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Rh led the way in this distinction, and perhaps hold it still. The early smiths seem to have rivalled the most ingenious artisans of the Continent in the trade. A unique, old history of Staffordshire, printed in 1730, gives many instances of this skill. It says: "So curious are they in lock-work (indeed beyond all preference) that they can contrive a lock that shall show, if the master or mistress send a servant into their closet with the master-key or their own, how many times that servant has gone in at any distance of time, and how many times the lock has been shot for a whole year; some of them being made to discover it 500 or 1,000 times. Further, there was a very fine lock made in this town, sold for £20, that had a set of chimes in it, that would go at any hour the owner should think fit. These locks they make in brass or iron boxes, curiously polished, and their keys finely wrought, not to be exceeded." Thus the town stood first in the kingdom at that early date in reputation for lock-making, and this it still maintains. Chubb's locks are literally household words in both hemispheres. They now produce over 30,000 annually, varying in price from 10s. to £3 each. And, what is rather singular, these are all made by hand, in the old process in vogue twenty years ago. There are now upwards of 100 establishments for the manufacture of locks in Wolverhampton, employing about 2,000 hands.