THE DRAPERY “BILL.”

Gisborne Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5538, 21 July 1920, Page 3

THE DRAPERY “BILL.”

WHEN WILL IT COME DOWN ?

After six years as London buyer tor his firm. Air W. Lewis, oi Messrs A\. Lewis and Co., drapers, Invercargill, has iust returned from England, and he lias given the press some interest• ng information on the conditions in > he Old Country, particularly as regards the textile irado, in connection with .( lie prospects of ail alteration in prices. According to Air Lewis, the lady f who speaks of tlie prices of English ! manufactured goods as “awful. will have cause to put additional emphasis on the. adjective before long. •"There 1 seems to he a feeling here that there is I going .to be a slump,” he remarked. “Let me tell you there is no possibility of such an occurrance, unless a financial crisis comes about. There is little chance of any appreciable, decrease before another twelve months at least. When I left two months ago, practically all the mills were booked up I with orders as far ahead as 1921. Iho 1 demand created by a plentitude .of I money,’the rate of exchange, the high | wages to operatives, and the short ! hours worked by them, are all tending to keep up prices. ~ “In connection with the demand it. may be interesting 'to know that the Americans were operating strongly on the'English market when I left Ihey were paying any prices for any class of textile procurable, especially cotton goods. , Thou the cost of producing has increased enormously. .Goal umt oil, for example, are. very dear. Iwo months ago-manufactured. gcods weie on the rise, and I om afraid t.mt those J who are expecting a drop are to be ead- ' ly disillusioned. _____