coNFERENCE of ladies and gentlemen interested in the silk trade of Great Britain was held on the 21st ultimo in the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition. We have not been fortunate enough to find any report of the proceedings in our exchanges, but have seen articles on what was meeting in a few newspapers. trade of Great Britain declined greatly in the last thirty years, Int there a favourable time to attempt its revival. The raw article is now cheap and in such increased supplies that the trade will be free from the violent fluctuations of supply which were formerly xo detrimental to the industry, Much more attention is now being pei to technical education, and from this the members of the conference anticipate great ad tage to the industry. The lation or guild which the conference assembled to initiate will disseminate information members of the trade in Great Considering what has been done in the United States, where labour and S)' money are both dearer than in England silk weavers, small shop keepers, haw' to create silk manufacturing on a large and Manchus. By all these additions scale, the couferencewasprobably justified to the regular taxpayers Amiot, thought in taking a hopeful view of the prospects: the population of China could not be of the industry at home. "Ins, Lister, of less than two hundred million Bradford, a well-known Fair Trader and Three years afterwards his colleague perhaps something more, gave it as his Pare Allerstain obtained from some opinion that protection was necessary official of the Board of Revenue tables. to a silk manufacturing trade in Great which represented the population of the Britains, but this assistance is not likely Bapirs: 7 pias og?.t0 to be given to it. Apart from other 198,213,718. These numbers were, adds jnportance to such town so. Covalitry:
837,977 and in 1761 as bein reasons, the trade is now-a-days of less
the editor of the Mémoires, received in and Macclesfield than it was in former Paris in the year of the publication of times, new industries having been in-that work, 1780, They afford a striking - troduced in them, so that their popula-confirmation of Pere Amiot's calcula~" tion is now less dependent on the protions. In a short time now the history qduetion of silks and ribands. An of the reign of Chien Lung will be increased demand for good wiadulteraccessible to us, and it will contain the ated silks has lately set in; and it population for each year for the whole' appears, from statements made at, the pire from about the time of Amiot,! Manchester conference, that British 1775, and the number of the taxpayers goods of that description not only hold for the earlier years of the period. their own but are being more enquired List oF Taxpayers 1x Cuiya rx 1743. for. But at the same time hardly aw black silks are now made in England, most. of them being procured from the 3.5408 Continent. The conference desired that some check should be placed on the importation of adulterated Foreign goods, but_a Home paper says that, the black silks of one colour that come from the Continent are not altogether of cheap rubbishy description, which would, we take it, imply that they are not heavily adulterated. They wear well enough fora time; that is until the dresses into which they are made out of fashion. Large quantities of cheap
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.