It may throw some additional light on the progress of manufactures and commerce if we state that, in the year 1833, the real or declared value of British and Irish produce and manufactures exported was £39,667,347, and in 1849 it was £58,848,042,—increase £19,180,695, or 49 per cent.
STEEL MANUFACTURES OF SHEFFIELD.
The London Patent Journal, in an article descriptive of the Steel manufacture of Sheffield, and its share in the great Exhibition, gives the following interesting statistics:
Judging from the state of trade, the production of steel in Sheffield, in 1850, could not have been less than 23,000, probably 25,000 tons, though the average produce of the last five years would probably not exceed 17,500 to 19,000 tons. We have no means of ascertaining the quantity of steel used in the home manufactures, but, judging from the annexed statement of the exports of steel, we feel convinced that we are not far short of the mark in the above calculation.
The following table shows the progress of the steel trade, at quinquennial periods, during the last thirty years; the second column showing the quantity exported, and the third column the export to the United States, which is our principal market.
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Years. Tons. Tons.
1820, 326 85
1825, 533 130
1830, 832 397
1835, 2,810 1,886
1840, 2,583 1,202
1844, 5,121 2,376
1849, 8,086 6,216
The quantity exported in 1850 was 10,587 tons, of the declared value of £393,659.
COTTON STATISTICS OF BRITAIN IN 1850.
The imports for the year, from all quarters, amounted to 1,749,000 bales, against 1,906,000 the previous year, a decrease of 157,000 bales. The consumption has been 1,514,000 bales, against 1,590,000 the previous year, a decrease of but 76,000 bales. The exports are 272,000 bales against 254,000 the previous year, being an excess of 18,000 bales. Taking the consumption and exports
