YORKSHIRE LETTER

North Otago Times, Volume CII, Issue 13461, 4 January 1916, Page 3

YORKSHIRE LETTER

LONDON WOOL SALES. HOW THEY ARM COXIHICTKI). URADl'Olil), October 21. The near approach of another .series of colonial sales directs attention to that big event. One wonders if the ■average reader ever thinks of how long unction sates of wool have been held ill Colemnii street, or at'least in that neighbourhood, There are wool men who remember the time when the sales were held in the top room over Messrs ISchwnrtv.o, Buchanan and Co.'k present otlices in Moorgate street Buildings, but ever since the writer feincmlicrs they have always been held in Coleman street. (Originally they wero held in Change lalley, and while that place stilt exists in tho City of London, we have not yet met n single person who can identify the exact spot ivhere the early Auctions took place. There is something unique associated with the early nales of colonial wool. In the year 1828 n special coimnit'teo of the House of Lords sa't J a!t Westminster which took a good iTentof evidence regarding the state of the British wool industry at tlia't time, a big trade that iwas then said to be suffering severely oirnceonnt of the "large" imports of Australian wool. Wo have some vain/able data in our possession, and find (hat in tho year 1828 tho imports from '(Sydney were 7087 bales, mid from Van iPieman's Laud (Tasmania) .120n r while .Melbourne and Adelaide, West Australia, and New Zealand did not send ins a single balo. Tu 18,10 the imports were only 800,1 bales and leu wears later 1 hoy liad risen lo 44,1502 One cannot but smile at Hie ■views of the English landed proprietors jn 1828 when ihey were alarmed at <he apparently largo imports of colonial wool which were said to be exercising a very injurious inlluence upon prices for English wools. The commission uvas held with a view to placing; an import; duty on Australian wool, lint it did,not succeed, Wo arc glad that the views of tho manufacturers of llie •West Killing "who were called to give (ividcnce in favour of Australian ,merinos had considerable effect upon the House of Lords' Committee, mid notwithstanding that a good ileal of valuable information was given, the 'common sense of that eommittrt? provailed, and wo are glad that Australasia ifronr that time sent us annually increasing quantities of raw material until, to-day it is the world's chief peiiti'e of supply. it would well repay anyone if they ■had the time to go thoroughly into the rise of the London sales, for to anyone with 1 a relish for ancient history there are many int'eresting items which would not. only increase one's knowledge, but also show how that big event has developed until to-day it is on'c of the most important in connection/with the great avool trade. Of course tho salo of the bulk of the Australian clip at tho various centres in the Commonwealth has materially minimised the. sales in Cofeman street, at least so far as there being less wool offered in normal times than, say, in the 'eighties, it is quite a romance diow Australian sales have arisen, and it needs no Solomon to see that when the war Is over, the bulk of tho colonial clip will /'ontimie to be sold at the centre of production, Still, what is .done in London to-day is always followed in every other mniWi in the .worhi, aiiil weakness there usually sees tho same features develop iu every other market. Of course, a man buying in (Australia must be prepared to take considerable risk, 'but tli'e great industry has now assumed such gigantic proportions "that, there is not the same erratic, movement iii prices that we ,saw iii (lie 'nineties. To-day with the great European war, conditions are very .abnormal, and as long as the struggle Ipsts more wool is 'hound to be sold in Coleman street than under normal times, How the Auctions are Conducted.

Any Australasian or South Afriep pnstoralist who has witnessed miction lilies nt liomo will have n fair itToa of ,how the sales are conducted in Coleman street. In the first ins'tnncc the wool comes froni overseas, and is eontrolled 'either by 'banks or financial houses, 'these (parties having probably made an advance on the consignments. Villi particulars are furnished- by the original owner, the various institutions ,in tho city then hanging the welling broker full details of tho consignment. As a rulo tho owners in tho city, or iit least those controlling the sale, linvo word as towhoi'c tho wools shall lie 'Warehoused awl shown, it then being •tiio duty of tho selling brokers to arrange'delivery. When tho bales arc (deposited in the various warehouses tl)p -selling brokers then call for n lb samplo from each bnlo for Jotting and valuing.purposes, As a rulo full particulars of tho different descriptions of wool are sent from overseas, this sim-

plifyingnnd helping the" work of the selling broker. As a rulo the broker win) has to offer the wool, wlicn he sees a pound sample drawn from each bale, decides respecting the uniformity of the parcel, and generally he also .decides the various lots. If he sees that several bales are lighter iu condition than the remainder of tho sanio parcel lie will catalogue these 'bales as one lot, say super combing, plneing the next as.a first combing lot. It is a hiigh mistake on the part of growers to draw a hard and fast line, and give explicit instructions to'his selling broker. It is as well to let him decide and make up the lots, becnuso often a few bales in a big lot lire light in condition, and perhaps better grown than the remainder, and these being offered by,'themselves gives n buyer a chance of taking useful lots, often paying 4d to Id per lb for tho first few bales in order to claim the next as "last buyer," though this is unknown in Australia..

Still, half a dozen bales of very good wool makes n very, uif.o lend tn any dip, and tho man at tho lioard responsible for preparing the shorn fleeces for market should pay special attention to length of staple, ami condition, all the light fleeces, ii! otherwise sound and well grown, going! to ninke a little 10l of their own. When the day comes, the respective' wools aro put upon the show floor, eneh 'bale being ent open at llie corner, Tt, also bears a ticket witli the lot and number of bales dearly written on same, and is'lliert iu apple-pie order for inspection by buyers, It is just here where tlieso is a lilllo difference' compared with the method of selling wool in Australia, .In London every bale of a lo't is shown, ainl not a portion of the bales as in Australia, The writer thinks that iho time has arrived when London ware-house-keepers might show ten or fifteen per cent, of nil tho' straight stnllonclaused dips, and so'save both tinto and space, labour being very deficient and inefficient nt th'e docks, ■' However, the officials in charge cannot see' eyn to eyo witli this proposal, the writer contending that, so long as this can be 'effectively don'e in Australia- the inline can lie 'dono in London nlso,

The catalogue is, published every morning of that day's sale, when after breakfast buyers set out to the various warehouses to inspect and vnlue the lots on offer. It is hero whoro tho experience anil ability of a buyer is most iu evidence, Valuing wool ran only lie done after somo experienco, and the best valuers arc those .who ; began their career at a sorting bonrd and who are familiar with wool in overy dotijil, A buyer must know the various nnnlities as well as have ft good knowledge of estimating 'the "elean yield'' of the wool he is valuing, otherwise, he will soon got astray. When vnlnlng is completed, a' buyer .is ready for the auction, which .begins..punctually, at ,4 p.m.. This is really,tjie deciding place as to what is the real market valuo of a. lot of wool, ■ Often', there is a wild scene of excitement,, Juiyers bidding frantically for the raw material. / The wriler has seen some remarkable scenes, when it looked as if every'buyer that was bidding .was little less than a lunatic just escaped from an asylum, one vicing with the other as to which could make the wildos't gesticulations and the biggest noise. However, there Is more in this than n mere onlooker sees, nnd a, good buyer is a valuable asset, to nny firm. Fourteen days after the sale payment is due, and then Hie wools are handed over to tho railway companies for dispatching tn the various centres of consumption.

A Better Market. Tlic wool? under review has been proiltictivc of a change for the better, entirely the result of tho War Trade Department, deciding to grant' licenses fnr tlio export of erossljreil tops.. This i.s certainly a wise decision, and ono I.lml. lias met with great favour at the hands of tho entire trade. What sense was therein refusing to grant liconscß for the export of tops when wool and yarns were being shipped in nice i weights? The result is that thoro han'i been some very good sales of crossbred tops, most firms having'advanced their quotations Id 'to ljd, though wo think that a penny advanco will buy any quality of top, tho improvement being most notable n't 48's and CO's qualitios. The whole market is.certainly fo'eling very cheerful, strong overseas' advices also stimulating topmakers in part. A further important, move is the known i attitude qf the' War Trade Department in regard to tho granting of licenses for the export of dry combed tops to Japan. This is to some oxtent unexpected, and no doubt the Japanese Government, lias exercised' a little prossnro in order to relieve their own mills. The whole market seems „to be bettor, although H has not had any mnti'rial effect upon the price of merinos.. Wo are nnt nwaro of any actual ' licenses being granted for the Tar Uarft, but no doubt some are coming,. Merino topmakers are not so squeezable as they were, fit's to-day selling on spot account at about lis Id, while for January they cau still be bought at !is. The'eomb' ing difficulty is still very .strongly in evidence, and while the export of fine tops may bn alloWe'd, it is lho writer's firm conviction that no big 'quantity will be allowed out of | the country, though one. hover knows. However, prices are certainly.Arm all round, and an far as one can see there Is pvory probability (if I|ip sales, next, wepk in London finding mprinos selling on similar lines to last scrips, whilo. crnssbrods IqOk like advancing. T|i'crp is a good deal of ill-feeling in IjiMVost Jliding over big khaki orders l>pii)g nlncp'd among United' Ptalps wlion many' JTuddcrsfield firms could Imvo executed 'lliem af jipuc'p per yard less llian Ihoy have been actually placed nl

The fslnto of the property ninrkof. in Auckland nt tho present time. is reported to lie very low, pnrtiiiulnrly in regard to town'properties (states I lie Ilcrnld). The only class of property the rental Value of which'hus.riflt mlouslv fallen is t|i(i iyjip of eottqap vented nt aboilUS? pof wc'f. 11l W enso nf linsiiipas prPmisps Hint t'i? >etti"' class of houses? tho rentftl?.linvo ; (lrop|viil very considerably. A reproVontatlvo of an Auckland'property firm in a large wnv of business told a reporter that not. for over twenty years had lie known the market to. lw so. bad as it was n't present. Ifp sajd Hipro TVPTP li nml roils of vflcfliit ofllcps ji) buildings in l|m heart of.tlie city, nud lip eoiild one—an olglit-storpy building—which had niily.pp'tpnnijt |u It. In annllici' block nf ofllccs lli(>|'o wiis oiio tenant on two llooi's. llofcrniij to tho Kanmgaliape road centre, he said lie could point to numbers of empty sliopp, and, generally speaking, the. rents of business premises in that thoroughfare had dropped from % per cent, to 1)0 per cent, since the commeucoiiienl of I lie war. The market fp|' pn! Mil fill"! prnporties not upnrly so.lmil n s thiit. for town properties, I: was wdil-nlfth impossible to dispose. nf town pro|iei'ti|i.s cx('|i|i| id heavy reduction l ! mi niilti-wai' pi'lceH, It wiis nu old luislncss axiom that it was had pfilicj in buy mi a falling market, and t!'C ]iublii! and tho speculator realised that,