“Although I know that the Law Courts have come step by step to include a greater number of inventions, yet I should not call an improvement in a shirt-frill, that is to say, a peculiar method of cutting the little puckered linen which is sewn and used for shirt-frills, or a particular shape of the brim of a lady’s hat (I am speaking of existing Patents), a proper subject for a Patent.” The following is from the evidence of Sir Francis Crossley, Bart., M.P.:— “A Patent was taken out for simply putting india-rubber at the end of a glove, so as to make it tight round the wrist; that might have been considered a frivolous Patent, but I believe that it was thought to be a very good one in the trade, and it was new and useful.” So Mr. Richard Roberts, of Manchester— “In the case of an improved button, the Patent pays very well.” Of another class of illegitimate Patents, Mr. Newton, the eminent Patent Agent, says:— “Patents for obvious applications.—I may take for instance the use of alpaca for covering umbrellas. There is no invention in it.” In 1851 Mr. Carpmael was as distinct and condemnatory:— “A multitude of things for which Patents are granted have no invention in them; in nineteen cases out of twenty, if there were cheap Patents, they would be for things which already exist, and people would only use Patents for the purpose of advertisement and publication. “If you grant a Patent, and give to a man the means of advertisement, for a small sum of money, he will not investigate it in the slightest degree in the world; he does not inquire, and does not wish to inquire, but he goes and spends his money, and then he advertises, because the Patent appears to give him a standing different from his competitors in the same way of business.” In 1829 Mr. Farey, Patent Agent, went further:— “I have urged the utter worthlessness of their Patents, but they did complete the specification; they have sometimes acknowledged, and said perhaps they might nevertheless sell the Patent to some one who did not know that fact.” Mark now how Patents hinder progress in manufacture. Hear Mr. Brunel:—