1 877.] Cornish China Clay 9 511 
sending the raw commodity to the Potteries deserves to be 
more attentively considered than it has been hitherto. This 
scheme was originally brought forward by the Rev. G. M. R a 
Collins, of Trewardale, Bodmin, in the year 1868, in an 
able leCture on the subject delivered by that gentleman b e« 
fore the Royal Polytechnic Society of Cornwall (and duly 
reported in the Society's Journal, October, 1868), in 
which the feasibility of such an undertaking was fully de° 
monstrated. The crucial difficulty urged against the Rev. 
Mr. Collins's proposals is that of the want of coal, as all 
coal, of course, used in the county has to be carried there 
from other parts. But Mr. Collins has shown that the 
amounts now expended annually in sending the clay to the 
potteries, and again in carrying the manufactured articles 
from the potteries to Liverpool for export, and in keeping 
agents in the potteries by the Cornish firms, far exceeds in 
any average period the outlay that would be entailed in the 
single article of coal. Indeed, we think numerous advan- 
tages would, on the whole, result from the adoption of Mr. 
Collins’s plans, not only to those immediately connected 
with the Cornish clay trade, but also to the public generally ; 
for Cornwall seems eminently fitted to be the seat of a pot- 
tery manufacture, all the porcelain now made at the potteries 
not only having to leave the county in the shape of the raw 
material, but also mostly having to pass her shores when 
being exported to foreign countries, and she has harbours 
well suited for accommodating any vessels that might be 
engaged in the carrying trade, and a large amount of sea 
freight and risk could be saved. By the new enterprise 
fresh improvements, too, in machinery and other matters 
could be introduced, which either prejudice or an unwilling- 
ness to incur expense prevents many of the present owners 
of the potteries from adopting, and the final result would 
doubtless be that an even better description of pottery than 
that now made could be produced at a much lower price. 
Mr. Collins calculates that to start his scheme in full 
working order would require about £30,000. 
Already inferior articles, such as fire-bricks, tiles, &c., are 
manufactured in Cornwall, and an earth is found in the 
county well adapted for making the seggars or ovens in which 
the porcelain is baked. Of late, also, articles of an orna- 
mental as well as useful character have been manufactured 
from china clay and stone, both in their raw state (or with- 
out undergoing any heating process), and after being made 
into porcelain paste, and there seems to be every likelihood 
that the clay may be still more extensively employed for the 
