The person examined on this occasion was Mr Ostler, a manufacturer of glass beads and other toys of the same substance, from Birmingham. Several of the articles made by him were placed upon the table, for the inspection of the Committee of the House of Commons, which held its meetings in one of the committee-rooms.
Question. Is there any thing else you have to state upon this subject? Answer. Gentlemen may consider the articles on the table as extremely insignificant: but perhaps I may surprise them a little, by mentioning the following fact. Eighteen years ago, on my first journey to London, a respectable-looking man, in the city, asked me if I could supply him with dolls' eyes; and I was foolish enough to feel half offended; I thought it derogatory to my new dignity as a manufacturer, to make dolls' eyes. He took me into a room quite as wide, and perhaps twice the length of this, and we had just room to walk between stacks, from the loor to the ceiling, of parts of dolls. He said, 'These are only the legs and arms; the trunks are below., But I saw enough to convince me, that he wanted a great many eyes; and, as the article appeared quite in my own line of business, I said I would take an order by way of experiment; and he shewed me several specimens. I copied the order. He ordered various quantities, and of various sizes and qualities. On returning to the Tavistock Hotel, I found that the order amounted to upwards of 500l. I went into the country, and endeavoured to make them. I had some of the most ingenious glass toymakers in the kingdom in my service; but when I shewed it to them, they shook their heads, and said they had often seen the article before, but could not make it. I engaged them by presents to use their best exertions; but after trying and wasting a great deal of time for three or four weeks, I was obliged to relinquish the attempt. Soon afterwards I engaged in another branch of business (chandelier furniture), and took no more notice of it. About eighteen months ago I resumed the trinket trade, and then determined to think of the dolls' eyes; and about eight months since, I accidentally met with a poor fellow who had impoverished himself by drinking, and who was dying in a consumption, in a state of great want. I showed him ten sovereigns: and he said he would instruct me in the process. He was in such a state that he could not bear the effluvia of his own lamp, but though I was very conversant with the manual part of the business, and it related to things I was daily in the habit of seeing, I felt I could do nothing from his description. (I mention this to show how difficult it is to convey, by description, the mode of working.) He took me into his garret, where the poor fellow had economized to such a degree, that he actually used the entrails and fat of poultry from Leadenhall market to save oil (the price of the article having been lately so much reduced by competition at home). In an instant, before I had seen him make three, I felt competent to make a gross; and the difference between his mode and that of my own workmen was so trifling, that I felt the utmost astonishment.
Question. You can now make dolls' eyes? Answer. I can. As it was eighteen years ago that I received the order I have mentioned, and feeling doubtful of my own recollection, though very strong, and suspecting that it could [not] have been to the amount stated, I last night took the present very reduced price of that article (less than half now of what it was then), and calculating that every child in this country not using a doll till two years old, and throwing it aside at seven, and having a new one annually, I satisfied myself that the eyes alone would produce a circulation of a great many thousand pounds. I mention this merely to shew the importance of trifles; and to assign one reason, amongst many, for my conviction that nothing but personal communication can enable our manufactures to be transplanted.
301. In many instances it is exceedingly difficult to estimate beforehand the sale of an article, or the effects of a machine; a case, however, occurred during a recent enquiry, which although not quite appropriate as an illustration of probable demand, is highly instructive as to the mode of conducting investigations of this nature. A committee of the House of Commons was appointed to enquire into the tolls proper to be placed on steam-carriages; a question, apparently, of difficult solution, and upon which widely different opinions had been formed, if we may judge by the very different rate of tolls imposed upon such carriages by different 'turnpike trusts'. The principles on which the committee conducted the enquiry were, that 'The only ground on which a fair claim to toll can be made on any public road, is to raise a fund, which, with the strictest economy, shall be just sufficient—first, to repay the expense of its original formation; secondly, to maintain it in good and sufficient repair.' They first endeavoured to ascertain, from competent persons, the effect of the atmosphere alone in deteriorating a well-constructed road. The next step was, to determine the proportion in which the road was injured, by the effect of the horses' feet compared with that of the wheels. Mr Macneill, the superintendent, under Mr Telford, of the Holyhead roads, was examined, and proposed to estimate the relative injury, from the comparative quantities of iron worn off from the shoes of the horses, and from the tire of the wheels. From the data he possessed, respecting the consumption of iron for the tire of the wheels, and for the shoes of the horses, of one of the Birmingham day-coaches, he estimated the wear and tear of roads, arising from the feet of the horses, to be three times as great as that arising from the wheels. Supposing repairs amounting to a hundred pounds to be required on a road travelled over by a fast coach at the rate of ten miles an hour, and the same amount of injury to occur on another road, used only by waggons, moving at the rate of three miles an hour, Mr Macneill divides the injuries in the following proportions:
Injuries arising from; Fast coach; Heavy waggon
Atmospheric changes 20 20
Wheels 20 35.5
Horses' feet drawing 60 44.5
Total injury 100 100
Supposing it, therefore, to be ascertained that the wheels of steam carriages do no more injury to roads than other carriages of equal weight travelling with the same velocity, the committee now possessed the means of approximating to a just rate of toll for steam carriages.(1*)
302. As connected with this subject, and as affording most valuable information upon points in which, previous to experiment, widely different opinions have been entertained; the following extract is inserted from Mr Telford's Report on the State of the Holyhead and Liverpool Roads. The instrument employed for the comparison was invented by Mr Macneill; and the road between London and Shrewsbury was selected for the place of experiment.
The general results, when a waggon weighing 21 cwt was used on different sorts of roads, are as follows:
lbs 1. On well-made pavement, the draught is 33
2. On a broken stone surface, or old flint road 65