centration of cotton spinning in
South Lancashire is an example, the full significance of which often
escapes notice. From the beginning South Lancashire was the chief seat
of the industry, but it is now far more concentrated than was the case
a century ago. Several of the most valuable inventions in spinning
were first applied in Derbyshire, in Nottingham, at Birmingham, and in
Scotland. Scotland then competed closely in weaving with Lancashire.
Now the Scotch industry is confined to certain specialities. In spite
of the enormous growth of the manufacture, the local area it covers is
even narrower than last century. Within Lancashire itself the actual
area of production has shrunk to some 25 square miles in the extreme
south, while the two great cities are further specialised--Liverpool
as the market for cotton, Manchester for yarn and cotton cloths.

Moreover, the localisation of various departments of the trade within
Lancashire is still more remarkable. Not only have the old mills in
which spinning and weaving were carried on together given way before
division of labour, but the two processes are mostly conducted in
different districts, the former in the towns immediately around
Manchester, the latter in the more distant northern circuit. Nor is
the specialisation confined to this. Spinning is again divided
according to the coarser and finer qualities of yarn. The Oldham
district, with Ashton, Middleton, and other towns south of Manchester
are chiefly confined to the medium numbers. Bolton, Chorley, Preston,
and other northern towns undertake the finer numbers. In weaving there
is even more intricate division of labour, each town or district
specialising upon some particular line of goods.[120] Moreover, it
must be borne in mind that the substitution of the factory for the
domestic system and the continual enlargement of the average factory
indicates an important progressive concentration. So the cotton
industry does not in fact cover nearly so large a local area as when
it was one-hundredth the size. The same is true of the other chief
branches of the textile and metal industries. Nor is it only in the
manufactures that towns and districts are closely specialised. The
enormous increase of commerce due to machinery of manufacture and of
transport requires the specialisation of certain towns for purely
commercial purposes. London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Hull are more and
more devoted to the functions of storage and