LONDON. To present a few industrial sta tistics of this, the greatest commercial city in the world, is of course all that can be attempted in a work like the present.
In the City of London there are 89 compa nies or guilds connected with trades or em ployments, eight of which are practically ex tinct; and one other, that of Parish Clerks, is not connected with the municipal institu tions of the city. Most of the companies pos sess what is called a livery ; that is, a part of their body, under the name of liverymen, if they be freemen of the corporation, enjoy pri vileges which other freemen do not possess— such as voting for mayor, sheriffs, chamber lain, &c. Most of the guilds have long ceased to be practically beneficial to the crafts to which they relate. Most of them are in pos session of real property and money in the public funds, both for their own use and on various trusts. The Irish Society is a corpo ration connected in a peculiar manner with the corporation of London ; its property is chiefly in the county of Londonderry, in Ire land.
That London is not commonly considered as a manufacturing town is owing to the more important aspects tinder which it presents it self, and not because of the absence of manu facturing industry. Manufactures of almost every kind are in fact carried on in the metro polis, and upon a scale of great magnitude. The largest breweries, distilleries, and sugar refineries in the kingdom aro in the metropo lis. The manufacture of metals in almost every branch is carried on to a vast extent. Almost every kind of machinery, from the smallest wheels required by the watch-maker to the most powerful steam-engines, are made in Loudon. The making of gold and silver articles, of optical and surgical and other in struments, tools of the best quality, and mu sical instruments, gives employment to nume rous hands. Ship-building, with all its acces sories, rope-making, mast-making, block-male ing, anchor-making, &c., has always been actively prosecuted. There are also nume roux chemical works on a large scale, tanne ries, soap-manufactories, potteries, and dye houses. Male and female clothing of all descriptions is made, not merely for the use of the inhabitants of the metropolis, but for the supply of wealthy persons in various parts of the kingdom and even in the British colo nies. There are not much fewer than 1500 separate trades or occupations carried on in the metropolis. The metropolis is also the great workshop of literature, science, and the arts. The number of books printed and pub lished in all other parts of England is small in comparison with what is produced in Lon don.
It is not possible to state with any preten sions to accuracy the amount of consumption in London of any except a very few articles of general use, because such commodities are becoming less and less under Excise and Customs regulations. The cattle sold in Smithfield amount to nearly 200,000 annually ; sheep, 1,600,000 ; calves, 25,000 ; and pigs, 250,000. But, besides these, a large amount of slaughtered meat is now brought to the metropolis by railway and steamers. There
are 5000 licensed publichouses, besides beer retailers, and exclusive of inns, hotels, and wine merchants. There are 1600 butchers' shops, 2400 bakers' shops, and 2800 grocers and tea dealers. The coffee shops are now very numerous. Concerning the recent arri vals of Coal, and Coax in London, see those articles. See also MARKET-GARDENS.
The relative proportion of the foreign and colonial trade enjoyed by the merchants of London, as compared with those of other ports, may be shown from the fact, that out of the gross receipt of customs at all the ports of the United Kingdom, usually about 22,000,000/. sterling, that of London about equals all the other ports combined. The shipping entries vary ; but on the whole there is a constant progressive increase. In 1848 the amount was :— The vessels which left London with cargoes we may presume to be about equal in num. ber. The ships which entered the port of London from Foreign Countries alone, in 1850, amounted to 9,910, of 1,903,407 tons.
There are about 50 wharfs on the north and south banks of the Thames, within the limits of the metropolis, besides the canal wharfs and the docks for the shipping destined to foreign countries.
The facilities for accommodating shipping are noticed under DOCKS. The railways from the metropolis are mainly accommodated at six large stations : viz. Euston Square, King's Cross, Paddington, Waterloo Bridge, London Bridge, and Shoreditch ; besides a smaller station in Fenchurch Street, and separate goods' stations at Camden Town, Vauxhall, and Bricklayer's Arms. The chief canal of London is the Regent's Canal, which curves round the northern part of the metropolis from Limehouse to Paddington (whence it communicates with the northern and western parts of the kingdom), and has several basins and wharfs : the remaining canals are all short, and comparatively unimportant.
There is no port in the kingdom which has profited more than London through the appli cation of steam to navigation. A great part of the steam vessels that arrive and depart carry passengers only, and are therefore not required to make entry at the custom house, and with regard to such as carry goods no distinction is made at the custom house be tween them and sailing vessels ; for which reasons no accurate account of the number of this class of ships that enter and leave the port can be given. Steam passage-boats are passing and repassing daily between London, and Chelsea, Kew and Richmond, and in sum mer some go up to Hampton Court ; and between London and Greenwich, Woolwich, Gravesend, and other places, downwards ; while, at less frequent intervals, steamers start from the Thames to nearly all the prin cipal ports in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe.
That such a gigantic focus of industry will take up a worthy position in the Great Exhi bition of All Nations, may well be expected and believed.