The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-27 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

(From the Leeds Mercury )
LEEDS.-BuFinets has been rather brisker in our cloth-
halls during the last two market-days, and there has also
been a little improvement in the business done in the ware-
houses.

BRAPFORD.—Our market for manufactured goods has
been flatter than for several weeks previous, owing to the
advance which the makers, from the extravagant prices ei
the raw material, are under the necessity of asking. Wool,
as well as yarn, is a shade higher again to-day.
HALtFAI•—On account of the very high prices de-
manded for manufactured goods at this market last Satur-
day, the stuff merchants avoided purchasing beyond what
they were in immediate want of, arid the consequence was
that the transactions were more limited than those of the
preceding two or three weeks. English wool, however, rose
steadily, and by the close of the market it had advanced in
price from id. to /d. per lb. above that of Saturday week.
There is much speculation at present regarding a further
advance in wool, and from its present comparative scarcity
in the country, and the evils which the continued wetness
of the season is beginning to produce in sheep generally,
but particularly on those on low marshy lands, there is
great reason to suppose that neither wool nor manufactured
goods have yet arrive,' at the highest prices.
ROCHDALE.—Few Flannel goods were offered for sale
on Monday. There was a good attendance of buyers;
low goods, both white and for dying, went off briskly
middle and finer qualities sold well, and a general advance
was obtained. In consequence of the rising prices of wool,
the manufacturers seem determined not to sell except at a
considerable advance.
It was stated a few weeks since, and we mentioned the
report in our columns, that the kind of worsted stuffs
called merinoes had bean subjected, by the revenue-officers
of the United Sta'es, to the high duty on woollens, instead
of the duty of 10 per cent., which only attached to them
by the tariff as worsted stuff•. We are glad to find that
this report arose out of a single case, and that it is nega=
tived by the subsequent adm,ssion of large quantities of
merinoes at the low rate of duty. On the Ist of January
even the duty of 10 per cent. ceased, and henceforth
worsted stuffs will be admitted to that important market
duty free. The exportation of stuffs to America is very
large, and the entire repeal of the duty, which a year ago
was 25 per cent., will of course increase the quantity ex-
ported.

No trade in the country is more flourishing or more
steady than that in worsted, stuff.. This article is made
chiefly of English wool, which is better calculated for it
than that of any other country ; and of course the Eng-
lish manufacturer has the advantage of having this mate-
rial at home, besides the other great advantages of supe-
rior and cheaper machinery. The worsted stuffs of
England are, therefore, subject to infinitely less competi-
tion, and to much less restriction, in foreign countries,
than either woollens or cottons; and there is a very fair
prospect of a continued extension of this manufacture.
There are, at this moment, two things which embar-
rass the manufacturer—first, the enormously high price of
wool, which must check the consumption of the goods ;
and, second, the Factory Bill which has already (where it
is observed) raised the wages of the children in proportion
to the duration of their labour, and which, when in full
operation (should it ever come into full operation), will
render a much larger quantity of capital and machinery
necessary to produce the same quantity of goods, and,
of course, will lower the profits on those goods. The
weavers, woolcombers, and other classes of workmen de-
pendant on the yarn spun in the mills, are anticipating a
shortness of work when the hours which the mills run
shall be generally shortened. Many children who are
under the age of nine years have been turned off; but
this, however painful in its effects in many instances, was
a measure called for" by humanity and relion. When the
eight hours' provision of the Bill comes into operation, the
manufacturers will not be able to find children sufficient
for their mills. Both masters and workmen now have
their eyes fully open to the excessive folly and rashness of
the political charlatans who threw the country into a
flame by the ten hours' project. The present Bill must
be altered, or the Bradford and Keigbley districts will
suffer severely. They will either suffer by complying with
the provisions of the Bill, or by incurring the heavy pe-
nalties attendant on a neglect of those provisions.

THE FLOODS.—One night last week, Mr.
Bradbear, a farmer of Upottery, near Chard, in endeavour-
ing to ford a stream near Yarcome, which had been
much swollen by the late rains, lost his seat from his
horse, and was drowned. His cries were heard by a per-
son near the spot—but, owing to the darkness of the
night, be could not be discovered, nor was his body
found till the following morning. On the same night
Mr. Stoker, of Dalwood, having missed his way on re-
turning home, had a narrow escape from a similar fate in
the same stream, as he had to pass it en horseback, the
water reaching above the horse's hick; but the animal
swimming saved him. A night or two after, Mr. Pearce,
clock and watchmaker, of Chard, was also crossing the
stream, when the saddle of his horse slipped off, and he
f •il in—but fortunately, was enabled to lay hold of a bush,
till assistance was rendered him. It is remarkable that
both this saddle and that of Mr. Bradbear were found
near the fume spot the day after. —Sherborne Journal.