THE WOOL MARKET.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12933, 12 October 1907, Page 11

THE WOOL MARKET.

AUSTRALIAN NOTES. Tho past week has Wn one of great activity and importance in the wool trade "says the Melbourne "Argus" of the 3rd inst.) Tho advance in values which has taken place in London has been confirmed in Adelaide and Sydney. The regular Australasian Belling season was inaugurated in Adelaide on the 26th ult., when 21,000 bales were submitted to the largest attendance of buyer* ever ecen at tho opening sale in that centre. Comoetition was general and animated, aU wools being well competed for, brokers practically effecting a total clearance of their catalogues, -which were composed almost exclusively of merino wool, for which rrkes were from lid to ljd per lb i Higher thmi at the corresponding eale3 or" last jvar. Aj is generally tlw case, tho maximum advance was obtained for the best -wools. \ Immediately the Adelaide eales were over most of the buyers went straight on to Sydney, where largo and representative* catalogues are being submitted this week. On Monday, tho 7th inst., the centre of operations will bo shifte-rl to Melbourne, when the season will be onvned under tho mo3t .'arou'.ablo conditions for growers and veiling brokers v n^ h navo prevailed for a very long time. Practically every nVHI "in the world will be represented at the Melbourne sales on Monday next. Buyers are not sent here to'look on, nnd* it is doubtful whether ?uch extensive orders at liboial limits iave previously been held at the eom■wicoment of "any selling season. If 'hero i<? a shrinkage of supplies from \nstrala?ia there will certainly be a decrease m the world's output of wool, or the clips from both the United of America and the Argentine »how a fall : ng off as compared with last venr. We have of late frequently referred to the steady decline in the I"cks of the old world, and w* feel sure that we can express the opinion that, if trade continues good, nnd there is every probability that euch ill be the case, tho world's supnly of wool will hardly be sufficient for -emtirrmentes. The whole position is as we have said beforo. greatly in favour of producers; ■rtill, they must remember that any further advance in values is not desirable —extreme prices for wool will only lend to more nnd moro .substitution. l*relent values ar© high enough to make tfool-growing a vory profitable industry, and if a boom can" be averted there is every probability that our staple product will remain at a high level of values for some years. The course for growers to pursue is to sell while the demand is, as it were, hot, and not be led away, as many of them iroro in 1899. During that memorable season extreme prices were frequently refiieed at tho colonial sales, tho wool withdrawn, and shipped to London, whero it hb» bold at from £tt to £8 per bale below prices refused on thie side. We <io not for one moment think that there will be any serious collapse on thin occasion, but competition for wool at tho present t jme is «o keen that producers would be most unwise to in my way hamper the eaie of their wool by placing hard and fast reserves on a single lot. Tlie advance in the value of raw wool, which has manifested itself during the papt week, was evidently forecasted in Bradford and other manufacturing centres, for quotations for nerino tops have not varied , for threo weeks past, while crossbred sort* have improved but Id per lb. The attendance of buyers at the Melbourne salee promises to bo so large that the seating accommodation at the lljalto is ins'imciont to allow of the buyer* of large and small "star' lots operating in tho cue room, so that in future the selling of the big nnd "star' lots will go on eimultaneoitsly in different rooms, a system which has bees in operation in other ©entres for 6ome time, and Ins been proved to work satisfactorily. Growers need not fear that competition for any lot will be lessened by this alteration, for on no oocueion have tho senior buyers bid personally for "star" lot*; they value the wool and hand their limite to their assistants. Aβ regards tho quantity of wool to tx> submitted weekly in Victoria, the expansion of the wool business jn this oitate warrants an increase from 23,000 (last year's limit) to 28,000 bajes in Mellwurne, and that amount is likely to bo mutually agreed upon, while it w possible that tho weekly limit in Ocelong will be increased to 10,000 bales.

Our Ashburton correspondent writes: —Cable advicee of the rises in the raluo of wheat on tlio London niarkpt