d startling decline in the
proportion of employment since that date. A considerably smaller
proportion of the employed classes are now engaged in these trades
than in 1841. The dressmaking industries give the same result--a
continuous decline in proportion of employment since 1851, though in
this case the 1891 figures indicate a slight recovery. The following
are the percentages:--

Textile and
Dyeing. Dress.
1841 9.1 7.8
1851 11.1 10.3
1861 10.2 9.8
1871 9.3 8.5
1881 8.2 8.1
1891 7.6 8.3

The failure of demand for labour to keep pace in its growth with the
growth of population in the main branches of the spinning and weaving
industries is emphasised by Mr. Ellison. Comparing 1850 with 1878, he
says:--"In spinning-mills there is an increase of about 189 per cent.
in spindles, but only 63 per cent. in hands employed; and in weaving
mills an increase of 360 per cent. in looms, but only 253 per cent. in
operatives. This, of course, shows that the machinery has become more
and more automatic or self-regulating, thus requiring the attendance
of a relatively smaller number of workers."[179] When the subsidiary
branches of textile industry are added the results point still more
conclusively in the same direction.

No. of Spindles. No. of Looms. No. of Operatives.
1850 20,977,817 249,627 330,924
1878 44,206,690 514,911 482,903

More recent statistics show that the relative diminution of employment
in textile industries traceable since 1851, became a positive
diminution after 1871, though the statistics of 1891 indicate a
certain recovery.

1841 618,509[180]
1851 603,800
1861 934,500
1871 970,000
1881 962,000
1891 1,016,100[181]

The significance of these figures in relation to the demand for labour
receives further emphasis when the large and rapid displacement of
male by female labour is taken into account. In the dress trades it
may be observed that the absolute increase which every census, save
that of 1871, discloses, is absorbed by the tailoring and millinery
branches, where machinery plays a relatively unimportant part, and
that in the boot and shoe trade, where there has been a greatly
increased application of machinery,