of various materials, principally of cedar. In that part of the building having a frontage on Corporation Street there is a dining room 86 feet 6 inches long by 68 feet wide, fitted up with tables to accommodate 600 people. Here the employees are served with a warm dinner at prices varying from 2d. to 6d. At one end of the room there is a stage, where dramatic entertainments and concerts are given in the winter season by the workpeople. At the other end there is a library, in a glazed partition, containing about 2,000 volumes of standard works. These books are issued to the hands employed by the firm free. One of the important features of this manufactory is the employment of muffles heated by gas produced from Siemens's gas generators. These muffles allow the heat to be regulated to a nicety, and enable the company to carry on the process of annealing and hardening to very great perfection. The manufacture of steel pens employs in all about 900 workpeople, the weekly production is 45,000 gross, which quantity will shortly be increased to 50,000 gross, per week. Six smaller steam engines are employed independently of those already mentioned in various parts of the works. The manufacture of penholder sticks is carried on in two separate buildings. Penholder sticks were produced by Mr. Mason as far back as 1835, but their manufacture had lapsed; it was only resumed eight years ago, since which time, by new and ingenious machinery, principally the inventions of Mr. W. E. Wiley, the managing director, it has assumed proportions of great magnitude. The pencil case and solitaire works carried on by Mr. Wiley, first alone, and then in co-partnership with his son in Graham Street, have now been transferred to Lancaster Street. Pencil cases, first introduced by Messrs. Mordan & Lund, in London, have undergone various changes and improvements, the principal of which was a lead holder passing through the point of the pencil case, which was slit for that purpose. This invention was patented by Mr. Wiley in the year 1857, and created a complete revolution in the pencil-case trade, as it enabled the manufacturers to use a thicker and longer lead, which could be propelled and withdrawn at will and would last in daily use more than six months. This patented mechanism was introduced into cases made from hard wood, bone and ivory, but since the year 1868 a composition called aluminium gold, so resembling gold that it cannot be distinguished from it, and resisting the effects of oxidation, consequently free from tarnish, made a further revolution in the pencil-case trade, enabling the million to possess an elegant and highly-wrought pencil case at a very moderate price. Messrs. Perry & Co., of London, gave to this manufacture publicity in every part of Europe, and the quantities produced and sold are incredible.