HORROOKSES' CALICO MILLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1160, 21 February 1874, Page 10

HORROOKSES' CALICO MILLS.

A special commissioner of the Liverpool Albion gives the following sketch of the above world-famous establishment : —

Every housewife has been acquainted from childhood with the material known as " Horrockses' long-cloth calico." This is a Preston production ; and by permission of the present representative of the firm, we paid a visit to the principal establishment of Messrs Horrockses, Miller, and Co. The firm — the largest in the Kingdom— was founded in 1791, and its all-powerfulness since that time is proved by the fact that the head partner has almost invariably been chosen M. P. for Preston. Mr John Horrocks, the first proprietor, sat in Parliament for the town until the year 1804. Mr Samuel Horrocks, the successor to his brother as chief partner, represented Preston for 22 years ; and now, when the firm is Horrockses, Miller, and Co., in name only, Mr Edward Hermon, the senior proprietor, holds the same honour. The works consist of six establishments situated in different quarters of the town. You find the mills usually shown to visitors close by the county gaol. Walking up a court that looks as clean as though a housemaid dusted it each morning, and passing through a lodge, you enter the yards that run here and there among the group of lofty buildings. A number of boys, barefooted and capless, are carrying great tins out of one gigantic mill, where the spinning of cotton is being carried on, These tins are filled with "cops" of "twist" and "weft," which, though they have different names, are both ordinary spun yarn, and vary only in the billets of the former being the larger of the two. Having been placidly elevated in a " lift, " you are shown out on to the topmost story of one of the towering buildings. _ The spinning operations are conducted in the several flats of this mill ; and although one has seen them before, he cannot help lingering as room beneath room is sauntered through. We, however, will pass without comment from that which has been already described in these columns, and betake ourselves to the weaving processes, merely remarking that the number of spindles at work in the mills of Messrs Horrocks amount to 192,000. To commence at the beginning : you are first taken into a room where the weft is soaked in hot soap-and-water. It is explained that, unless this plan were pursued, the threads in the cloth could not be woven sufficiently close. A number of children of eight or nine years of age are collected here. The little girls seated close together on the floor, and looking as though they were playing at that highly imaginative game " Keeping houße," are busily employed in thrusting brass pegs into the tubes of the cops. After the sopping is over, certain energetic little fellows squeeze the weft well in large screw presses. The knowledge that a visitor is by stimulates the tuggers at the churn-like handles to unparalleled displays of manful exertion, which they accompany with the gasping of thwarted Samsons. The weft having been prepared for the shuttle, the first step with the twist (which is to be the warp) is to wind it on to bobbins. The winders — a gossiping bevy of girls — are a distinct set of v.'orkers, whose occupation consists in the " tenting " of machinery adapted to the purpose required. The bobbins are now set, row under row, in an upright frame, which resembles in a general way a clothes -drying horse. The cotton is wound from all these bobbins, simultaneously, on to a " warper's beam." That every thread —there are often 8000 of them — should be rolled upon this beam so as to lie exactly parallel to all the others, is the indispensable regulation here. From the warpers the beams are conveyed to the "dressingshed," where the twist has to be sized. Men perform this operation. A number of beams having been adjusted in a large and complex apparatus, and motive power applied, all the threads on the several beams pass through a bath of size ; then over hot cylinders to be dried; then finally, but still in the Dame machine, on to one large beam, where they are wound in two layers kept separate from each other. The weaver's beam, thus charged, is then removed to the " aheds," where are set up the powerlo»ms that complete the entire process. The application of steam to the 100m — so long an unsolved problem — created a ■wonderful revolution in the weavers' old paths. The thousands of hand-looms scattered in the towns and villages of the county — which could be heard beating time in cellars, or in the little back-rooms of cottages — are dying fast away. For cotton, we fancy, they • have been quite superseded. Reading an old report of evidence given before a Parliamentary Commission in the year 1816, we find a Mr William Taylor, described as the manager at that time of these very milla pf Messrs Horrockses. He tells the Qoxa-

mission how that the firm then employed 7000 persons — twice as many as their present complement — but that the weavers among this number did not work together in a factory. Instead, they were scattered all over the county, doing the business distributed to them at their own homes, at Preston, Longridge, Ormskirk, Wigan, Bolton, Holcomb, Chorley, &c. A single weaver, however, would employ sometimes seven or eight journeymen. Now, Messrs Horrockses have the looms on their own premises : these number about 3400, and are driven by 12 steamengines of some 3000 indicated horsepqwer. Extraordinary, indeed, appear the extent of the halls (we can call them nothing else) where the looms are congregated. Imagine, in one room, 908 machines ; in another, 720 ; in a third, 668. Through the network forest of leathern bands that are hurrying round numberless wheels affixed to the ceiling, it is difficult, indeed, to make out the further wall of the apartment, so distant does it lie. The looms are packed quite close together, and the din renders talking only possible to be seen but not heard. We shall not describe the action of the power-loom. We may content the reader by saying that the needle of damp weft is being continually hurled backwards and forwards across and between the threads of the warp which is slowly issuing from under a roller similar to that in a mangle. The lightning dart of the shuttle containing the needle, which seems to be accomplished by the human-like jerk of two automaton anna of wood, can scarcely be seen. One young woman has charge of one. two, or even three looms. In the latter she is assisted by a younger girl a» " helper." Some women are even " four-loom weavers." The workers are paid so much a "piece"— the "pieces" averaging 45 yards ; and the quantity which they can weave in one day upon a single loom varies, accerding to the quality, from 6 yards to 40. You notice the little helpers examining the cloth very closely as it is woven ; and the girl on the other side of the loom, if she be a careful weaver, will be seen to watch that not one of the threads of the flowing warp remains broken. This attention is requisite, for any carelessness — a long-unpieced thread, a "float," a deficiency of four or eight " picks" in a quarter of an mch — can be at once recognised when the weaver delivers her " piece" to be examined by the astute scrutinizers upstairs. Due notice is given that fines will be inflicted for defective workmanship. All the weavers, we believe, are employed in making calico goods. In one shed a number of very wide looms are to be seen weaving sheets ; these are tended by men. _ And now to astonish our readers we wish to inform them of the length of Home Trade calico which is woven by the looms of Messrs Horrockses : On an average, fifty-six miles of calico are manufactured here every day !

A word as to the number of hands employed. Spinning and weaving operatives taken together, there are about 3500. More than 2000 of these are females, nearly 600 being under the age of thirteen years. They work as half-time hands, attending school one part of the day and the factory during the other portion. Thus the law of England compels each child who shall work with its hands to work with its brains as well. How changed is this practice to that which prevailed in 1816 ! Then, the children at Messrs Horrockses's toiled fourteen hours a day, from half- past 5 in the morning to half-past 7at night ; and education had to be left to such machinery as this :— ln reply to Sir Robert Peel, Mr Taylor, the manager, explained that returns of the attendance of their work children at the Sunday schools were obtained from the master ; those who hac" been regular were commended, the other were reprimanded. It was added, " A man is now paid, and has been by the 'concern,' for many years, to see that the children do not loiter about the streets on Sundays."