OUR WOOL CLIP.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1992, 24 February 1914, Page 8

OUR WOOL CLIP.

• ITS PROSPECTS. LOCAL SALES REVIEWED. 'A' representative of Tiie Dominion had an interesting conversation yesterday with a prominent wool-broker as to the condition of tho clip that is now being marketed and as regards the prospects of the staple. . Tho'pronouncement of this authority as to the condition of tho clip will no doubt ho interesting to growers; ho'remarked that the earlier Shorn wools wero very irregular in condition, and although tho bulk of these wools showed heavier condition by about o per cent., they were not so well grown as they . appeared, and this was . most noticeable with many ofthe later clips. None of-thtf"wools received in Wellington wero equal in character 'and condition tp those of the last clip. These variations are probably' duo to climatic conditions, and tho treatment, careful 'or careless, that the sheep receive. The outlook-.for wool, this authority maintained, is-decidedly good, and-this ■must always be the case although temporary ' set-backs'-were to be expected, but such set-backs were not duo to tho excess ,of ; Supplies, but rather to extraneous conditions of a temporary nature. He pointed'out that in the past two years the wool market has not suffered from tlio, effects of the Balkan war, nor yet from tho stringency of tho. inonev market. Prices have been good all through. The outlook to-day is very bright. The demand for wool is steadily increasing, that is to say, that yearly there are more consumers; whilo tho supply tends to shrink rather than increase. ."Look at the map of the world and yon will realise that there arc very few places where sheep-growing on a larpo scale is possible outside of- the countries already in the business." This s.eason the..Continental . buyers have beon the mainstay of the market, and they have outbid Yorkshire,, much to the amazement of Bradford wool men. It is difficult to understand the operations of 'tho Continental wool men . except upon tho theory that besides providing for the increases' in-tlie armies they are making a'bold bid for the American, trade. When the Democratic Party under President' Wilson placed wool oil'the free list it. was not with tho.obiect of presenting Australasia with tho abandoned duty, but to cheapen the cost of the staple to American manufactures. 'Unfortunately, from the point ( of view 'of tho latter, tho' duties on partly-manufactured wool wero_materiallv reduced, which enables British' aud Continental manufacturers to outbid the Americans in their own market, owing to tlio higher wages ruling in tho United States making the cost of production excessive.

With respect to the local sales of wool it is very probable that the total offerings this season will not equal those of the last, and this is duo'to tho disturbance created hy tho strike: Many growers who ( would otherwise have mirketed- their wool in Now Zealand preferred not to run any risks, and shipped-their wools to London. This he regarded.as a temporary set-back. The local sales, he maintained, must grow steadily, because tho big shecp-fnrmor is being eliminated and tho small men who succeed him cannot, afford to. wait until their clips are marketed in London. . If the wool is worth lOd. hero, they want the money at once to know •how they stand, rather than accept ,in advance of. say, 7d. or 3d. from a bank, and wait three or four months'for tho balance. As tho local salfs improve riio'ro buyers from outside will attend, and growers will receive tho utmost value of th^ir-clips. .'Finally ho remarked that tho sheepfarmer who' has not been able to make money during the past two or three years outrht to go out of business, foi he is either incomnetent as a.shpepfarmer or else ho has paid so hicjh a prico.for his land that no amount of enro on \\U part will leave him with a profit.