GLOVE TRADE.

HL Deb 07 February 1832 vol 10 cc14-9

Viscount Strangford

presented a Petition from the Master Glovers and others connected with the Leather Glove Trade in the City of London, to which the signatures of nearly forty most respectable firms were annexed. The petitioners complained of the almost total ruin brought upon the masters and workmen, to that important branch of national industry, by the free importation of French gloves, and by the inordinate extent to which smuggling in that article was permitted to be carried; and they prayed for a return to the ancient system of protection by means of prohibition. As he certainly was not prepared, without further evidence, to go the length of joining in that prayer, he did wish that instead of it, the petition had contained one for a full and complete inquiry into the causes of that distress which the petitioners notoriously and undeniably suffered —an inquiry which he thought their Lordships could not in common justice and humanity refuse, unless resolved to shut their ears to the cries of a starving and suffering population — a charge which, manifold as were the modes now employed of vilifying the House of Lords, would never, he trusted, be brought against that Assembly, whatever might be said or thought of recent proceedings in another place. When he spoke of inquiry, he did not mean a hole-and-corner inquiry, confined to two or three selected and favoured individuals, who derived a discreditable profit from the continuance of abuses and irregularities in the importation of foreign goods, but a fair and open inquiry, embracing all the points of the question, and proving or disproving the allegations of the petitioners by evidence at their Lordships' Bar. Such a petition, he was happy to say, would now be presented, and be supported by advocacy far more powerful than his, and in a quarter far more likely to command their Lordships' attention. The petitioners, whose prayer was now before their Lordships, had requested him briefly to advert to two or three things which had been urged against their claims to the notice and commiseration of Parliament. He must crave their Lordships' permission to do so. In the first place it was said that the quantity of foreign gloves smuggled into this country was so small, owing to the lightness of the duty, that no possible injury could result to the home manufacturer. They asked, in answer to this, whether 4s. per dozen was a light duty on gloves which could be sold here at first cost, duty included, at 12s. 14s. 16s. 18s. 22s. and 24s. per dozen? He might say, a duty of 5s., for such was the duty on the higher-priced gloves, amounting with Customhouse charges and freights, to nearly thirty-five per cent. Now, these gloves could be guaranteed across the channel, and were notoriously and publicly guaranteed for twelve and a-half per cent to fifteen per cent, safe from all accidents, damage, or injury whatever. Was this then a trade, the petitioners asked, which held out no bonus on smuggling? Was not the difference between fifteen per cent and thirty-five per cent a sufficient temptation to practise it? It had been ludicrously stated that the entire quantity of gloves smuggled into the United Kingdom in the course of a-year did not exceed 100 dozens. Noble Lords were perhaps not aware, but they might have ocular demonstration of the fact, by going into any glove manufactory, that 100 dozens of gloves could be packed and compressed in a tin case of eighteen inches square. He did not mean small women's gloves, but gloves that would fit the fullest-sized Peer or personage in that House. And would it be pretended that only one of those very portable, and, to the smuggler, very convenient cases of eighteen inches square was smuggled into the United Kingdom in the course of a-year? Let those who would, believe it; he, for one, did not. In the second place, the thriving condition of the trade was inferred from the increased quantity of gloves manufactured. He had yet to learn that the increased quantity of any manufactured article was of itself proof of the prosperity of that manufacture; the true question was, whether this increased quantity was produced at a remunerating rate to the masters and their workmen; and, if otherwise, the proof of prosperity, drawn from increased consumption, fell to the ground. Again, it was said, that the trade must be prosperous because there were now forty or fifty manufactories established in places where there were but twenty or twenty-seven before. How did this question stand? When the prohibitory system ceased, many of the largest and most respectable manufacturers declined business altogether, foreseeing that under the new system their trade could no longer produce interest on the capital employed in it. Those who replaced them were either their foremen or workmen, who, having saved something in the more prosperous times of prohibition, thought that the retirement of their masters made room for them, and so they set up for themselves—with what success their present condition, and that of their families, and the augmentation of the Poor-rates in the places where they were settled, sufficiently attested. This notion, therefore, that the breaking up and Macadamizing a few great and flourishing factories into a number of smaller and inferior ones was a proof of prosperity, did seem, in his humble judgment, to be an absolute fallacy. It was like saying, that a joint of meat which would feed five persons was increased in its size and power of yielding nutriment by being carved and subdivided into fifty smaller pieces. The plain truth of the matter was, that the glove trade could not afford the profits of the master in addition to the wages of the workman. So the workmen started up into masters, and each man's miserable garret became his more miserable manufactory. And this was called an increase in the number of masters and of manu- factories. Now, in the next place, with regard to the increased importation of skins. Was it pretended that all these skins had been made into gloves? To say nothing of their employment for books, for shoes, for carriage lining, and for 100 other uses, he should like to know what quantity of them had been re-exported to the continent, from the utter impossibility of working them up in this country with any thing like a profit. He believed that the attention of the noble President of the Board of Trade had been directed to this point on the 17th of last December; at least he had seen a very courteous letter from that noble Lord stating that the matter should receive his fullest consideration. In truth he was enabled to say, not only with reference to that subject, but to other applications, that the attention of the noble Lord to the various deputations which waited upon him on these matters gave the greatest satisfaction. They all concurred in acknowledging that he would be the best President of the Board of Trade ever known if (for on these occasions there must always be an if) he did not happen to have a Vice-President under him. Lastly, with respect to the injurious effects which the introduction of what were called Berlin gloves had had upon the leather glove trade, he would beg leave, in the first place, to state, that this was not by any means a new trade, sprung up within the last twelvemonths, as had been fallaciously pretended. It had now existed some years, and, therefore, the recency of the introduction of this article into common wear could not be assumed as the cause of the actual decline in the leather-glove trade. But it so happened, moreover, that a very large portion of these gloves were made by the leather-glove-makers themselves. Admitting, however, that an equally large portion were manufactured in Leicester, or Nottingham, or elsewhere, what did this prove but, that the stocking trade having become less profitable, the manufacturers added to their business the making of Berlins? He was instructed, besides, by the petitioners, to declare (and he honoured the English feeling which prompted the declaration), that they were not disposed to complain, and that they did not complain, of any fair, natural, and honourable competition, in any branch of industry, with their own countrymen and fellow-subjects. What they complained of was, the not natural, the not fair, the not honourable preference accorded to the foreign workman over them and theirs—a preference which, he must be allowed to say was not the result of fashion or taste, or of superior excellence in the article so prepared, but was solely the consequence of the false and fatal principle, that cheapness was the only thing at all worthy of the consideration of Statesmen—the one greatsummum bonum, the idol to which all our best and most valuable national interests were, one after another, to be sacrificed. He begged pardon for thus trespassing on their Lordships' time, and concluded by moving that the petition should lie on the Table.

Lord Auckland

disclaimed any compliments paid to him at the expense of his right hon. friend. Both of them, and all the other members of his Majesty's Government, were most anxious to do all that was safe and practicable for the relief of trade. He believed a great deal of misconception had gone forth upon this subject, both as to the inducements held out to illicit trade, and the quantity of gloves imported. Both Custom-house officers and smugglers had been examined, and they had proved by calculations that the profits were too small on this article to be a strong inducement to smuggling. In respect to foreign silks, the profits being very considerable, the inducements were admitted to be proportionably the greater. He was certain that if the advice of the petitioners were followed, and the prohibitory system again introduced, it would only add to the wealth of the smuggler.

Lord Wynford

observed, that, from some cause or other, great distress prevailed throughout the country, and that Parliament should do all in its power to afford relief. The most effectual way to discover if any remedy could be applied was, to institute a full and efficient inquiry into the state of trade in all its branches. The depression of the glove trade would be found, he was afraid, only a feature of the general depression.

Viscount Strangford

said, that he could not pretend to contest the accuracy of the statements of the noble Baron opposite, as to the degree to which smuggling had been carried on, as the noble Baron had possessed advantages far superior to any which had ever fallen to his or he believed to the lot of most other men. On the noble Baron's own shewing he had obtained the auricular confessions of smugglers, the last persons from whom he should have expected an avowal that smuggling did exist. He had the authority of a more respectable class for repeating that smuggling did prevail to a very great extent, and that it was principally carried on in the manner which he had described; the goods smuggled being thus secured from mildew, damp, and other injuries. With respect to Berlin gloves, he had learned from the best authority that the trade had subsisted for many years, and that, therefore, it was not any new injury to the leather-glove trade, especially (as he had stated before), since the leather-glove makers themselves manufactured that article in considerable quantities. With regard to what had fallen from his noble and learned friend behind him, he would repeat that the inquiry to which he had alluded would be proposed, not by himself, but by parties far more deserving of their Lordships' attention. He concluded by presenting another petition, with a very great number of signatures, from the glovers and others of Great Torrington, in the county of Devon.

Petitions laid on the Table.