The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2050, 29 November 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1907.

THE DROP IN WOOL. If (he present, reduced prices for wool were' to be maintained during (the present.season the sheep farmers of the Dominion would find their income lowered by more than fill If a million pounds as compared with ilnst year, so it will be seen how important a part the London markets play in Tie prosperity of this country. Fortunately there are grounds for hoping that the present decline in values will only prove to be temporary. 'The verdict cf the London sales this week, showing a drop of from 74 to 10 per cent, oil former rates, has simply confirmed ithe weakness of the Australian and New Zealand wool markets, at which foreign buyers have for several weeks been operating at reduced •limits. There is no denying the fact that the position is distinctly .eiioiis. No one in the trade has vet forgotten what happened after the bocin in' November and December, 1899, and of- late wool has assuredly been booming, again, bo that at .the first sign of an adverse movement in prices many buyers have promptly curtailed their operations. A week or two ago those who doubled the stability of the market were in the minority,- and regarded as pessimistic. Today they are probably .in the majority, and as anticipated changes of price tend to accelerate themselves it. is possible that matters may' go worse before they commence io right themeeilves or to improve again. As often is not the underlying causes of a rise or fall in the wool market are somewhat- obscure, but m the present instance the retrograde movement may with very little doubit oe attributed to ilio condition of the .■money market in Europe and itho United States, coincident with abnormally heavy offerings of the staple. in the various Australian wool markets. Upwards uf 100,000 bales of wool were put on the market in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong, and Adelaide during a recent week, and at the end of October last fully 00,000 more bales had been offered in the Commonwealth than at the corresponding period last year. In 1900 tlio wot spring delayed shearing, but this year there was no such hindrance, and the bulk of the wool has been pH®tied on the market earlier than usual. In this connection another factor in the wool trade must be noted. - ,

Always at this time there is a desperate endeavor on t-lie part of Bradford and continental wool speculators to “hear” the market, with a view to buying the Australian and New Zealand wool at their own prices. Ilist year a notable endeavor was made in this direction. In order to influence the market at Home these speculators sold extensively for .forward delivery to English manufacturers, hut when the time came to fulfil their orders fiom ,the Australian ■ markets, the lateness of the clip, coupled with the extraordinary keenness of the demand from all parts of the world erected a position they were quite unable to control, and the result from their .point of view was disastrous. This year, however, the tightness of the money market, together with the abnormally heavy offerings, in the Commonwealth, has been, favorable to such operations, and it is more thin probable that they (the “bears’’) have played an important .part in the present position. Oil this aspect of affairs, the Sydney Mail of Nov. 13 has the following interesting note: •Our cable advices from Bradford this week were again discouraging. The market is reported quiet, and prices are quoted about id lower all .along the Jine. Now it is certain that there is not any great amount of colonial wool in Bradford at the present time, and trade there . is known to be humming. 55 my mil’s have orders on hand which will keep them well employed for months to come. In these circumstances it can only be concluded that Bradford topmakers are again playing triples mil'll' the market and endeavoring by the artificial 'means which are well understood in the Wide to depress prices. No one there can, without great loss, sell tops at the

oument quotations for the tops ■made from wool purchased at. the last wiles in London, or any of the Australia,n Hales, and trade is so good there is not the slightest need for anyone to sell at ilho present time at a loss. It is pretty certain, therefore, that tho latest quotations from Bradford are fictitious, and no criterion of real values’. It is also about as certain aS anything wecan bo that these quotations Dive boon established in order to try to work prices down for tho New Zealand season, which has just opened.

Tho main point to be boirno in mind by wool-growers is that despite tho present weakness of the market tho position, statistically, is retiiaiTfUbly strong so far as the world’s requirements are concerned. As our Bradford correspondent Wrote- in liis letter, pu-ullisbed on Wednesday last, stocks In England and on tho Continent are low, and the demand for the manufactured articles is as keen as it has ever been. This season’s wool output will probabily not- ho in excess of last year’s, so far as Australasia is concerned, while it will probably be loss so far as tho other wool-growing countries ano concerned. A Bradford expert, writing as recently as Oct. 18,' said: Tho strongest feature connected with wool is that trade continues exceedingly good. A decreased consumption Ts as yet nowhere in evidence, and it seems as if every null is going to have- a busy winter. Working till S p.m. is very general, and workpeople in many cases are feeling tho burden and strain of working front 6 a.m. to 8 and. 9 p.m. for’.the past two years. Neither the wpollon nor tho. worsted industry has boon as busy in its entirety since the Francb-Prussian war of 1870, and hero wo have tho secret of tho strength of wool values.

AVhen theso facts are borne in mind it- seems exceedingly likely that before another shearing every halo that comes from tho present season’s output will have found ready buyers, and there is reason to hopo that within a short period, by ■which time tho world’s finances war, have become straightened- out and tho present glut of Australian wool dealt with, values, will again rise. In tllio meantime it. must not be overlooked that in tho case of lowering of prices it is tho coarser wools, such as arc grown in this district, that suffer most, and. which will be tho last to participate in any advance that may take place.