THE COTTON STRIKE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3021, 19 October 1908, Page 5

THE COTTON STRIKE.

FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND PERSONS IDLE.. Received October 17, 4.30 p.m. LONDON, October?. The "Daily Mail" states that the cotton strike has thrown 400,000 persons idle, and has caused a loss of 3V millions. The operatives have been earning this year comparatively small wages compared with last year. All the mills have bsen working shorter time, and nearly four hundred million fewer yards of cloth have been exported during the first seven months of this year than during the same period of last year. Recent reports showed how in the cottonspinning districts of the north the operatives' annual holiday was being curtailed by the trade depression. Burnley reported:—"Trade is weekly growing worse, and the weavers, of whom there are 30,000 in Burnley, fear a long period of suffering, equal to that during the American cotton famine in the sixties. During the last six months the weavers here only worked half-time. This means a reduction in their wages of about £IO,OOO weekly." The trade depression in Blackburn has seriously affected the savings clubs in the town. Last year more than £40,000 was paid out for the annual holidays, but this year the amount is not much more than £30,000. The trade depression in Bolton, the chief centre of the fine cotton spinning industry, disclosed itself markedly in the recent holidays. The tendency of the last four years has been for the workers to.trsvel further afield and 'periods, but this year the artisan and his family very largely fell back on day trips. The population of the town is more than 180,000, and about* £50,000 were drawn out of the clubs and other saving institutions. The annual amount paid out by the holiday clubs at Clitheroe this year is quite £I,OOO less than usual. The trade depression, and the consequently diminished earnings, have prevented the usual saving, and the outlook is far from bright.