WOOL AND SKINS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21746, 31 March 1936, Page 15

WOOL AND SKINS

CONFIDENCE EXPRESSED IN FUTURE SYDNEY FIRM OPENS BRANCH IN DUNEDIN [THE PRESS Special Service.? WELLINGTON. March SO. Confident of the future for wool and skins in New Zealand, Mr L. E. Cohen, a member of the firm of H» McPhail and Company wool and skin buyers, Sydney, arrived by the Monowai to-day to open a branch fear his firm at Dunedin. A branch was previously in operation and proved so successful that it was decided to make it permanent. Mr Cohen said the last wool season in Australia showed a definite upward trend. In Maxtdi, 1935, wool was averaging Ud per lb, and in February and March this year it was averaging I6i<L Merino wool reached 32Jd, The wool clip this year was worth £50,000,000 compared with £56,000,000 for the previous season. Another good feature was that wool was not held, but was shipped immediately it was bought, and men were working over* t.~ie to get It away. That was very unusual, and was a very favourable sign lor the future. There had also been an increase m the rabbitskin market, and thqce was a possibility that the opossum season, which had not been open for some years, would be open in Queensland for a short time. “The prices a.e like the good old days,” said Mr Cohen. He mentioned that enquiries were being made in Sydney about the feasibility of mixing opossum fur with artificial silk, but what it was proposed to do or make with the mixture he could not say.