Description:At the meeting described in this pamphlet, pottery manufacturers complained that their wares were regularly stolen in transit on the canals - despite precautions taken by some carriers.
This problem, they believed, was undermining crucial confidence between themselves and their clients.
Who was to blame?
A suspicious finger was pointed at the boatmen who worked the canals.
The manufacturers asked that the contents of all packages should be examined at each end of the journey, to make sure nothing disappeared in between.
They suggested:
"THAT the Manufacturers should begin by requiring the Wharfinger, to whom they deliver their goods, to examine each package, and shake it, for the purpose of discovering whether it be tightly packed, contain any broken vessels, the jarring of which may be heard. That, if nothing appear wrong, he shall return a printed receipt, specifying date, mark, and destination, and certifying that they were apparently in good condition. That a similar examination should take place at the first landing place or change of conveyance, and a back note in like manner returned, declaring the condition of the packages and that they had been carefully inspected."
About this Document
This document was collected by local industrialist Enoch Wood after it was sent to his premises, and is now part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.