LIVERPOOL ANNUAL WOOL REPORT.

Otago Witness, Issue 853, 4 April 1868, Page 10

LIVERPOOL ANNUAL WOOL REPORT.

Trading pursuits have this yeir been marked by contradiction, uncertainty, and lobs ; to a great depression and want of faith in the value of joint-stock undertakings h&ve been added dear food and comparative poverty amongst the bulk of the population, andi a,s regards textile fabrics) falling prices >have ibeen an additional cause to induce v pkrchisers to adhere to -a hand-to-mouth policy. •We close the year with >uf any sign of early improvement, and with confidence

weak and easily disturbed ; but after a prolonged'period of economy, and with ample supplioe of raw material af moderate prices, at is not too sangr.ine to hope tha£ as we return to a lower' range of value for food, we may again see a resumption of manufacturing activity.

The Wool trade has been in a dull and drooping state, with short intervals of activity. Our total export of Woollens and Worsteds for the ten months shows no decrease in value as compared with the corresponding periocLof IS6G, so that as prices have/largely declined it is evident that the quantity must have considerably increased ; therefore, as short time his materially lessened production, and stocks of goods, though not heavy, are above an average, it follows that our Home demand has seriousl} diminished. In the United States, France, •and Germany trade has been equally b»d, and necessity has enforced prudence, so that we are approaching a healthy and normal basis.

The supply of Tool this year h:is been liberal everywhere, but v^d the exception of our domestic growth — which has been simulated by former high prices and by the incidental effect of the cattle plague — we are not aware that the world's production has increased this year in a much greater i atio than usual, for, after a continuance of dull trade, we do not find stacks excessively large; therefore, the excess of stock is more attributable to diminished consumption than to over-supply, and a further period o: low prices is required to equal- se these conditions.

Prices of various wools show the following decline on those current a year ago. English ombing, 33 percent. ; ditto clothing, 10 per cent. ; laid Highland, 40 per cent. ; tound stapled Australian, 10 per ceur. ; defective ditto, 15 percent. ; Cape, 15 to 25 p r cent., [the short and weak suffering most] ; Uiver Plate Mestizo and Merino, 15 to 20 per cent. ; Cordova (inflnenced'by English combing) 36 per cent. ; Donskoi, 25 ' per cent. ; Peru, 32 per cent. In Kast India the finer qualities have fallen in sympathy with English, but the common qualit'es being already cheap, and imports having declined, show only a fractional depression.