358 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 13, 1909, 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholune and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 •write as follows, under date October 25, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Lsland cotton : — 



Since our last report, nn business is reported in AVe.st 

 Indian Sea Island cotton, owing to the absence of stock. 



American Sea Island cotton of all de.scriptions continues 

 to harden gradually. For 'Fine' Island they are asking 

 l().l</. and ' Fully Fine ' ITirf., but no business is passing at 

 these rates, buyers ' ideas being rather lower. The best 

 I'loridiis are worth 13v(7. to 14(1 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending October 23, is as follows : — 



The market has been quiet tliroughout the week, withmit 

 any sales being reported. There was some demand at the prices 

 at which the opening sales were made, viz: Fine 2Sc., Fully 

 Fine 30c., and Extra Fine 32c., which if factors had con- 

 sented to accept would have resulted in fairly large sales; but 

 factors advanced their prices 2c , which buyer.s refused to 

 pay. Should the market remain quiet, with no demand at 

 the advance asked, with the accumulation of stock, factors 

 mav in time have to recede from their advanced views. 



COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE 



WEST INDIES. 



The amounts of cotton exported from (Irenada, St. Kifts, 

 Nevis and Anguilla, during the quarter ending September 30, 

 1909, were as follows: — 



All this cotton was sent to the I'nitcd Kingdom; that 

 from the three la.st mentioned places was all Sea Island. 



The export of cotton from Antigua for the .same period 

 is given on page 32(5, and tlio-^c from Ilarbado.s, St. Vincent, 

 Trinidad, Tobago, Montserrat and British Guiana will be 

 found, similarly, on page 34'?, of the present volume of the 

 AgricuHural Netrx. 



THE WORLD'S COTTON SUPPLY. 



An article in the London Dnihi Mail on the world's 

 cotton supply, written by Sir Alfred .lone.s, K.C.M.G., 

 has formed the material for a pamphlet entitled ' Our 

 Greatest Industry', which has just been issued. As 

 this contains interestincr statistical information in 

 connexion with the supply of and demand for, cotton, 

 the followino; excerpts from it are given here: — 



The estimated number of spindles in work in Great 

 Britain for 1908 was .53A^ millions, and taking the value of 

 each siiindle at 30.-.-., we get a cost of nearly i:80,000,000 for 

 spinning mills alone, and to this must be added the cost of 

 looms, printing, dyeing, and bleaching works, which are 

 worth as much again. A spindle recjuires from 30 11). to 35 lb. 

 of cotton per annum, which gives a total of about 'ih million 

 bales of 500 Iti. weight, nearly 3 million bales of which are 

 American cotton. 



The Fnited States of America during the last few years 

 have la-oduced from 10 to 13 million bales of cotton, 

 and, to the man in the street, the 3 million bales required 

 by Great Britain would seem easy to obtain, but we must not 

 forget that America has some 28 million spindles, which 

 number is increasing rapidly, and she requires over 4J.milliott 

 bales for her own consumption, for, although tthe "spindles 

 are fewer in number, more cotton is used, the counts beincr 

 coarser. In England, finer counts are spun, consequently 

 less cotton is used, but more labour is put into the manufac- 

 ture of the goods. 



Ill addition to (Jreat Britain and America, (ieriiiany 

 wants 1 J million bales, liussia, France, Austria, and Italy 

 over hall a million each, and other countries a million between 

 them. Tlius we have accounted for about 12 million bales 

 of American cotton. India jn'oduces about 3 million 

 bales, the bulk of which is used by .fapan, (iermanj-, France, 

 JIus.sia and India. Egypt also produces three-quarters of 

 a million, half of which is used by Great Britain. In- 

 addition, some IJ, million bales are produced in Russia, 

 Brazil, and Japan, where the cotton is chiefly used. 



We have seen that a crop of about 12 to 13 

 million bales of American cotton is requii'ed to satisfy these 

 demands, and if the crop falls short, England suflers from 

 a shortage of the raw material. The result is short time, and 

 consecpient distress. In 1904, when Lancashire mills were on 

 short time, it is estimated that capital and labour in the cotton 

 trade alone lost some £150,000 a week, to say nothing of 

 the losses in other trades directly connected with the 

 industry. .Some 10 million people are dependent, either 

 directly or indirectly, on the cotton industry of Lancashire, 

 which is a trade dependent on a single foreign country for 

 its sujiplies of raw material, and is at the mercy of the 

 climate and the speculator. 



