YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1103, 17 April 1911, Page 6

YORKSHIRE LETTER.

SOME IXTKRKSTIXG FKATUEES OF TITK JIARKHT. (From Our Snccinl CorresDondenU Bradford, March :i, 1911. Business continues lo movo on very similar linos to what I liavc previously outlined, and new fcalurrs arc developing very slowly. But I hen the question nrifes: Are they wanted? Jl is quite true that the only possible chnnpte that would be welcomed by growers would he. an advance in prices but among u«ors no such feelings aro at present being enteiraincd. Some go the length of saying that we shall havo *=lill lower price?, and that the tradf cannot possibly lift and finance tho weight of wool that is arriving and will bo offered at tho March and 51 ay scries of Jjondon tales. I pay sufficient unto tho day is the evil llureof. Xo doubt the financial resources of many firms will be taxed to their ulmo.-t, but it goes without faying that if tops and yarns movo out of hand freely, the money will easily l:c found to lift all arrivals. I havo never known in all my life-long connection with the wool trade topmakers and spinners experience any difficulty in discharging their financial obligations when the raw material has moved out of hand. It is when stocks begin to accumulate and users cannot take iip freely tlicir contracts that nricfft decline. However, we shall be soon having another test in Coleman Street, and at. fh<? moment I cannot see much likelihood of there being any change compared with last series of sales. The trado is healthy enough, nnd (|uite capable of lifting all arrival?, especially, in merinos, if any support i= forthcoming ;at the hands of the Continental trades. I do not think that America will bo at all a big 'buyer, conditions across tho Atlantic moving still tardily towards a real improvement. It, therefore, seems as if the Homo trade will again be the principal operator, and I am glad to think that nobody-as yet seems choked with supplies, or unable to purchase rawwool. One big Bradford-London firm of buying brokers said to the ■ writer a few days ago that if they had had a thousand bales last week of good combing Australian merino wool they could easily have sold every bale, .they having many inquiries for this class of staple. Firms would not be asking to see samples if they had no call for it, and in this fact there is hope regarding the future.

MERINOS STILL STEADY AND FIRM. There is not much change to report respecting the trade 9!' the past week. New business is not active, but tho market is not sluggish, and sufficient is doing to save the situation from stagnation. Tho same degree of activity is seen at all wool-combing establishments, and topmakers are as busy us" ever getting wool 011 to piles ready lor dispatcning to the combers. These indispensable gentlemen look like enjoying another very brisk period, and they must be doing well. 1 have never chronicled the fact before, but as proof of that at the recent annual meeting of Woolcombers Limited (a Bradford tiust of commission woolcombers comprising about 30 firms) a dividend was paid on the ordinary shares of .11 per cent., and ever since its reconstruction they have done well. A brisk local trade aud adequate supplies is all they want to. enable them to earn a very satisfactory dividend, and these conditions to-day, are certainly present. Most topmakers arc firm at 2Gd. for Gl's, though a few who are .particularly well sold are demanding a fraction more. However, I still think that with even these a "firm offer" would see them at 2Gd., if the customer would be satisfied with May and later months delivery. Everybody eeems to have- more than they can comfortably get through for the next two months, aud it is satisfactory to know that spinners are taking up their contracts in a most commendable way. Commission woolcombers assert that they arc finding tops go out almost red hot from the combs, and what more can anybody require? This certainly is all indicative of the healthy conditions which at present obtain. Noils lately have sold a shade better, but nothing to shout over. Stocks arc voryheavy,- and■■ although prices are correspondingly low, yet thorp is 110 actual move in an unward direction, except for very clean free sorts. -It ; haR been possible during the past fortnight to obtain, say, Id. more for a good clean Gape noil, but the ordinary, seedy, burry noils are as cheap as ever, and almost any quantity can 1» obtained. Tonmnkers would be having a much better time if the price of noils was at all reasonable, but not only is the cost of combing more, but with this by-product being so cheap tonmaking is nt the moment a very lean job. and a pond deal of grumbliiu; is heard owing to imports being dearer than generally expected.

CROSSBREDS STEADY. There is really little change to report in crossbreds. Conditions generally are fairly soniul, and although 'the.market is quiet, still consumption remains undiminished. I am strongly inclined to discount a good deal of the "barking which has lately been done in TCgard to this class of material. How in the world call spindles and looms bo kept running at their maximum without consumption being large? Every crossbred spinner in Bradford and district has a very good order sheet, and is well supplied with "particulars," and to go and try to place a new order and-obtain delivery this side of Juno would be almost like asking for butter out of a dog's throat. That being so, .conditions must be described as healthy, if not demonstrative. Fino qualities of crossbreds are very firm, hosiery requirements being still large. There undoubtedly is' a great weight of fino 50's to sG's wool being shifted in what Americans call the knitted goods tradethat is, the production of comforters, children's caps, gloves, jackets, and tho like. All these are made of pure crossbred wool ranging down to 46's. There has lately been moro doing in carded tops with the Continent, and even 40 s prepared, which have been 50 sluggish for many months, "arc firmer than they have been'. It is still possible to obtain , a good 40's prepared top at,l3jd., while 3li's, 32-s and britch (ops arc still wanted for the bunting trade. There is every livelihood of something like 80 to l>o.ooo bales of New Zealand crossbreds being available at the next series of I/mtlon sales, and this will certainly fill a big gap, but I do not think prices will bo a great deal different to what exist to-day lho only drawback seems to be an absence ot profits, imports from New Zealand costing too much to fit this market.

CONDITIONING HOUSE RETURNS. This week the manager of the Bradford Conditioning House has published his returns for the month of Tebniaiy, and they arc certainly a pood index to the trade that is doing. The general reader is litHe interested in figures, and I often think sheep and wool men do not mv« lhat attention to statistics which they uiieht to do. They (each many a lesson far more effectively than a multitude nl words, and it is significant that the Bradford Conditioning House never enjoyed the prosperity or stood so high in public favour as at present. After all, a conditioning; house is indispensable to a proper carrying out of thn work connected with/the" wool' trade. Below I show the weight of goods passed through for testing purposes during the month of February and the corresponding month a year a "°'~~ Fob. 1911 Feb. 1910 ■ Lb. LI). Tops 0,K11,6&J 6.337,155 Wool fiol."'» "G3.076 Noils and wastes 753.M5 018,056 Worsted yarns 202.200 283,857 Cotton yarns 117-10 15,03;! Silk yarns 1,201 I.OM Totals 8,301,791) Bslow I give- particulars showing tlu quantity of tops which passed through the principal conditioning houses in the North of France during January, and thu figures are well worth considering:— 1009. 1910. 1911. Kilos. Kilos. Kilos Amiens 27,037 51,186 -12,0,19 Catcau 4,205 — s,ftS7 Fourmics ..... 176,581 162,23-1 ■ 144.777 Rhciins 615,156 610,422 5-IG.J'IS Tourcoin? .... 2,349,895 2,397,355 1.550.435 Roubaix 2,936,755 2,785,450 2,539,197 6,129,679 6,010,277 5,159,233