PROSPECTS OF THE ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.

Western Star, Issue 374, 21 August 1880, Page 2 (Supplement)

PROSPECTS OF THE ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.

The European Mail, under date Sfst May, the latest to hand, in an article reviewing the state of trade in England, has the following words of caution to wool growers : —• If colonial exporters of wool do not want to lose money, they will have to be, very cautious in their transactions during 1880, which may be regarded as a transition period between dulness and activity. The fact that manufacturers have hardly made up their minds to adopt the theory that the recent spurt in trade will be lasting, will also have to be taken into account, because while this feeling lasts there can be nothing like that simultaneous action which is really the very backbone of trade, and upon which its extension to a considerable extent depends. If the world could only once get these good people to adopt the evidence of the Board of Trade returns, all doubts of the stability of our trade would vanish, and a new feeling would give place to the dull matter-of-act conceptions of business which now obtain, and which could’not fail to impart to trade just that healthy stimulus which it now lacks, and for want of which some of our best men are going about with their hands thrust deep down in their breeches’ pockets, arid with hats slouched over their lugubrious countenances, lamenting the badness of the times, and doubting anything in the shape of reaction. It is this want of spirit then, or energy, or whatever it may be called, which is just now very dangerous, not only to the lugubriously disposed, but to those with whom they have to deal, because, like all dangerous infections, it abideth not with the original possessor, but, like bad news, travels ' fast, if not furiously. The feeling to which reference has been made may be difficult to trace, and, probably, if any single {(individual were directly charged with being a martyr to it would deny the soft impeachment or, smiling blandly, would say, “ Well, business has aot been so brisk with me personally as the improved condition of affairs, of which the world speaks, would dead .me to expect.” And here the reader will not fail to catch the point which lies at the bottom

of the fears and doubts which haunt the tradesman, the shopkeeper, and the manufacturer, and for which there is really no foundation. It is admitted that trade is much better than it has been for some years past, that it is improving month after month, that harvest prospects are good, that.colonial indents are increasing, and yet our traders, as a body, go mooning about, complaining of bad times, and giving way to idle anticipations of evil, upon no other ground that is traceable than the fearful imaginings of diseased or overwrought minds. The dulness of a British sky may have something to do with all this, just as when the moon comes too near the earth men’s minds are unhinged ; and. perhaps, when the sun comes to ripen the fruit and the com, the gloom to which reference -has been made will give place to a eheerfulnesss which will set trade going like a house on fire. Well, then, it will cause no surprise if. in the present state of business feeling, occasion is taken to say that wool is likely to he subject to many changes. Already it has been seen that prices improved in December and January last, that in February and March they were still better, that at the opening of the sales in April they went up still higher, till 2Jd advance on January-December rates had been reached, and the last report is that this advance has been lost. Here is a reason, therefore, why extreme caution is necessary on the part of colonial buyers. It is not meant to say that wool is going to he lower in price, but simply to suggest caution at a time when manufacturers are not quite clear upon the subject of their wants. The staplers, as a rale, unlike the manufacturers, believe that trade is going to make rapid strides. Thev, therefore, buy largely and without fear, and the result is that they dp better than the manufacturers. If it might he permitted to speculate on the future, there is reason to believe, whatever may be the fate of superior scoured and snow-white—that cross-bred sorts will sell well about three months hence, owing to the havoc which the liver fluke in sheep has caused amongst the flocks in this country. In Gloucestershire several large flockmasters state that their entire flocks are dead, and not one-halfJof the flocks are left in Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Warwickshire From Leicestershire the report is, “ sheep dying daily, and hardly a sound flock,” In Worcestershire 80 outrflf every 100 sheep are dead or dying. From Devon, and Cornwall similar reports are received, one farmer stating that there is now not 1000 sheep from Bristol to High-' bridge, where 50,000 are usually wintered, and it is further declared that 75 per cent, is a fair estimate of What have died or been sold at most ruinous prices in these western counties. In the eastern counties about one-third of the sheep have been lost, and the general opinion is, that the wool clip this year will be ■ quite two-thirds under the average in quantity, and very poor in quality. The liver of the sheep that die of “liver fluke” is found to be full of live insects. From wool ip mutton is not a very great divergence, and the foregoing will .doubtless suggest that a few consignments of sheep in the carcass would sell very well in this country just now.