Vi.—: Eloquence of the Prices.

I call attention to the following prices. Cotton textiles, unbleached, dyed, or printed, were rated for export at 1s. 7d. to 1s. 101/2. per lb; linen textiles from 1s. 3d. to 3s. 3d. These cotton and linen fabrics, when made up into shirts, collars, and manufactured goods, were rated at 32s. 5d., the difference being the price of the taste and skill of the maker, and the labour of the men and women who executed his design.

The export price of silks was in 1903, plain silk, 27s. 3d. a yard; figured or broché, 32s.; mixtures of silk and cotton, 14s. 3d. plain and 16s. 4d. figured. Silk dresses came at £15 11s. 6d; the difference in price is in the style, and the greater part of this difference between cost of material and cost of the finished garment goes in wages.