German Wool Trade. 



507 



instance, a considerable quantity is carted in huge waggon 

 loads direct to the spinning* mills in the north of France. 



The flax trade in Courtrai is almost exclusively in the 

 hands of English or Irish firms, and the few firms of other 

 nationalities have Englishmen in their employ to select and 

 class the flax. In addition to the 20 commission houses 

 engaged in the flax trade, about 10 of the principal Irish 

 spinners have their own buyers resident in Courtrai, and 

 others send their buyers over as circumstances of trade 

 demand it, so that the business is practically in British 

 hands. 



During the 1896-97 season, which may be taken as an 

 average year, the value of the flax exported from the Courtrai 

 district was £1,200,000. The shipments for Great Britain 

 and Ireland take place through the port of Ghent by the 

 direct Ghent-Belfast route and other regular lines. 



[Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 519. Price \dJ\ 



The German Wool Trade. 



The Annual Report on the Trade of German}', prepared 

 by Mr. Consul-General Schwabach, contains a section dealing" 

 with the wool trade in that country. The report states that 

 the most noticeable feature of the woollen business in 1898 

 was the increasing difference of price between fine merino 

 wool and coarse "cross-bred''' wool; and it is considered 

 to be not improbable that this widening divergence in 

 price will continue, as the important and profitable business 

 of sheep-rearing throws large quantities of coarse wool as a 

 bye-product on the market. 



It appears that the generally depressed condition of the 

 textile industry during 1898 had an unfavourable influence on 

 wool, but an improvement gradually set in, and although the 

 prices for raw wool, as compared with yarn, were already 

 high at the beginning of 1899, tne market in July last showed 

 a still more decided upward tendency. In Australia, in 

 consequence of the long droughts, and in Argentina, as a 

 result of the increasing cross-breeding, merino wool is 



