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ANNALS

OF

BRITISH LEGISLATION:

BEING A DIGEST OF

THE PARLIAMENTARY BLUE BOOKS.

EDITED BY

DR. LEONE LEVI, F.S.A., F.S.S.,

OF LINCOLN'S INN, BARRISTER-AT-LAW; PROFESSOR of the princiPLES AND PRACTICE OF COMMERCE
AT KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON, ETC. ETC.

NEW SERIES.-VOL. II.

LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL.

1866.

Lane Find

1866 flue 12

7884

42-24

PREFACE.

ONE of the most valuable Documents inserted under the Series of Finance, Commerce and Agriculture, in this Volume, is the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Employment of Children and Young Persons in Trades and Manufactures not already regulated by Law. In this Report we have interesting accounts of the character and condition of a large number of Industries, not usually brought before public attention: the manufactures, trades, and industries of Pottery, Lucifer Matches, Paper Staining, Machine Lace, Chimney Sweeping, Hosiery, Straw Plait, Embroidery, Wearing Apparel, Metals, Tobacco, Umbrella and Parasols, Indiarubber, Artificial Flowers, Ostrich Feathers, and Glass, are described with much minuteness; and, what is still more important, we see how much the introduction of machinery and other improvements in manufactures has facilitated the employment of young persons, who are thus far too early introduced into the labour-market.

The Correspondence on Cotton Cultivation in the Ottoman Empire, shows that Cotton may be largely cultivated in that country, but that there are not a few obstacles, social and political, yet to be surmounted before this industry can be properly developed. Another valuable document is the Report of the Inspector of Coal Mines, showing that the extraordinary quantity of 95,000,000 tons was raised from the Mines of Great Britain in 1864, and that notwithstanding all the dangers connected with it, only one person lost his life for every 110,000 tons of coal raised.

The Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation exhibit a constant progress in the Imports and Exports of the United Kingdom: in 1860, the total amount of Trade was 375,000,000l., in four years it increased to 487,500,000l., or upwards of 100,000,000%. This increase is partly due to the increased value of Cotton and Cotton Manufactures, but in a far greater measure to the beneficial results of a better economical policy at last introduced in France and other Continental countries. Many other documents of importance will be found under this Series, especially the Report on

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