AUCTION SALES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 59, 3 December 1919, Page 10

AUCTION SALES

fOETHOOMING FIXTURES TO-DAY. 151 Lambton Quay, Wellington, 10.30 a.m.— Sale of unclaimed goods (A. L. Wilson and Co.). Tawa Flat. Ip.m.—Stock sale (Abraham and Williams), Waikanao Yards, 1 p.m.—Stock salo (Dal- • gety and Co.). Otaki Mart, 2 p.m.-Sale of furniture, etc. (Q. Anderson). Islington lioad, Trentham, 2.15 p.m.—Furniture sale (11. E. Leigliton). TO-MORROW. Tawa Flat, 1 p.m.—Stock sale (Abraham and Williams). 28 Grey Street, Wellington, 2.30 p.m.— Suburban property Bale (A. Nicol and Co.). Marton Yards-Stock sale (N.Z. Farmers Co.-op.). Ekctahuna Yards—Cattlo sale (N.Z. Loan Co.). LONDON WO9L SALES MERINO AND FINE CROSSBRED PRICES

From Our Special Cortespondent. London, September 25. Deference lias been made frequently during past months to the congested state of our British ports, and also to the fact that warehouses in Bradford were'-choked with wool. This is, of course, due to arrivals of raw material being greater than the rate of consumption. and no doubt everyone associated with tho trade will appreciate any steps which mav be taken in order to relieve what has como to be a most troublesome. if not actually serious, state of affairs. The nosition has been made worse bv the attitude of the railway companies and their employees. Many instances could he named in which the latter by the exercise of. a little ordinary common Rense could have greatly assisted tho disnatch of wool without tho slightest disadvantage to themselves. The railway companies officially havo also been . known to adopt proceedings which would not 1)6 believed if the authorities for trivinc tho information were not absolutely reliable. Some of the practices have undoubtedly been ia vogue for years, and it is strange that before now somcono has not; realised -how reforms could be brouaht about. The delivery of consignments at various warehouses in the city has been a source of -trouble, antf perhaps the renuirements of the trade liavo at times appeared irksome. Thero is no doubt, however, that these requirements have generally been compelled by tho necessities of tho case, the traders liavo had sufficient practical experience not to be sities of complicating delivery instructions. It is entirely to their own advantage to have them as simple as possible, and carried out with tho minimum waste of time. Tho wool section of the Ministry of Munitions have seriously considered the congestion in the porta, and in order to save labour it has been decided, to ship 50,000 bales of colonial wool direct to Boston, United States, for sale by auction in that centre. Shipping arrangements have already been made, and it is expected that the auctions, which will bo conducted by tho Committee of London Woo! Brokers, will commence about tho end of November. To send such a weight of wool direct to Boston will be soma relief to British ports and warehouses. It is understood that tho greater proportion of the wool, which is thus being sent direct consists of merinos, which is quito in harmony with the demand for that class of wool which is known to exist in tho United States.

Combers Want Higher Wages. Tho position in the local combing industry appears to bo going from bad to worse. Following the rejection by the combing operatives oi the oiler made bj the AVooleombing Employers' Federation an application for a further advance of wages has been made. The application, which has lieen forwarded through tho executive of tho National Society of Machine Woohombers and the.Wool and Yarn Warehouse Workers Union, is for an advanco of 6s. per week for all members employed by tho W oolcombing En plovers' Federation, the West Kidiiiß Spinners' Federation, the British Woo Carbonising Federation, and Lister and Co. Ltd., Mills. Ihe new demand arises out of the refusal of the combing operatives to work < The various proposals brought w n } alU bv the Woolcombing Employers federation were so knit together that when he operatives refused to work merhme, the offer of an increase of wages fell through automatically, and tho next step on the part of the wool combers has been to a--.k for higher wages independent of the o\eitime question. The incident has created some misgiving in the trade, as whisprn have been heard of resorting to the only too usual method of bringing about the desired result.—a strike. ■ Firm Prices in London. Since last writing the wool sales have been continued in London, 'and. tliougu there has been 110 further striking - advanco such as took placo on. the second dav of the sales when America camo m with such force, prices have been maintained, one characteristic being the greater activity of Yorkshire Mirers. On several days tho selection has been nono too good, but even on some of thoso occasions America and France have been responsible for forcing prices to such a level cs to put the home trade out of the running. Greasy Victorian wools have, met with, brisk competition, troing largely to America, the best paicela realising OOcL New South Wales scoured super lambs of good style have also been in keen demand. They have sold at firm rotes, realising up to 75d. J.'ino crossbreds and comebacks have touched un to 521 d., competition for theso being quite strong. At later sales there has Wm a £00(T supply ol both scnum! and fino crossbrcds, tho whole of tho lasmoniau wools Iwinß greasy fine crossbreds and comebacks, lorkshuro and "French buyers, particularly the former, came prominently on to the scene when the Tasmanian wools were offered, these selling readily at fully recent prices. Melbourne greasy comebacks ha,ve also met with ready competition at full rates. Grwsy crossbred pieces and bellies afforded an opportunity for 1 ranee, all theso heinjf cleared at prices ranging' from -Od. l ° "' Cl ' Home Grown Wools.

Business is proceeding in a quiet way in home grown wools - t,ic demand still liicelv running on . tho descriptions which have now been popular foivscveral weeks. Tho best call is still forthcoming for good Down fleoces, in spite of tho fact that these are extremely scarce, merchants having the greatest difhciilty in finding what they want, prices for halfbi'cil . wools are cl-endv hut deeper kinds are not nf all quickly. The .general position in home-grown produce is prnutically the same as in the colonial wool trade', fashion still lcnuiii? m a mast determined manner to tilie fine qualities. This is equally true of the skin wools, as anything of a good quality can be sold easily. .it Prices realised at tit? recent sale ol scoured, carbonised, slipo and skin wool hold in Bradford are worth mentioning hero bccause of the qualities of British skin wools offered, and tliA prices realised. Il.aslock seems to bo one of the descriptions for which there is not now much demand, for at the, sa.le in question competition was poor, 'the following is a election of prices realised for home-grown produce Lamb haslock, 16(1.; super grey lanih. Sid.: washed skill. 2(i.U1.; (Vep 2Gd.; deep v,•ethers, 2M.; pick Shropshire hoggs, tid.; Jorkfi'niro lKi-.'fi;, 2(id.; supev Miropshire wethers, Southuowns, ; greasy halfbreds, .Til. A New Cloth. The dearness of wool and the high price-; of articles of clothing manufactured therefrom lias naturally directed more attention to the possibility of using substitutes. During the uiir there was not much fcopn for developments in this direction, as military needs were paramount, and it was imperative for the clothing provided for service men to possess ill the highest degree possible warmth-giving and wear-resisting proper-

I ties. Now that the war is over, however, I greater opportunity aripes for the manufacture of goods on civilian account, and the fact of hostilities having ccased | means that certain commodities which j were required for war purposes are now (available for consumption in such ways | as manufacturers may find most suitably. | One of the commodities whieih has thus I been released is silk noils. Before the war theso wero used for stripings for iress goods and for yarn dyed for export. During the w'nr they were used on a large scale for certain secret purposes, and tho plant nt one of the mills in the Bradford district was kept rnnning night and day for almost tho whole of the war period.' When the armistice was signed this special work censed, and with two-thirds of the plant, standing idle, the heads-of the firm set about to fmd some other use for the noil. ITigh prices of cloth Ruggested that experiments should be made in the way of adapting the noil for clotli manufacturing purnoses, and a. fabric has been produced made entirely therefrom. It is claimed that while it can be sold nt nbout one quarter of the price of good serge, it is not inferior in wearing quality to a pure worsted. The cloth, of which the writer has seen a snmnle in black and white check, will be obtainable in greys, browns, and blacks. There is something to be said in favour of the new fabric from the point of view of appearnnce, but it certainly does not possess the. good handling pronerties of a Hoth made lnrgely from wool, and ill spite of its nppearaiice it .handle? somewhat thin and pnnery. No doubt for certain purnoses the new cloth will find a uinvket. Every credit is due to tho firm who have brought it out. but it cannot rival fabrics made from wool. Since writincr the above a sale by description has bpen held in London, the quantity offered being 5900 bales. The price li'aid often barely equalled those realised at the other auctions. Home trade and French lmyers were the largest competitors, and it was scarcely to be expected that customers from further afield wouid be eager to buy. In 6ome cases prices were 5 Tier cent, lower, but on the whole <rood clearances were made, South Australian and Sydney merinos ns well as Svdnev scoureds being prominet among tlie offerings, also were merino' carbonising wools. These latter were mostly purchased on French account at the reduced basis already mentioned.