18 FEBRUARY 1865, Page 2

The ironmasters of Staffordshire, tired, it would seem, of the

end-. less demands of the " puddlers," who are always striking because without them the work of hands ten times as numerous as them- selves cannot go on, have given notice of a " lock-out." The Dowlais Company, however, has done something much more sensible. Weary of the oppression, it has called in the aid of science, and. Mr. Bernard Walker, iron nail manufacturer, has invented a rotatory furnace which does the puddling itself. " Blooms" made by this process have been shown at Birmingham and pronounced by com- petent judges better than those made by hand labour. The men will now probably strike against the new furnaces,—but that game has never succeeded yet, not even in agriculture.