The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 26, 1901. WOOL MARKET.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 167, 26 July 1901, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 26, 1901. WOOL MARKET.

The London correspondent of the Christchurch Press, in a letter dated June 7, gives liis ideas in an interesting way on the state of the market. He states that the trade is undoubtedly “passing through the small sieve,” and that there is an element of concern unparalleled in the history of the trade. “Growers may think their I position the worst of the two, but merchants here regard -their position equally as bad, if not more so, and for the past eighteen months a most unprofitable time has been experienced.” During the last season fortune seems to have favored those European houses who purchased wool in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, and seyeral Bradford importers have freely admitted that tops made- from colonial bought wools have cost a penny per lb less than such wools cost at the March and May series in London, As to New Zealand wool-growers, June is described as a record time in the history of the crossbred wool trade ; users have not attempted very much business in view of the English wool season opening, being anxious not to force things in the least, but to allow thorn to get at the bottom, and in colonial .crossbreds trade has also continued on a very hand-ta-mouili basis, with prices being anything but what they should be. There are a few crossbred top-makers who are still combing their usual quantity of wool, and those firms such as Kediouglis’, who make a regular standard article, seem to have by far the best off trade, though even they report the crossbred top trade to be very indifferent. Combers are fairly busy because Bradford houses bought very extensively of New Zealand crossbreds at the last series of London sales, and these are being pushed , through the combs in readiness for a customer who may require a delivery at once. The expert has not much faith in the extraordinary cheapness of the articles bringing about j ust yet much increase in consumption, though some are of the opinion that the cheapness will stimulate demand. “Me should have more faith in the accomplishment of this desired thing if merinos were not at such a handy price, but so long as popular taste, fashions, and the desires of the million ; are for something soft and kind, so long will the despised crossbred have to occupy a secondary position. The whims and caprice of men are one of

those things which producers have very little influence over, and if fashions are running- on an article there is nothing that so effectually turns the stream as having a flood and being supplied with a sufficiency of it to one’s heart’s content. Possibly by another season or two we may see a swing of the pendulum in favor of crossbreds, but at present there is no great demand, trade is very sluggish, supplies are enormous, and prices correspondingly low.” Attention is then given to the question “ Is it to be wool or mutton ?” The expert goes on to give his own views on the subject: One wonders if the time has not now arrived when New Zealand pastoralists must begin to devote increasing attention to the mutton value of the car- , ease, and lot wool begin to take its own free course. New Zealand pastoralists up to the present, have, wo believe, considered the fleece almost as valuable as the carcase, or, to be a little more plain, they have bred for the fleece equally as much as for the carcase. This has been all very well so long as decent prices could bo obtained for crossbred wool, but now that the fleece has fallen in value so much it seems to us that New Zealand sheep farmers will have to follow the example of their English cousins by .bleeding more and more for carcase. We know it is impossible to tp r °w a mutton carcase without having it enshrined in a crossbred fleece, but attention will have to be devoted towards bringing- to perfection as speedily as possible the carcase of the animal without placing any great store upon, the fleece. The majority of English sheep farmers now look upon the wool as but a by-product of the farm and especially to-day, when they are being compelled to accept but a mere recognition for their fleeces, they seem more persuaded than ever tha"t mutton and not wool will have to be their strongest plank. What is going to be tho real outcome of these low prices is beyond our power to tell, but if Now Zealand pastoralists can afford to accept these prices and find compensation for the deficiency in any extra returns they maj' secure for the carcase, then they will he all right. As things are to-day tho price of colonial and Itivor Plato descriptions is remarkably low, and we fail to see how much improvement may take place just yet awhile.” Regard the subject as wo will the outlook shows that tho affluent days

for the wool-growing industry aro yet afar off. All must hope that a change for the better will soon set in.