PRICES FOR CLOTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1920, Page 12

PRICES FOR CLOTH.

fabulous fortunes made, WHOTJ'S'ALF. PIiOFITTiKPJNG. VVIT.AT TITK TATI.DRW AND COTTON" SIM MM KIIS SAY: ABOUT THK (IKIiAT INCRFASFS IN PRICES. London, Jan. 23. " 'First find out your furl s and then make thom known,' paid Mr. A. C. McCurdv, jVr.l'., tlio chairman of the Central Profiteering Committee, in the debate in the House of Commons last July, and that is the, spirit ill which the Art should be operated," says the Star. ''The operations of the Central Committee have been mainly conducted in (wo branches.

"There is the Prices Committee, which through various sub-committees lias been engaged in examining the books of great manufacturers in various articles of general consumption, such as wool, In order io discover the rates of profit in the various stages of manufacture. ''There is also the Trusts Committee, which, also working through sub-com-mittees, has been- inquiring ipto the operations of trusts ftnd combines in various industries, with their effect on prices."

TOWN OP MILLIONAIRES. "It was often said, even before "tlio present era of fabulous war profits, that fortunes are to be made quicker in the Bradford wool trade than in any other ■vocation," says the Daily News Bradford correspondent. "It has been declared that there are more millionaires to the square yard in Bradford than in any other citjV not even exceptions London. "The present Bishop of Peterboroush, formerly vicar of Bradford, described it as 'a brass-bound city.' There arc now without doubt many Bradford men who, before the war, were in the position of workmen in the trade, who are now reputed to bo worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and it is a noteworthy fad that most of the men who are now employers started life as half-timers in the trade and by some lucky stroxe 'got into the swim' and have made good. "One of the most notable of these is Sir James Roberts, who recently sold the Saltaire Mills for about .-£2,00<>,000. ami whose son, who died at the age of 2S years, left a fortune approaching £000,000." WHAT THE TAILORS SAY. "Tlio disclosure that worsted spinners art- making over 3000 per cent, profit does not surprise clothing manufacturers and tailors who have for years Tieen complaining of the exceedingly high prices demanded for cloth," says a Times trade correspondent. "The cost of woollen and worsted materials was sufficiently high during (he war, but since last March or April it has constantly advanced by shillings a. yard at a/timc.

"Tailors and clothiers have been at the. mercy of the cloth spinners and weavers, whose charges they have had to pass on to the public. Objections ware of no avail, the great difficulty bring to secure an adequate supply of cloth. Last sprint: there began a rush of buyers to Yorkshire from the Continent. all desperately anxious to obtain whatever material was available. This competition inevitably forced up prices by leaps and bounds, and the woollen and worsted spinners' and weavers have taken the. fullest possible advantage of their opportunity for making inordinate profits-

"Clothinjf manufacturers Kave been compelled to pay the rates offered by foreign purchasers or go without. The latter course was out of the question, for it would have meant closing flown their businesses and throwing thousands of workers out of employment. Even thoiisrli willing to pay wliat is asked for cloth, they cannot, secure all they require, for the cloth makers seem to give a direct- encouragement to export business, which, incidentally, is immune from (he operations of the Profiteering Act.

CLOTH FOR GERMANY. "Last yonr there were exported from (lie United Kingdom 25 million yards more of woollen cloth than in 1013, the exact figures being 103,553,f>00 yards in the pre-war year compared with 130,DSS.2OO yard/ in ml!). The value lias nlso risen fror. 1 . £14,400,509 'to £OO,2f>",829. This fives an average of 2s S:|d a yard in 1013 and 9s 2M a yard last year. Exports of worsted cloths, however, have declined heavily—from 02,490,000 yards (value £0,ISO,000) in 1013 to 33,205,000 yards (value £ll,813,000) last year. The average price per yard was Is Iljfd and 7s l%d respectively. "The bulk of the woollen cloth, and a large proportion of the worsted, is going to Germany —not direct, but principally through the three Scandinavian neutrals, and to some extent by way of France and Belgium, British manufacturers and merchants are well aware of this, and merchants in Copenhagen and elsewhore freely admit it."

HIGHLY PROFITABLE COTTON. "The cotton industry will admit a great deal, if not all, that is alleged about high prices and huge profits, but it will take exception to the use of the word profiteering," says the Times Manchester correspondent. "The profits are truly great, and it may be mentioned in passing that tho operatives are taking count of them, and that in April, when the current tv'flees agreement expires, they will present an altogether unprecedented demand for ft share in the prosperity of the industry.

"Mr- Sidney Webb is reported to have said that what was happening in worsted yarn was happening in cotton and metals. The same sort ,of thing is no doubt going on both in Lancashire cottons and Yorkshire woollens—it would appear to the same extent. "The statement that the profits in the ;otton trade are cvccedingly large will not be challenged. What is the answer of the spinner and manufacturer? .In sentence it is 'We cannot help it.' .Flier" are producing firms which candidly say that prices arc too high, and they would rather see them lower, but what <s the position? THE WORLD'S DEMAND. "The world's markefs are starving for ,Y»nt. of cotton goods. The supply is smaller than for many years past; the leminid unlimited. Buyers come to manufacturers whose order-books are already full and ask for supplies. To get Mli'of them politely the manufacturer Quotes what ought "to be a prohibitive jgui'c: but it is accepted. One effect certainly is an advance in the price of I cotton goods in the home market. I "There is, however, another side of I '.he question. Four-fifths of the produce of the Lancashire mills goes abroad.

u»rge exports were never of sudt imnvnse iiiijitii-luiU'C! Id tile country- Tiic.v are essential to redress' Hie balance of trade ami to restore ilie value of the sovereign on the foreign exchanges. Therefore, although prices of eotton poods lire inordinately and press hardly upon (lie people at home, may it not. lie. in Hie interest of the country as a whole Hint these valuable exports sliouid continue?

TRIO QUESTION 1 ". "This may sound like a bit of special pleading, u plausible defenee of private gain 011 the ground of incidental national advantage, and some may cry:,-!lJui upon the hypocrisy of claiming public merit for a policy which is essentially individual and mercenary.' If, then, that argument is disposed of, the cotton industry will ask how things are. to lie altered. The transactions take place in the open market, and the highest bidder gets the goods. How, it is asked, eould a manufacturer, even if lie would, discriminate between the home and the export trade? Or is England to become an altruistic benefactor to the world?" "Utterly unjustifiable profits have been made throughout the whole process of cloth-making from tlie time_ tin! wool leaves the sheep's back till it get.s on to the. back of the public," says the Daily Mail. "The wholo sordid story must now come out. There is already a quibble about the legal aspect of publishing the reports. That will not suit the public, and it will avail the Government nothing."