TIMARU WOOL SALE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 15 December 1925, Page 8

TIMARU WOOL SALE.

TO BE HELD TO-MORROW. The first wool sale in South Canterbury for the season will be held in. jiniaru to-morrow. It .will commence ax 9 a.m., m the Theatre Royal, and if bidding is prompt, it should bo over about 1 p.iii. Tne catalogue comprises 10.783 hales, made up as follows; — C.F.C.A. 2769 bales. Loan Company, 177 bales. Pyne, Gould, Guinness, 2409 bales. N. M. and A. Company, 3408 bales. Dalgety and Co., 2020 bales. The sale will be held in the order set out above.

Nearly all the buyers arrived in Timaru yesterday, and immediately went to tlie wool stores to place their buying limits ou the’various lots, all the wool being well displayed for tlieir inspection. The wool is not in such good, condition this year as it sometimes is, being lighter and much more tender than usual, owing to the very wet winter and the cold spring. Among the buyers who will be in attendance to-morrow will be representatives of Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, America, Japan, Germany and other Continental countries. Just how the sale will go is impossible to forecast, but buyers are operating more freely now, at the reduced limits, which are Bradford values. The bulk of the wool to be offered is of Bradford type—44’s, 46's, and up to 56’s. Included in to-mor-row’s offering will be a small percentage of wool which was held over from, last year. At the different sales already held in New Zealand this season, prices have fluctuated considerably and values have receded from 2d to 3d per pound since the opening sale. At the start. Bradford buyers, who as a rule lift tlie bulk , of the New Zealand wool clip, bought sparingly, the ruling prices then being, apparently, above them limits, but at tlie present level of prices, they are showing a disposition to operate more freely. By some, the opinion is held that values will not improve this seaI son, and the majority of wool growers j seem disposed to face the position and accept tlie lower standard of values, rather than hamper brokers with reserves which are not likely to be readied. There will be very few lots of super wool on offer to-morrow. Prices are expected to be about forty per cent, below those at the closing sale of last season. According to some authorities, / the current season’s New Zealand wool clip will show a big shrinkage in .weight, which is variously estimated at 35,000,000 to 40,000,000 pounds. Taking the smaller estimate, and assuming a bale of wool to contain 3501 b, it means a! shortage of 100,000 bales, which at £l2 10s per bale on the average, means a loss of £1,250,000. It is reported that on the east coast of the North Island the clips aro averaging out close on 21b per fleece less weight than last season. This is the result of the adverse weather conditions during the winter and spring. The loss of weight is due, not so much to condition, as to shortage in length and bulk.