Statistics of the Trade.—In 1739, the writer of a pamphlet on the subject of wool estimated the number of persons engaged in the woollen manufacture at 1,500,000, and their wages at 11,737,500/. per annum. This estimate was obviously an overcharged one. Dr. Campbell, in 1774, thought that there might probably at that time be 1,000,000 persons employed in the manufacture in England ; that the value of the wool used was 3,000,000L per annum ; and that this value was increased to 12,000,0001. by the processes of manufacture. In 1800 the woollen manufacturers, in committee before the House of Lords, made the extravagant estimate that there were then 1,500,000 persons directly engaged in the manufacture ; that an equal number wore col laterally employed in it ; that the value of the wool used more than 6,000,0001. sterling; and that of the manufactured goods nearly 20,000,0001. sterling. In 1815 Mr. Stevenson supposed that there were half a million persons employed, receiving 9.600,0001. per annum wages; and that this sum, added to the value of the raw material, the interest on capital, the manufacturer's profit, &c., gave 18,000,000/. as the annual value of the cloth produced. Mr. M'Culloch (' Statistical Account') forms an estimate on the following data :—That there are about 150,000,000 lbs. of wool worked up yearly ; that this may be worth about 7,500,0001.; that the value of the manufactured goods is three times that of the raw wool, making therefore 22,500,000L per annum ; that this value is thus made up lbs. of shoddy and mango, and cotton to the value of 200,000/. ; that the value of these fibres is about 10,500,0001. ; and that the wages, oil, seep, dyes, profit, interest, rent, and wear and tear, raise the total value to 20,290,0001. Ho estimates that 150,000 persons were employed in the woollen manufactures in 1558; Mr. M'Culloch estimates 275,000 persons employed in the woollen and worsted manufactures in the same year.
From 1725 to 1820 all the cloths mule and fulled in the West Riding were measured and stamped by officers appointed for that purpose, and from the returns made, it appears that there were fulled, in the West Riding, the following number of pieces of broad and narrow cloth, in the years named :— The woollens and worsteds exported in 1820, 1830, and 1840, had a value of 5,587,7581.. 4,728,666L, and 5,327,S531. respectively. In 1845, 1850, and 1855, the value rose to sums varying from nine to ten millions sterling annually. The figures for the year 1860, given Borne.
what more in detail, will show in what way the manufacture sub divides itself into kinds. The exports in the year just named were as follow :— And dividing this amount of wages at the rate of 261. a year to each operative on an average, he arrives at the number $31,600, which he thinks a probable approximation to the number of persons employed in the woollen manufacture in this country. Mr. Chapman (one of the Assistant Hand-Loom Commissioners) made an estimate which agrees pretty nearly with that-of Mr. M'Culloch; although at the first glance the two estimates seem discordant. He thinks that, in 1831, the number of families directly dependent on the manufacture were— Then, taking the average number of persons in a family at 51, be arrives at an aggregate of 874,565 persons directly supported thereby. He further supposes that this number must have increased, by 1841, to 226,298 families, or 1,218,424 individuals. Mr. M'Culloch's esti mate is of the number of persons employed, while Mr. Chapman's is of the number of persons supported ; and this may explain the apparent discrepancy between the two estimates. As to the value of the manufacture, Mr. Chapman proceeds thus :-226,29S families, earning, on an average, 17s. 6d. per week each family, which amounts to 10,296,5591. ; and the relation between this and the other items of the cost he thus states:— In the last edition of his Commercial Dictionary,' Mr. M'Culloch makes an estimate, which he supposes to approximate pretty nearly to the true figures for the year 1858. Ho takes the consumption of English wool at 110 million lbs. at le 3d. per lb., and that of foreign at CO million lbs. at 2-s. Then he makes up four largo items thus :— Besides 2,000,0001. worth of shoddy and mango manufactures. So far as regards woollen and worsted mills, and the persons engaged in them, see Fsevontes. Some writers have guessed the total valise at 50,000,000/. ; but this is only a guess. At a recent period, in a woollen factory at Leeds, 570 persons were found to be earning 12s. II d. per ,week on an average : namely, men's average 22s. 3d.; women and girls', 8s.; boys, Os. 8d. Mr. Baines, in an article in the' Statistical Journal' for 1859, estimated that the woollen manufacturers (without the worsted) use up 150 million lbs. of British and foreign wool, 45 million The value of all these exports exceeded 16,000,0001. The United States were the largest purchasers of the woven goods; the yarn went in greater quantity to Germany.