The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-30 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE,

BARNSLEY, Nov. 28.—The collieries throughout the
whole district of South Yorkshire are in full, operation, and
many of them are doing as much business as possible to
meet the demand not only of the metropolitan but provin-
cial markets. The greatest activity is manifested in the
trade, and coal merchants generally are preparing or stock-
ing their yards for the winter. The demand to Hull via
Keadby is as good as it has been for some time, and there is
a fair inquiry both for house and steam coal. For Decem-
ber the prices are as follows :—Old Silkatones, 78 9d and
Bs. per ton at the pit mouth; gas coal, unscreened (Silk-
stone), 6s 9d and 78 per ton ; steam coal, 6s ; malting coke,
6s ; Silkstone house coal, 7s to 98 ; and other descriptions of
house coal runs as low as 4s 9,1 per ton. Locomotive coke

without change in 'Juice.
BIRMINGUAM, 28th.—The trade of this town is in a very
healthy state ; with the exception of the gunmakers and
some branches of the fancy trades the manufacturers are all
of them well employed. In the course of the last fortnight
orders have come in freely on account of the country trade.
The faCtors' travellers are doing well both in the manufac-
turing and agricultural districts, and have sent home better
filled order-sheets of late than they have done for the last
three or four years at this season. For the class of hard-
ware goods which are in general domestic use there is a
steady demand—in some instances manufacturers have a
month's orders on their books—these, with such as may
come in hereafter, will keep our trade brisk up to the end of
the quarter. The export trade is reported quiet, bat there
are grounds for the belief that the orders in hand are not
below the average at this period of the year. In reference
to particular branches there has not been much change of
late—the rolling-mills are all on at full time, and the wire
drawers, edge-tool makers, hollow-ware manufacturers,and
tinplate workers, are all of them doing a good trade.
BRADFORD, 28th.—There is a fair quantity of wool
changing hands. Prices in all classes are maintained with
greatte e
tended to firmness.create
The improvement in the cotton-market has
at e a be t
seekte r feteol inegb t aanin toa
sligv
he
tmeoernecceos as
ifiodne, nbcuet.
Spinners frequently
are rarely, it ever, successful in this effort. The business
doing in worsted yarns is
The chiefly confined to the home de-
mand and for Scotland. ' continental merchants, who
frompresentdoing
any unsettled
newstate of Ger-
manyexer exercise saend great
Denmark, caution
refrain i n t e
Spinners, however, are well employed on contracts which
business. i
little
demand,ne w
will not expire for some time to come.
business doing in fabrics. Plain goods areti not re is
and the business doing is confined to all kinds
. of n
fancy arti-
cles. Fancy manufacturers are very busy. Stocks are low.
Prices are hardening.
DUNDEE, 27th.—The demand- for flax was not active to-
day, but sellers are very firm, and the few transactions re-
ported are at fully previous prices. Common tow and co-
dilla are quiet and easier to buy, but medium and fine are
in good request, at steady rates. The fall in the price of
jute in London on Wednesday has for the present checked
the demand here, and, excepting for the finer qualities,
which are wanted,and scarce, the rates of last market day
could with difficulty be got, Holders, considering that stocks
are light and the demand for goods great, expect to see
prices rally a little again, and do not press sales. Fow par-
eels have therefore changed hands to-day. The yarn market
was rather quiet, but spinners, especially of flax and tow
yarns, are very firm, and as they are so largely foresoldthey
can afford to look on for a little. Jute yarns have not to
any appreciable extent gone back in prices with jute, but
few of them were sold to-day, and if material keeps lower
they may also give way a little, but no great fall can be
looked for, so many spinners having orders to occupy them
for months without further sales. There was a good in-
quiry for linens to-day, and prises are fully maintained.
HALIFAX, 28th.—The closing market for the present
month has been satisfactory. Though there is a little fall-
ing off in the business doing with Germany, the general con-
dition of the worsted, the carpet, and the woollen trades is
sound and healthy. The manufacturers keep in steady
employment, and neither yarns nor goods are much in ex-
cess of the demand. Both the sales and the orders in the
home trade are to a full average extent for the season of
the year. Prices in general are well maintained, and those
of wool keep very firm.
HUDDERSFIELD, 28th.—There has been a little more
business done in the woollen trade here this week than last.
Purchases, however, have been a good deal confined to small
parcels of miscellaneous goods. Woollen and Bedford cords
are still in fair demand, and the better qualities of plain and
fancy trowserings are not difficult to sell. Spring goods
are sought for, but, except where orders have been given to
the manufacturers, chiefly as patterns. The shipping houses
are not doing much, but as Canadian buyers are now coming
over to look o it goods suitable for the early part of the en-
suing year, it is probable that an improvement in the ex-
port trade will soon take place. Though wools are purchased
cautiously of the local brokers, prices keep very stiff.
LEEDS, 28th.—There was quite as much business done
in the woollen cloth-halls to-day as last Saturday. Indeed,
there was a better attendance of buyers, bat they purchased
sparingly. In other respects the market was cheerful, the
general expectation being that the year's business transac-
tions will balance well, and that there will be a good demand
for spring goods. There was a large quantity of tweeds sold
to-day, both of the commoner and finer qualities. A mode-
rate business was also done in light meltons, but only very
little in pilots and witneys4 There is no change in the prices
' of either wool or goods.
LEICESTER, 28th.—The hosiery trade is fully as active

as is usually is at this season. In the country districts
busiaess is without material change, and the operatives are
quite as well employed as they are generally at this ad-
vanced period of the year. Wools are selling at very high
rates, and there is still a fair consumptive demand. The
yarn-market is firm, and high rates are realized.
MANCHESTER, 28th.-.A reaction set in early in the
week in both yarn and cloth, and prices advanced about
id per lb. on cop yarns up to 50's on Tuesday, with a fair
business. Since Tuesday there has been more or less in-
crease of activity, with an improvement of fully id more in
price. Shipping yarns have increased Id per lb during the
week. Some of the largest agents report the advance of Id
to 2d per lb on shipping, and 2d to 3d per lb on home-trade
yarns, with heavy engagements for several months for-
ward. There is no doubt that a great deal of irregularity
has prevailed. Some large orders have been waiting to be
put in hand for several weeks past, and probably the sud-
denness of the reaction in prices will account for the discre-
pancies. Tho irregularity is very great in all classes of yarns.
Manufacturers have advanced their prices somewhat in the
proportion of spinners, but they have not succeeded so well
with buyers. There has been more business doing all week,
but some of the fabrics most in request, such as 71b and 81b
4oz. 39 inch shirtings, are scarce in stock and difficult to
meet with in quantity. Shippers who would take such goods
if available for immediate shipment hesitate to give con-
tracts at the prices which would now be required to cover
the increased cost of cotton and yarn. The stock of East In-
dian cotton has increased through recent imports to 186,000
bales (while there are still 165,000 at sea), and the total
stock of all kinds is 259,000. A letter from a respectable
cotton merchant who has gone from Liverpool to New Or-
leans, dated Nov. 4, speaks of cotton being sent forward
more freely than hitherto from Natchez, Baton Rouge, and
the Teche country, and thinks that 5,000 a week may be
relied upon. The tone of his letter altogether is calculated
to give a still more hopeful prospect.
Christ-
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, 28th.—As we approach Christ-
mas business gets a little quieter, but the general
fortrade
keeps materially good. There is a considerable demi.oefid ,
coke, and prices are improving. The iron trade is
state
and the steam coal trade is moderate, but in a better
at. e
than at the same period last year. In the chemical me k_z.
the shipments have been moderate, but sofmarenexarf oml
tracts, chiefly for alkali, have been male The present
quotations delivery, at prices which did net treaniiiipireds i.O.Pr
per cent. ; 1
quotations are—best alkali, 2id.;
cbrleyascthalisnogfpseowdad,er£vi
sse 10a to
iron trade con
NEWPORT (Monmouthshire)
esreytestilffl-I°B ; bicarbonate of soda, Lll ;
hardly affected the trade,
owing to
and not purchases on
tinues active, and the advance i2itthhes roardteerosfininhtsenredst
beinghas
the result of a substantial demand and
for steam coal, and prices
gfid. n -in moderate demand, but the
speculation. l
la t6i o n.l 7 s
OctThteo followingx77 freeiqo
inquiry
i r y
4ar6elfirsMerT.heßreousis ea cvliis yghebfothraereidghts check the trade.
have been completing this
;re is no material alteration in
scarcity of tAlnuliv'evifoolTobrdoethrscokeand charcoal tin-plates,
played.
NoTTfliousli, ..-I-.
Thereand t k
ei s
works
0 fairrke demand
are
Afe
goods both for America and for the Conti-
nentalmechlms and quiltings are still in request
yarnsghaoodvse
week There is no improvement in the demand for
laione
markete. . for
silk laces.
Trade generally is expected to be quiet until after Christmas.*
trade.
o to
Silk. .
There has been a fair demand for hosiery goods during
particularly for shipping. Suitable the
bweeeenkLoinuegrhetafter and more orders placed.
very firm, showing an upward tendency. havebeen
NORWICH, 28th.—On the whole,
employment here, espe
pretty •
cially in the shoe trade, appears to be well
main-
tained. The amount expended in outdoor relief
during the
fortnight ended Nov. 21 was £603, against £639 in the cor-
responding period of 1862, showing a decrease of £36, or
5.64 per cent. The general trade of the eastern district, as
reflected in the goods, & C , traffic of the Great Eastern
Railway, appears to be in a •
progressive state, the amount
acquired under this head in the week ending Nov. 22 hav-
ing teen £17,432, against £15,298 in the corresponding
seven days of 1862, showing au increase of £2,145.
SHEFFIELD, 28th.—Trade here continues active in most
branches. The stove grate manufacturers are not quite
fully employed. The crinoline trade is rather dull. Tho
close of the Russian season has somewhat checked the
previous activity in the saw and file trades, most firms in
which, however, are still able to find their workrnencan.
employment. In nearly all other branches thiesr;
is
a ranches
tinued tendency towards improvement.
The
actives and the
of the cutlery and the edge-tool trades at
Curers are lsrgely
silver platers and Britannia metal.inleranuraskere,
machinists,
supplied with orders. The boiler
manufacturers of iron,
makers of heavy castings,
and
dber heavy goods are all busy,
steel, railway material, and ot
eration night and day. The
many works being kept P
in
a and nearly all the Conti-
home market is generally
active,e
and Russia, are buying largely
t Franc l
nental States, except Moderate orders have come
files, and too s.
of cutlery, steel,
wails for cutlery, railway In-Atrial,
from India by the late