188 REPORT—1858. 
cumstances to account for the rapid increase in flax spinning in Ireland. The North 
of Ireland is an old-established seat of the linen manufacture, chiefly of the lighter 
fabrics suited for the export markets, and especially for those of the United States of 
America, which since 1846 have so largely increased.. Again, when the spinning by 
machinery was introduced into the North of Ireland, all the other branches of the ma- 
nufacture were already established there—the weaving, the bleaching, the commercial 
establishments; and besides this, the flax, the raw material, was grown at their own 
doors. In England the linens manufactured have been more of the heavier and 
higher priced description, and suited more for the home market than for export. In 
Scotland the manufacture has consisted chiefly of the coarser and cheaper description 
of linens and of yarns, and the export of the latter has been materially affected by 
the high protective tariffs of the Continent, especially of France. 
Much attention has of late been attracted to the object of encouraging and increa- 
sing the home growth of flax in England and Scotland; but the introduction of this 
species of agricultural produce into districts where it is entirely new is attended with 
many difficulties, and but little has yet been effected in that direction. Many attempts 
have also been made to introduce new fibrous materials from our Colonies and foreign 
countries for use in the linen manufacture ; and the new material, jute, imported from 
India, and used chiefly in Scotland, has been of valuable service to the manufacturer 
of that country, I may now draw attention to the following Table, showing the ex- 
ports of the linen manufacture of the United Kingdom :— 
Linen Manufactures. 
Thread, Tapes Linen Yarn. 
ettin Entered by the Yard, and a all 
Yards. Value. Wares. Ibs. Value. 
— ee | Se ee | PS 
1831 to 1835 | 65,571,770 | £2,292,906 £74,883 1,297,603 £108,415 
1836 ,, 1840 | 78,468,192 2,901,296 97,723 | 12,383,825 637,121 
1841 ,, 1845 | 84,682,490 2,733,160 178,580 | 25,465,785 1,001,618 
1846 ,, 1850 | 99,346,562 2,957,491 249,301 | 15,876,004 726,425 
1850 ,, 1855 | 125,226,539 | 3,924,807] 342,327 | 20,307,571 | 1,024,488 
We see from this Table that the export of linens has nearly doubled in quantity and 
value between the years 1831 and 1855. The export of thread has increased more 
than fourfold. The export of yarns increased with very great rapidity up to the year 
1845, since which time it has been nearly stationary, being checked by the high tariffs 
on the Continent before spoken of. 
The next Table gives a comparative view, so far as can be made out from returns 
and the most reliable estimates, of the total extent of flax spinning in foreign countries, 
as well as in the United Kingdom, in the year 1852 :— 
Spindles. Spindles. 
England..........+6+. 391,568 Rassias, ities tie seres 50,000 
Scotland... .....e.e0. 295,125 ANISH aiszoiawp asiee estes 30,000 
Treland.......2.+2++. 456,000 United States..,..... 14,550 
——. Switzerland ......... 8000 
United Kingdom... 1,142,693 Holland 3). 21 sateen eis 6000 
France ...s.eeeeees. 300,000 - Palio see's cotele tietere 6040 
Belgium....ceseess.- 100,000 — 
Germany.....s.ese00 80,000 1,713,283 
There are now engaged in flax spinning at Leeds 8772 persons. 
I must now conclude my sketch of the remarkable rise and growth of flax spinning 
in England, a manufacture of which the town of Leeds has been to so large an extent 
the birth-place and centre of improvement, and which has since spread so widely, 
not only over the three divisions of the United Kingdom, but into all quarters of the 
world. If the extension of flax spinning has of late been more rapid in other quar- 
ters than in the town of Leeds, we must accept this fact as being at once a warning, 
and a friendly challenge to the renewal of the exertions by which Leeds was distin- 
guished in former years. 
