YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 153, 24 March 1920, Page 5

YORKSHIRE LETTER

WHAT OF THE FUTURE? . "LARGELY DEPENDENT ON COMBING OUTPUT . (From Our Special Correspondent.) Bradford, January 1. The very fact that West Victorian merinos sold at' the last series of London wool sides ut the handsome price of !)21d. the grease combing'is of itself- significant, and indicates an extraordinary position.; The reader may well ask why such a price is forthcoming. The Mount Sturgeon mark was sold as far back as last Hay, when it realised about 49d. per lb. It was' afterwards sold in, June at around 60d., botli record irices. Ever since the Continent was allowed to buy without stint'in Coleman Street each series has registered a sensible advance in merinos. At the October-November auctions 83d. was.paid for New South Wales grease combing wools. The.writer then said that they were nothing to be compared in character, yield, or even length of staple to the super West Victorian warp 70's to 80's combing wools, and whereas 83d. was.a- record price last series, around 80d. has been made almost daily for superior .West Victorian wools. What is' there about, them to command such prices? Conditions in West Victoria are ideal for the rearing of merino sheep. The writer lias in his possession samples shorn in 1801-72, 'from such famous clips as Ercildounc, KaLKal, and Larra, and at that time thev were wools which could not bo beaten. Every since they have maintained their high-eta's character, and although to-day the bulk of the crack clips have lost a. little in quality, they have maintained' their cleanliness and still show a four-inch staple. These are all features which mean £ s. d. to any wool. These superior West Victorian greaso combing wools possess excellent spinning property. They . np-. pear to be no more than 70's quality, bin still spin to 80's, 90's, and some will to-day spin to single 100's, or even more. In other words these superiorwools will a feature that is very rare in merinos to-day. Of course they can be called specialities, and are,; deserving of a special price, there be-., ing a few firms in Bradford and district, who, knowing their spinning pro-, perties, buy. them no matter what the price. That to-day is the position dthings, and the writer ventures the opinion that the past 12 months of war aftermath when spinners and manufacturers have been able to make almost any price, has revealed to others the fact that given the right article, price is /v secondary consideration.

Merinos Still Top Don. Anyone purveying the wool position today must recognise that merinos are still, on top and appear likely to be. It was thought in November that crossbrei'.s : .had got a turn for tho better, but* the distinct setback seen at the December/ series in London would suggest that the conclusions arrived at in November were a little premature. There is one imV portant fact that the, trade, .must not lose sight of when dealing with crbssb.reds. Pre-war ■ times Germany and Austria absorbed a big weight' of crossbreds, bought in London New Zealand and South America. Both countries are to-day uractically out of the running, and the writer has never been able to see any yeal solid'; 'advance until .Germany again enters the field as a lig buyer. There certainly was at the Oc-tober-November series what looked like a preliminary cantor in crossbreds, and the. trade must not read too much into the check which has arisen in medium and low crossbreds. Australia to-day is producing some .fairly big. weights of very burry, vasty,' medium crossbred wools. Commission 'combers are refusing to: comb these, which is largely responsible for Bradford topmakers not being keen buyers, and until more Continental support is forthcoming for these, we cannot see .how there can possibly be any ' sensible advance in them. We are just inclined to think that the little spurt six weeks ago induced a good many to put money into thorn, thinking tho future favoured a still further rise, but the War Trade Department :'s not granting licenses for the' export of even 46's crossbred tops at nl} freely, consequently' a little weakness has developed. When all is faid and done, merinos aro still in the saddle, and tire likely to remain so, .It has been repeatedly said during the past month that manufacturers can still sell tho highest priced cloths, and as long as that obtains fine wools bid fair to comjriand first attention. Anyth'ng showing r good'length of staple is meeting with an exceedingly good demand, and there is; little to 'indicate any serious check in the.' consumption of' merino, w0015.,.:,

M'Jils 'Busy, ':'.; ■■:■ 'Looking: more directly at manufacturing conditions,. 1 ! we-.are confronted''with the fact..'tha.t. mills everywhere are exceedingly busy, themaiorityhaving:their whole output sold'well into the 0f ; :;ifJ20....1n.'.-fact, the business offering during recent, weeks has been .colossal, tviid tuoiisaiids'bf pieces have'been'turn-: ed„dowri:by 'manufacturers unwilling to consider such longdate.deliveries. ''Some' extrabrdiiiary/pi'lces have been fortlicoin-ing-for tops, ''13s; 6d. 'for..,warp' G-t's being frequently paid for immediate "delivery. A fairly big ■ business has been done'on forward account abound-13.%, in fact, it is'.l.difficult''. to, say, definitely what 'any quality of top"is worth.- ThY'Go'vcrn-' ment is making haste to get its own ■matchings turned into tops, all of which are now being sold by auction, and soiiie big prices arc .being'realised; There certainly are big'weights -of'wool in sight, "machinery is becoming tho bottle-neck of tho industry, and owing to lessened working hours, and to some; extent tho indifference of operatives, .'there' is all round 15 per cent reduction in the out•put.of mills. This is a serious factor, in view of b : g weights 'of ivool beeoifiing available, but as an' offset, more machinery is becoming available on fie -Continent, and it is only the unsatisfactorv r-vchiinge. which is nre'veiitinjr a big consumption in Central Europe. It is well known that Germany, Austria, and Russia, as well as tho Balkan States, are all exceedingly bare, of textile fabrics. _. There is to-day an unlimited market in the countries named, but owing to the high exchange nobody feels safe in doing business. At the same time there is evidence of France, Belgium', the Netherlands,' and Scandinavia selling freely to Central European firms whose credit is still good, and we think that a'/far bigger business is doing with tho countries named than most people realise. That is the position to-day, and the outMook so far as trade is concerned was ;never better.

Wool Combers and Overtime. At the time of writing tho attitude of tho combing operatives is no,t as.favourable to trade development as'it might lie, and unless a better policy is adopted the progress of trade will be arrested, and a heavy blow inflicted. The British textilo trade needs no less than G,oofl,ooolb. of tops weekly, this weight including all qualities. For the first time in three years the. output weekly during the past month lias aggregated 5,000,0001b., the result 'being that spinners hare been a little more comfortably situated than they were. Instead of having empty cellar* and having to spin tops raw off the combs, they havo boen able to allow them time to ga.n condition.- There is an agreement between the Master Wool Combers' Federation and the Operatives' Union that overtime should be worked till December 31, and that the question of the renewal of, the overtime clause phouid be jointly considered prior to that date. During the last few days conferences have taken place, and tho men have made- it very, dear that tbey want to end the extra five hours weeklv on the day turn and won hours weekly on the night turn, n/-twi:hstnnding being paid time and a rma"ter. Last Monday night the, operatives passed the following resolutions i "That this meeting of the executive committees of the National Society, of Woolconibors, the Wool, Yarn and Warehouse Workers' Union, and the Brailford and District Card Grinders ijrtd Jobbers' Association, cannot agra to entertain any application for a continuaW of systematic overtime until tho whole of "the operatives at present •unemployed are absorbed into the, industry." ' Mr. Smith (secretary of tho National Society of Wookombcrs and Kindred Trades) added:. "Overtime ivill,

cease according to tho agreement on December 31." Ho also.said that the agreement was only approved by tho operatives, because of the influence of tho executive committee, on tho operative woolconibers, and now, not only ,wcro the combers themselves antagonistic to overtime' working, but the executive- couihiittee was also sob'd against it.

The above decision Is a 6evere blow to the rnw material end of tho trade, and we can now easily see a further scramble for tops similar to what took place in November. It is the old story over again—the ■higher the weekly wages paid the less tho work done. It is common knowledge that the most, unrel'ablo operatives in the whole of the textile trade aro to he found at tho wool-combing end. This inny seem to be a very unkind remark to make, but it is not exaggerated.. Although the temperature in the combing sheds is often at 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the rate \>i payment to-day is very much better than it once was, and the workers need.not feel very uncomfortable if they will adapt titemselven to the conditions under which they have to work. Apart from the heat of the rooms, cond'tions avo very satisfactory'.' The above announcement has created very grave fears in the trade, the members of which see plainly that if carried into effect it means a less?ned consumption of the raw material, which is,bound tn react uwm its sale.