LONDON WOOL SALES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 6 January 1910, Page 6

LONDON WOOL SALES.

ANOTHER GOOD OPENING.

BEIGES PRACTICALLY JL7N- ,.■;.■ : i ;GHMGm: ■ •/, :;^'/

(From Our- Spepial: Corre^ondent-) VJ -! LONDON, N<w ; ;j6, 1909.: /! Once again the trade finds itself ©ejitrod in Coleman Street Wool Exchange, the final series for 1909 be- : ginning last Tuesday. All things &msidered the opening must be- re- ; jgarded. A3 an exceedingly good one, ' for taking into consideration the black cloud in Australia where the ; sales are partially stopped in Mcl- • fcourne and Sydney owing to a strike, together with a political crisis m this country, dear money, and dear L "freights; to find wool selling so remarkably well is indeed something over which to be proud. It is certain that if the manufacturing industry of the world had not been busy wool prices would have suffered a serious decline, but every mill seems to be so much sold ahead that spinners and manufacturers can afford to treat with contempt the untoward incidents which are transpiring among the nations of the world. VACATION RESULTS. Regular readers of this letter will be> fully aware of what has transpired during the vacation, the serious fall in Continental futures being entirely an engineering move on purpose to adversely affect the sale of wool in Australian selling centres. To some extent that move has been successful, but during the past fortnight there has been a partial rise in quotations, and both wool ai^tops have cost a shade more. Y^*£ seems not to have come down as low as quotations for tops, though it is hard to believe that importers are so philanthropic as to sell the combed article at less than they" could make them at out of Colonial bought wool. Be that as it may the vacation has been a little exciting, all because of prices having dropped 2d for spot delivery of super 6Q's tops in Bradford, and 3d per lb for delivery next year. QUANTITY AVAILABLE. With increasing quantities, of wool being sold; at producing- centres,: it ■means, a^ less Quantity, of wool for dis- ; pbsal'invColema^n':Street', and th© net/ quantity available for the" current series is only 98,000 bales compared ; with 177,500 bales a year ago, or a^ ehrinkage of 79,000 bales. All through this year supplies -have been marketed as fast as they have come to hand, consequently the offerings this series are exceedingly small, and ©illy a nine days series has been drawn for. The weight of the offer-! ings will consist of new clip merinos, ; Queensland produce bulking the most.; The quantity of New Zealand wool available is evry limited, and these j will mostly consist of slipes. I don't ■ think I can do better than give a: comparative statement showing the quantities available this .series compared with the series a year ago:— Nov-Dec Nov-Dec 1908 1909 ! Available Available For sale For sale Bales Bales j Sydney and Queens- ! land 85,650 46,500 Port Phillip ... 22,700 12,500 Adelaide 6,900 5,300 Swan River 9,950 12,000 Tasmania 550 350 New Zealand ... 42,800 15,450 Cape <.* ... ... 8,950 6,400 "Total ... ...177,500" .98,500 A CREDITABLE START. Last Tuesday again saw Coleman Street Wool Exchange crowded to ex- | cess, all sections of the trade being fully represented. The selection sub-: mitted was above the average for an opening day, merinos—mostly new j clip—predominating. Some real good wools being offered, led to a very spirited sale, all sections competing keenly. The Home trade and the 'Continent did most of the buying, America taking a few lots of the best wools. From first to last there was displayed great eagerness to acquire the ra.w material, and very few wools indeed failed to find a buyer. Competition ruled exceedingly keen, and no doubt several were doing-some covering. What was the. weakest part ©t: the offering was an absence of greasy crossbred fleece, . but this its what .could only be expected. Seine >fair good lines of New Zealand' slipes were offered, and these- called forth splendid competition on the part of the Home trade in particular. When compared with the close of the last September series the following alterations were seen:—

Grease merino, superior, no change. Grease merinos, medium, par to M decline. ■

Grease merinos, faulty, par to hd decline.

Scoured merinos, superior, 4d decline.

Scoured merinos, medium, -|d decline.

Scoured merinos, inferior, par to M decline. .

Grease crossbred, fine, no change. Grease crossbred, medium, no change. Grease crossbred, coarse, par to id advance.

Cape combing, long, no change. Cape clothing, short, par to £d decline.

Since the opening the sales have made splendid progress, and there is a firmer market. Merinos generally are now selling up to last sales' rates, with the exception of the very heavy wasty wools. Coarse slipes are id more than in September, but medium and hue are no dearer, the prices paid last series being extreme. What is perhaps the best feature of any k the readiness of the whole trade to operate. Wool is selling well. America is not doing great things, but taking a few nice lots of merinSs! France and Germany is buying freely, and so is the Home trade THE OUTLOOK.

Messrs H. Dawson and Co. in speaking of the outlook say:—"The past interval has been full of interest and incident. The struggle between consumer and producer has been very marked and keen. Everything possible has been done to bring down the value of the raw material to a more reasonable level; by an excessive caution: in spot purchases, by abstention from operating in the. Colonial markets, by: I.pessimistic reports, and by & considerable amount of cheap .seli|ng for forward deliveries, the market has been subjected to severe pressure. 'Considerable success resulted up to about a fortnight ago, when a reaction set in, actual requirements again strongly asserting themselves. Stocks are depleted, a»d consumers have had to come into the market. ■The difficulty has been accentuated by the stoppage of the sales in Sydney and Melbourne,. and topmaker's are now anxious about securing {ho necessary supplies to fulfil contracts foi-

the first two months of the year. Consequently, the series which opened on Tuesday finds a stronger demand, than was expected a few weeks ago, and prices show a better average. Toj>s have been sold recently on a basis, of/10;tp;12 per cent, below the September level of values, but the decline -■to-day shows, barely s ..'■■P©r' cent, shrinkage oil the/ordinary topmaking wools.

With regard to crossbreds, the values of the raw material are strangely irreconcilable with those of tops. The situation baffles interpretation, and everybody waits for a clearer development. The South American clip is being marketed somewhat late; moreover, it is in such indifferent condition that Home buyers no not care to pay the prces asked, which are considerably above the Bradford level.

In New Zealand the strong American demand has established a level of values which Yorkshire consumers can not yet follow.

Meanwhile, the stocks •of raw. material in European hands are rapidly approaching the vanishing point, so that interesting developments are inevitable in the near future. Crossbred tops must either make substantial advances, or wool must decline to a more proportionate basis.

The high rate of money, and the prospects of a general election on one hand, with the improving trade of the country, and the remarkable depletion of stocks on the other, render the position extremely difficult to gauge. Meanwhile, however, there is a strong indisposition to speculate, and a strictly legitimate hand-to-mouth trade seems to be favoured. This is the best security against fluctuations and ultimate losses in the spring, when more normal conditions should prevail as regards supplies and relative values."

Dr. Wray—both. Government medical officers, and therefore bound by duty as well as by the call of science—discharged the perilous-task. Both men contracted plague. Both men died. Death on a battlefield might seem more merciful.

The death of Dr. Allan Macfadyen, the bacteriologist, in London, two years ago, was due to a combination of two diseases which he contracted in the course of his search for a preventive of disease. Dr. Macfadyen was connected with the Lister Institute, and was conducting a series of experiments with the bacteria of typhoid and Malta fever, with the view of discovering a vaccine to prevent these diseases. By an accident, it is believed, he contracted both, and his name was added to the roll of martyrs of the laboratory.

Within a few months of Dr. Macfadyen's death occurred the death of Mr W. M. Brown, one of the leading members of the medical profession in •Leeds and a specialist in the treatment of cancer. Two years earlier, while operating, he contracted bloodpoisoning, and this, it was believed, led to the cancer which caused his death.

A fortnight afterwards, Dr. Seneca Powell, one of the best known professors of medicine in the United States, and a teacher in the New York Postgraduates School of Medicine, became a victim to his daring investigation into carbolic acid poisoning, after three years' illness. Believing that pure alcohol could be used as an antidote for carbolic acid poisoning, Dr. Powell made repeated experiments on himself to test his theory for the benefit of the world. His heroic experiments were said to have undermined his constitution, and he died a martyr to science.

RADIUM

Professor Curie, who, with his wife, won a place in the history of science as the discoverer of radium, was perhaps saved from a martyr's lingering death by the street accident in Paris which cut short his life. His journey to London, with the first tube of radium ever exhibited, resulted in a wound in the chest which took months to heal, for the radium emanation passed through his waistcoot and underclothes and burned his chest to the bone. His experiments with radium scourged his hands and arms, which were practically paralysed to the elbows and rendered unpresentrable to the eyes of strangers. In America the early history of the Rontgen rays was marked by the death of two men. One was Clarence Dally, chief assistant to Mr Edison, and the other was Dr. Louis Weieel, of New York.

For seven years Mr Dally was a martyr to dermatitis, caused by the exposure of his hands and arms "to the rays. A cancerous growth developed on his left arm, the lower part of wjnch had to be amputated. His hair died off. Four fingers of his right hand had to be taken off, and finally Ins right arm followed. But it was of no avail, and in September, 1904, his life paid the penalty of his devotion to science. , '

, SPhe sufferings of Dr Hall Edwards; of Birmingham, who lias had both: hands destroyed by the Rontgen rays; of Mr Cox, who in February of this year underwent a second operation in consequence of his early experiments, and of other X-ray experimenters have been described in the Express during the past three or four years. Dr. Cecil Lyster, of the Middlesex Hospital Finsen light department, is one of the men who have been maimed for life as the price of his work in the cause of science.

TROPICAL FEVER

The name of Dr. Macatier Pirrie, who made two expeditions along the course of the Nile for the study, of tropical fever, is recorded as that of a victim to scientific research. Dr. Pirrie went to the far ends of the JJarel Ghazel and to the borders of Abyssinia, penetrating some of "the most deadly areas. He came home stricken with the disease which he was seeking to eradicate. Although he wrote a paper for the British Association, he was too ill to read it before that assembly, and he died when he was only twenty-eight years old. Dr. Dutton, of the Liverpool School or Tropical Medicine, was twentymne years old when he died of tick feyer, contracted while trying to elucidate its effects on man. Many diseases have stricken down the men who fearlessly faced them. Iwo years ago, during^n outbreak of spotted fever in Rome, Dr. Zampagnam, while tending some of the victims, contracted the disease, and, with death striding towards him, he

sat down and wrote a treatise on the fever which before long proved fatal to him.

At Turin, Dr. Giuseppe Bosso experimented with tubercle bacilli, which he developed in the university laboratory. -He became, infected with the••; yer.y bacilli he; had grfwyii^^nd his. name also is inscribed oh the roll of martyrs to science. "