OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13105, 2 May 1908, Page 2

OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

A DEPRESSING OPENING AT THE

•MARCH SERIES. (FROM OXTB. OWN COKBESFONDWT.) LONDON, March 20. Last Tuesday saw a start made of the second series of colonial sales, and readers will have been apprised by oablo of the disastrous opening. Crossbreds went exactly ac I anticipated, but 1 never thought fine combing merinos would slump as they did. The catalogues put out by three selling broken* contained a very miecel- l--lanedus selection, there being only one or two decent straight nooks of good combing wool. As I went round valuing I must say I was considerably disappointed at the poor show, and knowing the temper of the majority of buyers, I saw what it all meant. It was almost like adding msnal't to injury to ccc three such catalogues; bub, of course, selirag brokers, or at least banker* and London colonial agents, did not like the idea of submitting their best wools tffl caw how things were going to dhape. Those who control consignments, and especially bank mamagera, never believed that we should see more than a 5 per cent, drop in merinos, but when they were told tha.fc the fall was a penny on good combing wools, 2d on faulty scourede, and Id to ljd 'on medium and coarse crossbreds, they seemed horror-stricken. A DEPRESSING OPENING. It was plain to be seen/ from the number of buyers in tho varied wool warehouses round valuing, t&ot the usual contingent had turned up for tshe opening, "though it was noteworthy tha-t severitl fcamilar feces from both Brndford and Huddersfield, o& well as the Oontiman-t, wero absent. It, is years since some of «€hem were not present at liho opening, and this can be taken as indicating clearly that they have plenty of wool at home. Punctually at 4 p.m. Buxtxm opened the ball, and with eveTy rnoh of space occupied on© could have expected some-th'i-ng; but aJ'as, it was not forthoominig. Bids came slow and tardily, and seldom was there any etvow of life at all. Bradford lnen were a long way the most in evidence, and had it not been for half a dozen- buyers from that quarter, -things would have bewi fully 10 per cent, worse. The sale fhrongihout dragged hmvily, and it reminded mc very forcibly of the March senes, 1900. I don't ihivk that the foreign section bought a hundred lote the ■whole night, end 'tihe rnital sale was simply a "rott-er." Wlien obmiparal Tri.th t3ro close of itihe last Renes the following chsunges were seen:— . ,

r ■ Cheaper. Surpe-rior merinos ... id'to •Id Avgo. to good Tnenjno ... Id Faulty scoutml merinos... ]id to 2d T'Vme. cToeetxrods .... Id Medium croGsbreds ... Id to l4d Goaroo crcfiwbreds ... Id to l|d Combing elites ... Id ClotMns elipes ... l*d to 2d Odeman street >Uvie vr&ek hae revealetl, some very soft spots, and I "thinik every <y>!onial grower can throw orer- ! boaird tJve idea of there being anr Tβj coyott in wool values for irony mon<bha Ito come. I fail to see wnythiwg tnat i* jrcsTig to preveait prices fn>rrt«r , ©lipping back ririht array to ths- end of tho -oar. These f**nuurkß n-fraly more narhicularly to merinoe, and they vtiVi have to come etill lonrex to h&rmonrse witih the great fail in crossbreds. j "Dry rot las sot in wit-h a vengeance, I and the eonclifeion of trado vritih. mamifscturere is eudh -Hiet contraction is everywhere in cv.idcm<M?. Some irnppirtere have tried this •«-&&k to reaUige their colonial ntrrchaseSj and in. many eke* 3h '■"•-« ivill not cover them. Or« f?irin:(T of TV*«st Virtoiria.n- greaeips ofWpd tlie Fwrond r\iihi we-ro nil " t>M:(rfrt- by a Huddersfield imT>ort<:-T. and weryhodjr ffift cortam }i<? was riTC.ply h'iym<» in his own wools. Eveiry bnle wbb fit for and nltJifHign V.vcirv are eiglit buyers prc»?(n+ from that quarter. striJl tb?y touched not a ba3e. TheKT co far have been veirj' small indood, nctwithptandhifZ both in Inrells' and Schwartzes' safe of yesterdciy 6ome> maipiifieent, Hdh't con.di't'io'ned greose merinos offered. Tlie first e.aic was Htt.k better ih%n a fiaiaco. and evftrythdng came down to tAe miserable lev<?l of Brad- _ fi>rd'u .quoteticn for . It was Wund to be so -when Brrdford the onjy buyer in ttfie field, end in th<e cae© • cf crossbreda, if one man hod not bean to demonsftraiive. values would ha.vo still fallen a further Jd. l%ss Imyer took about 900 bales, ajid ii was a perfect suirprise to hre oom-petitors. The second night t3iero wa&n'i a "m>uff fsom I this same meo, and evadenUy be had I J had enough.

The second da-y'e sitting was a ranch better one, thanks very milch to a vastly improved offering. A basis bad been established to -work upon, and on Wednesday niahit the biiyinff was much more general, both Franco and Germany picking np wool vrith cansideraWo freedom. But .prices -vrero no better, arid that ob the ttots?* feature. Lnst Eiigbt a stall better show of Australian greasy was offered, but there was aaiyttoing" but a satisfactory sale. WiitJi"were fairly awimerons, and the a»oti<»neor tod mc before he vrer.it ixAo tie box that for «?nrfi like marks as Mt.~ Bute, Ercildotme, Donlop, TToorate, and >la'ilers Crook, if",lie could not got nemr laat. sales' prices bid,, tio trood would I

add m> to 14d for greaee combing, bnt ecverai lote were taken in along Troth tbo dothiuc and pieces. Shaw only made 33d tor the ecoured ctrn&mg, clothing 25d, but tiiis notewoontiiy cbp this eeason has been troubled with seeds. Dnnlop comWng was perfectly got up, but only mad© 24d, though the dothing fetched 27$ d, and a grand line it was. EO ie a famons West Victorian oli-p, Imt prices thae are much below lost, the grease combing om'ly making last nnght 15d. The bottom is hardly yet out of the market -when the Home trade pays 3s 7jd for EroiJdoune scoured lam'bs,and they w«re lovely etnff. Whflo on this point it •β-id interest readers to know that such superfine lambs as these, in fact practically all th© fine lambs of West Victoria which are not ■burry are nearly afl taken by the Home trade for producing the very fine quality nnder-gnrmenta for -both wen and "women's weaT. A good many of these ai« taiken by Wm. HoUins end Ck>., Xftd., the well-known spinners β-cd ma.mifacture-.T3 of "ViyeJla," and this week they have tunned the company into a "limited," the share capital being £800,000. I mention this fact just to show what Che certified profits of this firm have been for the past few years, and there is no wonder that they can afford to pay tlhe loig prices for these super cleeji lambs. The following is the list of pmfrte, after charguig all expenses, and including depreciation:— £. 1899 59.900 1900 43.029 1901 29.889 1902 ... ... 24.529 1903 49.090 1904 19.526 1905 43.339 1906 63855 1907 77,896 It is worth knowing by Colonial growers that the makers of all thp&o superfine under-sarmen+n will not buy a bnle of lamV'' -wool thati has to be carbonised, and it can be taken for gran<t«d that the clea-ner they are, the keener will be the com petition. Carbonising destroys all the handling properties, and the "feel" ie of prime importance.

PRONOUNCED TTFAKNESS IN CROSSBREDS. Crossbreds are very weak, nnd it is a ehame to see good, bright, 40'e fleece wools selling at 6Jd t0.63d. Bradford buyers are the onJy parties that are touching them, and I am certain that the majority are wanting very few. To-day we have the best show that, so far, lias been up, but I am certain that growers will feel terribly disappointed when they get to know the prices their clips sell at. Just take a sample clip or tVo offered the first week in the January series, and the same mark «nd exactly the same class <and condition of wool has been, sold thie week:— OLRIG. Jan. Mar. price, price. d. d. Greasy Ist crossbred ... 12 9J Greasy 2nd crossbred ... 12 8 J Greasy 3rd crossbred ... 10 1\ Greasy 4th crossbred ... 10 7 Greasy Ist crossbred' pieces 1\ 5J Greasy orossbred belliSs .._. 6J 5 NIRVANA." Greasy Ist crossbred ... 10| 8 Greasy 2nd crossbred ... 10 * 7\ Greasy crossbred bellies ... 7 5J

Of oouTso, the January series fell off considerably, but I oa-ll this week's prices, compared with the dosing week, when some very cheap lote could bo picked up, something like 2d down. Plenty thought that, Coleraan street •would go above BradfordPs parity, but such is not the case, and a good- 40's top can be made easily at lid. TALES OF. DEPRESSION. I was talking yesterday in the London Docks to a big Germaoi buyer, and he had nothing but a taJo of depression to tell. He said that since last Nothey had done nothing, much machinery was standing, 'and everything in Germany "was bad; Hβ further opined that what they bought today was -wrong next week, and that they could do nothing right. It was quite true the majority -wero over in England, but they wanted very little, and that being so they were more spectators than anything. Such a story, as this does not leave behind a very pleasant flavour, but shows that things in Germany are just about as bad as they are in Bradford. An old American buyer, discussing the eituation across the Atlantic, said that they were loeing heavily on their Australian purchases, and they themselves had a case where they were actually encountering a loss of 1500 dollars on 130 b&Jee of wool! In the case of scoureds (domestic wools) they were losing from 10 to 25 conte. per lb, and wtat had cost them 42 cents was not worth to-day more than 31 cents, and he significantly added "the wool is etill to sell." Sirch accounts ac these axe anything but inspiring, and it nil shows the general tendency of events.