OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2493, 25 December 1901, Page 7

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

(Fnou Our Special Correspondent.} BRADFORD, October 25. BRADFORD^ GERMAN XARX TRADE AND ITS EITECT ON T/iE WOOL MARKET. Any cue a.t all conversant with commercia! Bradford know*, what a splendid figure the German business house makes, and the little colony of natives fioin the Fatherland is sufficient to command the respect of eveiy body. Some may not know, but among the leading commercial hou=es in this city dealing in wool, tops, yarns, and pieces, the Germans rank pretty near the top, foi not only are they wealthy firms, and all their money made on English soil, but they also do a very extensive export trad© with the Continent and especially with Germany And 1A *o department of the ttool and

textile trade do they figure more conspicuously than in the yarn trade, and this being ©f large dimensions and playing an important part in determining the Value of the raw article, we purpose to biiefly. refer to it. The methods pursued by German firms in buying yarn in Bradford for the making of German fabrics furnish an apt illustia,tion ofc the practical character of their enterprise and education. Within the business experience of many still living, a firm of English merchants in Bradford started a department for the export of yarns to Germany. They did not send an English traveller to Germany, for the simple reason that few English travellers could then speak German. They accordingly engaged a German ;o manage the new department. Aery soon Germans found it advantageous to settle^ in Bradford, where, owing to their knowledge of English, whicli they had learnt at school, and their ability to keep foreign commercial accounts, they found no difficulty in conducting their busints?. As a matter jof fact, H;t i-he present time (he export yarn trade of Bradford is practically '« the hands of Germans, concerning whom it may be s*id that none- are More prompt in meeting their engagements "pr- more ia their business transactions. The yarn is distributed by. the merchants to German manufacturers', rid the German worsted textiles which are. imported into Shis country are mainly composed of yarns spun in Bradford. Th« Bradford trade is a good example, not of the harmful, but of the profitable effect of German competition, *nd it would be difficult to say which country has benefited the most by it. The annual amount of woollen, "worsted, and alpaca yarns exported from England to otbfr countries is very large, for. whereas in 1873 ye exported 37,850,0001b, m 1899 the total hid grown to 76,300,0001b. In 1873 the value of the^arn exported was estimated at £5,878,000; in 1899, notwithstanding, that the quantity was more than double that' of the earlier period, the value was returned at £6,723,000. At the prices of 1873, when it must be Temembered that wool was very high in conseqitence of the Franco-Prussian •war, it -would have been worth nearly £12,000,000. Germany takes two-thirds of our entire exports of yarn, the remainder being distributed »mong»t other continental countries, chiefly France, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Norway, and Sweden. Jnst as showing the quantities of worsted yarn exported to Germany, we attach the following table, showing also the exj>orts to our next best customers . WORSTED YAEN EXPORTS. Geima y. Belgium, France. lb*. lbs. 15-. 1906 ... 37,873 860 2.839.909 «,7(».0fi0 1889 ... 42 229JJBP. 2957.4T0 2 861. -.09 1898 ... 36.460.701 2.8«8),500 5, 473.000 !8W ... 34,778,300 2,581,400 S.&S^W 1896 .. 39.327,600 2,819, HO 4.320.1Q0 1895 .... 36,693,800 3,505.800 3,853,8<H> Bradford has been the greatest contributor to German .-ueeesw in th& weaving of worsted and alpaca clothe, and has been the greatest contributor to the success of -the wool spinning trade of Bradford -by purchasing the yarn manufactured in this district. Even for this gain to English trade we are, however, indebted to German- education; for we are officially told that if Bradford had depended upon English travellers and agents in Germany to push the sale of her yarn, the Germans by this time would probably have been spinning the -yarn for themselves, and possibly exporting some of it to England. At the present- time the worsted spinning industry of Saxony is mainly confined to what is known as the French— {mule) system, and moßi.of the machinery is made in Germany. - Such long-wool spinning machinery •a is being employed is. still imported from England. In weaving, Germany has passed beyond this point, and is largely engaged in the manufacture of her own machinery In travelling from the Bavarian border northward through Saxony to Chemnitz a recent traveller was much impressed by the evidences of growth and prosperity in all the manufacturing towns through which he passed* The experience of Saxony in her competition with England in the wool and worsted industries is -practically that- of other German States in other trades. At first Germany came to England for the manufactured product, then for the machinery for making the product, and latterly in some instances Germany is found able_ not only to use English .machinery at least fully as effectively a$ is being done at Home, but to compete with us in the production of it. This fact, to " lome extent, is finding expression to-day in the very quiet state of Bradford's German yarn trade, for more than ever German /nanufacturers are now spinning on the mashinery they have imported the very classes of yarn they have been used to buying in

, Bradford. It sounds to sense that when I the raw wool is available in London, colo1 nial, and South American markets, they , will purchase that wool and spin it on their j own frames, and thus meeting their requirements, they will consequently need less of imported yarns. We do not emphasise this point very much, as there is still a big yarn , trade done between Bradford and Germany, only it is just as well for o^ur own spinn^re to watch the development of things on this head. At the present time, with the wool market a iittle quiet, and the tendency of ' prices to fall, export merchants are keeping j out of the market and inquiring only for what they must have. They know that the lower the price per pound, the more trade they are lik"'v t-o do" =o it is only natural >t they should hold off ac much as pos- | sible. The proposed new German tariff, taking effect on Jauuary 1, 190*, it is not expected will disturb trade yet awhile. SUPER 60's TOPS AT 19£ d. The position of 1 hinge in Bradford has . been well 'styled as "ridiculous," and so it is. One has to go back a very long time to find the like of things as they stand today, a«,d looked at from any standpoint, they are absolutely inexplicable. The same ( indifference and antagonism -which has been ( such a pronounced feature during the past ( month continues unabated, and among users ! and spinners there is still a complete indiffej rence to do business unless they can dictate I prices. True, topmakers are asking 20d for , a super 60's, or really a 64's top, but such [a price, wher insisted upon, puts a transaction out of «■•"- — -*■ ~r,«-». Without the least "ulty «ny ipinner can buy to-day at 19£ d a shiploau «,± s p« ou s tops, and even then ; they are in no sense keea on business. Ip face of . the Australian -new clip, prices are being left strictly alone, and markets are being allowed to drag all they will. The majority of topmakers, kpowing the temper of the market, and what certain well-known makes of tops are being bid for to-dfcy, think it the best to show nothing at all, and are consequently "sitting tight" in the hope of ! there being a return towards improvement Jas spinners get worked up and are once j more compelled to enter the .narket. Where a holder must sell to. meet a prompt, he has to lose heavily, and we have seen as low as 19d bid for a good shafty 60's, but rather short, where a month ago 20d could easily have been made. Everything at present indicates a waiting po.licy as likely to be the best, as Bradford, being to-day the cheapest market in the world for raw materials, holders fail to see through the wisdom of giving woo^ and tops away. Consumption proceeds apace, and does not in the least slacken in extent, and Botany qualities are favoured by everyone. Still, nobody fears a shortage, and at even 21d for super merinos no present or prospective trade would be killejd. At the same time, manufacturers are clamouring for 60's at 19d, and say they wilj not pay more, their season s cloths being on the market for next spring, based on that figure. Medium crossbreds are quite neglected at record prices, though for very low qualities there i» an excellent demand.