OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2161, 25 July 1895, Page 6

OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

SH EEP AND WOOL NOTES. (Fhoh Gun Special Correspondent.) Buadfokd, June 14.

No time nosy for grumbling about hard times, the low price of wool and sheep, but just the time for a change of front, better ee!ec_ tion of stock, be,tter methods, and no end of the little economies which the average flockmastar has yet to learn. If it pays to keep other animals comfortible it pays to keep a sheep so too. Try it and sea. Experience in sheep-breeding is still the best teacher.

The present craze for size in Australasia and South Africa may cost some of the pattoralistg out there good money yet, especially if carried too far. A pastoralist before embarking in orossbreds should first of all settle in his own mind whether or not his station will carry longwools. This should be the first consideration with every farmer. A n ' ce nnggety sheep is by far .the most profitable and paying, ana I'm not one for supporting a long-limbed, bony animal. No possible mismanagement of the shepherd can bring greater and surer loss than to neglect the lambs of the flock in the coming few months. In England and America good stooky ewes are in good demand, and no one at preseot seems anxious to part with them. Whether it may suit the palate of the Australasian and South Afrioan farmer* or no&, an Amsricui friend of mine wrote me recently that the sheep business in the United States is everywhere in much b<-.tt«r heart since the Usb November election, when the "free wool" men were ousted and tho protectionist p*rty elected. Wool now being admitted free h»s bruuf life dowu their own domestic fl»eoia from Is to Is 3d per lb, and this not suitiug the farmers they are crying out loudly for the reinstatement of the old tax duties on wool. I am afraid they are bawling out ia tha middle of the wood, for at last American manufacturers have realised that •• free wool is a necessity." Condition in wool is one of the ficst essentials in every clip, and where wanting the grower always feels it the moist. SOUTH AFJBICA OPPOSHD TO AUSTRALIAN MEAT. A writer in the London Times on colonial subjects remarks that in South Africa a wave of protectionist feeling has been arouied by tho OB«rgy of Australian exporters, who have endeavoured to establish a trade in foreign meat there. The taiiff of Cape Colony put an import duty of 2d per lb upon all salt or preserved meats, bub imposed nono on frozen meat. An attempt was accordingly made to send frozen mutton from Australia, and the customs officers decided that, as it was neither salt nor preserved in the sense intended by the framers oE the tariff, it must be admitted free. Something like a panic appears to have been created by the occurrence amongst tho parliamentary representatives of the South African pastoral interest, and an immediate demand was made upon the Govcrumeat to amend the tariff by the imposition of the practioally prohibitive duty of 2d per lb upon frozen mutton. Netwithstanding the obvious argument that tho protection of the p ishoral iutereat must in common fairness be followed by the protection of the agricultural interest, and that duties on meat are only too likely to lead to duties on grain in a polony where* food is already as dear as it is anywhere in the world, the pastoral interest has apparently been strong enough to carry its point almost without oppos.tion, and tho Tariff Amendment Bill, placing a duty of 2d a lb on frozen meat, has passed its second reading in the Assembly by a majority of 56 to 9. It says little for the . I enberpr.se of South African partoralista that thay were not prepared to compete in price in their own. markets with the products of Australia, which have to be carried over 6000 miles of sea. Nor does it promise well for tho prospects of South African support to the - principles of free^rada within the empire that the imposition of a high duty upon food stuffa should ba the first result of the attempt of a sister colony to establish mutual trade relations". Sir Gordon Sprigg, who is theoretically a freetrader, justified the action of the Capo Government on the ground that the farmers of the colony would be ruined if Australian meat were suffered to c> me free, and that revenue) would consequently suffer. Mr Rhodes and other members of the Government appear to have acquiesced in this view, and in the preliminary debate, of which alone the full account has reached this country, only one member o£ the Assembly (MrTamplin) was found to defend the theory of freetrade and cheap food. Mr Rhodes (Prime Minister) has frankly owned himself to be an opportunist in this matter, and attributes his ability to open the markets of South Africa to the manufacturers of Greab Britain Jarguly to the fact that there are no manufacturing interests to compete with in South Africa. The action of the Cape House of Assembly in the matter of Australian meat shows what is to be expected from Mr Rhodes's Dutch supporters should they at any time believe their interests to bo assailed by a too liberal acceptance of tha economic theories of Great Britain.

MARKET QUIETER,

Wool matters in Worstedopolis from a sheepfarmer's standpoint are disappointing. So far as the raw material is concerned, men are quietly grappling with a re-action, which of course is no pleasant work. The volume of business transacted dv.-ing the past 10 days is found to be perceptibly less than that done before; the holidays, and even then topmakcrs were on the wail Buyers to-day have entirely dihbanded all speculative buj ing, there being a complete absence of this fenture of the market. What buying is done is ac& >mplished in a very quiet manner, without a ripple of excitement in either tops or wool. With a prospect of a good big home clip and a large amouut of colonial wool coming in, there seems to be little promise of any early improvement in prices. In fact, the trtmrudoua quantity of wool in sight for the nexb sale is felb to be a veritable bugbear in the present situation;

it bting apparently sufficient to allay all apprehension of enhanced values, and users are only bojing as they require. Crossbreds have receded " to* the "lowest point of last week, and to-d*y 60s meifno tops are quoted at within of the bottom. The new home clip is comiug on the market more freely, bnt there ia not a great amount of business doing in it on account of the price. The English clip, of course, will clash only with New Zealand grown staple. Purchasing from the country is interfered with by the fact that farmers are holding out for last year's prices, which, if paid, would not permit of a fractional profit in thin market. To-day prices -are : — Downs, B£d to 10J ; Koats, B£d ; fcalfbreds, 8d to B£d. However, with all this record of backward moves evidences are not wanting of an expansion iv other departments. The publication of the declared list of exports to the United States for last month is very pleasant reading even to the colonial woolgrower. Wbile the month of April showed a Blight decrease, the figures published for May show that not only bas this been made up, but the value of Bradford exports to America for last month is actually higher than for any month of the present year, whilst the increase over May 1894 (£420 261 13s sd) is »Ibo the highest ever yet recorded. This shows an increase of 552 per cent., while for the five months ended May 31 — the period of the operation of the new Tariff Act — the total expoit? 'have been £2,284,673 as compared with £408,939 for the same period of 1894. The -mohair and alpaca market is still in a very nervous condition, but prices show no tendency ■to fall, being, indeed, on the up grade, owing to operations abroad. As high as 2ld is being asked for fine hair. All the yarn spinners appear to be well employed, but purchasers, in view of the advances, are chary of placing new ordera. There is an improvement repotted in lhe new lustre business, and the demand for mohair yarns keeps up, spinners obtaining their own terms whsre early delivery is insisted on. In the piece trade business is still very active both for home and export.