Page:The Grand junction railway companion to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham; (IA grandjunctionrai00free).pdf/192

180, but fourteen of the unpaid magistracy; the former is very much wanted, as, except on the usual days of sitting, there is frequently great difficulty in finding a magistrate, when required. If we except Liverpool, perhaps no place has within the last few years improved its trading and commercial relations to such an extent as this town. As a manufacturing place it is unrivalled; but to enumerate its various productions would be impossible in this sketch, suffice it to say, that every thing which can be produced from iron, brass, copper, silver, and the various combinations of which these metals are susceptible, may be here obtained. In the time of the war, the government contract alone was usually 30,000 muskets per month; the manufacture of swords and army accoutrements still employs a large number of hands. We shall now direct the attention to three establishments, an inspection of which will give the reader an idea of the state of the arts in this important manufacturing town.

Messrs. Collis and Co.'s Establishment must be visited by every one who intends to have an idea of the state of the manufactures in Birmingham. It is situated in Church-street, adjoining St. Phillip's church-yard. The proprietors, with the greatest liberality, have appointed servants to attend visitors through the workshops and warehouse-rooms. In the former the stranger will see the various processes which are necessary to bring the crude metal to the forms of singular beauty and elegance with which the ware-rooms abound. This establishment has