Excessive Dumping of Wool.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 968, 10 August 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

Excessive Dumping of Wool.

•• 1 ‘ [From the Sgdney Mail.] The sales of wool in London this year have not quite met the expectation of local buyers and shippers. There have been heavy losses on several lots, and possibly these are the reasons which have led to recent correspondence in the columns of the' Herald regarding excessive dumping and other faults in connection with the wool trade. It is well, perhaps, that the career of the trade is slightly chequered, and that those connected witlf it have occasionally to take into consideration matters which affect producers and purchasers. There can be no doubts concerning the importance of sending wool to market in good packages and in a proper way. Mr. Chard, who has considerable experience as a broker in this market, says the wool, in the case of many clips, suffers seriously through being excessively dumped, or extra pressed*, for shipment. Speaking of the London market, he says : —“ Beautiful washed fleece wools and scoured skinwools, which left Sydney bright, soft, elastic, and sound, are shown fqr sale caked in a block like wood —yellow, dead, and dull in colour, and impossible for buyers to examine. Indeed, in dull

times like the present, these wools are not much looked at ; and many of the heavy losses this year on these descriptions will be due to over-dumping.” This is a serious charge, and one which has brought forward several opinions from persons connected with the trade. It is contended that the dumping usually carried out is not excessive, and that the caking, or felting, of which Mr. Chard complains is due more to the fault of packing the wool while damp than to the pressing or dumping. The stevedores of the port have now very powerful and complete dumping plants. They dump in accordance’with instr ictionsin singles, doubles, and trebles, and in fact are perfectly willing in all cases to carry out the instructions of the grower or his agents. The stevedores, in replying to Mr. Chard, say th at packing in singles may be the b< »t the pressure used in dumping is the same in the case of singles as trebles: They also show that if packing in.singles becomes the

ri Is packing on thp stations must be conducted differently. One firm writes: —“ If Mr. Chard wishes to carry his views out, he must instruct the woolgrowers to adopt the plan pursued in the South, —to pack the wool in box presses, not to send it down in side bales, bulky or spade-packed bales, which it is impossible to put into singles. Wool is often received in Sydney in packs of such an inferior quality as not to be able to protect the contents during transit : and the wool frequently receives damage. This together with the bulky or spade bales to some extent accounts for the unsightliness in the London market.” It is plain that there are faults, and we think the use pf inferior packs the most inexcusable of these. At best it is a piece of fa’se economy to place good produce in bad packages, and we are of, opinion that the growers of the Coldity would be wise in following the example of the producers in the South. The small packs of good quality are rapidly coming into favour, and weknow' that, daring the last season ,and the one just closing, a profitable trade has been done by buying lots badly packed iu large bales, and reclassing and repacking them in such bales asMr. Chard suggests • s

With regard to-the dumping, it is a question which undoubtedly has two sides. Undumped w’ool must pay extra freight, in many cases double the rates charged for dumped lots, and there is is great difficulty experienced in procuring vessels to take large quantities undumped. One-third of undumped is occasionally token, but the ships’ agents prefer the dumped lots, even at the low’est quotation,' to the bulky light bales at extreme and tempting rates. It is also noteworthy that it is not yet definitely settled that dumping njtires w 00l or causes it to bring lower prices than if sent to market in a loose state. We know several woolgrowers, gentlemen well acquainted with the London market, who have their wool dumped, and in one case, that of a Western sheepbreeder, who produces first class wool, the dumping ha< been commenced ■after a long trial of the London market

with undumped lots. Better packs for and greater care in the transport of the wool .ayeth®. ~ actual ’ ments, and these should be forthcoming during the next season.