tion as to all the occurrences of local importance which have transpired since the publication of Mr.Butterworth's History, and to obtain from reliable and authentic sources, statistics of the persons employed in the principal branches of manufacture carried on, of the number of young people who attend the various mutual improvement and literary institutions, and of the number of children receiving the benefits of Sunday school instruction, in the town. It was the intention of the Editor to have included statistics of all the leading branches of trade and manufactures in the borough, but he found insuperable difficulties in the way of carrying this into effect. To name but two of these:—The collieries in the borough employ a large number of workpeople, but on application being made to some of the leading firms, it was found that the exact number could not be ascertained, in consequence of each collier employing two or three assistants as drawers, &c., in the mines, and as the names of these assistants do not appear in the books, any estimate given of the numbers employed would only have been founded on supposition, and the attempt to obtain them was, therefore, abandoned, Then with regard to the number of operative hatters, it was found impossible to arrive at them with anything like accuracy, owing to the system upon which the business is now conducted. In many cases the work is given out to a person who takes it home and employs the members of his own family and other assistants, sometimes in Oldham, and sometimes in the neighbouring towns, to finish it, so that the numbers actually employed, even if they could be correctly ascertained, would be no criterion by which to judge of the extent to which the hatting trade is now prosecuted in Oldham.

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Ir will be seen that Mr. Butterworth's History concludes with the general election in July, 1847, when the late Mr. John Duncuft and Mr. W. J. Fox were returned as members for the borough. The next

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