Tucked away somewhere in the English Midlands are the remnants of an eighteenth century factory called Quarry Bank Mill. The mill stands on the bank of River Bollin on the outskirts of Styal in Cheshire. This columnist was privileged to visit Quarry Bank Mill in the late 1980s. I must admit that the visit made a lasting impression on me.
Quarry Bank Mill used to be a textiles factory owned by an individual called Samuel Greg. It was built in 1784. Its proximity to a river was a deliberate choice. Greg used the river’s current to turn a large wheel which, in turn, ran the spinning and weaving machines. Many children from Cheshire and farther afield were apprenticed to run the factory, which was among several that ushered in the industrial revolution that slingshot England to the forefront of development.
Greg treated his workers well despite the absence of worker protecting legislation at that time. Accidents occurred frequently on the machines, sometimes fingers or other body parts getting severed. Greg, therefore, employed a full time medical doctor to attend to the workers. He also developed a housing estate near the factory to accommodate them.
The principal raw material at Quarry Bank Mill, and indeed at other textile factories in Britain, was cotton. The weather makeup of Britain is such that cotton does not grow there. Samuel Greg sourced it mainly from southern United States of America. This cotton was grown using slave labour and was, therefore, a cheap input in the process of producing the textiles which became Britain’s major export.
There are a number of lessons to be learnt from Quarry Bank Mill. The first lesson is that Samuel Greg and fellow textiles owners, private citizens, were the drivers of the phenomenal development that resulted from the British industrial revolution in the 18th century. Agreed, Government played its part in establishing the right environment for private players to do what they are best at, which is to efficiently run businesses.
Let me reiterate here what I have stated many times before, namely that it is principally private citizens, rather than politicians or civil servants, that bring about development in any country. In Malawi we seem to have abdicated that responsibility and to left it to Government run the show while we sit and watch. Perhaps we unconsciously try to evade the sharp and unkind criticisms that follow a failed or a botched up project.
Hold on for a moment, ours is not a socialist economy, as I pointed out a few articles ago. Yes, we are a mixed economy but we lean more towards capitalism than we do towards socialism. The duty of Government is to provide essential services while you and I, the private citizens, should immerse ourselves, head and all, in production and wealth creation. We need Malawian versions of Samuel Greg. In fact, every one of us should aspire to be a Greg.
Secondly, it is worthwhile noting that Greg respected and cared for his workers. There were not many laws then that workers could resort to if they felt injured by the work system but Greg took it upon himself to try and make his workers comfortable. These were basically factory workers, people directly engaged in production. We have a tendency to consider only white collar workers as important while we regard blue collar workers as less deserving. We have to learn to respect our production workers so that we can forge ahead in wealth creation and get out of the economic quagmire we are trapped in.
The third lesson is one that is not so much to be copied as to be avoided. Greg’s raw material was grown using slave labour. It was not a legitimate trade item. Scores of people suffered in the process of growing the cotton that built up the British economy. Even after slavery was abolished, Britain continued to get raw materials from the underdeveloped world, paying a pittance for it. Not just cotton but a whole range of other raw materials like cocoa, coffee, tea, tobacco!
We have the wonderful privilege of growing our own materials. We have, for far too long, let our produce go for a pittance, selling it as a commodity. All things being equal, Malawi will start extracting a variety of minerals sooner than later. Graphite, rutile, precious stones are among the minerals that will be extracted from Malawi’s bowels. These will easily go abroad to swell the value chains of external economies while our own economy remains in the doldrums. We need to position ourselves to be able to add value to these too, not just to agricultural produce.