YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 72, 18 December 1919, Page 14

YORKSHIRE LETTER

COMPETITION WANTED IN RAILWAY TRANSIT s. (Prom Our Special Correspondent.) Bradford, October 23. The benefits of competition are amply illustrated in what has happened in connection with the attitude of the railway companies towards the Bradford wool trade. The latter has suffered seriously in consequence of delayed transit and other inconveniences, and the matter has no doubt been made worse by the removal of the old-time competition between one company and another. Naturally traders ara nnxious to secure the quickest possible transit of their poods, as it is only by delivering them in accordance with contract that they can keep faith with their clients, and for the railway executives merely to give a formal expression of their willingness to alleviate the situation is not in itself sufficient. If goods are held up in transit lwth buyer and seller arc helpless, and apparently the only way to bring about a more desirable state of affairs is to restore competition. Reference has been made recently to the charges' which have to be added to the initial cost of wool in consequents bT its being' impossible to get it away from the place of purchase. Users aro keen enough to net wool away and into (he initial stages of manufacture, for they are fully aware of the enormous demands which lie in front t of them. Spinners and manufacturers constantly complain of the difficulty they experience in getting supplies, and it requires no little foresight and organisation to avoid being put btfo the cart altogether. Tndecd, when firms have done the best +hev can, they do not always know hnw long they may. be able to keep running. Prices of Spot Tops. It has recently been stated that it was easier for spinners to find tops available l'ov prompt delivery. This may bo truo in some cases, but the eagerness shown at the last talo of Government surplus tops showed that there wore still plenty of buyers ready to pay full prices for what was ready for delivery. It was impossible to form any basis for merinos for only two lots wcro offered,, one boing damaged, anil the other a small weight of dry combed Capo. Tho other qualities ranged from 68 s down to 36's, though there were not many of the first-named. Tho following table gives the average prices for the descriptions which wcrp most numerous, the figures realised at the Inst Government top salo held on September 21, and current open market quotations, for February-March delivery being also given:— ■ > . " Open G'ment. G'ment. Market Top Top Fob.Sale Salo March. Description.'" Oct. Sept. de--16. 21. livery, d. d. d. 50's carded Colonial 72 00} 87 sC's carded English 7G 70i — 48's carded English 61 58} 01 to 61} 48's carded Colonial 55} 53 52 to 53 ■Mi's prepared English ... m «i- - 4G's carded English 45 - 45 4(i's carded Colonial 40} 43} 45 44's carded English 37 36 42 Jfl's prepared English 3.1 - - bid 40's prepared Colonial 31. . - 30 dfl's prepared Englisli ..: 33} 33 34} Tho following is a comparison of the prices paid at tho above sale for 56's and above, none of which was offered at tho sale held on September 24:Govern- Open ment top. market. Sale, Feb.-M'h. Oct. 16. delivery. d. d. fifl's HO 120 , r )B's colonial 114} 92 56's carded colonial 93 81 50's carded English 31 — How Clothing Costs Might be Reduced, Attention continues to bo given to the hisrh cost of clothing, ana somo rather outspoken remarks have been made recently by men who occupy responsible positions, and who are able to keep m "touch with many things which have a direct bearing upon the matters upon which they have spoken so plain y Durini! the -war the authorities rightly made tho utmost provision for clothing the service men, and they could bo forgiven if they erred on the side of providing nioro cloth than was ultimately found to bB needed. Now> that the war is oyer, however, there is no excuse for holding stocks of military goods which are not likely to be wanted for that purpose. Even assuming that a stanoing Army is to be kept for the defenco of various parts of the Empire, it is obvious that the quantity of clothing worn by such an arniv being as it would be, on a peace basis would be much less than the averpj;o wear and tear during tho recently terminated struggle. It has been stated that the Government have lb or }l million vards of khaki cloth, enough to clothe any army they ever dreamt of having during the next forty years. The wearing capacity of Government khaki cloth has already been proven, and there is no doubt that if mado available i'*- would be "excellent for civilian wear durin" the' winter season. To release such a quantity, or even half or twothirds of it, would help to produco a modifying effect upon tho price of some of tho men's woar fabrics, providing thero was any demand for it. It is also understood that tho Government hold 20 000,000 pairs of socks, a quantity which if available for civilian consumption should help to modify the prese.it high price of hosiery goods of tho class to which they belong. The question of tho high Prices of various articles ot clothing can be viewed to-day in various ways, but there seems to bo little ('onlu that if the authorities were to take up a practical attitude and go the right way, about tho task, they could help to linn" down tho prico of at least some of the articles which aro costing such a lot ot money to-day. Charts of profiteering aro coming from many sources, attention often being drawn to tho present puce of cloth compared with pre-war days, and also to tho enhanced rates of pay which operatives in the textile trade are receiving, but it seems as though tho public and the. Government aro culprits together. Apropos of tho above, it may bo mentioned that tho Disposal lionrd of the n many cases it may bo truly deVunistrv of Munitions intend to release for sale 5.1 million yards of doHi suitable for costumes, dress materials, overcoatings, raincoats, suits, uniforms. This includes ;one million yards of drab mixture serge, one. million yards of drab mixture tartan, 91,000 yards Mack cloth. 2!!,0M yards black «erge, 100.00 ft yards cf mohair c10th,'250,000 yards drab mixture whipcord, 100.000 yards of Bedford cord. Samples of the cloth are available for inspection at tho chambers u£ ccraiuvrco

in various towns throughout the country. A salo of colonial wool was held at Liverpool on Thursday, but there was nothing in the catalogues to attract Bradford buyers, by fur the larger part of the offerings consisting of scoured merinos from Australia. Tlio total offerings 'amounted to 10,536 bales, including 15,910 bales from Now South. Walos and New Zoaland, of which only 128 were greasy. Tho total was niado up of 112 bales from South Africa, 115 from British East Africa, 350 from Huenos Aires, and 29 from Jnmacia. It will bo seonthat bite offerings wcro of a somewhat miscel-' laneous character, though some of the scoured merino combings were very good. An examination of the various lots proved disappointing, as the descriptions did not always fit very veil with tho actual character of tho wools. Tho result was that the prices paid cannot bo regarded as a very satisfactory criterion of the stato of the market. The tol lowing are some of tho marks and prices:—JCM/Oban, scoured super combing, Cold.; McW/Kanimblah., scoured super combing, 65Jd.; scoured super combing, sSld.; P in diamond, scoured super combing, 62d.; TA/F, scoured super combing, 62d.; J. E. and Co. over B, scoured extra super combing, G9Jd.j Bowen Downs, scoured super combing, 71d. The attendance of buyers was fairly large, both-Homo and Continental buyers being present. The former did very little in the way of actual buying, but the latter paid prices fully equal to the London basis for short clothing skin wools.