THE WOOL MARKET.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 46, Issue 14103, 22 April 1920, Page 6

THE WOOL MARKET.

PESSIMISTIC COMMUNICATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WKL LIN CfPOtN A letter dated February l<dh, and sent by the Director-General Of Raw Materials in London to Mr MasshV’, contains the following passages:—“l am sorry to sav that, very •■considerable difficulty is expoeter iißi>a frying Hurt the arrangements to lift the whole of the Australian and New Zealand wool before the end of the yo:u,v.. The steamers carrying inc;)t and .ire exporieiidihg’ very great delay in the Thames) and elsewhere"iii British waters, very largelv owing to the difficulty in dealing'" with the meat. The carrying power on tin' steamship- lines working with New Zealand and Australia is therein' reduced by at least 30 pet cent, and they are finding it impossible to deal with the cargo offered for shipment in the two Dominions. It is true that 1 his Department had a contract with the Australian Refrigerated Tonnage Committee, which positively binds their .steamers to lift the entire balance of the Government purchase of wool before November 30th, but unfortunately the Shipping Controller lias intervened to press upon these steamers shipments ot wheat, which were not specifically contracted for. We are protesting against such an interference, but the fact is that as regards 46’s wool our market is well Supplied, and as regards coarser grades of wool considerable stocks are lying dead in our hands. It is, therefore, extremely difficult for its to maintain that the shipment of 70,000 bales of new wool per month, largely consisting of medium and coarse crossbreds, is indispensable, and we are afraid we shall be compelled, for same months, to allow' tlie shipments from New Zealand to fall to 40,000 bales per month, or even less. Tlie existing market conditions indicate pretty clearly a probability that as regards low crossbreds a full year’s clip, equal to about 200,000 bales, is likely to remain in the imperial Government 's hands when your next clip begins to be gathered. The time must surely come when the large masses of people in the impoverished parts of Europe, who cannot afford to pay for luxuries, will provide a demand on* a large scale for useful woollen clothing, made out of coarse crossbreds, but it must be admitted that tlie markets show no signs of such a demand making itself felt. On the contrary, we hear that in the United States holders of coarse -crossbreds, both from New Zealand and' South : America, arc breaking the prices badly in a desperate effort to find an outlet for this dead stock, but they arc not finding this this helps sales much. It must be clear 1o you that sooner or later the question must be faced whether too much coarse crossbred wool is not being grown, in view of t lie infinitelo better prices which are now being paid for tine crossbreds.”