Trade and Commerce - Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions

Trade and Commerce

MANCHESTER, TUESDAY EVENING. - We have not had so brisk a demand for cloth
this week as many anticipated - why, it is hard to say - seeing that wages
have advanced, and in many cases considerably. In a few cases it is
probably that the buyer has had the advantage - but in general there has
been no change in value. The home market is brisk, our dyers very busy -
always an unerring sign of a healthy state of things at home. The demand
for export Yarns continues unabated, but without any quotable change in
value.

ROCHDALE. - There was no improvement in Rochdale flannel market last week.
The wool market was also flat and sales very limited.

HUDDERSFIELD. - There was by no means a brisk market at Huddersfield last
week, and many manufacturers being now disengaGd, are sticking up a little;
still the quantity of goods on hand is comparatively small; we note no
change in value.

LEEDS. - At Leeds last market day there was a visible improvement in the
demand for all kinds of goods as compared with three or four of the last
markets. Prices steady but stocks rather increasing, though very light for
the season. In the warehouses there has been less activity than of late.

HALIFAX. - There was much the same demand at Halifax last market day as for
some weeks past, at steady prices for all kinds of piece goods; little done
in wools, except for flannels, for which the demand is God and fully as
dear.

BRADFORD. - Although many goods changed hands at Bradford last week, the
rates were by no means remunerating. The production has been considerably
lessened,and it is hoped that this timely check will enable manufacturers to
realise paying rates;the limit in this respect exceeds that in the panic of
1825-6. Business must indeed be bad to justify so general a diminution of
supply. The demand for yarns, is, as a matter of course, on the decline,
owing to manufacturers curtailing their operations to so great an extent as
they have done. Spinners will be soon compelled in this state of things to
run short time, though by no one anticipated three months ago. Wool in
little demand, no buying except for instant use, and prices have a downward
tendency.

LEICESTER. - In wools and yarns there is still but little doing with a
tendency to recede slightly in price. For goods the demand is principally
confined to lower sorts. Employment, however, is plentiful, and with the
approach of cold weather we hope the state of affairs will improve.

NOTTINGHAM. - The cut-up cotton hose branch seems once more in a state of
feverish agitation, as several attempts, both direct and indirect,are making
to reduce the wages in this slop trade.

The full-fashioned cotton hose branch is still most lamentably
depressed.This depression increases, instead of diminishing. The drawer
branch has not in the least improved.

The silk glove trade is very bad indeed in some quarters, and the hands are
giving way to dispair. The bobbin-net trade, upon the whole, may be said to
be in a fair condition,though far from brisk.

The circular-machines, which have for several years been in the background
as to the producing of fancy nets, are now coming into play,and many
descriptions of fancy laces may be seen from self-propelled circular bolt
machines,which, therefore, have been pretty generally confined to the making
of plain quillings and plain nets. The warp lace trade, we are sorry to
say, has not much mended. The demand for lap and press articles having, in
some measure, fallen off, has been heavily felt. At present the cotton
branches are in the best condition; but these are principally confined to
Stapleford and the vicinity.
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TIME
~~~~

Man is ever quarrelling with Time. Time flies too swiftly; or creeps too
slowly. His distempered vision conjures up a dwarf or a giant; hency Time
is too short, or Time is too long ! Now, time hangs heavy on his hands;
yet, for most things he cannot find Time ! Though time-serving, he makes a
lackey of Time; asking Time to pay his debts; Time to eat his dinner;
Time for all things !!

A NEW AMERICAN LEAD MINE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A mine of lead ore has recently been discovered near Dubuque, by a MR.
BOOTH, of great richness, and under singular circumstances of location. It
seems MR. BOOTH, a highly respectable and experienced miner, was sinking a
shaft through hard layers of sand-stone, when, at considerable depth, to his
surprise, his shaft terminated in a large cave, of many yards in length, and
so high as admit to the tallest man to walk upright beneath its vaulted
roof. He was gratified at finding this cave to contain the richest veins of
lead ore that had ever been discovered in the country.

The ore is found in rich abundance on the sides, roof, and bottom of this
cave, and it can be so easily detached as to be raised in almost any desired
quantity. The richest beds of it, however, are just beneath the floor of
the cave, which is reached by short shafts bored down to it.

The quantity and value of the ore contained in this cave is supposed to be
immense. In company with a small party we visited this cave about two weeks
ago. Descending a perpendicular shaft, about 25 feet deep, we found
ourselves at the entrance [a crevice in miner's phrase], though of unusually
large dimensions. Lights and guide being procured we soon found ourselves
in a cave near 1000 feet in length, and from 15 to 40 in width, while the
height varied from 12 to 30 feet, though in one place the roof or caprock
almost reaches the floor, dividing the cave into two immense gloomy,
subterranean vaulted apartments, where nature has been silently operating
for ages - perhaps for thousands of ages.

The room is formed of stratified siliceous limestone in alternate layers.
In some parts hugh masses have fallen down, and lay in irregular piles on
the floor, while in others the arch springs from each side, and meets in the
centre with the utmost symmetry and architectural beauty.

The rock is encrusted in many parts with crystalisations, and stalactites
pendant from the roof, some of them of very large size.

But the peculiar charm of the cave is in the mineral it contains.
Descending by a small shaft on the floor into a drift, the glittering ore
reflected back the light in every direction. It lies in detached junks,
some weighing probably 1000 lbs., embedded in the usual red silica; but by
what wondrous chemistry, and when it was formed, or, if it grows, where it
gets its constituent parts, are among the mysteries.

It is enough that it is there, and in quanties that would gladden the eyes
of any miner. It is difficult to form an estimate of the amount of ore the
cave will yield. Experienced miners say it is good for three millions, and
it may possibly exceed that. Subterraneous excavations are common about
here.

Immediately behind the city, you may pass by dint of occasional squeezing
and crawling, through a succession of crevices and small caves and emerge
three-quarters of a mile from where you entered.

But no opening [as miners term it] has yet been found on this side of the
river that will compare with MR. BOOTH's in the mineral treasure, and the
scientific and curious in such matters will find it well worth a visit.
'Iowa Transcript'.
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