The Station.

Otago Witness, Issue 1242, 18 September 1875, Page 18

The Station.

WOOL SALES.

A Victorian in London writes to the Australasian : —

" Of course, I attended the sales, and my attention was drawn to one man, one particular buyer, who lets no fine best wools pass him if he can help it. I observed other buyers, who go no further than 2s Gd per Ib., look at this man with admiration as he rolled out au occasional bid of 33 6d and 3s 9id. There are a few similar men who pick up as cheaply as they can the best lots, but, whatever the price, the best they must have. It was amusing to me to hear English buyers of best wools inveigh against the French, because they were compelled by those French fellows to give more than they like. They judged and spoke from their point of view. I thought from a woolgrower'3 stand-point, ' It is well the French come ; I love them.' One cannot be many minutes in the sale-room, if you have previously examined the wool, without feeling, ' Well, what bunkum has been said and written about thoso sales in our country.' There is an aspect of fairness, justice, regularity, and keei competition which completely dispels from the mind all fears of plots and counterplots, of underhand dealings. True, the buyer will, if he can, give Is per Ib. for wool worlh 2s. He will not give one halfpenny more per Ib. than he can help. Here is no poetry. I saw a very beautiful lot of wool put up ; it reached 2s Hid per Ib. It belonged to a friend, and I wa? wishing it to go to 3s, the other halfpenny. I complained to the poetic buyer, saying that they had no sense of romance or poetry of things — that that wool should have gone to 3s. ' You mistike, ' said he ; ' it is the true poetry and romance, pleasure and gratification to us, if we can get a 3s wool for a halfpenny less, or even a penny under what we might give for it if we were pushed.' This thought occurred to me : Would a wool-grower, in buying sheep, not enjoy a purchase of sheep worth 5s per head for 4s I I fear he would buy as cheaply as he could. So with these buyers ; they will give as little as they can, but, fortunately, there is the pressure of a whole world s competition. In falling dulJ markets, it is for our agents to judge as to selling ; but once tip, trust almost implicitly to this great competition for results. All we woolgrowers have to do is to produce and send the wool for sale in as equal lots as possible ; let not dirty and clean wool be together in the same bales ; avoid locks or pieces with fleeces ; keep dingy wool by itself ; keep burry wool by iteelf ; do not lnake too many small lots ; let not coarse and fine come out of the same bale or lots — then you may leave all the rest to those men who know what is what."