ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9173, 13 October 1915, Page 2

ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

ALLIES SHOWING REAL BUYING INTEREST. From Our Special Correspondent, a BRADFORD, August 26. ‘ Recently owing to tho prevalence of holidays, a lothergic feeling has-been noticeable in Bradford market, .•beatholidays, a lethargic feeling has been small, and those who have been present have often been inclined to talk gossip of a more gossipy nature than usual, bemoaning with characteristic languor that there was nothing being done. This has now worn off, and though the baying and selling have not been large, a much more alert attitude has been shown. Values have not suffered to such an extent as the pre-holiday tendency would perhaps have led one to anticipate- This was prevented by the greater confidence which was given to the trade by the interest shown by our Government and that of one or two of our Allies. The business from the latter has been diverted into other channels, or at least some of it, but this has had no depressing effect whatever. It has .rather tended to show how .healthy the position of the home trade is, for which machinery here having s<j much in front of it for so long beforehand, the success of a friendly competitor could cause no grudge. i Merino tops have been in the largest demand of any sort of that wool product- Small sales at little pricte have been made. This, no doubt, will help to keep things going, and though there has been some grumbling by those w have an eye to keeping up the market, we think these cheap sales will m some measure have paved the way to that end. Now that such sales have , been made, the strong holders are more to the front; these are holding out for 2d. per 2b more than the weak sellers accepted, and there seems every prospect that they will make it. Export inquiry is in favour of merinos, and this, along with home trade interest, will prevent any further “*serious fall. CROSSBREDS WANTING A WIDER MARKET. Though merinos are for the time belug regarded aa the most active desorip* tion of tops,, there is really a fair consumption of crossbred qualities. Indeed, fine crossbreds are running the merinos very close, both in price® and the weights consumed. During the past few days there have been good'sales of 56’s to 58’s quality, and though, like botanies, there have been some reasonable sellers in-tho market, to-day there is more independence seem , The trade in medium and low qualities, though hot up to the. fine sorts, is also good so far as the present is concerned, but the keen edge is taken’ off things-some-what by the knqwledge that crossbred supplies, present and prospective, ate more than equal to , tho trade a present consumptive ability. There is no fear of, standing machinery for want of crossbred wool, and there seems to be a much greater possibility of prices be-: ing brought down reason of more crossbred raw material being on the market than can be dealt with. A most remarkable state of affairs has been created, for while practically all supplies have been diverted to this country, we have not enough machinery to work it up. - This means that we shall either have to find .moro machinery or find a market for some of our wooland tops, and until crossbred vyool and tops are seen going but of this country to America, and such countries as may safely receive them, there cannot be much enthusiasm over the crossbred position. WHY ARE COLONIAL WOOLS CHEAPER? In answer to this question those who look at tho matter from the supply and demand point of view would immediately say. "Because there are more ot them ; but if they did that they are assuming that the demand for colonial and home grown wools is equal, which is quite a wrong assumption to _ make. We are promoted to make a few notes on this question by the fact that a premium is to be noticed in American quotations, as in English, for tops of home grown wool over similar-, quality-, made-out of colonial. American merino tops at present are reported to be two or three cents a •pound dearer than similar quality colonial and in tho English trade tops out ot home grown wools always make more money level qualities of colonial Cr w'wurse, the only way this question can bo explained is tho fact that theyare used for special purposes, and have characteristics which colonials lack. I'or instance, our famous Down sheep still show some of the quality which was imparted to them by the use of merino blood about ona hundred years ago, but other merino Characteristics have Completely been worn off by the* influence of soil, climate and pasturage. the English Down wool handles rougher than New Zealand Downs, tho latter being softer and spinning to a greater length, but in the hosiery trade the fineness of, yarns is not tho most important feature, a full handle being most desired. The chalky nature of the soil on which the English Down wool .is grown accounts for its rougher handle, and it thus produces . a'blobhier yarn. Turning to the English halfbreds, these are used largely for demd-lustre yarns, as are also Irish wools, and a big trade was formerly don© in these yams with tho Continent. More New Zealand and Australian crossbreds are blended with these than with Downs,; for tho reason that the wools lend themselves better to this, and also because no big weights of regular, even quality Downs are produced in the Dominion. In lustres also prices for home grown English wools are always fully on a level with those of colonials, and probably this is accounted fo<r by the fact that they are gen©rally brighter. The general softer quality of New Zealand produce must be attributed to a mixture of merino blood, tho milder climate and the more luxurious pasturage. . , , ~ Why American domestic wools should make more than Australian is hard to understand, speaking more particularly of the merinos, as it is the general opinion of those who know both that the colonial article is, much more often than not, superior. EXTENSIVE WAR ORDERS IN SIGHT. In recent letters we have pointed out the necessity, for export business in both merinos and crossbreds to give strength to this market. The Government have been freely importuhed both by the English trade and outside conn tries, but possibly they have had good reasons for being slow to act. At last there are Government inquiries on the market for a white-finished crossbred twill, said to be made from 2-36’s and 1-24’e yams for use in lining shells. So far w© have not heard of any Government inquiries for uniform serge or overcoating, but most probably there will be some later in tho year. The Italian Government has been reported to be in this market, but although there has been substantial inquiry, it must not be considered as official. According to the representative of our Ally in London, no Government sanction has yet been given to any wholesale house, either Italian or English, to make inquiries with a view to placing orders for Italian military cloth in this country. It is considered that one or two large Rome wholesale people, who have been acting through a prominent buying house in London and Leeds, ate responsible for the inquiry for 750,000 yards of Italian military cloth. AV© hear definitely ot one spinner who has an order for yarns for such cloth, but can only conclude that the manufacturer who gave that

order has taken on an Italian contract without being sure that it came from the Government offices. The Italian mills at Bießa and other centres are all working full strength on war cloths, the depletion of workmen occasioned by tlie outbreak of war having been made up. It is suggested in one or two Italian papers that ♦he British Government should allow more wool in various forms to bo sent to Italy, seeing that it is necessary to provide that country with material for the war. We- understand that it is now possible to get licenses for merino wool and i wastes to Italy much more freely than it was a fortnight ago. The Belgian Government have actually been in the market buying. Two of their representatives were in Bradford Inst .week-end, and altogether secured nearly all the yardage they: wanted, namely, 400.0Q0 metres. For this their price was about 4s 3d a metre, but this was considered by many manufacturers to be 100 low to admit of their buying a really good cloth. They demand a bid. for khaki serge, somewhat inferior quality to that used bv our own Government. Manufacturers who took the orders were asked for substantial deliveries to commence in November, which means that the fabrics would not be in the uniform stage before December at the earliest, and from this we may conclude that if the Belgian Governmentlias enough stocks on-hand to wait so long for the winter clothing of its troops, our own Government must have some tremendous weights lying about in one depot or another.