LONDON TRADE REVIEW

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 281, 27 November 1922, Page 5

LONDON TRADE REVIEW

BUTTER MARKET OVERSUPPLIED. LOWER PRICES LIKELY WOOL POSITION SOUIiP. ALL CLASSES GETTING SCARCE. (By C»M«. — Press Association.—C-pj-righi.) (Received 10 a.ui.j LONDON. November 26. Anticipation that the return of the Conservative party to power would brighten things on the Stock E_..honghas not been realised nnd the weeK has been dreary and uninteresting. Most , of the markets are very dull'and some gilt edged stocks, notably the longer dated national war bond., eased in price, owing to the recent persistent stream of buying having come to a , standstill, but this is regarded as only temporary. As it is apparent that tho I recovery of trade is very*, low there is not much likelihood of any great quantity of money being used to finance com- j mercial undertakings. The bright spot in the market (s colonial securities, all . the prices of which are maintained, and I of Argentine and Brazilian Kails. ' which are strong in expectation of higher dividends. The position of the wool trade, as indicated by the opening of the London Bales, is regarded as satisfactory, especially the fact that there has been no serious decline in merinos. This is Accepted as evidence of tho general soundness of the situation. Another satisfactory feature is the strong American de- j mniid for medium crossbred-, which is regarded as due to _. desire to popularise crossbred fabric* for suits. For a long time affort. have been made here to induce tailors to use crossbred cloths without much success. Now that America is Showing the way. it is hoped that Knsllsh tailors will follow, and so reduce the disparity which still exists between jthc prices of merinos and crossbred*. MERINO WOOL SCARCITY. Oil this subject, Mr Arthur 11. C'oldfinch, London manager of tho Britten Australian Wool Realisation A-socln- . tion, says it is an entirely superficial j view of the case to suppose that merino | wool(.ro\vers are ..neliitng only by the ' scarcity of their article due to a partlcu- [ lar fashion, and' that their position j might he endangered through consumers. , disgusted at high nrices, turning to the abundant supnlics of coarser wool. - - c | are pas-sing out of that state of aflalr. and it has long been evident that ihe condition, in 1933 are going to be to- | tally different. The dominating fact is | not that fine wools are scarce, but that . all classes of wool are going to be ac.arce. The statistical position is far too strong to permit any relapse In pricos. The only point in which lie could agree with the speech of Mr. Caird, chairman of the Australian Mercantile Co.. at the annual meeting of the company on Friday last, was the doubt he expressed as to whether the shareholders in the British Australian \\ 00l [Realisation Association would decide in favour of the continuation of the association. Sir Arthur inclines to the belie! that the proposals will be rejected, not on their merit*, but because natural apathy exists among farmers everywhere*. This is not- unnatural: great numbers of farmers think the early distribution of £6.000.000 to £9,000.000 more attractive than any expectation ot future benefit*. Personally Sir Arthur would Hot be at all disappointed if the proposals were defeated, though lie | thinks the farmers would make a great mistake if they vote in the *•£<£.-. I Banks and brokering houses would find that if the proposals be carried none ol the existing organisations would sutler any harm. . . Hcavv supplies of butter arc in sight. the quantity afloat from Australia, NewZealand, and the Argentine totalling 601 .15 bo**s. lt-.addi.ion. owing to decreased C«htk*_-it_l demand, heavy sup plies of Ofefrh are coming here, filling all the nsS '" our northern markets. Argentine supplies are* increasing great , lv. and whereas last year about 20 per cent of the Argentine production was i.Ui by France. Belgium and Holland. vweTre getting all Argentine's exports. _5 the countries nnmed arc now seW Supporting. It is evident that our supplies exceed the present rate of consumption, and prices must be reduced in order to stimulate the demand. _fcistraliaii eggs are finding a rather unsatisfactory market. Ten days ago they realised" about 25/, and now are vcrv slow sale at about. 20/ to 23/, the ,i_d__- being largely due to neavy nflJfc of Argentine, the best of which arc lining at about 17/, others 10/. The outstanding feature of the metal markets is the decline of spelter. Iho recent high nrices brought American sellers on the market, and /ley sold about 10,000 ton* for forward shipment, and may offer more. If so. nrices will go lower, but the .tatistical position remains sound. It is said that producers arc now holding off in anticipation of a re_ove.v.— (A. and N.Z. Cable.)

MAKING UP THE LEEWAY.

INVASION OP MARKETS

LONDON. November '26. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. ! Stanley Baldwin, speaking.at Swansea,; .aid he believed they might hope to see ' the oresent. improvement in frndc continue" next year. They bad a lot ot icewav to make up, but no country In the world was In a better position to invade and capture markets in the British Dominions, South America, India, and the Far East. But first they must sec stabilised currencies once more in Kurope. So long n- no settlement was reached regarding reparations tiie exchanges would fluctuate. Personally lie was going to do everything possible to reduce taxation. Sir Joseph Cook. -|>eakiii_: at a banquet given by the British Motoi' Cycle Manufacturers' Association in connection with the Olymnia Show, stated that j Australia was the 'largest purchaser of ' British goods and sugjested flint British manufacturers should cultivate Empire trade rather than trade with foreign countries. There was money in the j Empire.—(A. and N,Z. Cable.)