OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14235, 1 March 1917, Page 4

OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

>m. r— ' A MKKIOAN OWNED UUX&BItEDS ! i>OU> AT PROFIT. (Special Correspondent.) LONDON, December 21. The final series of the year, whose upeiiing wo mentioned m our last week's letter, has been a remarkable one m many ways, Last Thursday the exigencies of . the mails prevented »more than a slight mention of what transpired at ,tlie initial sale^ and in' supplementing ; what" \vas ; .then said, wo might mention jtlint the appeal to. the buyers, by tlie chairman ' of the Colonial " Woolbuyers Association, has generally been con- j sidered & very good suggest idn. ■ ...In, Liverpool, at the East India wool which • cfosfd 'last Week, the huy■esiv jwe're required to sign guarantees, *tat jng tl At they' were regular purchasers, that their # purchases were ijormal, and that., they held actual consuming orders, for the amount bought. The} Government imposed these, restrict tiu.n^'m .to cut out all speculation from ' the market, though it .might Wpoitfeed out that there are drawbacks to this method. It . means that mills, .cannot r buy more, wool i'tyey- need fpr -ot^eh Actually m; hajid, and this ,iii tuianf wilUipreyent them giving quotations td» clorh merchants for, goods for future delivery. The only, way they can d,o is to ask big prices for the cloth. they ■sejU, iorwa^a, so tha.* they will be sure to ; be able' to cover m the raw maternal at.a prpnV If they could buy material' jiiowy and from this cost work out' .that ,of,t he .fabrics,, it -is quite possible, they, .may be able to quote less money. . How.tever that may be, the Government has decreed that they should only buy, for •orders, actually m band,, and tfye a,bove giiarantees^were i-equired. >■' The,, chairman :of Jhf , Colonial tyoolbuyprft' ■ Assedation.pointed out m .London last week that, the .Army -Contracts' Department has ., announced t^at it lias, powder to impose such, reßti'ictioiiß on .the sa(e jof Colonial wool also, and, would prob&bly do, so if ,, prices e*ceed«?d fll .bounds. If the market- ran wild, the. ibuyers, would Jiav« ouly themselves to blamp, fo } he eaid, . if the Government stepped m and,, Restricted their wopera--tionsi He., pointed out -that anx man- who .buys : . wool for ( ' speculation , at 'these i$ playing the ,fool, which ;is .pretty strong , language , for any ; ma^i to use to a room full -of members of. the' trade; Still, no one. found fault with it. It was a plain Y<orkshireman's way of putting things, and was quite coifrect. He also pointed out that all woo. shipped before November 23 wpuld. probably vcpme into users' haniln ?a the usual, way, and. that , the > quantity so .shipped, was about. 200*00 bales. , These announcements together had the (effect- of causing a number, of buyers to hold their hands, and: his appeal (to let ,thpse people who actually had machinery to keep .coipg, fill their needs first) was responded to m some measure, the writer knowing one or two topmakers, who, though ttliey had valued several lots .md i^ere ready to buy them, withdrew their limits m order to let mills have the lirst chance. X ' ■ . , : ■ SLOW SALE. : The opening day's sale, like most of .t hose that iiave followed it, was very frequently of a dragging nature. When :pricea were 50 pc? cent, or more below what they are to-day, we saw more ex. cited , competition and far brisker . sell^ in**. It takes a long time now to go tlu'oUgh catalogues, considering, what r wool. there is oifered, which is only natural k seeiug that any man Will think •twioe beforo paying t«-day'« -prices. Ul .course, another r"baion' why .the sales arfe so slow, is that the work of the selling .brokers has been made more onerous, because there* are very, few marks indeed (m, the catalogues of which more tbjui half, a dozen successive lots are offered. We- should say that there has never been a series of London salea before at wiifeh there; were so many'' different brands to the page, and it i» always, easfer to »elt straight clips than a lot of varied «p>»culatorß' wools. ; These take more valuing, and there is more hesitancy m the selling of therii also. Although the Krst day, was the cheapest of the series, the final auctions of the year being like almost every oilier series m this respect, the market has been irregular, though always', strong. There is a disposition 6u ths part ot everybody to, pay as reasonable prices as: possible, although when two tmyers are kfen on one lot,. 'the price paid betrays the fact ' th'^t botji of them ' are ready to pay considerably rtiore than t.he usual market level. It is these odd lots that occasionally jump up to 20 pea- cent, above November rates, but they aj» not numerous,. ahd the market cannot be quoted acobrding to them. TJicy jusj, show what would ltappen if buyers all went furious for wool. '" ' .MBRINOB MOSdDLy SCDUIUCI). Good greasy combing merinos have been m woi^se supply than ■ fpr. any series of sales this year. There have been ao really good wools, submitted, although two lots ot Burenda -made 2s 9Jd, this" wool bein£ vrprth about 2s, 4^d. : !a^t seiies.: Sti]l,^t was not reajly superior, only what might be called goqd combing. If .wjliad had a few lots of , West Victorian., as ,w|a> .the case last sales, and which then sold at 2fQ\,'h M : ould probably have , had to be reobrdeJ m this that 3s 3d had beeu paid, for greasy merino wooL As it is, the offerings have been moet iinsatisfactory, ajid cy s en teajder. dusty Queensland 70s. of- mbd : crate .length, but ouly . yielding about 44 per cent, have sold, .around 2s 2A, Australian merinos have bean m buc|\ small supply that even the Cape offerings have equalled them, and for, ijouth African gi^ea,sy combJiig.2« 2id has been paid, this bjjng.a record price. Very burry Sydney wools, yielding around 39 per cent., and both sandy .and yolky, have sold at Is 9d, and surely never before have such values, been made. Compared with last series the ■advance In all greasy. wools i* abopfe 15 ,pw cent., the faulty classes appreciating least. ..»;•'• Most of the meiino offerings have been scoured, and rapat of the soour«ds>, speculators' wools; It. seems strange that the Government yihould desire .to «top speculation and yet allow the sale of all these lots,, hut there is a ramor that selling, brokers have b*en asked by the War Office to .clear out alj these Voola' into consumption, aa quickly as possible, and start, the offering of" Government wool with a clean sheet. In sooureda also the market is- a., very irregular one. ; Oood Queensland bulky 70's have sold it 48 5d and. somewhat sticky New South Wales ,66' Si at 4s 9d. One lot of .fctfbb ''■ super combing, made 4s ,11W, a price which was beaten the diy following by a lot of Clyde merinos, also from victona, M-hicJi.Bold at 5s 2d. Nor way, this record to last very long, for two or/threo ;days late^r another Jot of the- Gibb Wools, scarcely better than =the first, made 5s 3d. which is a price that still ■ stimda highest. It is neai-ly thirty years since 5s OJd was paid foracoured wool m- London, and oi<e wonders if this record 1 price of 5«. 3d will stand for another thirty. Adelaide scoured, merinos of the GTJ/H 'mark, which, thquph it m one of the best marks that comes from Adelaide, is never considered m the fame light an the crack Victorian and Queensland lines, .sold at 4s 3Jd, but another lot of GMH&S, also Adelaide, equally good to all appearances, only made 4s J.d. One can hardly, gay \vhere the' market is m scoured wools,. as some, lota show about 4d per lb. advance and others 84. There have beeu f fair quantities scoured locks, (jhiefjy, from Queensland, it being -staged .tjiat iljese Mere .bought by GermaiiV, Bhip|}ed op the l&be inland , v a Gcrma.u.poat whicji made for'Suinatra or Konie other Eaßlern , pprt for safety at the outbreak of war. It has ,taken about two years to get the wool here to London, and, the of transport amount to almost about \ialf the valiie oi the wool even at tp-d i ay.!s high level. It 'there had been no rise, thosje \^'ho ad-, Vanced the money to tHe German buyer's, and to secure return of which they have taken the wools for sajle, w-oulcj.^ajsfe.had a big loss to f&ce. ' ' In scoured merinos also, the all round, advance is usually about 15 per cent. CROSSBREDS. There have been considerable quantities of greasy crossbreds submitted,

but rII of them -specula tors) wooIa; P»y- --! e.rs "haye 'kept asking where all these •wjere doming from, for most of them .have been between 44's and 50's quality ,and fairly light- m. condition. The answer 'is „ that a "number of firms who had bought these wools for America are reselling them after holding them ten or eleven months, 1 and are of course doing sq at a profit, a thing they never hoped for two months ago. Quite a usual price for medium quality wools is Is lid, while some of the best greasy 58's have sold at up to 2s s£d. The tops from thia wool will^ost about 5s 2d.. In slipes too, the advance hag been ,mpst pronounced m classes abqve,46's quality, and this, is .tlje, case m scouvftcls also.. New Zealand jflooured. 58' s haye s sold at up to 3* lid; good 48V 3« Id. Some big figiires too haye.iVepn^tpiicljed f or sliped ; wools, ■half -bred la,mbs onpe making; 2s lOXd, And very good tjireenquarter-bred^, lOd. In, Australian ., crossbredg. even > bigger ijgures have been . made, the^ Sandown ,cpmebacks, really 60's,. selling, at 4s 6£d, super crossbred, 60's, to, 66's. 3sv.<6^d-to 3s ; 7d. and orossbved wethers, good 56's, ,very ; bulky, 4s 2d. For all crossbred ,woolr., there -has' been ample competition •but no wild excitement, and all, t^ngs .considered v the market has kept" within bounds better than anyone ever honed ,for. tin the Rhabbiei* cla«ses, probably 10 .per cent. will;c^)vter the advance, Wt m •mo«t it must be put down at around 15, as '« merino*-,. „ i The sales, closed yesterday, though by being delayed last .Saturday through .fogi they slVould really have adjourned to-morrow. 'Vhe second part of the. series will not begin on. December 28, but January 4, as the (lovemmenlj arrangements m connection with the recent re■((ui.citionin<; have not been completed. Pivihably aboiit 40,0C0 balea of new wool will be offered m the second half of the 'series. . .•..;....-<