The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-25 00:00:00

LANCASHIRE DISTRESS.

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CENTRAL RELIEF FUND.
The weekly' meeting of the Central Executive
Committee was held yesterday in the Manchester
Town-hall, the Earl of Derby in the chair.
Mr. MACLURE, the honorary secretary, reported
that the balance in the bank was £310,588 Os. 10d.,
and that £l9O 18s. 10d. bad been received during the
vi,tlc. The honorary secretary also reported that
during the week three parcels of clothing had been
received. Nothing had been sent off.
Mr. FARNALL lead the following report :

" I beg to inform you that on the 15th inst. there
W2S an increase in the:number of persons receiving
parochia relief in 27 union in the cotton manufac-
turing districts, as compared with the number so
relieved in the previous week, of 382. The increase
of 382 is explained as follows :—There is an increase
at Blackburn of 91, at Burnley of 73, at Bury of
46. at Chorley of 29, at Chorlton of 6, at Clitheroe
of 13. at Glossop of 476, at Haslingden of 60, at
Lancaster of 3, at Leigh of 16, at Macclesfield of 8,
at Oldham of 170, at Preston of 76, at Prestwich of
28, at Saddleworth of 60, at Todmorden of 111, and
at Wigan of 15—making a total increase of 1,281.
But there is a decrease at Ashton-under-Lyne of
195, at Barton-upon-Irwell of 30, at Bolton of 2, at
Garstang of 6, at Manchester of 236, at Rochdale of
169, at Salford of 232, at Stockport of 24, and at
Warrington of s—making a total decrease of 899,
EO that there is a net increase of 382, and since the
6th of December last a total decrease of 125,752.
There were on the 15th inst. 146,231 persons re-
ceiving parochial relief in the 27 unions adverted
to ; in the corresponding week of 1861, 46,807 per-
sons were so relieved ; there is, therefore, an in-
crease of 99,424 persons in the receipt of parochial
relief, or 212.4 per cent. In the corresponding
week of 1862, 126,580 persons received paro-
chial relief. The total weekly cost of out-door
relief on the 15th inst. was £9,023 14s. Bd.; in the
corresponding week of 1861 it was £2,26415x. 9d. ;
there is, therefore, an increase of £6,758 18s. ld.,
or 298.4 per cent. In the corresponding week of
1862 it was £7,127 ls. 6d. The average percentage
of pauperism on the population of these um? ns
on the 15th inst. was 74 ; in the corresponding
week 'in 1861 it was 2.4 ; and in the correspond-
ing week in 1862 it was 64. The amount of
money in the hands of the treasurers of the above
unions on the 15th inst. was £79,183 Bs. 2d. Your
committee will have observed the increase of pau-
perism in the union of Glossop—viz., 476; but the
clerk of that union wrote to me on the 21st inst. as
follows .

" This increase is caused principally by the
Glossop Relief Committee throwing the single men,
and men with their wives and no children, on to
the guardians, and also by the stoppage of a colliery
in the township of Chisworth:

Had there been no alteration of arrangements in
the union of Glossop I should have been enabled to
have reported a decrease of pauperism in the cotton
manufactured districts."

A discussion followed on the general prospects of
the district.

Mr. J. It. KAY said that the conditions of things
in the district which he represented (Bury) ap•
peared to him to be more gloomy now than it was a
few weeks ago; and mentioned as a fact in point
that one of the largest manufacturing firms in his
neighbourhood, that of Messrs. Grant Brothers, was
about to close their mill and retire from business.

Mr. T. ASHTON thought there were no new
grounds to warrant any important variation from
the estimate of the prospects of the cotton trade
put forth by this committee at Christmas last. The
imports of cotton in the interval had been, if any-
thing, rather less than was calculated upon ; but
the difference was inconsiderable. There was no
doubt that every bale of cotton imported would be
used. In reply to the chairmen, he observed that
next year a large supply of cotton might be looked
for, inasmuch as they ought not to anticipate
another failure in the Indian crop.
Mr. Hum" MASON mentioned that a manufac-
turer with whom he was well acquainted, employ-
ing 700 hands, and whose works had been stopped
for several months, bought cotton about eight weeks
ago, are? again opened his wcaks, thinking that at
the then price of the raw material there wcuid be
lesa loss in working then in keeping the machinery
idle. Since he went into the market, however, the
price of cotton had advanced 2-1-d. per lb., and it
became a question with him whether he should not
close again.
Mr. ASHTON said that similar changes in the
market had been occurring during the last 18
months.

Mr. E. ASHWORTH expressed the opinion, as 9
Member of the Cotton Supply Association, that there
would not be more than 22,000 bales per week for
consumption till the close of the year, leaving the
stock in Liverpool at that time the same as in the
present month—viz., in round numbers, 150,000
bales less than at the commencement of the year—
that was to say, the trade would lessen the stock in
Liverpool beyond the imports to 150,000 bales. This
22,000 bales per week would be equivalent to three
days' working. He could show from correspondence
received by the Cotton Supply Association, a pro-
mise based upon crops of cotton now growing, of a
supply equal to 41 days per week employment for
1864.
The CHAIRMAN inquired from what countries the
increased supply was expected ?
Mr. E. ASHWORTH replied that 350,000 bales,
equal to 250,000 bales of American, were expected
from the Turkish dominions ; there would be a
small increase from Italy and the Mediterranean
islands, an increase of 50,000 hales from Egypt, and
of 100,000 more from Brazil and Peru. Sir Charles
Wood had stated that, owing to the unfavourable
season in India in 1862, we had a much smaller
excess of quantity than might have been anticipated
from the increased breadth of land placed under
cotton. They might now take into their calculation,
however, last year's increased breadth of land and
the increased breadth this year; and he thought
they might safely estimate an enlarged import from
India for 1864 to the extent of 250,000 bales.
The CHAIRMAN said if these calculations were fie-
,arate 4,e
diati,2.‘4o y were most important. Heretofore these
rica, L'folrhaatdbeen dependent, he believed, upon Ante-
according
to the
five-sixths of their cotton ; and
next year be
estimate now made, there would
working per
_a supply equal to nearly five days'
Mr. A,staZeeh., wholly independent of America.
of Lancashire might
he had no doubt that the whole
without a bale olfght be at full work in 1865 or 1866
pposinegotttnon being received from Ame-
rica, and su
In
re war were still progressing
in that country,
the:, to Mr. Worral, he added
that he believed
itotoould. be a sufficient supply
for 4-1 days' working
(Bolton)
after Christmas.
Mr. E. A SHWORTII(
empion) observed that the time
at which the 41 days'
would be regulated, to some
should commence
Prices
Yrivere sufficiently
tent of stocks in hand. if theextent, by the ex-
reduced at Christmas to keep
the point
would
durae to fuller
which would permit of immediate er7 at
not arrive
working, extended operations
com-
mence. The Indian cotton crops didaultdilhben till towards Midsummer, bat prices wo
Mediterranean and some other crops by January,
Daring Daring the past year the exports of manufactured
goods from England had exceeded the imports of
the raw material, and therefore the old stocks in the
warehouses must have bun considerably lessened.
The CHAIRMAN (Lord IMby) ablzt_dit there wee
any prospect of an increased supply of cotton from
South Africa—Natal, for instance, or Australia?
Mr. E. ASHWORTH—Very little indeLd.
exclWe shall
Rot have 10,000 bales iron all Africa, uding

Egypt.
Lord EGERTON inquired what was
the prospect
with regard to the export of manufactured goods.
He understood that the exports depended upon the
price of cotton here.
Mr. E. ASHWORTH said that in 1860 or 1861 we
exported cotton goods to the value of £60,000,000
sterling. When the price of cotton rose the exports
began to fail off, but the Times twitted them by
saying that they still sent out £60,000,000 worth
of goods—that was, half the exports at double the
price. The question was whether, when the bulk
of raw cotton imported was 50 per cent. n [tore than
at present, the £60,000,000 of money would be
mused to £90,000,000.
Mr. T. ASHTON believed that with the low price