WOOL MARKET.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20415, 9 December 1931, Page 12

WOOL MARKET.

I—'1 —' WELLINGTON SALE. FINE GRADES IN DEMAND. [THE PEE S3 Special Service.] WELLINGTON, December 8. Of the first Wellington wool sale of the season; held to-day, it must be said that it was a disappointment to those who had expected anything better in the way of prices or clearances than was the case at Auckland or Napier. A total of 23,270 bales had been catalogued, but heavy eleventh hour withdrawals reduced the offering to approximately 21,200 bales, of which it is estimated about 13,000 odd were sold. There was a full bench of buyers, representative of all sections of the trade, and a large gallery of onlookers, including many farmers, who were frankly disappointed with the sale. Until the sale was fully one-third through bidding was spasmodic and passings monotonously frequent. It was very noticeable that the finer wools were well sought after, with keen bidding especially from the Continent, America, and local mills, but inferior sorts and shabby and discoloured held over wools were neglected. Later tne sale improved visibly, competition being well spread. Bradford took most of the coarser wools sold, while France _ and Germany were keen buyers of pieces and crutchings. Fine wools were m short supply, and the keen competition of local mills and probably Australia helped the market considerably m these lines. . It was noted that buyers were working on very rigid limits and were very discriminating in their purchases, old wools be.ing consistently rejected in favour of new and brighter sorts. During the latter part of the sale there was a slightly better tone, with fewer passings. . ; ■ - " Interviewed after the sale, Mr A. a. Mabin, chairman of the New Zealand Woolf>rokers' Association said that in view of what had happened at Auckland and Napier to-day's sale was better than bad been expected by the trade A goodly .quantity of halfbrcd hac been offered, and it was apparent thai Dominion mills had been ou short sup plies, for in strong competition witl Yorkshire, French, and German buyer! they had 'pushed prices up above lasl December's Wellington rates to the ex tent of l}d to a lb. A consider able amount had been sold at from 7c, to 9id. Unfortunately there was a very small supply of super crossbreds and these were taken keenly by Amer ica and Japan, and possibly also bj Australia. They sold at full rates some thing like 3d'to Id better than a yem ago. Hogget wools were in strong de mand, best sorts being Id better anc lower counts id to -id better than lasl December's rates. Bellies, pieces, ant crutchings were bought by France anc Geinany at comparatively good prices What little merino was offered was snapped up by Dominion nijlls, at ai average of 9Jd.Regarding old wools, Mr Mabin remarked that some showed no depreciation in quality and sold at rates almost equal to those obtained for new clips. Other lotsj however, looked very unattractive, and buyers naturally were not taking them at anything like the rates for new wools, and they sold at o. depreciation of Id to lid, and sonietim'es more. The sooner old wools 1 were disposed of the sooner'would crossbreds come into their own again. There might he now, roughly, 100,000 oilt] bales of old wool still in New Zealand. JTlie range of prices was as follows:

CHRISTCHURCH SALE. FRIDAY'S OFFERING. Tlie first- sale of this season's Christchurch series will be held in the Caledonian Hall on Friday, commencing at 2 p.m. The catalogue will comprise slightly over 21,000 bales, the allocation for the sale having been 25,000 bales. The following is the order of sale: ,1. New Zealand Farmers' Co-opera-tive, Association. Ltd. - 2. National Mortgage and Agency Company, Ltd. 3. H. Matson and Company. 4. Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd. 5. Dalgety nnd Company, Ltd. <i. .New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd. The wool to be submitted is well grown, but heavier in condition. The dry weather has been responsible for more yolk, and a proportion of the clip is carrying more seed than, usual. For a first of season offering the catalogue is a fair quality one, although some .carried over wool i s included. Tho bulk of the better"* class half bred and Corricdale clips come forward as a rule at the second sale, biit Friday's catalogue will, include some excellent clips of this class.

April 17th Dec. 8th, .1931 1931. : : . H. fl. d. d.| Merino, 64-70, 60-64 — Average .. ® — 7 A to 91' Inferior ' ... — 6 to ■7 Corriedale — Average, ., ; .. 7 •} to s.i •71 to Sf Inferior .. — 43- to 6'2 Fine Halfbred, 5G-58 — / , Ayerage .. 7 to 8 .to H, Inferior . . 5j- to 7 6 to 71 Medium Halfbred, 50-50-Super .. 9i to 10 — ■ 84; Average .. 6$ to 8t 7 to Inferior .. 5 to 6 A a to OA Extra Fine Crossbred. 48-50-Super S to 9 62 to 71 Average .. 6J to 73 5 J to 61. Inferior .. 41 to 6i 3J to 5 , Fine. Crossbred, 46-48 — > Super . . 7'} to H to 7 • Average . . 6i to '71, 5i to 6 : • Inferior . .4£ to 6 3 to 4J; Medium. Crossbred, 44-46 Super .. 8 to 9 6 to 6*' Average 6 to Inferior 41 to 7Sn to si 2 J .'to '•4i. Coarse Crossbred, 40-44 — 5i to Super , _ >• . 8: to n 6 Average .'. 5| to 7 4 to ". 5 v Inferior .! 41 to 51 2. to; 35; LpW Crossbred, ' 36-40 — ■ Super . • 8 to <1 4- to Average .. 5$ to 7J 5 3| Inferior .. 4 to 5 2 to Hoggets — 5J to 81 48-50 .. 7 to 9* Fine 46-48 .. 6J to 85 4J to 7i Medium 44-46 6:i to 8 31 to '51 Coarse 40-44 51 to 7\ 3} to 5 Lambs — Down 50-56 .. 8 to 10-J — Fine 46-50 .. 7 to 91 — Seedy and in51 ferior .. 21 to — Bellies and Pieces — Halfbred, good OJ to super .. — 5 to Halfbred, low 41 to medium — 3 to Crossbred, good * to super . 41 to 61 4 to 51 Crossbred, low to ' medium 2$ to 4i 2 to 31 Crutehings— Medium to good .. 4 to 5i 3J to 4:1 Locks— Crossbred .. 2 to 21 1 to "