Sheep Dips. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2244, 4 March 1897, Page 6

Sheep Dips. TO THE EDITOR.

g IB) _I hare read " Sheep-farnoer'* " letter iv the Witness of December 31 regarding sheep dip, and I qnite agree with him. It is the came as Wilson's sheep dip, which was extensively ueed <ra the Borders over 40 years ago. I gofc the constituents from a chemist — £lb acaenic to lib of soda, with Bofb soap. It was molt effective, and left the wool in as fine condition as any dip I have used, the only drawbftok being tiae bid effect; upon the men when

tbe sheep were hand-dipped ; bat here, where ' thfy ar« put through without handling, that objection need non bo against it, and the saving of the money would be considerable, as " Sbeep-farmer" points out. — I am, ka , Glen Murray, February 12. T. M.

WOOL— RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. ' Old Time has brought us to the close of , another jear, and it will be usfeful to give a write up of what h&s passed during 1896 in the wool trade of this large onauniing centte. It was never anticipated that 1898 would show tuch a s*ti»fuctory record as that which narrated the annals of 1895. Tbftt year was marked by not only extraordinary bttsvoew, bufcaho by exceptional prices, due to a ooinbiu»tiou of circumstances not likely to l»t v forl<jag. There was tbe rush from America, ; doe to the lower tariff, and the favours of fickle Fashion. This year, howsver, the ordinary trade with the United States has fatleo off enormously, and fatthioo has nob been so pronounced in Bradford* favour as in 1895. Where there is not the demand for the manufactured article tbers is naturally not the consumption of raw material, aud as compared with the year pre\iou* the turnover for the last 12 months has been considerably less in volume, in addition to much larger stocks beam held orer. In English wool tbe fluctuation* in lu'tce descriptions are probably most illustrative of the state of trade, uot only during this, but also list; year. Take Liucoln bogus, which a> ths beginning of the year stood at Isd : tbey steadily pursued a downward course until tha beginning of August, by which lima they had reached lid, or a full of ab'iut 25 per ocnt. This also indicates pretty generally the condition of tha dress goods trade. Lincoln wethers began at 11-jW, *nd taking., a similar course to hogg?, reacued 9|d in June. Happily since then they have somewhat reoovored, aud as the year closes they are worth 10£ d, or within a -£d of hogg* — a fact due, lkl, doubt, to the imptoved state of the braid yarn trade. It is worthy of notice that the difference at tha beginning of ih» year between hogga and wethers w«s no less than 3£d. In dfmi-iustres, values h&ve fallen from 10 to 15 per cent. (Irish fell about IS per cent.), j but in no other chases of d«mi-lusbr«s has the { fall been to great. Konts, for insUuoe, which I in January stood a*i ll£tl, ar» vxlued to-day at 10£ d, and though they atone time touched so low a point as lOd, there was not « large quantity sold at that ngura. Shropshire hoggs have been very much neglected through- : out tbe year, and probably tha price of 12d quoted in January was quite nominal. At lOJd, the present value, there has been some busmes* doing for export to America. Oth* r Down description* have fallen, comparing the end with the beginn'n?, to the extent of about ! 5 per cent.,- although tbejr have been quoted at lees. The prices ruling iv the various ' clashes of Home-grown wool* in each month of the present year wefa as folio we : —

Any observations on the English wool trade this year would be incomplete without allusion to the action of farmers in tenaciously holding lb°ir clips. It will be remembered that during 1 1895 'a marked demand wa« experienced exactly ' at clip-time, and farmers were cleared out of their stocks with a rapidity which had not been equalled for perhaps 20 years. For lustres ab { that period the formers received from lid to I2d per lb, and the fact that this material wa* subsequently sold *t from 14d to 16£ d caused tbe gcotrers no small annoyance. They evidently agreed among themselves that they had been bitten, and made up their minds thu year to be more shy, and to ineist on having such a proportion of the profits as they considered they were entitled to in 1895. They were accordingly keen and determined in their demands, and even at times hardly approachable, j However, to-day, tbiuking it wise to hold no j longer, some farmers are showing signs of j giving way, bob as a consequeuce of their action in holding there is probably a larger stock now held over the country than has been the. case for many years. , During the course of the year now doling the ebb and now of" demand fot colonial wool

' and tops have been considerable. Prior to the middle of last year the trade had almost come to look upon dec'ining values as tbe normal condition of things, bat it will be remembed that up to October of that year colonial tops showed a phenomenal increase in values ; bub thence onward there was a stradv decline, and at tho beginning of the year 1896 prices were still falling. Large quantities ot wool had been used, but the fact that a shorter clip from Austra'ia by aboub 150,000 bale* was recorded kept wools from being plentiful, and went toward* checking the downward tendency. Bufc for this there is little dou.t colonial tops would have falkn to toe loweat point of 1894-. Trade on tbe whole has been quiet during the year, with a gradual decliue in rates with bub one or two exceptions. By August the lowest pric:s of the year had been retched, bufc in November, as a diteot result of the Amerioan eleatiou, there was & partial recovery, which, however, -was soon lost, aud the closing prices to-day are probably a* low »s anything recorded during the year. The following table dhows tho detailed movements during the year of tho pcinoipal grades of colonial topi : —

" Bac what of the future? As wo must look for the cause of tho evil before we can apply the remedy, so hero the ctuse of failure must be soberly remedied if the wool trade of Bradford is to again rise. Undoubtedly tha groat cauio of Bradford's quietness has been the greatly lessened demand for textiles for America. When we have returns showing a decrease o{ nearly two millions sterling in exports to that country it B»y» much for the sickened times we have had. But it is firmly believed that before long a revived condition of things will obttivn in Bradford, and judging by M-K.inle;'« attitude towards tbe tariff it it expected tome big toiug* will bff'done by way of exports before loog. Other trades are busy, and the outlook for the future of wool is here considered fairly bright.

ianuavy February ... March Lpnl Hay Fuae fu'y ... *.u«uat September ... "Ictober November . . . December ... Bmj§>8 m j§> a p { d. ~d7~i 15 I 11* Hi Hi 14 11 14 It 13 ]OJ! 12 i 10 lli W« 11 10 n 9i 11 10J in ioj 11 I 104 o W I i d. 1 12 12 Hi ioi If* 10i 10i' ! loy Mi 10i 101 i i f M d. Hi i! 1 10J 10J ' 10 101 1 10 ' 10 101 101 m o 2 in 10i 10i 10$ 10i 10 9? 10 10 10 10i lOi »■ o 5< Sg o 2 ja /J d. 12 .Hi! n ii 10! 10ij 10| n ioi ii 101 « A) W d. 11 ] 10} i 104 lIP |S 10* 101 Mi ;ioi J & P a. !I l wi iot 10i lQfr 11 11 11 11

(FaoM Our Special Corbesfoxdjbnt.) Bradford, December 31

Month. ,30' a 40's Ma j 50'b rf. 16 16 16J ie| 151 ill 151 15? 16} 151 56's ~dT 17! 17} \n !!?! 17* 17 17 17* 17 SCO's j |70' a January ... Ftbraary ... Match ... April May... ... Juno July August ... September October ... ?>iQVfci«ber... December... d. i d. 15 • 15} 14J 15 Hi 15 Hi 15 U • Hi m m I3J 133 12* 131 Hi 13J I3i 13} l'J 13J 12J 131 ! 15 16 15i 151 in >4l Hi Hi 141 14} 14} Hi 18* m la m ! W 131 18 18 18 181 d. 20J *H : 204 20 194 194 19i in 19 19 101