ASBURTON WOOL SALES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2549, 21 October 1890, Page 2

ASBURTON WOOL SALES.

TO THE EIIITOB. Sib, —On reading the "Mail" of the 7th insl. I noticed that a meeting of wool-growers had been held a few clays previously for the purpose of deciding on >,tl\e -bojsfc method' c'f disposing of their "Wo«»l this season. « am extremely sorry that I did not know of the ineetirg til |ifter it was over, or I should have attended m order to Add my mite of influence hi the direction of supporting Messrs Thomas, Friedkuder, and Jamoson m the plucky and manly stand they have til;en m duciuing to stand by the wool grownrr of the district and carry out our local wool snles this • season as formerly. 1 regret to hear (whothor true or not 1 cannot say) that an agent is going abjout. among the farmers trying to persuade them to send their wool to the Ghrist- * church sales this season. He need pot .'.pump to me, and I should think that any one who has ever sold wool m Ashburton, assuming him to be a judge of the article,. must allow that the prices we always obtained there were not; to be bettered^ m the colony, and not-always even m Lon don, as the last yeai's transactions will prove. If our merchants were now to sit down quietly at the dictation of two or three Chfistchurch wool buyers, and deprive the surrounding wool growers of i the advantages of a well established local market, then we would be very apt to compare their action to that of Bazaino's surrender of Metz—a disgrace for ever. This, however, is very far from the way m which our spirited brokers intend to aerve their clients, as they have all determined on holding their sales as formerly, and very properly, I think, ignoring the attempt made to deprive us of the benefit of having our wool sold through the brokers by whom we have b«en so faithfully served m former, years, and with whom we are m the habit of doing all our other business. I for one am well pleased with the course our brokers are adopting, because I am more than convinced that Ashburton, taking everything into consideration, is the best market we can take our wools to* more especially as we have a Woollen Factory which ought to be supplied with none other than Ashburton wool, as we have it growing, amongst ourselves m such abundance and of such excellent qualitj| None of us m the. county I hope are no blind as not to understand that the more of our business that can be done m, Ashburton the better it will be for everyone of us, and m place 1 of .allowing our wool sales to fall through now we ought rather to stand shoulder to shoulder, like the guards at Hougomorit, and keep the posii tion we have gained against all and every opposition. , • ' .. I fully endorse what was said at the meeting, by our worthy member, Mr Walker, namely, " That the wools here are good wools, and if the. brokers make up their minds to hold sales m Ashburton they are bound to have buyers attend them," . .;,,.■ ; .-.'■., . < But granted that not a single buyer attends, we have still at our command the very market to which the Chrisichurch buyers would send our wool if they bought it. Certainly we would have to class and press properly ; this, however, could be much easier clone then people are generally aware of. Mr Thomas has assured me that farmers would be allowed to class and press m his store free of charge ; and 1 no doubt the other brokws will grant equal facilities to their clients. As it is impossible for anyone not experienced m these matters to know how to sort wool, so as to give it a proper chance m London, I will, with tie editor's permission, follow this letter with another, abridged from Authentic London documents, explaining the entire operations the wool undergoes from the time it 'is landed m London until it is sold and delivered. I will also describe exactly what farmers ought to do to the'r wool here, should it be found necessary to ship on their own account. I will do more th^n merely tell them how* it ought to be done. If necessary, I will go a few days to Mr Thomas' store and teach them all about it, that is to say if he has no one about himself well posted up m such matters. I am a free laborer to the back bone, you know, and will never grudge giving a helping hand where wool is concerned. Let it be understood that I«m speaking here of small clips only, which it would never do to send separately to London, the reason why will appear m my next letter. As we have enterprising brokers and bankers m Ashburton, what is to hinder us from taking an advance on our wools, meet together at the stores, have it classed into suitable lots and sent to London? The merchants' clerks would attend the classing to weigh and book m presencie of the fanner the number of pounds m each division of his clip. Then follo^r on with other clips m the same manner, until sufficient wool of a given character accrued to enable pressing to start. The proceedings would agree exactly with that followed m a properly managed wool shed, and would result m satisfaction to" everyone concerned. ' • If our wool is sent to Chrisfcehurch for sale, it must bear sixty miles railway freight, and all other charges will be exactly the same as m Ashburton, but will go into the pockets of strangers with whom we have no dealings whatever.' J To mo our duty is perfectly clear, we ought all to stick together, bankers^ merchants and farmers, arid then we would realise the truth of what bolomen meant when he said that a threefold cord is not quickly broken.—lam, etc., D. Oliver. Chelmaford, October 20th, 1890.