Assfar og piece goods are con-gemed the week opened rather hotter than, its predecessor, and! Tientsin and the north generally] showed. considerable interest. in fancies and spring goods. Although clearances of cargo were good, the position isnot, satis factory in view of the numbers of new merchants and dealers who} have recently entered the business, persuaded thereto by the profits Which Chinese. firms made Inst year. The danger of overtrading again presenting itself to those who have experienced past vleis. situdes, Meanwhile it is. stated that several dealers have conceded og much as Tis, 0.25 on medium and best White Shrirtings in order] to maintain continuity of sales! and (o avoid an accumulation of shipments come to hand.
In woollens the market is on the quiet side. Deliveries, however, are good, but with a very. steady' market at Home no-new business has taken place.
In certain respects the auctions were on 9 much sounder basis than those of last week, a greater proportion of orders for certain qualities of goods being in. the hands of dealers. At the same time, except in one or two instan-coa, prices showed an easier tendency, and at the concluding we tion medium and high quality ies of Italians sustained a heavy drop, amounting to a tael more, although the lower quality hot suffer in the same degree. It is readily understood why particular movement in prices Should have taken place at this} juncture. After a period of rising values extending practically over nine months dealers have recently been paying what would be called fancy prices. So long they had cargo on their hands was to their interest, to maintain values, but now that their! stocks have been disposed of they are no longer concerned with the maintenance of prices. In the circumstances it does not matter to them whether prices sag, and the withdrawal of their support has caused the present drop. Last] year the bottom price for Ttalians was touched in April, but to-day the statisti®y position is much stronger, stocks in hand being! only about a third of what was libeld last year, and thoro is a possibility of this downward move. ment accordingly being of very short duration, corres AND YARN.
Chinese Cotton—Following the trend of American cotton, the China staple has this week shown! 8 firmer tendency, but little business hes taken place. Tf yarn Prices. improve as is anticipated, considerable buying orders aro} expected shortly to be on hand. On the Chinese. Cotton, Goods Exchange a bullish tone is reported, the quotations current there being as follows: 12.65; April 30; May 42.90; Juno 42.455} Tuly 4210; August, 41.30. Spot Motations are ax follows:—Tang-chow 42/40; Shanghai 42.80; Shensi 43/44}; Hankow 41}.
Yarn—Yarn is steadier in price, but no large amount of business} is taking place. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Bales are reported' to ave been booked by mills. during the week, and it, is of interest to} note that errtain Chiness concerns appear to have contracted at prices below what the Chinese] millowners fixed a week ago their lowest figure. Apparently' the movement to fx minimum prices was, only partial. The Stechuan merchants do not yet seem to have come into the market, although the firmer tendency now shown may suggest to them that the bottom has been reached and!
purchases by them may be expected in the course of the next week or two. Clearances of local cloth have been good, but new
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.