The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-01-05 00:00:00

THE LIVER

ner in which' the said tolls Shall be expended in
the improvement of the said port or harbour, not-
withstanding any act, charter, law, or usage to the
contrary" !
The 33d section repeals all existing dock acts or
charters which " are inconsistent with or contrary
to the provisions of this act" ; and concludes by
informing the world that the act itself may be
called, for shortness, " The Harbour Conservancy
Act," and may be amended or repealed. We
could find a shorter and much better name for it.

Our readers may perhaps be disposed to say,
that nothing so absurd and monstrous as this can
be contemplated seriously by the legislature. It is
a measure the bare announcement of which, at
some periods of our history, would have convulsed
the kingdom to its centre. A Whig of the old
school would have seen in its provisions an odious
and a daring stretch of the prerogatives of the
Crown. Yet it will have the, support of the recre-
ant Whigs of the present day ; and, if we mistake
not, is the bantling of a Whig Cabinet. The names
of Mr. Ward, one of the Ministry, and of Admiral
Dundas, a Lord of the Admiralty, as its sponsors,
stamp its parentage.

THE annual Circulars, issued by our leading
brokers at this season, concur in giving a some-
what gloomy picture of the prospects of our com-
mercial and industrious classes during tip year
upon which we have just entered, for which there
are many combining causes. Of these, the most
influential appear to be, the scarcity and increased
cost of every description of food, both in Great
Britain and in most foreign countries, by which
the power of the people to consume our manufac-
tured fabrics must be seriously lessened; and the
short supply and advanced price of the most im-
portant of our raw materials—cotton. The state of
Ireland, also, and the certainty that for the next
twelve months, if not for a longer period, the ne-
cessities of that country must produce a vast
drain upon the resources of Great Britain, are no
unimportant considerations with parties competent
to form an opinion. We propose to give here, in
substance, the views of some of the parties, as put
forth to their correspondents, in the circulars to
which we have referred.
The circular of Messrs. Richard Bateson and
Sons is a very able one. These gentlemen remark
upon the extreme fluctuation in the price of cotton,
which has taken place since the commencement of
the present year, as compared with that which was
observed in 1845. In that year, the extreme fluc-
tuation in the price of middling American did not
exceed id. per Id.; and on the 31st of Decem-
ber it was within id. per lb. of the lowest pe-
riod ever known. No change of any moment
occurred until May, when prices advanced id.
per lb., it being evident at that time that the pre-
ceding year's crop had been overrated. In the
middle of September we had bad accounts of the
growing crop, and up to the end of October prices
had further advanced ad. per lb. In November
the transactions were unimportant ; but in Decem-
ber the trade was very active-232,000 bales hav-
ing been sold in one week—and at the close of the
year a further advance of 1 d. had been established.
To enable the non-commercial reader to trace
the cause of these advances in the price of cotton,
we give a few data from the statement published
by the Associated Brokers. In 1845 the total
imports into the United Kingdom were 1,856,860
bales, of which 1,650,826 bales were imported into
Liverpool. In 1846, however, the imports into the
United Kingdom were only 1,243,520, of which
1,134,244 bales were imported into Liverpool.
Again, the stock of cotton in the United Kingdom
at the end of 1845 was 1,055,270 bales, of which
885,480 were held in Liverpool. The stock in the
kingdom in /December, 1846, was reduced to
545,790 bales, of which 438,970 were in Liverpool.
Yet with this diminished stock in htuid, and the
present crop in America not estimated to produce
more than from 1,900,000 to 2,000,000 bales, we
had in 1846 an average weekly consumption in the
United Kingdom of 29,977 bales; so that, assu-
ming that our imports this year are equal to those
of the last—a circumstance by no means probable
—we run the risk, with our present rate of con-
sumption, of exhausting those imports and our
stocks in hand before the close of next year. No-
thing can save us from such a calamity as this
would be to our working masses, but a limitation
of the hours of labour. In, confirmation of the
justice of this apprehension, we may quote the fol-
lowing from an excellent circular of Messrs. Hay-
wood and M`Viccar. Remarking upon the circum-
stance of the consumption of cotton exceeding the
production, these gentlemen say :
" This is supposed only just to have occurred for the
first time since 1839; but if attention be paid to the
statistics of the last two years, it will be found, that in
1844, though the stock held in Great Britain was increasing,
if the consumption of Europe generally were taken into
account in that and the following year, there had not been
so much cotton grown as had been consumed. Take, for
instance, the American crop of 1844, which was 2,030,000
bales. Great Britain consumed in that year 1,128,000
bales, America 346,000 :bales, and the Continent 700,000
bales, thereby exceeding the growth by 144,000 bales.
Again, the large crop of 1845, of 2,394,000 bales, was
more than absorbed by the consumption of Great Britain,
which was estimated at 1,288,000 bales, of America at
389,000 bales, and the Continent 750,000 bales, making a
total of 2,427,000 bales. These facts were not sufficiently
attended to at the time, because upon the Continent
holders were in possession of little or no stock, whilst the
increase of supply in Great Britain seemed to confirm the
opinion that more cotton was grown than would be
required or consumed."

The prices of middling and fair Bowed cotton
on the 31st December, 1845, were 3+€l. to 41d.;
on the same date in 1846, they were 51d. to 71d.--
a rise of 20. to 3d. per lb. Yet there are many

concurring circumstances to prevent the article
manufactured from this raw material advancing in
anything like the same ratio. Amongst these we
may mention, as the most important, the high
price of food, which limits consumption, and the
over-supply of goods in some of our foreign mar-
kets. It is not at all certain that the extreme price
of cotton has as yet been attained; and until this
is the case, manufacturing must be unattended
with any certainty of profit, and prices of goods
be merely nominal.
Messrs. Bateson and Sons remark upon this state
of things as follows:

" It is far from our wish to exaggerate the difficulties
of our position, but we are convinced that the year 1847
will be attended with much anxiety to those engaged in
mercantile pursuits, and we fear it will prove disastrous to
many. We will enter into no prophecies or minute
calculations as to the future range of prices ; the advance
may probably not be materially checked until the import
comes forward more freely. However, as in former years,
the market will, to a great extent, be regulated by the
demand for consumption ; and upon this important branch
of the subject it is impossible at the present moment to
offer any satisfactory opinion, as the attempt might only
mislead. We look for much fluctuation ; but it must be
borne in mind, that the greater the advance, the heavier
and more serious will be the ultimate recoil. We antici-
pate, it is true, a short supply of cotton, as compared
with the product of previous years. We have no fear
but that the supply of the manufactured article will prove
amply sufficient, large stocks of goods and yarn being held
both in this country and in foreign markets. It is evident
to us that the production of cotton fabrics. la 13
f ' Fos
the
present ertaheu the cons”lpon;
,1111( 1 , as).

. •
previous part of the year, with the advantages of much
lower prices for the raw material, the spinning trade
generally was unremunerative, it is not probable that it will
be improved whilst those counteracting influences are in
force which we have faintly and
imperfectly to trace." perfectly endeavoured

Another valuable circular—that of Messrs. Hol-
linshead, Tetley, and Co.—contains these remarks :
" The question of supply remains to be considered, and
in the first place it must be remarked, that we are left
with a reduction in the stock in the country of 529,480
bales, besides a reduction of 110,000 bales in France and
on the continent, and this after a crop in the United States
of 2,100,000 bales. Now nearly all accounts agree that
the forthcoming crop will not exceed 2,000,000 bales,
which, as scarcely any of it has yet arrived, will give us
be
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as we commence with stocks so light, equal only to 21
weeks' consumption, it is clear that the supply will be
inadequate, and the working of short time will not be a
question of price, but one of necessity."
In the face of this scarcity of the raw material,
it is abundantly certain that the manufacturing
community have taken great pains to increase
the difficulty of their position. It is well known
that, during the past few years, a large increase
has been going on in the producing power in the
manufacturing districts ; and no warning appears
to be efficacious in inducing manufacturers volun-
tarily,
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