Here we see that while in 1873 there was an average attendance of 537 per cent, of the children on the rolls; in 1881 that average had risen to 65·2 per cent.
Now, so far as these figures go, they indicate that materially, morally, and intellectually, Sheffield is in a far better position than she occupied ten years ago.
But, what these figures teach us is corroborated by what is to be ascertained from our Board of Trade Returns. Your town is interested in iron, steel, and all kinds of hardware. Let us compare the figures of 1870 and 1871 with those of 1879 and 1880.
Let me draw your attention in the first instance to the following table of our exports of all sorts of ironwork:—
| Year. | | Tons. | | Value. |
| 1870 | 2,825,575 | 24,038,090 | ||
| 1871 | 3,169,219 | 26,124,134 | ||
| 1879 | 2,883,484 | 19,417,363 | ||
| 1880 | 3,792,993 | 28,390,316 |
Great Britain, therefore, did much better in her iron and steel in 1880 than in 1879, and, as a matter of course, Sheffield participated largely in the benefit. This is shown in certain figures which I find in the Sheffield Independent to which paper I am indebted for them as well as for many other valuable ones on the subject.
I see that the exports of Sheffield to America in 1877 were £450,000; in 1879, £560,000; in 1880, £1,066,000; and that the total for the twelve months ending 30th September, 1881, was £1,223,830, being £157,419 over the total for the twelve months ending 30th September, 1880.
The prices of 1880, however, are not equal to those of 1870, and, of course, so far as this goes, there is not so much profit, but, inasmuch as there has been a general fall in prices during this period, the difference is not all loss, and what is gained by the fall in all other products has to be set off against this loss, so that, in the end, I suspect there would not be much to complain of in this respect. I have not time now to enter into the questions arising out of the
