The Traveller.

Southern Cross, Volume 5, Issue 37, 18 December 1897, Page 6

The Traveller.

AT THE LONDON WOOL SALES.

Mr R. Dewar, of Gore, recently returned from a trip to the Old Country, and has submitted to the inevitable interview. We take the following extract from the Ensign’s report: — As yon may imagine, I seized an early opportunity for visiting the wool warehouses, and looked through Messrs Brown and Eagle’s great stores in Whitechapel. Here I found the bales all numbered, and ranged in tiers of three bales high. Every bale is cut open at the corner, and if the clip bears a well-known brand, it stops at that. Other wool not so well-known to the buyers is subjected to a more severe test, and if a ‘ dag ’ is found where one should not be, the bale is ripped up and the wool dragged out all over the place to see if there is any more of that sort of thing about. I need scarcely say that the sight of a bale ripped about in that manner is a very bad sign, and the large buyers will not look at the wool. This most frequently happens in small lots of greasy wool, and if farmers here only knew the bad effect careless skirting has upon the market, they would at once turn over a new leaf. Provided with sale catalogues, the buyers go round the stores and examine the wool they want and determine the price they will offer. The brokers also go round, and they take from each bale a pound of wool, which is carefully wrapped up, labelled, and stowed away, and can be used to refer to years after the sales. Bach bale is weighed as it comes off the ship, and again when it comes into the store. After each sale, every bale is reweighed and made up to the original weight as near as possible. The different classes of wool are kept distinct from each other in the warehouses, and from what is lying about the floor, having been pulled out in the process of inspection by buyers, the weight of each bale is nearly made up. The sales rake place at the Wool Exchange at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and are the funniest experiences in the commercial line a colonial could have. The auctioneer occupies a kind of pulpit at the back of the building ; in front of him are what look like pews for the buyers and brokers, and further on is a gallery for spectators. As soon as the clock strikes four the fun begins. Talk about a paddockful of football barrackers! Talk about a couple of packs of hounds in full cry ! These are not in it with a wool sale in going order. Each buyer yells his price for lot 1. A hoarse roar ‘six-a-narf’ goes up from about two hundred throats; perhaps someone springs a half-penny, and the roar changes to ‘ seven.’ Finally, the auctioneer looks up, calls out the name of the first bidder he sees and drops his hammer. Immediately that is done, off they go again on lot 2, and the same roof-raising performance is re-eoacted. Previous buyers in all cases get the preference for the next lot offered, and it often happens that a man desiring to secure the next lot, which might be a good line, would bid two-pence a pound more than the value of a small line, merely to become ‘ previous buyer’ when the good line is offered. The sales do not last more than two hours usually, but chey ate decidedly lively while they are on. The different auctioneers sell in turns art'anged before hand, and in the first round they skip the ‘ star ’ lots —that is lines of less than four bales—returning to them when the other lines are quitted. The large buyers do not stay for the ‘ star ’ lots, but there is often livelier competition for these than the larger lines. Thus it is possible that wool coming under the ‘ star ’ category will fetch higher prices than the same quality in larger lots, but it doesn’t happen very often. All the weghing of wool is done by beam scales ; the weighing machine is not med at all. The beam scale, though old fashioned, is always reliable, and as the practice

in wool dealing at Home is to make ‘ a bird ’ of everything, they take no risks of incorrect weights given by faulty weighing machines. Of course, amongst the wool I felt I was. in congenial company, and got a largesized whiff of home when I came across some of Messrs R. and F. Wallis’ wool in one of the warehouses. Mv ‘ woolly ’ experiences in London were amongst the most pleasurable of the whole tour.