The Express.
London, England, 1861-06-12 00:00:00

THE COTTON SUPPLY ASSOCIATION.

The annual meeting of this association was bold
yesterday in the Manchester Town•halL The attendance
was numerous and influential.

Mr. J. Citerrnasf, the president, mid the presoak state
of circumstances affecting the supply of cotton to this
country, alarming as it was, did not make the arguments of
this emaciation any stronger than they were at its founda-
tion four years ago, though its principles might be more
hilly recognised now than they were at that time by the
many who then stood aloof. The leading principle of the
imesciation had been, from the outset, that this vast
national interest of cotton manufacture ought not to re-
main in almost total dependence on one source of
supply for its raw material, especially when the perma-
nence of that source was so clearly bound up with a social
system liable suddenly to break down and leave us in the
direst emergency. He regretted very much the indifference
with which the question had been regarded among the
manufacturing interest itself, as compared with the
anxious attention paid to it in all circles in the metropolis.
Everywhere in London the question was being asked of
them, " What are you doing in Lancashire, and what is to
be the result there of this crisis in the United States ?"
Now that the crisis seemed imminent, it was a matter
for congratulation that this association had already
been in existence four years, storing up information
and experience that might serve to guard us from
ordered and disastrous experimeota. It was easy to report
of this or that pert of the world that it was capable of
supplying abundance of excellent cotton ' • but the great
point often lost sight of was the enormous advantages pee.
mewl by the American planter. On a review of all three
parts of the world whence cotton might be expected to
come, it was found that apart from the southern portion of
the United States there were only two regions
the very first requisite, which was labour to empTor=
them two were the West of Af rice and the West Indies. Every
other country possessing soil and climate 6t for thegrowtb
of cotton of a quality equal, and in many cases superior, to
that which America produced, was yet placed out of the
question at present the want of labour. And in the
West of Africa, though there was labour, the people were
savage, the country was desolated by the warfare of hostile
tribes, and the climate also was fatal to Europeans. Thus
we were at present restricted to that great continent of
India which was sow actually growing more cotton than any
other portion of the globe. It was calculated that the
annual- produce of cotton in India was not less than
6,000,000 balm We also possessed the advantage
of having that country order our own government.
There also we had abundance of free labour;
there was no questiou of slavery to grapple with. And yet
there were formidable obstacles as compared with the pmt
lion of the Americans. In the cotton districts of India
there was no such man known as the Anglo-Saxon. The
cultivation was in the heads of the ryot, a small farmer
holding a few acres of ground, and so poor himself as to
depend on bankers for his capital. When his crops reached I
maturity the produce was taken by the money-lender, who,
of course, had great control over the price, and it very little
exceeded lid or lid. per lb. The cotton was imperfectly
cleaned, and underwent various adulterations for the
advantage of the succession of dealers through whose bands
it passed before reaching those of the English merchant at
the placed export. It was worthy of remembrance, that
scarcely any artiste exported from India had ever been
brought toe satisfactory state of production, unless under
European superintendence. But in India we were also
without roads to the seaboard, without waternommunica-
thin also, and railways were only now on the point of be.
coming available. Another difficulty was the understood
principle of the Indian government, that no land should
ever be sold in feseimple to Europe ins ; and then there was
the jealousy of the civil service against enterprising
Englishmen in the interior of India, who were to this day
regarded as interlopers, though an altered tone was begin-
ning to be manifest cm the part of the government. Under
these circumstances it was not surprising that Indian
I cotton was the wont grown in the whole world, and
fetched the lowest price, so that consumers were wire-
! tomed to smile at all proposals for relying on India as a
main source of supply. The movers is this association
believed nevertheless that there was a prospect not only of
increasing the lodise supply to this country, but also of ele-
vating the quality to a level with that grown in America.
The quantity received from India in the last six year. was
2,974,000 bales, of which we had airwaves consumed only
266,000 balm per annum on the average, the annual stores
of 230,000 being taken away to various countries on the
continent. India was capable of giving us a much larger
quantity than 800,000 bales, which was the amount last
fear. Frobably we could reckon on 1,900,000 Wes a year
rom Bombay. This association bad lately been enabled to
hand over the development of the cultivation of a superior
quality of cotton in India to the efforts of a joint
stock company, whose chairman was his friend
Mr. John Platt, of Oldham. (Applause.) As soon as the
messes permitted, the company proposed to mod out to
India, as its ooninnesioner, Mr. O. E. Haywood, who had
hitherto been the secretary of this sasociation ' • and Sir
Charlie Wood had placed at that gentleman's disposal the
services of Dc. Forbes, who would accompany him. (Ap-
-1;r) Chsetham referred again to the danger of re-
e:elusively on America, and pointed to the fact that
while the annual supply from the whole world in the last
ten years had averaged only :4,964,000 bales, the annual con-
sum . tion of Great Behan, Europa, and America had been
3,: 1,000. The present price of cotton arose not so much
from the actual criers in America as from the practical
knowledge that a million bales bad hew loot to us by the
failure of the harvest. (Hear, bear.)
HURT Asnworra moved the adoption of the sound
report of the association, which wee agreed to and the
meeting was addressed also by Dr. Baker, a traveller in
Aby.eitiiii. as t) the ciiletbilities of that country ; by Mr. H.
Jordan, the government conuniasioner from Queensland :

by the Rev. Mr. Arthur, who claimed weemmeoee for
India as the mauve chiefly to be relied on or speedy supply
of cotton ; by the Rev. Mr. Townsend, from the West
Coast of Africa ; by the Rom Mr. Stuart, who is about to
join the expedition of Dr. Liviuptose; and by Mr. Heppe",
the eaghwer of the Mabee Railway.