Transcribed from the 16 September 1823 edition of The Strabane Morning Post newspaper, by permission of The British Library: Manufactures and State of Employment in Scotland. We have, for several years, been fully aware of the great demand for labour in the Manufacturing towns on the East Coast of Scotland. The extent to which the coarse Linen Trade is carried from the county of Fife to Aberdeenshire, inclusive, is almost incredible. New fabrics have been invented, and new markets have been discovered. The only check the Manufacturers have experienced arises from the scarcity of hands. Why this deficiency should occur, is the more astonishing, when the fact is known, that, in every part of Ireland, there is a general outcry for employment. We have received a letter, dated the 1st inst. from one of the principal Manufacturing Towns in the county of Angus, which communicates some information on this subject, that may be useful to Ireland, and we shall given an extract in the precise words of our intelligent Correspondent, as follows:-- "It is impossible for a thinking resident in this country (Scotland) to avoid contrasting it with Ireland, or those districts of Ireland where there are continued complaints for the want of employment, for the labouring classes--there are large importations of Irishmen on that coast which is immediately opposite Ireland, but very few of them think of penetrating to the Eastern side where all the outcry is for want of a sufficient number of hands--that is to say, they are always scarce, particularly families of children, and have been so for years back. A hint to some of the districts, through the medium of your journal[,] would render a most essential service to both parties, and it ought to be generally made known, that in this particular quarter (Arbroath) now become the seat of a most extensive Linen Trade, that provisions are uncommonly low--the dwelling houses superior in point of comfort, and accommodation, and that the art of weaving those fabrics is very easily acquired. Men, married women, and young girls all practising it, while the very young, the old and infirm men and women earn their livelihood by winding and fil-ing [?], so that industrious families have every chance of making a very comfortable subsistence." We conceive this information important, and we hope our Contemporaries will give it all the publicity in their power, for the sake of those poor people who think of abandoning their Country for distant lands on the doubtful search for comfort and happiness. From the conveniency and cheapness of transmission by Steam Vessels, a labouring man may reach the east coast of Angus, from Ireland, in two days, and at the expense of fifteen, or twenty shillings. This grand conveyance, it may be said, has brought, Ireland and Scotland into almost immediate contact. The opportunity then, of furnishing employment to many well disposed Irish persons of the humble class, should not be neglected by their more fortunate fellow men, and we should suggest that a society be formed, in the city of Dublin, to collect the necessary funds for transferring fifty families, by way of experiment, to the East Coast of Scotland.--Dublin Journal. ... and on the same page of that edition of The Strabane Morning Post: Since the removal of the restrictions on the trade between Great Britain and Ireland, large quantities of Irish calicoes have been sold both here and in Manchester. The trade is very likely to increase, as notwithstanding the low wages paid here, they are greatly lower in Ireland. It seems probable that, instead of the poor Irish coming here to weave, they will now obtain work at home, and that their wages will become somewhat higher.--Glasgow Chronicle. =========================