OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2341, 6 November 1908, Page 5

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

THE WOOL MARKETS

A DOWNWARD TENDENCY

[From Our-Special Correspondent.]

BRADFORD, Sept. 25. Conditions in the Bradford area continue to manifest no real healthy signs of development, and if anything a- reversal to less favorable circumstances is everywhere apparent. The spurt seen during the first fortnight of the current month is completely off, and business has relapsed into a very quiet state. There seems now to be a general disposition to wait developments, everybody resting till Coleman Street speaks. It is hard to believe that we are going to see higher values, although some --seem to think that merinos will be on a full par with the best of the J uly series. There certainly is more justification for fine wools holding their own, hut nobody need be surprised if we do not see an easier tendency towards the finish. It is no use blinking the. fact that conditions in the West Riding are far from being good, and instead of users being keen to acquire stock, they seem niore than ever determined to go strictly from hand to mouth. To be candid, both merinos and "crossbreds, can be bought lat a farthing .less than last week, and although business is generally quiet, still nobody seems to be keen sellers. Markets generally are making little headway towards improvement, and with the trouble in ' the Lancashire cotton trade the outlook is all the more gloomy. A big industrial population like that of Lancashire provides a big market for all kinds of fabrics in which wool enters, and in the race for supremacy in times of strike, the inner needs of man always triumphs over his outward requirements. Ido not think that the outlook for the forthcoming London sales is a very good one. There, is growing uneasiness over the large quantity of .wool in sight, and what to do for the best is a most- difficult matter to settle. If competition is anything like, decent and prices rule on a level with last series, then the more wool sold: the better. So long, as the trade is confronted with big unsold stocks, so long will wholesale fabric buyers be indisposed to place. large contracts. Possibly competition from America and the Continent will he more intense than wlhat users in this, district contemplate,’ hut I do not think that Yorkshire buyers aro disposed to look upon the situation with strong feelings of optimism. Good 40’s tops can bo bought anywhere at 10(d, and super 60’s at 22(d) .and plenty of good lots in, both qualities at even money.