DISTINCTLY CHEAP.

Gisborne Times, Volume LII, Issue 5463, 26 April 1920, Page 2

DISTINCTLY CHEAP.

MEDIUM AND COARSE CROSSBRED WOOL.

(From Our Special, Correspondent.) LONDON, February 2b. There is one aspect m eonnectmn with the second series of Colonial sales which cannot but give iise to concern in th,. minds of a good many people both at Home ancl m New Zealand. We refer to tup course of crossbreds which, as is well known, are ou an altogether different altitude to those of merinos. Jhe "liter has just finished surveying the prices realised at the second appraisement at Dunedin, which took place during the first week of December, and it ' s apparent that unless there is a. marked advance in the price of coaise and medium crossbreds no profit is o-oing to result to the imperial. Government. There is no denying that those wools arc distinctly cheap compared with merinos, and at .this writimr there is nothing to indicate any important change in the near future. Finer wool s have continued to sell through the series quite as encouragingly as one expected, in fact no further ground lias been lost conipaied with the opening, and the auctions finishing with medium aiul coarse crossbreds just about where they were at th e close of last series. Ihat perhaps is, something to be thankful for, but it is not saving a great deal. It would indeed have been better if there, had beeen say. a 25 per cent, advance in all wool up to oO s wit.iout any further improvement taking place in fine crossbreds ands merinos. Vet, the fact nevertheless remains that cheap as coarse and medium wools are thev are still meeting with an indifferent call when compared with the finer qualities, even the cheapness of these wools tailing t 0 bring them the support they deserve. 1 his is <t factor which concerns everyone, and the great majority are at a complete loss to understand why this should he. Even their cheapness" is failing to make a market such as one would' like to and it is this fact which still baffles those engaged in the working up of medium and coar.se crossbred wools. What amazes the majority is the continued want of Continental support, and not until there is a greater buying movement on the part of Central Europe, can medium and coarse crossbreds be expected: to revive. That undoubtedly is- the ipissmg factor, and no man can tell when it is going to be remedied. It is all the more surprising in view of the paralysed Continental exchange. One would have thought that even France and Belgium would have taken these wools readily. As for Germany, the low value of the market compels her to leave them alone, much to the chagrin of many. Everybody expected six months ago that Germany would; have first of all paid the greatest attention to the cheaper kinds of raw material, but we understand that fashions jn that country have been following largely, in the wake of England and. America, there being still the best demand for wools of the finest qualities. The writer fails to see how medium and coarse crossbreds can possibly advance without greater support from the Continent, and at. this writing there is wanting that measure of patronage which ought to be forthcoming at a time like the present.