SELLING THE CLIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 281, 27 November 1925, Page 8

SELLING THE CLIP.

SHEEPMEN'S THRILL. WATCHING THE BUYERS BARK. COSMOPOLITAN BENCH. This time last year the sheep man j was throwing his hat in the air.'promising the "missus" a new dress, and .shouting for am'oiie who happened to he in the baT. Notoriously a hard man to please, and worse than the Scots for minimising good fortune and emphasising the bad, the farmer was very nearly , jubilant. Wool went eky-high twelve months ago, and the men that run the runs experienced some of the affluent sense of well-being that so often pervades the anatomy of the dairy farmers, with their regular monthly cheques for butterfat at what a few years ago would be considered luxury prices. How Old England manages to keep buying our goods at such high prices is a mystery, but if you have anything to sell you do not bother much about the I buyer so long as he has the money to 1 pay for his fancy. Auckland is more of a dairy farm than a sheep run, so it is only natural that we should hear more about the cow than the smaller ruminant, and be more interested in the difference between the price of the Danish butter and our own than in the difference between Australia's soft Merinos and our own rougher crossbreds. And moreover the wool question looms large but once a year, whereas the matter of butter is always with us, and every rise and fall I has a corresponding reflux here in Auckland—though the speed of the j response 13 not always the same, butter reversing the laws of gravity, and proving that it is easier- to ascend than to fall. Order of Preference. We are essentially a dairying people in the Auckland Province. Among the 1 "dyed in the wool" sheepmen the "cow ' coekie" is rather looked down upon, i Readers of .a certain popular arid highly I melodramatic set of books dealing with J the supermen who condescend to tend herds in the Golden West between whiles o potting bad men and making love to lovely damsels in distress, will know j that in certain parts of the States the I cattlemen look down on the sheepmen, J and will even use gunpowder to get him I out of the district. But the order of i precedence is reversed in real sheep I country such as parts of New Zealand. Although the old term "squatter" seems to be falling into desuetude the idea remains, and even the very small sheepmen, with only a few hundreds of sheep, and a small cart-load of bales shares in some of the reflected glory. Beinsr so much interested in the butterfat cheques Aucklanders are apt to forget that the difference in a penny or so a pound in the price of wool means all the difference between a good year and an indifferent one for New Zealand. We have over 23,000,000 sheep in New Zealand. That is a very moderate flock compared with Australia's 78.500,000. and it is a little under I tlie number of sheep in the United i Kingdom, where they run about 24.000.-----000. Sheep men know all about it of course, but the townite is surprised when he first learns that crowded Britain still lias more sheep than New Zealand with its great runs, some of which ■measure themselves not by the acre, but the square mile. Still this 23.000.000 sheep of ours are one of our principal assets, and if the wool does not find a trood market shopkeepers may look out for dull times. This morning at the Town Hall, the growers found out whether, they had I been toiling since last wool season for a pittance or whether they would be able to "spring a new car." A Bid and a Bark. It was a lively scene in the concert chamber. The mere public was admitted only to the upper gallery, and on tht* walls were large placards with the omii. ous word "Silence!" It might be a good idea to introduce at a concert where some of the onlookers keep up an obligato of conversation, but at a wool sale! Pandemonium must bo a quiet spot compared with it. The real business takes place on the ground floor. The auctioneer in his shirt sleeves is ensconed behind a desk or rostrum with some of the bottom boards kicked off. On either side of him stand two worried clerks whose business it is to enter the prices and buyers. There must be some sort of wool sale shorthand, for the ordinary long-hander would be left several pages behind by the voluble auctioneer, who rattler, -off the lots with machine-gun rapidity. There is none of the leisurely leaning over the rail and expatiating on the merits of the sofa, or the whatnot, or the Wilton, holding the bidders in exasperating suspense while the man with the hammer works up enthusiasm and competition. "Lot 890,"' says the auctioneer. Everyone in the room knows it to a hair, so there is no delay. , Someone snaps out eleven. ■ "One!" "Half!" "Three!" are fired at him from three separate parts of the buyers' dais, and they mean farthings. To the outsider it sounds exactly like a bark each time an exciting bid is hurled across the room. The impressive bidder jumps up and accompanies his "Half" or "Three" with an accusing finger fixing the auctioneer, as much as to say "Don't dare to say I was not the last bidder. ,. When three or four men bark and jump up and point at the same time, the auctioneer has a harder time than the judge at Ellerslie with a near dead-heat, but he seems to be able to guess the answer, and even disputes seem turned off with a jest, very often cracked by the bidder who does not get , the coveted lot. A Cosmopolitan Bench. These bidders arc seated facing the auctioneer, and they occupy desks rising one tier behind the- other. This year there is a specially large "bench" of buyers as it is called, and fifty of them filled the dais this morning, making an imposing array with their catalogues, papers, and their pencils, not to mention the tortoiesshell glasses of some of the overseas men. .British, Continental, American, Japanese —it was one of the most cosmopolitan benches we have seen , in Auckland. ! Large crowd of slow-moving sheepmen up in the gallery, with catalogue in hand anxiously watched the fnte of their clips, which lay in the hands of the potentates from Jsradford, Berlin, Paris, Xew York. I Tokyo, or some other distant point of the world. It was a moving scene, but unfortunately for the sheepmen it was too ■ orderly. There was none of the wild ' rush for lots; none of that tumbling over one another that means big prices. "Not such a joyous scene as this time last year,* , said a ruddy squatter to the "Star" reporter, and that just about . sums up the general view of the men in Jthe top gallery. Still there was nothing

to get downhearted about. Plenty of the lots were passed in, so there are some people who have every faith, that the market will rise. Range of Prices. The following is the range or prices at the time of our going to press compared with the corresponding prices obtained at the December 5 sale last year

am and March of this year:— Xov. Dec. 1023. 1024. d. d. d. d. March. 1025. d. a. Corriedale— 1" -18 — Fine Half-bred — Super 1SJ-20 — Average ... 10 -17* — Fine Crossbred — Super .... 13 -17* 28-29} Average ... 14*-1S 24-2(5 .Inferior ... 111-121 22-24 Medium Crossbred— Super 134-15 2.1-27 Average ... 12 -13 23-24 Inferior ... SJ-11* 20-22 Coarse Crossbred — Super 13 -14* 23-25 Average ... 12 -13 21-23 Inferior ... 10 -11 20-21 tow Crossbred — Average ... 11-12* — Inferior ... S -11 — Lambs—Medium Selection. Good '. 13 -144, — Medium 12J-13 — Seedy and inf. 7*-9i — 'Hoggets— Fine 15 -16? 20-31 Medium .. 12 -143 26-2S Coarse 12-13 24-25 Bellies and Pieces— F'ine Crossbred — Average .. 10 -12* — 10-201 17-1S 12-13* 17-1S* 16-17* 12-13 10-18 15-16 8-12 12-14 11-12 16-18* 5 -15 7J-13 Crossbred— Good .... 10J-11 i — Medium .. 7-0 14-16 Crutchings— •Med.'-to good 6 - S* 14-16 Inf to seedy 3i- 5i 11-13 Locks — Crossbred . 5 - 7i 0-12