The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER, MAT 22.
The demand for manufactures bas been on a limited
scale since Tuesday, as well as previously, and there has
been no new feature in the market this morning. Sales
have been effected with difficulty where pi oducers have
been unwilling to accept lower prices, and the disposi-
tion of buyers is evidently to limit their purchases to the
immediate requirements of the day. The result is a con-
stant accumulation of almost all kinds of cloth in stock,
and a consequent weakening of prices. There has been
rather more inquiry for some descriptions of cloth,
but it has not led to business. The price of the
raw material has been well sustained in Liverpool,
notwithstanding arrivals to the extent of more than
200,000 bales during the week, and, though this
firmness has probably helped to sustain the value
of goods', the large arrivals have, no doubt, the ef-
fect of increasing the caution manifested by shippers
as well as by the home trade in this market. The busi-
ness in domestics has been on a less scale than ,it was
last week, and the unremunerative rates obtainable for
such sales as are made have increased the disposition to
reduce the production of the looms in these goods. In
printers and shirtings there is also an over supply, and
those who cannot afford to hold stocks, as well as those
who feel it unsafe in the present artificial state of prices,
are taking such means as are in their power to lessen
their responsibilities as far as it is possible. In yarns
spinners have been willing to accept offers this week
which they would have declined last week, and the
aggregate business in these goods, as well as in
cloths, has been limited in amount, and unsatisfac-
tory as regards prices. The tendency in both branches
of the market is against sellers. The committee of the
association for obtaining a better supply of cotton
are continuing their exertions to force this subject
upon public attention, and at a meeting held on Thurs-
day, Mr. Bazley, the chairman, said we were now paying
2id. to 24d. per lb. above the ordinary cost of American
cotton, which amounted to not less than 10,000,0001.
upon the consumption of last year. If the crop of the
coming autumn should be anything like adequate to the
waists of the trade, of which there is some hope held out
in a letter read from Henry Ashworth, who is now in
the United States, it is evident that a great reduction in
present values must take place before long, and it is
probably the fear of this rendjustment which is to some ex-
tent preventing sales in cloth andyare at the present mo-
ment. It will be learnt with satisfaction that a deputa-
tion from merchants in Liverpool was present at the
meeting, and that a cordial co-operation bet weeen these
two towns on this question is likely to result.

THE LUNDHILL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

--.::.---

The inquest on the 189 suffererers by this explosion
was brought to a close yesterday evening, when after an
elaborate summing up by Mr. Badger, the coroner, of
the 11 days' evidence, the jury returned the following
verdict :

" The jury are of opinion that Abraham Turner,
Thomas Grey, and others, met with their deaths from the
effects consequent upon an explosion of carburetted hy-
drogen gas in the Lundhill coalmine, on the 19th day of
February last, but the immediate cause of such explo-
sion there is not, any conclusive or sufficient evidence to
show. The jury cannot come to the conclutiion that it
was criminally negligent, but accidental ; they,
however must condemn the laxity of the 'discipline and
the non-observance of the rules allowed by the manager
and his deputies at the Lundhill Mine. The jury also
beg to add that they fully concur in the remarks made
by Mr. Wood, Mr. Elliott, and Mr. Woodhouse, that-
an improved system of ventilation and a better subdivi-
sion thereof is requisite to be adopted, especially where
day and night shifts are worked ; they also approve
generally the remarks of those gentlemen in reference
to safety lamps, and other valuable suggestions
made by them in their evidence yesterday. The
jury are also glad that, although the subject
of the education of the working miners was not al-
luded to by the before-mentioned gentlemen, yet that
omission has been remedied in the able charge of the
coroner, and the jury cannot too forcibly recommend
that every practical effort should be resorted to to raise
the miners to a higher moral and mental condition than is
now unhappily too prevalent. The jury also beg to
report their admiration and approval of the heroic con-
duct of Messrs. Webster, Maddi,on, and others in their
arduous and dangerous efforts to recover the bodies.
The jury cannot close their remarks on this awfully dis-
astrous accident without expressing their deep and
heartfelt sympathy for the bereaved sufferers. They
are of opinion that the proprietors of the colliery were
not cognisant of the laxity of the conduct of their under-
viewer, deputies, and workmen."

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE WEEK.

Miles
opened.
1857.

NAME OF RAILWAY.

Receipts.

1857.