The small cloth is manufactured in Denbighshire, entirely in a large tract of country, which includes Llangollen and Corwen. The factory system has not yet been applied to this article. The raw material is pro cured from the neighbourhood of Oswestry, and is sort ed into two kinds. The finer part is manufactured into a sort of flannel, called Oswestry flannel ; while the coarser part is made into small cloth. Most of this is sent abroad ; and the purposes to which it is there ap plied are various. The clothing of the slaves in the West Indies and South America, creates a large de mand. Stockings are said to be made of it in Germany, and other parts of the Continent, Flannels form the most important and valuable of the manufactures of Wales: they are principally made in Montgomeryshire ; but not entirely so, being made in various places within a circle of about 20 miles round Welshpool. The manufacture of flannels is chiefly of the domestic kind, there being very few factories in which it is carried on. In Shropshire, however, into which this native manufacture of Wales has spread itself, machinery in general is substituted for manual labour. The market for flannels is Welshpool: for merly, each manufacturer used to bring hither his own goods ; but now a set of middle-men go about the country, and buy all the flannel they can lay their hands upon. At the Pool-market, nothing is bought on credit, every piece being paid for as soon as measured ; it is the same with the rest of the woollen manufactures of the principality. There is no accurate calculation of the number of yards manufactured, nor indeed can they be conjectured with any probability. Mr Pennant, in the year 1781, says, that there were annually brought into Salop, 700,000 yards of webs ; and to Welshpool, between 700,000 and 800,000 yards of flannel ; but it is not known on what data he grounds his calculation. Stockings, socks, wigs, and gloves, are made principally in the town and neighbourhood of Bala, where they are sold. It is said, that on a from 2001. to 5001. worth of stockings alone are sold.
Having thus given a pretty detailed account of the state of the various branches of the woollen manufac ture of England and IVales, introduced by some his torical sketches of its state formerly, we shall conclude this branch of our subject with an attempt to ascertain, as nearly as we can, the following points; viz. the value of the manufactured article ; the value of the raw pro duce from which it is manufactured; the amount of the profits of the master-manufacturers, including interest for the capital, and an allowance for machinery, &c.; the amount of the sum paid in wages and the number of people employed in this branch of manufacture. For these calculations, the data we take are the amount of the value of the woollen goods exported, and the pro portion which their value bears to the value of the woollen goods kept for home consumption. \Ve have already seen, that the manufacturers examined before the House of Commons in the year 1800, estimated the total value of the woollen manufactured goods at the sum of 19,800,000/.; hut, as we observed, they erred in supposing that the stock of wool in the kingdom was 600,000 packs, whereas, in fact, it does not reach 400.000. They probably were mistaken, also, in the price they put upon the wool at that time. Making deductions on these accounts, and, on the other hand, allowing for the Spanish wool employed, it is probable that the total value of the woollen goods, at that time, will be, as we have already stated, about 17,250.000/. The official value
of woollen goods exported in 1799, was 6,435.423/. ; and, in the year 1800, 6,918,1751.: the real value, therefore, must have been above 9,000,000/. ; but let us take it at 9,000,000/. ; and the value of the whole manufacture at 18,000,0001. : on this supposition, which is sufficiently near the fact for our purpose, the real value of the wool len goods exported, will be about one half the value of the whole goods manufactured in this kingdom. Cir cumstances, however, did occur, which necessarily varied this proportion ; since, in consequence of our dis putes with America, and the state of the European con tinent, the official value of woollen goods exported in 1808, was only 4,853,580/. ; in 1809, 5,416,1511. in 1810, 5,773,2141.; in 1811, 4,376,5451.; and in 1812, 5,084,991/. But we must not conclude, because the value of the ex ports was diminished, that therefore the total value of the goods manufactured was lessened in the same pro portion ; For, however it might be with respect to other manufactures, or with respect to some branches of the woollen trade, the demand for woollen goods for the army was increased, at the time when the foreign de mand was diminished. \Ve may therefore safely sup pose the total value of the woollen goods manufactured in England and Wales, to be now what we have sup posed it to be in the year 1800, viz. about 18.000,0001. ; of this we must deduct a third, or 6,000,000/., for the value of the raw produce, which will leave the sum of 12 000,000/. for the master manufacturer and his work men. \Ve estimated the wages of the latter, in the year 1800 (taking men, women, and children,) at 6s 8d. per day ; but as this was considerably below the ave rage rate of wages, though the rate paid at that period: we must reckon their wages somewhat higher : perhaps 8$. will be the average 01 all classes of labourers in this manufacture : if, therefore, from the sum of 12,000,0001. we deduct 20 per cent, for interest of capital, wear of machinery, 8cc. and manufacturing profit, the remainder will be the amount of wages ; and that sum divided by 201. which is about the amount of the annual wages at the rate of 88. per week, will give the number of people employed in this manufacture. Now, 20 cent. on 12,000,0001. is 2,400,0001. which, being subtracted from 12,000,0001, will leave 9,600,000/. as the amount of manufacturing wages, which, divided by 201. will give 480,000 as the number of persons employed in the wool len manufacture. We are fully aware of one source of error in this mode of calculating the number of per sons employed in any manufacture, since, if the total value of the manufacture, the value of the raw material, and the rate of profit of the manufacturer, continue the same, by assuming a higher or lower rate of wages, we, in the one case, diminish, and in the other case increase the number of people employed, whereas the number may have been nearly the same. But it is impossible to do more than approximate to the truth on these points ; and therefore, taking gross numbers, we may state the woollen manufacture of England and Wales as follows.