EDUCATION IN THE WOOL MARKET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2433, 31 October 1900, Page 16

EDUCATION IN THE WOOL MARKET.

(Tapanui Courier.) One of the most inexplicable things about the wool trade is the rocket-like rise in fine j wool at the end of last year and its equally 1 disastrous fall in 1900. For many years merino wool was specially- low, and 6d per lb ! was often the price of a fair clip. By leaps and bounds this class of wool went up last season until ; 16d was touched in this colony for greasy ; but the opening sales in- London , in 1900 showed a sharp c fall, and down-grade ! was the order of the day antil last week's 1 sales, when bedrock seems to have been reached. The Moa Flat estate clip was sold in London at the opening of the present aeries for 7J,d, or equal to 6£d here ; and considering that Is pel lb was obtainable for the whole of this clip in New Zealand in January last, the fall is fully equal to 50 per cent. on fine wool. At the opening sales on the "other side last week the marltet was very unsettled, and at Melbourne and Sydney about half the offerings were sold, merinos and fine crossbrecls showing a. decline of 45 per cent, on last year's opening rates. In coarse wool the fall is not so serious, and at present the value of good wool in Tapanui district is for fine 6cl pel lb, medium to coarse crossbred" sd, and out of condition poor stuff 4d. Graziers who sold to private buyers on the ground last year had all the best of the deal in comparison with those who sold at auction in Dunedin. Some private buyers and speculators were very hard_ hit over last year's wool transactions, and it is Questionable if so many will put in an ap-

pearance this year. The failures amongst wool speculators in the Home country have been numerous, and at Roubaix, in France — the Bradford of France — the staplers were pretty well bankrupt. The leading French 'banks lent assistance to the strongest of the wool merchants, and the panic id over ; but Australian advices state that the Continental bviyers are very shy this year. The London and Bradford market opfeiations are marked by extreme caution, and from present appearances graziers here who produce bright^ well-grown crossbred wool will get in the neighbourhood of 6d per lb, whilst inferior wools will sell at from~4d to sd. Of course the world's market may alter between this and the opening sales in December, but no immediate rise is indicated.