THE LONGWOOL SHEEP SALE FIASCO IN SYDNEY.

Evening Post, Volume LXI, Issue 30, 3 August 1895, Page 4

THE LONGWOOL SHEEP SALE FIASCO IN SYDNEY.

TO THB EMTOB,

Sir — As an old New Zealander, and one still feeling a great interest in everything that concerns the welfare of the colony, I followed closely the proceedings of the late sheep sales from first to last, and beg the favour of a little space in your valuable journal to record my impressions for the information of those who were not here, but who have a direct interest in the matter. The selling of New Zealand stud sheep in Sydney was started three years ago. The first year's sales were very satisfactory indeed, good prices were realised, and buyere were thoroughly satihfled_s?ji,H their purohases. The jfolloffing year the numbor of sheep seat over was largely increased, the numtgj. o f gelling agents was greater, and ■fife quality of the sheep was by no means so uniformly good. Notwithstanding this, however, all the sheep f ouud buyers at from fairly to highly satisfactory prices. This year the sales can ouly bo described as a fiasco, and my object in writing is to endeavour to eet forth the couditions which appear to me to have made them so. They are as follows: — Ist. There were far too many sheep sent over, say about 8,500 longwools (about 1000 of which cume from Tasmania). 2nd. The placing of the sheep in the hands of too v auy agents. 3rd. The incomprehensible mauner in which time was wasted, which rauat have resulted iv many country buyers being obliged to return hurae before the sales were anything like concluded. 4th. The dry stavou being experienced here in many districts amounting, to a drought. As to the number of sheep and the number of agents, one has of course no means of knowing upon what advice the Sew Zealanders acted in sending over such a number of sheep, but one is tempted to fear, seeing the competition for business that must exist where co many different agents are concerned, that out of this multitude of counsellors there has not come wisdom, and it seems to me that in their own interest the New Zealand breeders should discontinue the practice of dividing their consignments into tho hands of so many salesmen. Where this is done, one agent is apt rather to endeavour to make points against his rival than to study the interests of vendors as a whole, and the buying competition is considerably weakened by tho sheep being distributed in a number of hands and places instead of being concentrated at onu point. What I would recommend is Ihnt by some process or other New Zealand breeders should select an agent here, tho best tlioy can get, and concentrate the whole of their consignments in his hands. Some system should also bo established in your colony by which the advice of the agent at this end as to the number and description of sheep that the Sydney market can absorb at remunerative rates can be given full effect to. The solution of the whole difficulty is — Combine ! combine ! combine ! Now as to the extraordinary waste of time in thecouduct of the sales. I observed by the various catalogues that the following order of sales had been arranged by the auctioneers, and on making enquiries I found this had been arranged by the very proper system of drawing lots : — Merinos— Goldsbrough, More, and Co., Ltd.; Hill, Clark, and Co., in conjunction with Powers, Rutherford, and Co. ; 3?. G. Weaver. Longwools— Goldsbrough, Mort, aud^Co., Ltd. ; Pitt, Son, and Badgery, Ltd. ; Harrison, Jones, and Devlin, Ltd. ; Hill, Clark, and Co., in conjunction with Powers, .Rutherford, and Co. " W. 11. Graves and Son, in conjunction with New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co , Ltd. Tho first firm on the list, Messrs. Goldsbrough, Mort, and Co., commenced their sale of merinoß on Wednesday morning, 3rd July, at 10 a.m., selling throughout tho entire day, resuming on Thursday morning, aud concluding their sale about 12.45. One would naturally havo supposed that the auctioneer next on the list would have proceeded with his sale, and sold throughout that afternoon, .but, as a matter of fact, nothing more was done that day, Messrs. Hill, Clark, and Co. not commencing their merino sale till Friday morning, the sth inst. Ihis sale was concluded between 12 and 1 o'clock of the same day, and to my amazement nothing more was done in the way of selling sheep until Monday, the Bth inst., when Mr. F. G. Weaver commenced his sale. In the meantime one heard in all directions visitors from the country who had come to Sydney to buy riheep bitterly complaining of this loss of time, while at every turn one encountered indignant New Zealand owuers wondering what the cause of delay was, as it was disastrous to the sale of their sheep, and involved very serious increasa of expense in their agistment charges. As I havo said, Mr. Weaver commenced his sale on Monday morning, the Bth inst., finishing that afternoon, On Tuesday morning, the 9th inst., six days after the commencement of the series, the Long-wool sheep sales were opened by Messrs. Goldsbrough, Mort and Co., who cut out before 12.30 the same day. I thought to myself, ' ' Surely there will be no more delay now that the New Zealand sheep have at last been commenced upon," but another disappointment for all interested was in store. The next sale, Messrs. Pitt, Son and Badgery's, instead of going on that afternoon, was not commenced till Wednesday morning, the 10th inst., at 10.30. At its conclusion there followed Messrs. Harrison, Jones and Devlin, and Messrs. Hill, Clark and Co. (in conjunction with Messrs. Powers, Rutherford and Co.), who, in turn, finished at about 2.45 on Friday afternoon, tho 12th, inst. There was then still left the largest catalogue of New Zealand sheep — that of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, in conjunction with Messrs. Warden Harry Graves and Son. This sale commenced on Friday afternoon at 3 odock, nnd continued to its conclusion oa Saturday afternoon between 4 and 5 o'clock. •The Sydney sheep sales of 1895 therefore extended over a period of eleven weary days. How country buyers with their properties to look after, could possibly have been expected to remain in Sydney for such a length of time, is a problem I am unable to Bolve— indeed, as a matter of fact, I was informed that a large number of buyers had left for their homes long before the sales were completed. On making enquiries from some of the auctioneers as to how such an apparently unbusinesslike proceeding had occurred, I was referred to an agreement which had been entered into and signed by all the agents holding sales, which agreement appeared in full in Messrs. Goldsbrough, Mort and Co. 's catalogue. Instead of this agreement throwing any light on the matter, it further puzzled me, as to me it appeared to provide distinctly for the business of the sales proceeding with despatch, instead of being drawn out as I have described. I found that one of the clauses of the agreement (No. 6) provided that— "The sales each day shall commence at 10 a.m., and continue, with a breakof an hour for luncheon, until 5 p.m." In view of the proceedings having been so widely at variance with this portion of tho agreement, . prosecuted my ; enquiries further, aud was informed that the explanation of the whole matter was to be found in clause No. 3 of the agreement, which reads as follows " Eaoh auctioneer shall be allowed time for the conduct of his sales calculated at the rate of one minute and a quarter per lot to be offered in accordance with his oatalogue." Inoredibleaait may seem, the position taken up by the auctioneers who had drawn an early position in the order of sales waa that clause No. 6 was completely over-ridden by clause No. 3, and that if an auctioneer actually required only a fraction of his time allowance, no further business oould be done— notwithstanding clause No. 0 till the full time allowance had expired. I have now only to deal with the fourth cause to which I have attributed the fiasco — viz., the dry season being experienced here. This, no doubt, was an important contributing cause, but had arrangements been made on the lines I have ventured to suggest—viz., that there should be a con-

eentratiou of interests both iv New Zesliuul mid hero — thero would only havo been sent ovor such a number of sheep a?i thero existed a satisfactory market for, and, drought or no drought, there need have been no fiasco. With my apologies for die length to which this letter has extended, the excuse for which must bo my desiro that my many friends in New Zealand should have an uuvarnished statement of the facts connected with these sales as far as I could relate tlnj. '-. I am, &'c , An bx-New Zbalander in Sydney. Sydney, 22ud July, 18U5.