Evening Post FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1904.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 127, 25 November 1904, Page 4

Evening Post FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1904.

THE WAY OF WOOL. Coarse crossbred wool has put up a market record that is of significance to every one in the community. The sales now current in London are the sixth and closing series, and if we look back we shall see from the opening sale in January until the present how values have ascended. It is interesting to set this out. Comparisons refer to crossbreds : — Ist sale. — Fine, advanced 7i per cent. Coarse, advanced 10 to 15 per cent. 2nd sale.— Fine, par. Coarse, advanced 5 per oent. 3rd Bale. — Fine, par. Cuaise, advanced 5 per cent. 4th sale— Fine, advanced 5 to 10 per cent. Coaroe, advanced 10 per cent. sth sale.— Fine, advanced 5 per cent. Coaise, advanced 10 per cent. 6th sale.— Fine, advanced 10 per cent. Coaise, advanced 10 to 15 per cent. The advances are in each case on the previous sale, so that, compared with No-vember-December sales of last year, there has been an advance in coarse crossbreds of about 50 per cent, or a little more, and in this we see the effect of the far-

reaching factor of popular favour, otherwise known as fashion. Up to 1898 crossbred wool was not subjected to many fluctuations — price* were on the contrary very steady, and woolgrowers knew just about what would be advanced on the clips; 6d per lb was the customary advance, and the wool business went on smoothly. In 1899 there came the boom — such a boom as upset all the calculations of experienced woolbrokers; then came a slump, which was also incomprehensible to the experts. The experience of twenty-five years, as some brokers were able to admit, disclosed no svich drastic movements. The secret in this also was fashion. For a time popular favour ran on fine wool fabrics, and merino wool was run up to a high price, fine crossbred and coarse crossbred also, sharing in the advance. Prices got beyond the range of the consumers, business slackened off, and the values of the ruw material slumped. Merino continued to command attention, for fashion stiU favoured the fine fabrics. There then arose the position of fine wools being in short supply and in good 'demand, but cloth merchants were unable to get remunerative prices, while crossbred wool was in full supply, extremely cheap and practically unsalable. These were conditions that could not possibly continue. Strenuous efforts were made to alter the trend of fashion. Coarse wool was turned into fabrics of pleasing designs and marketed at prices well within the means of the masses, and gradually the cheaper article obtained the vogue. This movement had become decided about the middle of last year, and one authority, referring to the matter, said: "Low crossbreds hold the field, and the lower the better, as all efforts are now directed to make a cheap article — the nearer one gets to merino grades the quieter becomes the market. One lesson may be and should be kept in mind, that in "the future crossbreds are going to rule the market foi all classes and grades. Any renewed demand for merinos and the finer crossbreds will have a longer or shorter life, according to the value of the raw material. Should the price of fine wool be rushed up, on account of larger demand, then immediately cheaper crossbreds will be utilised to supply a less costly article, and the masses must and will take the cheaper article. ... Of late manufacturers of coarse materials have produced some very useful and pleasing designs for men's and women's wear at a small cost to the consumer. So long as this can be done the return of the days of broadcloth, fine faced beaver, and Melton is a long way off." Although values of coarse crossbreds show an improvement of 50 per cent, as compared with the slump values of a year or more ago, the increase on the normal values prior to 1899 is less than 8 per cent. In the four years. 1894-97 the average price r for 40's (Bradford Tops) was 13id per lb, with the supply constantly increasing ; the average until 1903, leaving out the boom period of 1899; was lOd. The price in January last year was 10^d, advancing slowly to 12£ dat the beginning of this year. In April there was an advance to 13d, and in May the average ruling prior to 1899 was reached. It was fully three years before coarse crossbred wool got back to the old level, and now, supported by fashion and decreasing supplies of raw material, the count has got up to 14£ d, or a penny more than the normal average. Whether fashion will afford unbroken support to the rougher description of fabrics "when merinos become at once more plentiful and x cheaper is the question which must engross attention in the near future, andhere the opinion of the Bradford Observer on the colonial top may be given. That journal ' says : " Speaking broadly, the crossbred top is a thing without fault. It is neither kempy, nor grey, nor tender. It is a good colour, and has a fair amount of brilliance. It has a soft handle for its strength, and possesses good spinning properties, and will probably lend itself to artistic reproduction in a greater degree than any other wool." So long as the price of the coarse fabric is not carried to a point beyond tho purchasing power of the masses there is no reason to anticipate a slump, at the same time it is very likely that present values are in a degree affected by the war in the Eaat. Army clothing must be in special demand by Russia for wintering her troops in Manchuria, and Japan hns beon buying up fairly large quantities of wool for the j same purpose. Crossbred wool is high, ' and at most there seems no likelihood of values falling more than, say, 10 per cent. ; for, of course, a fall is inevitable. At this juncture the statistical position may well be considered, and we are indebted to Dalgety and Co., Limited, for our figures. The exports of wool from Australia and New Zealand respectively for the past five years (taking the statistical year a3 ending on 30th June) were as under :— Australian. New Zealand. Juno 30th. Bales. Bales. 1900 ... 1,197,181 397,283 1901 ... 1,222,990 386,723 1902 ... 1,267,936 -396,949 1903 ... 988,877 425,954 1904 ... 994,796 372,146 Nearly the whole of the Australian clip is merino, while fine wool forms a mere fraction in the New Zealand output. It will be noted that while Australia shows a slight increase for the wool year just closed, there is great shrinkage in this colony, and this disparity has since continued, for in the period from the Ist July to the 31st October the wool exports from the CommonweaUh show an increase of 71,215 "bales and those of New Zealand a decrease of 7097 bales, as compared with the corresponding jperiod of l<is,t year. The quantity of merino wool is increasing— Australia will show a big output this year and for two or three years to come, the recuperative power of the Continent being remarkable, and with the increase there will be a cheapening. This is the menace to the future of coarse crossbred wool.