THE COTTON INDUSTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15356, 3 October 1923, Page 5

THE COTTON INDUSTRY.

CRISTS IN LANCASHIRE.

SHORTAGE IN AMERICA.

THREE BAD HARVESTS. Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn. Received October 3. 12.30 p.m. LONDON. October 2

The Daily Mail states that the Lancashire cotton industry is experiencing the biggest crisis in its history. Many companies arc reaching the end of their tether. Bad trade is rapidly consuming capital, cotton goods cost three times the pre-war price, and the natives of India, China, and the Kar East, who are the principal customers, are unable to buy. The exports for the last two years are little over half the pre-war totals. Goods can only be made cheaper by reducing the costs of production and lowering the price of cotton. The American staple is now about lGd per lb, compared with 6d before the war. Three successive small crops of cotton in America' have caused a scarcity. Stocks of American cotton have been reduced to 2,500,000 bales, and are unlikely to exceed 1,500,000 bales in 1923. Lancashire will have to realise that fresh sources of supply of cotton will have to be found. In the opinion of experts America will never again be able to supply Lancashire with adequate supplies of raw cotton at a reasonable price.