Mary-Accounts are kept here, in Gottenburg, and generally throughout Sweden, in paper money, consisting of tixdollars banco; 1 rixdullar being equal to 48 skillings, and 1 skilling to 12 rundstycks. The exchange with London is at about 12 rixdollars banco per 1., so that the rixdollar is worth about 15. d. sterling. Rixdollars banco may be exchanged for specie rixdoilars at the rate of 23 the former for 1 of the latter. But there are very few coins, except of copper, in circulation; the currency consisting almost wholly of notes, varying from 5 skillings to 300 rixdollars banco.

Weights and Measures. The victuali or commercial weights are punds, lispunds, and skippunds; 20 punds being equal to 1 lispund, and 20 lispunds=1 skippund; 100 lbs. Swedish commercial weight 934 lbs. avoirdupois = 424 kilog. = 87) ibs. of Hamburg.

The iron weights are 3-5ths of the victuali or commercial weights; 20 niarks = 1 mark pund; 20 mark punds = 1 stippund; and 7 skippunds=1 ton English. Hence, 100 punds Swedish iron weight = 75 hs. avoirdupois, and 100 lbs. avoirdupois = 133 1/3 lbs. Swedish iron weight.

Pro forma Invoice of 150 Shippounds or 20 Tons of Iron shipped from Stockholm for London in 1843.

Account of the official Value of the Articles imported into and exported from Sweden in 1841.

Regulations as to the working of Mines in Sweden. The mines of Sweden, though inconsiderable as compared with those of this country, are a considerable source of national wealth. They are principally situated in the central provinces, which have no fewer than 261 out of the 586 mines said to exist in the kingdom. Swedish iron is of a very superior quality, and that of the Danemora mines is especially well fitted for conversion into steel; but, owing to injudicious restrictions and the want of coal, the production in Sweden is not supposed (including what is licensed and what is made for home consumption without a licence) to exceed 85,000 or 90,000 tons bar iron, of which about 70,000 are exported. In 1839 we imported 17,049 tons of Swedish iron. The copper mines produce, in all, only about 750 tons a year; the metal is not so good as that of England, and is impregnated with iron. Fahlun, the chief mine, has long been in a declining state, the number of workmen at present employed not exceeding 500. The works of this mine are conducted entirely by water power, and are remarkable for their completeness; connected with them is a manufactory of sulphuric acid. The smelting furnaces and iron works are licensed to produce certain quantities, some being as low as 50 tons, and others as high as 400 or 500 tons; and some fine bar iron works have licences for 1,000 tons each. These licences are granted by the College of Mines, which has a control over all iron works and mining operations. The iron masters make annual returns of their manufacture, which must not exceed the privileged or licensed quantity, on pain of the overplus being confiscated. The college has established courts of mines in every district, with supervising officers of various ranks. All iron sent to a port of shipment must be landed at the

public weigh-house, the superintendent of which is a delegate of the college; so that it is impossible for an iron master to send more iron to market than his licence authorises. It is true that sales are made to inland consumers at the forges, of which no returns are made out, and in so far the licences are exceeded; but it is not supposed that the quantity so disposed of exceeds a few thousand tons a year. Every furnace and forge pays a certain annual duty to the crown. Its amount is tixed by the college when the licence is granted; and care is taken not to grant the licence to any one unless he have the command of forests equal to the required supply of charcoal without encroaching on the supply of this material required for the existing forges in the neighbourhood. As the supply of pig-iron is limited to the quantity licensed to be made, the college, in granting new licences to bar-iron works, always takes into consideration how far this may be done without creating a scarcity of pig-iron. Hence, the erection of new forges depends — 1st, on having a supply of charcoal, without encroaching on the forests which supply your neighbours; and 2d, on the quantity of pig-iron which the college knows to be disposable. The courts of the mines decide all disputes that arise among the iron masters regarding the exceeding of their licences, encroachments, &c.; an appeal to the college lying from their decision, and ultimately to the king in council, or to the supreme court of the kingdom.

It is needless to dwell on the impolicy of such regulations. No doubt it is quite right for government to interfere to prevent the waste and destruction of the forests; but, having done this, it should abstain from all other interference, and leave every one at liberty to produce as much iron as he may think proper. Mines of any importance are usually held by a society of shareholders. Some of them are only worked occasionally; and, as the labour is performed by peasants, who live ostensibly by husbandry, it is impossible to form any correct estimate of the numbers engaged in mining industry.

STOCKINGS, as every one knows, are coverings for the legs. They are formed of only one thread entwined, so as to form a species of tissue, extreinely elastic, and readily adapting itself to the figure of the part it is employed to cover. This tissue cannot be called cloth, for it has neither warp nor woof, but it approaches closely to it; and for the purposes to which it is applied, it is very superior.

1. Historical Sketch of the Stocking Manufacture. - It is well known that the Romans and other ancient nations had no particular clothing for the legs During the middle ages, however, hose or leggins, made of cloth, began to be used; and at a later period, the art of knitting stockings was discovered. Unluckily, nothing certain is known as to the individual by whom, the place where, or the time when, this important invention was made. Howell, in his History of the World (vol. iii. p. 222.), says, that Henry VIII. wore none but cloth hose, except there came from Spain by great chance a pair of silk stockings; that Sir Thomas Gresham, the famous merchant, presented Edward VI. with a pair of long silk stockings from Spain, and that the present was much taken notice of; and he adds, that Queen Elizabeth was presented, in the third year of her reign, with a pair of black knit silk stockings, and that from that time she ceased to wear cloth hose. It would appear from this circumstantial account, that the art of knitting stockings, or at least that the first specimens of knit stockings, had been introduced into England from Spain about the middle of the 16th century; and such seems to have been the general opinion, till an allusion to the practice of knitting, in the pretended poems of Rowley, forged by Chatterton, made the subject be more carefully investigated. The result of this investigation showed clearly that the practice of knitting was well known in England, and had been referred to in acts of parliament, a good many years previously to the period mentioned by Howell. But it had then, most probably, been applied only to the manufacture of woollen stockings; and the general use of cloth hose shows that even these had not been numerous. There is no evidence to show whether the art is native to England, or has been imported.—(See Beckmann's Inventions, vol. iv. art. Knitting Nets and Stockings.)

It is singular that the stocking frame, which, even in its rudest form, is a very complex and ingenious machine, that could not be discovered accidentally, but must have been the result of deep combination and profound sagacity, should have been discovered so early as 1589, before, in fact, the business of knitting was generally introduced. The inventor of this admirable machine was Mr. William Lee, of Woodborough, in Nottinghamshire. He attempted to set up an establishment at Calverton, near Nottingham, for the manufacture of stockings, but met with no success. In this situation he applied to the queen for assistance; but, instead of meeting with that remuneration to which his genius and inventions so well entitled him, he was discouraged and discountenanced! It need not, therefore, excite surprise that Lee accepted the invitation of Henry IV. of France, who, having heard of the invention, promised him a magnificent reward if he would carry it to France. Henry kept his word, and Lee introduced the stocking frame at Rouen with distinguished success; but after the assassination of the king, the concern got into difficulties, and Lee died in poverty at Paris. A knowledge of the machine was brought back from France to England by some of the workmen who had emigrated with Lee, and who established themselves in Nottinghamshire, which still continues to be the principal seat of the manufacture. · (See Beckmann's Inventions, vol. iv. pp. 313-324.; and Letters on the Utility and Policy of Machines, Lond. 1780.) During the first century after the invention of the stocking frame, few improvements were made upon it, and 2 men were usually employed to work 1 frame. But in the course of last century, the machine was very greatly improved. The late ingenious Mr. Jedediah Strutt, of Derby, was the first individual who succeeded in adapting it to the manufacture of ribbed stockings.

Statistical View of the Stocking Trade. – We subjoin, from a paper by Mr. Felkin, of Nottingham, who is advantageously known by his statistical researches, the following view of the state of the British hosiery trade in 1832.

According to this calculation, the value of the cotton hosiery annually made is 880,000.; that of worsted, &c. is $70,0001. ; and that of silk is 241,0002.-To produce these goods, it is probable that 1,584,000 lbs. of raw cotton woci, value 153,000, are used; and 140,000 lbs. of raw silk (2-5ths China and 3-5ths Novi), valu - 91,000; also, 6,318,000 lbs. of English wool, value 316,000. The total original value of the materials used is, therefore, 560,000, which, it appears, becomes of the ultimate cost value of 1,991,000, in this manufacture.

We have no more recent account of the manufacture, on which any reliance can be placed; but we are informed by Mr. Felkin, that the number of frames may at present (1843) be taken at 36,000, and that wages, though low, are rising.

According to the above estimate of the total value of the stocking manufacture in 1833 (1,991,000l.), it would not give more than 28. 5d. for the average expenditure on stockings of each individual of the then existing inhabitants of Great Baitain. There can, however, be little or no doubt that this sum is decidedly under the mark; and its insufficiency will appear the more striking when it is recollected that a large portion of the hosiery whose value is included in the above estimate, does not consist of stockings, but of woollen and cotton shirts and drawers, gloves, mitts, night-caps, shawls, &c. Perhaps we shall not be far wrong in estimating the total average expenditure per individual of the population of Great Britain on stockings and other articles of hosiery, at 4s. each; which, taking the population at 18,500,000, would give 3,700,000Z. for the total value of the manufacture. And this estimate, we incline to think, will be found

to be pretty near the mark.

In the estimate given above, by Mr. Felkin, no notice is taken of the hosiery made in Westmoreland and Cumberland, and in Scotland, where, however, it is rather extensively produced. In fact, there are at present (1843) between 600 and 700 stocking frames at work in Dumfries and its vicinity, and about 1,300 in Hawick, exclusive of a farther number in Aberdeen, &c., and of the knitted stockings made in the Orkney and Shetland islands.

In our customs returns, cotton hosiery and lace are mixed up together, so that the value of the exports of each cannot be separately specified. The exports of both have, however, increased considerably of late years, and we are well assured that the increase has been as great in the hosiery as in the lace branch. The Germans, it is true, have succeeded in disposing of considerable quantities of hosiery in South America, particularly in Brazil; a consequence, partly, of the low price at which the goods are produced in the cottages of peasants who derive the principal part of their subsistence from other

sources; but more, we are informed, from the German stockings being better adapted to the taste of the people to whom they are offered, the English stockings being all too long. This, however, is a defect that, one should think, might be easily obviated; and if so, English hosiery would have the same preference in Brazil that it has in most other markets.

STORES, MILITARY AND NAVAL, include arms, ammunition, &c. It is enacted, that no arms, ammunition, or utensils of war, be imported by way of merchandise, except by licence, for furnishing his Majesty's public stores only. -(6 Geo. 4. c. 107.)

STORES, in commercial navigation, the supplies of different articles provided for the subsistence and accommodation of the ship's crew and passengers.

It is laid down, in general, that the surplus stores of every ship arriving from parts beyond seas are to be subject to the same duties and regulations as those which affect similar commodities when imported as merchandise; but if it shall appear to the collector and comptroller that the quantity of such stores is not excessive, nor unsuitable, under all the circumstances of the voyage, they may be entered for the private use of the master, purser, or owner of such ship, on payment of the proper duties, or be warehoused for the future use of such ship, although the same could not be legally imported by way of merchandise. (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 52. 35.)

A List, by which to calculate the Amount of Stores, of the estimated Average Number of Days' Duration of a Voyage from the U. Kingdom to the different. Ports enumerated, and back."

For such places as are not included in the List, the same all wince should be granted as is given to the place nearest thereunto.

No stores shall be shipped for the use of any ship bound to parts beyond the seas, nor shall any goods be deemed to be such stores, except such as shall be borne upon the victualling bill. --(3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 52. sect. 16.)

Gonds delivered into the charge of the searchers to be shipped as stores, may be so shipped without entry or payment of any duty, for any ship of the burden of 70 tons at least bound upon a voyage to foreign parts, the probable duration of which out and home will not be less than 40 days: provided such stores be duly borne upon the ship's victualling bill, and be shipped in such quantities, and subject to such directions and regulations, as the commissioners of customs shall direct and appoint.(3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 57. sect. 16.)

Rum of the British plantations may be delivered to the searcher, to be shipped as stores for any ship, without entry or payment of any duty; and any surplus stores of any ship may be delivered to the searcher, to be re-shipped as stores for the same ship, or for the same master in another ship, without entry or payment of any duty, such rum and such surplus stores being duly borne upon the victualling bills of such ships respectively; and if the ship, for the future use of which any surplus stores have been warehoused, shall have been broken up or sold, such stores may be so delivered for the use of any other ship belonging to the same owners, or may be entered for payment of duty, and delivered for the private use of such owners or any of them, or of the master or purser of the ship. Sect. 17.

The searchers in London, on clearance of vessels coastwise to take in cargoes for foreign parts, are to apprise the collectors and comptrollers at the outports where the vessels may be bound, of the quantity and description of the goods which may have been shipped as stores on board such vessels, and that bond has been given by the masters of the vessels that no part of such stores shall be consumed by the crews, or any package opened or altered, until the vessels have actually been cleared on their foreign voyages; and the collectors and comptrollers at the out-ports are in like manner to cause a similar communication to be made to the ports where the outward cargoes are to be taken on board, and the officers at such ports are to take care to ascertain that the several goods so shipped are actually on board the vessels on their arrival, and have neither been consamed or run on shore during the coasting voyage; and if so, to report the same to the Board. (Min. by Com. of Customs, 19th of Feb. 1833.)

List of Foreign Goods allowed to be shipped as Stores, from the bonded Warehouses free of Duty. Customs Minute, 29th of Nov. 1832.)

Tea, of an oz.; coffee or cocoa, 1 oz. per day for each per. son on board, with the option to ship the entire quantity required for the voyage of either species of these articles, half an oz. of tea being considered equal to one oz. of coffee or cocoa; the tea to be shipped in the original packages in which it was imported.

Wine, 1 quart per day for the master, each mate, and cabin passenger.

Wine bottled in the bonded warehouses for exportation may be shipped as stores, in packages containing not less than 3 doz reputed quart, or 6 doz. reputed pint bottles.

Spirits, viz. brandy, geneva, rum (British plantation), pint per day for each person on board.

British plantation rum to be in the proportion of of the whole quantity of spirits shipped. Each description of spirits intended as stores to be shipped in one cask capable of containing the entire quantity of brandy, or of geneva or rum, allowed for the voyage, or in casks containing not less than 40 gallons of brandy or geneva, or 20 gallons of British plantation tum, as the case may be provided that if spirits shall have been imported in bottles, or bottled in the bonded warehouses for exportation, the same may be shipped as stores, in packages containing not less than 3 doz. reputed quart, or 6 doz. reputed pint bottles.

Raw Sugar and Molasses (together or separate), 2 oz. per day for each person on board.

Dried Fruits, 2 lbs. per week for each person on board.
Rice, 2 lbs. per week for each person on board.

Foreign Segars, oz. per day for the master, each mate, and each cabin passenger.

The entire quantity of foreign segars allowed as stores for each voyage to be shipped in one package.

A List of British manufactured Goods to be allowed to be shipped as Stores on the usual Bounty or Drawback.

British refined Sugar, 3 oz. per day for the master, each mate, and each cabin passenger.

British manufactured Tobacco, oz. per day per man. British exciseuble Goods, viz. beer, ale, and porter (together or separate), 1 quart per day for the master, each mate, and each passenger.

Vinegar, pint per week for each person on board.

Soup, oz. per day for each person on board. The same indulgence, in respect of the shipment of stores, which has been granted to merchant vessels under the 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 84., and by subsequent orders, is granted to transports under the fol lowing conditions, viz.: On a certificate being produced for each vessel, from the office of a comptroller for victualling and transport services, setting forth the destination of the vessel, and the number of the crew and passengers on board, who are not to be messed by the victualling shipped by the public; and as respects soldiers embarked as guards in ships chartered for the transportation of convicts, on a certificate being produced from the proper department, specifying the number of soldiers to be embarked in each case; but no indulgence can be granted in regard to the article of snap. - Treas. Order, 6th of March, 1833; see also Ellis's British Tariff:)

STRANDING, in navigation, the running of a ship on shore, or on the beach. It is the invariable practice to subjoin the following memorandum to policies of insurance executed by private individuals in this country:-"N. B. Corn, fish, salt, fruit, flour, and seed are warranted free from average, unless general, or the ship be stranded; sugar, tobacco, hemp, flax, hides, and skins are warranted free from average under 51. per cent.; and all other goods, also the ship and freight, are warranted free of average under 31. per cent., unless general, or the ship be stranded."

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It is, therefore, of the greatest importance accurately to define what shall be deemed a stranding. But this is no easy matter; and much diversity of opinion has been entertained with respect to it. It would, however, appear that merely striking against a rock, bank, or shore, is not a stranding; and that, to constitute it, the ship must be upon the rock, &c. for some time (how long?). Mr. Justice Park has the following observations on this subject:-" It is not every touching or striking upon a fixed body in the sea or river that will constitute a stranding. Thus Lord Ellenborough held, that in order to establish a stranding, the ship must be stationary; for that merely striking on a rock, and remaining there a short time (as in the case then at the bar, about a minute and a half), and then passing on, though the vessel may have received some injury, is not a stranding. Lord Ellenborough's language is important.-Ex vi termini stranding means lying on the shore, or something analogous to that. To use a vulgar phrase, which has been applied to this subject, if it be touch and go with the ship, there is no stranding. It cannot be enough that the ship lie for a few moments on her beam ends. Every striking must necessarily produce a retardation of the ship's motion. If by the force of the elements she is run aground, and becomes stationary, it is immaterial whether this be on piles, on the muddy bank of a river, or on rocks on the sea shore; but a mere striking will not do, wherever that may happen. I cannot look to the consequences, without considering the There has been a curiosity in the cases about stranding not creditable to the law. A little common sense may dispose of them more satisfactorily."

causa causans.

This is the clearest and most satisfactory statement we have met with on this subject; still, however, it is very vague. Lord Ellenborough and Mr Justice Park hold, that to constitute a stranding, the ship must be stationary; but they also hold, that if she merely remain upon a rock, &. for a short time, she is not to be considered as having been stationary. Hence every thing turns upon what shall be considered as a short time. And we cannot help thinking that it would be better, in order to put to rest all doubts upon the subject, to decide either that every striking against a rock, the