The Wool Trade.

Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 31, 5 August 1897, Page 2

The Wool Trade.

the too* of the market at the cloie of the fourth aeries of colonial wool sales last week waa firm, and the prices obtained during the course of the sales show • slight improvement on the May series. The American purchases were comparatively small, and confined to the choice ; still, their operations helped to give tone to the market. It is well to bear in mind * tbat in the future, or until there is another alteration of the tarff, the United States of America cannot be expected to take other than the choice parcels. With the duty at s|d they oannot afford to bay anything bnt pure wool with as little yolk as possible -no inferior qualities in the shape of skirtings left on tbe fleeces— and there mutt be an almost total absence of vegetable admixture, such as moils seeds or burr. The next, or fifth, series of sales, open on the 28th September, and an interval of two months will give buyers ample time to onload their pur. chases or convert them into manufactured goods. The small carry-over, the long interval for reloading, and the certainty of limited supplies, combine in promising to effect a valuable inflnsaco on the next series of sales. ■ It seems probable that shearing in Australia will be later than usual this year, owing to the unfavourable season. It is expected that pastoralists will postpone shearing in order to get some length of staple and weight into the fleece*, and also to give the Jambs a better chance. H. E. Takaaki Kato, the Japanese Minister in London, recently addressed the London Chamber of Commerce, mak* ing special referenoe to wool. The Mm. ister stated that woollen fabrics were un> known to the Japanese unlit foreign | commerce introduced them, because no sheep bad been reared in Japan. The army, navy, and police force were now clothed in wool, and many civilians were raiment of the same material. The man* ufacturing industry was still in its in. fancy, in spite of all tbe raw material having to be imported, the Minister believed that the industry would, in time become an important one, and that an opening would thus be afforded for Australian wool growers. For the year ended tbe 30th Jnne, the wool purchased in Sydney for Japan is put down at about 1600 bales, and since then 182 bales additional have been sent forward. — Post.