198 REPORT—1858, 
That discount is the allowance made for paying off that charge for credit with ready 
money. 
That interest may be given either as a remuneration for the use of the capital trans- 
ferred by the money, or for the use of money itself. 
That discount is given only for the use of moncy itself. 
That the rate of interest depends on the demand and supply of capital, and on the 
degree of risk incurred. 
That the rate of discount depends on the supply and demand of ready money, and 
and on the degree of risk incurred; and as in this country provincial bank notes are 
convertible on demand into legal tender money, the rate of discount here fundament- 
ally depends at present on the demand and supply of legal tender money. 
To the question, What is currency? the writer replies, ‘Coin and bank notes ;” but he 
points out that these form only a small portion of the great wheel of circulating medium, 
which embraces credit and every thing that is a medium for circulating value. ‘The 
amount o% Currency in circulation in the wholesale trade is, in relation to the aggre- 
gate of circulating medium, but as a drop in the ocean of credit on which it is carried.” 
Hence the writer asks, ‘‘ Must not the attempt by law to adjust the circulating medium 
and prices, by regulating the amount of bank notes, be as futile as the endeavour to 
regulate the ocean and its tide by damming up the streams?” ‘The final conclusion 
at which Mr, Stansfeild arrives is, ‘‘ That were the laws of nature not counteracted by 
the laws of man, but left as free in their action on money as on capital; and were the 
duty of the legislature confined to the taking care of the quality of the currency, by 
ensuring the convertibility of the bank note, leaving the quantity to take care of itself, 
the enormous disproportion between the amount of credit liabilities and ready money 
would be diminished, and the frequency and severity of monetary panics would be 
mitigated, if not entirely averted.” 
On the Sewing Machine in Glasgow, and its Effects on Production, Prices, 
and Wages. By Joun Strane, LL.D. 
Dr. Strang mentioned the different kinds of sewing machines, with the various 
improvements that had been effected in those implements. The cost of the best 
machines now in use varied from £25 to £30 each, and some were produced of an 
inferior kind in America so low as 10s, each. The better class of machines now in 
use were calculated to make almost everything formerly executed by the needle or 
even awl, and it was affirmed that the finer or more difficult the work, the more benefit 
from the machine. One of the latest improved machines would complete a thousand 
stitches in a minute, and the use of the instrument was becoming more and more 
general throughout the great manufacturing marts of the world. The important 
question then arose, had the introduction of sewing machines interfered with hand 
labour, and if so, to what extent? Limiting the inquiry to Glasgow, where the 
introduction of sewing machines has been recent and their adoption rapid, there being 
at present about 900 at work in that city, Dr. Strang stated that while these machines 
had greatly increased the power and facility of production, and consequently lowered 
the price of the manufactured article, they had only displaced the most unprofitable 
portion of hand needle-work, and had indeed tended rather to increase than to diminish 
the wages of those engaged in this sphere of labour. Among other instances of this 
he stated that the wages of a handy female attending each machine were from 7s. to 
10s, per week, whereas a mere sempstress could scarcely earn half that sum, and 
that, too, through long protracted labour. 
Water Supply to Great Towns—its Extent, Cost, Uses, and Abuses. 
By Joun Strano, LL.D. 
Dr. Strang showed by an elaborate array of statistical facts, the present and pro- 
jected water supply of some of the leading towns of tae Western world, with, the 
extent and cost of such supply. He glanced at some of the social disadvantages, and 
even evils, which have arisen, or may still further arise, from rendering water the too 
easy agent for the removal of impurities which should be transported otherwise, and 
thus converting many once pellucid streams, upon which cities ave founded, into 
