THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 1910. THE WORLD'S COTTON SUPPLY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10058, 1 June 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 1910. THE WORLD'S COTTON SUPPLY.

After some years of phenomenal profits, during which the cotton problem receded into the background, last year not only in Lancashire but in America itself, and this year the serious nature Df the outlook is still more accentuated. Last season both the American and Egyptian cotton crops,'on which Lancashire practically relies, were much curtailed by adverse weather conditions and disease, and the recently reported damage to the American j growing crop, necessitating the resowing of extensive area*?,, has raised alarm that the next crop will also be eadly deficient. What Lancashire, and indeed ail cotton manufacturing countries require is steadily increasing supplies of the raw- material. The world shows an ever-increasing demand for cotton goods. Up to the close uf last year, though the statistical position was bad, the supplies of raw cotton to England had cot been very materially curtailed, as high prices tempted Americans to sell rapidly. But in the first quarter of this year, the supplies which reached England from America were under 2,300,000>. cwts, as, compared with over 6,500,G00cwt5.. in the first quarter of last year,*and at ihe same time the influx of Egyptian cotton was under 8Q0„Q00j cwts,, as compaued J

with 1,300,000. As a result of these , striking decieaaes, England compel ed more with the Continent for sup- , plies of Indian and Brazilian cotton, but even so, the total received was only 3,500,000 cwts, as compared with 8,100,000. Then prices went up so greatly in America thatH;here were actually reshipmentt. of cotton from Liverpool to America, and stocks of the raw material in England showed a contraction of 550,000 bales, or of more than 2,400,000 cwts. It is no wonder therefore that Lancashire has been working short time and that the outlook is regarded as serious, The American cotton year is reckoned as starting on September Ist, aiia fiom that date to the end of the first week in April y,244,000 bales of American cotton had been brought into night, a decrease of 2,808,000 bales as compared with the previous season. The result was a slump in the 1 deliveries to spinners of well over 500,000 bales on the Continent, of 500,000 in America, and of 220,000 bales in England, besides 100,000 less in otner directions, and still the visible supplies were vastly reduced. That our requirements of cotton goods will be curtailed is haidly to be expected. We in New Zealand can afford to pay j the price. But the, greatest con- j sumeirs are found in tropical and comparatively poorer countries, and they may have to go short. But there can be no to depend, as Lancashire mainly does, upon American supplies of raw cotton is to court disaster. Even if America could maintain her present exports, that would mean that the great trade of Lancashire could not further expand. But the are that as time goes on the American supplies, after satisfying the fgrowing internal requirements, will yield less and less to external countries, and the position must be faced. Hitherto Egypt has beenftbe one competitor in England with the American staple, and it is hoped that the Egyptian area may be , extended —possibly into the Soudan. But the attempts made to grow suitable cotton elsewhere have been triv- ' ial, and have not so far resulted in the production of 100,000 bales per annum, where the requirements are represented by millions. England and other countries will have, "sooner or ■ later, to solve this problem* and in tbe meantime the outlook is for cot- , ton to be dear, and for the American coloured population reaping a rich harvest out of the world's requirements. They do not suffer from a deficient crop; the higher price proves an ample compensation to tbe grower.