PRICES IN SYDNEY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 889, 5 February 1930, Page 10

PRICES IN SYDNEY

CONTINENT ACTIVE “SPLITTING” ALLEGED SYDNEY, Tuesday. At the Sydney wool sales, the offerings Yvere 8,421 bales, of which 7,897 were sold, with 1,374 bales sold privately. Continental buyers were again active, with good support from Yorkshire and the United States. Prices were firm, with a hardening tendency for snpe,rfine wools. Greasy Merino made 32d. The allegation is made in a Labour newspaper in Sydney that certain abuses are prevalent at the wool auctions in the city, the chief of which is lot-splitting. Under this, it is alleged that a group of foreign buyers meet before the sales to ascertain the aggregate amount of wool they require. Then later they parcel it. out among themselves. * When buying commences, one representative of this group bids about 3d a pound below the price the group is prepared to pay. Vociferous bidding goes on, creating the impression that fierce competition exists, but when the bids reach the level agreed upon, all the biders but one drop out. He secures the lot. It is alleged that the Japanese Government has forbidden Japanese buyers to bid against one another. Federal Labour members of Parliament are unofficially investigating the matter* in the hope of producing evidence that the growers are the victims of exploitation. Representatives of the growers have admitted to the Prime Minister, Mr. J. IT. Scullin, that lot-splitting goes on at the sales, but say they are powerless to stop it.