OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2205, 4 June 1896, Page 6

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

(From Oun Special Corbespondent.) Bradford, April 10. LONDON V. COLONIAL WOOL SALES.

There can be no doubt that the vexed question of which is the best; market for growers to sell their clip in is perhaps one of the foremast of the hour in colonial pastoral quarters The British Australasian in a recent number says that " it was iv 1860 that local (Australian) sales firsb were evolved, though for 20 years afterwards the business done was exceedingly small. About 1800, continental houses, seeing a larger field for their operations ia direct buying, opened branches in Australia, and the great wool homes o£ Sydney and Melbourne brought pressure upon their country friends to consent to have their wool sold locally. At the present lime the volume of Australian sales amounts to close upon half of the total annual wool clip, a position of off -urs which naturally tends to excite the London broker to indignation. The advocates of local selling advise their clients that with the aid of the cable all the circumstances that; go to constitute the business position at any given time are as well known in the colonies as they are in London ; the squatter himself in ni*ny cases is inclined to know his fato right off ai fco tho proceeds) of his fleeces. The local sales are held from about October to January, and in this period of three mouthß all the wool purchases of the year have to be made.

" Opponent? of local selling maintain Ih&t the larga continont-1 buyers ara abe to influence the colonial markets in their favau"-, and that ifc is imprudent on the part of squatters to rush off their clip in the short ppriod covered by the sales. By doing so they introduce the element of speculation into the market, as it is impossible for them to know in advance the conditions of supply and demand which regulate the standard values for wool in the manufacturing centres of the world. . . . But ia the meantime we presume the question at issue is simply one of comparative financial results of the two systems. If the wool-grower gel 3 year by year better account sales from the London brokers than he does from the Sydney or Dunedin wool house — after bringing the accounts to & parity — he is a very foolish man if he decides to sell his wool locally.

•• Kb is a matter of common knowledge to all who have auy thing to do with the wool trade that the avowed object of the gentlemen who buy at the opening sales in the colonies is to crush the continental markets for ' tops,' so that they may be able to operate cheaply daring the colonial season. Last season the auctions at Melbourne opened fully 10 pec cenb. under the accepted levels of prices in Europe. Owing to the welcome intervention of America the dreadfully low July pi ices had rebounded in England some 30 per cent;, by September, but the prices at the opening of the colonial auctions did nob, properly respond, and thereby the weakness of the local selling system is revealed. It was well known at Home last autumn that the _tate of the market was sound and prospects excellent, and this consideration Bhould have guided the sales in the co'oaies. We have heard of instances of wool bought at the local sales selling in London from 4d to 5d more for scoured and 2d to 3|d for greasy wool, and, generally speaking, handsome proQfca have been realised on colonial purchases. This is bad business for the grower. Its is said that the advance could nob have been foreseen— a rather fatal objection to the whole system of local soiling, and the reflection forces itself forward that it is a mistake to plank down all ene's wool bales in a given spot for forced sale. In the game between the colonial grower and the continental speculator the

latter has the odds in bis favour ; ho is acquainted with all the tricks of the trade, and he has not taken the trouble to go to Australia unless he can score points that were not obtainable at the London market, where we imagine every section of the trade meets on equal terms. The poor pro- i ducer is confused with 'options,' 'futures,' •bears,' and the paraphernalia of th? gambling crew, and as the London market is the haunt of the legitimate buyer — the manufacturer — it I must stsnd to reason that better returns year in, year out will be aftK.rded tban flow from tho patronage of the speculator who buys in the colonies. Speculation injur«s^the trade in many waya both for grower and spfnner, and it seems tome that the wool-growers in the colonies will best be consulting their interests by sending their wool to the market most free from the operations of the gambler, and where competition from all quarters is brought to bear upon the wool." As showing emphatically what " direct " ehipi in en 161 6 have done for tbe Bradford market, let | svery rqn&tter digest the following table of j average BO's Australian tops : — Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apl. d. d. d. d. d. d. "d ~d7" 122 21 19 W 19* 18$ 19Jr 19J And still wool is 20 per cent, higher in London to-day thanlast September. Thsfactis "direct" Australian shippers have confessed to having made handsome profits even oub of the abovo figures. And still we are blandly told colonial values are always on a par with London — what rubbish !