OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 306, 30 December 1909, Page 6

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

PRICES ADVANCING AGAIN

THE WOOL I?£iADE OF BELGIUM. s: '-. .Mj*£ ■ ■~ .V " BBAWORD; M)v. 19, 1909. **:Thi-ngs inMtfte trooDitrade are developing f*Bto, " 'and' factors _ are m fperation wkicK never Before have interfered witE *fche .movement of either fi&rket;! or :price, ir Strikes are uni&Ciwn things/ ' and ©life can never ffityy 'gauge theii< -real/significance, or dfefernifrie tfae 'ultimafe-'outoome. The fcSlled int&liig^ctf'#>n« Sydney that *&#* sales Ijiave bo>%ri& && a standstill fl&akes oqiinimis reading:, 'aiiti no section .of the tirade likes the appearance «Fthings. It- is W early as yet to feef^nem\ ; !and'; ;£he; trade generally fe- 'looking1 o^ Witih< -feverish interest, IsftiVali the skin*- there; are possibilities $r;€&e situation" which can seriously fit>&t dalculations at this end of the Wfe'fld. • It , that growers '#iU fHltiniat^-benefit, by the stoptge; ; of; th& ,Atts.«alian sales. owing supplies'- hetng'v&y much restrictri"< but all tfie, san>e consumers are *ti,t disposed 'in: actual deed gust yet to ■ >'ay "any increased^: prices, notwithstanding that seljers are pressing ior; j i&t& money.;',"There is no doubt that 1 S&'contmuanfc'e'of ,the strike in AusWgsa will 'have,art important bearing, on the -future of values, and a 4»eedy termination; is to be desired iglthe'interests ©ball parties. Some iftjnk that, if "w^ see political compilations.; due' si:?\ ■■» certain general Section, thX fhjanbes of'this country j«# suffer >!; temporary upset, but 1 fenot among, those who are liking seriic>fts l!t lrouble even it the fe4s thrown;owt 'the Budget, whichi is dE§w* r a-, foregone conclusion... lms $&ntry. is c'#t*oo stable a nature for, sft&one fei'-getPirito a funk simply be-. f&VtJie Bill fails to. receive-■^nctlon'o^-the House of Lords. EMANDI#iHIGHER FRIGES week business has naturally ass&ined. less ■ imposing dimerfsions all localise- of fche deadlock m Aust-ra-I&; ' The' fact' is importers do not know, where :they are. hence.-several Maye! declared! off and ; will now no linger seH 1^: s^ty oecause.ol th^unee*t*uity: of obtaining supplies, fffii<K^estflt^:iS':=that :irios^:.*rm^.vhave. "3li&&X' stated -einpliatically vthat; they tfß.:- ftJo6k *n© further orders, ; or else tffey Wilt 'moVe money. They would fffimv setf :i£ they felt certain they .^uld beable to land wool Jiere in. s&^ient quantity and. m toe to aioijv■ -of the sdme being combed, but tfiai seems now impossible, lnmgs *fere going on nicely, business was dFoffressing' most encouragingly, ,and **>w this co^i disturbance comes' along tfe' upset everything and everybody. Tnb majority of importers are ton Jay #uiting 2^a and 27d.for super 60's afii164 V .tops respectively, and noflody will now undertake January deIfvery; -The raising of prices another full |d brings both "futures and Bpot values to practically the same level, ahd very little business oi: the latter character is taking place. 1 dbuld* name a score firms who are toin a most independent position, simply because they have covered all their wants up to the end oi next M«iVcli,:and as for following the marfc^t r they all say alike they are going t<fi :wa~rfc. Things are in. a very mIfere'sting state and what is going to be tlffe upshot of it all no man living can tell. However, business of a* ifi&l'Sound character obtains*-and I am. opfimistic'enough to believe that! u^less'^something greatjand important, occurs in the financial and political ie<Md Wool values are not going to 4&xs a groat <3ealg . ■ WOOL TRADE OF BELGIUM.

.Although but a little country, Belpia figures prominently as consumlifg'considerable quantities of the raw material, and push has lately been manifest by Antwerp wop} houses. It ifnot long ago since" tliey laid plans for;captnring the Cape, trade, and the (apt of wool sales being held regulariy^t that city was no doubt one incentive for trying to divert South African wools for sale at that city.. As a rule Antwerp wool sales are well attended, and are specially noted for t|e South' American crossbreds on ©ier. There are'some large ;juhL iin|x>rtant man.ufacturers; ; hi Belgium, arid a big trade is don© in yariL^ particularly with English, maftufiaetarers. Recently a Consular return was pnl>lished dealing with-the wool trade in 1008, and although it is somewhat ] ■belated, still a few points are worth considering as showing what is being done across the English Channel. . ' , In common with every other consuming country the results of the trading last year were very moderate, prices remaining low during the | greater part- of the year. At Vervier ■ early in 1908 the position wasVartitsularly bad, ,but as time passed Tbusiness improved somewhat, and by November trade was again brisk and; prices on the rise, thus affording some.l compensation- for the bad times through which the trade had passed. The Conditioning House returns at Vervier offer a fair indication of the business doing, and the following figures relating to the raw materials passing through during each of the four quarters of 1908: — ■Ist quarter 1,114,664 kilos 2nd quarter 285,443 kilos 3rd quarter :.. ... 608,420 kilos 4th quarter 1,445,620 kilos As already said yarn^spinnirig forms an important adjunct of the Belgian •wool trade, and the report goes on to say that spinners had a most unsatisfactory year, as apart from the .general depression carded woollen yarns were much less in demand than ,usual. I have often been surprised at the class of yarns spun in Belgium and the prices at which they are offered to Yorkshire manufacturers. Not only are they as a rule well spun, but the prices quoted per Ib cannot be touched by West Riding manufacturers. The United Kingdom is by far the largest customer for both woollen and worsted yarns sent out from Belgium. For the benefit of readers I show in the folowing table both the quantity and value of woollen and worsted yarns used for weaving that have been' imported from ■Belgium during .. the last, few .years. There is no distinction made between the two articles hence the figures re-< late to both descriptions of yarn as being made froni wool:— .:. '.■'"■■ Quantity Value ¥ear lbs. £ ' 19Q4 15,893,898 1,400,651 1905 17,950,352 1,572,839 1906 16.805,132 1,511 £72 1907 15^814,442 1,372,879 1908 12,914,773 1,166,750 Scouring and carbonising is largely practised at Vervier, and owing to wool being cheap the trade of last ] year was considerable. Like the huge ' business done at Mazamet in France, so at Vervier large weights of skin are treated and exported to 33ng-!

to find out his weak spot and hit him there.

There is reviling in New Zealand election'campaigns, but these are almost as Sunday-school tea fights by comparison. Here there is no attempt to keep to political issues. For instance, the fight between Francis J. Heney and. Charles M. Fickert for District Attorney for San Francisco is a plain issue between one who wants all criminals prosecuted and punished, alike, whether they be paupers or millionaires, and one who is nominated virtually by bribers under indictment to save them from further prosecution. Heney himself has good sense enough to stick to the issue, but I heard one. of his supporters speaking in- his behalf after this manner: .

''Who is this Fickert? He is,; a man who enlisted to go to the war in the Philippines, but when called upon, drew back like a base coward. His schoolmates called him Cold-Feet Fickert. Is that the kind of man you want for District Attorney?" And a voice from the audience cried "No," in a tone that sounded like the applause of the paid clappers in a Roman theatre. The'orator went on to tell how this .monster Fickert in the course of his legal duties had actually defended some Japanese. He accused the candidate of wishing to allow tlie Japanese to enter the schools of the white children—these "filthy, lousy, lustful Japs to sit by the side of your children." And all. of this was intended as good argument against Fickert's candidature for 'the office of public prosecutor. ..". ■ . ..-, ;•■.-. ~•. •.. ..•:■•'.

/How- did tlieother side, 1 eplyi?. No attempt wastfade to-defend.Fickert'B'. relations: with\ Mie Japanese, but a virulent attack was made on Heney because forsooth lie employed a Chinese servant. In the cartoons Fickert was represented as caressing Japanese school piipils and pushing the helpless white youngsters off the school bench, while Heney and his .Veliow • servant were caricatured as the closest friends. And the newspaper owned by Calhonn, who has been indicted on a charge of bribery, gave a photograph, almosb certainly "faked," of the Chinese servant on the" doorstep of Heiiey's home. But this is only the small shot. Fickert's supporters have spent thousands of dollars in circulating pamphlets denouncing Heney in unmeasured terms. One of these goes so far as to argue, that the shooting of Heney by Morris Haas during the trial of Abe Ruef was justified. Haas is held up as a martyr to Heney's vindictiveness. As to the newsj papers, they make 110 attempt to j givo straight reports of candidates' meetings. Every political news item is more or less coloured with editorial comment, and the editorials themselves are as venemous as pen and ink can make them—especially those in the pro-graft papers; Here is a specimen from the Calhoun paper, the Post-Globe, of last evening: — "Francis J. Heney has polluted the stream of justice with the poison of a private vendetta. He has struck at the very foundation of constitutional liberty by bargaining with thieves. He has dishonoured courts with the presence of armed scoundrels., He has compromised thfe honor of the State by compounding felonies. Under the shadow of the la,w's sanction he has installed in swaggering authority a band of itinerant gunmen, who recognise no constraint except that of their private employer. This is his boasted equality before the law. That editorial is typical. Though

it contains over a thousand words, and though its object is to bring about the election of'Fickert, Fickert's name is not once mentioned. Two other editorials in the same

issue are devoted to. the same pur

J pose; yet.never a word of Fickert; 'every line is filled with vituperation of Heiiay.' o "Like an unhindered bloodhound," says one of them, "Heney has run amuck, baying and snapping at all classes and conditions of citizens. His loujd cry has ever I been the same—-the cry of bitterness, lof denunciation, of hate fed of accusation. Never before in his mad

career has there been a full stop, a calm, a. reckoning, and an examination of his own dripping fangs and the character oi the lust behind him."

In the matter of vituperation the Heney-Fickert contest is fairly characteristic; but it differs greatly from the average American contest in that the party element is kept in the background. Party rule has begun to pall with the bossing of New York by Tammany and of San Francisco by Abe Ruef, but the old cry is still strong. I heard a State Senator speak in support of the Republican candidate for the Mayoralty of San Francisco, and virtually the only reasons he gave for that support were these:—The candidate is the Republican "standard-bearer; the' State Legislature is~ Republican; the National is Republican; the majority of the electors of the city are Republican; therefore a Republican Mayor should be elected. The absence of women voters helps to keep the : election contests down to the moral level of prize fights. Is it possible to imagine a candidate in New Zealand openly wooing the support of the grogshops and the haunts of vice, or announcing that he intended to make the city the "Paris of the Pacific?" This has been done by P. H. M'Cathy, who has just won the Mayoralty of San Francisco. . . .'

Another feature of the elections is the laying of odds. There is no law against such betting in this State, or in most of the others. In fact, regular betting shops are kept running during the campaign, and the newspapers publish the odds on the .candidates. -: .•";-.■ .";■..?.' ■.',■■•' ..'•.-. •:•...■-• '- ,'...'■-''..