WOOL AND MEAT MARKETS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15037, 4 August 1914, Page 11

WOOL AND MEAT MARKETS.

i',. f ar as the trade of the Dominion i the, most serious aspect is '- relation to toe wool market. Franco ,/ and Germany, Belgium and

aro by far the largest buyers of colonial

wools.. During the past wool, season those countries took ■- no. less ihan 1,283,515 bales, or 65, per cent, of the 1,968,578 bales of wool sold, at the Australian and New Zealand gales,'the United Kingdom being the purchaser of only 437,550 bales, or 22 per cent, of tho total, other countries accounting for tho remaining 13 per cent. ..The Continental trade must oe disastrously affected by the war, even if it. is not of long duration On the other hand, should England not be involved beyond her navy, that country should benefit by the disturbance ,ot the Continental woollen trade, but it is unreasonable .to expect that prices can remain at anything like their present high level. England's woollen trade has been seriously affected during the last few. years by the progress made in this line in Germany and France, and the war may give her the opportunity to recover some lost ground. So far as meat is concerned, if ( the English ports remain open. New Zealand's trade, which is mainly with the United Kingdom, will not be affected to anything liko the extent that the wool market will be. The war, on tho other hand ; may, through the abnormal call upon food supplies, ultimately lead to tho opening of Continental markets to frozen meat.

The butter and cheese markets may be affected to some extent, but in their case, as in the case' of frozen meat, there are still four or five months- to go before exports in any quantity will be available for shipment. So far as New Zealand's own sup-, plies of food is concerned, there is no lack, except perhaps in the case of wheat, but Australia ■ still has an exportable surplus, and this .supply is not far away.' Our last season's wheat crop was not sufficient for a year's supply, but a considerable quantity of Australian flour has come into the Dominion, though it is impossible to say whether there is now enough wheat and flour to supply requirenents until next harvest. The wheat crop being sown in New Zealand this year is expected to be even smaller than last year's, but it.is not yet, too late to sow a larger area than was contemplated, in epring wheat. A rise in the price of wheat and flour .will probably cause many farmers to increaso their area beyond what was contemplated. Even if wheat and- flour advance in prices, potatoes are plentiful and cheap, and, for a few months at least, will enable householders to reduce their bread bill, should the latter become unduly high.