The slight change in representation is a recognition of the growing
industries of the country, especially in the coal and iron districts.
The coal of the great coalfield of South Wales had been worked as far
back as Norman times; but it was in the nineteenth century that the
coal and iron industries of South Wales, and the coal and slate
industries of North Wales became important. Cardiff, Swansea, and
Newport became important ports; and places that few had ever heard of
before--like Ystradyfodwg or Blaenau Ffestiniog--became the centres
of important industries. But, in 1832, Wales was still mainly
pastoral and agricultural; and the Act, though it did much for the
towns, left the representation of the counties in the hands of the
same class. Still, it was the towns that showed disappointment, as
was seen in the Chartism of the wool district of Llanidloes and of
the coal district of Newport.

The second Reform Act, of 1867, gave Merthyr Tydvil two
representatives instead of one, otherwise it left the distribution of
seats as it had been before. But the new extension of the franchise-
-to the borough householder, the borough 10 pounds lodger, and
especially the 12 pounds tenant farmer--gave new classes political
power. It was followed by a fierce struggle between the old landed
gentry and their tenants, a struggle which was moderated to a certain
extent by the Ballot Act of 1870, and by the great migration of the
country population to the slate and coal districts.

The rapid rise of the importance of the industrial districts is seen
in the third Reform Act of 1885. The country districts represented
by the small boroughs of the agricultural counties of Brecon,
Cardigan, Pembroke, and Anglesey, were wholly or partly
disfranchised. But the slate county of Carnarvonshire had an