PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. 443 
At this time, it must be borne in mind, that France had at her command 
the resources of Liege and Turin, in addition to her own. St. Etienne, 
the most important seat of the arms manufacture in France, supplied 
754,000, while Liege produced 279,900, and Turin 1 07,000. Seven other 
towns supplied the remainder. 
With reference to the recent production of guns in our own country, 
I have collected the statistics of the last ten years, from 1855 to 1864. 
The total number of guns and pistols proved in England during this 
period was 6,116,305. Of this number there were proved at the Birming- 
ham trade proof house, 3,277,815 ; at the Government proof house in 
Birmingham, 978,249 (these last represent military guns made for the 
English service) ; at the London proof house, 1,355,139 ; and at the 
Enfield Factory, 505,102. The Enfield Factory has only been in opera- 
tion seven years. 
The average annual production will thus be : — 
Birmingham trade proof house .... 327,781 
„ Government proof house . . 97,824 
London trade proof house 135,213 
Enfield proof house 72,154 
Making a total annual production for the ) „«„ 0>7£) 
whole of England . } Wd^W 
I have stated that at the Government proof house, in Birmingham, 
97,000 military guns were annually proved, but these were not all made 
up into guns in Birmingham. The number includes those set up in 
London. The annual number divides itself into— ' 
Birmingham 59,560 
London 38,264 
I have prepared tables showing the classification of the various des- 
criptions proved at the Birmingham proof house. I may state that the 
proof house returns show that the proportion of barrels which fail in 
proof is as follows : — 
Per Cent. 
Twisted barrels . . . * . . ^ , 5-67 
Plain iron 4*57 
Twisted military . T20 
Plain iron 1*35 
Pistols 2-73 ' 
Average of all descriptions 4*15 
It is difficult to give an idea of the range of prices of guns, as the 
the variety is so very great. There is one gun, however, of which neither 
the quality nor the pattern has changed for many years past, and which 
will serve as a barometer for the chief branches of the trade to indicate 
