OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1678, 19 February 1913, Page 4

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

'•'.'''-' ...~~ —♦ " DEVELOPMENT OF THE, BRADFORD ■ ■'■'.- - TRADE.; ' j (From Our Special Correspondent!)' •',■'■: Bradford, January 10, 1013,' The British -Association uf Wool Buyers' is an important body of gentlemen contacted with every part, of the wool industry, but more especially of those who are'particularly'.'intercste:! in thb raw material. This association has been' funned with'the express purpose of looking after the interests of the trade, and last Tuesday night at tho annual dinner the president said Unit- "their association wns strong, representative, aiulneeessary." Various items of interest were toucWl upon by tho different speakers,, whilo going through the toast list, an old Reigiiley worsted spinner of sixty years' standing proposing tho toast tit' "The Bradford Trade ! and Chamber of Commerce." This gave the, gentleman, in question the opportunity uf. dwelling upon topics of more than ordinary interest:, and naturally Mr. John Clough was in a reminiscent mood. Ho contrasted in a very interesting way present conditions with those that obtained sixty years ago, when he first became connected with tlio great wool trade. Tho'Bradford trade has undoubtedly had both bad and good times, but in spite-of all tho adversity through which tho industry has been called to pas?, it has continued to grow all the* while.. Headers of this issuo i are naturally disposed to look from their own standpoints, namely, that of either wcol production or consumption. Do they ever think of the means by which the raw . material is converted, from a greasy, staple of wool to a sightly, finished fabric? The part that machinery is playing to-day in turning tho raw material into cloth is not receiving'.tho attention it deserves, but without combing, spinning, and weaving .machinery it .is most probable' that wo should find'the skin of the sheep of moro value than its' fleece, for clothing .purposes;' There .has.been an enormous development in the wool trade from the point of view of machinery. Mr. Clough rightly stated that if the. hand-coinbing of 50 to "GO years ago had again to bo resorted, to; it would tnko every employee in Bradford to turn out tho combed sliver, and even they could not supply the top in sufficient quantities to keep running •all the . .spinning and weaving cameos 'that; we .'.'see,; to-day. : From this . statement the '■' reader will . sw. how the development of tho combing machine has its part in the development of. the wool trade. As a spinner, Mr. Clough naturally dealt more particularly with' the development of the spinning frame, and here there'has been almost, a revolution. The flyer frame of.his youth had . been : improved in construction, but. in tho actual operation .of .this typo ' of machine" there had been no real change. But the introduction of the cap frame' marked an epoch in the Bradford trade, 'He believed that but-for--the-introduc-tion., of tha cap frame the great merino trade would' never have come: to Bradford. Worstedopolis ■ had' usually 'adopted the machine that was most economical and effective, and the cap frame held its own against any other spinning ma-, chine in,the world. There- had also been' very great developments'.in looms. Generally the periods of bad trade in Brad-. ..ford had one effect, and that .was '_'to. mako manufacturers pay more attention to their business and to do certain things that in old days they were in.no wise compelled to do. Sixty years ago it 'to bo rather easy, to'make money,on-a few very simple articles, but to-day-the .variety of stuff;thnt Bradford produced •was;' astonishing. '.- Bradford looms-wero ■not'confined to dealing.with wools,' but took silk, linen—in fact, any description of jram that could bo-dealt with at a profit, • -.'

.-,.. AUTOMATIC".; LOOMS. ; The'writer's cxpsrienco goes back to the time when ho worked in a'mill; and what a transformation there has been' in the construction of looms! -. Twentyfive, years: ago, looms ran at the rate of 50 picks per minutes,'that is in tho production of such- useful fabrics as coatingd,- wr(?es,.and twoctls.' Suoli looms to : -day 'are entirely, obsolete, and Svo find l looiris' at. present, fim'iiinij atlflO '-t6- HCr' picks per minute. This is a- great change, ahd-we are on.the ovc of one still greater. On'.our'way to 'business one day this week' the representative, of a Lancashire loom manufacturer ..gave.. me instance after instance showinsr-the grca': chnngo 1 which' was coming over the textile-world.' He mndo mcn'iion of several "\Y«st Hiding; firms who bad' justi,installed looms by.' .way df a tost. The Northrop loom; which is rcallwaii American invention, had been adopted for the'weaving of worsted coatings, and serges, and he mentioned several West Hiding firms who Jiad installed from six to :24, looms by;, way of trial. Even to-day in such towns .'as Huddorsfield, Leeds, and the . surrounding villages, where scores of large and important mills are situated, weavers'-'can. tndav bo >*<-\ minding one loom. "VVitfi tho Northiop loom it. is.pos-/ siblo foT'one nerson to follow six-looms, which, of. course, means, a great saying. This statement is regarded with some decree of 'scepticism'by'the more oonservativa manufacturers, but in time they will accept, the-' verdict of the loom: .makers, who, after months of actual tests, have found the results to. be-oil that could be desired. The writer makes that statement with due regard to its importance, and; it is because of a nersonal acquaintance with one of ths' lnr?est.'Hiiddersfield firms who have tested the loom?. /Before .many months',hove "passed,- their shed will bo running with, "the Northrop loom-in the production of, worsted serges." There,-' is one firm--running 96 looms'to-day, who have only IB women.mindin? them! One of the principal features of tbe loom: is that it is self-shuttlinff,' i.e.. it. has not to be stonped to nut in an additional bobbin of weft, and. when 'the weft cither breaks or an.end comps down, the loom stops automatically. So long ns good yams are used in.the loom, they con be kept running for hours without a single stop. This is a wonderful invention, and onlv serves to illustrate the' great chp.nge which has come over the textile machinery applied tn-day to the manipulation of the wool fibre. , :■"

: .V.■■•■';. NO PANICS. Mr. John Clovjh, continuing his reminiscences, said: "During the next Bixty yearo which ho was reviewing he had known, several panics. He remembered the panics of 1847, 1851, and. 1857. There had been times of heavy losses, and, to be frank, times of pretty heavy gains—there would •he no surviving heavy losses if it were not for heavy gains. When a man bought Lincoln hogs at fij'l., and also at 313 d., they need not suppose that that individual was going to bo nloimod when the same stuff was Is. Ho did not want them to be alarmed if it went to 15d. If the spinner could mako a profit, that was the legitimate, price' to, pay. If,the sninnor could not-mako iv profit ho would very soon let them . know. The lost, pnrtir. ho,remembered was in 1860, and since- then then* had not been another. ■ How was that? They used to exneCt a panic once every ten years.' -Well, the fact scorned id him to be a clear proof of. the financial stability of ,the Bradford trade. He was bound to say that be thought tho Bradford trade was never in a stronger financial position than it was to-day. He did no<- : think they had anything to fear if only they used the, oemmon senso with wh'ch Bradford ncoplo. he believed, were abundantly blessed." ''■'.-..

' • THB.HOJtB TEADID. The publication of tho i Board of Trado returns' this week, showing tho business of the'country-for 1912, makes excellent ready for those interested in the textile industry. It is safe to say that tho wholo of tho West Riding has enjoyed a period of prosperity last year that has not been .Fvaon for a long time, and given no serious labour troubles and a speedy settlement of the Balkan question, there is no reason, why 1913 should not bring forth equally ns satisfactory results as 1912. If the booming Home trade is considered along with the splendid export demand, the reader will easily see where tho West Hiding mnmifaetnror has been during recent months. Wo are not so much concerned to-day about tho import of tho raw* materials i\s the oxnoit of semi and fully manufactured articles. The last two months have no doubt had some effect upon the amount of worsted yarn's exnqrled. in.particular.-' the Balkan trade being responsible for-the delay of many orders and,'deliveries.' '.As ; a matter, of. fact, thoss spinning single worsted yarns in the Bradford trade havo been requested to hold back shipments till February,: March, and April, this being .rather a sevefo blow to many fitms. At the sam<v. time there is notliimr inuch to spoil, and with paHejios iht lost ground can'soon bo made up. The decreases that hav»

occurred in the shipments of worsted yarns, and. worsted tissues,arc inoro than compensated for in the considerable improvements . which have taken ; place in our exports of top, woollen yam, and worsted, fabrics. The following is. a record of our exports in the leading items connected with the textile industry in the West Kiting during the 12 months ending December 31, for (he past thrco years:— ■IK a otijijisj I x \iii%\ 5-3 til 3. i &§.§§£■ g-ais'.' kr §!?i: sa ' it-. .■■!•-■ o : ap n . . £.■"*: -i' ; . ! '. S- 3'» ;\) .g; ;.; ■ j. | .2 s |j; if;;.;..: ' Cfl to W' « 'tN _ 'co . to £■oVcolo io *< "to co en o *«- m tn «ta ji mco jc- to ■tA ob mo.ciw « m i I,' iiS§.§ .: s 1 §sl- ' Soo- to 5 Sen", -sh]ss,pkf «sd. g-g s-a gg- s % ;. S- ,'Si.ggß ; S.gSig l^ 4 ■ ■!?-lu $& P OHOftiji,, •O . H'" » (ii UOi"h M' M , Cfl, »l Is oj *J l . *' . ys* r 1 P »J**?PS° -P "' S tO fci ■/ CO "to Cl CO CO ' O 'i* ci o"o* ■to S '£'-.g.SSSg ' Sggߧ,' •