In piece goods conditions have not materially altered since last week, the principal] items of terest being a slightly improved inquiry from the north and the despatch of severa] shipments ta Szechuan which province, on account of political troubles, has done little or nothing for some time past. Offers have gone forward to Manchester, induced by. the drop in the price of cotton. but the higher prices which have. fallowed have' excluded the possibility of any but the most limited business.
As a result of the conditions noted if ove, the greatest interest centres in the auctions, the course of which demonstrates that the market is very much under the influence of the pronounced shortage of stocks. Notwithstanding the continued tightness of money there has been a brisker inquiry and in several lines prices lis again advanced. The week's operations suggest very strongly that neither the financial string gency nor fluctuations in American cotton are factors of sufficient strength to overcome the position caused by the low level of supplies here, Woollens—Owing to the tight ness of mOney and genera] mildness of the weather hitherto, no interest has -been' taken in the: woollen market during' the past
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.