OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 17

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) BRADFORD, May 28. THE RECOVERY IN CROSSBREDS. This week holidays have very largely interfered with business, and, after the by no means welcome experience of having to spend nearly a month in Coleman stioet, many members of the wool trade have seen fit to take nearly a full week by _ way of holiday, being encouraged to do tins owing to having an abundance of orders on books, and so being able to get away with freedom, leaving in charge their foremen and managers. It would serve a very useful purpose if we had to take this opportunity of summing up recent experiences; for, after all, it is usually a profitable time to review the immediate past briefly, tor by so doing one is able to shape a programme for the immediate future. The Whitsuntide holiday has provided ample opportunity for reflection, and one has only to review the standard to which wool values have reached to feel satisfied, at what has been done. Prices are not low, but the reverse, for every class of staple, and certainly the outcome of the recent London auctions cannot but satisfy growers, for they have realised values which are certainly highly creditable. W o have been looking over a list of prices, and find that 17id has been paid for New South Wales staple in the grease, 17d to 16d being paid very frequently, while scores of clips have made 15d to Is£d. Among the Queensland greasy wools has been reached for central-grown greasy combing, while amongst the scoureds 2s 7d has been paid for fleece and 2s 4d for broken or pieces; quite a host of clips having sold from 2s to 2s No reasonable man chit find the least fault with such values, and it only servos to show the splendid prices which have been paid for good, clean scoureds. Of course, these are all for a special purpose, and there is more than a grain of satisfaction to be derived from the statement that these wools nave rrone to our Ally, and will ultimately be made into army cloths for the Russian troops.

EXCELLENT STANDING OF MERINOS.

Looking over the situation one cannot but be struck with tho excellent standing of merino wools, and it is remarkable to find nresont prices quite equal to those rulino-* last July before tho war broke out. At tkat time' the market for fine wools was being dictated by the combined buying ability of tho whole of the Continent, Great Britain, and America, mills everywhere being intact and in full working order. To day there is practically little consumptive capacity for merinos outside Great Britain, and one regrets very much that even the mills of the United States are not as busy as they might be—in fact, they must be called very slack. The working out of the recent European array contracts has been an item of considerable concern to many American mills, an important source of revenue and work having been cut off. This means that they are now entirely depending upon their own market for orders, and it is a fact that the American publlo is feeling to-day quite a» acutely tho great European war as we are in this country. English textile travellers who have recently come back from the States say that things are better and more satisfactory hero in England than they are across tho Atlantic, Still, for all that, we find merinos making excellent figures, and one has only to look down in© list of values paid for well-known

clips from Australia to see some big figures paid. Ordinary 54 per cent, clean yield combing wool easily made 13d, and anything giving half-weight commanded often 14jd to 15£d. Very big prices were paid I for New England (New South .Wales) ! merinos, these making from 16cl to oven Riverina merinos making 15d to 16£d { while shafty deep-grown South Australian wools also made 14d to 14gd. I have already indicated the high values paid for Queensland greasy, while Queensland scourcds topped the market, and eclipsed every other class of merino staple. All this is certainly remarkable, and shows that the home trade still possesses a huge amount of buying sti-ength, no doubt the big prices forthcoming for merino tops helping the sale of this class of raw material.

HIGH STANDING OF CROSSBREDS. The outstanding feature of the market today is undoubtedly the position of crossbreds, and hero 1 have something worth chronicling. It is really remarkable to find the crossbred wools of New Zealand occupying the position they do, and to see average crossbreds selling anywhere from I7d to 19d is indeed a remarkable state of affairs. All selling brokers emphasise the recovery at the recent auctions, the writer at the time stating that this was the outstanding feature of the recent sales. Of course, those representing the interests oi growers now strongly maintain that the 2d decline during the first week of the series had no justification whatever, and to a very large extent that is correct. The fact is, that fall was largely brought about by a temporary loss of confidence, together with a strong desire on the part of buyers to pave the way for purchasing the forthcoming English'clip on Bradford terms. I have always believed in growers receiving a full market price for their product; but one must remember that the taking in of big weights of crossbreds at nearly 50 per cent, 'more than at the corresponding series a year ago is undoubtedly a dangerous piece of, business, and were it not for the possibility of the present European war continuing through another winter, we should say that buying crossbreds at to-day’s level of values would indeed be a rather dangerous experiment. Still, I cannot see but that all the wool recently bought will bo wanted, and a reasonable profit made out of it. The recovery in the price of crossbreds was undoubtedly due to things taking a more favourable turn in Bradford, while the rather black time through England and her Allies were passing in Prance, as well as the Dardanelles, settled in the minds of many the impression that the war was not going to be over for many months, enq before long further important khaki orders would have to be placed by the British War Office. These, briefly, are the factors which brought about the reversion in the attitude of the members of the trade, and to-day the market certainly is really wonderful, with so many clips paving been sold at l7£d to 19d. Surely these figures for greasy crossbred fleeces are remarkable. The writer has been talking over the wool situatmn this week with a fairly large North of England sheep farmer breeding pedigree Wensleydale sheep of a very high-class order, which figure prominently at all the leading shows in England. He said that to find English Wensleydale wool in the neighbourhood of Is 6d was to him a new experience, and the same can be said for the English halfbred wools, produced with a cross of the Scotch Blackfaced ewe and the Wensleydale ram. The fleece of this breed is. indeed, a very useful one; but is not so fine as the average Now Zealand crossbred; but, for all that, when greasy crossbred wool figures in the neighbourhood of Is 5d to Is 7d per lb prices cannot in the least be despised. The general utility of crossbred wool has been demonstrated during the past nine months in no slight way, and to-day crossbred wool is n. 9 strongly in demand and going as largely into consumption ns ever, this really being the foundation upon which the recovery in crossbreds has taken place. Everybody knows the important part that crossbred "wool has played in supplying tha requirements of our troops upon the field of battle, and prospects point to that demand remaining as large as evcs\ Novel has the Now Zealand clip moved into customers’ hands as ouickly as the current one, and after next London sales very little indeed will bo left, and no new wool will be available till the following January. Possibly the urgent desire of topmakert and spinners to nut something into stock may have been the cause for several firms buying what they know they will not wan! for some time to come; but all the same they have felt inspired to put good money into wool, and therefore have bought very liberally indeed There are some who are already prophosving dearer crossbred wool in London in July: hut that will depen<| a good deal upon developments. Neutral Continental countries, as well as America, are no doubt feeling the effects of being denied the privilege of buying fair weights of New Zealand crossbreds as they have done in years gone by, but so long as the war lasts Great Britain is certain to insist upon the embargo being maintained; and even then there will be no surplus stocks of Crossbreds.

MANUFACTURING CONDITIONS HEALTHY.

The state of the textile trade is a remarkable one, and all mills are still very busy. I find that overtime is still-general, notwithstanding that most factories havei been standing two days this week. After

being in a hot mill and working anywhere from 12 to 13 hours per day, tactory employees need a little respite; and they went back to work last W ednesday feeling all the better for a two days’ holiday. The price of merino tops is to-day a record, and 3s is quoted almost everywhere in Bradford for 64’s for spot delivery—in fact, many firms have sold as far forward as next August and September at that price for a really tip-top article. Tit ore seems to be a complete absence ol all stocks, and undoubtedly the consumption of merinos is developing. Among several London houses great surprise is expressed at where all the merino wool is going to; but the consumption of thick counts in Leicester is so large that spinners are quite up to topmakers, who seem totally unable to deliver sufficient tops to keep frames running. Of course, the difficulty really is with commission wool combers, and they say they are greatly handicapped by the lack of hands, having much machinery standing every night which ought to be fully run. It is not to-day the price of wool which is determining the actual market value of tops, but machinery and its limited output. There is a huge demand also on export account, which topmakers cannot in the least meet. Therefore difficulty is being felt by many, and much bad feeling is at present in evidence on account of topmakers being unable to carry out their contracts. That is really the situation in merinos, and to a very largo extent it also obtains in crossbreds. Here, again, a strong demand is being experienced for 50 s to 56’s, and more lower qualities are also moving, thanks to continued activity on the part of crossbred spinners. The whole situation manifests great healthiness, and everything indicates a continuance of the present satisfactory conditions. What we want to sea more than anything else is more machinery running in France and Belgium; but that is not to be until the German troops are pushed out of these countries. EXPORT OF PRODUCE. WELLINGTON, July 16. The following are the values of the exports of New Zealand products during the week ended July 13: — Butter £9.412 Cheese 2,607 Frozen lamb 19.478 Frozen mutton ... 12,297 Frozen beef, etc 5.807 Gold i 7,150 Grain and pulse 1,170 Hides and skins ... 8,750 Kauri gum 1,149 Flax and tow 175 Tallow 1,863 Timber 168 Wool 40,050