TRADE REVIEW

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 81, 16 January 1928, Page 5

TRADE REVIEW

PROSPECTS FOR V-/00L. THE QUESTION OF TYPE. BRADFORD REQUIREMENTS. (Per Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, January 14.

The Stock Exchange opened the year quietly so far as the gilt-edged market is concerned, the chief interest centreing in what measure of success attended the conversion of portion of the Government loan. This closed! the on Wednesday, but the result will not be announced' till January 18. It is- believed, the result was fairly satisfactory and this should have a good effect. The announcement yesterday of the new India loan of £7,500,000 ait U, issued at 91£, came as a surprise, but had little effect on prices, except of the older India stocks, which showed sharp falls. There is talk of a South Australian loan coming shortly, but it is not expected till the India loan is out of the way. In view of the news received from Australia that the apple crops' in all Australian States will probably be abundant, importers are not very sanguine about realising high prices throughout the season, but as one leading firms points out in a circular: "Australian fruit should! not meet much competition, as the American crop is less than half the normal one and there seems little prospect of any American apples being on the market when the first Australians arrive. If there are any apples then available in'the United States, we feel certain the demand for them will be sufficient to justify keeping them for local consumption. There is more money in America than in England, and when it comes to a question of who will pay the higher price, the American will always win. At present very few American apples are being shipped, as our prices are not equal to those realised in the American markets. There is not likely to be any competition from English or Continental apples, as these were generally inferior and had to be sold as quickly as possible,. Everything therefore seems to point to satisfactory results for the first Australian shipments, but against this must be set the generally poor demand for all classes of fruit now noticeable, and shippers have lost heavily." At the annual nieeting of the British Wool Federation at Bradford, Hr William Hunter (the president) said that recent criticism by Australian-growers of the Bradford importers' attitude toward some types of wool produced in Australia was ill-founded and entirely unwarranted. Members of the British Wood Federation advisedly criticised the change which took place in the character of the New Zealand clip after 1921. At that time there was a large accumulation of New Zealand wool of Lincoln character, for which there was a very limited outlet, and many New Zealand growers introduced the Romney strain in their flocks in order to produce wool of a character which was then in greater demand for hosiery purposes. To-day New Zealand growers are expressing gratitude to the wool users for pointing out the folly of their ways. The clip is rapidly being improved, and wider uses are being found for it. Twenty years' ago Cape wool was regarded only as a by-product suitable for certain inferior classes of goods, but they could testify to the great improvement that has taken place in recent years. There was a demand for wool to produce light fabrics, and if that were not forthcoming from Australia, the requirements of the trade would have to be satisfied elsewhere. Their most serious criticism of Australian wool was that it was becoming tippy. The fibre was not of the same diameter from the flesh end to the tip of the staple. In view of the grants made by Australian growers and brokers toward establishment, there was no reason why the difficulties in connection with Australian wool should not be. eliminated 1 and an improved standard adopted by those* who had the interests of the wool-using community at heart.

Some idea of the marvel lons growth of the Australian wine trade' may lie gathered from the annual returns, just issued. These show that imports in 1927 were more than four times greater tha.n in 1925. Last year's imports were nearly 4,250,000 gallons, out of total imports from all countries of 18,500,000. Portugal, with 6,500,000, was the only country to exceed Australia, which, for the first time, heat France, whence 3,183,000 gallons wore imported. The quantity of Australian wine entered for home consumption also showed an enormous increase, heing 2,305,000 gallons in 1927, whereas Portuguese showed a decrease of nearly 1,000.000 gallons.