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FINANCE AND COMMERCE.
ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.
HEALTHIER POSITION IN
BRADFORD.
WOOL COMBING CHARGES
REDUCED.
(Fran Our Special Correspondent.)
Bradford.' Aug. 29.
Though it is not generally acknow
ledged that there is any important ac
cession of new business, the improved
tone is still in evidence, and when ' all
factors are taken into consideration,
there is no doubt that the position is
fairly healthy, and promises better for
satisfactory trade development than
seemed possible only a short time ago.
The Continental position is still the
greatest cause for concern, but the ran*
material, continues to be cleared in
decent quantities, fairly large soles hav
ing been made for the woollen trade, and
matchings have also been disposed of to
America. This, along with the clearance
of wool made during the,past few weeks,
is sill exerting a beneficial influence from
the purely raw material standpoint, and
it is now generally conceded that when
the sales commence in London, values all
round will be on a firm basis compared
with the previous auctions, an advance
. of 5 per cent, being well within the
range of possibility. Whether this will
be to the good of the Bradford trade is
perhaps open to question, but values for
.tops here remain quite firm, and it 13
understood that for some of the business
done, slightly better prices have been
realised. The total amount of business,
however, is not large, and 'taking the
market as a whole, values are nominalty
maintained on last week's level. Cross
breds hold their own, free sales on ex
port account *being interfered with by
the Continental situation. The majority
of spinners are in need of further orders,
and the prices realiseable to-day show a
distinct disadvantage compared with the
present cost of production. There is
-no new development in the piece section,
the outstanding feature of which is that
woollen cloths are meeting with a better
demand from merchants than worsteds,
due to the increasing popularity of the
cheaper classes of cloths.
Lower Charges for Combing.
The most important development dur
ing the past week in Bradford is the
reduction of combing charges, this being
a practical step towards the modification
of overhead costs, which has long been
regarded as one of the most pressing
needs of the hour. The tariff which is
now superseded came into operation at
the end of last February, the reduction
then made from the tariff introduced
about 18 months previously being id. for
lnerinlos and 5S's, u-Sd. for iiti's. S-.Sii.
for 48's and 50's, id. for 30-46 s, and. Ad.
to id. for preparing wools. These re
ductions left all charges well over 100
per cent, more than those current in
1914, and the present reductions, which
amount to M. in merinos, 3-8d. in card
in' erossbreds, and :1-1. m preparing
erossbreds, leave the rates excessively
high compared with before the war, and
even with present Continental charges.
The extra charge for burring merinos is
reduced from Id. to id., -and OS's from Id.
to id., the reduction in yb s being Jd.
French Competition.
A French firm of dyers and finishers
have opened a branch in Bradford with
the intention of developing business in
the West Riding in the dyeing and fin
ishing of dress goods and men s wear.
The venture has so far been very suc
cessful many local firms having pro
mised their patronage. Thousands of
pieces have been put at the company's
disposal, and they also intend to install
a small dyeing and finishing plant for
the rectification of slight faults in shade.
Their dyeing charges for costumes,
! serges, gabardines, etc. (all colours, navy
black and creams) are Old. per lb. net
for erossbreds, and HUl. for botany, all
colours being guaranteed fast to light.
For crossbred or botany coating serges
of all weights the price for fast acid
blue is Cid. per lb.. and for guaranteed
indigo for all climates 10d. per lb. As
1'orkshire dyers are charging Is. per lb.
for botany serges and gabardines, and
, as there are corresponding differences in
the charges for tlyeing other classes of.
fabrics, whilst the competing company
; will pay carriage from Bradford ,to
France and back again, it is obvious
that a strong hid is being made for Brad
ford trade. Great prominence is being
given in almost every section of the daily
press to the iuroads of French competi
tion, one writer going so far as to say
that Bradford is becoming oue of the de
vastated ill-fas, and that the workers of
Roubaix are throwing the workers of
Bradford out of work as surely as if
they wore devastating the region with
howitzers. TIipi-*1 is no doubt that this
Krpnch competition is n real thing, and
cannot be lightly regarded, but the san
est and most far-seeing men in the Brad
ford trade to-day, do not now regard the
present position as being really serious,
and the latest Board of Trade returns
certainly did not indicate that the posi
tion of the trade as a whole was becom
ing seriously Worse, the outstanding fea
ture being that in various sections there
was a good deal of leeway to make up
before the pre-war, level was reached.
The great desire of many firms no doubt
is to see this pre-war level recovered.
Meanwhile we are among those who are
of the opinion that the wool textile
manufacturing industry of Great' Britain
will be among the first to make a really
sound and satisfactory recovery. That
there are -traces of increasing confidence
has already been shown in a previous
paragraph. . ?
, ' Wool Taxation;
Inquiries are frequently 'made in Lon
don wool 'circles about the proposals to
put a tax on raw material exported from
the Colonies, ? and one broker has ex
pressed the opinion that the proposition
will not lead to anything, principally be
cause he cannot conceive that the Aus-.
truliun Government will agree to an ex
port tariff which must inevitably recoil
on the heads of their own wool growers.
It was stated that there is no reason for
any supposition that the ingenuity of
the Imperial or the Dominion Customs
authorities will be able to prevent an
export duty on any commodity' having
?to be paid by the consumer. It was
also added that from the point of view
of the wool brokers a preferential tariff
is bound to have a detrimental effect
upon trade. These views are similar
to what we have already expressed.
Wool Standards.
1 Some progress is being made ' in the
efforts to introduce a uniform system of
wool standardisation between the Ameri
can and British sections of the trade.
The topmaking committee of the British
Wool Federation have examined samples
of wool obtained by Mr. G. T. Willing
niyre, the representative of the Depart
ment of Agriculture, Washington, and the
samples have been accepted as repre
sentative, of the average Bradford quali
ties of the respective classes of wool so
.far as diameter of fibre is concerned.
There is not the slightest doubt that the
Bradford trade will welcome the intro
duction of a system of grading which will
put the American and English users on
the same basis.
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