ENGLAND’S COTTON INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 14, 11 October 1927, Page 8

ENGLAND’S COTTON INDUSTRY

CONDITIONS VERY BAD

LANCASHIRE GOING THROUGH HARD TIMES

Dominion Special Service.

Auckland, October 10.

"Conditions in the cotton industry in England, and more particularly in Lancashire, have never been so bad as they are at present,” said Mr. H Lonsdale, who is interested in the business, and who is passing through on the Aorangi on his way to Australia. “Lancashire is going through times of distress which have never been experienced before. Manufacturing and spinning are in a deplorable condition, and I do not see any hope for the future. The reason is that there is not the purchasing power today. The biggest market for cotton is in India, and prices compared with pre-war are just double in Bombay and Calcutta, therefore the millions of people in the East who were buyers of cotton goods then have now to be content with half of what they would purchase.

"There is another factor which is operating against the English manufacturer to a very great extent,” Mr. Lonsdale explained, “and that is competition from the Japanese against English firms in the open markets of the world. ' The Japanese are producing all kinds of Lancashire cotton goods to-day. The factories over there work three shifts of eight hours each, as against one of eight hours in England. It is my candid opinion that, as far as Lancashire is concerned, there is not the slightest doubt that, unless the banks ease up somewhat, the industry will be ruined. Those financial institutions have compelled manufacturers and spinners to reduce their overdrafts, and tms is where the pinch is operating.. The banks are in control of the situation. To illustrate my point: In 1920 there was a bopm in the cotton trade, and there were huge profits to be made. The result was that, for instance, my own companw constructed a mill which cost £150.000; it was sold for £650,G00 to a syndicate. This meant that the latter had to pay interest and sinking fund on half a million more capital than we did. Then the slump came, and now the banks want their money. It can’t be done.” Mr. Lonsdale is interested in a number of publishing businesses throughout the world, with branches in Sydney, Montreal, Bradford, and Accrington. His present mission to Sydney is to inspect a new factory which has been established there.