, had now obtained a remarkable concentra- 
tion in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Out of 87,994 factory operatives in the worsted 
trade of the United Kingdom, 78,994 were in Yorkshire. The chief seat of the ma- 
nufacture of superfine broad-cloth had for centuries been, and still was, the West of 
England, and especially the counties of Gloucester and Wilts. The population, and 
doubtless also the trade of the West Riding of Yorkshire, had increased much more 
rapidly both in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than those of Gloucestershire, 
Wiltshire, and Norfolk. Between the years 1801 and 1851 the population of Leeds 
increased 224 per cent. ; Bradford 682 per cent. ; Huddersfield 325 per cent.; Halifax 
179 per cent. ; and Norwich 88 per cent. The author apprehended that the principal 
advantages of the West Riding over Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Norfolk consisted, 
first, in the greater cheapness of coal and iron; secondly, in the larger body of men 
skilled in the making and working of machinery ; and thirdly, in the facility of access 
to the great ports of Liverpool and Hull. But he inclined to think that the mere fact 
of Yorkshire haying devoted itself to the manufacture of cheap goods had been as 
influential as any other cause. 
The author next spoke of the general statistics of the woollen manufacture, and first 
Woollen and Worsted Goods and Yarn Exported. 
Years. Manufactured goods. Yarn. Total Exports. 
——— | ———_ 
— 
wane 
From 1718 to 
£ £ £ 
1724—yearly | (Official value) 
average .... 2,962,881 cone 2,962,881 
a 3,056,720 it 3,056,720 
Lo aoe 4,320,006 eee 4,320,006 
AGO ict sess 5,453,172 vee 5,453,172 
1 4,113,583 toes 4,113,583 
DSO. cae 2,589,109 seve 2,589,109 
cl ere 5,190,637 baad 5,190,637 
1800...... by 6,917,583 vo 6,917,583 
te ae 5,773,719 salen 5,773,719 
(Declared value) 
S20, 5... sss 5,586,138 ee 5,586,138 
BSG0. soe oc vie 4,728,666 122,430 4,851,096 
MAO. oo sis 5,327,853 452,957 5,780,810 
TB50.. cca, 8,588,690 1,451,642 10,040,332 
mettle! bis 'e-ha'g 10,703,375 2,941,800 13,645,175 
——— ——$. 
1858. 1] 
