OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2675, 22 January 1916, Page 3

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

RECORD PRICES IN AUSTRALIA WHY THEY ARE BEING PAID. (Prom Our Special Correspondent.) Bradford, November 25. Australian cablegrams are remarkable for their brevity and fullness. A telegram appears in the public press stating that at Adelaide last Monday wool was in the clouds, while a record price was paid at Sydney, even the booming prices of 1890 being surpassed. Gcelong also comes along, and a cablegram tells us what well-knpwn superior West Victorian clips havo made, all indicative of an exceedingly strong situation. There is some extraordinary feature about a wool market when over 20d. is made for greasy wool, and never before in tho history of the trade has this been seen at Adelaide. It will be most interesting \then the mail arrives giving more particulars, to know who have been the principal buyers, and certainly wo are living in days remarkable to- a degree. Users in conservative Yorkshire cannot understand why buyers in Australia should bo paying for wool as they are, a letter received this morning even mentioning a "weak link" because consumption is diminishing and wool is still rising. On the surface no doubt it is an anomaly, and yet the present prices are being largely dictated not by home cons-amors but by outside buyers. If things go on as they are doing, thon it will afiov that the whole, of the world's clip can be lifted without the assistance of Germany, about whose buying capabilities much has been said during recent years. No doubt German buyers did operate on a large scale previous to the war, and they must 'have had some inkling of what was coming. It is hard to believe that amid all the multitudinous preparations which tho German Government has been making for very many years, its wool supply would be neglected, in fact, it was not, for a recent communication from Germany explicitly stated that Government manufacturers 'had still fair weights of wool, it being .the mills making civilian cloths that were feeling the pinch and which were standing. High-class Wools.

Tho prices being paid in Australia as reported by cablegram show the value of high-class wools to-day, wherein lies their worth. Buyers paying the figures cabled cannot bo charged with not knowing their business, for America for many years has been in the van in the purchasing of the best wools grown in Australia, and with free wool its buyers are now able to avail themselves of every class of raw material which, takes their fancy. Some of tho clips sold in Adelaide, Geelonjg, Melbourne an! even Sydney this week in the neighbourhood of 15a. to ■ 2(kl. are all highclass wools,-and on the top of tho prices paid in Australia it will lake well-nigh 2£d. to land them at the doors of consuming mills. The day was when Id. per lb., would cover all that, but to-day it will cost over 2d., when interest, freight, insurance, and war risks are all added. But when tho trade wants the raw material, and many firms, particularly American, are undoubtedly making preparation for future requirements. Our friends across the Atlantic are enjoying a boom the like of. lvhich they have not seen for a good;number of years, and it is remarkable that free wool has created such conditions, when everyone was forecasting death and destruction v;hen the duties were lowered to their present standard. American textile winters seem to have overlooked one great fact, namely, that free wool has given , its manufacturers the opportunity of commanding big khaki orders for European countries, for if wool had been dutiable at 5Jd. per lb., as was the case two years ago, the present orders would never have gone across the Atlantic. No doubt the boom in. tho United States is stimulating buyers to provide for the future, and many style their, present operations both in London aud Australia'as a speculative buy. It is born of the belief that the war will terminate next spring, yhen Germany will be keen to operate, and when prices will still further advance. Everybody sincerely hopes that the war will terminate then or before, for it is a terrible struggle.

Prom the marks cabled from Adelaide, Geelong, and Sydney, it is patent that at the present time the very cream of the wools grown' in Australia are being marketed , .and these deserve more than passing attention. It 6eems to the writer as if South Australian wools have come to then- own again, for lid. to 20d. cannot bo despised as average fleece prices, and these figures are indicative of a most acceptable staple. The writer well remembers buying the top lines of one of tho Adelaide clips sold this week, when the wool was. marketed in Coleman Street last May, and to see the average fleece exceeded by 2d. per lb. means that when that wool lands either in England or America, it will average id. per lb. more than what was realised in Coleman Street at the time mentioned. Growers are doing wisely to realise on the spot, for no sano man can advise anyone to pass by red hot markets which apparently obtain at present in Australia. No doubt it is the excellent character of the wools which is largely acoountablo for the prices at present being made; As previously emphasised the trade to-day. is looking keenly for wools showing length, and when that is combined with good quality, .soundness of staple and Rood condition, such wools aTe fetching good figures. Many people hold,the view that the best wools are the cheapest in the long Tun, because there is less trouble in sorting, certainly less, expense in combing, the output of the machines is greater, while the. result in the top, yarn; and piece, far exceeds in general excellence that produced when inferior wools are .used.

The writer could name firms in ihe West Biding whose ancestors were always on the lookout for something of a second and third-rate nature, but the present managers have discarded that view-, and now centre their whole buying powers upon the best merinos and crossbreds which are grown. It is no earthly good, if a man wants maximum results he 1 must seek for wools of tho very best quality and oondition, for inferior-grown wools cannot be improved in the different processes of manufacture, it taking a good wool' to stand the strain and stross met with while it is being scoured, carded, combed, spun, and woven. Supplies and Distribution, The circular of Messrs. Sckwartze, Buchanan and Co., issued at the close of the recent London sales, well deserves attention. If the reader will go back twelvo months he will remember that everybody seemed afraid respecting tho colonial clip, many wondering-liow it was going to be lifted. How many misgivings have been exploded is now history, and some remarkame figures are published: Up to the close of tho recent London, sales the Home trade has taken no less than 1,808,000 bale's, this including transit wools and direct imports, as well as London purchases. During tho whole of 1914, the Home trade absorbed only 068,000 bales, hence the reader will see than thero is nearly a 100 per cent, increase. Still moro remarkable figures aro revealed in tho takings of the Continent. These amount to 158,000 bales, against I,GSP,OOO balos for 1914. America- is credited with absorbing '133,000 bales, against 160,000 for tho whole of 1014. . This means tho total distribution of colonial wools np to date amounts to 2,3 1 J5,00 bales; against 2,826,000 bales for 1914. This only leaves 431,000 Kales to be accounted for, and when one remembers that tho last Australian clip was deficient by a few hundred thousand bales, it means that practically speaking the wholo of the colonial clips has been dealt with! witliout any help whatever from Belgium or Germany, and very little inded from France. This, wo say, is a remarkable situation, and had. anyone forecasted this state of-affairs twelve months ago, he would liavo been thought fit for the asylum. Ho much has been written of a disparaging nature in Australia about the inability of the homo trade to absorb and compete with Germany that we say given equal conditions, tho home trade can hold its own with any country in tile world, for where reould wool values have been but for tho remarkable purchasing ability and consumptive capacity of all the brunches of the home trade? To find 1,802,000 bales having gone into tho hands of the homo trade is ft remarkable achievement, and it just shows what 'can be dono when everyone puts his shoulder to the wheel and'spindles and looms aro kept ruuuitiß jtt j&air. utmost sanacity. Let tjxarjr.

reader for a moment think what work this has meant for men, women, and children employed in the mills of Great Britain. Tops Again Dearer. Looking specifically, at home markets, we find a very healthy state of affairs, and Bince we last wrote all qualities have advanced again. AS hat is giving rise to very serious concern is the present recruiting boom which means further inroads being made into the ranks of male operatives, and many firms recognise that they are going to have to remain understaffed, and do. the best they; can in regard to their production, bomo of tile departments of the textile trade have been starred, and tho men will be given special permission to lemain at j their work. Still, young men will be joining tho colours, all of which' means distinctly lessened output. This fact combined with strong Australian and South Atrioan advices had 'end topmakers to_name M. to Id. more for 64's tops, and to-day 3s. 5d is a selling price for a dwent article! This , lias beon made, and it is patent that we are not going to seo lower values for many months to come. i-jne limited output of machinery is undoubtedly the mightiest .footer in determining prices for the-' combed article; and even (pinners have lately done considerable business manufacturers looking ahead fully up to nest June, recognising that it they do not buy now- ihey must be prepared to pay for yarns when, they want them. Crossbreds, too,- aro all on the up grade, and they would still further advance if export'licenses were more freely available. Still the market is by no means well supplied witli tops, the recent placing of a further order by_ Russia leading to a better movement in botn 36's and -403". iue cutetoxding feature of all is the maintenance of consumption, every mill master making a big effort, to run his machinery to its utmost capacity. There are spindles and looms standing lor the want of hands, and eycr.v available woman is being emi>loyed, in tact, everywhere ono turns there is an air of brisKness which has seldom or never been seen before. Prices are strong, and work is Btill plentiful.