the
Manchester ship canal; shipments through the canal from the 1st of
September to the 30th of August in each year for the decade 1894-1895 to
1904-1905 are appended--six to eight times as much is still unloaded at
Liverpool.

A Manchester cotton-importing company was recently formed for increasing
deliveries direct to Manchester, and establishing a "spot" market there,
an end to which the Manchester Cotton Association had directed its
efforts for some time past. The latter association was established at
the end of 1894, with a membership of 265, in the interests of those
spinners who desired importations direct to Manchester. The objects of
the association are officially stated to be: (1) to frame suitable and
authoritative forms of contract, and to make rules and regulations for
the proper conduct of the trade; (2) to supervise and facilitate the
delivery of the importations of cotton at the Manchester docks to the
various consignees; (3) to provide and maintain trustworthy standards of
classification; (4) to procure and disseminate useful information on all
subjects pertaining to the trade; (5) to act in concert with chambers of
commerce and other bodies throughout the world for mutual protection;
(6) to establish a market for cotton at Manchester. Spinning members
preponderate, but almost all the Manchester cotton merchants and cotton
brokers have also joined the association. The importance of the original
spinners' representation on the association is shown by the fact that
they worked over 14,000,000 spindles: in December 1905 the spindles
represented by members had risen to nearly 20,000,000. Some 73,000 looms
are also represented. As most of the Lancashire cotton mills lie far
from Manchester, direct importations to that city do not usually
dispense with a "handling," and frequently save little or nothing in
freight rates, though in some cases the economy derived from direct
importation is considerable. One gain accruing to Lancashire from the
Canal, however, is that its competition has brought down railway
rates.

Cotton market methods.

Fundamental alterations have been made in the structure of the leading
cotton markets, and in methods of buying and selling cotton, in the last
hundred years. We shall not attempt to trace the changes as they
appeared in every market of importance, but shall confine our attention
to one only, and that perhaps the most important of all, namely, the
market at Liverpool.