WOOL RISES AGAIN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 December 1924, Page 8

WOOL RISES AGAIN.

SALES AT CHRISTCHURCH. (BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION. CHRISTCHURCH, Nov. 30. At the opening wool sale of the season in the South Island yesterday there was a catalogue of 11,477 bales. The bulk was haifbred wool, but there was a fair showing of Plains crossbred. There was little merino forward. The offering generally was well-gro,wn and sound, but a good, proportion was dusty, particularly the Plains wool. There was a record bench of buyers, ninety being represented. Values again soared, and' all existing records were beaten. There was the keenest possible competition, particularly by Bradford houses, which secured practically twothirds of the offering. Local mills and America secured the bulk of the be. I- ■ ance, with occasional lots of' coarse crossbred and pieces going to Continental buyers. Fellmongering , lots were too much in the air for local scourers. The biggest part of the haifbred catalogue was sold at prices in excess of last year’s records. The bulk of it made from 32d to 37d, whilst 40d was reached on several oecasions, the highest figure being 42fd for Pahau pastures wool. This was the highest price of the day. Very few lots of haifbred made less than 30d. Corriedal© made to 41Jd; three-quarterbred averaged from 26d to 30d, the top price being 34i|d; crossbred averaged" from 24d to 26d, the top price being 30Jd, while very little sold at under 20d; the top price for merino was 30d; pieces sold at very high prices: haifbred made to 21. Hd, merino to 30d, Corriedale to 30jd, and crossbred to 22d. These were jblie extreme prices, but from 24d to 27d for haifbred was a general figure. • ' Fine crutchings made to 23jd, and crossbred to 15£d; haifbred locks to 18Id, and haifbred bellies to 25d. The best Southdown price was 32fd. A lot of Ryeland made 31d. Leicester 24fd, and Lincoln 19d. There were only about a dozen lots passed. When the first was passed at a good nrice the buyers would, not listen to the rest of the clip being offered. This probably had a salutary effect on the vendors, 1 whose ideas are up in the dress circle. A comparison with last year’s values is, to a large extent, approximate. The final Christchurch sale was in March, when a small, shabby, and earthy catalogue of 1800 bales was offered. There was a pronounced rise then, but that and yesterday’s catalogue are so dissimilar that the February offering provide.s a better comparison. On this sale Saturday’s prices wero up by 6d to 8d a pound on all’ classes, excepting merino, the advance in which was about sd. Fine pieces were not up so much. Coarse fleece and piece wool showed an advance ot fully. 1 5 per cent, on the November j auction of last year. On the wools i that can be classified with the recent ! North Island offerings there was a rise of quite 2d per pound. Most of the buyers of haifbred calculate that their purchases were at from £45 to £SO a bale. Iho range of values is as follows: Merino.. —Super 34d to 38d, medium 33d to 33d, inferior 27d to 29d. Haifbred. —Extra suoer 40d to 42ad, super 36^d to 39d. medium 321 d to 36d. inferior 28£d to 32d. Corriedale—Extra super 40d to 41>d, super 38d to 38£d, medium 32d to 36d, infe-ior 30d to 31fd. Tbree-quarterbred.—Extra super to 34ad. suner 28Jd to 30*d, medium 25d to 28d.. inferior 22£d to 24£d. Medium crossbred. —Extra super to 30id; super 251 d to 28d. medium ?3d to 25d. inferior 20d to 22£d. Coarse crossbred.—Super 22d to <>4d medium 20£d to 22d, inferior 17d to 20d. Me-ino pieces, 25d to 31d. Haifbred pieces, 22d to 31!d. Corriedale nieces. 25’d to 30ad Crossbred pieces. 15d to 22£d. Merino locks, to 19jfd, Haifbred locks, 15d to 18R1 . C-ossbred locks, Hid to 15d’ Merino bellies, 21d to 24}d Haifbred bellies. 18d to 25d. Crosslv-ed bellies, 12d to 18d. , C-utchings.—Good 18£d to 9ffid medium lid to 16d