elevated to the rank of a Knight of the French Legion of Honour. It is gratifying to record such honourable tributes paid to genius and scientific skill, but it is still more gratifying to notice the warm interest the Messrs. Platt display in the social and intellectual elevation of their workpeople, as well as of the inhabitants of the town at large. In the year 1848 they established a library for the use of their workmen, consisting of 500 volumes of standard works, and promised to add 50 annually. They also fitted up a news room, which was supplied with the London and principal provincial papers, for the use of which the operatives paid a penny per week. At the time the unfortunate dispute above mentioned took place, the news room was broken up, and the library, which contains about 5000 volumes, was closed. Arrangements, we believe, however, are now being made to re-open both it and the news room.

Another important branch of industry in Oldham, and one for which it was at one time somewhat famous, is the manufacture of hats. About the commencement of the present century it was regarded as the principal trade of the town, but it has greatly declined since the introduction of silk hats, which have, in consequence of their more glossy and elegant appearance, and the cheaper rate at which they can be produced, completely driven the old beaver hats out of popular favour. The change has been attended with much disadvantage to the hatting trade generally in this district, and in Oldham the workmen have suffered very materially from it. The manufacture of silk hats requires less capital than was formerly necessary in the trade; much of the preparation, workshops, warehousing, &c., formerly requisite can be dispensed with; and a great deal less labour is necessary for their production than for a given quantity of beaver hats. The result is that nearly every retail hatter, even in the most obscure country village, is his own manufacturer, and thus, what was once an

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