LONDON WOOL REPORT.

Southland Times, Issue 1178, 8 December 1869, Page 2

LONDON WOOL REPORT.

New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Aeoncy Company (Limited), October 8, 1869. From the date of our last advice to the close of the Ausust-^pptember Series on the 21st ultimo, we have nr, fnunm of moment to record in the po?ifion of the Wool Market. The French competition, though of somewhat tardy accession, when once initiated was well maintained, and bein? as regards New Zealand Wools particularly directed upon greasy descriptions, secured for them relatively much better prices than for fleece-washed and scoured parcels, a comparison with the latter, which throughout the pales were more Or less neglected, being especially favourable. The result of the Series then has been to establish an advance in prices for— Grease Wool, Id. to l£d. per lb. ; Fleece-washed Clothing Id. to Hd do Combing Hd to 2d ; Scoured £d to Id as compared with the quotations current in June for similar classes. The general charactpr of the New Zealand clips of this season's shipment has proved fully up to the average, and the only defect o' importance we have had reason to notice — and that, confined to particular instances — has been a tendency to weakness in the staple, in the cisc of some well-grown nooks so marked as to deprive them to a great extent of their combing properties. The adoption of the practice of hot-water-washing, though not so general as in Australia, has constituted this season a new feature in the New Zealand shipments, and the manner in which many clips so treated have been sent to market deserves all praise. Tfc may not, however, be inopportune to warn flockmasters thnt the u=e of this method, when carried to the extent of purging all the yolky secretions from the fleece, deprives the staple of many of those properties most valued by consumers, and that the excessive application of alkaline matter is becoming a subject of increasing complaint by manufacturers. It is satisfactory to obaerre a genera.} increase of attention to the all important points of skirtingand classification, which if persevered in will ensure increasing favour with buyers. The prospects of the woollen industry promise a steadier and more profitable condition of tint trade than for a long time pu,<t ; a generally favourable harvest and some increase in the demand for manufactures, both in the home and foreign markets, combined with an abnndnnt and exceptionally moderate mouev market, have together begotten a more confident feeling in commercial circles; while the fact that the supplies of wool for the current year show little or no increase on those of the previous twelve months, and promise to rpmain again stationary ftt all events for another year, hiis dispelled all fear of any further depreciation from a glut of the raw material, which has been a frequent cause of disorganisation and embarrassment in the woollen industry during the past two or three years. The arrivals of wool during the twolve months ending December 31st, 1868, amounted to 633,51 2 bales, while those for the current year to date are stated at 537,360 bales, which added to say 50,000 bales Cape wool, and 40,000 Australasian, give a total of 637,360 bales. . The imports from New Zealand durng 1868 were 81,688 bales, against 81,497 bales for the current year to the present date. There are further about 3,500 bales to arrive. The arrivals of wool for the August-September Sales amounted to 1 80,674 bales, to which must be added about 30,000 bales held over from previous sales in first, and about 6.000 bales in second hands, thin giving a total of 216,674 bales. Of these 194,000 bales were catalogued, and about 188,1)00 bales sola, thus leaving a stock in hand for .November in addition to new arrivals of about 29,130 bules.