As the question of permitting the free export of machinery from this country, occupies at present much of the attention of the British legislature, and its policy cannot be safely estimated without a knowledge of the comparative rates at which the same article can be produced on the continent and with us--in other words, what advantage the mill-owners and manufacturers of Great Britain enjoy, at the present moment, in the outlay for the erection of their works--I have been at some pains to ascertain its relative value in Belgium and in Manchester, and the following extracts, of the prices at the Phœnix works of Ghent, is contrasted with the cost of the same articles in England, as furnished to me by an eminent machine-maker of Manchester. -----------------------------------+-------------------+------------- | BELGIAN PRICES. |ENGLISH | | PRICES. +--------+-----+------+-----+----- | Francs | £. |_s._ | £. |_s._ COTTON MACHINERY. | | | | | | | | | | Blowing machine, new plan, | | | | | 36 inches wide | 1500 | 60 | .. | 38 | .. Ditto, 2 beaters, 2 wire | | | | | cylinders, 36 inches | 3000 |120 | .. | 72 | .. Lap machine, 18 to 20 inches wide | 1375 | 55 | .. | 55 | .. Lap machine and blowing machine | | | | | united, 36 inches | 4000 |160 | .. | 120 | .. Fan serving for 2 or 3 beaters | 400 | 16 | .. | 10 | .. Double card, cylinders and flats in| | | | | mahogany | 685 | 27 | 10 | 26 | .. Patent English card by J. Smith | 4000 |160 | .. | 100 | .. Large double card, 44 inches | | | | | broad | 4100 |164 | .. | 100 | .. Grinding machine for slackening | | | | | the top cards | 700 | 28 | .. | 26 | .. Patent machine for stripping the | | | | | main cylinder | 325 | 13 | .. | 9 | .. Slivering machine | 850 | 34 | .. | 24 | .. Drawing frame of 4 to 10 heads, 3 | | | | | row rollers, per head | 195 | 7 | 16 | 6 | .. Slotting machine, 28 spindles | 2025 | 81 | .. | 67 | .. Roving frames of 48 spindles, | | | | | driven by bands, three rows, | | | | | 9 rollers, double slides, | | | | | expansive pulleys | 2300 | 92 | .. | 74 | .. Tube frame of J. C.