278 



DICKSON ON THE 



Bible has long been a familiar book among the natives; 

 'Robinson Crusoe' and one or two other little works have 

 been translated ; a Maori periodical and a Maori newspaper 

 circulate among them; and geography, simple and even 

 fractional arithmetic, are becoming rather popular studies." 



ON THE FLAX MANUFACTURE IN YORKSHIRE. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION, LEEDS, SEPTEMBER, 1858. 



A sketch of the history of Flax-spinning in England, 

 especially as deveivoped in the town of Leeds, by a Flax 

 spinner, with additions by the author from his knowledge of 

 the preparation of Flax and the yarn trade, and the manu- 

 facture of all kinds of linen goods in Ireland, from 1820 

 up to the year 1842, when he removed to London to set up 

 as Flax agent, and carry out his views of improved machinery 

 for the preparation of Flax, and some remarks on the 

 decrease in Flax-culture in Ireland, and the Flax-spinning 

 trade in Dundee. 



The Leeds Flax-spinner says, "There is, perhaps, no 

 branch of our principal manufactures, except that of cotton, 

 in which the introduction of machinery and the factory system 

 has produced more remarkable changes than in that of 

 Flax-spinning, and as the town of Leeds is the place where 

 this new branch of industry first took root in England, and 

 was successfully carried out upon a considerable scale, and 

 the place which has hitherto taken the lead in the successsive 

 improvements introduced into the trade, it may l>e interesting 

 to the section to have a short sketch of the origin and 

 progress of Flax-spinning brought before them while they 

 are here. The first essay in Flax-spinning in Leeds was 

 made at a small mill driven by water, called Scotland Mill, 

 about four miles from Leeds, by my late father, John 



