Towns > Dundee > 1822 - Dundee delineated; or, A history and description of that town, its institutions, manufactures and commerce

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bly increased by the expence of freight and other
things incurred in bringing it to this country ; and
as the price of labour is also much higher here
than on the continent, it is evident, that without
the encouragement of a bounty the British manu-
facturer would enter into competition with foreign-
ers under great disadvantages. At any rate, to
reduce the bounty, except by very small degrees,
Would be highly impolitic, as the withdrawing it
all at once, or even to a great extent, would ine-
vitably cause a stagnation for a time, and might
be permanently injurious to a most valuable branch
£>f manufacture.
The Linen and Hempen manufactures of Dun-
dee may be classed under four different heads : —
1st, Brown Linen. 2d, Bleached Linen. 3d,
Sail Cloth. 4th, Cotton Bagging.
1. Brown linen has always been, and still conti-
nues to be, the largest article of manufacture. It is
of a great variety of fabrics, some of them so low as
fourpence, and others worth nearly a shilling a-yard.
Osnaburgh, for clothing to the negroes in the West
Indies, is the principal fabric, and sells just now
about six-pence to six-pence halfpenny a-yard.
It is 25 inches in width ; the warp is of lint yarn,
three pound per spyndle, and the waft generally of
tow yam, six pound per spyndle. There is also a
great variety of brown sheeting made, some of it a
coarser, and others of a finer fabric than Osnaburgh.
2. Bleached linen has only been introduced
within these few years on a large scale. The fa-
brics are imitations of the sheeting and duck of
Russia, and the dowlas and shirting of Germany.'