THE ADVANTAGES WHICH ARE DERIVED FROM THE EMPLOYMENT of MACHINERY. Lecture delivered by Sir William Denison, at the School of Arts, Sydney, on the 5th inst.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIII, Issue 958, 2 September 1856, Page 3

THE ADVANTAGES WHICH ARE DERIVED FROM THE EMPLOYMENT of MACHINERY. Lecture delivered by Sir William Denison, at the School of Arts, Sydney, on the sth inst.

(Concluded from our last.) T may remark, in the first place, that, as the result of the employment of machinery is to add to human power, and to economize time, there is no country in the world which would derive a greater amount of advantage (speiking relatively) fiom the application of machinery than Australia. Here labour is most expensive ; that is, there is more to be done than the piesent population, unassisted by machinery, can possibly carry out. Here time is most valuable ; that is, a man has more to do, smpposing him to do his duty by himself, his family, and his country, than he can adequately peiform. Any scheme by which power could be placed at our disposal, or more time given to us for thought, or for work, would be a blessing and a benefit of which it would be impossible to exaggerate the value. I think that, perhaps, the best mode in which I could bring home to you the advantages which the more general employment of machinery would confer upon the colony, would be by taking the life of an immigrant from his first landing in the colony, and pointing out the particular benefits which he would derive from mechanical assistance in the vaiious phases of his career. Oa landing from the ship, thfn, if he has any heavy goods on board, the application of a crane would sa-ve labour, and -would probably land the articles with less risk of damage. On his journey up the country, the locomotive engine would save him much lime. When he has settled himself upon his farm, he has no hands to spare, and yet he must cut wood for firing, — here, if a cross cut saw is employed, two men are required to work it effectively ; the adoption of a simple machine invented in America, in which the back stroke of the saw is aided by a counterweight, will enable one man to do, at least, three-fourths of the woik of the two. j When his land is brought under cultivation, the ) heaviest portion of the labour may be performed by machinery — the crops may be reaped and thrashed by horse power, applied to machines which are now in common use in England and in America, and the power made available to work these machines, may be made applicable to many other purposes of domestic economy. Should the settler be on the bank of a stream, he may, in this dry climate, derive enormous advantage from irrigating portions of his land. A simple machine, j worked by a windmill, will probably iai6e sufficient water for the supply of all household purposes, and for the irrigation of the land. Should there be a sufficient supply of water in the river, and a sufficient fall, the power of the water may be made available for most of the purposes alluded to above. The grain may be threshed and ground — the water pumpedup for irrigation — timber sawn for various purposes. Should there be wool to pack, the power of the water-wheel might be brought to act, either on the screw- press, or upon an hydraulic press. Should the immigrant be disposed to apply himself to any business in which he may be compelled to hire many labourers, or workmen, such as in building, or contracting for the performance of public works, he may be able to underbid his competitors, by bringing to his assistance the machinery which in other countries has been invented, and applied to facilitate different descriptions of work. The circular savr, the planing and rebating machines, come to the help of the carpenter ; the steam hammer does away with the hammer-man at the forge ; — the travelling crane for lifting and setting stone is a great assistance to the mason ; the lifting-machine does away with the necessity of employing numerous hodmen and labourers ; the pug-mill worked by a horse mixes the mortar better than it can be done by hand ; the brick-making machine, if properly managed, turns out cheaper and better bricks than are made by hand. Should the immigrant be induced to try his luck at the gold-fields he will find that his labour will be lessened and his profits much increased, by the adoption of a few simple mechanical exppdients. At present, the labour of one man is required to pump water, while four men are at work getting and wheeling washing stuff to the cradle — that is, 20 per cent of the earnings^ of this party is paid for the water they require, in doing a work which, by the exercise of a little mechanical skill, the water might in very many cases be made to do for itself. A water-ram, for instance, might be made to pump water enough to supply a dozen cradles — that is, to do the work of a dozen men ; and as the whole cost of such a machine would be paid in three weeks by the wages of three men, the outlay in purchasing and fixing a water-ram would return a very ample profit. We are at present in the infancy of manufacturing industry. There are many articles, however, of which the raw mateiial is supplied to our hand, and which, if machinery could be brought into play in their manufacture, might be supplied to the community at a cheaper rate than they can be furnished from home. The circumstances of the colony, however, are not very favorable to the introduction of manufactures, and I should be the last to advise an attempt to force forward a scheme, the failure of ■which, irrespective of loss to those engaged, would naturally create a sort of distrust of such undertakings, and thus be productive of an evil which would long outlast that immediately resulting from the failure itself. It may, perhaps, be thought that, in calling your Attention to such obvious and ordinary applications of mechanical power, I may be taking unnecessary trouble ; that these various matters are well known \nd understood, and that they are commonly made ise of in the colony. I regret, however, that I cannot joncur i* this view. The impression upon my mind

is, that while every department of industry is more or less inconvenienced by the deficient supply of labour, but few and isolated attempts have Jpeen made lo remedy this state of things by the employment of machinery. In America, where the demand for labour is not so great as in these colonies, and where wages are consequently not near so high, there is a constant effort on the part of every man to bring mechanism to his aid, even in the moat ordinary employments If the cook has to paie an apple 01 a potato, theie is a machine ready for her use. by which the work i* done hotter and quicker than she could possibly do it by hand. It a log of timber is to be crosscut, the seivant has not to waste time in looking foi as-> stance ; there» is an apparatus in the j ard by which he is enabled to do the work by himself. *Ii we refer to the returns of patents taken out in America, we shall find the clearest possible evidence of the interest taken by the mass of society in mechanical adaptations to the purposes of ordinary life, in the thousand inventions patented for the avowed purpose of saving labour, or time, or both. In these cplonies, on the contrary, these records are almost a blank— at all events, the demand for patents is so small as to give distinct evidence that the mechanical talent of the country is yet dormant and uncultivated. My own experience, partial and slight as it has been, is yet sufficient to prove to me, that there is a vist field in this colony for the development of mechanical ingenuity, and I trust that this expression of opinion may induce you, whom I am now addressing, the mechanics of Sydney, to press forward and appropriate to yourselves the rich harvest which is open to you. I have often lamented that, when a demand has been made in these colonies for a machine adapted to perform any given work, the only mode of supplying the demand has been by a reference to England or America ; the result of such reference being, in many instances, the introduction of a machine unstated to the peculiarities of the country. The following instance which came under my own observation will be an apt illustration of my meaning. Upon the first discovery of the gold fields in these colbnies, the demand for timber for building purposes increased to an extent which was far beyond the power of the sawyers ofVan Diemen'S Land to supply. Many ' people, therefore, turned their attention to the advantages which would result from the employment of steam, and orders were given to manufacturers in England to send out saw mills as speedily as possible. In sending their orders home, however, people forgot to give them any information as to the size, or specific gravity of the timber which was to be sawn, or as to its hardness, when compared with the woods usually cue in England by steam ; the consequence was that when the machine was erected, it was found in the first place that the average size of the timber was such as to requre the side slabs to be removed before it could be put xipon the frame. And when this was done, at the cost of a great deal of labour, the weight of the timber, the specific gravity being 1200 and upwards, or about 50 per cent, heavier than oak, was such as to break the frame, which was not intended for such heavy wood In America, where the woodsmen avail themselves largely both of steam and water power to cut timber, the mill for water power is of the simplest construction, and is formed of the material most available, that is of timber ; in many of these mills, which do their work admirably, there is hardly any iion work but the 6aw itself. The true test of mechanical skill is not the invention or employment of machines to carry out inj particular work, but the application of the great principles of mechanic*) to the means at our disposal, so as to execute the work we have to do in the cheapest possible manner I hope that the means of a sound education which are, or will be in a short time, placed within the reach of all, anil the stimulus given to the practical applicacation of theoietical truth by the multiplication of institutions such as the School of Arts, will produce their proper fruit, in the development of mechanical ingenuity among the people of the colony ; the effuct of which will be shown in the rapid increase of the general prosperity, I will take advantage of the present opportunity to allude to a scheme for the formation of economic museums for the working classes, which having been suggested by the Society of Arts in London, was submitted by me some time ago, for the consideration of the members of this institution. Now, museums of this kind would include specimens of the machinery in use in different countries for various purposes connected with the trades or employment of the working classes ; and Ido not think that a few hundied pounds annually could be better spent, than in purchasing such machines at. might, from their simplicity of construction, or the mechanical advantages they possess, bid fair to make their way into common use m these colonies. These machines, if deposited in museums open to the inspection of the mechanics of New South "Wales, would afford instruction to them, "of a character much more useful than any which a meie lecture could afford ; they would have before their eyes the zesult of the thought and mechanical skill of the woikmen of other countries, and a stimulus would be git en to their inventive faculties, which would produce the most beneficial effects I may, peihaps, be allowed, before closing this discourse, to allude briefly to an objection whuh has been fiequently made to the introduction of machinery, namely that it tends to reduce the wages of labour, and therefore to injuie the labouiing class. I might contenU myself with saying, that in the present state of these/ colonies, no possible application of machinery could operate injuriously 10 thai class, as the field for employment is too vast to be adequately filled by any imaginable combination of machinery with the labour at present available ; — but such an answer would be, to a certain extent, an evasion of the objection, as it would seem to admit the principle, and merely to deny its ap- ! lication to the colony. I take higher ground, and altogether deny that the result of the application of machinery, in the aggregate, is to lessen the demand for labour, or to diminish its reward. It may be quite true that in a few trades, the introduction of a particular machine has had the effect, for a time, of throwing hands out of woik ; but when a careful analysis has been made of all the effects produced even by the intioduction of that single machine, it has always been found that the sum total of employment is gi eater than it was before — that while some hands have been thrown out of work of a particular description, more have been taken on, either in other departments of the same manufactory, or in the occupations which the manufacture of the machine itself has developed. Were the objection to the employment of machinery pressed to its legitimate conclusion, it would be decisive against the adoption of any tool by which man's labour is lessened. The plough might be objected to, as by it the labour of the horse is substituted lor that of man, and the scythe ought not to be used, as by it one man can do the work of half a dozen, were they merely to use means which nature has given them. I cannot, therefore, admit that the objection above alluded to has any sound foundation. I feel that, al hough I have detained you longer than I intended, I have given but a. faint and meagre outline of a subject of very pr»ssing interest. I cannot but hope, therefore, that others better qualified than myself will fill in this outline by giving detailed accounts of particular machines, explaining the general principles upon which, they have been constructed, and the benefits which have been derived from their use. Should such be the result of the paper I have just read, it will be the cause of great gratification to me, as I shall then feel I have been the means of conferring a practical benefit upon the members of the Institution by extending the sphere of their knowledge ; a credit to which the mere desultory hints contained in this paper cannot entitle me.