FIRST WOOL SALE

Evening Star, Issue 15683, 23 December 1914, Page 2

FIRST WOOL SALE

NO CONTINENTAL OR AMERICAN BUYERS, BtJT GOOD PEACES OBTAINED. Many factors combined to make the first of the Dunedin wool sales—which began in the Art Gallery Hall this morning—a matter for speculation rather than prophecy. To begin with, the great war had eliminated the Continental and American buyers, and closed perhaps 60 per cent*., of the ordinary markets for our wools; in the second place (a result of the first factor), the local and Scotch mills and the Bradford buyers were left to purchase a record offering (for a December, sale in Otago) of 15,869, as against 4,722 last year; and further, the quality of this offering was admittedly patchy. And yet, up to the luncheon adjournment, the sale rra» good. True, it opened in vary patchy and disconcerting fashion, with bids extracted rather than offered, bnt it quickly became evident that while shabby stuff was going to be "anyhow," the best grades were to elicit spirited competition. And, in fact, super wools brought better prices than at any sale last year. The competition of the local mills for best super half-breds and the best grades of merinos kept pricea buoyant, the" \ best half-breds realising from 12d to 143 d. And, as in Melbourne and the North, the Scotch mill buyers proved a big factor in both half and cross-breds. The demand for merinos was confined to local mills, and they reserved their competition for the higher grades. Slips and pieces had a ready and buoyant sale-. In summary, it may be said that the position up to noon was that super wools war* slightly in advance of any price * last year, average wools were just as good, and inferior grades had declined from id.to l£d. The values for higher grades, too, were well maintained throughout the sale, bnt the market was very hard to follow, it being difficult to understand upon what basis buyers were work- . ing. Appended is the catalogue of bales offered in the order of sale:— 1914. 1913. Wright, Stephenson ... ... 3,7031,036 Dalgety and Co 3,204 1,002 N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co 1,107 381 Donald Held and Co 2,234 593 Stronaoh, Morris, and Co. ... 1,637 424 National Mortgage and Agency Co 2,711 731 Otago Farmera* Co-operative Association .-«..«.„. 1,374 555