SECOND DEPORT OP COMMISSIONERS.

17

no opportunity of knowing wliat had been already previously effected and pre-pared by others in the same line.

“ Of a piece with this is the case of persons who pride themselves uponexecuting very difficult works with implements not intended for the purpose,such as elaborate carving, which, we are told, was all done ‘with a commonpenknife/ The experience of carvers of all ages having shown that there arecertain forms of chisels and gouges that are proper for this work, a sensible manwould certainly not waste his time by using the rvorst form of a cutting instru-ment that he could choose for this particular service. So far from admiring,we should pity the vanity and folly of such a display ; and the more, if the meritof the work should show a natural aptitude in the workman ; for it is certain,that if he has made good work with a bad tool, he would make better with agood one.”

Mr. Bazley, President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, speaks asfollows in his Lecture on “ Cotton as an Element of Industry” :—

“ The contemplation of the difficulties arising from increased competition maybe of signal benefit to those especially who desire to maintain and increase theindustrial celebrity of Great Britain ; for, with the knowledge of approximatingand rival skill, the exercise of a cool and sober judgment will prompt the necessityof perfecting mechanical agents, of increased intelligence and attention of theworkmen, and on the part of master manufacturers of a complete theoretical andpractical acquaintance with the principles on which sound manufacturing opera-tions are founded, together with the most economical and best engineeringarrangements for conducting Avith success the large concerns embarked in manu-factures.The labour of the increasing numbers of the people of this

' country forms one of the extraordinary raw materials that employment must beprovided for ; and whether it shall continue to be exerted upon cotton, posteritymay know, but we cannot, though in our age and generation we may resolve atleast to promulgate sound economical principles, and strive, in providing for theexigencies of our own time, to leave behind us the heir-loom of a national estateunencumbered with impediments to industry, the present and future source of

wealth and comfort.If the labouring classes of the United Kingdom

were well educated, their superior attainments would be alike more profitable totheir employers, by increased skill, and a nearer approximation to perfection ; andto themselves, not only in augmented rewards, but in the knowledge that wouldpromote their general comfort and each other’s welfare.”

Mr. Henry Forbes, late Mayor of Bradford, again, whose Lecture was on “TheRise, Progress, and Present State of the Worsted, &c., Manufactures of GreatBritain, ” points in the same direction, when he says :—

“ Amongst the many advantages of the late Great Exhibition , none was morestriking than the opportunity which it afforded of studying the comparativemanufacturing capabilities of our own and other countries. Englishmen weretaught the useful lesson that we possess no monopoly of inventive genius orpractical skill; and that to maintain our position it is indispensable that we

C