It is said that the manufacture of these guns is a great support to the gun trade of Birmingham. In one respect it is, certainly; yet would not the interest of the trade be advanced, if we were to manufacture none of so inferior a quality? “But then,” it will be urged, “we could not compete with our rivals in Germany and the Netherlands.” True, we should not be their rivals in the production of rubbish; but the superiority of our guns would then command a better market. By sending to the market an article no better than theirs, we have made foreigners indifferent about the purchase of ours: they say “The English guns are no better than the Belgian or German; we may as well purchase one as the other.” The force of this remark is illustrated by the state of the African trade. The base kind of articles we supplied them with some years ago, has produced a distrust of our manufacture, which will not easily be removed; and a similar distrust is engendered by the same cause in the minds of our present customers. It is much to be deplored that the eagerness for present gain, should render men blind to the consequences of their conduct, and lead them to prefer the immediate gratification of their avarice even to their own future prosperity; to say nothing of the welfare of the trade of the country. The method I suggested of testing all iron in the bar would go far to destroy this trade. I have not thought it worth while to test this iron. But twist barrels are made of it. Should the reader meet with a double gun so made, let him avoid it: it is unsafe, unless it be so heavy as to be unmanageable. A great many long rifle barrels are made of this iron, principally for the American trade; but from their immense weight, and the small charge of powder required, there does not exist the same danger from their use. Fowling-piece barrels made of it may be generally recognised by the smallness of the bore and the thickness of metal. As the charge of powder used in proving is very small when compared with the charges for proving guns of a wider calibre, we need not be surprised that many of those that are proved stand proof.