LONDON WOOL SALES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1027, 17 January 1911, Page 8

LONDON WOOL SALES.

THE 1 FINAL VERDICT OF COLEMAN STREET, (Prom Our Special Correspondent.! Bradford, December 9, 1910. Coleman Street lias closed its doors for the last time this, year upon wool buyers, and we are now ablo to see where things stand.. Everybody seemed glad at the finish, for it has been ■> somewhat dawdling scries owing to the intervention of bad weather. However, everything comes to the man who waits, and I am pleased a littlo respite now confronts us, and by the dawir of the January series, daylight should be better. . I do not know that much alteration took placo during the closing days of tho series. The catalogues naturally got a little more scrappy, and some fair quantities of odds and ends were submitted. The Continental section, of-the trado remained at the pickets, if I. may. use that sporting term, to the «nd. and bin for tho excellent work which . they did I am certain prices would have suffered a littlo more than they. did. The fact is, tho character of the offerings suited that section, of the trade,, consequently they bought freely, as the final returns clearly show. When all is said and done, both French and German'. buyers have been keen .for wools showing quality. France especially, leaves big, strong wools alone, good 64's to. 70*s material being more, in their'favour. There is no doubt that if a man wauts a fine small yarn, he must have.a corresponding quality of wool, otherwise he will never get what is called length in the thread. Vine Queensland and New South Wales wools suit their purpose better than the produce from South Australia, although tho finer quality material fronj the latter ■State lias, certainly, been well ■ supported by that section'during' the ..recent series. The Hume -. .trado continued a steady buyer, although the quantity lifted has been somewhat smaller than at tho last few series. Yorkshire topinakers. I know for a positive fact are landing some heavy weights of direct .bought'-'wools,..conse-quently they hlive simply purchased, in Coleman fjtreet. to cover their urgent requirements. Competition during tlie closing days of tlje'series-was well maintained, but tho decline, noted at tho end of the first week continued to the finish/ TW net total available - amounted to (lljout 120,0.00, bales. Of these. 112,000 bales, have' been'sold; 52,0(10 bales for -Home consumption,--and 00,000- bales going , to the Continent, leaving 8000 bales to be carried forward to the next' series. Messrs. 11. Schwartze and Co. say America bought "next to nothing," but Messrs. H.,'Dawson and Co. give them, credit for. taking 1200 bales, though no other selling broker credits America -with buying that quantity, Messrs. C. Balme and Co. asserting that "the American trade -was again practically out: of the market." Tho following are the changes when compared with -the close of the- previous series:— AUSTRALASIAN WOOL. , Grease merino,' .superior, - par to M. cheaper; grease merino, average to good, id. to :Id. cheaper; grease merino, poor, condition, id. to Id. cheaper; greaso merino, infei'ioi, pioccs and locks, Id. cheaper; scoured merino, superior, Id. to Id. cheaper; scoured merino, average to good, Id. to Hd. cheaper; scoured merino, inferior, Id. to lid. cheaper; scoured merino,'faulty pieces and locks, id. cheaper; grease lambs* wool, medium,' Id. dearer; greaso lambs' wool, inferior, par to id." dearer; grease crossbred, fine, 1(1. to .Id. dearer; grease crossbred,, mediiim, Id. dearer'; greaso croSsbred, coarse, superior, id. dearer; grease crossbred, coarse, ordinary, par to Id.; grease crossbred, inferior pieces and locks, par;,greaf» cross; bred lambs. Id. dearer; scoured crossbredj fine, Id. dearer; scoured . crossbred, medium and coarse, Id. (o Id. dcarer;'sliped crossbred, fine, M.' dearor; .sliped crossbred, medium,, id.' to Id. dearer; sliped crossbred, coarse, Id. dearer. ' SOUTH AFRICAN WOOL. ' Show white, super, par to-id., cheaper; snow white, medium, Id. cheaper; snow white, inferior, Id. cheaper; grease, combing, light, .Jd. cheaper;-grease, combing, heavy, Id. cheaper; grease, clothing, light; Id.'cheaper; grease, clothing, heavy, Jd. to ,jd. cheaper. It will 1m seen from) tho above that average to good-merinos-arc quoted down id. to Id. per db.,'and . no doubt this is | correct. To my mind this is tho disappointing feature of the recent series. Lon-

don is not now providing a big weight of really fine superior wools, and it bas been tho absence of these which has caused a few clips to sell at practically unebnnged rates. The rank and file of the wools have certainly had to encounter the dccline before-mentioned, and, owing to the comparative large supplies of these medium clips, I cannot see any good reason for expecting this class of raw material to appreciate. Taking the series as a whole, they have passed off well, and in view of how Australian selling centres have gone I think no section of the tfado has reason to find fault.