166 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 19, 191'; 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



Blessrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as followss, under date April 80, 1917, with 

 reference to the sales of West Indian Sea Island 



cotton: — 



There i.s agood deiiiatiil for iSea Island growths, <ind .spot 

 quotations are easily obtainable, viz: — Nevis Montserrat, 

 Antigua and Anguilla, 41rf. to 4'Jrf: Barbados. 4irf. to 4:W.: 

 St. Vinc^nt, 43d. to 4id.: Superfine, ^5d. to (>0(7.; Marie 

 f4allante 1S</. to20</. 



The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., for 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, tor the 

 week ending May ■'), 1917, is as follows: — 



ISLANDS. This crop having been disposed nf, the mar- 

 ket will rf main closed until thi- new crop comes in, which 

 vfill not be marketed before ne.\t October. 



i;EOEia.\s AND i'LiiRir).\s. The market remains strong 

 with the vtry limited offerings firmly held, at quotations. 



There was little done on the spot, the sales reported 

 consisting largely of cotton shipi..ed from the interior markets 

 to be forwarded to nulls on contracts previously made. 



We quote: 



(iEORGIAS .\N]' FLORIDA?. 



Extra Choice it t'ancy 70c = 7:iJ>c. landed, including war risk. 

 Choice A: Extra Choice 69c. = 7 1 ic. ,, ,, ,, „ 



Extra Fine »v Choice 67c. = 69Ac. „ ,, ,, „ 



The unsold pcjrtion of the crop is held largely by expor- 

 ters either to cover forward sales, or on .speculation. The 

 stock in Factors' hands is reduced to 2(>0 bales to :iOO 

 bales, and consists principally of the lower grades. 



The exports from Savannah for the week were, to 

 Northern Mills 81 S bales. Southern -Mills i^ bales, and from 

 Jacksonville to Northern Jlills "253 bales. 



ACEEAOi;. There will be some increase in Carolina, 

 about 10 ^.er cent.; but in Georgia and Florida the increase 

 is estimated at 20 to 2.5 per cent. The out-turn of the crop 

 is dependent on weather conditions during the growing and 

 harvesting season. 



There is a very general apprehension that the boll weevil 

 may di' some damage, especially in Southern Georgia, where 

 they appeared in a limited way last year. 



With favourable weather conditions and no disaster from 

 storms or boll weevil, it i.>< estimated the crop may turn out to 

 be 135,000 bales to 140,000 bales 



BRITISH COTTON GROWING 



ASSOCIATION. 



The one hundred and fifty-ninth meeting of the Council 

 of the British Cotton (irowing Association was held at the 

 Offices, l-j, Cross Street, Jlanchester, on Tuesday the 1st 

 instant. In the absence of the President (The Kt. Hon. 

 the Earl of Derby, K.G.), Mr. .T. Arthur Hutton occupied the 

 Chair. 



Reference was made to the death of Sii Williaiu 

 Houldswortli. Hart., a Vice-President, and one of the oldest 

 friends and supporters of the Association, and it was decided 

 that a letter of condolence be sent to Lady Houldsworth. 



A special Conference of the Council with representatives 

 of the Lancashire cotton trade was held on April 13 to 

 discuss the cotton situation, when it was reported that no 

 definite reply bad been received from the Board of Trade 

 with regard to the recommendations made by the deputation 

 from the Lancashire cotton trade. This deputation took 

 [ilace on February 8, and a memorandum embodying 

 the various points to be discussed was previously sent 

 in to the Board of Trade. On February 13 an un- 

 official letter was received from the Board of Trade 

 stating that a committee is in course of being appointed 

 to invi^tigate the c|uestion. As no further communica- 

 tion was received, a letter was addressed to the Board of 

 Trade on March 22 pointing out the importance of the 

 question receiving the immediate consideration of the Govern- 

 ment, and an acknowledgment of this letter was received, 

 dated March 23, .since when no further letter has been 

 received. 



Considerable dissatisfaction was expressed at the confer- 

 ence at the delay on the .part of the Government in giving 

 a definite reply to the representations made by the deputation,. 



and the following resolutions were unanimously passed: — 



(1) 'That this Meeting expresses its deep regret at the 

 delay which has occurred in dealing with the ques- 

 tion of cotton-growing in the British Empire, and 

 its disappointment that no definite reply has yet 

 been received from the Board of Trade on the 

 various points submitteed by the Deputation on 

 February ''^. 



(2) 'That steps be taken to arrange for a conference 

 with the members of Parliament representing the 

 Textile districts to discuss the question.' 



A question was asked in the House of Commons on the 

 subject by Mr. C. T. Needham, M. P., who was informed 

 that an announcement on this important subject would 

 shortly le made In view of this reply, it was not considered 

 necessary at the pre.sent time to hold the meeting with the 

 members of Parliament. It was resolved to approach the 

 Employers' Associations with a view to a conference bein" 

 convened as soon as possible when various matters connected 

 with the cotton trade in addition to the question of the 

 future of the cotton-growing movement could be discussed. 



WKsT AFRICA. The purchases of cotton in Lagos to- 

 April 21, amounted to 5,066 hales, as compared with 5,898 

 bales for the same period of last year, and 1,631 bales for 

 1915. In addition a cable has been receiveil stating that 

 there arc 1,000 tons of .seed-cotton on the railway awaiting 

 transport, which is equal to a further 1,400 bales. 



In Northern Nigeria the crop has suffered from the 

 heavy rains in September, and the purchases to April 7 



