We find that in 1841, Oldham was the 17th town in point of population in England and Wales, but when the last census was taken it had advanced to the twelfth place, and a comparison of the table will show that the ratio of increase was greater than in any other town in Lancashire, with the exceptions of Preston and Manchester. It may be mentioned that there are only three towns in Scotland which exceed it in population, namely, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, and only three in Ireland, namely, Dublin, Belfast, and Cork.

There is no doubt that this rapid increase of population is a consequence of the extension of our trade and manufactures, which have flourished during the period in question in a very remarkable degree. The great staple trade of the town is, of course, the cotton manufacture, and with regard to it we find that in the year 1847 there were 76 mills or factories within the municipal borough, but since that time 20 additional ones have been erected, making the total number now within those limits 96. During the same period 7 have been re-built, and 12 have been considerably enlarged. Through the kindness of the occupiers of the different factories in the town, with only one exception, we have obtained returns of the number of persons employed,

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