CROSSBRED WOOL PROSPECTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 4

CROSSBRED WOOL PROSPECTS.

The London correspondent of the Town and Country Journal, Sydney, in his lettei* under dale September 22, gives some cogent reasons why, there is likely to be an improved demand and slightly better helling prices for even medium grades of crossbred wool. After discussing the question as to the supply of demand, and improved prices for merino and lino crossbred wool, he says : "At the same time it is also satisfactory to note that there is some evidence of improvement- in medium and coarse cros-sbreds, but at present it is impossible to see how this class of wool can just y.*t materially improve, as there is no doubt that both in New Zealand and the Argentine the production is bound to increa&e with the expansion of the frozen meat trade. A change of fashion would stirnulotc consumption, but the increase in production that must be looked for must largely tend

to keep down values, even with an increased ' consumption." He gives the price list cur- , rent in September., since the last merino boom, as follows: Contrast for Standard Qualities.

Looking more particularly at crossbred wools (the 40's top 3 class), he says: "The! situation shows on all hands a highly en- I couraging face to your Australian, and j especially -New Zealand, growers. Not that | they are on the high road to prosperity for medium and coarse sorts — far from it," but | in these days of adversity for this class of 1 wool, we must feel thankful for small mercies, and any rise at all is, indeed, inspiring. As I look round 1 1 honestly think we have at last rounded the corner, and • that the future is brighter for this grade of [ stock. Tha best feature of the situation is th? largely increased inquiry we have lately seen in Bradford and district for "wools of 40's and upwards, and the keen competition seen in London is strong e^jdeneo of the real position of' ihe article."' The growing popularity fof crossbred wools \ he attributes to the ■ very extreme , lavel to which merinos have gone, and which Uias forced manufacturers to iurn their attention to a cheaper article. When merinos jump from 20d to 51 d per lb for 60"s tops, tHs means an advance of from Is 3d to Is 6d per yavd in the manmactured cloth. The writer of the letters under notice goes on to explain that if top- • makers and spinners enforce the i grtstly increased prices on the cloth manufacturers that they are in oxxvy bound to enforce, then the manufacturer has no other alternative but to enforce his enhanced price upon the merchant, and here is where - the shoe pinches most. " What is your next lower quality?" are the word's which have been used in thousands of instances during the past tw,o months, ' while the manufacturers lrtve been showing their samples for ihe next spring reason, and the question has had to be met with the production of serges and vicunas made from wools of from 40's to 50's quality. It must nos be forgotten ,that between \at least 5'J to 75 per cent of the clothing us?ff at present is mads up by the many wholesale clothiers whose -first business is to cater for fh'i million, and they know that- the question of price is the firslf essential,-,,more than fine or medium material, in determining ! their trade .with the workers of both' Great ' Britain, and other countries.. Three or four 1 I years ago the cheapness of fine, soft" goods < I caused consumers' tastes to go. on\to me- \ I rinos from the long-worn crossbred gar- " j ments, by way of a phange, but the price I now being asked for fine goods is sufficient to make men say, "No, thank you," to entreaties to follow in the wake of the present largely-increased rates. "It is," tha writer proceeds to say, " therefore, easy to sea how the advanced prices of fine goods ax 2. now causing many fabrics to be put on the ' .shelf ' ; in fact, I have been told re- j peatedly during the* past month by travel- . lers that they are finding many cheaper crossbred cloths being taken ud in pre- j ference to the fine cloths of last season." . The great margV there is between merinos and crossbreds will hasten matters. The difference in their relative positions as before set forth is greater than at any previous time, and the margin of 20d per lb between a 40's crossbred top and a 60's .' is, indeed, out of all proportion. Then, again, a very hopeful sign of the times is the returning prosperity to the '. Scotch Cheviot trade. It is years 1 since Scotch manufacturers were so busy, 1 th* Leeds and Huddersfield manufacturers, I with their cheap fancies, almost swamping I their trade. Now is the opportunity for ■the Scoten Cheviot fabrics, and there seems a tendency on the part of the makers • to rise to the occasion. Of course, the - present high prices of all fme clothp* is at - ■their back, and in many cases price- per yard is settling fabrics with the wholesale buyers. ' In the - manufacture of "coarse and .medium quality tweed,' colonial crossbred I wools largely enter, and once set them agoingand soon some difference will be seen - in consumptive demand as well as price per lb for the raw article. In concluding his letter, the correspondent Of the Town and Country Journal warns colonial sheep-far-mers that they are not to entertain too high hopes of seeing any boom in crossbred' wools. In Great Britain large accumulated stocks of these were held in September, the English clip was also then largely 1 •in farmers' hands and the South American was being shorn. On all sides there was an increasing supply of coarse and medium crossbred wools. At the same time the outlook was better than" it had been during the 18 months preceding, and now that prospects are better, all may confidently | look forward to further improving values.

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