310 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 3, 1908^ 



LANCASHIRE COTTON CONFERENCE. 



An account of the proeeeilings of the Confi-ivnce 

 helil in Lancashire in August hist between the West 

 Indian cotton growers and Manchester spinners has 

 been printed in booklet form by the British Cotton- 

 growing Association, and copies of this Iwoklet are now 

 on sale (price Is.). 



The ettbrts made t(i develoji a cotton-growing industry 

 in various parts of the Kinpire liave of late attracted a good 

 deal of attention in Creat Hritain, and the interest and 

 .sym]»athy taken by the mother country in this form of 

 colonial enterprise are evident from the lengthy reviews of the 

 proceedings of the late Conference which ^\crc published in the 

 London and provincial press. In {his connexion the editorial 

 articles dealing with West Indian cotton growing which 

 ap|)eared in the London 'riim-x and the .}foriiiii,/ f'o.i/ may 

 be specially mentioncil. 



The Cotton Conference was opened on August •") at 

 the oftices of the Hritish Cotton-growing Association, Com- 

 mercial lluildings, Manchester, under the presidency of 

 Sir Alfred .Jones, K.C.M.d. In addition to a large and 

 representative gathering of cotton s[)inners there were alsfi 

 ])resent Colonel Seely, M.P,, Under-Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies, Mr. .VH'red Ennnott, M.l'., Deputy Speaker of the 

 Hou.se of Connuons, and Sii- Ccrald Strickland, Iv.C.M.G., 

 late Governoi' of the Leeward Islands and now Governor of 

 Tasmania. Addresses of welcome were given by Sir Alfred 

 Jones, Colonel Seely (on behalf of ^he Colonial Office), and 

 Mr. Ennnott (on behalf of the House of Conunons). 



Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M fi.. Imperial Connnissioner of 

 Agriculture for the West Indies, responded to these addrcs.ses 

 of wclcon\e on lielialf of the West Indian delegates. The 

 Commissioner then went on to give a history of the inception 

 and progress of Sea Island cotton growing in the West Indies. 

 lie was convini-cd that a good deal might yet be done to 

 licnefit the industry by seed selcetion e.\perinu'nts carried on 

 by planteis in co t)|)eration with the lnil)erial Department of 

 Agriculture for the puipose of jiroducing disease-resistant varie- 

 ties of cotton, as well as varieties giving a higher yield of lint. 



Mr. .1. Arthur Hutton. Chairman of the Uritish Cotton- 

 growing Association, ne.xt spoke. He stated that the Associa- 

 tion was very willing to handle coloniaj-grown cotton, and to 

 make only the lowest possible charge fVir commission on its .sale, 

 to obtain the best market j trices, and to make advances on the 

 value of the produce bi'fore it was .sold, without any e.xtra 

 connni.ssion. Mr. Hutton did not attribute the present low 



er 



prices ff)r cotton to f>vcr-productioii. but rather to the latt 

 financial crisis in AiTierica, which had depressed trade all 

 over the world. While planters .should be warned against 



raising their hopes of prices too high in the future, he was- 

 c )nfidcnt there would be such an improvement as to allow 

 the industry to be carried on at a profit. 



Mr. Lonias Oliver, "Member of Council of the Jbitish 

 Cotton-growing Association, pointed out that while there was 

 but a liiuitcd demand for the very fine class of cotton which 

 was only used in the manufacture of expensive and lu.xurious- 

 articles, the demand for cotton of a slightly lower grade was 

 quite unlimited. No pledges could be given as to the future 

 prices of cotton, which Hke that of all other conunodities, 

 was regulated by supply and demand, but there was no 

 reason for West Indian planters to be despondent over the 

 present temporary dci*ression. The cotton consigned to him 

 from the West Indies was excellent in cpiality and had 

 come forwarfl in gootl condition. 



.Mr. Wolstenholnie (of the firm of Me.-^srs. Wolstenholme- 

 A Holland) dealing with the condition of the Sea Island 

 cotton market .said that there were 1,-I00 bales then on hand. 

 This, however, he did not think extraordinary. The firm of 

 which the speaker was a mendter had dealt with the greater- 

 amount of cotton i)roducerl in the West Indies. He believed 

 that better prices would in many cases be obtained by grow- 

 ers if greater care was exerci.sed in grading, packing, and 

 marking the cotton sent forward. P>alcs from the West 

 Indies often , contained cotton of mixed lengths of staple : 

 this undoubtedly had a dei>ressing ctl"ec-t on prices. The 

 condition of cotton imported from the United Slates compared 

 very favourably with that from the West Indie.^ as in the 

 former country every possible care was taken in grading and 

 marking the produce. This gave American cotton an advan- 

 tage on the market ovi;r the colonial-grown product. 



The progress of the cotton industry aiul estimates of the 

 cost of growing the crop in the different islands were dealt 

 with in speeches by Dr. C. K. (Jooding ( Harliados), 

 .Mr. A. ,M. l^ee (.Antigua), lion C. .1. Sinunons (St. ^■incent), 

 and -Mr. .1. 1!. liovell ( l!arl>ados). It was shown that at 

 prices which had prevailed dtuing a jiart of the 1907-S 

 .sea.son, cotton growing could not be carried on at a profit in 

 these i.slands, and in supiiorl of this statement Mr. J. 1!. Rovell 

 ipioted a set of carefully prepared figures relating to 

 the work of five different estates at Rarbados. It was 

 mentioned that .some planters had already lost money on their 

 cotton crops of the past season. 



Mr. .1. T. .Mien s[)oke as to the conilition of the industry 

 in the island which he represented. Cotton growing had 

 done a great deal of good in Montserrat, and had taken 

 a firm hold. The cultivation, however, was an expensive 

 one, and the speaker gave it as his opinion that less thau 



