Commercial Intelligence.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 102, 14 December 1868, Page 301

Commercial Intelligence.

COLONIAL WOOL REPORT. ' We -ta'ke : the-following fromthe-’circular nf tlie New Zealand Loan and Mercantile'Agency-.Com-pany, dated Ist October—

, The actualstockof Wool, including new arrivals to date; shows a rough total of 77,000‘bales, which it is anticipated will be further increased for the November Sales by about 20,000 to' 23.000 1 ales, giviug-a total ; of rather over 100,000 'bales against 107,494 bales for the same series of 1867. The course of the Market during the concluding portion' of the-Sales presented not variation requiring any modification of the tenor of our. previous ad" vises issued from mail to mail during their earlier currency,-beyond the notice of a slight increase of spirit and tone in the three closing days—due more to a sense of relief experienced by buyers at the termination of one of the longest and most irksome periods of sale on record, than to any more tangible reason.

’A general re'vieW of the situation of the Woolen trade;:and the circumstances affecting its condition at the close of a series which will loug be remembered as having marked one of the most disastrous . fluctuations ever witnessed, is the. more unsatisfactory that it reveals the influence of no special 'cause affecting consumption, to which,such exceptional depression may be assigned. For very many yeai-s it has'been urged that the eno'rmbuso' increasing proportions of the Colonial export of Wool would sooner or later reach a point ut which a serious depreciation in value would follow as a necessary consequence, hut although at particular period's a reduction in price immediately traceable to' the effects of war, bud harvests, or other misfortunes, has been aggravated < y the progressively augmenting supply, the'expansion of the trade has till now on the average proved equal totheiucreasing production. -. - Tne maintenance of a high valuo may have been in some degreb duo to the years.-of inflation and overtrading which proceeded the panic or is 66, but whether this he so or not,'it is undeniable that since that period, the limits of the trade have by no means bfeen characterised by'the elasticity which/previously existed; thus-the relations of supply and demand have suffered .considerable modification 1 and the crisis so long predicted has at length arrived.. The feature or this depreciation most worthy of remark is its excessive suddenness, which may perhaps be partly ascribed tb a mistaken estimate by manfacturers and staplers during the earlier sales of theyekrofthe probable future course-of trade, and in sonie degree to.;the character of the great majority of Wools comprised in ! the series, which being for the nrqst' part extremely faulty and ill-conditioned, failed to attract in any numbers the foreign members of the trade, •who, it will be remembered, contributed such-Va-luable support to the market during the sales, and whose comparative absence therefore told with double severity. Of the 50,960 hales, which have comprised the contribution from New Zealand, a very small proportion is entitled to rank (either as regards breed or condition) as first-class Wool,,hut'the ininorty of-well-bred well-conditioned flocks like the better descriptions of neighboring colonial, growth suffered proportionately Tess;hhd mWy be quoted at-a decline,of,2d on. jthe lower.rates of MayJune sales.-

: The great bulk of the shipments again ‘show the falling off in breed and quality on which ,we nave before had reason to remark; and - indeed ini such ,a degree -has this, tendency been developed-a 3: t'6 render them- in a great mea-sure-unfit for the continental markets-.and. restrict their nse^'tohlanketpurposes" or the‘ manufacture of inferior tweeds. In other instances where the charaeter- of- the • Wool has been comparatively maintained, the. great neglect., shqwn in the washing, and spirting hasrobbbd them of any advantage arising from /that circumstance. For nil this class of growth the depreciation has ranged from 3d to 4d per lb,. The same remarks as regards grease Wools will hear in a great degree similar application', except in the extent of the reduction, which we may quote 2d per lb. . ~ , The'actual circumstances of the trade do not point to the probability of any . speedy or matetiuhiinprovement. Both staplers and mahufacture'rs are heavilly.stocked, 'and while the steck of \7oplJor NovembeFwill be ample to suffice for the remaininghionths of the year, the'-additicmal- increase in the supply for-the coming season, which has, al--ready heed .advised As Certain, w.iir.,prohably'fuHy meefthe contingentfequireihents ot any Improves

inent,in trade, ; ... . ,- . Though-we can thus hold-oiit hut little eiicburagement to -growers as regards better markets, wo would emphatically point their attention,: to the relatively satisfactory rates whlch’really 'first'-’ class. Wools have commanded during thp lato. series'hfid 0 ifige'them' to - End- here an'indicutioir of the true policy to be adopted under the altered, conditions supply and demand, viz., the introduction' OfT better blood'to their -flocks; .andj-a.more carehiland.skilfulirpgatd to;the various,elements ofgood- ** ■'