LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2618, 13 November 1915, Page 8

LONDON WOOL SALES

— ONLY GOOD WOOL FIRM ■From Our Special Correspondent.! London, September 17, 1015. •It cannot be said that all is going well in Coleman Street, there being too much raw material moving at a pace that cannot be oalled very quick. . The writer is afraid that the excessive quantities of raw material which arc at present*in tho hands of users are telling too effectively upon the buying capacity of the various sections of the trade, and in addition there is being catalogued heavier weights than usual of second and third Tate wools. Of course, this class of material must bo sold, and importers are naturally desirous of getting rid of their stocks preparatory to tho arrival of the new clip from Australia. No one can reasonably find fault with this attitude, but. the trade is showing unmistakable evidence that they do not want faulty wasty wools at -all, and it is certain that prices are suffering in this respect. What else can be expected in face of the congestion in consuming centres,'as well as in London? •' Everybody knows that there is enough- wool and to spare, and yet like a never-failing stream, it is arriving in quick succession. .-A good deal of complaint has lieen. raised .by the Port of London that the congestion- is largely due to big stocks of wasty wools being yet available for sale, and one cannot resist the impression after going round tho .offerings day after day that selling brokers, are asking the trade to lift undue .'quantities of these- wasty parcels.' If ;tho trade does this' it, only moans transferring wool from London to - consuming centres, where the'capacity for storing U limited. , Tho fact is, it is 'becoming a. question what to do with ,'this wool, and it is a pity. that ware'house accommodation is not large enough ito put-a good proportion on one side until Itho war is over, and owners wait for turning .these into hard cash. That, -no jdoubt, is very inconvenient, and while ■it may sound well, it cannot bo said to |bo a practical solution of the present jdifficulty. ' " ? Trouble Over Storage.

Last week-end a Bradford buyer got up in the saleroom just before the auction was due to commence, and offered a protest against tho first day's sale being shifted down, to Millwall 'Docks, and owners being charged with Is. 6d. per bale for it. Tho buyer voiced tho sentiments of the rest of the room .when ho stated that it was unfair treatment, and if -the. dock, people were going to adopt such a line of action, it was only fair that they informed buyers before the sale, and not at tho close.' Tho speaker contended that the dock people had no right to shift tho wool for their own convenience, and to charge buyers-for so doing. He said that they could do this - if the wool was not removed before.the prompts were due;,.but when- wool' was paid for immediately: and orders for • delivery were'likewise given, it was the duty of the dock people and all warehouse 'keepers to hand over that wool, to the different railway carriers, but that to shift'wool without notice, tisuit the warehouse keepers' convenience 'was alien to the best interests of the trade. The result is that last Monday a meeting of brokers, warehouse keepers, and buyers 'was held, the whole question being thoroughly discussed. It seems, that the warehouse keepers agreed to the views of the buyers and gave the-in their word of honour that no wool would be shifted until after the prompts were dtie, but delivery mado.as before. The suggestion has also been made that in order to facilitate staging, delivery, and in fact the general work of tho wool at the docks, buyers should forego one sale per week, either Saturday.;or. Monday, ana.although at the time of writing no announcement has been made, the suggestion is one which is well worth acting upon. Monday is the day that should be foregone, bocause than it would allow buyers to go' home on the Saturday night, have a day's rat, attend the Bradford market ; ou the Monday,' and- leave that centre by the evening traius. A good deal paii be said in favour of .this. The.'congestion is very serious at the docks, wool is not coming up the river into the warehouses at all commendably, and the difficulty of getting wool to ultimate destinations is very serious indeed. There is certainly room for a great improvement, but how it. is going .to be effected with the class of help that is now available at tho docks is a very serious matter'for tho powers that bo to solve.

Good Merinos Steady. There still'remains-a very healthy demand for good shafty well-grown greasy and scoured merinos, and these are selling steadily day by -day at about last week's values; Prices aro not moving upwaids, and no one really can expect them to. livery importer feels that they 'will have just reason (or thankfulness i£ good combing merinos remain steady, and we think this will obtain. Topmakers seem to-day to be quite prepared to buy wools that show any decent combing characteristics, but tho whole industry is fighting shy of the faulty wools, both scoured and greasy, for the. reason that they have already heavy supplies at home which they cannot have treated except very indifferntly. But good wools are selling well,' arid we find to-day from lGd. to 18d! being

paid freely for wook showing 21- to 0-inch staple. Of course everybody wants as few burrs as possible, but even a sprinkling of burrs does not prevent good prices being paid. \Yc hardly think that Itussia is as keen as was the ease last series, being a little moro particular in the class o£ wool wanted. "We mean that second-rate parsels, that is, scoureds troubled with a littlo seed, are being passed by, tho result being that these wools are soiling anywhero from Is. lOd. to 25., while shaftly combing wools aro still going freely in. the neighbourhood of lis. 3d. to 3s. 7d. A specially good line of clean: South Australian merinos marked Cordillo,- made 2s. 9d. last week, a price that, has not yot been exceeded, nor is it likely to be. Franco lias bought a few lots of merinos, but 00 per cent, or the offerings are going to the Homo trade. .Some Weakness in Crossbreds. Tho catalogues contain every day a fair proportion of crossbreds, and these are moving in a more irregular manner than wo have seen since the. outbreak of the war. The promised.granting of licenses for tho export of crossbreds has not straightened out tho few crooked places that were in evidence last week, and the weakness then seen in scoured crossbreds and slipes has become accentuated. Lot us first deal with greasy crossbreds. These wools - aro selling the best, and regaining most in favour. Thero 13 a very commendable demand for crossbreds at last week's prices, both on Home and American account, but Prance this series has been a very disappointing factor, giving practically no support to the fine halfbreds. America is buying reasonable weights of crossbreds in all qualities, but-chiefly in merino classes, and for all good parcels, there is still Jd- to id. advance in evidence, but all_ faulty and wasty ivools are making no more money than at the close of last series. Tho demand is very good, and the competition lacks nothing, but no section of the trade shows the least evidence of exceeding lim : tn,.and there is a steady, healthy demand, which, on the wiioie, is creditable. Of course, Bradford topinakcrs are purchasing the bulk, and withdrawals are very few, but there is certain to be some disappointment expressed by New Zealand pastoralists at the rather low prices .which "are being paid for the'very wasty wools, there still being low crossbreds selling from lid. to 15d. The outstanding feature of the auctions is the poor reception given to slipes. Of course, there is a surfeit of these wools at present, buyers know it, the catalogues every day give evidence of it, the result being that prices bid are leading to a good many withdrawals. That is really the situation Good halfbred lambs aro selling anywhere from la. 3d. to is. lid. • A few very seedy parcels have mode'2s-., but that, was last week,'and we doubt very much indeWl if such figures would be forthcoming to-day; three-quarter-bred lambs are now moving in the neighbourhood of Is. 7d. to Is. Bd., Lincoln and Leicester lambs have come down 2d., and the 6ame must be said for all the seconds and thirds. Scoured crossbreds have also developed weakness, and last week they lost'jd. to Id. per lb., whereas to-day they are fully'*lTd. under the rates current towards the end of July. .AH this weakness is not indicative of that soundness which one would like to see. Good wools in all' descriptions appear to be well able to tako care of themselves, but the bulk of the offerings which are medium and faulty classes are all on the easy side, and that is to be regretted for ninny reasons.

Thtj catalogues this week hare contain, ed a-fair sprinkling'.'of new clip wools from Australia, both Queensland and West. Australia being represented, The clips have vnried a good deal in length, style, and character. The majority bear evidence of the recent drought, and some of the northern wools from West Australia .hare been very yellow, showing considerable "canary stain." Some of tho Queensland clips have done very well-;, but the staplo is dustier than usual. All' the lots have been very freely sampled, and the' wools hate' met with a very hearty reception wlien there 'was good length. It is very evident that this is going to continue as long as the war lasts, because all alike 6ay that combeTfi. want as little trouble as possible, and their work needs - facilitating by •' the offering of wools as free of fault and of as good a length as can be had: