THE WOOL CLIP

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2570, 18 September 1915, Page 7

THE WOOL CLIP

ANNUAL REVIEW FOR PAST SEASON (Br Messrs. Dalgety and Company, litd.) We lie to received a oopy of, Dalgety's Annual Wool Review- for Australasia for the . post seaaon, ;wlric3i contains the usual exhaustive summary of' everything ■ relating to the pofit season's clip and tho marketing of eame. The publication l , which is in. its seventeenth, year of issue, deals, comprehensively not only ivath the wool clip, but also Tvith. many branches of the wool industry. Naturally the -war has- played a' very largo pairt in the woolraelflng oporations during, the. past twelve - months, and .the. wool trade experiences In Great Britain,, ao weJl as on tii-o Continent, oxa summarised in o manner that should nalto the record; a useful ono in later years.

Production of Weol, Tie oversea exports of wool during' tho statistical year ending June 30 amounted to 1,575,688 hailes from Aus&ralia, and ,562.014 bales from Novf. Zealand, the former being a decreaso'.bf; 390,868 bales, as "comjared with.- the" pfecedißB 11 year, and- the latter an increase of 1127 bales. The tru« position, however, is not so bad as these figures would lead ono. to suppose, becanso to arriTo at the.:true production it -is necessary to add the 66,C0fl odd bales «f wool absorbed by V the woollen- miHs i«iAustralia, an' amount considerably, in excess of last year, whilst it is estimated that there were close on. 20C.0C0 bales more on hand • in Australia' than at. June -38 lafit yea.r; -The actual, production of wool for the year'ln Australia can be set down at 1.&1Q.688' bales; and in New Zealand as 580,609.. boles, a. total for Australasia of .2,421,297. ■ bales, which makes., tho actual, shortage in production, oe compared with the previous year; 217,983 bales, , ,

The 2,421,297 . hales . produced averaged 329.11b. in-weight, so that the actual wool output of 796,848,8421b.', which was - produced. from 106,477.132 sleep and lambs, gives the net return of 71b. 7 l-3oz. per head. This is a wonderfully good -result, considering the unfavourable seasonal conditions in Aiustralia, and could only, havo been obtained by the sheep ia Now Zealand cutting, bulky geeces.

■; Character' of Clip. Tho past clip, from <C buyer's standpoint, fell far short of its predecessor in growth mid in manufacturing Tfllue, being shorter in the staple, thinner, frequently tender' and carrying considerably more dust than usnfA, the only redeeming features • being dryness to condition and fineness of fibre. Under the abnormal! conditions ruling, however, fineness,'and more especially hungerfineness, was rather a detriment than otherwise. WitU the exception.' of the New England and the coastal districts of Tew South Wales, and some of the favoured districts in th® other States, the continent of Australia has been through a very: dry time. The season in. some districts, ■ notably the southern half of New South Wales, the central and northern half of South. Australia, and the whole of Victoria, "with the exception, of South Gippslond, developed into one of the worst droughts to the history of Australia. However, considering the adverse season experienced m most districts, tho clip of the fast season was, -takon, oil round, much better, than eiptoted. Crossbred v. Merino, Tie continued expansion of the frozen meat trade has led to a further increase im the proportion of crossbred wool produced. This is a. tendency to -which' attention has frequently been drawn, and it is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the world's wool production. Experience lias proved that the merino cannot compete .with the, crossbred for all-round "returns on country which is suited to tho latter, and es the. paetoralists of Australia aire engaged in. sheep-raising for profit, and not for sentiment, a, continued decrease in the production of merino wool must be expected. Each, year finds the' crossbred flocks penetrating further • into the back country, and. districts, which five jf 3 Ivero considered utterly unsuitea to them, now graze and fatten -thousands annually. Even Queensland, hitherto regarded as an impregnable stronghold of the merino, is steadily increasing ' her crossbred flocks, and though as yet they "7® E °t of any great consequence, the significant fact remains that they are on too increase. . > Market Results. It was most unfortunate for 'Australia to concurrently experience drought. and war, which from August last both expanded and increased in intensity. Everything wa* o,gaanst . the producer, and when tho 5.. bcca l mo mailable, it was a difflconivert same into cash. J„ sales were held , to ' t s en wh , en ' ib was found im- ™ IV? 11 . thc3 ° 011 a modified j ? aTko , t conditions were far from S'S aC^ ry for . m , er i? o ITOol ' wlli <& comprises the great bulk of the Australian as distinot from the New Zealand din' Furthermore, merino wool was not nS in request, whilst all grades of crossbred wool,- whioh were wgently wanted for tho manufacture of army materials, sold re>Jini 311 Australia and Now Zealand. Thousands of bales 0 f mer i ßo irool which, perforce, had to be disS! of during the latter hall or W4 met a poor demand., end realised values hew those at which the wool could have blen profitably produced. Fortunately, the post six months has witnessed a wiipidadvice il TV. ' 3 01 7 most, of the merino, as well as the crossbred wool available for F S to that, despite the very unfavourable market which ruled for the b,& TthS clip during the first half of the year un der review, tho average yal uo has only bcon 9s. 4d- less than was •££ tained in the Australasian, markets dnr m; the year 1913-14. ("Keis aurTho 1,544,799 bate) solid in Australia ami New Zealand realised £19,742,546, or £6335. 990 less than was obtained for the 1 968 571? bales sold , in these markets durinsr tl.o preceding year. _ Tho' average value for aJI the wool in Australasia has been £12 15s .7* bale, so tliat, taking the total DrorluVii™ as 2,421,297 bales, it will be seen that value of the past year's wool clin £30,942,158, which compares with JE32 0(j« tho record which wag established in '191314 The extremely rates of freight er change and insurance, whioh have ruled throughout tho year, have been all against tho' producer. •