The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-28 00:00:00

The Cotton Supply Association.

The eighth annual meeting of this association took
place yesterday afternoon at the Town-hall, Man-
chester ; Mr. John Cheetham, M.P., the president,
took the chair. Mr. Isaac Watts, the secretary, read
the report of the executive committee, which said
that ample proofs of the usefulness of the association
continued to be received from the various countries
to which its efforts continued to be directed. One
of these was in the report of the vice-president of
the Imperial Cotton Commission of Anatolia,which
said that this rssociation had been the means of re-
storing Turkey as a cotton-growing country, and
that its labours would be a permanent benefit to the
empire. The special aim of the committee during
the past year had been to promote everywhere the
growth of an improved quality of cotton, in antici-
pation of the period when competition withAmerica-
would again have to be encountered. Withthisview
they had urged:the:extensive use of New Orleans
seed wherever soil and climate were suitable, and,
as the result, had received from all quarters earnest
applications for American seed. Turkey alone would
gladly have taken 300 tons, and having bought all
they could the committee had endeavoured to appor-
tion so as to secure it the widest possible distribution.
They rejoiced at having established a general con-
viction that the interests of cultivator and manufac-
turer imperatively required that inferior indigenous
cotton should be superseded by the produce of New
Orleans seed. The exceptionally disastrous storms
and inundations of last year demonstrated that this
description suffered less from such causes, and was
consequently more profitable to the grower than any
other. They were glad to find that along the shores
of the Mediterranean, in Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey,
Greece, Italy, &c., the determination existed to use
American seed more than ever. Disappointed that
so little had been done to render India a satisfactory
and permanent source of supply, the committee had
made another appeal to the Indian Council, urging
them by encouraging improvement to preserve
the magnificent cotton trade of that country. A
consignment of Indian cotton from Dr. Shortt, of
Madras, recently sold at 14d. per lb., the value of
middling Orleans at the time being 161 d., proving
that India was capable of producing a quantity which
would bear comparison with. American. The com-
mittee congratulated their constituents upon the ter-
mination of the American war, drawing from it an
argument in favour of the continued exertions of the
association if they were to be secured from dependence
upon any one source of supply liable to be cut off by
intestine or foreign wars, blight, or other causes.
Their correspondence during the last year had com-
prised 1,700 letters, and they had received about 200
samples of cotton, showing the progress that hadbeen
made, most of them having been grown from seed
supplied by the association. They came from the three
Presidencies of India, from Java, Rangoon, Bokhara,
Queensland, Western Australia, New South Wales,
West Indies, Cape Verd Islands, Porto Rico, Costa
Rica, Grenada, Venezuela, Peru, the Argentine Re-
public, Bahia, Honduras,Brazil, Mexico, Carthagena,
Cape Coast, Natal, Madagascar, Turkey, Asia Minor,
Smyrna, Syria, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Algeria,
Malta, the Caucasus, and the United States. From
the latter they had received four bales, being the first
cotton grown by free labour ever received from that
country. The distribution of seed last year had been
in excess of the previous one, being 1,998 cwt. sent
from Manchester and 300 cwt. from Alexandria.
The greater portion was American seed obtained
in the United States. The committee believe the
association was never more needed than now
to sustain and guide the exertions of countries
it had encouraged to enter upon the cultivation of
cotton. A statement of accounts shows receiptslast
year to the amount of £6,121, of which £2,393 were
derived from subscriptions and £3,302 in payment
for seed, gins, and machinery (described as grants
in previous years), and £669 balance from last year.
The expenditure had been £2,142 in seed (for wnich
some•remittances may be expected), £862 for gins,
£864 for shipping charges, leaving in stock cotton
seed, gins, agricultural implements, and office fur-
niture, valued at £784 ; total, £5,337 15s. Bd.,
leaving a balance in cash or in the bank of £783 4s.
6d. The Chairman moved the adoption of the re-
port and accounts, and the meeting then proceeded
to re-elect the officers of the association for the en-
suing year. Mr. Bazley, M.P., Mr. J. B. Smith,
M.P., Mr. Hugh Mason, and the Mayor of Man-
chester were present at the meeting.