MANUFACTURED AND UNMANUFACTURED PRODUCTIONS. lo9 



offence to imitate or falsify the stamped, punched, sealed, or plumbed mark, 

 placed by the proper authorities upon such articles. 



The following is a rough outline of the system by means of which such a 

 result might be attained : — In every manufacturing town or district a 

 committee of experienced men (retired from business) should be elected 

 under the surveillance of the mayor ; forming together a council, super- 

 intended by a chairman, and assisted by a secretary and an auditor. The 

 board of councillors w T ould meet once or twice a week to examine and decide 

 upon the qualities of such goods as might be submitted to them by manu- 

 facturers wishing to have their goods classified, who could send them ad lib. 

 to the rooms destined for their examination, accompanied by a declaration 

 stating the class under which they consider their productions ought to 

 come, and the board of examination will class them in " first," " second," 

 and " third class," according to quality, giving the manufacturer a certifi- 

 cate of their decision, upon payment of a small fee to cover the expenses of 

 such salaries to secretary and subordinate employes, &c, the services of 

 the chairman and councillors being, of course, honorary. 



A register will be kept containing minutes of the declarations and 

 decisions of the board, an extract of which will be sent monthly, with a 

 report, to the different members of Parliament of the manufacturing 

 districts, and an annual report made and sent, with all necessary observa- 

 tions, to a jury or commission established for that purpose in the metropo- 

 lis, according to w T hich report annual certificates will be delivered to each 

 manufacturer, as a testimonial of the degree of perfection attained by him 

 in his productions during the past year. 



To every board of examination a Government department will be 

 attached to mark out the goods submitted to the board of examination, by 

 punching, stamping, sealing, or plumbing the different kinds, according to 



the quality certified to by the board, for which stamp, a fee or tax of 



per cent., ad valorem, will be paid. 



The main feature in this classification is that it will be perfectly voluntary, 

 as the interest of each manufacturer will lead him to undergo these pro- 

 ceedings and pay the trifling expense, for which he will be fully compen- 

 sated, in being able to prove to the buyers the quality of his productions, 

 to which nothing will hinder him from affixing his own mark and stamp, 

 besides the official mark, which secures him from imitation. 



The same system could be followed by the importer of foreign goods if 

 he found it proper and applicable. 



As the whole system, developed here in a few T outlines, is voluntary, it 

 will not be necessary to establish it at once in the whole kingdom ; but, if 

 tried at first in one of the manufacturing districts, there is no doubt that, 

 when sanctioned by Government, others would soon follow, and before long 

 the system of classification will be generally adopted throughout the land. 



As every question is open to objections, according to the various points 

 of view from which it may be looked upon, I beg to anticipate the principal 

 ones which the present suggestion may be expected to meet with, and to 

 each of which I have taken the liberty of at once adding a fair answer :— 



