LOCAL SELLING OF WOOL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 405, 14 January 1909, Page 2

LOCAL SELLING OF WOOL.

AN ACENT'SVIEWS.';" i The importance to farmers'of having their wool- sold in New Zealand (says our Palmerston correspondent) was emphasised yesterday by the representative of one of "the New Zea-. land firms. Questioned on the subject, he said that'the'local'wool sales tlfis Year were going to" do more than anything else to ease the money market \ "Consider,"- he added, "what a; difference it'will make'; to farmers. If they had sent their wool Home tliey would have had to wait five or. six months till they got their fulj returns. • Meantime the banks and other financial institutions would : h&vc to advance money 'on the. clip.- Having' sold locally, however, farmers get . their money within about ;two- - weeks after the'' sales. About 20,000 bales have beeiV sold-in Wellington ht something, like £200,000, all- of which will bo coming into the cbuntryalmost immediately. You : can imagino what this may mean to many- farmers.. ',It pajrs fariiiers better, too, because', there ;is!.no loss; in weight and less charges for handling,, while ■buyers can pay just as much here,as in.London. There is no_ doubt, that; local' Wool' sales are growing ill importance, . each-year, yet only a few years ago buyers were actually, thinking of .cutting, out'the Wellington" sale's altogether. Happily this was- not done, and during the past five.years there has been a remarkable increase in' sales locally. The past twelve months alone havo witnessed an increase from, about > 4000 bales .""to:-, 22,000 bales. Tho sale, in Wellington last'-Friday was the. largest • over- held'in New -Zealand'-. Australia is another 1 case, in point. ' Oijly" about 20 per cent, of the wool there is shipped Home, wliile the -remaining 80 per cent, is sold locally. ■ I feel certain that in'a few. years' time'-.the bulk 'of New Zealand wool will be'sold in New Zealand. Actually' half the wool produced was sold here this year, whereas last year-only about-30 per cent, was sold locally." ■ The' importance' of. skirting and-.i'classing: wool in tho Dominion ; was. also'pointed out olid the opinion expressed, that farmers would find the extra trouble well repaid; • ■ > •