CURRENT TOPICS

Southland Times, Issue 17547, 10 January 1914, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS

THE WOOL MARK FT. The wool trade in Sydney in fact, In all thf! Australian markets is dominated by Uie holidays (.says the Sydney Daily Telegraph.) Very little business has been transacted, but the disposal of the balance of the clip will be actively resumed next week. The auctions will be carried on throughout January. Then will follow an interval for the Brisbane sales, and business in Sydney will be resumed on February 9. It is generally expected that a week’s auction sales in February will be sufficient to clear up the balance of the wools in stores. The resumption of business next week is awaited with the keenest interest. Opinions differ as to what the result will be. but there are not wanting critics, both on the buying and selling sides, who see some prospect of better prices. The disinclination to do business during holidays is only natural in an uncertain market, and the reluctance of those concerned in the wool trade in Europe to Instruct their representatives in Australia may, at any rate in part, be attributed to the customary stocktaking at the end of the year. . This raises the question whether it is wise to re-open the selling season too early in Australia, arid whether it would not have been better to have waited another week. Time will show, however, there is no real danger of a serious shrinkage in values, nor any cessation of .buying on the part of any section of the trade. American representatives are still in Sydney, and have not quite satisfied their somewhat restricted requirements. In all likelihood the sales will go forward ’without any material change ; but. should Yorkshire decide,’ even at the eleventh hour, to operate, better prices may be expected as the result of Increased fcompetitioh. The circumstance which would influence matters most would be. a general improvement in the industry in Europe, of which, we regret to write, there Is no indication at present. TRADE PROSPECTS. In a note upon trade prospects generally. the Wellington Post says : All authoritative sources concur in the prediction that trade will be quiet this year, and already there is evidence that this prediction will be amply 'fulfilled. According to recent cable messages the con-

dltlon of the unemployed in Germany, Is the worst since 1908, and the demand for unemployment insurance is increasing. From New 'York it is reported that a widespread slackening of business activity.ls prevalent.Jn' America, just now, and the financial papers insist that the unreasonably inflated rates of wages must be reduced before the cost of living can be lowered. The slackening of the cotton trade boom in Lancashire is evidenced by the closing down of eighteen mills and the throwing idle of four thousand operatives through shortage of work. The wages for men employed in the manufactured iron and. steel trades in the North, of England were in November reduced by 6d per ton for puddling and 5 per cent in other forges and mills. Speaking at Elnwick in the middle of last month. Sir Edward Grey said there were signs that trade ’was on the turn, but Frectrado England would feel the decline later than .Protectionist countries. These facts cannot be ignored, and must not be Ignored by the producers and business men of New Zealand. Declining trade in Europe and America will inevitably react on New Zealand, and it is very probable that we will be obliged to accept lower prices for some of our commodities. But against this must be set the fact that our imports will cost less, although the effect of this will not bo felt as quickly as the fall in the prices of our products. This prospective decline should not occasion any alarm, for if we manage to eliminate extravagance, which is so marked a feature of the economic conditions, the fall in the values of our produce will not affect us seriously.