30,623 BALES OF WOOL IN CATALOGUE FOR WANGANUI SALE

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 November 1948, Page 4

30,623 BALES OF WOOL IN CATALOGUE FOR WANGANUI SALE

An offering of 24,856 bales of new season’s wool and 5767 bales of stock wool on behalf of the Joint Organisation, comprises the catalogue to be auctioned at the Wanganui Woolbrokers' Association’s first sale of the current season in the Opera House on Friday. The sale will begin at 8 a.m.

The first Dominion wool sale was held at Auckland on November 22 when prices fully on a par with the opening sale of the previous season and lining up well to the current London values were realised. In spite of the exchange adjustment, some prices were higher than in the previous year. This sale was followed by the Napier sale last Friday when values at Auckland were maintained asd prices generally were considered most satisfactory for growers. Growers and brokers are looking forward to Friday’s opening Wanganui sale with a certain amount of confidence. The London market is generally strong and a similar condition has been reflected in the opening Dominion sales resulting in a spirit of optimism among farmers. This week buyers representative of the English, Continental. American, Canadian and New Zealand wool manufacturing interests will be busily engaged in inspecting and valuing the clip at local wool stores where there has been much activity of recent weeks. A lot of the new wool is skirted after being received from farmers for the benefit of accurate sorting and clean wools has been forcibly demonstrated in recent years. Clean, even quality wool justifies the extra effort and cost in the higher prices it commands. A consederable amount of Joint Organisation wool accumulated during the war years still remains to be sold. Large amounts of stock wools, some being from as far back as the 1942 season, are offered at each sale and to date has met with a ready market. The object of the Joint Organisation is to dispose of these stocks without jeopardising the market for current season’s wool. , J.O. ACTIVITIES. During the recent sitting of the Royal Commission on the Sheep Industry in Wanganui, tribute to ' the work and planning of the Joint Organisation was paid by Federated Farmers in its evidence. It was pointed out that the potential of a disastrous marketing policy by al! ..’ool producing countries was ever -resent with the overburdened stock pile A repetition of the troubles which were experienced after World War I could easily have occurred. The chief factor in the success of Joint Organisation, stated Federated Farmers, was orderly marketing. The calibre of the men selected to run the organisation and the minimum of interference by the Governments of both producer and consumer countries were also important factors.

“We feel that we have a lessen to learn from the work of the Joint Organisation and that if we can apply the principles which actuated that organisation co the meat industry it will be a big step forward,” stated the evidence. The second Wanganui sale of the current season will be held on February 1. The third sale will be held on March 11 and the final sale on May 9. VALUE OF WOOL TO CITY. The value of the wool-growing industry to Wanganui can be gained from the fact that the sales of wool at Wanganui last season totalled the record figure of £3,242,664 for 1'10,391 bales of wool. The previous record was £2,489,173 for the 1943-season when the wool was sold under the appraisal scheme which operated during the war years. The average price for wool sold at the five Wanganui sales last season was 22.029 d a pound, giving an average price of £32 6s 7d a bale. Although the turnover last year was a record figure, farmers stated that it did not give a true nicture because of the high costs ruling today. Wet weather during recent weeks has delayed shearing on many farms and not as much wool has come in to the stores as during the same period of last year when the shearing season was favoured by a prolonged snell of fine weather which eventually developed into a drought. Much interest will be taken in Friday’s sale by Wanganui farmers as it should give some indication of the trend of the market, for the type of wool grown in this district. One of the features of last season s sales was the purchase of a lot of six bales of binned Southdown wool at 55Jd, a record price for the district. This was at the final sale and the purchasers were the Wanganui woollen Mills. At the same sale another lot of 33 hales was sold to a French buyer at 50d.