WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 1 May 1925, Page 1

WELLINGTON NEWS

LONDON WOOL SALES. (Special to “Guardian”.) WELLINGTON. April '2O. Wool brokers in Wellington tire naturally interested in the probable trend i f the London Wool Sales, which beydn >m 'I ue-day next. A round of visits and chats with vm'ieiis wool men recently revealed the fact that opinion- een--1 'fall;, invuiire,! ;!m j.n ‘ ability that a fur! In r de -ini ' in value- would take ! Lee. ihe (plot til inns for Bradford t' i ; - have be -n ■ cii-ideralily depressed. \'’eek after week the market has keen reported dull, and the a.: tual rpmtation.s cabled a day or two ulv) nave the price cf tils at per cent., which represents it Bill ol .'id or 'il per lb on recent quotations. Spinners were jrlail to opt

their merino top,-; at As 2d. hut now's lid appears la be. the best price, ill view of tlii- the locn.l men do not

think the market can show any improvement. and they will he satisfied if at the openin’' of the London sales the drop in values does not exceed A per sent. Con fronted with Sir Arthur Gohlfieii's recent estimates of wool production and eim.sumplimi wliieh show a i-hertaye of til'O.(?!)(),000 His per annum.

the brokers meet the position by savin’: that -ueh ,statistics thou/li reliable are by im mean, eompleie and that- the

statistical position carries no weight because their 1- a jack of eonlideire in them. The finished wind products are n il moving off a- freely a.s they should beeniiso the user- are uncertain whether value- have reached their lowest- level the all important question is: Jla.s tile bottom boon reached? The statistical position is no doubt sound, that is to say that there is general holed' that all the wool will he wanted, hut it. is also obvious that those who hanked on the much advertised scarcity of wool have cone badly astray. Reports from Bradford state that the demand for cloth lias dwindled to almost negligible proportions since the decline in wool value.- eimuueticed. There is no doubt, that a fair amount ol business is hi in<; held up j endin':' tie stabilisation of the wool marlcls. and as -.1 ■ .11 as tlii- he nines apparent trade will become M'iive. Abnormally hiptli pri es cheeked eonsumption. and it may therefore he a.—unied that more reasonable values will have the opposite effoi-t. I'nfor'innately to ivdilei' costs manufacturers have had Ip resort to ihc use ot sill.-litutes. and now there i- little prospect <d these being ahand--10l d. A I tilit in I silk it, is said will continue to he n-eil to a la roe extent, for apart ahogoiher from ihe ]O - iee I actor idfeets ran l e obtained from the users of these MI h-1 i 1 tiles which eaniiot he m ll from wool alone. In other words fashion an important part in th 1 - lenniniNg the eour-e in . tule. and at | re-i nt there is a more decided preference lor fancy make- as opposed to I lain goods. There is no ) fospect of wool recovering ju-t now and the London -ale- are experted to record a decline of A lo 10 per com . S’ > V El,’ E!! : \ S IN CIRCE I.ATION. hanker is ot opinion that a pood t!“;:l Ilf Hi i-:> Jlp •■■hell ion exist.- ill New /‘■aland with 1 e-peet to llie gold standard ami the :hi eunviiex . It was anti, i; a ted that lirit.iin would revert to (lie cold standard <n duly I. -imiill;ineniislv with the Union of South Africa where cold is already in circulation. :h all events Britain will ecrtainlv he on a gold lia-is from the hopi noiup* '-1 iL o, ■ I here is a ppa ri'ii ily a belief ihat w lien 111 Itain ret ill'll- to the "old -I ;i luhi !'• I il will ipso facto return to a gold currency and tint tile bulk- will ea-ll cheques ill sovereign*. This idea i- altogether If Britain icverts to the pold standard il is probable that over-ens Dominions w ill Cieleavotir i.. ,1,, lib: w i.-e. hoe a ivv, r.-ii.M to the gold si a in. la rd will not mean the i ree i i voul.i i iioi ol sovereigns. I I would he impo-'-ihle with the supply of poh! in the Empire iii replace the paier currencies pound |or pound with Jr, ,1,1 ruin. foil r year- apo Professor Kds-eil declared that there were grave doubts as to the n.ilctpue'.v of the supply of poll| tor the nmiietax need- of the world mile-', the demand for it is ,ai .'fully • ■uitrolled. lint there i- no reason whv paper eiirrein y to which we halo become lecis-inmcd i-'hould not remain. The Cunliife Committee in its re- ,~, , -,:i :< I ; "Il is not neecs-a r\ for Ihe ma iII teoa m e iit an elleitive gold standaril. nor do we think il ,li-sirahie. that there Ainu!,l he an early resiimplion of the interna! eir u!atiou o| "old 1 oin. |.'or ilm present. at any rate, we think that it will la- more ceotioniienl that oelil should h • lie!,l ill a central re-sm-vo as a backing for note- in cii'eii- | ;l( ion." The return to the pold stamla.nl would lie helpful in tv-spool to intornalioiial trade, anil the reversion simply means lifting the embargo on the five export of pold. Count ries with credit halanees in Britain would he able to enliven t heir . redits into pot,l. and in the pa-l: an effective chock- to the export of gold has been ihe raising of the haul., rate if discount. Thai remedy i oiinime.- bur every advance in the hank rate means a cheek to trade, and that is what all hank olii'ers are anxious to avoid. The banks in New Zealand are quite prepared to meet any sii.-h change, for according to the hai'ikinp return- for the past quarter the eir, Illation less the amount ol the 1„,r.,| tei'clof note.- held by the banks ■va - a lit t!" ■.. tore than Ct. 1 0( ».< W>o. while the metal reserve, that is _^dd. . ;|e,-r ami , op; •r. amounted to P, ~2. . pn-,. The hank- extend their holding of ..old by I'UI'I luisinp the m.'W p’dd mined in the Dominion.