WOOL SALE.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20510, 1 April 1932, Page 15

WOOL SALE.

SEASON CLOSES. YESTERDAY'S AUCTION. VALUES BELOW FEBRUARY FIGURES. The fourth Christchurch wool sale of the 1931-32 season was held in the Caledonian Hall yesterday at 9 a.m. There was a full bench of buyers representative of Bradford, Continental, and New Zealand interests, but the gallery, owing to the fact that to this auction not a great deal of importance is attached, was the smallest for the series. The individual catalogues and the order of sale were as follows: — Bales. Dalgety and Co., Ltd. .. 2,378 Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd. .. 5,057 N.Z. Farmers' Co-op. Assn., of Canterbury, Ltd. •• 3 j 690 National Mortgage and Agency Co., of N.Z., Ltd. • • I, 560 . H. Matson and Co. . • 836 N.Z. Loan and Mercantile • Agency Co. .. 604 Total .. .. 14,123 Poor Quality of Offering. The catalogue was not up to the standard of the February auction. A substantial portion of it was back country late shorn clip of merino and halfbred wool. A further large portion of the remainder was made up of wool passed in at earlier sales of the season, or rcclassed lots, while crossbred lines, at the moment out of favour, were numerous. The wool generally speaking -was heavy in condition and entirely lacking in brightness. The- offering was largely a coarso wool one, the weaker demand for that typo throughout the scries no doubt causing a fairly heavy carry-over to this auction. Decline in Values. The sale throughout was steady to limits fixed at levels lower than those ruling at the preceding Christchurch sale, but as far as the grades allowing comparison with Norttt Island auctions were concerned it would appear that the basis of values corresponded with those ruling at the recent sales held in centres there. It should bo stated, too, that the general decline as compared with the February sale in Christchurch was expected yesterday and values received wore fully up to expectations. Competition was quite keen to the limits and a good clearance was made. Ou the last Christchurch sale values were back by per lb for super wools and the average to good serviceable wools of finer quality while for shabbier grades the easing was from id to |d per lb. The coarser wools also suffered and were easier, on the same basis of comparison by }d to -Jd per lb. Shabby crossbred met with scant demand to strictly defined limits and it was only occasional lots which passed 4§d. A very big proportion sold at from 2|d to 3Jd. Pieces sold a little irregularly, but were easier. The Buying Points. The principal buying point was Bradford, which took a greater portion than at any of the proceeding sales this season. A proportion of the finer wools wont to French and German buyers, but Bradford buyers were very keen and dominated the greater part of the market. Continental orders appeared to have been filled to the greatest extent at the earlier sales of the year." Local mills secured a smaller share than at the early sales, but their competition was fairly steady for suitable lots. Local fellmongers secured a greater amount of the crutchings and other suitable lots than at early sales. The Top Prices. Corriedale and halfbred clips shared the honour of top price for the market at ll}d. Nine bales pf Corriedale hogget' sold on account of E. W. B. Bailey (Ataahua) brought that figure, as also did nine bales of halfbred hogget sold on account of W. Giddings (Ashburton). At the February sale halfbred reached and Corriedale ll}d. The top price for Corriedale at the January sale was 12Jd. The best merino figure was lOd secured for eight bales sold on account of W. J. Allan (Ruapuna). The top price for three-quarterbred was 8} secured for 12 bales of ewe wool sold on account of R. W. Morrow (Mayfield). The top price for crossbred was s|d secured for five bales sold on account of G.' Campbell (Carew). At the last sale crossbred made to 7^d. The best price for bellies was 6d paid for eleven bales of halfbred sold on account of S. E. and L. L. Richards, of Mt. Hutt, Mcthven. The top price for pieces was 7|d. The Passings. The passings totalled 1434 bales—just over 10 per cent. RANGE OF VALUES. The range of values, giving a comparison with last sale, was as follows: February 25th, March 31st, 1932. 1932. d. d. d. d. Merino — Ex super .. Super .. 8} to 9| 7* to 94/ Medium .. 6} to 8 6 to 7} Inferior .. 5 to 6* "4J to 5J •Corriedale — Ex super .. —to Hi —to 11} Super .. 9} to 10} 9 to 10 Medium .. 8 to 9 7 to 8*: Inferior .. 5} to 1\ 5 to 64. Fine Halfbred — Ex super .. —to 11J —to 11} Super .. 9} to 105 9 to 10 Medium .. 8} to 9 7} to 8| Inferior .. 6 to 7f 5} to 7 Medium Halfbred— Super .. 8| to 9| 8} to 9} Medium .. 7J to 84 7 to 8 Inferior .. 5 to 7 44 to '6J Coarse Halfbred — Super .. 7} to 8} 6} to 74: Medium .. 6 to 7 5} to 64 i Inferior .. 44 to 5f 3£ to 4f Fine Crossbred — - - Super .. 6 to 7| 4} to sj: Medium .. 4} to 5| 34 to 4} Inferior .. 3} to 4 2} to 3} Medium Crossbred — Super .. 4| to 54, 4 to 5 Medium .. 34 to 44 3 to 3| Inferior ... 24 to 3} 2 to 2| i Pieces — Good .. 64 to 9| 6 to 7} Inferior .. 2| to 6 2 to 5 Bellies — . Good .. 4f to 6} 4 to 6 Infericr .. 24 to 44 2} to -3| Crutchings— Med. *to good 2, to 4 2 to 3J Inferior .. 1 to 1} 1 to 14 : Locks — , i Best -. 11 to 2| 15 to .3}| •Inf. to mod. 1 to 1} |to 1J