LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2771, 15 May 1916, Page 8

LONDON WOOL SALES

• * ——— ; FIMBHING WITH STEADIER 3. '.PRICES- \ ' Our Special Correspondent.) 3? London, March 16, 1916. i Thai Second series-of London-sales are on toe-.point of finishing, and nobody eeems-BOTTy that the end has come. To there' have been 100,000 'bales j available and it has taken three full weeks : -to dispose'of. same, shows clearly t'o what extent tho labouf- problem is troubling.tho market; in fact, ivo are face towface-'with difficulties 'whioh those ' away'>-fro*m'.the seat of operations have ; libHe';' ; :'c'onc'eption, of. . Considering the mrljTOgs'.of/menMvho have, joined the col-ourj^ind'thafcanother-huge army is' to be-smobilised,- \in v '(a week • or. two, it is that' business interests .have-Tiot-suffered.-more, .but : the Governmenfcfeelsth'at as' much "attention should' bs'gitcn: to . textiles as iis humanly possible? - for'a'fterrell wool forms an import: ianti-iidiunct: to munitions. ' At the same time'-one. would 1 be glad if more hands, worernvailable to run machinery, but ap- • pareiitly the whole industry will Jiavo to get along as best it can, and as matters standjiwe havo to face the fact that ; short 8000, bales ore being catalogued v is the reason way the sales ' havo-lasted to the end of ; the third week! Therefore, we regard tho finish as being Tatherpbetter than the opening, and hope that fteJlave left the worst behind. "•Slightly Improved Market.

■ •', Ther'fiiial week of the auctions ha?, seen a 'slightly improved market,. competition becoming more general with prices rather It looked 1 towards, the end of i. •;■;■.-last'- week that at the lower-.level'; of ;■';''■■ values-''?, little more confidence was ap- ■ parent^leading to more general competi- ■■, tion .tor;both merinos and: orossbreds; ;;'-: Evidently several firms had L arrived at ;; the conclusion that wool at current, val- :...'. ues buying, .'and 'therefore :fiomeV ..'.- yhat-better sales haveiresulted.: rWc are j .; not disposed to ■' quote' I things ■" really ' .'•'higher.,*-although ' there have been fewer ; ; withdrawals, duo to .buyers being keener i ; to'operate at thir -limit- which' nas cer- ;• . tainlyi-le'd'to firmer 6ales. . During the ; '.week there /, have:, been some .good.offer-, '-. . -iiigs, West:' y.iptoriar'being/irmres'ented' ,i .by.such well-known clips as S. Wilson/lit. >,'Bute, EO and NC, these clips showing ;■■■/.excellent.' characteristics.. At the -same' ' time Us. ljd-" for the EO clip, which was in splendid order, was in one sense dis-

|... appointing, that Svobl.in' January easily :■■ bringing 2s. 3&h It .is the writer's firm }■ ■. conviction that good .merinos , must be .-,' 'called 1-Jd. cheaper at the■ finsih than at ■.' the opening, not by any means a;credit- ..'; ablo record. . This is seen in the .fact that 64's tops: can .be made to-day any- : where from- 3s. 3d. to.- 3s. 4x1., whereas last :series: they .were; costing anywhere , ; from: fe/;7d.'to ',3s. 10d., and sometimes .- even mpieU r , That is really the position ; .Medium wools have sola some- .- ■.what^.better,;'.without .: being qiiotably "with. less. frequent withdrawals, irejhave-.see'n.a decidedly/better spirit "in .tKj'saleroom, r with. wools .."moving out of hand;': with : greater.: alacrity, ■ We are i.-.; inclined-to'-'put'medium .wools fas 'King;.. i 24. T ,tb-;2Jd. : .:bel6w last/series, : and Sometimes:'even'more. •'• At one time ■•.'' they]|n'bwed''eve*n:'.Sd.''decline, but to-day . . 2d. to£2id." :is>Be"arei ; '"the mark. ' Scoured •: crossßreds', 1 : when-'i suitable for Kussia, ■•-.have''lmrely/maintained the high level of January,, except-for a few special lots, , and her'e-the:decline must be called gen- • erally 'Id. to :2d: : y-Medium and faulty . .wools Have also'Tost.,fully, 2d. per .lb.

;•■,.:■ An Excellent Display of Crossbreds. Is'' "■:. The "'offerings.!' of /erossbreds: have been . Tory attractive:,arid:;have,-led to increasing activity.. , ! ; : Sii!Co. we Inst /-.wrote, up to •2s. has been'-'paid, for 58's ■ qu'a-lifiy-': cr-oss- :■' .breds the. .clean-yield 'would be something.; like 64 to'6s perl cent. '".. The- clip this Vyeaf'-is certainly a very attractive.' on'eY'.-'b'eing -"fairly'-'.'light,''well- • :gro\vn, andfiSound.;; There are■certainly I clips that' have'rcome -along in general '. excellence during -,;the past half - '-dozen.' .' years, Tokomariubeing one of them,: this ;;. making up to'lsSllkl. for the top line of ■ fine erossbreds. certainly - thought that the. nexfc.dot'shouldi have come a lit, :. .He better tlianf-ls.'- J 7kl., this clip, cer- '■■.- lainly being''ati'-least 2d. "below: What, it

Ivould have reaiise'd'.in January. . Still, find: greasy ftrossbred wools realising from ls.-Td* to Is. -„81d. for good lj average>line^~no"l'faultscail'be"fo'und-with. growei-s will • feel at the reduction. -;■ At thX':'sa'mo T ;timo we,have to. face the : fact^that-'' : the\'sales/have gone splendidly, competifi6li'. J :TieitfgS',verj;.,general, r-otwith- , is; still" on -mosV. ■descriptions "2'd.""t6'"2}d"compared with -last sales. The Home'trade has had to. "lift the whole;of the offerings, no licenses' '. to-day being;'obtainable : for;erossbreds for -" for export- anywhere. Slipes have .moved . rather but are ."certainly 2d. be- .: low last saies,':.the. few offerings of:,scour- -.- Bd cfossbredsj; alsd { showing •'. about . the Jame declines lt"Mhe: ; lower.'|: ; leVel ;of

NEWS AND NOTE&

values there havo been very few withdrawals; in fact, Bradford buyers havo shown increased confidence,- and have bought -with greater vigour. What the sale of both merinos and crossbreds has lacked is a. little outside competition, when things "would havo been'stiller and tho sales- characterised with keen competition. Evidently buyers havo been out for/ tho.express purposeof increasing margins, and they will have done this nicely, oo long as tho Home trade has-nobody, to force its hand, we hardly, think that prices will advanoe much beyond to-day's level, although with an increase of confidence, there is certainly a disposition, to juy more freely and put wool into stock.

The Question of .Shrinkages, Going round the docks \ one day vnlu•ig, the writer was-called into consultation with a buyer respecting the clean yield of a certain lot of merinos. The

;t vas on the wasty.side; in fact, it was the super-abundance 'of earth which made one a little doubtful as to what-it would give when clean scoured. We both agreed that the shrinkage would-be considerable, the point which the was striving to attain being to know,'what it would cost when all tho extraneous matter had been removed by scouring. This raises an .important' question on the principles of wool-buying, and.undoubtedly the clean scoured basis forms'oiie of the leading features on which the value of "any; wool is estimated. We have repeatedly urged growers to try to' ascertain,, if possible, what their clip will'give . when clean scoured, for both in; merinos and crossbreds this is one-~if the .chief--features which .has to be .considered. All .buyers have to value and operate•on'certain limits, and it. needs considerable experience in order to ascertain correctly what the clean yield will ho. : It is indeed- difficult for anyone wbo'h'aslnot the actual scouring Tesnlts before'him to.say. withi two or three per cent, what a'-certain wool will yic-ldi particularly-those that 'are heavy in condition. Some' ofthe nor■'liern grown South Australian wools are deceptive, and the same, must: be said for West Australian .wools' when earth and red in appearance. Some of the wools sold this series of sales will give a clean yield of 58 or's9 per cent., the ■super Victorian merinos being, exceeding, ly light and attractive. Even in crossbreds, there is every .evidence, of the New Zealand clip this/year yielding wejl, and .it is. this : feature which always gives satisfaction to buyers.

Conditions in Bradford. ': The tone in-that market -is better, and -the. general'feelings seem to be favouring a steadying of values. It is too much to say that '.prices are any higher when, compared with Dast Thursday, but tojmakers seem less anxious to sell, preferring to hold their hand in view of more favourable advices from Coleman Street. Prices are undoubtedly steadier than they were, and at the new basis of values established; Yorkshire consumers are pre. pared to operate more, freely. So far there has not, been any response at this centre by. any material addition of business, but the tone is distinctly better. In merinos a fair business has been done in dry combings for export, inquiries coming out for both France and Russia. With regard to the securing of licenses for.these,' the firms who are doing the business say that they -have no difficulty in getting them for France, and so long as the seller has a straightforward statement to mate respecting destination none heed be expected. It is in.cases where tops are passing through dealers' bands that delays arise. Of course '.these dry-combed tops are making' very ' good prices, selling "on a basis of around 3s. lOd. -for 64's. For- merino, tops in oil for the Home trade there' is' no actual change in prices, leading firms to-day re--fusing to sell for less than 3s. 7d.~per lb. •for good fil's. There are no doubt'"eases here and there where 3s. 6Jd. would be [accepted,'..but as already indicated, this lis id. per.lb.below the average market level. Delays in'delivery are still greatly in evidence, and cases are reported of tops coming to hand which, according to contradti should, -have' been 'delivered six months ago.: There, is'little.'change in erossbreds, and while inquiry ,is limited, makers are equally indisposed to sell for less money. ;