SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Volume 1851, Issue 3809, 15 March 1927, Page 35

SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

(Fbom Ooh Own Cobbeb fond ent.) INVERCARGILL, March 12. Two events of paramount interest to Southlanders have taken place in Invercargill during the week. . The event of commercial importance is the second Invercargill wool sale, which was held in the Victoria Hall on Wednesday evening; the other ‘event was the bourne-Southland cricket match, which was attended by large and very enthusiastic crowds. At the wool sale a small catalogue of 4936 bales was offered to a full bench of buyers, and the bidding fcas very animated, an improvement in prices on the January sale being recorded. Values were well up over a penny in some instances, and northern prices were maintained, and in some eases exceeded, in the course of the sale. The crossbred lots sold somewhat better than they did at the Dunedin sale. Mr John Macdonald, the chairman of the Woolbrokers’ Association, in his official report, said that the buyers operated on limits which compared very favourably with valuations, and an almost total clearance was effected under the hammer. The percentage of passings was, he said., practically negligible. The quality of the wool was inclined to be heavy, as is only to be expected in the case of later clips, and a great deal of the clip could not be compared with the wool offered at the previous sale. The fact that values generally were firmer than in January was given greater emphasis by this feature, and vendors should feel satisfied at the values placed on their offerings. All sections of the trade were operating, but Continental representatives took the bulk of the offering. Bradford, however, was more tgrtive “than at the Dunedin sale, and competition from this quarter assisted materially in keeping prices on a good level. The representatives of this section of the trade bid freely for the better quality wool, and whenever anything stylish and attractive was on offer they were heard to some purpose. Local buyers were operating freely for scouring lots, and their limits were high enough to take a fair share of the wool most suited to their requirements. There was practically a total absence of merino and super wools. The top price of the sale, 193 d. was realised for a lot of five bales of good halfbred binned by Messrs Wright. Stephenson, and Co. (Ltd.), while a line - of similar classed wool binned by the National Mortgage and Agency Company (Ltd.), was close up at 19d. A lot of fine crossbred submitted by Messrs Dalgety and Co. (Ltd.) realised 19d, which, incidentally, is the top price received for this kind of wool over the two sales.

The excellent results of the wool sale enabled country residents to enjoy the cricket match to the. full, and very many who were in town for the sale attended the match on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. The match was played in glorious weather, and resulted in a tenwickets win for the visitors. In the first innings Southland made 126, Groves making a creditable stand. Early on Wednesday afternoon the Melbourne team commenced their innings, and when stumps were drawn were 207 up. On Thursday morning Hendry joined Ransford in a last-wicket stand. It was anticipated that these two well-known batsmen would make a good showing and pile up the runs. Hendry .was opening up well, but after about 20 minutes’ play Ransford was caught and the innings closed for 227. Southland then went in and made a very poor stand, the whole side being dismissed for 109 and the last wickets devolving into a procession. With only nine runs required to win, Campbell ami Dakin commenced Melbourne’s second strike. Southland’s total was passed in a few minutes, and the game thus resulted in a win for the Melbourne team by 10 wickets. The Melbourne batsmen continued by arrangement, and concluded a very pleasant match at it p.m. Hendry delighted the crowd by rattling up a score of 52 in a very short space of time. Included in his score were many sixes and fours, and the well-known batsmau’s effortless cricket and ■ keen style were much appreciated by the cricket enthusiasts present.