The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-29 00:00:00

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

The Market continues quiet. The American
news has had no material effect. Sales 3,000 or
4,000 bales.

The Price of Gold.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about 2 per mule pm., and
the short exchange on London is 25.22 i per £1 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
17s. 10Id. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
at about the same price in London and Paris.

By advices from Hamburg the price of gold is 425 per marl
and the short exchange on London is 13.6} per £1 stcrlin
Standard gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, about
6-10 the per cent. dearer in London thin in Hamburg.

The eOurse of exchange at New York on London lOr bills at
60 days' sight is about 240 per cent., and the premium on
gold 127 per cent. At these rates there is a small profit on
the importation of go'd from the United States.

SHODDY AND MUNGO. Old clothes, when they
have been worn to rags at home and abroad, return
once more into the hands of the dealers. They are now
past "clobbering," " reviving," or " translating ;" they are,
in fact, at the lowest point of Fortune's wheel : but the
next turn puts them in its highest point again. All the
world—thanks to Mr. Ferrand—has heard of "shoddy"
and mungo. The former is a preparation of wool made from
the thrice-worn and greasy old clothes of Europe. The
latter is woollen fibre, made from the cuttings of new cloth.
Shoddy and mungo, then, are the foundations upon which a
new series of clothes for the million are built up. It would
really seem as though woollen fibre were indestructible.
The oldest of old clothes are destined to re-appear
again in the fashionable world. The old woollen rag
having been reduced to its original fibre by the "devil,"—
a huge-toothed wheel—it is mixed with fresh wool, and
converted into the Petershams, the Talmas, the pilot cloths,
and other fabrics of which paletots are made for the fashion-
able world. The seat of this wonderful conversion from
old to new cloths is the three towns of Leeds, Dewsbury,
and Batley, in Yorkshire. The two latter towns are wholly
given up to the manufacture of shoddy, &c. ; and it is com-
puted that they add annually about sixty million pounds of
raw material to the woollen trade. In other words, the
old clothes that pour into these three towns afford an
amount of woollen fibre equal to the addition of the
fleeces of eight millions of sheep. This enormous trade
has sprang up within the present century, the very first
shoddy mill being established in 1813. The produce of
this shoddy is woven into fabrics ranging in value from
one shilling to ten shillings a yard. Were it not for this
utilisation of what was once a refuse material, the woollen
clothing of the country would have risen to a price beyond
the means of the working population, instead of constantly
falling in cost as it has done. And it is not only our
woollen garments of which we see the resurrection in this
wonderful manner, but also our hosiery, our stockings,
flannels, drawers, &c. ; in fact, everything that is con-
structed of fibrous wool is destined to be converted by the
"devils" into what is termed "soft shoddy." Who shall
say whose old clothes some of us stand up in ? The Pytha-
gorean idea of the transmigration of souls is certainly true
of the coverings of our bodies.—From " Old Clo'," in Cas-
sell's Illustrated Family Paper."
SNOW IN SWITZERLAND.—According to the Milan
Gazette, the snow has been so deep in the mountains of the
Canton of St. Gall, that in several places tunnels, 13 or 14
feet high, have been cut in the snow for the passage of the
cattle to and from the fountain.