WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 November 1931, Page 6

WELLINGTON NEWS

WHAT ABOUT WOOL

(Special Correspondent)

•WELLINGTON, November 23

This week,, notwithstanding the excitement of the general election, the thoughts of a great -many peopie will be centred on wool, for the London sales begin on Tuesday, November 24, and .the first sale for the season will be held in Auckland on Saturday, November 28. What are the prospects for the staple? That is the most interesting ithing. It is always a risky thing to forecast 'the wool market, for those experienced in the wool trade kno\v that often when the prospects look extremely promising some extraneous incident upsets calculations. Yet, in spite of ih-s, it seems a safe prediction that this week will provide growers and brokers and the people generally thrills of pleasure, for all the visible factors point to a rise in values. It; may not be a very big advance, but it will be such an improvement as will last. A rise of a penny per lb in t-ue average for the season wilt- be very helpful to'the growers who have suffered more severely than any other section of farmers. Three sales are to .be held m the North Island and three in the South Island before the end of the year. rhos e who dispose of their clip at the three North Island sales will have their wool cheques before Christmas Day. Wool sales in the Dominion are now ion a sound basis. The various regulations dfhwn up by agreement between t brokers and buyers are all framed with a View to efficiently th-e wool. Growers must have realised ere this that the moat effective method of disposing of their clips is by auction at a port nearest the point of production. That the Dominion sales have achieved a great success is evidenced by the fact that at the present time agents of London brokers are canvassing among the wool growers for consignments. As between selling in London,. and selling in New Zealand there is a wide difference, and the difference is all in favour of the Dominion sales.

In London buyers froifi European countries and from America are in attendance, but at the Dominion sales, in addition’to buyers from Europe and the •United .States, there are representatives from Australia and Japan, and the demand from Japan is expanding. Australian Buyers operate at the Dominion sales because their mills require crossbred arid half bred wools. Thus it will be seen that there is a better spread m the demand,- and furthermore the prices realised at the Dominion sales are never below London parity, and not infrequently they are above. A grower who sells his wool at e local sales gets his cheque fourteen days a liter the sale, for it is a strictly cash transaction between buyer and seller. When wool is consigned to London for realisation the grower is forced to accept a speculative risk, and lie has to " a| many weeks for returns, in the {neantime interest .on advances is accumulating'; Storage--charged in New 'Zealand and the consolidated rates are cheapei, and* the owner lias far better control in the ultimate disposal of Ins wool than if. consigned to London. Some growers' are under the mistaken impression that because 'the exchange favours the shipper at the piesent, a corresponding advantage is secured by selling in London. Such is not the case. Woolbuyers take the exchange into consideration when determining on the prices they can pay in New Zealand for the various grades they require so that in selling at the locril sales the grower gets the full benefit of the favourable exchange. There is another important point, sentimental though it may be, and that is Giat a large amount of casual labour, finds employment in the local wool stores m receiving, stacking and weighing the .wool sent in for sale. This is important just now.