OURYORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2581, 1 October 1915, Page 10

OURYORKSHIRE LETTER

SERIOUS CONGESTION AT THE LONDON DOCKS (From Our Sueoial Correspondent.) Bradford, August 13, 1915. The question uppermost in the wool worlil to-day is the congestion at the London docks, and the need for increased storage accommodation for colonial wool. Thoso of us who have-been in attendance at recent series of London sales know what this means, for selling'brokers almost daily have had to listen in their catalogues the significant wtads, "not landed in time," signifying that although the wool was in the Thames, the warehouse keepers had not been able to stage it for that day's show. The dock people aro passing through a new experience, and it is to be hoped that it will never again be repeated. Of course, it is all the direct outcome of greatly augmented arrivals, the reader easily seeing that when, no colonial wool is being shipped to . Belgium, Germany, and little to Prance, Great Britain is the. only (country to take the i'clips o£ Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and the bulk arriving in London has created conditions of which the reader at a distalnce can have but a faint idea. Congestion and chaos is the order of the day, and every available space is being filled with incoming cargoes. This is taxing the efforts of the dock employees, which at their very best'are vastly inferior to. the men found, there twelve months ago. A good few thousand of the best workers have joined the colours, the new hands are unfamiliar with the handling of wool cargoes, and no doubt the inferior class of employee has largely contributed to the. chaos that obtains. Things have reached ■ what may be termed a critical stago, and the Government at last has been compelled to intervene.

A Significant Notice. The Port of London Authority, seema to ; blame the Yorkshire wool trade for being responsible in a largo measure .for the congestion which obtains at the docks. Representatives 'of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce have been in consultation on more than one occasion with the Board of Trade and the Admiralty, and they were informed a fortnight ago that urgent measures must be taken to relievo the congestion. The following is a copy of a notice issued last Monday by the Bradford Chamber of Commerce: —"in consequence of the congested state of the Port of London, the Bradford Chamber of Commerce have been notified by the Government that unless traders remove their wool at once from the docks and warehouses steps will be taken by the Government to remove it for them. This will be.done by them regardless of cost." The above statements snows clearly what is the intention of the Port of London Authority. It is estimated that about 80,1)00 or 100,000 bales belong to Yorkshire users, and they have been virtually tolil that they must take deliveiy of this wool or else it will be summarily dealt with by the Government "regardless of cost." All the blame for the congestion must not be : laid on Yorkshire consumers. It has been slated a hundred times by topmakers and spinners that their buying broker has issued delivery orders to the warehouse keepers, and when the railway carriers have called for the wools they have been'flatly denied delivery, notwithstanding the wool was paid for. The excuse lias been that of being unable to deliver the. raw material, it being . stowed away and practically un-get-at-able. We could name quits a number of firms who have been mulcted in extra exDcnse for which they have not'been the "least responsible, the wool being shifted and repiled to suit the warehouse keepers' own convenience, notwithstanding that they have had delivery instructions to send the .wool to its' destination. ' It is this fact which is causing a good deal of ill-feeling among users, and to be told that the Government is going to remove wool from the warehouses regardless of cost, has caused a good deal of resentment.

Solving the Difficulty, We are strongly inclined to think that the Government itself is to 6ome extent responsible for the congestion. All the railways at present are under Government control, and a' good deal o£ rolling stock has been monopolised for war purposes, thousands of trucks being engaged daily in shifting war supplies. However, the Government has decided to release' as many trucks as possible, and so facilitate delivery to Home trade users. In trying to devise, ways and means of solving the present congestion one proposal is to. use enemy ships in carrying wool from London to Hull, where, we understand, there is storage accommodation for a. good few thousand bales. Of course, the carriage and the war Tisks will bo a serious increased expense to consumers, and becauso of this fact the Yorkshire trade is not looking on this move. with any degree of satisfaction. But that matters very little. Wool has to be taken out of tho London dock's, and the uptown warehouses to make provision for incoming cargoes, including food supplies. It was stated at a meeting of the Wool Section of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce a good week ago that there is only provision for storing about 15,000 bales at Hull, and while that cannot lie despised, it will not relieve the situation a great deal. Manchester seems to offer better storage accommodation. The Manchester Ship Canal Co. seems to have available at present a good deal of storage capacity, and is going to make a bid for the direct import trade of the coming season. We understand that the company has practically agreed to furnish storage accommodation for all the direct imports that come into this country, and we believe hat Yorkshire importing top-, .makers will avail themselves of the offer. We are not divulging a secret when we say that the Government has commandeered a good deal of tho storage capacity of the East Coast l ports, 'md owing to the heavy war Tisk insurance up that coast, importers naturally are not. very eager to incur increased expense, and therefore Liverpool and Manchester bid fair to be the coming ports for discharging new cargoes during the forthcoming season.

Cause of the Congestion. . In a previous letter the writer referred to the very largely increased arrivals oE colonial wool into this country, and if we remember right the Homo trade takings so far this year are about 500,000 bales more than the corresponding period twelve months ago. This is a very largo increase. What is termed aa the root cause of the present congestion is clearly illustrated in the.Board of Trade returns which were issued last Tuesday. As a matter of fapt, the imports of colonial wool during July were three timee as heavy as in the corresponding month in 1914, while the re-exports are little more than half ol' last year's total: This has practically occurred every month this .year, and wool has poured into the country at a quicker Tate than the oonsumptrve capacity of the machinery, here in Great Britain. For the first seven months of this year there has come into this country from all sources 719,795,8211b. of wool, against 540,738.99111). in the corresponds period a year ago, an increase of 173,056,8271b., or practioally an increase of well over half a million bales. Our exports have correspondingly .fallen off, the/wool sent out of the country for the seven months amounting to '69,816,1771b., aa against 259,705,0591b. last year, which givi?3 an increase in the quantity of wool retained in the country of 362,840,2991b., or approximately 1,083,500 colonial balea. If one makes aue allowance for a sensibly increased consumption, there is insufficient warehouse accommodation for storing the heavy surplus arrivals.

A Slack Market, Wo have to faco.' the fact that things are distinctly. quieter in. the Home trade, ami if the truth is told, prices are sagging. Of course. August is a holiday month, but so far as actual business 19 concerned, things are at the other extreme to ivhere they were six weeks ago. Of course no one can expect things to boom as they were doing in June, but at the same time the present state of inactivity is a decidedly unpalatablo experience, and 011 that account we have to record a disappointing time, with values undoubtedly in favour of the buyer. Today it would have to be a very superior tit's top to fetch more than 3s. 5(1. for spot delivery. So much buying was done at the time of the boom that spinners today are very indifferent about placing fnfure contracts, and with ."the combing difficulty settled, more tops aro [ flow available. Last weok-ond K wiw tipffvotl to Mi tko

week advance on tho first pay day in September, and it is quite on tho cards that the Masters' Federation of Wool Combers will further advance their combing charges. A new scale comes into operation on September 1, when merinos will cost -Jd. and crossbreds -Jd. more to comb, but these advances are certain to be doubled, and will probably come into effect on October 1. The whole situation is unique in this Tespect. Crossbreds, too, are slack and disappointing, with prices for everything sensibly on the downward grade. If we take 50's tops as a standard, these can to-day be bought anywhere from 2s. did. to 2s. 6d., with very little inquiry and demand. Of course, mills are running to their utmost capacity, there being no falling off in consumption. The Leicester hosiery trade is nothing whatever to grumble about. The whole market is simply an easy one, and with consumption being maintained, that after all is tho item ;>f most importance to readers of this issue.