MERINO WOOL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12584, 23 January 1905, Page 4

MERINO WOOL.

WITHDRAWALS AT CHKISTCHUBCH r. SALE. MRLILLICO ON THE QUESTION. The. Cbrktchurck wool sales, he!d last week were characterised, by very restricted competition- for merino wools, mack the greater part of the wool of that class offered tailing to reach growers' reserves. Several large lots were withdrawn, and are, it is said, to be shipped to London. . The "LytteKon Times" stated that "for two or three years past, the colonial mills have paid for merino wool prices which were actually in excess of the London valne, and in the anticipation of the continuance of this good market a ranch larger quantity than usual of the. article has this season beeDput- into the -colonial sales. The manufacturers, however, have followed the lead of their competitors abroad in using cheaper raw material for their goods, and some of them have also, it is reported, endeavoured to make themselves independent of New Zealand woolgrowers by importing wool.from Australia. "The increased supply and the diminished demand have combined, to cause a slump in merino, although tfie prices which can still be realised locally, compare very well with London values." Mr j. LQlico, of the South Canterbury Woollen Manufacturing Company, was present v at tie Christchurch sales, and in an interview with a "Herald" reporter, he made |ne paragraph quoted the text for some remarks upon the sale. He spoke first of tfie importation of wools from Australia, a matter which was, he thought, quite wrongly represented by the paragraph. Only one mill in the colony, a southern one, had been bringing wool from "the other side," and no great quantity had been imported in any case. That mill required, for special purposes, a class of fine combing merino, and combing "quarterback," which are produced in New Zealand only in small quantities. What they require over and above the locally grown wool of the class is therefore fetched from Australia, when a good deal of it is grown. Some time ago, some parcels of Australian wool were sent over to test the New Zealand market, and that this was disconv tinned should be proof enough,that the wool was not needed here. In if Australian wool were being used here in any quantity, the growers aver there would be shipping it to the'" New Zealand users had to send for it as. | they-needed it. Certainly none was-Mised? im the Timaru milL and MriLOJico knew of no' other than the one he had referred to that usedjit, and their importation of it "had extended oyer only two or three years. This importation could never interfere with the demand for merino wool here. . The-colonial, mills had 5 for two or three years, paid prices in excess of London values, and this Mr Lillico exp'ained as follows. The whole year's snpplv of raw material has to be purchased by" them *> the beginning of the season, from Novemb?r to ifeoruary. while in London moothlv sale* enable_the consumers to take their wool whenrthey need it at ruling prices. The colonial" buyers must, therefore, artic'pate the nualities, and th& quantities of those qualities, likely to be needed during t)i<> season. It was qnite likeV that thev mirV buy heavily in crossbreds, and find merinos in dem-tnd dnrinet the n„-T «., ;,,. short of the latter at <Fi e e-rf nf the rrrThus merinos and fine half breos would be run after at the beginning of the next seison, and the prices were almost sure to eo »oove -what would rule in Loudon for the *

Game classes. Ifhis had actually taken place this season at the second Christchurch sale, in some instances Home buyers had stopped bidding at say lOd on some half bred lines. Two or three colonial mills, however, eager to take up fine wool, added from id to Jd to that price. • The large quantity of wool sent forward at this sale was, of course, due to the high prices ruling here. It was a good deal more to the taste of growers to put the wool into a market where they were almost certain of n good pike, than to ship it Homo to take' the' risk of a big drop; which would be almost inevitable under certain circumstances. This might be called a year for selling locally, as far as the growers were concerned." A slump might come atany moment, at least in coai3e wools, in the event of a cessation of the Russo-Japan-ese -war.

As for using cheaper material, Mr Lillico characterised the idea as quite misleading. The colonial .mills could not obtain cheaper material, as far as he knew, than the wool they had been getting all along, and as a matter of fact, buying a cheaper grc-de of raw material did not-by any means lead \o a cheapened product. At the last Timaru sales, the local mill topped the market, with Hid for a lot of good merino wool.

Crossbreds were in great demand at Home, on account of the requirements of belligerents in the way of blankets, etc., and also because fashions -were changing in favour of tweeds instead of the worsteds that have held sway for ydare past-.. In this colony, however, the fine, wools, were still on top,-and about two-thirds of the New. Zealand consumption consisted of fine grades. Mr Lillico said that though the demand and the prices offered for merino wools were below what were expected by sellers, he did not think the change in the market amounted to a elump. The owners put big reserves on their lots, and large quantities came forward. Most of the Home buyers had been "operating in coarse wools, leaving the fine wool to be absorbed by colonial buyers. Tins could not- be done, and a lot of the wool remained unsold.

Mr Lillico thought that as soon as the war in the East stopped, coarse wools would go down, and the fine sorts would be in demand. There was plenty of room in the market for wool; there was recently estimated to be 300,000 bales short in London", 191,000 "bales of the shortage being in Argentine wool, the rest in the other colonies' supply. In view of this shortage, and the extraordinary demand for coarse wool, it was little wonder prices were up at Home.