proportion of his profit, without making the workman or servant a partner, and placing the whole property of the concern at his mercy. We owe thanks to that great Lord Chancellor who lately occupied the woolsack for his powerful and sagacious support of this Bill in the House of Lords, who confuted the ancient fallacies of commercial authorities, and rendered these Partnerships of Industry legal in England.

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

On an Official Inspection of Railways and the Management of the Traffic thereon, as a Means of Preventing Accident and Loss. By EDWIN HILL, of the Inland Revenue.

RECENT disclosures have made public the disquieting fact that the elaborate and carefully considered regulations laid down by the directors of our various railways for the guidance of their servants in the management of the traffic-including the precautions to be observed when portions of the lines are necessarily under repair— are in practice commonly disregarded, and that to such an extent as to render their promulgation all but useless.

Breaches of these regulations cannot be unattended with danger, and therefore ought never to be passed over without punishment; instead of which such violations, however flagrant they may be, commonly receive but little notice, if any, except when they lead to immediate accident; hence they become babitual. And when accident really does occur the anger excited against the parties in fault is proportioned rather to the extent of the damage done, than to the amount of the neglect that led to it. Thus treated, accidents are naturally looked upon rather as instances of bad luck than as the sure consequences of habits of neglect; nor can the eradication of this mischievous feeling be expected, consistently with experience, from anything short of a vigorous and steady enforcement of the rules laid down; all breaches being sternly punished, whether followed by accident or not, on the plain ground that with the enormous forces employed the habitual neglect of the necessary precautions can lead to nothing but disaster, first or last.

It has often been proposed to call upon the legislature to make regulations for the management of the railways, such regulations to have the force of law. But the fatal objection is instantly raised that by such course the responsibility of the railway authorities would be destroyed, as responsibility without power is a mere delusion.

Some have even proposed that the Government shall take the whole administration of the railways into their hands.

I do not here attempt to discuss this proposition, my object being to suggest an intermediate course; one which is easy of trial, and which if adopted, it would be advantageous to continue, let the

administration of the railways ultimately devolve upon whomsoever it may.

What I have to bring under consideration is the propriety of adopting in respect of the railways, a system of official inspection analogous to that in operation as regards our factories, mines, schools, poor-law unions, and prisons.

Mere inspection with communication of the result. Every power necessary for the attainment of full and correct information upon all matters affecting the public safety and convenience, both directly and indirectly, but no power whatever of interference in the management. The inspectors to be simply held responsible for discovering and bringing to light everything in the management of the lines under their charge respectively, that experience has shown, or that they may deem to be detrimental to the public safety, or needlessly obstructive of the public convenience.

It is unnecessary to go into particulars respecting the duties that it would be proper to throw upon such inspectors, inasmuch as the experience gained in the working of the system of inspection as now carried on is so ample that there could be no difficulty in framing suitable instructions; and after all it is not on the framing of the instructions, but on the choice of the men appointed to carry out the purpose that the success of the measure must depend. Able and zealous men will, for the most part, themselves discover the path to a successful result, whilst inefficient men will be all but certain to miss it, though it be mapped out for them never so clearly.

It is needless for me to dilate upon the efficiency of simple but systematic inspection and report in procuring the removal of curable evils. The manifold defects that have been brought to light by our poor-law inspectors, prison inspectors, factory and school inspectors, and others, and that in consequence have been either cured wholly or at least much amended, are not unknown, although perhaps not so generally understood and borne in mind as might be wished. But that one of the most effectual means of abating injurious practices and effecting the suppression of abuse, is, to expose them to the broad light of publicity, is a matter too generally understood and acknowledged to need argument. All I have to urge, therefore, is the superiority of continuous, systematic, and thorough examination and inquiry, conducted by men of ability and knowledge of the subject, appointed for the purpose, and hence responsible in their character and position for its due performance, over depending upon mere fortuitous information given by persons perchance but imperfectly acquainted with the facts, and concerning not so much the habitual observance or neglect of the appointed precautions, as simply the ill-consequences of their non-observance in individual

cases.

Under such a system of inspection I think I may unhesitatingly aver that such a total neglect of the necessary precautions explicitly laid down by the directors, as, in the case of the late Staplehurst accident was shown to attach equally to the workmen, the foremen,

and the superintending engineers, could not have been concealed, and being brought to light would not have been endured, and therefore that its lamentable consequences could never have occurred. I need not multiply cases in which precisely the same reasoning might be urged, as they are no doubt but too sufficiently in remembrance.

In conclusion, I would suggest that an official inspection thus wholly independent of the administration of the railways, and therefore unbiassed either in its favour or against it, would in all probability prove highly economical to the railway companies themselves; the loss by the accidents of a single half year upon one line only (including the accident just alluded to) having been officially estimated at some £50,000. The expense of the necessary staff of inspectors, clerks, &c., need not be great, and, if my anticipation of an important economy to the railways be realised, such expense ought to be cheerfully borne by the railway companies themselves.

The Rise and Growth of the Trades of Sheffield. By ROBERT EADON LEADER, B.A.

ASSEMBLED in a town which affords a conspicuous illustration of the amazing strides made by manufacturing communities of late years, I have thought it may not be uninteresting to this Association to have some account laid before it of the manner in which Sheffield has gradually increased, from small beginnings, to the large and busy scene around us. In 1801 its population was only 45,000. In 1862, it had risen in point of size to the rank of sixth town in the kingdom. Its population has been increasing at the rate of 5,000 a year, and it now contains more than 200,000 inhabitants, the great majority of whom are toiling day by day under the canopy of black smoke which results from their labours, and which makes strangers wonder what manner of men they be who dwell therein. It is the purpose of this paper to trace rapidly the growth of the occupations which have drawn together here such numbers of human beings, and, beginning with the time when it made cutlery on the smallest scale, to show how Sheffield has become one of England's greatest seats of industry.

In a paper read before this Association at Edinburgh, Mr. William Chambers pointed out that "the tendency of towns to excel in particular trades depends usually on some peculiar local circumstances, and is rarely a result of any deliberate arrangement." The truth of this observation is fully borne out in the case of Sheffield. The iron easily obtained from the immediate neighbourhood, and the power for working it afforded by the numerous streams that descend from the highlands around, are the natural explanations why the iron trade early fixed itself here. At a later period, too, the surrounding coal-beds kept in its adopted home the trade which must

otherwise have emigrated in search of this essential means of power. Hence we find in the geological conformation of the district at once the cause of the establishment and of the extension of the branch of industry which here found its seat. It is no part of my plan to enter upon any inquiry into the antiquity of the trade of Sheffield. It is sufficient to know that from very early times, and certainly from the time of the Romans, the cutlery trade, in some of its branches, and in a more or less primitive form, has been carried on here. For many centuries, too, the town has been famed for the excellence of its wares. It seems probable that settlers from the Netherlands, expelled from their own country by the Duke of Alva, added to this excellence, introduced improvements, and eclipsed the former efforts of the native craftsmen. Hunter, writing of Sheffield in the sixteenth century, describes it as "a thriving manufacturing town, in the centre of a manufacturing district." After this, however, and in the beginning of the seventeenth century, there seems to have been a decline in its prosperity. The trade became so " dis" of "divers graced" by the "deceitful and unworkmanly wares persons" who "refused to submit themselves to any order, ordinance, or search," that, in 1624, application was made for the interference of parliament for the protection of the "industry, labour, and reputation" of the inhabitants. The cutlers of Hallamshire were accordingly formed into a body corporate. The manufacture in which they were engaged is described in the Act of Incorporation as "knives, scissors, shears, sickles, and other cutlery." Even then, it is curious to note, there was a peculiarity about the sickle trade which is still observable. It was settled not so much in the town itself as in the villages to the south, where it and the scythe trade are still almost exclusively carried on.

Like the rest of the country, Sheffield suffered greatly from the disturbances of the civil wars. Yet, even in these unsettled times, some improvements were made in the old trade of the place, and it is to this period that is attributed the invention of spring-knives-a great advance on the ancient whittles. It was at the time the charter was granted to the Cutlers' Company, in the reign of James I., that Sheffield was, as described by Macaulay, "a singularly miserable place, containing about 2,000 inhabitants, of whom a third were half-starved and half-naked beggars. It seems from the parochial registers," he continues, "that the population did not amount to 4,000 at the end of the reign of Charles II., the effects of a species of toil singularly unfavourable to the health and vigour of The the human frame were at once discerned by every traveller. larger proportion of the people had distorted limbs." These were the predecessors of the men who, a French writer has said, show a capacity to undergo protracted, toilsome, and exhausting labour, unequalled by any other European nation.

There was not much alteration in the condition of the people or in the state of their trade up to the end of the seventeenth century. At that time, nevertheless, new trades had sprung up. I cannot fix

even the proximate date at which the manufacture of razors, files, and saws, was introduced here, but as a natural sequence to cutlery proper, we may pretty safely conclude that they had begun to be made by this time. The increasing luxury of the people had created a demand for forks; edge tools, and joiner's tools had also made their appearance among the trades of the town. With the multiplication of the cutlers had grown the demand for the fittings of their shops, and thus the manufacture of anvils, vices, and hammers, had taken the position of recognised trades, which they hold to this day.

From 1700 to 1800 is a long stretch of time, during which all these industries continued to increase and multiply, in general slowly, but occasionally with strides which form landmarks in their history. The period is illuminated by the brilliance of two notable discoveries made nearly at the same time by Sheffield men, and destined to have an immense effect on the growth of the townthe discovery of the art of silver plating by Thomas Bolsover, and of making cast-steel by Benjamin Huntsman. It was towards the middle of the centnry that these fortunate discoveries were made. Their value was not all at once apprehended-the wise men of Sheffield, indeed, obstinately refused to use Huntsman's steel until they were forced to do so by the superiority their foreign competitors were obtaining thereby-but before long both contributed greatly to the fame and prosperity of the town, and one, by the creation of the steel trade, in an unequalled degree. For up to this time almost, if not quite, all the steel used here had been imported from Germany and other countries, and it does not appear that steel was converted in Sheffield until some years subsequent to Huntsman's invention. Commercial enterprise was stimulated by the successes to which I have referred. To them were added the manufacture of goods in Britannia metal. At the same time the older trades had not been idle. So great had become the fame of the Sheffield file makers in 1727, that an attempt, which almost proved successful, was made to induce them to emigrate in a body to France. The men were quite prepared to accept the tempting offers held out to them, and it was only by obtaining an order in council that their departure was stayed. Superior workmanship was displayed, too, in scissors and other articles, while efforts began to be made to find new markets, and better to work those already to some extent supplied. It is recorded that a person named Broadbent was the first to establish a foreign trade. This was in the year 1747. His example was followed by others, and the manufacturers who had previously been content to stay at home and wait for the orders that chance might bring them, began to visit London and other places in search of custom. Then arose merchants who opened up direct trade with the Continent and with America. "From the blow which it received from the American war, Sheffield," says Hunter, "seemed to rise with renovated strength." The substitution of rolling for the more primitive process of hammering must be noted as an important step taken about