OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3982, 15 July 1915, Page 3

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

THE RECOVERY IN CROSSBREDS,

(From Our Own Correspondent.) BRADFORD, May 28.

Tliis week holidays have very largely interfered with business, and after the by no means welcome experience or having to spend nearly.,a month in Coleman Street many members of the wool trade have seen lit to take nearly a full week by way of holiday, be-' ing encouraged to do this owing to having an abundance of orders on their books, and so being able to get away with freedom, leaving in charge their foremen and managers. It would serve a very useful purpose it we had to take tliis opportunity of summing up recent experiences, . for alter all it is usually 'a profitable tine to review the immediate past briefly, for by so doing one i s able to shape a programme for the immediate future. The Whitsuntide holiday- has provided ample opportunity for rcJlootitin, and one has only to review the standard to which wool values have reached to feel satisfied at what has been-done. Prices are not low. hut the reverse, for every class of staple, and certainly the outcome of the recent London auctions cannot lint satisfy growers, for they have realised values which are certainly highly creditable. Wo have been looking over a list v of prices, and find that 17id has been paid for New South Wales staple in the grease, 17d to lOd being paid very frequently, while scorns of clips have made led to lo.kl. Among the Queensland grease 1 (ipl has been reached for central grown greasy . combing, while amongst the s eon reds 2s 7d has been paid for fleece and 2s 4d for broken or pieces, quiio a host of clips having sold from 2s o-Uf to 2s 3-Jd. No reasonable man can find the least fault with such values, and it only serves to show the splendid in-ices which have been paid -for good clean scon reds. Of course these are all wanted for a special purpose, and there is more than a grain of satisfaction to be derived from the statement that these wools have gone to our. Ally and will ultimately he made into army cloths for the Russian troops. EXCELLENT STANDING OF MERINOS

hooking over the situation one cannot but be struck with the excellent standing of merino wools, and it is remarkable to find present prices quite equal to those ruling last July before the war broke out. At that time the market for fine wools was bring dictated by the combined buying ability of the who'e of the Continent, Great Britain and America, mills everywhere being intact and in full working order. To-day there is practically little consumptive capacity for merinos outside Great Britain, and one regrets very much that oven the nulls of the United States arc not as busy as the y might be, in fact they must be cal'ed very slack. The wdrking out of the recent. European army contracts has been an item of considerable concern to many American mills, an important source of revenue and work having been cut off. This means that they are now entirely depending iipon their own market for orders, ami it is a. fact that the American public is feeling to-day quite as acutely the great European war as we are in this country. English textile travellers who have recently come back from the States say that things are hotter and more satisfactory here in England than across the Atlantic. Still for all that-we find merinos making excellent figures, and one has only to look down the list of values paid for well-known clips from Australia to sec some big figures paid. Ordinary 40 per cent clean yield combing wool easily made I |, and anything giving half weight commanded often 14Ad to 10-|d. Very big pri es were paid for New England (New South 'Wales) merinos, these making from lCkl to J7£d, even Riverina merinos making lod to 16-id, while sbafty deep grown South Australian wools also made 14-d to l4Jd. We have already indicated the high values paid for Queens'and grease, while Queensland scoureds topped the market and eclipsed every other class of merino staple. All this is certainly remarkable, and now that the homo trade still possesses a huge amount of buying strength, no doubt the big prices forthcoming for merino tops helping the sale of this class of raw material.

HIGH STANDING OF CROSSBREDS The outstanding feature of the market to-day is undoubtedly the position of crossbreds, and here wo have somethin'; worth chronic-ling. It is really remarkable to find the crossbred wools of New Zealand occupying the position they do, and to see average crossbreds selling anywhere from 17d to 19d is indeed a remarkable state of affairs. All selling broken s emphasise the recovery at the recent auctions, the writer at the time stating that this was the outstanding feature of the recent sales. Of course, those representing the interests of growers now strongly maintain that the 2d decline during the first week of the series had no justification whatever and to a very large extent that was correct. The fact is, the fall was largely brought about by a temporary loss of confidence, together with a strong desire on the part of buyers to pave the way for purchasing the forthcoming English clip on Bradford terms. We have always believed in growers receiving a full market price for their product, but one must remember that the taking in of big weights of crossbreds at nearly -50 per cent more than at the corresponding series a year ago is undoubtedly a dangerous piece of business, and were it not for the possibility of the present European war continuing through another winter, wc should say that buying crossbreds at to-day’s level of 'values would indeed bo a rather dangerous experiment. Still' we cannot see but that all the wool recently bought will lie wanted,- and a reasonable profit made out of it, ’i he recovery in the price of crossbreds was undoubtedly due to tilings taking a more favorable turn in Bradford, while the rather black time through which England and her Allies wore passing in France as well as the Dardanelles settled in, the minds of many the impression that the war was not going to be over for many months,, and that before long further important khaki orders "would have to he placed by,the British War Office. Those briefly are. the factors which brought about the reversion in the attitude of the members of the,trade, and to-day the market certainly is really wonderful, with

so many clips having! been sold at 17-id to 19d. Surely these figures for greasy crossbred' fleeces are remarkable. The writer has been talking over the ivooi situation this week with a fairly large north of England sheep fanner, breeding pedigree Wensleydale sheep of a very high class order, which figure prominently' 1 at all the leading shows in England. He said to find English Wensleydale wool in the neighborhood of Is 6d was to him a new experience and the same can be said for the English half-bred wools, produced with a cross of the Scotch Bhv-kfaced ewe and the Wensleydaie ram. 'The fleece of this breed is indeed a very useful one. but it is not so fine ns the average New Zealand crossbred, but for all that when greasy crossbred wool figures in the neighborhood of Is od to Is 7d per lb, prices cannot in the least.be despised.

The general utility of crossbred wool has been demonstrated during the past nine months in no slight way, aipl to-day crossbred wool is as strongly in demand and going as largely into consumption as ever, this really being the foundation upon which the recovery in crossbreds has taken place Everybody knows the important part that crossbred wool has played in supplying the requirements of.our troops upon the field of battle, and prospects point to that demand remaining as large as ever. Never lias the New Zealand clip moved into customers hands as quickly as the current one, and. after next- -London sales very little indeed will he left, and no new wool will bo availabe fill the following January. Possibly the urgent desire of topinakers and spinners to put something into stock may have been the'" cause for several firms -buying what they know they will not want for some time f.o come, but all the same they have felt inspired to put good money into wool, and therefore have bought very -.liberally indeed. There are some who are already prophesying dearer crossbred wool in Loudon in July, but that will depend a good deal upon developments. Neutral Continental countries as well as America are no doubt feeling the effects of being denied the privilege of buying fair weights of New Zealand crossbreds as they have done in years gone by, but so long as the war lasts Great Britain is ccrtan to insist upon the embargo being maintained, and even then there be no surplus stocks of crossbreds.

MAN FRACTURING CON DTTTOXS HEALTHY.

The state of the tetxile trade is a remarkable one, and all mills are still very busy. We find that overtime is still general, notwithstanding that most factories have been standing two days this week. After being in a hot mill and working anywhere from 12 to 13 hours per day, factory employees need a little respite, and they went back to work last Wednesday feeling all the better for a two days' holiday. The price of merino tons o'-to-day a record, and 3s is quoted almost everywhere in Bradford for G4’s for spot delivery, in fact- many firms have sold as far forward as next August and September at that price for a really tip top article. 'l here seems tn be a complete absence of all stocks, and*, undoubtedly thy consumption of merinos is developing. Among several London houses great surprise is expressed at where all the merino wool is going to, but the consumption of thick counts in Leicester is so largo that spinners art; quite up to topmakers, who seem totally unable to deliver sufficient tops to keep frames running. Of course, the difficulty really is with commission wool combers, and they say they are greatly handicapped by, the lack of bands, having much machinery standing every night which ought to be fully run. Jt is not to-day the price of wool which is determining the actual market value of tops, put machinery and its limited output. There is a huge demand also on export account which topinakers cannot in the least meet. Therefore difficulty is being felt by many, and much bad feeling is at present in evidence on account of topmakers being unable to carry out their contracts. That is really the situation in merinos, and to a very large otxcnt it also obtains in crossbreds. Here again a. strong demand is being experienced for 50’s to 56’s and more lower qualities are also moving, thanks to continued activity on the part of crossbred spinners. The whole situation manifests great healthiness, and everything indicates a continuance of the present satisfactory conditions.