[To TRY EDITOR OF TUE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—" Janitor" asserts in
the Spectator of August 29th, but does not attempt to prove, that Free-trade has ruined the English leather glove industry. There is no truth in the assertion. Glove-making is a Free-trade industry. It is dependent entirely upon skins from abroad (mostly imported from the Continent), and unlike the cotton and wool indus- tries, it owes nothing to qualities of our climate. In many respects it is similar to the silk industry, with which you have- already dealt. But the glove industry is by no means ruined.. True, it has been non-progressive. It does not need protec- tion, however, it needs modernising, and those manufacturers who have adopted sound methods are now not only holding their own, but are finding new markets in different parts of the world,—even in highly. protected countries. The local. manufacturers believe that a Protective tariff, would destroy their trade because it would make the foreigner less willing to sell us his skins.—I am, Sir, &e., Wm. E. DOWDING. Yeovil.
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