The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1895. PRICES OF WOOL.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 262, 9 May 1895, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1895. PRICES OF WOOL.

As the farmers and others interested in the frozen mutton and wool trade will be mustered in strength licro tomorrow to hear Mr D. J. Nathan give j his address, it will be not inapprcpri- ; ate for us to publish some of the causes which" have led to the continued reduction in prices. An English paper says it is simply the result of under- ! selling ; there is no over production, i and stocks of wool and goods are light all over the world. " A Yorkshire ! Spinner " holds the opinion that the reason is to be found in the; smaller j and more needy growers sacriiicing their wool in the Colonial sales, and so causing a fall in t he prices at Home. Haifa million bales of dinvt colonial production are rushe;! upon the market at the co)fiine)jcem o iu of the year, .and while the bulk of this wor.l is held by firms who can afford to hold and stand out for their prices, there are always some weak ones who must realise. The stronger importers may insist they will hold out and not sacrifice their purchases, but li is the lowest nud not the highest quotation that fixes the market level, and underselling ensues in the hast 3 to realise at a loss ra'liei than ris-k the uncertainty of the luture. 'Jhe^e are "A Yorkshire iSpinuer's" contentions, and no doubt is the view held by many on the other side of the world. But (says the Lyttelton Times; there must be some ilaw in the reasoning, as the average results for a long series of ye irs show that the small grower ! a-i done better by selling in the local market than by consigning his wool to the i.oii'io-.i sales, 'i he same buyers appear here year after year, but whether or not it is their abstention from buying in London that causes prices t-i fall thero is another question. We cannot credit that iirnis would year aftci year buy wool in the colonies to sell in England at a loss ; and this in a word is Avhat " A Yorkshire Spinner : ' complains of. The cause of the depression in the price of., wool mtifct be sought in some other direction, and we believe that Mr Nathan, if he is not able perhaps to give the true reasons for the depreciation of wool, will, at any rate, be abie to show sheepfarmers how to take the matter in their own hands and to supply a practical remedy.