Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/474

454 ITALY [STATISTICS. "ol >J Horse-Power. Spinners. Weavers. Steam. Water. g Women. Children. c Women. Children. 71 56 18 22 4 10 25 114 120 18 04 1784 90 305 45 14 785 48 202 (il 30 1240 248 234 20 20 19 958 47 694 216 789 142 395 112 73 263 7- ! 183 6 104 3 320 87 941 206 694 54 481 565 12 31 51 30 314 48 91 230 211 "45 1 >> Abruzxi and Molise 1 21 2 220 190 431 726 130 Sicily 17 1 i To 1 - a 1 241 503 24.", 1 1525 2565 1227 3053 3394 1020 The manufacture of jute is quite insignificant : two weaving factories in Lombardy and Liguria, and spinning mills at Crema, Poirina, and Grugliasco. It is estimated that about 8400 hands are employed in the making of ropes and cordage ; and of the produce in this department there is a very considerable export, vary ing in the ten years 1870-79 from a minimum of 20,797 quintals in 1870 to a maximum of 36,908 in 1873. The factories that produce mixed fabrics are 210 in number, and upwards of 5000 hands are employed in them. The extent to which weaving is carried on in the simple domestic fashion has been indicated in connexion with the linen trade ; it also maintains its ground in several of the other departments, and the. popular prejudice it prejudice it be in favour of the firm- wrought fabrics that are thus produced will long keep the clack of the solitary loom familiar to the inhabitants of many a town and village. It is said that there arc at least 230,000 of them at work throughout the country. The making of felt hats, which gives employment to nearly 5000 liands, is mainly carried on in Piedmont, and particularly in the circondario of Biella and at Intra. The produce is for the most part of a coarse quality, but finds a market not only in Italy but also in France, Austria and Switzerland, the Argentine Confedera tion, and Tunis. The trade in straw hats is rapidly growing in importance : while in 18(57 the number exported was only 7661, it rose in 1877 to 4,526,000. Owing to the alum lance of the raw material, Italy has long been successful in the manufacture of paper from linen rags according to the old-fashioned processes ; and the development of the more modern methods has been fostered by the ready availability of water power, though on the other hand the outlays for chemicals, machin ery, and fuel are serious drawbacks. The supply of home-made paper is far in excess of the demand, and there is a corresponding excess of export over import, more especially in blottirg and pack ing papers. The imported paper is almost exclusively of the finer qualities. According to Signor Avoiido, the annual quantity of rags obtained in Italy is 88,000,000 lb. There was formerly a great export of rags to America in the shape of packing material for marble-blocks. In the manufacture of leather and skins Italy has long been suc.- cessfully engaged ; and though the industry has now to compete with the new enterprise of India and America, the annual produc tion is valued at 4,000,000. The staple article is shoe leather; in the finer departments such as kid skins foreign competition is too strong for the full development of the native industry. It is estimated that there are upwards of 1300 works in the country, employing more than 10,000 hands. A private company, established iu 1868 under the name of Regia Cointeressata, secured for fifteen years the exclusive privilege of manufacturing and selling tobacco in continental Italy and Sardinia, on condition of paying to the state an annual rent and a certain pro portion of the gains after the rent was deducted. In the period 1869-1870 the rent w.is to be 66,894,811 lire, in the second period (1871-74) 72,293,032, in the third (1875-1878) 79,484,891, and for the fourth (1879-1884) 93,000,000. Up to 1875 the Govern ment share in the ultimate profit was fixed at 40 per cent., and from 1875 at 50 per cent. The results of this arrangement have not been equal to the anticipations formed in regard to them. In 1877, however, the Regia extended its control to the island of Sicily. According to the regulation of 1879 the cultivation of tobacco for exportation is permitted in any part of the country on payment of a licence, while the cultivation for the inland monopoly is restricted to certain regions annually determined, and within these regions no cultivation for export can be carried on. The rules arc of a very rigid description. The provinces in which the monopoly cultiva tion has usually been located are Yicenza, Ancoiia, Perugia, Home, P>enevento, Salerno, Lecce, Sassari, Catania, and Messina, The total area of the ground so occupied was only 4500 hectares (11,120 acres) in 1877; to satisfy the national demand from internal sources would require from 18,000 to 20,000 hectares (44,480 to 49,420 acres). On an average it is calculated that every inhabitant of Italy uses about 5 oz. of snuff, 10 oz. of cut tobacco, and 91 o/. of cigars annually the total expense being 5 518 lire or 4s. 6d~. per head. The manufacture of oils is among the most nourishing of the minor industries, and the demand which it makes on foreign coun tries for supplies of raw material is rapidly increasing. The amount of oil-seeds imported in 1870 was 27, 000 quintals, in 1879 211,400 quintals. And at the same time the consumption of the oils with in the country exceeds the quantity manufactured, so that the ex cess of the import over the export of oil in 1879, for instance, was 135,660 quintals. There are 437 oil works in the kingdom (198 in Lombardy), and they employ nearly 2000 hands. Rape, linseed, ricinus, ground-nuts, and sesamum are all made use of, especially the first and last. Soap works are said to number as many as 537 (151 in Sicily alone, and 87 in Apulia), and to engage 1770 men, 135 women, and 179 children ; and the exportation of soap, which was less than a third of the importation in 1870, has increased till the excess is strongly in its favour. The 10 stearine-candle fac tories employ upwards of 500 hands, and form the nucleus of what may be a large industry. The sugar manufacture is of limited extent. During the Austrian rule it was carried on in Lombardy and Venice with the support of the state; but the political changes proved fatal to its existence, and it was not till 1872 that the first sxigar refinery of the kingdom of Italy was established at Sampierdarena. This, however, proved a flourishing business, and supplied about one quarter of the entire consumption of Italy, which was estimated at 176,000,000 It) ; in 1876 it employed 500 hands, and carried on distilling operations. Beet-root sugar has been manufactured since 1869 at Anagni, where the factory was formerly protected and privileged by the Papal Government ; and there are other factories at Rieti, Cesa (in the Val di Chiana), &c. (English Parliamentary Papers: Efforts on Sugar Industries in Foreign Countries, 1876.) In 1877 there were 9583 distilleries in the country, and 370 manufactories of aerated waters. The brewing establishments amounted to 145, and manufactured 2,488,838 gallons. Both barley and hops are largely imported from abroad, the hops mainly from Austria and Germany. Jn the following table (XVI II.) the first column indicates the quantity of beer annually imported, the second the quantity annually made in the country : The iron manufacture has increased in importance in Italy during the last decade. In 1872 the production of wrought iron and steel was estimated at 48,909 tons ; in 1877 it was 73,000 tons, and 12,000 hands were employed in the works. Liguria has the credit of nearly half of the total amount. The works at Savona, Voltri, and Pra, at Yobarno near Lake Garda, and at Yal d Elsa deserve mention. Some of these have furnaces of the Siemens type. Considerable progress has also been made in the manufacture of machinery ; the number of men employed in this department (the Government factories being omitted) increased from less than 12,000 in 1872 to 15,000 in 1877. The Italian mechanicians do not seek to compete with foreigners in the production of large steam engines and hydraulic motors, but devote their attention to the minor kinds of machinery for wool and cotton factories, dye works, railways, &c. The principal chemical works are those of sulphuric acid at Milan, Turin, Naples, and Genoa, of hydrochloric acid at Milan, of nitric acid at Milan and Avigliana near Turin, of carbon disulphide at Bari, Pisa, San Giuliano, and of quinine at Milan and Genoa. This last manufacture, though it only dates from 1870, exceeds that of any other European country. The quinine is partly exported to Russia. Tartaric acid, as a matter of course in a wine-growing country, is produced in abundance. Glue-making is also a widely diffused industry, and the manufacture of artificial manures, which was carried on in 32 factories in 1878, is increasing in importance. India-rubber works exist at Milan. In ihc various ceramic arts Italy was at one time unrivalled, but the ancient tradition has long lost its primeval impulse j 1 and even where the industry remains the art has for the most part, perished. The works at Yinovo, which had fame in the 18th cen tury, came to an untimely end in 1820; those of Castelli (in Abruzzo Vlt. I. ) were supplanted by Charles III. s establishment at Capo- 1 A curious instance of the tenacity of popular art tradition in the country is furnished by the fact that some of the long-lost processes of Etiuscan pottery have teen found in use at St Angelo in Vudo, a remote corner of the Marches. See Ale>s. Castcllani in Amcr. A .,.. for Arl". of Science. 187ii.