The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-20 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER, May 19.--Business has been
almost suspended here to-day, owing to ,he uncer-
tainty created by the recent advices from America.
lir yarns spinners are ris indisposed to sell as raer-
chants are to buy; the former are quite indisposed
to take lower prices, ar.d we hear of no giving way,
although the cotton market at Liverpool is reported
easier in prices. We have not had such an entire
pause in business for some time past. Rumours are
in circulation of unfavourable advices by telegrams
from India and China. From both these markets
accounts speak of lower prices, but they have no
effect on this market. The great and absorbing
question is the undecided conflict between Hooker
and Lee, some light upon which it is expected will
be thrown by the news which to-morrow's steamer
will bring. In cloths, as in yarns, there is almost a
total cessation of business. Some large orders have
been offered for cloth at lower prices, but manufac-
turers will not listen to any abatement. There
are some few instances, perhaps, in which small
producers are willing to make a slight concession
rather than continue to hold their stocks, but these are not
sufficient to alter the general tone of the market, which is
firm both for cloth and yarn. A good many complaints
have of late been made of the great extent to which bales
of Surat cotton are adulterated with seeds, stones, sand,
and gravel; and this afternoon a meeting has been held of
cotton-spinners attending the Manchester market to consi-
der what steps are desirable for their protection. The old
custom of the Liverpool brokers was to guarantee American
cotton when delivered as equal to the sample shown at the
sale; but with regard to Surat cotton they have adopted
new rule, which says that no allowance shall be made for
adulteration or false packing after the bale has once been
weighed. The result of the meeting has been to form an
association for the purpose of resisting this innovation upon
the custom hitherto prevailing in the trade. There are
said to have been stones and lumps of clay found among
cotton weighing upwards of a pound.
LEEDS, 19th.—The attendance of buyers in the cloth
halls to-day was below rather than above an average, and
the same may be said as to the amount of business done
There is little doing yet for the fall trade, but a few samples
of such were purchased. Light fabrics still sell in small
quantities, as well for the home as the Export trade. A few
orders of a mixed character for Canada are making up, but
in general the export trade is, like the home trade, very
quiet. Notwithstanding this quietness, the manufacturers
keep tolerably well employed, and prices are steady, those
of cloth as well as those of wool.

ROCHDALE, 18th.—The flannel market has been active
to-day, considering the season. The purchases made, which
were mostly for the home trade, were spread pretty equally
over both fine and medium goods, while some fair parcels of
low qualities likewise changed hands. The manufacturers
keep well employed, and late prices are fully maintained
The Yorkshire goods trade keeps steady, and the demand
approximates closely to the supply. In wools there is a
little more activity, and late prices are well supported.