[10] These engines are in great esteem, and I have found them in almost universal use in Belgium. The one alluded to above, was consuming from 5½ of to 6½ lbs. of coals, per hour, per horse power; whilst a low pressure engine in England, would require from 12 to 14lbs. In this country, they are likewise coming in greater demand, although here the saving of coal is a matter of less importance, and may be, in some degree, counterbalanced by the risk, and more frequent repairs, incidental to high pressure engines.
[11] The price of coal at Ghent, when I visited its manufactories was 20 francs for 1000 kilogrammes, or about sixteen shillings a ton for coals of Mons, which are brought from a considerable distance by the Scheldt; those of Charleroi are of better quality, and a shade higher in price. Coals have increased in price in Belgium within the last few years, as well from the greater demand, as an apprehension that the coal fields of the Ardennes were rapidly exhausting, but this alarm has of late been regarded as groundless. England, with a liberality, which manufactoring jealousy scarcely sanctions, has recently permitted the free export of coal both to Belgium, France and Prussia, a boon for which these governments, which are prohibiting British manufactures, and their mechanics and mill owners, who are contending with our own for the market, cannot be too grateful.
[12] Three hundred bundles per day, being as nearly as possible eleven cuts to the spindle.
[13] COMPARATIVE WAGES PAID WORKERS.
| Description of Workers. | Wages per day of 11½ hours. England. | Wages per day of 11½ hours. Belfast. | Wages per day of 11 hours. Ghent. | |||||||
| Average. | Average. | Average. | ||||||||
| s. | d. | s. | d. | d. | s. | d. | ||||
| Spreaders | 1 | 3 | to | 1 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 11¾ | ||
| First Drawing | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8½ | 0 | 8½ | |||
| Second Drawing | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8½ | 0 | 8½ | |||
| Roving | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 9¼ | |||
| Carding | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7½ | to | 9½ | 0 | 9¼ | |
| Spinner | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 8½ | |||
| Doffer | 0 | 8 | 5½ | 0 | 4¾ | |||||
| Reeler (piece work) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 10 | to | 11 | 0 | 9¼ | |
| Dyer | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1s. | 4d. | 1 | 3 | ||
| Bundler | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1s. | 5½ | 1 | 5 | ||
| Hackler (Roughing for Machine) | 1s. | 6d. | 1s. | 4d. | 1 | 7 | ||||
| Overlooker | 4s. | 6d. | 3s. | 6d. | 2 | 4½ | ||||
These wages, at present, paying in Ghent, it must be borne in mind, are hardly a fair criterion, as flax spinning being entirely a new trade there, it was necessary to give an inducement by extra wages, for the cotton spinner’s to leave the work to which they were accustomed; but this will soon find its level.
[14] One cannot but remark the wretched quality of the window-glass, even in the most luxurious houses. It is uneven, warped, and of a dirty-green colour. It is chiefly made at Charleroi.
[15] The joke against Mechlin arises from an alarm being given that the cathedral was on fire, by some one who had seen the moonbeams shining through its gothic steeple—whence the proverb, that “the wise men of Mechlin went to put out the moon.”
[16] Les machines sont là aussi multipliés, aussi variées que les besoins où on les applique: il y en a une pour chaque pensée, ou plutôt, c’est la même pensée qui a mille ministres; l’une scie, l’autre fend, l’autre coupe, l’autre rabotte; il y en a pour degrossir la pièce, il y en a pour lui donner la forme exacte, il y en a pour l’orner; il y en a pour la polir, le ciseau, le tour, le rabot, l’emporte pièce la tenaille, le marteau tous les instruments du menuisier, du tourneur, du forgeron, s’évertuent sur le fer comme sur le bois la plus tendre, mais sans menuisier, sans tourneur, sans forgeron—la main qui les meut est une machine, cette main, toujours sûre, toujours ferme, délicate, légère, qui n’a pas d’inégalité, qui ne depende pas d’une pensée capricieuse, qui ne se lasse pas, qui ne s’alourdit pas, qui ne vieillit pas! * * * * Cette machine n’a besoin de personne: on lui donne sa tâche un certain jour, et pourvu qu’on ne lui retire pas la portion de force motrice qui l’anime, elle terminera cette tâche à jour fixe: elle vous la livrera comme un ouvrier à la pièce: vous arriverez un beau matin, et vous la trouverez sortie du cylindre et tournant à vide, en attendant que vous lui donniez une nouvelle tâche.—From an account of the great works at Seraing, in the Revue de Paris.
[17] “Les manufactures de Manchester ne voulant pas s’en remettre de ce soin au gouvernement, se sont cotisés, out réuni une somme annuelle suffisante pour organiser autour de leur ville une ligne de douane specialement consacré à empêcher la sortie des mécaniques qu’ils inventaient.”—De l’Industrie de Belgique, vol. ii, p. 326.