Irish Linen and some Features of its Production. 19 



of goods had each its locahty of manufacture. 'J'he Hugenots, 

 who introduced fine weaving into Ireland, settled at Lisburn 

 and Lurgan. One of them, Louis Crommelin, was an an- 

 cestor of Mr. Nicholas Delacherois Crommelin, managing 

 partner of the York Street Spinning Company when, fifty 

 years ago, he (the speaker) was serving his appienticeship 

 there. Handlooms were fast becoming a thing of the past. 

 Very considerable improvements had taken place in spinning mills 

 and weaving factories with regard to the conditions under which 

 operatives worked. Chief amongst these was the diminution 

 which had been effected in the amount of dust floating in the air 

 of many of the rooms. In this improvement Mr. R. H. Reade, 

 D.L., had been the pioneer. The action of the united body of 

 flaxspinners in 1908, when, during a period of unexampled dullness, 

 they made a gift of ;^30,ooo in unearned wages was to be put down 

 to their credit. The lecturer then dealt with the different methods 

 of bleaching, and pointed out that in linen bleaching there was a 

 field for the services of chemical research. The present methods 

 carried with them serious risks of damage to the goods. Here, 

 then, was a practical object for their scientific men to have before 

 them. Having dealt with the preparation of linen goods for the 

 market, the lecturer went on to say that the relations between 

 masters and employes in the linen industry were of a more friendly 

 character than in most other industries. In many instances one 

 generation was succeded by its descendants, and sometimes to the 

 third or fourth generation, in the service of the same company. 

 Conferences in an amicable spirit had sometimes taken place, and 

 arrangements of wages had been agreed upon without recourse to 

 strikes, which had been rare and always of small dimensions. A 

 rough estimate of the capital employed in the Irish linen trade 

 might be made up as follows : — 956,000 spindles at an average 

 price of;^5each, ;^4,73o,ooo; 36,000 power-looms at ^^50, 

 ;^i, 800,000 ; bleaching, printing, and finishing works estimated at 

 ;j^5oo,ooo. Those amounts added together would show a total of 



