HO UC-NRLF B M S7E SDD AST, PRESENT and FUTURE, ///////////ff///////////////////////ff/ff/lA 'mmmMmm.^ }TS SPECr.AL ADVANTAGES AS A COMMERCIAL CENTRE AND AS A PLAGE OF RESIDENCE ^ _-_ GIFT OF Reprinted /ioih flic Nottingliii III Clui inbcr of Coniiiicrcc Year Book, J 9 II. £l)c (tntn of flottinjljam PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE, ITS SPECIAL ADVANTAGES AS A COMMERCIAL CENTRE AND AS A PLACE OF RESIDENCE bg tht Corp0ratt0n V\C "V ^ K^ J\^' J^' /' 1/ ^ etMROSE &.S0N5C7 CONTENTS. Nottingham : Its notable Past ; its amazing Progress, and its expectant Future Trades and Industries of Nottingham PAGE 5-32 33-56 PAGE Accessibilit}^ ... ... ... ... 13 Amusements, Indoor ... ... ... 31 Banking ... ... ... ... 34 Basket-making ... ... ... 39 Bleaching and Dyeing of Lace and Hosiery ... ... ... ... 51 Bone-Glue Industry ... ... ... 39 Box-making ... ... ... ... 40 Brewing ... ... ... ... 40 Building Stone ... ... ... 41 Canal Facilities ... ... ... 34 Clothing Trade 41 Coal ... ... ... ... ... 35 Cotton Doubling ... ... ... 42 C3^cle Manufacture 42 Health Hosiery Machine Building Hosiery Trade Inks, Printing Insurance Jacquard Cards Labour Market Lace Curtains Lace Machine Building Lace Trade Lace Trade, Leavers Branch Leather Libraries Lithography ... PAGE . 31 . 48 . 45 54 35 40 15 51 51 48 50 52 31 53 Designers Draughtsmen Drus; Trade Education Electricity Electro-Plating Embroidery Trade Engineering Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Furnace Gas Golf Gjqosum 19 19 53 15 28 44 50 42 43 43 25 30 44 Making-up Trade ... ... ... 41 Malting 40 Mantle Manufacture... ... ... 41 Manufactures, General ... ... 56 Museums ... ... •■ •• 31 Nottingham : Its notable Past ; its amazing Progress, and its expectant Future 5 Nottingham and its Past ... . 6 Nottingham of To-day ... ... 9 Nottingham — Its growth and Im- portance ... ... ... •• 10 Nottingham Postal Business ... 12 Nottingham as a Manufacturing and Business Centre ... ... ••• 13 303009 CONTENTS Parks, Public... Pasteboards ... Perambulators Pharmaceutical Products Pottery Printing Railway Facilities Recreation Grounds ... Recreations, Indoor ... River Facilities Ropes, Wire ... Sites for Factories ... Soap Manufacture PAGE . 28 . 40 . 53 . 53 53 . 53 . 33 . 28 . 31 . 34 . 43 . 31 . 54 Spinning Surgical Elastic Appliances PAGE . 54 . 55 Technical Education ... ... 17 Tobacco Trade ... ... ... 55 Trades and Industries of Nottingham 33 Tramways System ... ... ... 21 Waste Manufacturers Water Wicker-work ... Wire Ropes ... Yarn Merchants 56 23 39 43 56 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Market Place Frontispiece PAGE facing page 6 Map of City ... Castle and Museum ... ... ... 8 Forest Recreation Ground ... ... 8 Growth of Population ... ... 11 Postal Business ... ... ... 12 Map of Railway Communication facing page 12 Trent Bridge 14 Map of Inland Communication with Principal Ports ... facing page 14 Guild Hall ... 18 St. Mary's Church University College Wollaton Hall School of Art... Newstead Abbey Tramways (passengers W^ater Supply... Gas Consumption Arboretum Bulwell Hall ... Bulwell Forest Golf Course, carried) PAGE 18 18 20 20 20 22 24 27 29 29 29 NOTTINGHAM: THE QUEEN CITY OF THE MIDLANDS. ITS NOTABLE PAST ; ITS AMAZING PROGRESS AND ITS EXPECTANT FUTURE. JOTTINGHAM, a city and county of a city, municipal county and parliamentary borough and county town of Nottinghamshire, stands on the left or north bank of the river Trent and its tributary, the Leen. It is 123| miles N.N.W. from London by the Midland Railway, and is also directly served by the Great Central and Great Northern Railways. Inland Water Navigation of great importance by way of the river Trent and various connecting canals affords communication with London, Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Goole, and Grimsby, and inter- mediate large centres such as Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Gloucester, &c. The plan of the town is irregular, the main thoroughfares generally modern in appearance, with many picturesque, ancient buildings in the side streets. In the centre of the town is the famous market-place, some 5| acres in area, one of the largest of its kind in England. Nottingham Castle, to the south, occupies a fine site on an abrupt, rocky hill. The ancient remains are not large, including only a restored Edwardian gateway and fragments of fortifications. Since 1878 the Castle has been opened by the Corporation as a museum. Near the Castle, St. Nicholas's Church, a plain building of brick, dates from 1676, the previous church having been pulled down during the Civil War to prevent the recurrence of the use of its tower for cannon for attacks on the Castle. The parish church of St. Mary the Virgin (fifteenth century) is a splendid Pei-jjendicular Cruciform structure, 210 feet long, having a massive central tower with parapet and battlements. The transept and west windows are of great magnificence, and the church has a beautiful interior, the ceiling of oak under the tower being particularly notable. The east window is a memorial to the Prince Consort, and the church contains a number of interesting monuments. St. Peter's Church, mainly Perpendicular, shows traces of an earlier building. Within the city limits are 26 Anglican churches, and the Catholic cathedral of St. Barnabas, erected in 1842-44 from the designs of A. W. Pugin. There are three other Catholic churches. Eight Nonconformist bodies have several churches each, and there is also a S3aiagogue. Notable public buildings are the Guildhall and City Sessions Court, the Shire Hall, the University College, with the Free Library, the Albert Hall, the Exchange, the Victoria Hall, and the Mechanics' Hall. The beautiful park called the Arboretum, opened in 1852, covers 17 acres of undulating ground. One of its interesting features is the Chinese pagoda containing a bell captured by the Nottinghamshire Regiment during the Chinese War, and cannon captured in the Crimean War. Near this is the statue of Fergus O'Connor, who for some time represented Nottingham in Parliament. The General Hospital was founded in 1781, and the city also contains the Nottingham and Midland Eye Infirmary, the Bagthorpe Ejjidemic Hospital, the Dispensary, the City Asylum, and the Royal Midland Institution for the Blind. Nottingham was constituted a separate county of itself by charter of Henry VI., and was made a city by letters patent of 17th August, 1897. It is also a county borough under the Local Government Act of 1888. The parliamentary borough, divided into b NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. west; east, '-and south .divisions, returns three Members, and the city, which has a total area of 10,935 acres, is governed by a mayor, 16 aldermen, and 48 councillors. The future prominence of Nottingham as a manufacturing centre showed signs of development at a very early date. William Lee, who settled in the district during the sixteenth century, was the inventor of a contrivance which was to be the forerunner of the stocking frame. In 1594 a surveyor was appointed to search for coal in the district. Even at that period there were in Nottingham important iron works and foundries, from which issued the famous bell " Great Tom," afterwards hung in Lincoln Cathedral. Nottingham became an important seat of the stocking trade in the eighteenth century. James Hargreaves came to Nottingham in 1768 with his spinning jemiy, after his first machine had been destroyed by the mob at Blackburn. In 1769 Richard Arkwright put up his first spinning frame in Nottingham. Lace-making, the modern industry for which Nottingham is famous and unrivalled in the world, is the direct natural descendant of an older trade, viz., stocking- making, as the first lace was made on a stocking frame in 1760. But in 1808-9 John Heathcoat had taken out patents for the machines which were destined to be the foundation of modem lace manufacture. The industries of the town include lace and hosiery, machine building, cycles, tobacco, cigars and cigarettes, cotton spinning and twisting, silk and woollen yams, elastic webbing, bleaching and dyeing, leather, brick, tile, and horticultural pottery works, brass and iron foundries, collieries, furniture and cabinet manufacture, brewing, malting, and mineral waters, chair-making, manufacturing chemists, wine and coffee essences, confectionery and sugar-boiling, paper-mills, soap and starch, carriage building, organ building, whip-making, lightning conductors, boot and shoe factories, wholesale clothing manufacturers, basket and wicker furniture work, perambulators. toys, brushes, and roller blinds. NOTTINGHAM AND ITS PAST. The position of Nottingham, so advantageous for water transit, and the fact that it stands upon an ancient highway ante-dating the Roman occupation, gave it importance even in Saxon times. The Anglo-Saxon name, " Snotingaham," means the homestead of the family of Snot. Asser stated that the British name was Tiuogsbane, which means " thecavy place," and is taken to refer to homes hollowed out of the soft sandstone. Examples of these are still visible in the Castle Rock and elsewhere. Formerly there were numbers of houses in the cliff face at Sneinton, but these were demolished a few years since for railway extensions. It is unquestionable that Snotingaham, or Notingeham, was made one of the five burghs of the Danes, and was occupied by them for their winter quarters in the raid of 868. Ethelred the First (not the Unready, but the son of Ethelwulf) and his brother Alfred joined hands with Burhred, king of the Mercians, to put pressure upon the Danes, and they were eventually persuaded to leave the town in peace and return to their own homes. In 922 Edward the Elder, son and successor of Alfred the Great, seized and fortified the city, having previously taken possession of Mercia, where " all folk there, as well Danish as English, submitted to him." In 924 he built a second burgh opposite the firsj, and connected it with a bridge over the river. His successor, Athelstan, established there a royal mint. At the Conquest a Danish tower still stood on the Castle Rock, but this was superseded by a stronghold built by William I. Domesday Book survey assigns to Nottingham 120 dwelling-houses, bvxt a population of only the same number, a decrease since the time of Edward the Confessor. Plainly there must have been many empty houses. Domesday Book mentions a new burgh, known in history as the French Burgh, which grew up in Nottingham under the Normans, and was distinguished from the English borough by the difference of the customs prevailing in them. A Mint for coining money was estabUshed in Nottingham in the reign of Athelstan, 925-940, and was no doubt in existence throughout the whole period down to the reign of Stephen, 1135-1154, as coins are known to be in existence struck at Nottingham during the reign of the following kings : — Athelstan, Ethelred II., Harold I., Canute, Hardi- canute, Edward the Confessor, Harold II., William I., William II., Henry I., and Stephen. The Mint probably ceased to exist after the reign of Stephen, as coins struck at Nottingham later than Stephen are unknown. NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 7 On the death of Henry I., notwithstanding all his eft'orts to secure the rights of his daughter Matilda and her son Henry (afterwards Henry II.), his nephew Stephen caused himself to be proclaimed king. Stephen had sworn fealty to her. He met little opposition at Bist, but his misgoveniraent and his conduct towards the Church alienated his friends. Nottingham Castle was held for Prince Henry, but was captured by a party of men who obtained admission through a subterranean passage. In 1153 Henry regained the Castle, and confirmed to the town all such free customs as it had enjoyed aforetime. The English chronicler draws a terrible picture of the anarchy of Stephen's reign : " Every powerful man made his castles and held them against him. They cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castel works. When the castels were made they filled them with devils and evil men. They took such men that they thought had any property both by night and by day, peasant men and women, and put them in prison for their gold and silver, and tortured them with unutterable tortures. Many thousand they killed with hunger. I cannot and may not tell all the wounds or all the tortures which they inflicted on wretched men in this land, and that lasted the nineteen years while Stephen was king — and ever it was worse and worse. They laid imposts on the towns continually, and when the wretched men had no more to give they robbed and burned all the towns, so that thou mightest well go a day's journey and thou shouldst never find a man sitting in a town or the land tilled. Never yet had more wretchedness been in the land, nor did heathen men ever do worse than they did. The bishops and the clergy constantly cursed them, but nothing came of it ; for they were all accurst, and foresworn and forlorn. However a man tilled, the eaitli bare no com, for the land was all foredone by such deeds ; and they said openly that Christ and His Saints slept." During the conflict between Richard Coeur de Lion and John his brother, the sons of Henry II., Nottingham many times changed hands. When Richard returned from his Crusade, he found John in possession of the Castle, which was besieged by Richard in person and taken after several days. King John was fond of the Castle, and resided there for considerable periods for the hunting in Sherwood Forest. It was here that he heard of the revolt in Wales, and immediately put to death the twenty-eight youthful Welsh hostages then in his power at the Castle. The unrest among the English barons caused John to give up his project of a descent upon Wales, and it was from Nottingham that he marched upon Chester. On the deposition of Edward II., his son was appointed guardian of the kingdom, and crowned Edward III. in 1327, being then a lad of fifteen. The administration was usurped by Queen Isabella and her favourite, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. In 1330 the young king, who deeply resented Mortimer's arrogance, formed a powerful combination against the favourite. Isabella and Mortimer were residing at Nottingham. Edward and his supporters gained admission to the Castle by means of a secret passage, afterwards known as Mortimer's Hole (and still in existence), and captured the guilty pair. Mortimer was carried off to the Tower of London, and executed with much barbarity at Tyburn Elms a month later, while the queen-mother was imprisoned for the rest of her life at Castle Rising. Edward III. held parliaments at Nottingham in 1334, 1337, and 1357. During the struggle with Scotland after the death of Robert the Bruce, Randolph, Earl of Moray, was a prisoner at the Castle until he was exchanged for William Montague, Earl of Salisbury, who had been instrumental in aiding the King to capture Mortimer. In 1336 it was from Nottingham that Edward led the great expedition into Scotland and ravaged all the south-east of that country, capturing David, King of Scotland, who was brought a prisoner to the Castle. In 1386 Richard II. summoned all the sheriffs, the judges, and many citizens of London to Nottingham, and directed them to return to Parliament those persons whose names appeared in a list presented to them by himself. The sheriffs, to their everlasting honour, refused obedience, but the judges promised to comply with the king's order. Henry VI. constituted Nottingham a county by itself by royal charter (1448). It is one of only nineteen places in England and Wales thus d stinguished. In the Wars of the Roses, Nottingham Castle played a prominent part, and nideed these wars may be said to have commenced and ended there. It was at Nottingham that the Duke of York assembled his forces at the beginning of the struggle. Richard III., the Crookback, left Nottingham Castle for the final and fatal effort of his career at Bosworth in 1485, NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 7 On the death of Henry I., notwithstanding all his efiforts to secure the rights of his daughter Matilda and her son Heniy (afterwards Henry II.), his nephew Stephen caused himself to be proclaimed king. Stephen had sworn fealty to her. He met little opposition at fu-st, but his misgovernment and his conduct towards the Church alienated his friends. Nottingham Castle was held for Prince Henry, but was captured by a party of men who obtained admission through a subterranean passage. In 1153 Henry regained the Castle, and confirmed to the town all such free customs as it had enjoyed aforetime. The English chronicler draws a terrible picture of the anarchy of Stephen's reign : " Every powerful man made his castles and held them against him. They cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castel works. When the castels were made they filled them with devils and evil men. They took such men that they thought had any property both by night and by day, peasant men and women, and put them in prison for their gold and silver, and tortured them with unutterable tortures. Many thousand they killed with hunger. I cannot and may not tell all the wounds or all the tortures which they inflicted on wretched men in this land, and that lasted the nineteen years while Stephen was king — and ever it was worse and worse. They laid imposts on the towns continually, and when the wretched men had no more to give they robbed and burned all the towns, so that thou mightest well go a day's journey and thou shouldst never find a man sitting in a town or the land tilled. Never yet had more wretchedness been in the land, nor did heathen men ever do worse than they did. The bishops and the clergy constantly cursed them, but nothing came of it ; for they were all accurst, and foresworn and forlorn. However a man tilled, the eaitli bare no corn, for the land was all foredone by such deeds ; and they said openly that Christ and His Saints slept." During the conflict between Richard Coeur de Lion and John his brother, the sons of Henry II., Nottingham many times changed hands. When Richard returned from his Crusade, he found John in possession of the Castle, which was besieged by Richard in person and taken after several days. King John was fond of the Castle, and resided there for considerable periods for the hunting in Sherwood Forest. It was here that he heard of the revolt in Wales, and immediately put to death the twenty-eight youthful Welsh hostages then in his power at the Castle. The unrest among the English barons caused John to give up his project of a descent upon Wales, and it was from Nottingham that he marched upon Chester. On the deposition of Edward II., his son was appointed guardian of the kingdom, and crowned Edward III. in 1327, being then a lad of fifteen. The administration was usurped by Queen Isabella and her favourite, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. In 1330 the young king, who deeply resented Mortimer's arrogance, formed a powerful combination against the favourite. Isabella and Mortimer were residing at Nottingham. Edward and his supporters gained admission to the Castle by means of a secret passage, afterwards known as Mortimer's Hole (and still in existence), and captured the guilty pair. Mortimer was carried off to the Tower of London, and executed with much barbarity at Tyburn Elms a month later, while the queen-mother was imprisoned for the rest of her life at Castle Rising. Edward III. held parliaments at Nottingham in 1334, 1337, and 1357. During the struggle with Scotland after the death of Robert the Bruce, Randolph, Earl of Moray, was a prisoner at the Castle until he was exchanged for William Montague, Earl of SaHsbury, who had been instrumental in aiding the King to capture Mortimer. In 1336 it was from Nottingham that Edward led the great expedition into Scotland and ravaged all the south-east of that country, capturing David, King of Scotland, who was brought a prisoner to the Castle. In 1380 Richard II. summoned all the sheriffs, the judges, and many citizens of London to Nottingham, and directed them to return to Parliament those persons whose names appeared in a list presented to them by himself. The sheriffs, to their everlasting honour, refused obedience, but the judges promised to comply with the king's order. Henry VI. constituted Nottingham a county by itself by royal charter (1448). It is one of only nineteen places in England and Wales thus d stinguished. In the Wars of the Roses, Nottingham Castle played a prominent part, and indeed these wars may be said to have commenced and ended there. It was at Nottingham that the Duke of York assembled his forces at the beginning of the struggle. Richard III., the Crookback, left Nottingham Castle for the final and fatal effort of his career at Bosworth in 1485, NOTTINGHAM — PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 9 when Henry, Earl of Richmond, overthrew him, and Richard was left dead on the field. A final great Council of War by Henry VII. at Nottingham Castle in 1487 preceded the battle of Stoke, for which Henry left Nottingham with his army, which captured Lambert Simnel, and, with Heniy's diplomatic conduct in crowning Elizabeth of York as his queen in November of the same year, extinguished the last danger of Yorkist aggression, thus ending the Wars of the Roses. Charles I., in August, 1642, summoned to Nottingham by royal proclamation all men capable of bearing arms to rally round the standard which he would set up. The call to arms was not well responded to, and the king left the town in low spirits. It was soon garrisoned by parliamentary troops under Colonel Hutchinson. Not until 1647 did the king pass through Nottingham again, and then on his way to London as a prisoner. Nottingham had peace during the Protectorate and the Restoration. Its record in the eighteenth century is a gloomy one. The borough records were destroyed by fire in 1724. In 1724, at the Goose Fair — an institution still kept up every October — a riot is recorded. A Avater-spout in 1785, a severe shock of earthquake in 1792, and an immense flood (doing damage to the value of a million sterling) in 1795, are among the annals. The century closed gloomily, the town suffering in common with the rest of the country from dear food. A quaint entry of 1731 records that the ducking-stool was used for the last time. The woman died from exposure : the Mayor was prosecuted for manslaughter, and the stool itself was destroyed. With the opening of the nineteenth century, the gradual introduction of machinery — Arkwright's spinning frames, the Hargreaves spinning jenny, and the Heathcoat bobbin-net machines — aroused all the hostility of the populace. More than a thousand stocking frames and many lace machines were broken up in Nottingham and the neighbourhood. Food was still dear. As the old tag says, " the quartern loaf and Luddites rose." In 1812 it was made a hanging matter to break either a lace machine or a stocking frame, and many men were condemned and executed. Right up to the Peace of 1815 occasional instances of machine-smashing occurred. But the new era had dawned. The coming greatness of Nottingham had begun to stir. She was to go from strength to strength, aided by her superb natural position and by the enterprise and large-mindedness of her citizens, which promises an almost unlimited future. In the Reform Riots of 1831 the crowd attacked the palace of the Duke of Newcastle on the Castle Hill, who had voted for the rejection of the Reform Bill in the House of Lords. The building was fired and destroyed. After remaining for many years a roofless and ruined shell, it was restored by the Corporation, who converted it in 1878 into the Nottingham and Midland Counties Art Museum. Since the middle of the last century the histoiy of Nottingham has been one of steady progress, enlightened municipal reform, and the carrying out by the Coi-poration of many public works to be described in the following pages. During the last thirty years the architecture of the streets has been considerably improved. The numerous open spaces and public parks give to Nottingham an appearance greatly superior to that of an average English industrial town. Among the illustrious men who were either natives of or intimately connected with Nottingham may be mentioned Colonel Hutchinson, the famous parliamentary leader, who was in charge of the Castle during the Civil War ; Henry Ireton; Henry Kirke White ; Lord Byron ; Dr. Marshall Hall ; William and Mary Howitt ; Philip James Bailey, the author of "Festus " ; Richard Arkwright, the famous inventor; Henry Irons, whose melodious airs have found a place in all standard hymnals ; Parkes Bonnington and Heiu-y Dawson, the well-known artists ; and last, but not least, the late General Booth, who received the freedom of Nottingham in 1905, NOTTINGHAM OF TO-DAY. Nottingham as it stands to-day has been variously described as the Queen City and the Clean City of the Midlands. Fortunate in its position, its history, its government, and in the character of the industries which it houses, Nottingham stands out in the memory of the tourist as a place notable for its fresh-air charm. No dirty, unpleasant, or ill-smelling manufacture is carried on there. The railway passenger who passes by the town sees none of the usual heavy smoke-pall overhanging the city. The visitor is delighted with the broad, open streets and modern houses, and the charming relics 10 NOTTINGHAM- — PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. of the historic period which survive still in occupation and use in the old parts of the town. The notable eminence of the Castle Rock dominating the city gives it its out- standing note. But it is as a commercial centre that Nottingham has the greatest practical importance and interest. Situated in the very middle of England, and also in the centre of one of the most important coalfields in the county (having several large collieries within tne city boundaries), with an ironstone area a few miles away, with economising haulage, and with all public seivices — gas, electricity, water, trams — municipally controlled and managed on soundly successful commercial lines, it is a fortunate place of abode for the manufacturer and trader. The excellent railway communication with London makes it an eligible place of residence for families of refinement. The health record is excellent, and the Public Health service has a high reputation for efficiency among experts qualified to judge. Not many manufacturing places have a lower death-rate. The supply of labour, both male and female, is abundant and well-trained, technical schools and a school of art doing excellent work for employers in preparing and improving the character of the labour. The educational facilities for children of good families are abundant, comprising high schools and a university college, where a complete curriculum is available, while the free elementary schools and the secondary schools subsidised by the Corporation provide for the children of the large working-class population. The facts thus briefly summarised — to be developed in fuller detail in the next few pages — will show how advantageous a site Nottingham affords to the highly varied industries at present carried on there. It will be shown that similar advantages are available to manufacturing and distributing firms seeking an abode or a place of extension. The progress of Nottingham during recent years in all departments will be proved and illustrated. Nottingham is a growing business centre, where labour is cheap, abundant, and provided with easy access to the factory district ; where electric power, gas for industrial purposes, water, and transit are all economical ; and where, at the same time, the surroundings are agreeable for a business man who has a family to consider. When all is taken into account, there is no place within the length and breadth of the fair land of England that can compare with this ancient but modernised and beautiful city of Nottingham. NOTTINGHAM— ITS GROWTH AND IMPORTANCE. The internal history of Nottingham during the last hundred years is one of remarkable progress. Its growth in population and in rateable value are noteworthy ; and so is the steadiness of local taxation. Notwithstanding all the improvements which the Corporation has made, and the splendid public services maintained, the rates have fallen 2d. in the £ since 1910, and are only 4d. in the £ above the 1902 figure. Considering the great rise in the cost of commodities during the last few years, the fall from 8s. 3d. m the £ in 1910 to 8s. Id. in 1913 is remarkable, and can only be accounted for by high efficiency of administration. As will be seen in the following pages, the public services (tramways, water, gas and electricity) have contributed to the relief of rates, and this in spite of the fact that fares are kept low in order to accommodate the large working-class factory traffic, and gas and electric light and power are supplied on terms which compare very favourably with other places. Nottingham has more than trebled its population since 1871 , and more than quadrupled its rateable value in the same period. But as the boundaries were extended in 1877, a fairer comparison is afforded by the figures of the last four decennial census periods. The growth in both ways — population and value — is shown by the following table : — Year Population. Rateable Value. £ s. d. 1881 186,575 ... 704,362 1891 . ... 213,877 ... 888,080 1901 .. 239,743 ... 1,010,915 1911 259,904 ... 1,263.352 10 Not less noticeable is the growing prosperity of the city ; for whereas the rateable value for 1881 was only £3 7s. 6d. a head of population, it had grown to £4 9s. 8d. ahead by 1911, the figures at each census showing a steady rise. NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 11 Rates for the last ten years have been as follows (the fall in the poor rate since 1910 is especially noteworthy) : — General Poor ^EAR. District Rate. Rate. Total. s. d. s. d. s. d. 1904 ... 5 8 1 8 7 4 1905 5 10 1 8 7 6 1906 6 1 8 7 8 1907 6 1 8 7 8 1908 6 I 10 7 10 1909 6 2 2 8 2 1910 6 3 2 8 3 1911 6 5 1 8 8 1 1912 6 5 I 8 8 1 1913 6 5 1 8 8 1 GROWTH IN THE POPULATION OF NOTTINGHAM. 213,877 259,904 186.575 239,743 1881. 1891. 1901. 1911. The postal statistics form an instructive illustration of its growth during the last twenty years : — - 1891. 1902. 1912. Number of letters posted or f onvarded ... Delivered letters Number of parcels posted Number of parcels delivered Postal Order and Money Order transactions Telegrams forwarded ... Telegrams transmitted. . . Telegrams received . 21,844,728 . 17,964,666 313,038 262,872 V 43,961,778 39,892,608 760,050 614,628 56,056,536 49,735,242 1,030,644 900,612 263,397 179,159 370,144 302,422 608,170 201,548 731,421 474,258 774,763 189,752 797,938 530,687 12 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. The number of sub-offices has been increased from 112 in 1891 to 156 in 1902 and 171 in 1912. The number of letter-boxes in 1891 was 141 ; in 1902, 251 ; and in 1912, 339. The number of tenanted houses was 53,107 in 1901, and 64,243 in 1911. NOTTINGHAM POSTAL BUSINESS. LETTERS POSTED LETTERS DELIVERED PARCELS POSTED riTn 1902 7,60,050' i-J PARCELS. DELIVERED f 1 . 1912 900.612 — 1 1 POSTAL AND MONEY ORDER TRANSACTIONS 263,397 --■- ; - 1902 .;, v.- 4, "■ 608,170 -vV; No. OF LETTER BOXES CITY OF NOTTINGHAM. RAILWAY COMMUNICATIONS. ^ • -\ROWERHAM] P 63,000. \GAINSBOPOUGH , , 6'Xp tCHAPa eNLCfR/TH Sff£FF/Ea p. 4.55.000. ^:nl^. iJEAST fi£TFORO^ 4 tVOItKSO^ 'CiPark--*- UNCOLNV Chaswonh ^ThorgobvS. TUXFOP^ * .Park It ' SOUTmEUCy ^^*.-Al)bey^ (Calhedral) ,nV L^'^l^ )fiUCHNALL "way \i/TTOXFr£fi JLs. Q)BAPfrSTO/V _^ -V P 20.000. TEi^-^ifa Beivoir — -rCeis.tle.J ^55Jt BARDNEyQy ♦ 8.000 UCf/F/£LDJ>'^'>. ,.J;_N_WRly^ LOUGHBOROUGH P 23.000, A?; 'dRfjrKjco/^z/yz/^ Riy. Scale 4 A/iZes to One Inch S-*^ J ^>^ Midlan d R3il^ p, 9.000. ^ upp/NC/i/iAr^- o ^it-" 6r/IMF0PD\ -H, -^^ NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 13 For the steady rise in its material prosperity Nottingham has to thank the activity in self-government of its own citizens. It has its own Lord Lieutenant, its Recorder, and its Mayor and Sheriff. The Guildhall is the centre and headquarters of municipal government within the city. As will presently be seen, the City Council has stood in the first rank among British municipal bodies in assuming responsibility for public works. The forward movement began in the " seventies." Prior to 1874, such public services as existed were ruled by a number of authorities, which were sometimes in conflict. There were a Drainage Board, a Lighting Board or Committee, and a Freemen's Committee, as well as the Town Council, while gas and water were in private hands. But in that year the Town Coimcil took over the powers of the Lighting Committee and acquired the gas-works. It ceased to use the Nottinghamshire Coimty Asylum, and built one of its own. In 1878 it acquired Nottingham Castle, and converted the ruined building into art galleries and a museum. In 1877, 8,000 acres were added to the area of the town. Five local boards were absorbed, and the population and rateable value of the town doubled. This was one of the largest extension schemes ever passed through Parliament. The Council improved its administration by separating the borough rate from the poor rate, and collecting one rate for municipal and sanitary purposes, and subsequently collecting both poor and general district rates at one time by one staff of collectors, and in 1879 it took over the waterworks, undertaking to sui:)ply neighbouring districts over an area of 70 square miles. In 1881 the University College, which is aflEiliated to Oxford and Cambridge, was established. The j^ear 1882 saw the acquisition of Bulwell Forest as a recreation ground, and the erection of works for the disposal of town refuse. In the same j^ear the Corporation obtained possession of the Freemen's Estates. A new Cattle Market was built in 1886. The Council took over the School of Art in 1887. The Guildhall was ojDened in 1888. The municipal electric-light enterprise dates from 1890. The tramways were taken over in the year 1897. Such a record as this, of which any city in the empire might be proud, and few can outrival, accounts for the high reputation of Nottingham as a progressive city. The statistics quoted above show the success with which the Council has organised and carried out the complex services to the public for which it has accepted responsibility. NOTTINGHAM'S UNANSWERABLE CLAIMS AS A MANUFACTURING AND BUSINESS CENTRE. (1) Its Accessibility. Nottingham, as already stated, is distant 123J miles from London, and is served by the main lines of three great railways — the Midland, Great Northern, and Great Central. Only 15 miles away are the headquarters of the Midland Railway at Derby. Each of the three railways named has a commodious goods station, and the London & North Western Railway also maintains a goods station there, with running powers for passenger trains into the Great Northern Low Level Station. Abundant competition, therefore, ensures good working facilities and low freights. In addition to railway facilities, Nottingham is well situated with regard to waterways, standing, as it does, on the banks of the Trent (the third largest river in the country), which flows down to the east coast and communicates with the important ports of Goole, Hull, Grimsby, and Immingham. Connected with the Trent there is an excellent system of canals, by means of which there is communication, not only with London by the Grand Junction Canal, but also with the Birmingham District, Gloucester, and Bristol, the Potteries, Manchester, Liverpool, etc., by way of the Trent and Mersey Canal. The accompanying maps show the railways and waterways by which Nottingham is so well served. The Trent Navigation Comjiany has a daily service of boats between the Humber ports and Newark, Nottingham, Loughborough, and Leicester. These boats work in connection with all the lines of steamships sailing in and out of the Humber, giving direct access to nearly all the principal ports of the world, by the Wilson ; R.M.S.P. Company ; Milburn ; Australind Steamship Company ; North- Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Steamers ; Thomson Line ; Cuban Steamship Company ; Glen Line ; Kirkcaldy 12 17 32 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 13 For the steady rise in its material prosperity Nottingham has to thank the activity in self-government of its own citizens. It has its own Lord Lieutenant, its Recorder, and its Mayor and Sheriff. The Guildhall is the centre and headquarters of nnuiicipal government within the city. As will jDresently be seen, the City Council has stood in the first rank among British municipal bodies in assuming responsibility for public works. The forward movement began in the " seventies." Prior to 1874, such public services as existed were ruled by a niamber of authorities, which were sometimes in conflict. There were a Drainage Board, a Lighting Board or Committee, and a Freemen's Committee, as well as the Town Council, while gas and water were in private hands. But in that year the Town Council took over the powers of the Lighting Committee and acquired the gas-works. It ceased to use the Nottinghamshire County Asylum, and built one of its own. In 1878 it acquired Nottingham Castle, and converted the ruined building into art galleries and a musemn. In 1877, 8,000 acres were added to the area of the town. Five local boards were absorbed, and the pojDulation and rateable value of the town doubled. This was one of the largest extension schemes ever passed through Parliament. The Council improved its administration by separating the borough rate from the poor rate, and collecting one rate for municipal and sanitary purjooses, and subsequently collecting both poor and general district rates at one time by one staff of collectors, and in 1879 it took over the waterworks, undertaking to supply neighbouring districts over an area of 70 square miles. In 1881 the LTniversity College, which is affiliated to Oxford and Cambridge, was established. The year 1882 saw the acquisition of Bulwell Forest as a recreation ground, and the erection of works for the disposal of town refuse. In the same year the Corjooration obtained possession of the Freemen's Estates. A new Cattle Market was built in 1886. The Council took over the School of Art in 1887. The Guildhall was opened in 1888. The municipal electric-light enterprise dates from 1890. The tramways were taken over in the year 1897. Such a record as this, of which any city in the empire might be proud, and few can outrival, accounts for the high reputation of Nottingham as a progressive city. The statistics quoted above show the success with which the Council has organised and carried out the complex services to the public for which it has accepted responsibility. NOTTINGHAM'S UNANSWERABLE CLAIMS AS A MANUFACTURING AND BUSINESS CENTRE. (1) Its Accessibility. Nottingham, as already stated, is distant 123^ miles from London, and is served by the main lines of three great railways — the Midland, Great Northern, and Great Central. Only 15 miles away are the headquarters of the Midland Railway at Derby. Each of the three railways named has a commodious goods station, and the London & North Western Railway also maintains a goods station there, with running j^owers for passenger trains into the Great Northern Low Level Station. Abundant competition, therefore, ensures good working facilities and low freights. In addition to railway facilities, Nottingham is well situated with regard to waterways, standing, as it does, on the banks of the Trent (the third largest river in the country), which flows down to the east coast and communicates with the important joorts of Goole, Hull, Grimsby, and Immingham. Connected with the Trent there is an excellent system of canals, by means of which there is communication, not only with London by the Grand Junction Canal, but also with the Birmingham District, Gloucester, and Bristol, the Potteries, Manchester, Liverpool, etc., by way of the Trent and Mersey Canal. The accompanying majDS show the railways and waterways by which Nottingham is so well served. The Trent Navigation Company has a daily service of boats between the Humber ports and Newark, Nottingham, Loughborough, and Leicester. These boats work in connection with all the lines of steamships sailing in and out of the Humber, giving direct access to nearly all the principal ports of the world, by the Wilson ; R.M.S.P. Company ; Milburn ; Australind Steamship Company ; North- Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Steamers ; Thomson Line ; Cuban Steamship Company ; Glen Line ; Kirkcaldy GOOLE lOn , MANCHESTER ) Canal ^SHEFFIELD HULL IMMINGHAM»% '^^ GRIMSBY •GAINSBOROUGH STAFFORD; WOLVERHAMPTON •] CROMFORD DERBY. ^^URTON UPON TRENT <^^^ s. 'NEWARK 'TTINGMM -GRANTHAM ^#LEICESTER [MINGHAM COVENTRY WORCESTER WARWICK ^ .NORTHAMPTON rCLOUCESTER ^BRISTOL ^■LEIGHTON BUZZARD INLAND NAVIGATION BETWEEN NOTTINGHAM AND THE PRINCIPAL PORTS. Scale:- 16 Miles to One Inch. NOTTINGHAM- -PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 15 Steamship Company ; Langland Line ; Furley & Co. ; G. R. Haller, Ltd. ; General Steam Navigation Company ; France, Fenwick & Co., Ltd. ; Newhouse Line ; Hutchin- son ; Walker ; Finland Steamship Company ; Benson Steamship Company ; Argo Steamship Company ; H. & N. Steamship Company ; Ellermann Line ; Aberdeen ; Newcastle and Hull Steamship Company ; Dundee, Perth and London Steamship Com- panj^ ; Leith, Hull, and Hamburg Steam Packet Company ; Carron Line ; and Percy Than Steamers. The Ti'ent Navigation has a fine wharf at Nottingham, and its own warehouses at Newark, Loughborough, and Leicester, as well as at Nottingham. These warehouses are equipped with the most modern appliances for the rapid handling of goods, both inward and outward. They comprise enormous floor-area, and are specially constructed for the safe storage of grain, sugar, and other goods needing dry warehousing. They command the most favourable terms for insurance against fire. At Newark and Nottingham there are licensed stores for carbide of calcium, and arrangements can be made for the storage of petrol and other inflammable stores. The Company have, or control, horses and drays for their exclusive use at Hull, Newark, Nottingham, Lough- borough, and Leicester. The tolls to bye-traders on the Trent are extremely low. The navigation is free below Grimsb3\ There is a daily steam-tug service between Hull and Nottingham. Throughout the greater part of the system controlled by the Trent Navigation this Company's boats are towed by modern high-power steam-tugs, and the service is dealt with on lines which secure regularity, speed, and security. The Company is constantly increasing its capacity for dealing with traffic, and also its terminal and other accom- modation. All goods carried are insured against damage by fire and water while afloat. The river is being improved so as to render the service still more rapid and efficient. From the point of view of a manufacturer, the water facilities of Nottingham have great importance. Where merchandise in very large bulk has to be handled, canal facilities are almost indispensable. Nottingham has no superior in this respect. If the scheme suggested by the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways is carried out, Nottingham will practically be the centre of the system of canals and waterways connecting Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, and London. (2) Its Labour Market. Nottingham has a population officially estimated (1913) at 264,735. As this vast population, all within the city boundaries and living on the Corporation tram-lines, has to look for its entire support to the factories and warehouses, which are constantly increasing in number and attracting fresh population, labour is abundant. The varied character of the industries already carried on, as enumerated on an earlier page, necessarily implies a large supply of trained workers. From the nature of its chief manufactures, lace and hosiery, Nottingham is particularly rich in trained female labour. (3) Education. The high quality of the labour available is due in a considerable measure to the exceptional educational facilities afforded by Nottingham. The city has done great things for employers by its lavish expenditure on technical education and its School of Art. From the very beginning, the future life-work of the children coming under the care of the Education Committee is prepared for. In the 69 public free elementary schools and the 4 secondary and allied schools (where the fees in the preparatory stages only amount to £1 a year, and in the later stages to onlj^ £2 a year, including books and apparatus), manual work and handicrafts are already taught, thus preparing the coming generation in each year for the industrial life, and giving an invaluable groundwork in deftness of hand and quickness of eye. NOTTINGHAM— -PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 15 Steamship Company ; Langland Line ; Furley & Co. ; G. R. Haller, Ltd. ; General Steam Navigation Companv ; France, Fenwick & Co., Ltd. ; Newhouse Line ; Hutchin- son ; Walker ; Finland Steamship Company ; Benson Steamship Company ; Argo Steamship Company ; H. & N. Steamship Company ; EUerniann Line ; Aberdeen ; Newcastle and Hull Steamship Company ; Dundee, Perth and London Steamship Com- pany ; Leith, Hull, and Hamburg Steam Packet Company ; Carron Line ; and Percy Than Steamers. The Trent Navigation has a fine wharf at Nottingham, and its own warehouses at Newark, Loughborough, and Leicester, as well as at Nottingham. These warehouses are equipped with the most modern appliances for the rapid handling of goods, both inward and outward. They comprise enormous floor-area, and are specially constructed for the safe storage of grain, sugar, and other goods needing dry warehousing. They command the most favourable terms for insurance against fire. At Newark and Nottingham there are licensed stores for carbide of calcium, and arrangements can be made for the storage of petrol and other inflammable stores. The Company have, or control, horses and drays for their exclusive use at Hull, Newark, Nottingham, Lough- borough, and Leicester. The tolls to bye-traders on the Trent are extremely low. The navigation is free below Grimsby. There is a daily steam-tug service between Hull and Nottingham. Throughout the greater part of the system controlled by the Trent Navigation this Company's boats are towed by modern high-power steam-tugs, and the service is dealt with on lines which secure regularity, speed, and security. The Company is constantly increasing its capacity for dealing with traffic, and also its terminal and other accom- modation. All goods carried are insured against damage by fire and water while afloat. The river is being improved so as to render the service still more rapid and efficient. From the point of view of a manufacturer, the water facilities of Nottingham have great importance. Where merchandise in very large bulk has to be handled, canal facilities are almost indispensable. Nottingham has no superior in this respect. If the scheme suggested by the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways is carried out, Nottingham will practically be the centre of the system of canals and waterways connecting Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, and London. (2) Its Labour Market. Nottingham has a population officially estimated (1913) at 264,735. As this vast population, all within the city boundaries and living on the Corporation tram-lines, has to look for its entire support to the factories and warehouses, which are constantly increasing in number and attracting fresh population, labour is abundant. The varied character of the industries already carried on, as enumerated on an earlier page, necessarily implies a large supply of trained w^orkers. From the nature of its chief manufactures, lace and hosiery, Nottingham is particularly rich in trained female labour. (3) Education. The high quality of the labour available is due in a considerable measure to the exceptional educational facilities afforded by Nottingham. The city has done great things for employers by its lavish expenditure on technical education and its School of Art. From the very beginning, the future life-work of the children coming under the care of the Education Committee is prepared for. In the 69 public free elementary schools and the 4 secondary and allied schools (where the fees in the preparatory stages only amount to £1 a year, and in the later stages to only £2 a year, including books and apparatus), manual work and handicrafts are already taught, thus preparing the coming generation in each year for the industrial life, and giving an invaluable groundwork in deftness of hand and quickness of eye. 16 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. In addition to this, special handicraft centres are accommodating an increased number of boys every year. Those for whom places cannot be found in the special centres, are taught a form of light woodwork in their respective schools. Nature-study has been introduced into the curriculum of many schools with the object of cultivating a spirit of enquiry and observation. Practical lessons in home training, personal hygiene, and care of the infant are given to a large proportion of the girls in elementary and secondary schools. Modern methods of teaching needlework, carefully adapted to home requirements, have also been introduced. Organised play, swimming and life-saving, and general athletics receive special attention. (Two boys attending public elementary or secondary schools actually rescued life from drowning last year.) School attendances have risen from 59-3 per cent, in 1872 to 86-9 per cent, in 1913. In the year ending March 31st, 1913, 42,496 children were on the rolls of the city schools. It is estimated by the Board of Education, as a general rule, that after making due allowance for absence on account of sickness or other reasonable excuse, school seats should be provided for at least 16*6 per cent, of the total population, and that these seats ought to be daily occupied. In Nottingham, the number on the rolls in schools under the control of the Education Com- mittee for the year ending March 31st, 1913, was 16-3 per cent, of the population. These figures are introduced for the purpose of showing how nearly, in respect of its educational work, Nottingham approaches the Government ideal standard. Under the Blind and Deaf Children Act, 1893, and the Defective and Epileptic Children Act, 1859, children thus educated are provided with conveyance and guides. Boots for poor children are provided by a voluntary fund. In cases of extreme poverty, the school children are fed at specially equipped canteen centres, and it is gratifying to note that during the current year there has been a considerable falling-ofE in the number of meals necessary to be provided. Medical inspection of school children is carried on as a matter of school routine, according to the regulations of the Board of Education. An X-ray installation has been established for the treatment of ringworm, and a special oculist and surgeon aurist have been appointed by the Education Committee for the treatment of eye or ear defects. Scholarships tenable at the two secondary schools of the Council and at the boys' and girls' high schools are open to all scholars in the public elementary schools who pass the necessary qualifying examinations, and scholarships and bursaries tenable at Nottingham University College and Municipal School of Art enable eligible boys and girls in the Council secondary schools to pass on to higher university and technical training. It is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance of the good work done for Nottingham children in its relation to the maintenance of a healthy and well-supplied industrial population. If the early preparation for life were not thus well provided for, and if, after the first few years of routine teaching, manual instruction were not, as it is, admirably organised, it would be hopeless to seek capable workers. But from first to last, such is the fostering care of the Education Committee, that a child of the working classes is given hardly any opportunity to escape training which will ensure a high standard of industrial efficiency. The following scheme of technical instruction, extracted from the annual report of the Education Committee, indicates the scope of the work of schools either controlled by or working in association with this department of the city government. This report also traces the course of instruction, which is opened free of cost to the poorest child in Nottingham showing noticeable promise, from the infant schools to the University College. It will be obvious that the provision of these special facilities, making it possible for the child of a working man to make his or her way, not only to the University College of Nottingham, but to other university institutions, must stimulate endeavour, and thereby react upon the general standard of intelligence in children of the classes from vhich labour will be drawn. nottingham past, present, and future. Children may attend : Under 7. Council or Trust Schools, or Private Kindergartens. Between 7 and 12. 1 Council or Trust Schools, or Private Preparatory Schools. At 12. 17 Those who will leave as soon as permitted by law. To about 15. 12-14 I Public Elementary Schools. I Leave for Work. Higher Elementary (Intermediate) Schools. 14-16 I I Leave for *Council Evening Schools, business. 16 and above. I *More advanced Students transferred to University College and School of Art Ev^ening Classes. -Those who will continue their education to 16 or above. ♦Council Secondary Schools. ♦Boys' or Girls' High Schools. Recognised Private Schools. 16 and above. Bursars and *Univer8ity Student College Day Teachers. Classes. [2 Years' Course.] Extended Course at High School, &c. ♦Training College. ♦University. ♦University College or School of Art Advanced Evening Classes. ♦Scholarships are awarded to eligible Students. Technical Education. As soon as a child is past the compulsory school age, secondary schools are available, both for day and evening students. The number attending at these schools and classes, according to the last available rejDort, was :— Secondary Day Schools ... ... 770 Evening Continuation Schools ... 2,722 Scholars who can continue their education during the day after leaving the elementary schools pass through the secondary schools to the University College, where there is a strong Technical Department for day students who desire to qualify in Applied Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mining. Students are prepared for the Degrees of London University in these subjects, and also for the Diploma of the Institute of Chemistry. It should be noted, however, that this Technical NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 19 Department is only a part of the work of the College, as- thorough training is also given for London University Degrees in Arts and pure Science, and for Diplomas in Elementary and Secondary Education. For evening students the following courses of technical instruction are provided in the evening schools of the City Education Committee : — A course in commercial subjects for scholars destined for office work. The curriculum includes English, Book-keeping, Arithmetic, Shorthand, Typewriting, Commercial Correspondence and Business Training, and Commercial Geography. An intermediate industrial course in Practical Applied Mechanics, Practical Mathematics, Technical Drawing, including Geometry, Machine Construction and Drawing, Building Construction. A course in Manual Work (Wood and Metal). A course for girls in domestic subjects, including Advanced Cooking, Dressmaking, and Sick Nursing. All these courses are organised to connect up the work of the evening schools with the evening technological work of the Nottingham University College. The liberal efforts made to attract scholars need no better demonstration than a mention of the low fees at which these admirable educational facilities are offered, in no case exceeding 5s. for the session from September to March. The evening technical courses in connection with the Nottingham University College are generously subsidised by the Board of Education and by the Corporation of Nottingham, and they cover the following subjects : — Mechanical Engineering. Fitting, Turning, and Machine-shop Work. Electrical Engineering. Mining. Telephony. Telegraphy. Building Trades, including Architecture. Carpentry and Joinery. Plumbing. Hosiery. Efforts are being made to include any important industry carried on, or to be carried on, in Nottingham. These special technological courses extend over periods from two to five years. They combine theory and practice for those actually engaged in industrial employment, and are specially suited to scholars who have been prepared for them in the evening con- tinuation schools. The central driving force is the principle of learning by doing. A youth of any ambition has abundant opportunities in his spare time of improving himself in the trade at which he earns his living. His ambition and industry are sedulously fostered. Of the expense of teaching and materials, 92 per cent, is provided by subsidies, and only 8 per cent, charged as fees. Thus it will be seen that the technical training of a manufacturer's labour is largely provided at public expense, encouraging study which must enormously increase the efficiency of workers. It is to be regretted that the special nature of Nottingham's chief industry — lace-making— is such that it has not yet been found possible to include it in the technical curriculum, though bleaching and finishing are taught in connection with the University College course in Chemistry. A movement is now on foot to provide an efficient training for the various branches of the lace trade. Designers and, Draughtsmen. The Nottingham School of Art is providing manufacturers with the highly trained designers and draughtsmen greatly valuable in many industries. The report of the Board of Education, based on a detailed inspection last February, shows that the total number of students enrolled at the time of inspection was 530, of whom 70 attended in the daytime, 41 in both day and evening, and 319 in the evening only. 'The equipment is described NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 21 as good, and in addition to the provision of model work, special attention is constantly given to books and specimens of value in connection with the staple trade of the locality. A small Leavers lace machine has been supplied to be used in connection with instruction in lace design. The Government inspectors report that the curriculum provides a con- siderable number of students engaged in local industries with opportunities of gaining art practice directly bearing upon their daily employment. For designers and draughtsmen connected Avith this trade, carefully planned courses are arranged, which include drawing from objects, plants, good examples of decorative art, especially of lace, conventionalising suitable forms, and design for the various forms of lace manufacture and drafting, in addition to the study of the history and principles of decorative art. There are courses for pupils in Architectural Drawing, Lithography, Lettering, Figure Drawing (Drapery and Composition), Painters and Decorators, Modellers, Furniture Designers, Stone Gravers, Stained-Glass Designers. The curriculum has been extended by the addition of Embroidery, Etching, and Metal-work. Art handicrafts are taught, including Wall-paper Designing, Painting, Decorating and Lettering for Sign-writers, and Costume-designing, as well as the regular courses in Drawing, Painting, and Modelling. It is interesting to note that certain employers give their employees facilities for attending the school in the daytime. The Government inspectors remark that this is of value, not only to the workers, but to the employers also, and that the extension of the school decided u])on by the governing body will afford opportunities of still further increasing its usefulness to the locality. Near the end of last year, a meeting was convened by the Council of the City of Nottingham and the Council of the Administrative County of Nottingham, attended by representatives of the principal educational authorities within the East Midlands, for the purpose of discussing the establishment of a school of domestic economy. The meeting was held at the University College, Nottingham, under the presidency of the Duchess of Portland, and was attended by representatives from the Education Committees of the city of Nottingham, the counties of Leicester, Northampton, and Nottingham, and the Council and Senate of the University College, Nottingham. The Committee appointed to consider the matter in greater detail reported in favour of a training school for domestic subjects, such school to give thoroughly efficient instruction in all subjects of domestic economy for the following purposes :- 1. — To enable students to qualify for Teachers' Diplomas in Cookery, Laundry Work, Housewifery, Dressmaking, Needlework, and Millinery. 2. — To enable certificated teachers to qualify for the Limited Diploma to teach Cookery under the Code for the Public Elementary Schools. 3. — To enable students to qualify for positions as housekeepers and matrons of large public and private institutions. 4. — To enable students to become better houseworkers and homemakers. 5. —To prepare students (in co-operation with the authorities of Kingston Agricultural College) for a colonial life. The scheme has, however, not yet been adopted by the authorities concerned. (4) Nottingham Tramways System. In the interest of manufactures and commercial industries, it is greatly necessary that facilities for the conveyance of workers should be abundant and economical. Acting up to the principle everjrwhere followed, the city has taken into its own hands the pro- vision of this need. The first tramways — of course, horse-drawn — were established in Nottingham in 1878. The enterprise was taken over by the Corporation in 1897, and was soon afterwards converted to electric traction. The first section was opened for traffic on January 1st, 1901, and the last horse-car taken off the streets in 1902. The subsequent history of the entei"prise has been one of continuous extension. The total length is now 20J street miles, all within the city bounds. The cars, which are finely equipped in the latest and most improved fashion, serve all districts from which workers come into the factory area. Up to 8 a.m., from any terminus, jjassengers are carried over two ordinary penny stages, or an average of 3^ miles, for one penny, and can obtain a return ticket available by any 22 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PR£SENT. AND FUTURE. ordinary car up to 9 p.m. on weekday's or 3 p.m. on Saturdays. The service starts at five in the morning, and continues to near midnight. The maximum ordinary fare for anv distance in Nottingham is 3d. for a distance of 5i miles. The system of operation is by the overhead trolley, using direct current generated at 500 volts, the current being supplied by the Electricity Committee of the Corporation. Employees to the number of 600 work six days per Aveek, in two shifts daily, and comprise conductors, motormen and inspectors (all in uniform), point-boys in uniform caps, car and track cleaners, works staff, and overhead equipment staff. To deal with, breakdowns of overhead equipment two motor-driven tower wagons are ready at a moment's notice, but seldom called for. Only one Avire broke last j^ear, and the service Avas not interrupted. All routes converge in the Market Place, every car passing through the centre of the city. The trams serve a total area of 10,935 acres, connect up all the raihvay stations, and are used by all classes of the population. The services vary from IJ to 5 m.inutes, except on two suburban NOTTINGHAM TRAMWAYS. ,876,879 passengers. 1907 1910 34,647,238 passengers. 1913 38,484,082 passengers. m SHOWING INCREASE IN GROSS REVENUE IN RELATION TO NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED. routes, where the interval is 7| minutes. From the farthest A\orking-class residential point — Buhvell -to the Market Place, the journey is half an hour, but most districts are nearer — Wilford Road, 9 minutes; Sherwood, a higher class residential district, 15 minutes. The service has never yet been stopped by accident, and has slown remarkable elasticity. On one day during a recent Goose Fail- the trams cairied the population — that is to say, the number of passengers equalled the population of Nottingham — and the service woi'ked all day without a hitch. This fuie tram service is worked at profit by the Coi"j3oration, and makes substantial contributions to the rates. The annual sums appropriated under this heading for the last ten years have been as follows : — 4? 1804 1905 1C06 1607 1908 £ s. d. 13,000 15,000 15,000 17,000 17,000 1909 . 15,400 1910 . 20,550 1911 . 15,000 1912 . 18,000 1913 . 19,C00 NOTTINGHAM- —PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 3S revenue has been as follow kvs : — £ s. d. £ s. d. 1904 ... 128,202 5 1909 . 151,383 15 G 1905 ... 126,329 19 7 1910 .. . 154,935 15 3 1906 ... 129,748 3 4 1911 . 157,289 17 4 1907 ... 139,992 14 3 1912 . 162,597 18 6 1908 ... 153,742 16 3 1913 . 167,160 10 iber of passengers carried as follows : — 1904 27,876,879 1909 . ... 33,813,997 1905 27,518,200 1910 .. . ... 34,647,238 1906 28,833,311 1911 . ... 35,259,067 1907 31,218,691 1912 .. . ... 36,026,471 1908 34,411,860 1913 .. . ... 38,484,082 23 It is notable that the average fare per passenger, which on the horse-car was 1*48 pence, droj^ped to 1-11 pence on the commencement of electric working, and has since, owing to reduction in fares and increased length of stages, been reduced to 1-02 pence. Notwithstanding the receij^ts have fallen from 12-24 to 11-5 pence per mile in ten years, and the average working expenses increased from 6*8 to 7*45 pence per mile in the same period, the contribution in aid of the General District Rate has materially increased. Powers were obtained in the last session of Parliament for the construction of further lines of tramways within the city, also for extending some of the present lines to populous places outside the city boundary, as well as for the running of motor omnibuses to connect up some of the present tramway services. Powers have been granted for the cars of the Notts, and Derbyshire Tramw ays Com- pany, which serve Ripley, Heanor, Langley Mill, Kimberley, Nuthall, and Cinder Hill, to run over one section of the Corporation tramways nearly to the centre of the city. (5) Other Municipal Services (Water, Gas, and Electricity). Apart from the tram service, Nottingham offers great economies to manufacturers through the municipal gas and electric power enterprises. The City Council has also devoted unending pains to the perfecting of a complete water-supply. The principle of maintaining a constant high-pressure service was first inaugurated in Nottingham, and it should be a source of congratulation to the citizens that the supply has remained constant. Water (see Diagram). Nottingham is supplied from wells, which are sunk in the bunter beds of the new red sandstone, and with soft water from storage reservoirs situate sonie fifty miles from the city, in the heart of the Derbyshire Peak District. The sandstone formation, being permeable, is an ideal service for water supplies, and the absence of fissures in the rock ensures proper filtration before reaching the consumers. The total area of the compulsory limits of suj)ply, as defined by the various Acts of Parliament and Provisional Orders, is about 7oi square miles. In addition there are several parishes supplied by agreement outside the parliamentary area. The estimated population supplied at the end of March, 1913, was 372,978. Water is supplied from five pumjjing stations situate at Basford, Bestwood, Paj^plewick, Burton Joyce, and Boughton, being pumped direct from wells and boreholes into seven covered reservoirs. All the pumping stations, with the exception of Burton Joyce, are established on the bunter beds, which extend many miles north of Nottingham. The Derwent supply is delivered into the north-east portion of the district, at the boundary of the Langley Mill and Eastwood parishes, the pressure being sufficient to gravitate water into the Ramsdale reservoir, where it is mixed with the local sandstone supply. The elevation of this reservoir is about 500 feet above Ordnance datum, and is sufficient to cover all the high points within the Nottingham area. The Derwent water and the local sandstone water differ considerably in character, and the supplies from the two services are so allotted as to meet the requirements of the classes of (consumers for WATER SUPPLY iifW%^i'ice of gas was from 3s. l|d. to 3s. 4d. per thousand cubic feet in districts within the limits of the Nottingham Gas Act, 1853, and from 3s. I^d. to 3s. lOd. outside these limits. The present price is from 2s. 2d. to 2s. 4d. per thousand cubic feet, except in certain parishes outside the city, but within the parliamentary gas area, which were not supplied at the date of the transfer, and in which an extra price is charged. Gas for power is charged at from Is. 6d. to Is. lOd. per thousand, and for gassing purposes (a feature of certain local trades) 2s. per thousand feet. The gas-works are at Eastcroft, Radford, and Basford, all in the parish of Nottingham. The before-mentioned charges do not, however, apply to gas supplied through prepay- ment meters, the charge for which is 3s. 4d. per thousand cubic feet, Jess Id. in the shilling rebate, but with a minimum payment per quarter of one shilling ; nor does the scale apply to the districts in which special charges for gas are made under statutory powers. The district supplied includes the city of Nottingham, Arnold, Carlton and Gedling, Radcliffe, Holme Pierrepont, Cotgrave, Bassingfield, Gamston and Bridgford, Wilford, Ruddington, Beeston, Chilwell, Bramcote, Wollaton, Stapleford, Eastwood, Greasley, Nuthall, Hucknall, Linby, Bestwood, Colwick, Papplewick, Awsworth, Cossall, Brinsley, Selston, Attenborough, Stoke, Burton Joyce, and Toton. The works have a total weekly maximum capacity of about 7,000 tons of coal. The maximum consumption in a week is 5,100 tons, up to the j)resent date. The length of mains at the present time is 397'82 miles. The standard of gas furnished is of 17 to 18 candle-power, well in excess of the figure fixed by the Nottingham Act of Parliament, which is 12-candle. Daring the twelve months ending March 3l5t, 1913, 192,927 tons of coal and 108,155 gallons of oil were carbonised, producing : — Coal-gas 2,175,133,000 cubic feet. Water-gas 35,720,000 Total ... 2,210,853,000 26 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. The following bye-products were recorded : — Coke (for sale) ... ... ... ... 81,036 tons. Tar 11,290 „ Ammoniacal liquor (10-oz. strength) ... 29,125 ,, Suli^ho-cyanide liquor ... ... ... 7,363 gallons. 9,427 tons of tar were distilled at the Giltbrook chemical works, which yielded products as follows : — Crude naphtha Crude carl>olic Creosote Brick oil Pitch ... .Najjlithalene 60,546 gallons. 14,441 411,727 41,278 6,102 tons. 148 .. Ammoniacal liquor (10-oz.) ... ... ... 914 In addition to the above, 96,593 gallons (or 483 tons) of crude tar and 29,249 gallons of creosote were used for the manufacture of 125,8 i8 gallons of specially prepared tar for road-spraying purposes. The Giltbrook works v\ere also used for the manufacture of 2,702 tons of sulphuric acid (100 per cent.) and 1,394 tons of new oxide of iron. 29,528 tons of 10-oz. ammoniacal liquor were distilled at Basford during the 3'ear, which produced 2,250 tons of commercial sulphate of ammonia ; and 2,385 tons of 10-oz. ammoniacal liquor were sold to outside chemical works for the production of carbonate of ammonia. The following are the details of the sale of gas during the year : — Ordinary consumers 1,583,286,000 cubic feet. Prepayment consumers 486,916,900 „ ,, Public lamps 98,448,800 „ Total ... 2,168,651,700 „ These figures compare very favourably with the total sale of gas for the previous year, viz. 2,050,101,400 cubic feet, and indicate an increase of 118,550,300 cubic feet, or 5-78 per ceut. The following are the comparative receipts for gas sold :— Year ended March ;31st, 1913 £262,592 Year ended March '31st, 1912 £248,910 Increase ... £13,682 The growth of the consumption is illustrated by the number of meters in use during each of the last ten years : — 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 59,348 1909 ... 72,506 61,504 1910 ... 74,850 63,739 1911 ... 77,263 66,845 1912 ... 78,825 69,546 1913 ... 80,234 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 27 The quantities of gas sold during the same period were as follows, and it is notable as marking the growing efficiency of the plant that the quantity of gas sold per ton of coal carbonised rose from 9,549 cubic feet in 1904 to 11,059 in 1913. The contribution to rates of the gas undertaking has also steadily risen, although the average price charged for gas sold has fallen from 2s. 6-91d. in 1904 to 2s. 5-06d. in 1913. Gas sold. In aid of R 1904 1,987,326 thousand cub. feet £28,300 1905 1,885,130 £27,000 1906 1,917,696 £27,000 1907 1,927,954 £27,000 1908 1,995,781 £30,000 1909 1,980,417 £31,000 1910 1,980,618 £35,000 1911 2,006,425 £32,000 1912 2,050,101 £39,000 1913 2,168,652 £39,000 ALTHOUGH THE AVERAGE PRICE CHARGED FOR GAS SOLD HAS FALLEN FROM 2s. 6'9lD. IN 1904 TO 2s. 506D. IN 1913, THE CONTRIBUTION TO THE RATES OF THE GAS UNDERTAKING HAS STEADILY RISEN. £28,300 (1904) £27,000 (1905) £27,000 (1906) £27,000 (1907) £30,000 (1908) £31,000 (1909) £35,000 (1910) £32.000 (1911) £39.000 (1912) The employment of gas for trade and manufacturing purposes continues to increase. There are at present in use about 836 gas engines, and high-pressure mains are now being introduced in the centre of the city. In those manufactures wherein gas engines can be economically employed the advantages afforded by the Nottingham gas suppl}^ are very great. The pressure is ample, the reserve supply abundant, and the quality of the gas every- thing that can be desired for efficient working. On the other hand, electric light and power are also available. 28 kottingham — past, present, and future. Electricity. Electricity as furnished by the Electricity Committee of the Nottingham Council is available for light, power, and heat. The rates at present in force are advantageous to the consumer, and the use of electricity is steadil}^ increasing, having risen from 183,694 Board of Trade units in 1895-6 to 13,599,812 Board of Trade units in 1912-13, and the enterprise contributed to the general district rate an average of £13,000 per annum during the last eight years. Electricity is supplied for lighting purposes on either one of two plans, at the option of the consumer. He can pay at a flat rate of 3Jd. per Board of Trade unit, or he can adopt the maximum demand method. On the latter plan he pays for any quantity not exceeding the equivalent of 200 hours of supply per half-year at the maximum power demanded by himself, at the rate of 5d. per Board of Trade unit, and for any further quantity exceeding the above equivalent of such maximum jiower at the rate of l^d. per Board of Trade imit. The significance of this method of supply will best be illustrated by examples from actual practice last year. The General Post Office, Victoria Station, and Victoria Hotel were each lighted on the maximum demand system. The number of units consumed at each rate and the average price worked out as follows : — Average Price 5d. lid. FOR THE WHOLE. General Post Office ... 16,200 104,649 l-97d. Victoria Station ... 14,868 95,859 l-97d. Victoria Hotel 6,282 39,603 l-98d. Nowhere in the United Kingdom can lighting be obtained, so far as the writer is aware, on more economical terms than the above. Electricity for power and heating purposes is supplied at IJd. per Board of Trade unit. The mains in the district are 63 miles in extent ; 60J per cent, on the light unit, sold on the maximum demand method of charge, were consumed at the l^d. rate. Power is supplied for all purposes at the uniform rate of IJd., as mentioned above, no extra charge being made for intermittent use in lifts, etc. The number of power motors in use in the district is 1,540, developing at the total of 5,690 horse-power. Motors up to 60 horse-power are in use. The city contains a number of lace factories where power is supplied by the landlord and included in the rent. The Corporation is itself the largest customer of the Electricity Committee, the trams consuming annually about 5,000,000 Board of Trade units, and public lamps 77,600 units. The number of lights in use at the end of the last financial year was 441,061 lamps of 32 watts or their equivalent. The average price of electricity has fallen with hardly a break since 1895, when the average price per unit obtained was 5-97d. The average in 1913 was r79d., the number of consumers having risen from 2,557 in 1904 to 4,415 in 1913, and the number of lamps from 239,366 in 1904 to 441,061 in 1913. The total consumption for the year ending March 31st, 1913, was made up as follows : — Lighting 3,909,847 Power 2,931,363 Corporation Trams 5,761,096 12,602,306 (6) Public Parks and Recreation Grounds. Nottingham is distinguished among manufacturing cities by its abundant open spaces. The most famous of these is the admirable Arboretum, first opened in 1852, which covers 17 acres of sloping ground ; this contains a beautiful ornamental lake, well stocked with swans and water-fowl, with a number of greenhouses and projoagating glasshouses. The Arboretum is largely used as a place of public resort, and the City Police Band gives con- certs there during the summer months. The annual show of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Horticultural Society is held in the Arboretum every July. The Victoria Embankment — finer than anything existing in any other English town — is another of the lungs of Nottingham. It extends round a fine cvirve of the river Trent from Wilford 30 . NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. Bridge to the Trent Bridge, a length of a mile and a quarter, and covers an area of 28 acres. The construction was commenced in May, 1898, and finished in July, 1901, and was carried out by the City Engineer, Mr. Arthur Brown, M.lnst.C.E. This noble embank- ment varies in width from 170 to 250 feet. On the north side a footway 10 feet wide, with a grass verge, also 10 feet wide, and another 5-foot pathway, form the outer edge. In the centre is a roadway 36 feet wide with a footway 5 feet wide, and a grass verge of 10 feet. Be- tween this and the water is a footway 15 feet wide and a grass slope varying from 70 to 150 feet wide, terminating in a hauling path for the river traffic 10 feet in width. Below this hauUng path is a flight of seven steps extending to the water's edge, and continuous for the whole length of the embankment. The slope on the site of the embankment abut- ting on the Great Central Railway's Goods Yard is planted with shrubs and trees, and there are three rows of trees extending the whole length of the embankment. In the construction of this fine public work 300,000 tons of gravel were dredged up from the river, improving the waterway and enabling the scheme to be carried out with great economy. The Victoria Embankment forms a splendid riverside promenade, containing numerous seats, and as the river close to the steps is ordinarily very shallow, the embank- ment is a safe and convenient playing ground for children. Regattas and river fetes are frequently held, and the embankment is then thronged with spectators. Band per- formances are given on the Victoria Embankment every Tuesday and Thursday during the summer months, and occasionally on Sunday evenings on behalf of charities. An embankment somewhat similar, but smaller, is now being constructed on the opposite side of the river. Adjoining the Victoria Embankment are the Meadows Recreation Grounds, 23^ acres in extent, and including cricket and football grounds and bowling greens. Facilities are afforded to cricket and football clubs for reserving grounds, and the free grounds are also well patronised. There is abundant open ground for children. The Forest Recreation Ground, at one time used as a race-course, but now devoted ipainly to cricket, football and other outdoor sports, is close to the Church Cemetery. The splendid roadway called the Gregory Boulevard is on the other side. The football grounds here are always used to their fullest caj)acity, and are kept in good condition, notwithstanding constant practice and matches thereon during the winter. There are match wickets and practice pitches for cricket, and as in the case of the Meadows district, a portion of the ground has been laid out in bowling greens. There are band iDerformances on Wednesday evenings during the summer, and on Sunday afternoons tliere are sacred concerts under the management of various committees connected with charitable institu- tions of the city. Other open spaces are Vernon Park, Lenton and Radford Grounds, King Edward Park, the Sycamore Road Ground, and the Victoria Park. Eleven public school playgrounds are kej^t open after school hours as public playgrounds by the Education Committee. The facilities for cricket and football can be gauged by the fact that during the last season 705 matches were played. Eighty-five clubs used the grounds, and 44 match grounds and 70 practice pitches were available. These figures take no account of the free cricket grounds available in the Forest, Victoria Embankment, Vernon Park, Bulwell Forest, and Bulwell Hall Park. Football matches to the number of 304 were played on the eleven match grounds used by 25 football clubs. An average of 1,200 players a week used the bowling greens. All these are grounds i^rovided and controlled by the Municipality. There are, in addition, many cricket and football grounds provided by clubs, such as the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, where the County matches are played, the football grounds of the Notts. County and Nottingham Forest Clubs, and many other grounds. Golf. There are two 18-hole courses in Nottingham, used by the Bulwell Forest Golf Club, the Nottingham City Golf Club, the Bulwell Artisans' Club, and two ladies' clubs. The Bulwell Forest Links and Bulwell Hall Park Links are under the management of the Corporation. Visitors are admitted at a small fee to play on either of the courses, and golf is a progressive and thriving recreation of the city. There are several other golf courses just outside the city. The course at Hollinwell, the headquarters of the Notts. Golf Club, is one of the finest inland courses in the country. NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 31 (7) Sites for Factories, &c. The fine spaciousness of Nottingham's city, bounds leaves room for new-comers. Nottingham is a busy, but it is not an overcrowded city. The generous opsn spaces, dedicated for ever to the recreation of the citizens, still leave considerable paresis of land available for factories and commercial building. The Town Council is itself the owner of many fine sites. There are other landlords ready to hold out a welcoming hand to new industries. The intersection of Nottingham in all parts by the tram system makes all the sites in the accompanying map eligible and accessible to labour. (8) Health. The city of Nottingham is thoroughly healthy. The absence of smoke and the cleanly appearance of the streets are but an external manifestation of an internal well- being. The sewerage system is complete, the sewage being carried down to Stoke, five miles distant. The water, as has been already stated, is excellent, and the sanitary arrange- ments are in every respect conformable to the most modern hygienic requirements. The question of housing reform has been energetically taken up by the Local Authority, and conditions of life among the poor are receiving careful attention — a matter of consider- able moment to employers of labour. A very important movement in connection with the Notification of Births Act is the Mothers" and Babies' Welcomes, with three centres in active working order. Expectant and nursing mothers in necessitous circumstances are fed and given instruction in the various matters j^ertaining to their own health and that of their infants. In Nottingham, as elsewhere, the birth-rate is not as satisfactory as it might be ; the population does not increase as rapidly as could be desired, and its progress is by accretion rather than by births. On the other hand, the death-rate, for a large manufacturing city, is not high. The Factory and Workshop Acts are efficiently carried out, many wholesome changes having been effected under the careful supervision of a thoroughly qualified staff of inspectors. Another point of importance is the inspection of canal boats, and the Medical Officer of Health for Nottingham reports an extremely healthy condition on the water- ways. In the city there is a well-equipped Isolation Hospital, with a Phthisis Sanatorium at Basford, the SmaU-pox Hospital being to the north of Bulwell Forest. The Corporation baths in Bath Street were established in 1849, and were partly rebuilt and extended in 1896. These and the baths in Thackeray Street, New Radford, and in Vernon Road, Basford, are the property of the Corporation. At all these establish- ments hot, cold, and swimming baths can be had at all hours of the day. There is also a public bathing shed on the banks of the river Trent, which is extensively used during the summer months. (9) Free Libraries and Museums — Indoor Recreations and Amusements. The Central Free Public Libraries and Reading Rooms are situated in the University College Buildings, and are open to all residents above the age of 13 every week-day from 10 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. In connection with these central libraries there are twelve branch reading-rooms in various districts of the city, and lending libraries at Bulwell, New Basford, Lenton, and Hyson Green, with delivery stations at Old Basford and Carlton Road. The Boys' and Girls' Library is in Shakespeare Street. The number of volumes in the libraries is about 144,000. Excellent lending and reference libraries are also attached to the Mechanics' Institution. Lectures during the winter months are an important feature of this institution, the large hall being used for public meetings, concerts, etc. The Art Gallery and Museum of the Fine and Decorative Arts, etc., could not be more splendidly situated. The various departments contain important examples of the application of art to industry. A large gallery is devoted to textile fabrics and hand- made laces, with collections illustrating the historical development of machine-made 32 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. lace, with methods of production by hand and machine. These collections are of great value to the training of the designer, and are co-ordinate with the instructions given in the School of Art. The institution is one of the most important educational assets of the city. Two theatres,"a music-hall, the Hippodrome, and a number of picture palaces provide amusement in their respective spheres. The Albert Hall is used for concerts, the organ recitals every Saturday afternoon through the winter months being a special feature. There are a number of clubs in the city, the principal of which are the Notts. County Club, the Borough Club, the Nottingham and County Constitutional Club, and the Reform Club. ^CONCLUSION. Enough has now been shown to prove, from the facts of Nottingham's past and present, and from the evidence of the progress which the city is making, that as a com- mercial and residential site it ranks high among the cities of Midland England. Its local taxation stands at a low level, although the civic administration is of the most advanced type. The great municipal enterprises (as the foregoing pages prove) afford unsurpassed advantages to the population and attractions, nowhere else equalled in the same com- bination, to manufacturers. But these advantages, instead of taxing the resident and the property owner, actually reduce his expenses, for they are contributing vast sums to the relief of rates. From what has been said, it is manifest that efficiency is the note of the Nottingham municipal system. To manufacturers and traders seeking a new working ground, whether they con- template the erection of works or the renting of a factory or building, it has been shown that Nottingham offers advantages which no other city can surjjass — low rates of local taxation, cheap and efficient gas and electricity, cheap coal, good water, cheap transit, abundant and well-trained labour, a clear atmosphere and agreeable residential qualities for families accustomed to refined surroundings. With all these, as has been shown, Nottingham holds out a welcoming hand to the new arrival within its boundaries and offers support to every industry. The City Council is anxious to afford every assistance to manufacturers and others desiring information with regard to the facilities for new industries. Immediate attention will be given to any communication addressed to : — The Town Clerk, Guildhall, Nottingham. The Trades and Industries of Nottingham. RAILWAY FACILITIES. )T is of paramount importance to a great commercial centre, such as Notting- ham, to be able to distribute its manufactures as cheaply and expeditiously as possible. Few towns have a better geographical position than Nottingham , which is situated almost in the centre of England, on a great coal-field, and not far from the great commercial towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Wherever it may be necessary to despatch goods, to the seaports of the north-east coast, to Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, or London, there can the articles be sent without any loss of time. It must not be imagined that the importance of Nottingham as a distributing centre or market is a modern feature, for there is little doubt that from the time Nottingham began to flourish as a commercial town in the days of the Plantagenets it owed not a little to its central position, which enabled it to distribute its own products as well as those which were brought to it for distribution throughout the neighbouring shires. With the advent of railways and canals Nottingham retained its position as a great distributing centre, and indeed it is on its position as a market and a distributing centre that the prosperity of Nottingham to-day depends. There is probably no other town whence goods can be despatched more cheaply and reach their destination more quickly than Nottingham. As will be seen from the map, such towns as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Hull, Grimsby, Birmingham, all lie within less than 100 miles of Nottingham, while London and Bristol are but little further away. Nottingham is served by four railway companies — the Midland, Great Northern, Great Central, and London & North Western — with a rapid and efficient service of trains. It is well situated for access to the great seaports of Liverpool and Manchester, as well as for those on the Humber — Hull, Grimsby, Goole, and Immingham. In addition, Bristol and London are within easy reach of Nottingham. The recent opening of the Immingham Dock is expected to prove beneficial to the towns on the great Midland coal-field, for a very large amount of coal is exported from the Humber ports every year. Last year from Grimsby alone the total weight was over 3,000,000 tons. While the goods service from Nottingham is so quick and cheap, the passenger service compares with that of any other town. More than 20 express trains run to London every day, the time taken being from 2 hours and 10 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes. Manchester can be reached in less than 2 hours, Livei-pool in 3 hours, Leeds in If hours, Sheffield in less than 1 hour, Birmingham in IJ hours, Edinburgh in less than 7 hours, and Glasgow in 7 hours. Nottingham's central position makes it very easy for its residents to reach the pleasure and seaside resorts of England and Wales. Through trains are run to almost all the most important holiday stations during the summer. One very important factor in the rapid and cheap transport of goods is very highly developed in Nottingham. Delivery companies, of which there are several in Nottingham, relieve the business houses of much trouble by shipping goods to all parts of the world, and thus saving them the annoyances and intricacies of the customs duties. These firms, which undertake the complete control of any consignment from start to finish, offer the same facilities as can be obtained in any of the English ports. The goods and packages from various manufacturers can be collected under one bill of lading, thus avoiding heavy minimums. In addition to shipments abroad, these delivery companies despatch goods throughout the United Kingdom, and have also a considerable local carrying trade. 34 NOTTINGHAM— PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. RIVER AND CANAL FACILITIES. NottingViam, as will be seen from the accompanying map, is the centre of an important system of inland Avatervvays. The river Trent affords access to Newark, Gainsborough, and the very important ports on the Hnmber, comprising Hull, Goole, Grimsby, and Immingham, through which an enormous tonnage is cleared inwardly and outwardly every year, the port of Hull ranking third amongst English ports. Important works have been carried out on the river below Newark, the result being that that town has a very efficient and rapid service with the ports. It is intended to treat the river between Newark and Nottingham in the same way, and the necessary powers have been obtained. In the meantime there is, however, a regular service which also affords Nottingham the advantage of quick and cheap communication with the Humber. A regular daily service of steam tugs and barges runs between Hull, Newark, and Nottingham. There is also a service of steam barges, via Leicester and the Grand Junction Canal, between Nottingham and London, and there are also services by the canals between Nottingham, Binningham, Manchester, Liverpool, etc. The water carriers have first-class accommodation for storage and the handling of traffic. The advantage to Nottingham and district of its central position with regard to the system of waterways is obvious, for not only do such waterways secure competition with railways, and in this way tend to keep down railway rates, but as any person is entitled to make use of such waterways with his own craft, there is also a possibility of competition with the companies engaged as water carriers. BANKING. The development of banking in Nottingham is closely associated with that of the lace and hosiery trades. There is no record of when banking in the town actually com- menced, but it may be assumed that the first bank was established about 1688. At that time Nottingham was the only town which boasted a bank within a radius of nearly a hundred miles. Owing to the lack of banking facilities in early times, the merchants and manufacturers of Leeds and Sheffield were obliged to conduct their business at Nottingham, there being no bank at either of those places. About the middle of the eighteenth century saw the foundation of another important bank. At this time the lace trade became more fully established, and the developments which subsequently took place led to a great influx of population. Naturally the services of banlis were needed for the great accession of trade, and three additional ones were founded at this period, two of which were in existence until recent times, when they were absorbed by London joint-stock banks. The great increase of trade which took place at this period, in all parts of the country, tempted banks to issue notes beyond their resources. In 1816 and 1825 a large number of banks in several districts suspended payment, but Nottingham seems to have stood the strain remarkably well. In the Minutes of Evidence given before the Committee of Secrecy on the Bank of England Charter, 1832, the Secretary of the Committee of the Country Bankers made the folloAving statement : — " The bankers of Nottingham are eminently distinguished for prudence and good management, there never, I believe, having occurred an instance of a bank having failed in that town ; yet it so happens that in looking over the returns of the issues of Country Bankers from 1818 to 1825, three of the Nottingham banks are in the year 1825 amongst the highest, which was owing entirely to a great increase in the manufacture and in the j^opulation of Nottingham during that period." All the private banking firms in the town have become incorporated or amalgamated with joint-stock banks, the last incorporation being that of the private bank established in 1688. Nottingham is now represented by several of the leading banking companies in the country, five of whom have seats in the London Clearing House. The banking NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 35 facilities are possibly unsurpassed by any provincial town in England, owing to the fact that the various banks have opened up branches in all parts of the town and suburbs. The Nottingham Bankers' Clearing House was established in 1873, but the returns have only been published since 1909. The figures given below show the growth of the turnover during the last four years, and may be taken as some index of the trade of the town : — Totals for the year 1909 £15,864,829 ., 1910 £15,946,435 „ 1911 £15,906,421 „ 1912 £16,785,C02 INSURANCE. On account of its geographical position, as well as its importance as a commercial town, Nottingham is regarded by the Insurance Companies as the most suitable centre for controlling the counties of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and South Derbyshire, and, with only a few exceptions, all the English and Scottish Companies doing a general business have branch offices in the town. There are records of four local Offices which have ceased to exist : the '' Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire " (Fire and Life), established in 1835, was absorbed by one of the English Offices in 1869 ; the " Not- tinghamshire and Midland " (Fire), established in 1884, shared the same fate in 1889 ; the " Empire Mutual Sickness, Accident and General," established in 1897, was wound up in 1898, and the " Employers' Indemnity," established in 1898, was absorbed in 1901. The only local institution now in existence is one devoted to the insurance of plate glass, established in 1909. All the ordinary classes of Insurance are dealt with, including Fire, Life, Annuities, Loss of Profits by Fire, Marine, Accident, Employers' Liability (Workmen's Compensation), Property Owners' Liability, Burglary, Plate Glass, Third Party, Motor Cars, Fidelity Guarantee, Sprinkler Leakage, Securities in Transit, Engines and Boilers, and Live Stock, and the facilities for transacting the business are equal to those obtaining in any part of the kingdom. The town and district surrounding have been the scene of many notable fires, par- ticularly among the lace factories and warehouses, which classes probably contribute to the income of the Offices to a greater extent than any other industry. The old-fashioned lace factory, noted for its size and the number of its tenants, many of them being of the smaller class, is regarded by the companies as a heavy risk, although the danger of a serious fire has been minimised to an appreciable extent in several by the introduction of sprinklers. The modern factories are mostly erected on much safer lines, being, particularly in the Long Eaton district, constructed of grovmd floor only, an improvement which is recognised by the Offices in a considerable reduction in the rate of premium charged. The Nottingham Lace Market — the name by which the lace warehouse district is known — has a wide reputation amongst Insurance Companies ; the buildings are, many of them, large, and the streets narrow, constituting, when taking into account the inflammable nature of the contents, what is technically known as a " conflagration area." Automatic fire alarms, connected with the Fire Brigade Station, are installed in a few of the warehouses, and at least one is sprinklered. During recent years there have been introduced many new forms of insurance, and the Nottingham Branch Offices have received their fair share of the increased income derived therefrom . COAL. The present importance and the great future possibilities of the coal industry in Nottinghamshire warrant us in tracing the history of what proves to be one of the oldest trades in the district. The earliest reliable mention of a coal-mine is to be found in the grant to the monks of Newcastle-on-Tyne of a coal-pit at Preston, Haddington, between 1210 and 1219. It seems most likely that the transport of coal from Newcastle by sea was the earliest method of supplying the country with the new kind of fuel. From this was derived the name 36 NOTTINGHAM PAST. PRESENT, AND FUTURE. " sea coal " {carho mnritimus), by which coal was knoAvn to distinguish it from charcoal {carho). The proximity of Sherwood Forest to Nottingham and the facilities for the production of charcoal prchably prevented the excavation of coal as early as the date above mentioned. In 1 257, however, we read that Henry III. left his Queen at Nottingham Castle, but that she aa as forced to depart OAving to the unpleasant smell of the smoke from the sea-coal. Though actual proof is lacking, yet it may safely be concluded that this sea-coal was mined in the vicinity. In the year 1312 we know that there was a coal-mine {minero carbonum) at Cossall, which in 1316 had been sunk to such a depth that provision had to be made against the possibility of the miners being prevented from working by the presence of fire-damp {venfns, qui vocatur le dampe). When we remember that at and near Cossall the coal comes to the surface, we may safely infer that the mine had been working for a good number of years to have reached a depth AA'hen the problems of fire-damp and flooding had to be met. In 1390 there were two coal- mines at Trow ell, and in the demise of these pits provision was made against fire- damp and water. In 1489 there Avere already pits at Wollaton, and in 1493 Sir Henry Willoughby, in his Avill, refers to five " cole-pittes beside the levell pitte in the lordship of Wollaton." In 1545 we find that the presence of Avater rendered the mining of " see- coolles " difficult at Bilborough. The recently published (1911) " Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton preserved at Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire," throws much neAv light on this industry. We find that at Wollaton pits the expenses and profits were as follows : — Issues and profits Wages of pitmen Cost of sinking, etc. 1542-3. £ if. s. d. 510 9 51 24 9 7 75 14 6 Issues and profits . Wages of pitmen Cost of sinking, etc. £ s. d. 356 16 1 46 8 4 81 12 6 1546-7. £ s. d. 365 19 5 48 5| 90 13 3 From the year 1580 to 1588 a very large amount of Wollaton coal was exchanged for Ancaster stone to be used in the building of the present Wollaton Hall. In 1548 we find that the coal was raised in price. Previously the value of a rooke of hard coal was 1/6 and the same quantity of soft coal was 1/- ; noAv, however, the soft and hard coal Avere mixed and the price raised to 2/- the rooke. In 1595 steps Avere taken to fill in certain pits at Wollaton and to set up a "water- pitt " to " clraAV the Avater Avich liethe aboute the colle." In 1596 new excavations were being made at Cossall, but these a\ ere abandoned for some reason, though, to quote Richard Hyll, " the cole is good and reasonable thicke, and the Avater nott unreasonable." We have used the term " rooke " above as the standard measure for coal at this time, and we find that this measure contained " 2 yeardes one quarter hye, and one yeard square, close stacked." In 1598 the output from the Wollaton pits Avas 13,271 rookes 2 quarters, and the total receipts Avere £2,696 Is. 6d. It is surprising to find that as early as this rails were laid doAvn for the more easy transport of coal. Space forbids the quotation of some veiy interesting rules to be observed by miners in the coal-pits, Avhich were set doAvn in 1600 and are quoted in the Wollaton Manuscripts. NOTTINGHAM- — PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 37 In 1605 an attempt was made to supply London with Nottingham coal at a cheaper rate than the Metropolis paid for Newcastle coal. The selling price of Newcastle coal in London would be about 17/- a ton, but it was found that, though Nottingham coal could be sold at the Trent Bridge for 6/- a ton, yet by the time it had been shipped through Gainsborough to Hull and then to London the cost was 22/2 a ton. In 1609 there were pits at Bramcote which were leased for twenty-one years to Sir Peroival Willoughby. The question of the flooding of mines was still very pertinent, and in 1610 an inventor apphed to Wollaton with an improved pump, " an ingin that shall drawe fifteene tunne of water in one bower's space at one hundred fadam depth, with this hellpe onlye of two able menne." This engine measured 3 feet square and 6 feet high, and could be taken to pieces and set together again in two hours' time. We must not infer that the Wollaton pits had been sunk as deep as 100 fathoms, for we find that the pumps in use in the three pits at Wollaton were chain pumps, which could only draw the water from a depth of 15 fathoms. In 1620 we are supplied with a recipe for prevention of danger from coal-damp. It is as follows : — " Take a bushell of unslaict lyme, and lett hyme send yt downe and sett yt in the places as neare as the workmen wyll, and let yt contenewally remayne tell such tyme as the moystnes of the dampe begyne to sleake the lyme, and then let hyme renewe yt contenewally. Yt wyll all somer last. Let them take hyd that the do not let any watter come to yt. Yf the dampe be very stronge, let hyme pat to the lyme 2d. of camphyre ; yt wyll drawe yt awaye the soner. " Wyllyam Poole." From 1630 to 1650 the Nottingham corporation made various entirely unpractical and abortive attempts to become colliery proprietors by sinking for coal on the Coppice. We have seen above that, owing to the cost of transport, Nottingham was unable to compete with Newcastle-on-Tyne for the London coal market. In 1745 we should imagine this would no longer have been the case, for we find the Londoner had to paj'^ £1 3s. a ton plus carriage for his coal, while in Nottingham the cost was only 10/- a ton. From the fact that the distribution of coal was the most difficult problem which the colliery owners had to face, it will readily be imagined that the coal trade had a great influence on the development of means of transit. We have already seen that at the end of Elizabeth's reign coal was carried on rails from the Wollaton pits. In 1819 a railroad worked by horses was constructed to connect Mansfield and Pinxton with the Cromford Canal ; while the first canal in Nottinghamshire brought the coal of the Erewash Valley to Nottingham. The importance of the coal trade to Nottingham cannot be over-emphasized. The Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire coal-field is the largest in Great Britain, and, next to that in South Wales, where some of the coal is of better quality, the most important, for here is to be found the greatest reserve supply of coal in these islands. It has been estimated that in the concealed and unproved Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire coal-field, at depths less than 4,000 feet, there remain 23,000,000,000 tons of coal ; while in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire the amount of available coal is 7,360,725,100 tons. A slight acquaintance with the geology of the Midland Counties will show that the coal lies nearer the surface on the west than it does on the east, and that consequently the mine shafts have to be sunk to a greater depth the further east one goes. To the west of Nottinghamshire the coal measures cover a very large area, but in the county itself they only occupy 36 square miles of surface before they sink beneath the Permian and younger rocks. As time goes on coal is being found at even greater depths as the excavations are carried more and more towards the east. At present the most easterly point at which coal has been found is at South Scarle. At Gedling coal was found at 1,377 feet, at Manton at 2,154 feet, and in a more recent boring at Oxton coal was found at 2,030 feet. From a consideration of these figures it will readily be understood that fewer mines will be sunk in the east, though in those that are sunk the underground workings from one shaft will be very much more extensive. 38 NOTTINGHAM PAST. PRESENT, AND FUTURE. Nor must ',ve forget that the Nottinghamshire method of working coal — Nottingham- shire Longwall — has now been adopted in all the other coal-fields in England. Mr. Swinnerton, in his " Geography of Nottinghamshire," describes this method very clearly. He says : "By this system all the coal is extracted by workings which day by day advance further outwards. . . . From the bottom of the shaft several spacious passages called ' gates ' radiate. These branch and rebranch until they reach the ' working face ' at many points. At the ' face ' the seam is seen to be several feet thick, and is overlain and underlain with other rocks. As the collier removes the coal he places it in little trucks or ' tubs.' Any waste rock he has removed in winning the coal he builds up in the space behind. The loaded tubs are pushed on rails laid close to the face until they reach a gate. In the gates they are draw n by horses to the haulage planes, where they are attached to wire-rope cables and are transported by steam or electric power to the bottom of the shafts. Thence they are raised to the surface by powerful steam-engines, often at a speed of 50 or 60 feet per second." The follow ing tonnages represent the Nottinghamshire coal output per annum for the past ten years, viz. : — 1903 ... 8,703,025 Tons. 1908 ... 11,028,639 Tons. 1904 ... 8,918,170 ., 1909 ... 11,106,702 „ 1905 ... 9,309,360 „ 1910 ... 11,180,352 „ 1906 ... 10,414,859 „ 1911 ... 11,623,250 „ 1907 ... 11,728,886 1912 ... 11,122,832 „ This shows the marked progress of the coal mining industry in this county, which now iinds emplojanent for nearly 45,000 persons underground and on the surface. The decrease in output for the year 1912 is accounted for b}^ the fact that the miners were on strike for a period of six weeks. The output for the time actually worked in 1912 shows a material increase over the same period of 1911. There are collieries within and just beyond the city of Nottingham boundary (all w ithin a radius of eight miles from Nottingham Market Place) jaelding an output of nearly 4,500,000 tons per annum, and employing about 15,000 men and boys. In this Nottinghamshire coal-held there are five seams of value — Top Hard, Deep Soft, Deep Hard, Tupton or Furnace, and the High Hazel. The Kilburn coal is worked by several collieries just on the borders of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The Top Hard Seam (known as the Barnsley Bed in Yorkshire) is about 4 to 6 feet thick, and the distance between the first and last seam is about 900 feet. The hard coals are excellent for steam-raising purposes, and the High Hazel, Deep Soft, Kilburn, and Tupton are first-rate house coals. All are of established reputation and in good demand. The following are a fair analyses of some of the large coals raised from the seams in this county, viz. : — House Coals. Steam Coals. ^ High Hazel. Deep Soft. Tupton. Top Hard. Deep Hard Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Carbon 79.04 77.30 78.20 76.15 75.09 Ash 1.40 1.38 2.02 6.83 6.33 Hydrogen ... 5.75 4.77 4.74 3.19 4.51 Nitrogen . . . 0.98 1.47 1.45 0.99 1.21 Sulphur 1.06 1.23 1.40 0.86 0.69 Oxygen . . . 11.77 13.85 12.19 11.98 12.17 The Great Central, Great Northern, Midland, and London & North Western and other leading railway companies buy large quantities of Top Hard and Deep Hard large coals for their locomotives. The small coals and slacks from all these seams are extensive^ used in London and other districts hy the Municipal Electrical Works, etc. These fuels give a high calorific value and B.T.U.'s. The neighbouring county of Derby has an annual output of nearly 18,000,000 tons, employing about 60,000 men and boys. A large proportion of this is within twenty miles NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 39 of Nottingham, thus putting many colUeries in Derbyshire in as favourable a position as some in Notts, as regards the cost of transport, either by rail or water, to the city of Nottingham and the immediate district. A number of colHeries in both counties have installed coking and by-product plants. These are working so successfully that others are in course of erection. The manufacturers in Nottingham and district have not only the advantages of cheap coal and coke, but are favourably situated with regard to buying the valuable chemicals extracted from coal, which are extensively used in many trades. It may be fairly stated that Nottingham owes its prosperity to a large extent to the coal trade, as it has brought iron furnaces and kindred industries into the district, besides establishing Nottingham as one of the most important railway centres in the country. BASKET-MAKING AND WICKER-WORK. Owing to the suitability of some of the land, willows of a specially hard kind are grown in considerable quantities in the neighbourhood of Nottingham, and this local supply of willows was probably one of the chief reasons which in the first place induced so many manufacturers of baskets and wicker furniture to establish works there. A specially hard willow or osier is required for the manufacture of transit hampers and similar baskets (the common and more quickly grown willows have not the necessary amount of wood, are more pithy, and will not stand rough usage). The manufacture of baskets and wicker and cane chairs has become quite an important industry in this city, and a considerable number of workpeople find regular employment — men being principally employed in making the articles, and female labour for the upholstering work. The wicker chairs are made in all kinds of shapes in buff wicker and rushes, for use both in the garden and home. Cane chairs are also used very largely in the home, and have become very popular in offices, hospitals, sanatoria, hotels, etc. Upholstered wicker and cane chairs are made in numerous shades, and covered in cretonne, tapestry, and all kinds of fancy velvet, moquette, etc. The basket and hamper trade is also the means of keeping a large number of hands employed regularly throughout the year. BONE-GLUE INDUSTRY. Nottinghamshire has long been regarded as an important centre of the bone-glue industry. Large quantities, amounting probably to 500 tons, of bones from all quarters of the United Kingdom, come into the district every week, there to be converted into glues, animal fats, and manures. The trade originated more than a century ago, and at that time merely consisted of the rough grinding of bones as they were brought in, so as to reduce them to a size considered suitable for application to the land. A series of gradual developments followed, the first being to boil the bones slightly in open pans to extract a portion of the fat before grinding. The next development was to boil the bones in open pans for glue as well as grease, and gradually the present scientific methods were evolved. The bones as they come in are automatically sorted over to extract iron and rubbish, the marrow bones being this time laid on one side for separate treatment, all other bones going automatically to gnnding mills, and thence to the benzine extractors to have the fat extracted ; this fat is sold in large quantities for soap-making, glycerine and stearine making. The bones, which come out of the extractors perfectly dry, are then dry-cleaned and polished, and afterwards go to the glue extractors, in which the glue is extracted by various processes. Many different qualities of glue are made, including cake glues, powdered glues, Hquid glues, size, etc., for trades as widely apart as decorating, box-making, joinering, cabinet-making, making of compositions, match-making, sandpaper and emery cloth manufacture, the paper trade, and the textile trade. The bones which have had the glue extracted are taken away to the manure portion of the A\ orks, where they are dried and finely ground for manure. Either in this condition 40 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. or after treatment with acid and other materials they are sold as artificial manures with a guaranteed analysis to agriculturalists either at home or abroad. The marrow bones are treated separately, and are eventually sold for button-making, tooth-brush and piano- key manufacture. BOX-MAKING. In tracing the history of the box industry in connection with Nottingham, as far as can be ascertained, it was introduced by William Taylor, who carried on business as a stationer in Mount Street, slightly prior to 1840. On referring to an old Trade Directory of 1840, we find there were then four firms engaged in the industry, making boxes chiefly, if not solely, for the glove and hosiery manufacturers. At this time probably not more than fifty persons were employed in the trade. Twenty years later the number of firms had increased to nineteen, and it is worthy of notice that five of these are still in existence, and also that there are a few of both male and female employees who are still actively at work in the trade who were engaged in it at this period, nearly fifty- five years ago. At this time special shades of paper had mostly to be coloured by the box manufacturer himself. Since this time the trade has considerably developed, owing to the number of boxes now required by many trades which hitherto did not use them, but chiefly by the great expansion of the lace and making-up trades in the city. At the present time there are no less than thirty-eight box manufacturers in Nottingham, employing upwards of 1,500 people. Needless to say, the methods of work have undergone a great change, although the hand- made boxes are still largely made. Many firms have laid down plants of the latest box-making machinery, so as to produce boxes of all kinds to suit every requirement. JACQUARD CARDS AND PASTEBOARDS. Certain firms make a speciality of Jacquard cards, used in the manufacture of lace, and of white covered boards and cartridge paper, used by hosiery manufacturers for wrap- ping up socks and stockings. These articles were originally made by hand, but they are now mostly manufactured by machinery, in which great improvements have been made during the past few years. BREWING AND MALTING. Nottinghamshire has always held a high and honourable position in this industry. From very eaily times the fame of Nottingham ale was sung far and wide. Two circumstances have worked especially to this end —the production of an abundance of barley in the Vale of Belvoir, and the quality of the water which was rendered very suitable for brewing by the presence of gypsum. Throughout the Middle Ages it was found necessary to regulate this trade very closely, and frequent infringements of the Assize bear some witness to its extent. Malting and brewing were then very different from what they are now. There were none of the large breweries that are distributed throughout Nottingham, Newark, and Worksop to-day. Each retailer did his own work. To this day the extra-parochial portion of Nottingham known as Brewhouse Yard reminds us that here were the malting offices and brewhouse for the adjacent castle. That this trade was a profitable one is evident from the fact that in the eighteenth century in Nottingham none but burgesses were allowed to malt and brew. At the end of the eighteenth century there were three wholesale breweries in Nottingham, one established in 1792 in Goose Gate and owned by Thomas Simpson, a second started in 1794 by Henry Green & Co. on the site of Poplar Place, while the third was owned by Messrs. Deverill & Co. at the north end of the Leen Bridge. There was very great opposition to brewers' ale, which was considered to be inferior to the home- brewed product. In 1804 an attempt was made by the brewers to buy up the public- houses, so as to compel the sale of their liquor, but this was frustrated by the magistrates. Nowadays the trade is almost entirely monopolised by the brewers, who have been successful in maintaining the high standard of ale set by their forerunners. NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTUKE. 41 BUILDING STONE. Numerous quarries existed during the Middle Ages in the neighbourhood of Nottingham, which were worked for local purposes. The only important ones were those at Mansfield, where the magnesian limestone has achieved considerable fame. In 1839 this stone was used in the construction of the Houses of Parliament. Stone obtained from Maplebeck and Beacon Hill, Newark, is not unlike marble in texture, and is used for hearths and lime-burning. The yellow stone of Kimberley and Bulwell is also in considerable demand. In 1907 the output of magnesian limestone was 128,293 tons, and of sandstone 3,574 tons. CLOTHING TRADE. Men's and Boys'. There are several large firms engaged in this continually improving industry. Though the cloth has to be brought from Yorkshire and the linings from Lancashire, yet Nottingham provides a very skilful class of workgirls, and thus the firms here can turn out the medium and better class goods, for which there is an ever-increasing demand. Those engaged in this trade work almost wholly in factories, and but little of the work goes into the homes of the workers. This has many advantages for all parties, and not least for the consumer, as the sanitary conditions in the factories are superior to those in the homes, and the concentration of the industry is in favour of increased cheapness and volume of production. The workers in Nottingham are entirely local, and we do not find here, as so often elsewhere, colonies of imported aliens. A very large branch of the trade is in bespoke goods, and for this more skilful work the Nottingham girls are peculiarly suited. Originally intended to supply Nottingham and district, the trade has spread until now Nottingham-made goods are distributed over a very wide area. There is also a smaller trade in women's garments. Mantle Manufacture. Another branch of the wholesale clothing trade is also represented in Nottingham by the manufacture of ladies' cloaks in various forms, the materials used being princi- pally obtained from Scotland and the woollen districts of Yorkshire, though one special fabric is produced in Nottingham. All markets are catered for. The desigliing department is one of the most important, owing to the constant demands of fashion ; Paris, New York, and London being impartially drawn upon for inspiration. The materials are first put through various shrinking processes, then cut into the required shapes either by shears or cloth-cutting machines. The articles are then given out for tailoring. All pressing is done with a modern plant of machines supphed with high-pressure gas. After this last process the goods are sent to the warehouse to be sorted to various orders previous to being shipped. MAKING-UP TRADE. The industry known as the " making-up " trade has existed in Nottingham for the last fifty years, and latterly — owing to the increasing habit on the part of the general public of buying ready-made garments — has become one of considerable importance, employing approximately 10,000 people. The articles manufactured consist of : — Frillings, ruchings, and pleatings ; ladies' blouses, shirts, and robes ; servants' aprons and caps ; all kinds of neckwear ; ladies' overalls ; " boudoir " caps ; ladies' underclothing ; children's pinafores and dresses ; children's overalls ; children's hats and bonnets ; fancy linen afternoon tea and tray cloths ; fancy linen bedroom appointments ; together with shirts, pyjamas, etc., for men. The goods are made on the latest high-speed sewing machines^-driving at a tremendous rate of speed — which are manipulated by female operatives. There is but little use for male labour in the lace making-up trade. The materials used in the production of the articles enumerated comprise : — Manchester goods, such as lawns, croydens, nainsooks, printed and woven fabrics ; i Japanese and French silks ; French lisses and chiffons ; Scotch muslins and woollen fabrics ; Plauen laces ; Saxony needleworks or embroideries. There is also a very large Ij] quantity of Nottingham lace and net used in the manufacture of these goods. Nottingham is also the birthplace and home of the " Viyella " industry. 42 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. COTTON DOUBLING. This is a very important industry in Nottingham, because it is one of the trades which are carried on for the benefit of the manufacturers of lace. Lace and embroidery yarns are the chief products here, though a httle hosiery yarn is made. The cotton on the whole is fine, but any yarn from 30's twofold to 300's twofold is made. Though Nottingham is not one of the largest centres of cotton doubling like Stockport, yet there are some very large mills in the district, and one at least has nearly 50,000 spindles at work night and day. The yarn is sent to most countries in Europe, and to America — -in fact, far more goes out of Nottingham than is used in the town industries. CYCLE MANUFACTURE. Nottingham-made bicycles have always been held in high estimation by those who value a well-made machine, and to-day, when, among the upper classes, the bicycle has been superseded by the motor car and motor cycle, the makers of bicycles report that they are doing a larger trade year by year. Most cycle manufacturers now combine with the former industry the making of motor cycles and cars, but at least one large firm in Nottingham restrict themselves entirely to the manufacture of bicycles, and find that the demand for them is as great as the supply, owing to the fact that the cheapening of the machine has brought them within the reach of the working classes. The manufacture of bicycles in Nottingham finds employment for about 2,000 people, three-fourths of whom are connected with one firm. The bicycles for the most part are made throughout, and not merely assembled from component parts made up by different specialists. The following are the chief operations carried out ;— Turning and milling bearing cups and cones, axles for pedals, cranks and wheels, sprockets, free-wheels and cranks ; branking, piercing, drawing, and shaping by means of power presses, such parts as frame loops, hub-shells, crank brackets, brake and pedal fittings, chain wheels, and various frame clips ; forging, brazing, case-hardening, and annealing, grinding and polishing, electro-plating, oxy-acetylene welding, enamelhng, packing-case making, wheel- building, spoke-making and threading, and the manufacture of metal gear-cases. The production of a well-known three-speed gear for motors and motor cycles was introduced a few years ago, and now gives employment to about 600 people. Nottingham is responsible for one-tenth of the total output of bicycles in the United Kingdom. The high quahty of workmanship characteristic of the Nottingham mechanic, accustomed to the intricate and accurate details of the lace machine, is reflected in Not- tingham bicycles, which are of the highest grade, the local makers not having found it necessary or desirable to compete with the low-priced productions of certain firms not connected with Nottingham, The cycle trade in Nottingham was estabhshed 25 years ago, and is of steady and continuous growth, ENGINEERING. The largest branches of the engineering industry of Nottingham — the building of lace and hosiery machines and accessories — is an old and important industry, which not only originated in, but still has its chief centre in, Nottingham. Lace and hosiery, as is well known, are two of the most important staple trades of Nottingham, and these tAvo trades and the subsidiary trades of bleaching, dressing, etc., require machinery of a very delicate and special kind. From the very earliest days the machinery to make both hosiery and lace was chiefly made in Nottingham, and as a natural consequence the brains of local mechanics and others, with several generations of experience and special training, have been centred upon the improvement and develop- ment of these machines and their various parts and accessories. Nearly all of the numberless inventions and improvements which have resulted in the beautiful and almost human machines of the present day have been evolved in Nottingham workshops and factories, and it is safe to say that the mechanics of Nottingham to-day are peculiarly expert in this work, and, thanks to their skill and to the energy of their employers, NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 4,3 Nottingham lace machines and Nottingham hosiery machines are still the best, and not only supply the local demand, but, in spite of carriage, customs duty, and patriotic sentiment, are exported to every part of the world where lace is made. The engineering trade of Nottingham, apart from the special branches of lace and hosiery machine building, which are separately dealt with, is not only large, but covers a great variety of work. The following list of machinery and other engineering work produced in Nottingham will give some idea of the varied nature and extent of this industry : — Colliery winding engines and other machinery at local pits. Sugar machinery, which is exported in considerable quantities to the Tropics. Structural iron and steel works. Railway chairs and works connected with railway signals. Refuse destructors for Sanitary Authorities. Cast-iron pipes of all sizes, which are exported all over the world. Adding and registering machines. Banding and braiding machines. Shafting, pulleys, plummer blocks, etc. Three interesting events of the engineering industry are connected with Nottingham and its immediate district. The centrifugal machine, or hydro-extractor, to give it one of its various names, was invented in Nottingham. In 1847, Sydney Smith, a local brass- founder, invented the first efficient steam-gauge. It is also on record that the first rotating steam-engine ever erected was put up in the silk and cotton mills at Papplewick, near Nottingham. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. Nottingham is rapidly becoming one of the most important centres in the electrical engineering trade, and the work of the firms in this city is obtaining the reputation it merits not only all over the British Isles, but even in Paris. The illuminations at the recent Franco-British Exhibition at Shepherd's Bush were for the most part the work of a Nottingham firm, who also hold several Govermnent contracts for Admiralty works, while their patent lift manufacturing department has been employed in several of the Government offices. Other branches of the industry are the manufacture of lightning conductors and the felling of chimneys. The central geographical position of Nottingham gives facilities to firms established here, and they have been enabled to undertake so much work that to-day Nottingham contains the largest firm of electrical engineering contractors in the kingdom. FURNACE ENGINEERING. Everyone notices what a clean city Nottingham is, and how free it is from smoke r,s compared with other large manufacturing centres. This may be attributed to the fact that the manufacture of patent furnaces and fire-bars, which is a highly specialised trade, has always been carried on in and around the city. Apart from the waste of unconsumed fuel, which is represented by the thick smoke to be seen pouring from the tops of factory chimneys which have badly constructed furnaces, the amio3^ance and discomfort to others from this unnecessary and extravagant nuisance is very great. The local authorities in Nottingham are very strict in enforcing the bye-laws with regard to smoke from these chimneys, knowing as they do that by consulting any of the local furnace engineers, and in the absence of negligence on the part of the stoker, the emission of this black smoke could be prevented and the amount of heat obtained from the fuel increased. Apart from this, another important feature is that the furnaces will most efficiently use cheap fuel, giving large economies on the fuel bill, with increased steaming. There is also a large trade in the manufacture of radiators, slow-combustion boilers, and other apparatus for the heating of premises. WIRE ROPES. The manufacture of ropes of wire commenced in England about 1850. They were exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851. On their introduction they rapidly superseded hemp ropes and chains for mining, on account of their greater strength and lightness. 44 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. In those early days iron wire having a tensile strength of about 35 tons per square inch was the only material available, but since the introduction of steel wire rapid progress has been made, and it is quite a common practice now to use steels of 120 tons, and even up to 135 tons per square inch tensile strength. Equally marked has been the improve- ment in the ductility of materials. Side by side with this progress in the material has been the development in the formation of the ropes, and to-day it can be said that prac- tically a wire rope can be made of any size, strength, and flexibility to meet the varied requirements of the engineering world. Wire ropes play a very important part in the world's development. By their help the mining engineer has been able to reach and bring into use the mineral wealth buried at depths that only a few years ago was thought impossible, as instance the deep levels that are being mined for gold in South Africa ; in the coal-fields in almost every part of the world the lower levels are being reached and worked profitably because heavier loads can be lifted at higher speeds ; the oil wealth lying thousands of feet below the earth's surface is being tapped and raised. It would be almost impossible in this short article to enumerate the many uses to which wire ropes are put and their formation or construction to meet the requirements ; sufficient to say, they can be made rigid as for an overhead or aerial railway, or of various flexibilities to wind on drums and pass round pulleys, from the ponderous gear of mining equipment to small drums and pulleys on a crane, or the sheaves of pulley blocks. It is interesting to note that we are dependent on the wire rope to-day for the supply of fish to our tables. The deep-sea trawlers carry, and run out 200 to 250 fathoms of wire rope every time they cast the net. All sea-going vessels, whether in the Navy or Mercantile Marine, are equipped with them, according to Admiralty or Lloyds' specification and rules. There are several firms manufacturing wire ropes for which there is a considerable demand locally, and it is no doubt due to the fact that Nottinghamshire is the centre of extensive and developing coal-fields that the industry became established here. Owing, moreover, to its central position for shipping ports both on the east and west coast, and to the excellent railway facilities for reaching them, goods can be loaded overnight and be alongside the ship next morning. With modern machinery there is practically no limit to the length of wire rope that can be made without splice. Many ropeways and street tramways are now running with ropes six and eight miles in length. ELECTRO-PLATING, ETC. The finishing of metals of every kind, such as electro-plating in gold, silver, nickel, copper, or brass, oxydizing, lacquering, bronzing, japanning in all colours, enamelUng and plating of cycle parts, is another trade which is carried on in Nottingham, as well as the making of silver-plated tankards, and the production of hand-wrought copper, brass, or silver goods, such as electric-light fittings, finger plates, fire fronts, canopies, etc., worked to architects' designs. GYPSUM. Gypsum is a mineral consisting of hydrous calcium sulphate, which, when calcined 80 as to retain 25 per cent, of its water, yields a white pulverulent substance known as plaster of Paris ; and it is almost entirely for the manufacture of this product that gypsum is mined to-day. When crystallized, gypsum is knoAvn as selenite, while a finely granular variety is called alabaster. Gypsum is found in the Keuper marls of the Midland Counties, as well as more sparingly elsewhere in these islands. In Nottinghamshire it is found in large quantities at Newark, Bowbridge, Cropwell Bishop, East Bridgford, Hawton, Gotham, and elsewhere. From an historical point of view, the most famous gypsum mine was just over the border at Chellaston in Derbyshire, whence the finer kinds of alabaster were obtained during the Middle Ages for the production of monumental effigies and other work of a similar nature. Nottingham was the chief exporting centre of this branch of the alabaster industry, and we have records of traders from the Continent coming to Nottingham to buy alabaster. NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 45 In this district alabaster is found in thick nodular beds, or "floors," in spheroidal masses termed " cakes." The purest alabaster is white, but a brown veining is frequently produced by an association with oxide of iron. In and about the eighteenth centuiy many of the floors of houses were paved with plaater laid on rushes between the joists. Gotham and Orston were the centres for supplying this plaster, which was also much used for making ornamental ceilings, many of which still remain in the older houses of the town. The introduction of the planing machine and the abolition of the duty on timber reduced the price of floor-boards, and resulted in plaster floors going out of fashion. Ground gypsum is known by other names, such as Terra Alba and Mineral Wliite, and as such is largely used in bleaching and the manufacture of paper, oil, paint and grease, and chemical manures. Water permeating through strata containing gypsum dissolves the calcium sulphate, and thus becomes permanently hard, or "selenitic." The value of such water has been realised by brewers, and no doubt the fame of Nottingham ale owed not a little to this mineral, just as to-day do the flourishing breweries of Nottingham, Newark, and Burton- on-Trent. Nowadays gypsum is artificially dissolved in water to be used for brewing, and the process is known as " burtonization." At the present time the county of Nottingham is responsible for nearly one-half of the total output of gypsum of the United Kingdom. HOSIERY TRADE. In view of the fact that the manufacture of hosiery forms one of the largest staple trades of the city of Nottingham, it will be interesting to trace in some detail the history of the trade as seen in the numerous inventions and improvements which rapidly followed one another during the eighteenth and especially the nineteenth century. The use of machinery in this trade takes its beginning from the invention of the stocking frame by the Rev. William Le6, Curate of Calverton, in this county, in the year 1589. Prior to this time, stockings were either hand-knitted or cut out of cloth fabric and stitched, the former being of very slow production, though pleasant to wear by reason of their elasticity and adaptation to the shape required, the latter naturally stiff and unyielding in texture and clumsy in wear. During the sixteenth century knitted stockings, especially of silk, were considered a much-prized possession. Whatever it was that turned Lee's mind towards knitting by machinery, we cannot ignore the genius of this man, whose inventive foresight had mainly to do with the establishment of Nottingham as the premier hosiery town in this island. The stocking frame invented by Lee was "the first mechanical means employed to produce a looped or knitted fabric. This frame was the original of all the hosiery and lace machines at present in use." There are many even of those engaged in the lace trade who do not reahze that in the stocking frame as invented by Lee lay the foundation of their own elaborate and beautiful manufacture. A remarkable fact in connection with the frame is that it was so thoroughly adaptable for the work for which it was built that its principles are still embodied in most, if not all, of the power frames of the present day. This is not the place to tell of Queen Ehzabeth's lack of foresight and Lee's consequent departure to France, where at Rouen, under the patronage of Henry IV., he established a flourishing business by the aid of nine frame-workers who had accompanied him ; but Henry's death by assassinr.tion cut short his career, and he died in Paris in the year 1610, impoverished and thoroughly disheartened. After his death, the frames, with one exception, were brought back to London by his brother James, and set up by him in Old Street Square, Soho, in which neighbourhood the manufacture of stockings was carried on for many years. James Lee, however, appears to have soon sold his machines and returned to his native county, where he joined an old apprentice named Aston, who had made some improvements and additions to the frame, and the two proceeded to build frames. Calverton, Woodborough, and Thoroton are mentioned by Felkin as the villages where the machines were made, and where the manufacture of hosiery was first carried on in 46 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. this district. In 1641 we are told that there were two master-hosiers in Nottingham, and from that date the trade spread rapidly through this and the neighbouring counties of Leicester and Derby. Meanwhile, the business estabhshed in London had by degrees reached important proportions, and in 1657 the company of Frame- work Knitters was incorporated under Charter granted by Oliver Cromwell. In 1695 there are said to have been 1,500 frames in London, although during the previous quarter-century many had been taken to Ireland, and fuUy 400 to various parts on the continent — to France, Spain, and Italy, whilst from France the manufacture was quickly carried, chiefly by refugees, to Saxony, where by degrees a most important trade was estabhshed. In 1727 there were 2,500 frames in London, and 5,500 in the Midland provinces, but gradually the manufacture was moved from London, and in 1750, out of a total of 14,000 frames only 1,000 are reported as being in the Metropolis, with 350 in Godalming and neighbourhood, whilst in the Midlands the number had risen to at least 10,000, and in Ireland to about 800. In Nottingham at that time there were 50 manufacturers employing operatives in the town and country, and trading mainly with London merchants. During the decade from 1740 to 1750 the wages of the framework knitters were much reduced, and " many of the parish apprentices, ill-managed, ill-taught, and little cared for, were reduced almost to starvation." The result was that much of the hosiery made became depreciated in quahty. This was especially the case in silk goods, and the importation of that class of hosiery from France increased so greatly that in 1754 Parliament forbade the introduction of French sillv goods. About the year 1758 an important addition to the stocking frame was carried out by Mr. Jedediah Strutt, a young farmer at Blackwell, in Derbyshire, who invented an apparatus by which ribbed hose could be made. He took out patents to secure his invention, and moved into Derby, entering into partnership with a Mr. Woollat, whose daughter he had married, and their goods were called "Derby Ribs," from the town in which their manufacture was first carried on. The business thus established soon became a very lucrative one. Mr. Strutt's invention attracted much attention, and opened up the way for many exceedingly important and valuable improvements. Though only bearing indirectly on the development of the hosiery trade and Notting- ham, the subsequent work of Mr. Strutt is not without importance and interest. Nottingham was a great consumer of cotton yarn, and being a town of good repute and firm commercial standing, it attracted those two inventors of spinning machines, Hargreaves and Arkwright. The latter was fortunate enough to attract the attention of the successful hosiery firm of Messrs. Need & Strutt, who in 1771 took him into partnership. In 1769 the patent for spinning yarn by the use of rollers was taken out by " Richard Arkwright, of Nottingham, clock-maker." " The first cotton mill was erected at Nottingham, and was driven by horses," but from the time that Stiiitt turned his mechanical genius towards the solution of the problems that baffled Arkwright, the success of the spinning machine was assured. Very soon the business was transferred to Cromford, and later (1775) to Belper. It will be interesting to many in this locality to be informed that the Mr. Strutt mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs was the great-grandfather of the present Lord Belper, and may be reckoned as the founder of the present noble family. Owing to the distress caused by the reduced wages spoken of in a previous paragraph, there was formed in 1776-7 a society called " The Stocking-Makers' Association for Mutual Protection," which became sufficiently powerful in Nottingham to influence the parliamentary elections. At the conclusion of the war with the American Colonies the hosiery trade improved, and in the year 1782 it is reckoned that there were 20,000 stocking frames in the United Kingdom, and of these 17,350 were to be found in the counties of Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester. The use of the warp machine, which was first invented about the year 1775, gave a great impetus to the hosiery trade, and induced many capitalists, with no active interest in hosiery, to invest their spare money in the purchase of machines, which, being hired out, brought considerable income to their owners. In 1791, Dawson, of Leicester, invented a machine to which rotary power was applied, and through the help of Mr. Gregory, of Nottingham, he obtained a patent and set up NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 47 a number of machines in Turncalf Alley. The invention of " Dawson's Wheels " is a landmark in the hosiery trade. During the next fifty years it was followed by a number of subsidiary inventions. In the early part of the nineteenth century, owing to the loss of trade and heavy increase in the cost of food, there was much suffering, and the consequent discontent necessitated the presence of troops in the town, who occupied quarters at Bromley House. The Luddite riots rendered the years 1811-1816 black ones in the history of the Nottingham hosiery trade. The great war then raging through Europe brought keen distress to the industrial population, in that these islands were deprived of access to regions from which food could be obtained at a time when the home supply had run short. The frame-work knitters also suffered severely from oppression by their capitalist masters, and the type of master was changing from the master-hosier to the man who was not interested in hosiery except that he regarded the frames he owned as a profitable investment. One result appears to have been that a large amount of badly made goods were thrown on the market, which discredited the trade and brought about a lowering of the wages, which already were barely sufiicient to ward off starvation. About this time a very cheap kind of stocking known as " cut-up work " was put on the market, and caused those who still continued to do honest better-class work to lower their wages to meet their opponents. This " cut-up work " was made in one large piece and afterwards cut out to the shape of the leg and the seams joined. The rioters considered that they could best bring pressure to bear upon their oppressors by destroying the frames. They were well organised, and during the six years above-mentioned the terror of Luddism lay over the Midlands. But these riots did not have the effect of checking the distress brought about by the bad economic conditions prevailing. Until 1845 the frame-work knitters suffered very severely. The establishment of trade boards of arbitration was a step in the right direction if only that they tended to put a stop to the " truck " system, by which the workmen were paid partly in food purchasable at very high prices from shops which were under the control of their masters. One of the earliest and most successful attempts to transform Lee's franae into a power or rotary frame was made by Luke Barton in 1857. Further most important improvements were made by William Cotton, of Loughborough, in 1864, and since then many additional improvements have been made to this type of machine. The invention of the latch needle by two Leicester men in 1858 was of great importance. In 1816, Sir Marc Brunei, a Frenchman, had patented a circular frame machine, and this was greatly improved by Peter Claussen, of Brussels. About 1 850 Moses Mellor, of Nottingham, invented what is now known as the English loop-wheel circular frame. The circular frame and the latch needle have been responsible for most of the subsequent improvements in hosiery machines, whether worked by hand or power. In 1854 the making of Shetland woollen work was commenced in Nottingham, and in 1862 a large business was developed in the making of shawls from this yarn. Hucknall became the chief place of manufacture, and a considerable export trade to Spain and North and South America resulted. In recent times the hosiery trade has been somewhat overshadowed by the lace trade, but notwithstanding this, it has not decreased, but steadily increased. The tendency has been to reduce the number of out-workers, and collect the frame- work knitters into factories. However, some of the best work, especially in silk hose, is made by out- workers, and the old hand-frames which are still in use turn out the finest and best goods in the trade. During the last thirty years a very great variety of machines for the production of all kinds of fabric suitable for personal wear have been introduced into hosiery manufacture ; American, German, and French machinists competing keenly with English, all manifesting great inventive skill in the production of new machines and in securing impro^■ement in the building of the various machines in use. Whilst Leicester is now specially noted for the manufacture of heavy woollen goods, such as sweatera, jerseys, golf jackets, and sporting coats, in addition to the stout makes of underwear and hosiery, Nottingham is mainly known for the production of finer articles 48 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PEESENT, AND FUTURE. in cotton, lisle thread, wool, and silk. The finest goods now made are produced in this district, and its manufactures may be found in almost all parts of the world. No reliable information is available as to the number of operatives employed, or the total value of hosiery goods sent out from this district, but certainly this industry finds employment for many thousands of workpeople, both male and female, and its output is estimated at the annual value of some milUon pounds sterling. In fact, Nottingham and the neighbouring town of Leicester are the main centres of hosiery manufacture, and their trade has been largely increased during the last few years, and at the present time is in a prosperous condition. HOSIERY MACHINE BUILDING. The hosiery machine of the present day is largely due to the inventive genius of the Rev. William Lee, of Calverton, near Nottingham, and for many years hosiery was all produced on hand frames in numberless small cottage homes and workshops in the town of Nottingham and the surrounding villages, such as Calverton, Lambley, Keyworth, etc., and even to-day a few of the old men who survive in some of these villages make a small quantity of hosiery on hand frames, but the introduction of larger machinery driven by steam or electric power has slowly but surely displaced the " hand framwork knitter," as he was called. As in the case of lace machines, so in the case of hosiery machines. There have been generations of skilled mechanics and others in Nottingham continually producing and improving these machines, and it is safe to say a very large proportion of the hosiery machines, not only in Nottingham and district, but throughout the world, are produced in Nottingham. Amongst the many kinds of machines produced by the hosiery machine builders are "rib" machines, "rib-top" machines, on what is known as "Cotton's system," seaming, welting, and turning-of! machines. Other machines, which are not hosiery machines in the ordinary sense, but are none the less manufactured by Nottingham hosiery machine builders, are traverse warp machines for making Milanese glove fabric, fast ■warp machines for making taffeta, glove linings, mitts, etc., and also fast tatting and crochet machines and warping mills. There are also firms who make and supply various parts of, and accessories to, hosiery machines, including machine needles — a most important accessory. As in the case of lace, so also in the case of hosiery there are makers of the special machinery required for the bleaching, dyeing, and dressing of hosiery. LACE TRADE. The early history of the lace-making machines coincides with that of the stocking frame, which, about 1768, was adapted for producing open-looped fabrics which had a net-like appearance. This important improvement was probably the work of Hammond, of Nottingham, who called his net " Valenciennes lace," an arbitrary and incorrect name. Inventions of various kinds of net were put upon the market, but their standing was, for the most part, ephemeral, and it was not until about 1778 that any further advance was made. " The manufacture of point net contributed more than any other to the prosperity of the trade in Nottingham up to 1815, when it gave place to the then lately established twist bobbin-net manufacture." Several claimants have been put forward for the honour of the invention of point net. Mr. Felkin thinks that Flint, a Nottingham journeyman stocking-maker, first conceived the idea, though he had not the means to carry it out, and sold his invention to Thomas Taylor, a framesniith, who took out a patent in 1778, which he sold to Morris, the patentee of the eyelet-hole machine. This net, however, was too light and unsound in texture to be of much use, and it was left for John Rogers, of Mansfield, to produce in 1786 the double pressed fast point net of solid texture. IMorris does not seem to have realised the importance or value of the invention he had purchased from Taylor, for soon he presented it to Messrs. John, William and Thomas Hayne, of Ashbourne and Nottingham, who, by making use of Rogers' invention, produced a net of perfect mesh " which might be cut in any direction without deranging or setting NOTTINGHAM PAST, PEESENT, AND FUTURE. 49 the loops at liberty." This created a new industry, in which many thousands found employment in Nottingham and the neighbouring counties. Mr. William Hayne was the first to embroider lace rightly and give it a flattened smooth surface. The inventions of John Heathcoat have really laid the foundation of the modern lace trade in Nottingham. In 1808 and 1809 " he obtained patents for machines for making bobbin net with a simpler and more readily produced mesh than that of point lace." John Leavers is responsible as much as anyone else for the modern lace trade, for it is from improvements introduced by him into the figured net weaving machines that the modern lace machine has been developed. But the aim of all the inventors has been to reproduce the patterns of hand-made lace by means of machinery, and this was rendered possible by the application of the Jacquard apparatus to the Leavers machine. The more recent invention of a circular lace machine by a local firm has resulted in the production of machine-made lace which camiot be distinguished from hand-made pillow lace. For a long period machine-made laces were produced in England and France only, Nottingham being the English centre of the industry, whilst Calais and Lyons were the principal centres in France. In more recent years the industry has extended to Russia, Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United States, but Nottingham and district still remains the largest lace manufacturing centre in the world, both as regards the number of persons and machines engaged in the industry, and the varied and extensive nature of the productions. The lace is made principally in Nottingham, Long Eaton, and the surrounding villages, whilst there are also important plants of machinery in Derby and Ilkeston. Practically the whole of the lace made in these places is " finished " and sold in Nottingham ; a very large area in the centre of the city, known as the " Lace Market," consists almost entirely of large warehouses where the lace is sold and shipped to all countries of the world. For many years this has been one of the principal industries of the district, and the workpeople engaged in it have reached so high a degree of efficiency that when plants of lace machines have been set up in foreign countries there has always been a keen demand for the services of Nottingham designers, draughtsmen, and twist-hands. The commission houses and leading manufacturers send travellers to all parts of the world. Buyers from the principal lace firms in the United States come to Nottingham twice or more frequently each year. Many foreign firms have their own buying houses in the city, while others buy through commission houses. Buyers from the Colonies, South America, and the European countries also regularly visit the market. There are several quite distinct classes of lace machines — the plain net. Leavers, warp and curtain machines, each one greatly differing from the other. A few manufacturers have two or more of these various classes of machine, but the majority specialize in one class alone, and consequently buyers have to buy from a large number of manufacturers in order to obtain a complete range of goods. The result is that a volume of business is done through what are known as " commission houses." Many buyers find this a great convenience, as they can in this way avoid the necessity of opening a number of accounts. A large proportion of manufacturers, who either have not a sufficiently wide range or the desire to do a direct business, also sell through the commission houses. The manufacture of lace is exceedingly interesting. The preparation of a new design involves successive stages, usually carried out by different individuals, each specially trained for the particular kind of work. The design is first sketched by the " designer," and its value depends upon his artistic taste and ability to originate. It then passes to the hands of the " draughtsman," who transfers the design to an enlarged " draft " or working drawing. On this all of the intricate movements of the threads are planned for the reproduction of the design on the machine. The excellence of the lace, when made, depends very largely upon the technical skill and experience of the draughtsman employed on this stage of the work. The movements of the threads as indicated on the draft have then to be transcribed by a " reader off " into numerical figures, which operation is known as " reading off the draft." The sheets are then placed in the hands of a " puncher," who perforates holes on jacquard cards corresponding to the figures on his sheets These jacquard cards are then attached to the lace machine, and as it works, control the twists and movements of the threads as originally arranged on the draft, and thus reproduce the design as a textile fabric or lace. 5.0 NOTTINGHAM — PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. Leavers Branch. In former years most of the Leavers machines were engaged in making what may be described as staple articles, narrow Valenciennes, Torchons, Maltese, crochet edgings, and similar classes of lace, the productions being of a very high order. During the last thirty years extraordinary developments have taken place, the marvellous changes of fashion having demanded the production of a much wider range of novelties. Formerly, comparatively small assortments were produced by the various manufacturers, and the same patterns were run year after year. While this is still the case with certain staple classes of goods, the demand for novelties compels manufacturers to be continually pro- ducing entirely new and expensive ranges. Every class of real lace is reproduced, Duchesse, Alen^on, Malines, Brussels, Bohemian, and similar styles of laces being made in widths varying from the narrowest edgings to the wide flouncings. In producing these novelties manufacturers have been assisted by machines being made with greater capabilities and of increased size. Large quantities of lace are also sold for the "lingerie" or underwear trade. Skirt laces form an important part in the Nottingham lace trade, and in addition the finest narrow goods are made for all kinds of underwear. Very dainty laces are also made for blouses and neck-wear use. Whatever classes of lace have been demanded by the vagaries of fashion have been produced with such skill and enterprise as to enable Nottingham to hold her place at the head of the lace industry, no expense being spared in the production of high-class novelties. While the bulk of the machines are engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods, silk goods are by no means neglected. Extensive ranges of silk veilings are produced, also silk laces for millinery and other purposes. Warp Machines. — A coarser class of goods is made on these machines — Irish crochets and tattings for infants' millinery, laces for use on made-up curtains, pinafores, aprons, corsets, bed valances. Hair nets and veilings are also made on these machines. Plain Nets. — This branch of the trade is of great importance, immense quantities of all kinds of nets being shipped from Nottingham. Some are sold to foreign markets — Plauen, etc. — to be used for the foundation of embroidery laces. A considerable quantity is also used by the makers-up for frillings, ruchings, etc. Mosquito nets are also shipped in large quantities. The Embroidery Trade. The multiple needle embroidery machine, commonly called the Swiss machine, plays too important a part in the lace trade to be ignored in this article. Unlike other machines used in the manufacture of lace and hosiery, this is claimed to be of foreign origin. The first machine of this type of which Ave have any record was invented by Heilmann, of Miilhausen, in Switzerland, in 1828. This machine was worked entirely by hand, and made an exact imitation of hand-stitching. In other words, it was neither a chain- stitch nor a lock-stitch machine. About 1863, Isaac Grobli, of Oberuzwil, Switzerland, brought out the first shuttle or lock-stitch machine. However, it was not until 1867 that this machine was first put on the market, and even then it was very imperfect, being only 4| yards long, making twenty stitches per minute, and being, on account of its very imperfect tension, only capable of producing the very commonest articles. From this date up to the present time improvements have been continually brought out in the shuttle embroidery machine, the result being that the latest machines are capable of making the finest goods at a speed varying from 110 to 139 stitches per minute, the latter figure being only obtainable by machines which are fitted with the jacquard, instead of a pantograph, to control the movements of the fabric frame which form the pattern. The shuttle embroidery machine was first introduced into Nottingham in 1883, since which time numerous local firms have been engaged in this industry. Some of the most up-to-date plants existing are now to be found in Nottingham, while the local manufactures will compare favourably with anything produced in other centres of this industry. The scope of the shuttle embroidery machine, as far as materials and yarns are concerned, is practically without limit. It is generally agreed that this machine is the most perfect instrument for reproducing mechanically all kinds of needle-point laces, in addition to embroideries of all types. NOTTINGHAM PAST. PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 51 However, the industry is still in its infancy, and wonderful developments may be expected in the future, in which Nottingham, being so favourably situated for the supply of raw materials, and containing a population which has been engaged during the last 150 years in the production of lace, cannot fail to take a prominent part. Lace Curtains. Nottingham, the birthplace of the lace curtain trade, still continues to hold the leading position in the manufacture of all goods made on lace curtain machines. This is due to several causes. Machinery for the world is built in Nottingham, and Nottingham manufacturers thus have the opportunity of securing any new invention which may come into the market. The inherent skill of the workers counts for a great deal, in spite of the fact that Nottingham weavers, or twist-hands, as they are called locally, are in receipt of considerably higher wages than are paid elsewhere for the same work. Many thou- sands of pounds are spent annually in designs, with the result that Nottingham has now many designers of the very first order, and, generally speaking, the Nottingham manu- facturers have the pick of all novelties which may be produced. Nottingham is also fortunate in having an unlimited supply of water which has properties which make it as suitable for lace-dressing as it is suitable for the brewing trade, as exemplified by the success of the brewers at Burton-on-Trent and Newark, both of which towns, in common with Nottingham, being situated on the river Trent. This enables the manufacturers to obtain that delightfully pure, soft finish which, though so much desired, is obtainable nowhere else. The result is that for value, novelty, style, and finish, Nottingham still leads in the manufacture of lace curtains, in spite of the severest competition from outside, BLEACHING AND DYEING OF LACE AND HOSIERY. This branch of the lace and hosiery trades is largely carried on within a radius of five miles from Nottingham, and employs upwards of 12,000 people. A plentiful supply of pure, bright water, pumped from the extensive bunter sandstone beds underlying the city and district, enables both bleachers and dyers to produce a beautiful clear white on the goods, and bright, solid colours. Many modern buildings added to existing works have been equipped with the best and most up-to-date machinery for the production of the finer finishes on the various fabrics. Besides the finer qualities of lace fabrics, consisting of torchons, valenciennes, etc., the cotton goods dealt with include fine bretonne nets, mosquito nets, warp lace, and also curtains. The curtains form a distinct branch ; and after bleaching by the continuous process, are mostly dressed {i.e., stretched) on stenters with travelling clips. They are afterwards cut up, edged, and folded. An approximate estimate of the output would be equal to about 100,000 pairs weekly. The other laces mentioned are dressed on stationary frames, in order that the pattern and texture may be properly adjusted. The silk lace fabrics dealt with include silk veilings, laces, tulles, etc. The former are dyed fast colours, and are finished in the soft silky manner for which the city is noted ; while large quantities of the latter are given a waterproof dress. The hosiery fabrics treated consist of cotton, wool, silk, viscose silk, and mixtures of these. After milling and dyeing, the goods are trimmed {i.e., stretched on light, smooth boards, specially shaped) and pressed in hot or cool presses. Some goods are brushed or teazled to produce a smooth, warm, and woolly surface ; while other woollen fabrics are rendered unshrinlcable by a special process. It may be noted that the dyeing and trimming of hosiery employ men principally, while in the lace dressing women provide most of the labour. LACE MACHINE BUILDING. Lace machine building forms an important branch of Nottingham industries, several thousand people being employed in their construction, and great quantities of iron, steel, brass, and other metals, etc., are requisitioned for their manufacture. A comparison of the early lace machine and those of modern build will give some idea of the giant strides made in the evolution of their construction. The " Heathcoat " machine, an 52 NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. early invention, probably weighed about 140 lbs. and could be placed in a case two feet square. This modest machine indeed looks small, say, alongside of a present-day lace curtain machine of 52 quarters and over, the full length of which will be close upon 50 feet, and is capable of making a dozen medium-size lace curtains at one time. The weight of one of these machines is upwards of 12 tons, and requires for its transit three " bogey " and three ordinary railway tracks. Thirty years ago a 22-quarter machine was considered wide, whereas to-day machines of 40 quarters are quite common. Notwithstanding this extraordinary growth in size, the speed at which they are driven has also increased, the machines turned out by the best makers being capable of producing six racks per hour. Heavy as these machines are, they contain many delicate and intricate parts, and require the very best material, along with accuracy and good workmanship, to bring them up to perfection. Many improvements have been introduced during the last few years, one of the latest and most important being the considerably increased size and holding capacity of the brass bobbins which contain the special yarn for holding the fabric together. When these brass bobbins are empty, it is necessary to remove them from the machine and replace with full bobbins, during which time the machine must remain idle. The great advantage of this extra size and holding capacity of the brass bobbins is therefore much appreciated by lace manufacturers, owing to the great saving of time, cotton, and expense which they effect. In a short description like this it is impossible to go very much into detail, but in conclusion it may be stated that Nottingham is proud of its abilities in lace machine construction, and hopes the day is far distant when this city may be out-stripped by other competitors in producing, as she now does, the finest lace machines in the world. There are firms in Nottingham who can supply and fit every kind of lace machine and accessory ; other firms supply only the loose parts or accessories of these various machines ; and other firms still who supply and equip the means of producing and distributing the power throughout a modern factory. It is unnecessary to attempt to give a list of the many kinds of machine which are included in the term " lace machine," but it may be stated generally that they include plain net and lace curtain machines, as well as Leavers and "go through" machines, warp machines, torchon machines, embroidery machines, and spotted net machines. The accessories comprise not only pulleys, shafting, plummer blocks, hangers, etc., but also such minor parts of the machine or loose parts as carriages, bobbins, combs, steel bars, droppers, jacquards, winding and spool engines. Another class of machinery which is intimately connected with the lace trade, and is largely made in Nottingham, is machinery for the bleaching and dressing of lace. Sewing machines are very largely used by makers-up and finishers, but these are not made in Nottingham ; on the other hand, all the large sewing machine makers have important branches or agencies, and not only supply but fit up large plants of sewing machines which are driven by electric power. LEATHER. The art and mystery of tanning was practised from very early times in Nottingham. In the Borough records for the year 1395 we find a complaint " that all the tanners dwelfing in Littilmerche of Nottingham on the southern side block up the common water, which is called 'Lene,' with stakes, poles, and turves and lay their leather in the aforesaid water, to the great detriment of the whole people of the town aforesaid." It is evident from this that there were quite a number of tanners located in this part of the city. In 1514 there were seven tanners of " schepp skens in the este parte of ye town of Notyngham." They gave a gift of land to Hethbeth Bridges (Trelit Bridge). In 1550 is an item, " Recevyd for yeTannars soppur — XXs," and in 1574 the following paragraph occurs : " Of the wardens of the tanners for a house over the seyde tauerne, being now the lether halle — iiijs. viijd." At this period the Tanners' Company was evidently of considerable importance in the city. With the development of competition in trade, the regulation of industry by means of these companies was no longer possible ; they gradually died out, and the trade NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRE&psr3'',',4lTSr)b J'uWre'. • ' 53 assumed somewhat of its present character. To-day Nottingham is the most important single centre for the tanning of sheep-skins in this country, and probably in the world, about 60,000 skins per week being tanned and dressed in the various leather works of the city. The number of workpeople employed in the industr}^ is about 1,000, and the value of the products turtied out close upon £600,000 per annum. These are exported to every part of the world, a very large proportion of the trade being with Germany and America. The principal kinds of leather manufactured in Nottingham are known as " light leathers," made from sheep, goat, and calf skins, and also large quantities of sheep and goat imported from India. These leathers are finished in a great variety of ways for the boot and shoe trade, both for the uppers and linings of boots, for bookbinding, for purses and pocket-books, and general fancy leather goods. The flesh side is made into the so-called chamois or wash leather, and some of this is also used for making gloves. A large quantity of sheep and lamb skins are made into chrome leather for motor clothing, aviators' clothing, and shoe linings. One of the principal articles made in the neighbourhood is what is known as " Skivers." These are exported in very large quantities to the Continent and America. A considerable quantity are finished in the town for hat leathers, which is an important local industry. Many of these leathers are often sold under fancy names. Some of the firms in Nottingham make a speciality of one thing, others of another. Some currying of heavier leathers is also carried on, and glue and parchment are also made m the locality. The manufacture of machine beltings to meet the varying requirements of the lace and hosiery factories, spinning and cotton doubling mills, engineering works, collieries, motor and cycle works, laundries, dyeing and bleach works, etc., is an important branch of the leather industry, and is extensively carried on in the city. PERAMBULATORS. There is an extensive trade in the manufacture of perambulators, mail-carts, and baby carriages of various kinds, as well as the manufacture of miniature perambulators, wooden engines, etc., as toys for children. PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS AND DRUG TRADE. Nottingham is the biggest market in the provinces for the purchasing and distribution of pharmaceutical drugs and products. Extensive laboratories already exist, but new buildings are in the course of erection in the city which will be quite unique and superior as regards airiness, light, and general equipment to anything of the kind in the kingdom. Medicinal preparations made in Nottingham are well known in almost every town of importance in the United Kingdom. An extensive and modern plant for producing extract of malt is located in the city, also capsule and pill and tablet making machinery, and side by side perfumery and soap-making on a large and growing scale also exist. POTTERY. Pottery has been made in Nottinghamshire from the very earliest times, but the work was for the most part crude and possessed little artistic merit. To-day the only product that deserves mention is the extensive manufacture of flower-pots, which is carried on at Bulwell. It is probably no exaggeration to say that more Bulwell-made flower-pots aie used by horticulturists in this country than are made m any other locality. PRINTING AND LITHOGRAPHY. There is a very large amount of printing and lithography of all kinds done m Nottingham ; but though the letterpress printing done is considerable in volume and noteworthy in execution, yet it does not require any special mention, since it is carried out on the same lines as this work elsewhere. 54 NOTTINGHAM— -PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. Nottingham colour-printing has a deservedly great reputation, and a very large number of calendars are produced and distributed throughout the British Empire; in fact, it is not incorrect to say that the calendars turned out by Nottingham firms form no mean percentage of the English output. Some firms do a large business in showcards and labels. A specialization is made by some houses in lithography for catalogues, especially in the lace and hosiery trades. These two staple trades of the town influence beneficially many industries, and the printers do a very large and important business in the compiling and binding up of pattern-books not only for Nottingham and England, but also for those countries abroad where the lace and hosiery trades are carried on. Another branch of the printer's work is the manufacture of design paper, in which an extensive and lucrative trade is carried on by Nottingham with Russia, America, and the Continent — in fact, wherever lace, carpets, and tapestry are made. A large number of ledgers are made in Nottingham. Nottingham has a well-deserved reputation for the production and printing of posters and showcards. Most of the work is lithographic, although some very fine three-colour work is printed. The artists who put the work upon the stones are remarkably accurate in their copying, and these men, as well as the designers, earn good wages — and deserve them. The printing is done by high-class printers, and the finishing, such as mounting, edging, varnishing, etc., gives employment to a goodly number of women and girls, who find the work pleasant and healthy. PRINTING INKS. The majority of people have never seen a bit of printing ink or given any thought as to its manufacture, yet without it the progress of the world would be checked, and this book unpublished. For many years the manufacture of all kinds of printing and lithographic inks, from the common newspaper inks to the finest inks for colour work both on paper and tin, has been carried on by firms in Nottingham. Stamping inks for the hosiery trade and the manufacture of dry colour (which is the base of all printing inks) are speciahties which are produced by Nottingham firms. SOAP MANUFACTURE. The presence of the lace and hosiery trades was originally responsible for the establishment in this district of this industry, which at first supplied textile soaps. The business has grown, and is still growing, and to-day we find that a very large trade is done in textile and laundry soaps, while toilet, household, and shaving soaps are manufactured on a lesser scale. The waste lye is utilised for the extensive manufacture of glycerine, both in the once-distilled form and in the chemically-pure form. To-day Nottingham-made soaps are sent in large quantities into Yorkshire and elsewhere, besides supplying the immediate neighbourhood. SPINNING. The spinning industry, which is one of the most ancient of industries, was in earlier days carried on by means of the spinning-wheel in numberless small cottages and work- shops ; but in 1733 the invention of John Kay gave to the world the flying shuttle. In 1767 this was followed by the spinning jenny, invented by Hargreaves, which enabled one operator to spin and twist eight threads at a time ; and then came Arkwright's invention of the water spinning frame. Following upon Arkwright's invention we had the greatest of all inventions, namely, Crompton's spinning mule, which was a combination of the jenny and the water frame. The present operation of spinning is a marvel of ingenuity, and a great testimony to the inventive genius of man. There are some very large spinning mills in Nottingham and district. NOTTINGHAM PAST, PRES'5:?5'ir,''A?irj^ ']^UTUfeE% ' '' ' *'"' 55 SURGICAL ELASTIC APPLIANCES. These were fii-st in\eiited in Nottingham, and Derby and Nottingham still supply 90 per cent, of the entire production. The demand for these articles has become enormous during the last twenty years ; they were first used merely as supports worn on the leg for the suppression of varicose veins, to prevent development and enlargement, but are now used extensively all over the world b}^ people suffering from any weakness in the legs, and by athletes as a means of general support and protection from injury. They are made in the form of anlilets, knee-caps, leggings, stockings, etc., from elastic thread woven with cotton or silk, and can be made to cover and support any part of the body. Elastic bandages are also made in all widths and lengths, which can be adjusted to any desirable pressure by the wearer. The hosiery is made in sizes, and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc., so as to fit every size of limb, and one-eighth of the circumference measurement is deducted for pressure. For abnormal limbs, where stock sizes are not suitable, special articles are made to fit the limb. Besides the usual retail trade done by chemists and india-rubber manufacturers, these elastic appliances are dispensed at hospitals and charitable institutions throughout the world. It is doubtful if the}^ have found their way into Japan, China, and some parts of South America, but once they are introduced they become indispensable, and undoubtedly a greater demand will be made on the English manufacturers than has yet been known. TOBACCO TRADE. While it cannot be precisely stated that Nottingham is the home of the cigar industry, it can certainly be said with truth that the town forms one of the three great centres of British cigar production, as well as having in its midst one of the largest tobacco manufacturing concerns in the United Kingdom. Nottingham has been famous for its cigars for generations, and the high degree of skill shown by some of the older cigar-makers is to a certain extent due to heredity — ^the fine touch, the accurate judgment, the sense of fitness displayed, being often too acute to be attributable to acquisition alone. There is nothing mechanical in cigar production — it is hand-work right through, so that quality of workmanship is essentially a question of individual skill, and it is the development of this highly skilled labour which has enabled Nottingham to hold her own in cigar production in recent years. There has taken place during the past few years a silent revolution in British cigar manufacture. The cheaper grades of cigars have perforce given way before the all- conquering cigarette — assisted by an additional eightpence in the import duty on tobacco — a fact which has probably been responsible for some reduction in the number of hands employed in the industry. If numbers have suffered, however, quality has certainly improved, and since the higher grades of cigars are more profitable to all concerned, yielding a higher increment to maker, manufacturer, and dealer, there is little reason to complain at the change. The public are certainly the gainers, for they can now obtain cigars of British make which in style, workmanship, quality, and selection will bear full comparison with the products of Havana. Made, many of them, from pure Havana " fillers," and Sumatra wrappers of fine, silky texture, some of these cigars are indeed works of art, and it is quite safe to say that if the industry continues to develop along the same lines, a limit could only with difficulty be placed upon its future expansion. Not only can the cigar industry lay claim to inclusion among the skilled industries of this country ; it is also among the most sanitary, for it is essentially an industry with which broad floors, a good light, cleanly surroundings, and adequate ventilation are intimately associated. The tobacco — the fillers for the body of the cigars and the finer leaf for the wrappers — is stored in Government bonded warehouses until required for manufacturing purposes, when the duty is paid and the tobacco delivered to the factory. Here, in due course, the tobacco is damped down to render it easy of manipulation, sorted in size, quality, etc., and passed over to the cigar-makers, who sit at long benches on bright floors, in 56 ''"'"' "Vo¥l'TlTOtTAM-—rAS^.. PRESENT, AND FUTURE. the selection of which space, light, and ventilation are primary considerations. The cigar-maker has no appliance but a maple block on which to cut the leaf to the required shape for the wrapper, a sharp knife, and some pure gum tragacanth with which to finish off the ends, yet the work he turns out is so marvellously uniform that it almost seems incredible that it could have been produced without mechanical aid. In a north light, the finished cigars are carefully sorted and selected in their various grades of size, quality, and colour, and are ready to be placed in the well-finished cedar boxes in which they are distributed to dealers and the consumer. In the larger tobacco manufacturing interests which, as we have already indicated, are associated with Nottingham, some thousands of hands are employed, notwithstanding that here the adventitious aid of intricate machinery is largely utilised. The products of this group of model factories, in the shape of manufactured tobacco, cigarettes, and cigars, are sent all over the world. The business has grown up during an existence of many years, although it has only been during the past twenty years that it has attained to anything api)roaching its present magnitude. The various buildings comprising the group are imposing in character, giving sj)acious, well-lighted floors, in which the work is carried out under model conditions, with the interests of the workpeople at all times closely studied. WASTE MANUFACTURERS. There are several funis in Nottingham who make a speciality of buying up and dealing with the waste material of hosiery and lace manufacturers. After being sorted by hand, the wool or cotton is drawn from the hosiery fabric by means of machinery, and then sold to spinners and cloth manufacturers to be again made up by them for manufacturing purposes. In this way the cost of production is reduced. The waste produced in the manufacture of laoe is made up into what is known as " cotton waste " for cleaning engines, machinery, etc. YARN MERCHANTS. In connection with the lace and hosiery- 1*kd'fes, there is quite a large amount of busi- ness done in yarns suitable for these two industfiei^, and as it is necessary for those interested in the manufacture of lace and hosiery to have yarns of special qualities, and in various forms, such as dyed and wound on bobbins, cops, and cones, more suitable for the lace and embroidery trades, yarn merchants in this city have to be enterprising enough to fill the requirements of the manufacturers. For instance, local yarn merchants not only supply raw silk in bales, spun silk in bundles, cotton yarns in bundles, and woollen yarns of all descriptions in various forms, but have to dye, wind, and mercerise yarns, and deliver the same in various forms to all sorts of manufacturers both in the lace and hosiery trades. GENERAL MANUFACTURES. In addition to the trades already mentioned, the following should be noted in Nottingham : — Furniture and Cabinet Making. Self-raising Flour and Malted Goods. Wholesale Confectionery and Sugar Boiling. Picture Frames. Carriage Building. Brushes. Starch. YD 21080 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recalL v^t^i '60J 4JUN*6^«"» fvwv^'iJ LiJ MAY 27 1961 LD 21A-50m-4,'60 (A9562sl0)476B General Library University of California Berkeley