CROSSBREDS STILL HIGH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2762, 20 February 1907, Page 7

CROSSBREDS STILL HIGH.

! If is impossible to look at the past year without nothing- the fact that cros^breds , ftill occupy a front-rank position, and their continuing to hold the first place is a remarkable fact. This is all the more note- , worthy when they have not had the strong. support of the khaki trade which was the ca.se in 1904-5. but still prices are practi- / cally at the highe-si. point they have ever I touched. English sorts are perhaps a ' good z<\ below what they were worth ab shearma time but colonial qualities, which after all bulk the largest, are as high within id as they were last May, when the highest point was touched. Notwithstanding tlic slackness which obtained from June tc November, consumption has . all along been maintained, with the consequent result { hat stocks to-day are within very narrow compass, and in some qualities comple'e'y exhausted. It is certain that there is no more wool available to-day than there was at the end of 1905, trade throughout the whole year being extremely good so

far as regards consumption. - The greatest ' sufferers through the mid-fall have been country dealers who bought at -shearing time, and those who sold in September and October would encounter a serious loss. Their wse has since been vastly improved ! with the recovery of the past month, and before mext shearing they should get out with their purchases without loss in mafty , cases. The following table will explain , clearly how leading descriptions of Fnjrlish wools have fared, the lowest point touched being in October: —

DESCRIPIION. 4 c a a ! i d. 13 Hi 13J 13 I3i 13 14i 3 ill 14 Mi 144 B» 1 d. a 14 13i 144 134 15 ! i<4 Mi 13i ill 15 13i 10 .'8 Lincoln hota ... Lincoln wethers ... 'White super hogs... White taper w ethers Irii-hhogi...' Irish wethers Shropshire hog-i ... thrcpthire wethers Halfbred hojf* H»lffcr«d wethere... Kent wethers Bett N on h hogs ... Yorkshire bogs ... Wiltgshire Down tegs Wiltshire Down ewes Super Stafford hog* Devon greuy cheviot bogs Scotch blackfitced... m m 12* 12 13 12-i m m m Mi 12* 13J 13J 14 14 S d. 15 133 Hi US 15i •44 15} 15 HJ 14 14} 15) 5i !5| 144 104 If* 82