JOY IN AUSTRALIA

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 10

JOY IN AUSTRALIA

SUSTAINED RISE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ■■ 'SYDNEY, 19th March. There is joy throughout Australia. Wool has risen in price, and the market appears to be particularly firm. Scenes at the Royal Exchange in Sydney this week have been reminiscent of boom days, and it is doubtful if Sydney wool brokers have ever enjoyed more successful sales. Of course prices have been higher, but competition has never been keener. There was one- continual roar in the sale room, and the bidding was so general that the sales were protracted. Even the official report described the competition as ■ "excited." On Monday last more than 10,000 bales were offered, and all were sold. On Tuesday three brokers submitted another 10,----000 bales, and so keen was the competition that prices rose another 5 per cent., making a 15 per cent, increase in two days. One broker, so pleased with himself for having cleared all the wool he offered at a great advance on, the price he secured a fortnight ago, left the Exchange in high glee, shouting,l prematurely, no ' doubt, "the depression is over." The excitement inside'and outside the sale room was intense. It seemed as though the people regarded the news as. too good to be true. French and German buyers have been the chief competitors this week, though Japan and Yorkshire have also bought freely. The recovery .has come late in the season, but it is a happy augury for the future of the pastoral industry, on which Australia depends so v largely,for its prosperity. Unfortunately , -many of the growers will not benefit by the high price this year. Those who will reap the, biggest harvest are the agents who were able to hold on to. wool, in anticipation ■of an improving market. However, signs are not lacking of a return to confidence as far as the man ,on the land is concerned. It may even be that Australia has at ,last really turned the corner.,