Foreign cloth workers were allowed by statute to come to live in the nation, be granted franchises, and be in the King's protection. But no cloth was to be exported until it was fulled. During the reign of Edward III, Flanders weavers were encouraged to come to England to teach the English how to weave and finish fine cloth. A cloth industry grew with all the manufacturing processes under the supervision of one capitalist manufacturer, who set up his enterprise in the country to avoid the regulations of the towns. The best places were hilly areas where there were many streams and good pasture for flocks of sheep. He hired shearers to cut the nap as short as possible to give a smooth surface, then spinsters to card and spin the wool in their country cottages, then weavers, and then fullers and dyers to come to fulling mills established near streams for their waterpower. Fulling became mechanized as heavy wooden hammers run by water- power replaced feet trampling the cloth covered with soap or fuller's clay. The shaft loom was a technological advance in weaving. This loom was horizontal and its frames, which controlled the lifting of the warp threads, could each be raised by a foot treadle. This left both hands free to throw and catch the shuttle attached to the weft thread from side to side through the warp. Also many more weaving patterns became possible through the use of different thread configurations on the frames. In 1341, the commons forced King Edward III and council to approve their petition when Parliament was still in session so that they would draft the legislation in true accordance with the petition. This had not been done when drafting had been done after Parliament ended, when the phrase "saving the prerogatives of the king" was often added. Also the lords and commons consulted each other and joined in petitions. But they usually stated their conclusions to the king separately. It was considered a burden rather than a privilege to attend Parliament and elections for such were not often contested. They were conducted according to local custom until 1600. In 1348, the Commons voted a tax of 1/15 th on movables for three years with the proviso that it be spent only on the war against Scotland. This began the practice of appropriation of funds. In 1381, began the practice of appointing treasurers of the subsidies to account to Parliament for both receipts and disbursements. Alien merchants were under the king's special protection. In return for paying extra import and export duties, Edward III gave alien merchants full rights of trade, travel, and residence in England free of all local tolls and restrictions, and guaranteed a fair hearing of their commercial and criminal cases in special pie powder (after French "pie poudrous" or dusty feet) courts at fairs. - The Law -