The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-02-01 00:00:00

STATISTICS OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURES
FOR THE PAST YEAR.

The excellent " Commercial Glance" for the year
ended 31st December, 1847, just published by Mr. R.
Burn of Manchester, possesses more than its usual
interest, as exhibiting the result, so far as regards our
cotton exports, of one of the most eventful years through
which the commercial and manufacturing industry of the
country has ever passed. We shall give here a few of its
most important items.

The public will have been fully prepared for a large
falling off in the gross exports of the cotton manufacture,
by their knowledge of the fact that we have had, in the
first place, a very materially reduced import of the raw
material, and, as the necessary consequence, been com-
pelled to restrict our manufacturing operations. We had,
as the stock in the ports, on the Ist of January, 1847.
548,658 bales ; and a stock in the hands of spinners and
dealers, of 61,483 bales : in all, 610,141 bales. We im-
ported during the year into Liverpool, 1,088,240 bales ;
into London, 81,080 bales ; into Glasgow, 42,139 bales ;
and into Bristol and Hull, 19,576 bales : in all imported,
1,231,035. Our total supply up to the Ist January, 1848,
was, therefore, 1,841,176 bales, of which we exported
207,775 bales, leaving 1,633,401 bales for consumption.
We have consumed in the year only 1,142,008 bales,
which, allowing the year, on account of stoppages and
holidays, to consist of 51 weeks of actual working, gives
a weekly consumption of 22,392 bales per week, against
a fraction over 31,796 bales in 1846. The stock in the
ports and in spinners' and dealers' hands, on the Ist of
January, 1848, was 491,393, or less than on the Ist of
January preceding by 118,748 bales. Of this, 39,454
bales are in the hands of spinners and dealers.
As shewing what our position would have been with an
active demand, and the necessity under which we should
have, in any case, been placed of working short time. for
want of raw material, we shall find that, had we con-
sumed in the past year at the rate of 31,796 bales per
week, we should have consumed 1,621,644 bales during
the year ; and thus, deducting this quantity from our
total supply of 1,633,401 bales, we should have had only
11,757 bales, or half a week's consumption, at present in
the country.

On turning to the tables of exports of manufactured
goods, we find in two important articles—cotton yarn
and plain calicoes—a signal decrease in the past year :-
1846. 1847. Decrease.
Cotton yarn, lbs... 157,130,025 116,512,874 41,617,151
Plain calicoes, yds. 618,839,181 488,044,682 130,794,499
or above a third in the export of the first article, and
nearly a fourth in the second, as compared with the
export of 1846. The principal countries which have
taken from us a short supply of yarn, are—Belgium ;
the Hanse Towns, &c., decreased nearly 9,000,000 lbs. ;
Holland, decreased nearly 8,500.000 lbs. ; India, de-
creased nearly 5,000,000 lbs. ; Naples and Sicily, de-
creased 3,400,000 lbs. ; Russia, decreased 2,800,000 lbs. ;
Sardinia, Tuscany, &c., decreased 3,250,000 lbs. •, Trieste,
Austrian ports, &c., 1,950,000 lbs. ; Turkey and Levant,
1,500,000 lbs. We must conclude, from these figures,
either that manufacturing operations in the countries
specified have either decreased materially during the past
year, or that they have become more able to produce
their own cotton yarn ; for we do not find that they have
come to us for goods instead of yarn. On the contrary,
we shall have to shew that our exports of cloths to most
of those countries have declined in amount during the
past year.
The large decrease in plain calicoes is thus divided :-
1 Brazils, Buenos Ayres, &c., have diminished their im-
ports 8,000,000 yds. ; British West Indies, 6,300,000 yds.;
British North America, 4,150,000 yds. The exports,
however, to these possessions have been more than those
of 1845, and the year 1846 appears to have been one of
extraordinary import. Chili and Peru have decreased
4,800,000 yds. ; Foreign West Indies, nearly 3,000,000
yds. • Gibraltar, 5,000,000 yds. ; the Hanse Towns, &c.,
3,000,000 yds. ; Holland, 7,100,000 yds. ; Malta and
lonian Isles, 5,100,000 yds. To Mexico our direct trade
has been extinguished, having sunk from 1,648,580 yds.
in 1846 to 292,143 yds. last year. Naples and Sicily have
decreased nearly 5,000,000 yds. ; Portugal and Madeira,
4,300,000 yds. ; Sardinia and Tuscany, 12,300,000 yds.,
having fallen from 20,500,000 yds. in 1846 to 8,200,000
yds. in 1847 ; Trieste, Austrian ports, &c., 10,650,000
yds., having been 15,900,000 yds. in 1846, and 5,200,000
in 1847 ; and Turkey and Levant, 4,700,000. It is proper
to remark, however, that to some of these countries our
exports in 1846 were unusually large.
The most singular features with respect to this great
staple article consist in the large falling off in our exports
to India and China, and the great increase to the United
States of America. We give the results for the two years
to these countries :

1846. 1847.
yds. 179,684,172 114,228,334

To India ....

China

.. 70,923,872 53,827;109

. . .
United States of America.. 10,640,215 41,519,244
Thus our shipments to India show the immense falling
off of 65,455,838 yds. during the past year, and those to
China have declined •17,096,763 yds. ; in all, to these
two countries, 82,552,601 yds., or nearly one-seventh of
the total yearly exports of this article on the average of
the preceding four years. The United States, on the
other hand, has increased 30,879,029 yds., having nearly
quadrupled her average imports of plain calicoes.
As explanatory of the above state of things, our readers
may remember
our stating recently that, owing to the
prosperity consequent upon the ability of her agricultu-
rists to supply out of their abundance of breadstuffs the
dearth of Europe, the manufactured cottons of America
would be retained for home consumption, and her export
trade carried on with. British goods. This, it is clear,
moot have been the rase to a considerable extent. Pre-
suming, however, the whole of the increase of our ship-
ments of plain calicoes to America to have been absorbed
in her East India and China trade—a rather extravagant
supposition—we have still to be accounted for on other
grounds a falling off in the consumption of those markets,
taking the average of the years 1844, 1845, and 1846, of
50,000,000 yds. of plain calicoes alone.
Of the article of printed and dyed calicoes, Mr. Burn •
shews us a more favourable result, the exports having
been 287,384,903 yds. in 1847, against 267,084,797 yds. in
1846. Last year's exports, however, were materially less
than those of 1845 or 1814, and barely exceeded those of
1843. The principal markets to which our exports of
this important manufacture have increased, are the Bra-
zils, Buenos Ayres, and Monte Video, 8,500,000 yds. ;
Coast of Africa, exclusive of the Cape, 2,700.000 yds. ;
Columbia, 3,900,000 yds. ; Turkey and the Levant,
11,000,000 yds.; and a ,light increase to the Cape of
Good Hope, Egypt, I\lalta and the lonian Isles, and
Trieste and Austrian ports. To the United States in this
article, as in plain calicoes, we have a large increase last
year ; the exports having been 44,425,017 yds. against
13,556,509 yds. in 1846. We have a falling off, however,
to the British West Indies of 6,650,000 yds., and, as
compared with 1845, of 9,600,000 yds., the exports in
that year being nearly double those of 1847. British
North America has declined above 1,000,000 yds. • Chili
and Peru, 2,000,000 yds. ; Foreign West Indies, 8,700,000
yds. ; Gibraltar, 1,300,000 yds. •, Hanse Towns, 2,000,000
yds. ; Holland, about 800,000 yds. ; India, 3,000,000 yds.;
China, nearly 1,000,000 yds. To Mexico the direct ex-
port has, like that of plain calicoes, been nearly destroyed,
being only 750,000 yds. this year against 6,290,600 yds.
in 1846. .To Naples and Sicily the decrease is 1,500,000
yds. ; Portugal, Madeira, &c., 1,000,000 yds.; Sardinia,
Tuscany, &c., 5,000,000 yds.
In several of the less extensively used articles, although
important ones, as containing a large amount of labour,
we notice an increase in the year thus .-
1846. 1847.
'Cotton thread, lbs.
Damasks and diapers, yds. 9,505 20,312
Cambrics and muslins, yds . 4,459,769 5,010,117
Counterpanes and quilts, No. 113,050 208,015
Cotton and linen mixed, yds. 1,125,764 1,433,879
Ginghams, yds. 591,489 825,430
Cords, velveteens, velvets, &c., yds. 1,901,294 2,770,943
Shawls and handkerchiefs, d0z..... 545,823 725,263
Ticks, yds.. 144,057 149,385
Unenumerated cottons, yds 54,161 95,486
There is, on the other hand, a slight decrease in the ex-
ports of hosiery and a few minor articles.
'We shall have an opportunity of returning to the con-
sideration of some other facts, which are deducible from
Mr. Burn's most valuable work. In the meantime, we
cannot submit to lose this occasion to pay a well-earned
meed of praise to that gentleman for the great pains
devoted to the perfection of his " Glance," and to thank
him, in the name of the commercial public, for ono of the
most correct and comprehensive statistical documents
ever published with respect to any subject connected
with trade and industry.

ORDINARIES.—The accommodation the public derive
from ordinaries is now extra ordinary. A table d'hote
once a day. in Liverpool is commowin all important com-
mercial houses ; but so universal is competition and en-
terprise, that no less than four ordinaries a day are ad-
vertised at the Oriental Divan, for which, including
soups, joint, &c., the charge is only one shilling. Every-
body must give them a trial. -
GurrA VERCHA, now getting into such general use for
the purpose of soling boots and shoes, is a variety of
caoutchouc, in some respects closely resembling it, in
others widely different. lt was first imported in 1843,
from Singapore, and is the produce of a large forest tree,
indigenous to that and the surrounding countries. When
imported it is a dirty pinkish-coloured opaque solid, hay-
. ing► little or no smell, insoluble in water, and tasteless ;
it. feels smooth and greasy between the fingers, but can be
held with great firmness in the hand. At a temperature
below, fifty degrees it is hard and tough, similar to horn ;
at from fifty to seventy degrees it is slightly elastic, but
.still retains its toughness. It has little power of con-
traction when once extended. At a temperature between
140 and .150 degrees it is soft and plastic. -In this state
any number of pieces may be joined together, similar to
bees' wax, a slight pressure sufficing to form a good joint.
AS; imported, it contains many impurities, to remove
Which it Undergoes the process of " devilling," being torn
to.Pietes hot water. In this way the impurities are
got rid of, and r, solid mass obtained. When softened in
hot. water, or by the gentle application of heat, it can be
moulded into any form ; as it cools it re-acquires its rigi-
dity. . When warm it is easily cut ; but when cold opposes
great resistance to the knife or saw, and requires the tool
to be wet to effect a division. Its specific gravity is 0.971,
water ,being 1000 ; hence it floats on the surface of that
In chemical composition it is identical with caout-
chouc ; its chief points of difference being lof a physical
nature. Water, alcohol, alkaline solutions, muriatic and
acetic acitk, excite no artion on it. Strong sulphuric acid
gradUally charrs it, and nitric acid oxydises it. Ether,
essentialoilS,.. and mineral naptha, form but imperfpet
I. solutions, whilst rectified oil of turpentine is a perfect sol-
- vent; the solution .being transparent. • The principal ap-
. plicat lens of this subject have been as a substitute for lea-
ther, which it, re.sembles in properties and appearance.