COLONIAL WOOL SALES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1749, 13 September 1905, Page 59

COLONIAL WOOL SALES.

Dalgety and Company, limited under date 18 July, report as follows:—•

The fourth series of colonial wool eales- which opened on the 4th, wai brought to a close on the 14th instant* the following quantities having been catalogued, viz.:—Sydney, 21,887 baled against 20,001 bales in the corresponding eerie® of last year; Queensland, 7200 bale® against 10,252; Port Phillip, 10,933 bale® against 12,294; Adelaide, 2819 baled against 5094; Tasmania, 5573 bale® against 7329; Western Australia, 442 baled against 2309; New Zealand, 65,472 bale® against 64,575; Cape, 7156 bales against 8241. Total catalogued 120,962 baled against 130,095 bales.

Although the available total before ths opening of the sales was given as 119,000 bales, it now appears that owing to ©olonially purchased parcels being sent forward for sale from Yorkshire and the Continent, the actual quantity of firsthand wool reached 125,000 bales. Of these, 114,000 bales were sold, 68,000 to the Home trade, 89,000 bales to the Ck>ntinent, and 7000 hale© to America, leaving 11,000 bales to be carried forward to next series, of which about 7000 were not offered.

The attendance throughout was large and biddings very spirited, a general advance being recorded except in the case of some of the medium crossbreds, for which America paid such extreme prices in the May sales. As is usually the case when the offerings consist largely of crossbred wools, the bulk of the purchases fell to the share of the Home trade, this tendency being increased by the large purchases of Home grown wools made by America in the interval between the May and July sales having so depleted the quantities thereof available for Home requirements as to drive buyers to fill the shortage by purchases of colonials. The demand for Merinos was chiefly on Continental account though both the Home trade and America secured a fair share of Hie best descriptions. A considerable quantity of the Australian •offerings consisted of speculators’ Lots, many of them of" very poor quality and which in a dull market would have been almost unsaleable, but which thanks) to the small supplies, mostly sold at good profits to the shipper®. Buyers complain that at the prices now ruling for the raw material there is nq margin for any profit, but, provided general trade continues fairly the

hot seem much. fear of tack, and buyers who,- whilst old »woks of wool were still fairly pleaiifnl of the continuance of tbo fused to believe in. the full extent of tho prospective shortage, axe now fact to face with it, just at a. ■ time when the production is again on the increase, though on too small a scale to at once or indeed for some- time ahead to make good the previous Shortages. We quote:—'Good merino wools, 5 at 7i per cent, rise* on closing rates of last series; inferior and faulty wools, par to & per cent, rise‘on closing rates of last series;, fine, crossbred wools, par to 5 per cent, rise on closing rates of last series; medium crossbred wools, par to 5 per Cent, lower than closing rates of last series; coarse crossbreds, 10 per cent, higher. The next series, of wool Sales will not open before the 19th September,, when it is estimated that' the total available for ' sale, including old stock, will reach about SOiODQ bales, and as the interval, between the two series will be no less than 67 days it (jMTWH probable that by that time buyers will urgently require to replenish sheir stocks in order to keep their machinery moving, and that a good re- " suit may • reasonably be expected.