The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-03 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

• MANCHESTER, July 2.—There has been a quiet
' market for all kinds of home trade yarns, and prices
are about id. per lb. easier than they were on Friday
last. Shipping yarns are also quiet. There has
scarcely been any new business offering to-day, and
the little that has been effected has been done at
lower prices. There is no improvement since Friday
in the cloth market. Quotations of all sorts of goods
printing cloths, shirtings, and goods suitable to India
are lower to-day. Owing to the unfavourable news
from India, both from Calcutta and Bombay, of the
state of prices in India, merchants here seem deter-
mined to keep out of the market entirely. Many of
the orders in the hands of manufacturers chiefly on
account of the India trade, which have kept them so
busy for the last month or six weeks, are now run-
ning out, or are near completion, and it is found
they must either produce less, or accept still lower
prices. The business of the day has been very small.
There was a failure announced here yesterday in
the American trade, with liabilities to the amount of
£120,000, but it is understood that an arrangement
has since been made with the creditors. Messrs. J.
Slagg and Co. report of to-day's cloth-market :
"During the week there has been a gradual down ward
tendency in prices, and to-day there is a greater in-
disposition on the part of buyers to operate. Some
few manufacturers who are without orders are ac-
cepting lower rates, but as a rule there does not ap-
pear to be an inclination on the part of producers
to push business." Of the prospects of prices for
cotton, which are exercising great influence on this
market, Messrs. Ellison and Heywood remark :
" Very little change has taken place in the prospects
of the market since the date of our last report ; but
that little has been confirmatory of the opiuion that
the tendency of values is, on the average, more
likely to be downwards than upwards. It is still
thought to be highly propable that, as the stock
of American diminishes and that of East Indian
augments, we shall witness a marked increase in the
margin at present existing between the prices of the

two growths, though it is hardly expected to be so
wide as the maximum difference attained last year,
for the reason that the incoming Indian crop is
much superior in quality, and therefore in intrinsic
value, than the yield of last season. What direc-
tion the anticipated increased margin will take will
depend upon the tenour of the American advices
respecting the growing crop. The future course of
the market, then, hangs entirely upon the American
supply. It is simply puerile to compare, as many
people are doing, the present statistical position with
that at the corresponding date of last year, and
infer that, because the visible' supply (that is, the
stock here and afloat) is 300,000 bales less, and the
current price 21d. per lb. lower than twelve months
ago, the present sale of values is unjustifiably de-
pressed. It would be just as sensible, and far more
reasonable, to refer to the figures of any year before
the war, and argue therefrom that the present cur.
rency is far too high. So long as prices remain

above the cost of production, and no artificial hind-

ranee to increased cultivation exists, the tendency
of prices must necessarily be downwards, and all
such comparisons as those to which we have alluded
must be entirely misleading. Besides all this, if
the results of last year's trade teach one lesson
more than another it is thatprices were considerably
higher than they ought to have been."
CARDIFF, Ist.—The steam coal trade continues
quiet, and quotations are not so well maintained as
might be desired. From several of the foreign mar-
kets there is, perhaps, a small increase in the re-

quirements of buyers, but the resources of the dis-
tricts are now such that there must be a large
addition to the consumption before employment at
the collieries shows any tangible increase. To the
West Indies and other mail service stations the ex-
ports keep about the same as reported last week. A
tolerably good quantity of Welsh coal is sent to Bir-
kenhead ; but the shipments at that port have also
somewhat slackened. House coal proprietors are
doing a moderate coasting business, the returns
showing but little variation from last year. The
patent fuel trade is quiet. The ironmasters are re-

ceiving more orders for rails ; but it will be a con

siderable time before the stocks at several establish

ments are cleared, even with a considerably aug-
mented demand. Tin plate houses have done but
little of late, which is usually the case at the end of
a quarter; but there are more inquiries from the
United States.

LEEDS, 2d. —There has been only a small attend-
ance of buyers in the cloth-halls this morning, some
having probably been kept away by the state of the
weather, which was rainy. In the coloured cloth.
ball plain clothes were slow of sale ; but there was
a moderate amount of business done in plain and
fancy coatings and in tweeds of chiefly steel mixture
shades. In the white cloth-hall witneys and beavers
sold most freely. There was not much demand for
pilots and hairlists. The country manufacturers,
as well as those in the town, are tolerably well em-
ployed, and the woollencloth trade of the whole dis-

trict is in a rather more satisfactory condition than
it was a month ago. The prices of both wool and
cloth are steady. The flax trade is moderately
active, and the prices of yarns and threads, conse-
quent on the high rates of the raw material, have
an upward tendency.

ROCHDALE, Ist.—The flannel market to-day has
been inanimate, few buyers being present, and their
purchases being small. Many of the Manchester
houses are taking stock, and are keeping out of the
market. A fair amount of business was done last

week, and the manufacturers keep steadily em-
ployed. There is no improvement in the demand
for Yorkshire goods, but price& are steady, as also

- _
are those of wool and flannels.

The National Collection of Newspapers, &c

--41,.----

We are favoured by Mr. Watts, the worthy suc-
cessor to Mr. Paniqi, with the following interesting
particulars of the space occupied by the collection
of newspapers and periodical publications in the
British Museum. Mr. Watts assures us that the
attendant whom he, in polite accordance with our
request, appointed to make the calculation, is a very
careful man, and likely to be accurate.

The collection of newspapers in the new library is
kept in 444 presses, containing 9,982 superficial
feet. The space occupied by the newspapers is
4,169 ft. Bin., thus divided—

Ft. In.
London Newspapers 1,675 0
Provincial do. ~ 1,059 8
Scotch do. 288 0

do.

896 0

Foreign do. 744 0

Total.

The periodical publications are in 390 presses,
containing 9,851 feet. In the old library the col-
lection occupies a space of 451 yards 4 inches, and
in the new library 2,321 yards 2 feet and 11 inches.
These figures will servo to convey an idea to our
country friends of the vastness of the national col-
lection of newspapers.—Newspaper Press.

The Paris Savings Bank received, in the fort-
night ending the Ist inst., deposits amounting to 727,258 f.,
and reimbursed the sum of 550,626 f. The total of the pay-
ments into the Caisse des Retraites for the Aged during
the same period was 831,534 f.
A SPEECII BY GENERAL GRANT.—General Grant
has made another speech. Re was introduced to the citi-
zens of Wheeling by Governor Boreman, at the conclu-
sion of whose remarks it began to rain a little. The
anxiously awaited reply of the great chief was, " Gentle-
men, I hope you woil't stay in the rain long."—Boston
Advertiser, June 19.