460 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



in the uumcrous factories, some of the principal amongst which we have men- 

 tioned, and in a variety of other occupations. Enj^lish bricldayers, Scotch 

 masons, Welsh smiths, and Irish navvies are at work all over the country building 

 towns, factories, and railways. Mr. Fairbairn, in 18G5, estimated the power 

 of the steam-engines employed throughout the country as equivalent to the 

 strength exercised by 3,000,000 horses or 76,000,000 labourers. At the pre- 

 sent day we may fairly assume that their power equals that of 100,000,000 

 human beings, and if these could be distributed in equal shares amongst the 

 inhabitants of the British Islands, every one of them would have three slaves 

 at his disposal, witli muscles of steel that never tire, and requiring no other 

 food than coal. The annual produce of the British manufacturing industries 

 has been estimated at £-300,000,000, and is sixfold what it was in 1815 ; whilst 

 the revenue derived from land and houses has, during the same epoch, only risen 

 from £36,000,000 to £180,000,000. The wages of English factory hands vary 

 considerably according to age, sex, skill, and the branches of industry, but upon 

 the whole they are about a fifth higher than those paid to Frenchmen under 

 similar conditions. They fluctuate, however, to a considerable extent, and there 

 occur periods of depression when they fail altogether, and reduce thousands of 

 families to the verge of starvation. Women and children are employed in large 

 numbers, more especially in the textile industries, and although the factory laws 

 have limited the hours of labour during which they may be employed to fifty- 

 seven hours a week in the case of women and young persons between the ages of 

 fourteen and eighteen, and to thirty-eight hours in the case of children between 

 ten and fourteen, there can be no doubt that hard work exercises a baneful 

 influence upon the physique of the factory population. Nearly all medical men 

 are of opinion that the population of Lancashire and Yorkshire exhibits signs of 

 physical degeneration. 



The number of children physically unfit for work on the completion of the 

 thirteenth year appears to be increasing. 



Commerce. 



Foremost amongst the nations as a manufacturing country, England holds a 



similar position with reference to its foreign and inland commerce. Its exports 



and imports are equal in amount to those of France and Germany combined, and 



since 1866 they have never been less than £000,000,000 a year.* Between 1865 



and 1879 the imports per head of the population have varied between £9 Is. 5d. 



and £11 15s. lOd. ; the exports of British produce between £5 lis. Id. and £8 Is. 



These arc very large amounts when compared with those of other countries. 



Imports. Exports. Value of Mer- 



chindij'e ti'an- 



British For. and Col. shipped in Ports of 



Year. Merchandise. Bullion. Produce. Produce. Bullion, the United Kincdom. 



l>6o. . £J7I,072,2î<5 £21,462,211 £l6ô,8:3ô.72ô £ô2,99ô,8il £10,092,524 £6,469,519 



1870 . . 303,257,493 29,45-5,668 199,586,322 44,493,755 18,919,690 10,940,601 



1872 . . 054,693,624 29,608,012 256,257,347 58,331,487 30,355.861 13,896,760 



1875 . . 373,939,577 32,264,789 223,465,963 58,146.360 27.628,042 12,137,064 



1877 . . 394,419.682 37,152,799 198,893,065 53,452,955 39,798,119 12,182,241 



1879 . . 362,991,875 24,155,538 191,531,758 57,251,606 28,584,912 10,975,669 

 1880(esti- ) 



jjjgjgx ! 420,000,000 16,700,000 223,000,000 60,000,000 19,300,000 12,000,000 



