FARMING & COMMERCIAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3034, 22 March 1917, Page 8

FARMING & COMMERCIAL

\ NEWS AND NOTES.

LONDON WOOL SALES

—— . GOVERNMENT ACTION DISTURBED CONFIDENCE (From Our Spccial Correspondent.) ■ London, January 18. The first series of colonial sales finished last Tuesday, and everybody was glad that tlie ond had como. It must ' ibe said tho now yoar has shown that ' the position of tho merino offering is a 'vast contrast to what it was in Decombor, and if there aro no'better times in fetore tho colonial wool trade looks like ...taking a downward 6tep. It goes without spying, that things have been very miioh disturbed, thero being no section . -of the trade that seems to know exactly ■'rwhore it stands. Of this is directly traceable to Government interference, what ono plain Yorkshiroman styled as moddling with things witM which thoy had no business', but that is hardly compatible with present circumstances. However, ,tho fact is patent to all that values liavo received a. sharp i setback, and instead of oven a firm market we have to record a n;oak and iinca.t- ---• isfactoiy finish. All Inst "week things seemed to go from bad to worso. A few seem to think that tho position. of shafty straight combing wool is sound and good, bjit that is not the view- of tho writer, and'if wo were permitted (o e ivo full facts wo could very soon 6et beforo the Tender particulars which -irould show how weak tho market .was. It is quite truo that good ■ shafty clip Australian merinos aro still selling at 2s. sd. to 2s. 9d., but ono has only, to consider what these wools have made either in Docember or at "tho beginning of the sorios, to realise the setback that has occurred. Weakness Develops in Merinos. Whon viewed from a . selling standpoint, the past week bas Been disappointing, and tho finish saw values at tho lowest point. It is tho writer's firm conviction that tlifc whole of the voTy sensible., advanco of December has been more than lost, particularly upon -wools of a faulty nature. In fact, towards tho end of tho December series medium and faulty scoureds lost part of thd ground gained oa'rly on, but this series things have got gradually worse until at the finish they showed a decline of anywhere from w. to A 6d. per lb., and sometimes more. To find oven average scoureds selling in December around ■3s. 6d. at ftfl s finish not even commanding a bid of Bs. shows moro weakness than even the most pessimistic oyer ex'pected, and.;in ,tliat sense tho clo's9 was very disappointing. The fact of the ; ; matter is that for anything but tho hest wools, buyers seemed to have uo desire' to bid, not knowing whether the market will get worse or firm up again. Theie are sound arguments'to be used, in either direction. If the disposal of the old English clip is anything to go . by, Vsvtarything would indicate some .recovery, but at present, we have to faco tho fact that things aro decidedly weak, . and medium and faulty wools have gone back more thau anyono ever thought ■possible. The best feature of the series has Tieen the jiealthy call for good shafty topmak,ing w0015..,W0-expected on tlie opening day,to-see.some very good wools cata-. logued, and in this respect the trade has not been disappointed. . Both New South ..' Wales, Queensland,. South Australia, and -West /Australia have all alike sent to .the market some, most useful clips, but . after .the trade's most urgent wants were satisfied, buyoTS settled down to operate on a distinctly . lower • basis, and even

these wools have lost ground to tho extent of 7\- to 10 per. cent. Tliis of. itself is a most 6ignifi.cant''fcature, and particularly m view _ot tho Government commandeering rcools consigned for salo on growers' account. Thoro certainly have been catalogued some splendid clips, wools well suited to tho requirements of tho Homo trade, and tho fact of Franc© purchasing well on towards 3000 bales shows that our Ally is manifesting a creator intorest than 6inco the outbreak of war. We are in a position to'say that more combine machinery is boin(j sot to work in l'rance, and her purchases this year should be on a moro liberal scale than sinco the outbreak of hostjlities. Still, to find good, shafty greasy merino combing deolino as much as it has, shows to some extent partially lost confidence in the prcsont position of values, and tho series' close 16 distinctly disappoining to thoso who are watchi.ng the interests of Australian clients. It we take .good, clean, bulky scoureds, a similar record has to be chronicled. There have been this series no ss. 3d. combine wools, and that looks like being liiph water-mark. Wo believe on one occasion only is. Sid. hasbeen bid, but wools that Tte're selling around 4<?. 94, in December have changed band 3 freely at around is. 3d. to 4s. 5d., and some very good parcels indeed have beori sold as low bb 'ts. Uussia. has bought practically nothing, and . these good scoureds have certainly missed the competition of our Ally. Of courso it is too early yet to 1 anticipate open ports, and having purchased considerable quantities during recent. months in Australia.. Russia in all probability is hardly in need of wool, as would otherwise be tbo case. A little American comßotition would hare made a big difference to faulty oarbonising parcels, and instead of importers being able, to see big profits as during recent series, tho preobnt standard of values has practically precluded decent profits.

Crossbreds Cheaper. The offering of crossbreds has been ona decidedly limited 6cale, and to all intents and purposes tho trado has not been very" keen to buy at anything liko the level seen in December. A littlo Now Zealand nen- olip has been offered, ono well-known mark exhibiting many oxoellont characteristics. The bulk of tho crossbred offerings in tho grease havo consisted of old clip wools, and these wo should say have lost ground at 1\ per' cent. . It is cortainly all tho' more surprising in viow of tho position of crossbred tops in Bradford, but no doubt the decline has been helped by tho Government publishing,prices for tops and fixing same on a lower basis than what have recently-been ruling. _ Scoured crossbreds havo also moved to a lower level; and same must bo said for slipes. Of course, the offering this series of both'these descriptions has been (sensibly below : anything -witnessed since last July, due to tho clearing oif of the .1615 Now Zealand clip. At times a few good elipes have /been catalogued, but tho offering of scoured crossbred wools has been disappointing. Still, keenness to buy has not been in evidence, and hero again prices havo dcclincd generally 7}' per cent. 7

Why Should Wools Decline?" The question has been asked by many. Why should there have been such a sensible deelino in face of the fact that tx&do is still good, and mills are exceedingly busy? There is no doubt that the Government scheme for dealing directly with mills has had a damping effect upon the whole trade, many arguing that it seemed to them useless to carry stocks of wool at such high prices when they saw little' chance of being able to sell same. Many argue that if the Govern-' ment takes over all the mills, then there would be no opening whatever for users to buy through any party except the Government, it also being a fact that where Government orders are in the hands of manufacturers, they will be | supplied -with the raw material direct by tho Government, all their, machinery needs being catered for.- Nobody seems to know the price which manufacturers will be supplied with wool, but it is generally believed lhat they -will pay sensibly-less than if thay had it to hvy in Coleman Street, this also being on© more knock against prices. The. recent series has well furnished the illustration of what always happens when confidence is disturbed, and the future will be watched with very great interest because "the trade knows very -well that sooner or later a big weight of merino wool will come to hand, which Government orders cannot possibly concume, and what wiU be done with the surplus will be watched intently by everyone. "It looks to many as if free wool should reassert its position, but that will depend upon circumstances which are bound to develop between now and the arrival of larger supplies of commandeered wool. , Government' Top Prices. The Government has issued a list of prices for standard classes of tops, a proof that the icommandeered colonial olip3 will bo sorted, combed into tops, and sold by the, Government. The -whole matter has been carefully gone into by those ift the know, and' on the price the wool has been commandeered at, and the

prices fixed for tops by tho Government, tils latter if able to sell, will make a very handsome profit. However, tho time is not opportuno for saying what, but the following is a list of tho Government prices:— d. d. Sft's 72 50 s •12 70's wiirp 70 . dß's 36 70' a Gfl 4G's carded ... 35 84's warp 69 '«'s carded ... •» , 6i' s 68 sfl's prepared 3!) fiO's super (>(i tS's prepared 3t llO's til J 4"s prepared 33 58' s !i(i 40's prepared 31 56's 52 36's prepared 30