THE COTTON TRADE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1735, 5 September 1919, Page 7

THE COTTON TRADE.

GAMBLING IN ENGLAND.

By Cable. — Preen Association. — Copyright. (A. & N.Z.) LONDON, Sept. 3. The past month's cotton-mill buying boom in Lancashire marks the opening of a new, period in speculative finance in the industry whose capital hitherto has mainly been held locally. The Amalgamated Cotton Mill Trust, which is allied with the Dunlop Rubber Company* has alone bought 20 mills in the Oldham district, involving 2,800,000 spindles, worth £3,000,000. Other trusts are buying on a vast scale, paying, in some instances, £195 for £4O shares. Companies are being refloated with greatly-increased capital, the speculators gambling on another three or four years of abnormal profits, coupled with decreased production owing to the reduction of. hours. There is no likelihood that new mills will be built, owing to the high cost of building and machinery.. The world's demand for cotton is such that foreign competition is not felt.