ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 102, 2 January 1915, Page 2

ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

LARGE CONSUMPTION STEADILY MAINTAINED. Since writing last the sixth series o London sales have come to a close Prices ruled very much the same righ to the end, and there was no furthei weakness. We learnt one or two buy ers went round valuing on the Satur day. morning with increased limits their firms in consuming centres beini {in need of supplies and having real ii,sed that no cheap wool would conn: 'with the close of the series Boil: [American and Continental competitior 'have been greatly limited by the em bargo, and except for a few lots laker by a French buyer the homo trade was sole operator. About 6,500 bales were carried forward to the next serie? which opens on December Bth. The news of the Melbourne sale to hah/ this week is rather striking. A fall ot Id to Id in good merinos is reported igood crossbreds are firm, and all othe? jscrts 10 to 20 per cent. down. Las; iWeek in London scoured and £rea.£} faulty wasty wools fell 10 to 15 pei cent., and no great- surprise was e\' pressed. The cables say that, in con sequence of the Melbourne fail the of ferings as arranged to be put fcrwarc at other.sales may be curtailed. T:j m this seems not altogether advisable because the fall so far is only slight compared with that of 95 per cent n: 'merinos, which is regarded as certaii: I when the full weight of the Australia!: clip is available. SHIPPING. Much anxiety is still felt here about shipping. Bradford men ire confinu ally asking how long it. will be beff-rt shipments of colonial wooi to thi.country are due, and if the colonia 'clip is coming forward as usual oi not. If. seems to be settled that if can not come forward as usual because the Government have taken over i hundred boats off the Australian sm New Zealand service, and these boat; ,which have to bring troops to Europe must return to Australia and the; , come back with word before any rea jweights are avcilahlo—that is to pay in eighteen weeks' time. The sinkint of the Era den, wheih it must be ad Imittcn. has done her part and playei the game, will take off one worn about shipping interruptions, but '"! j private companies are to carry tlu wool clip to England in the usual way big supp Mas cf New Zealand and Aus tralian wools are not expected before March. South American wools may begin to arrive before Ohrh-imas, but a delay must occur in respect to colonial produce. There is some talk cf the Government guaranteeing shipments or conveying them, but nothing definite is known. At anynte. much annoyance and uneasiness is bcins caused and the men;!" Rspc-'ally are in trouble. They have sold the meat, and now the Government has taken nearly all of the boats that can bring it —the refrigerator steamers. If the cold store-; in New Zealand are filled, it wi 11 mean that the freezing companicr' will have to stop killing, which aer'n will mean, for a short time, less r 1 wool and more fleece. MERINOS. The effect of the London sales on (he Bradford market has been unnotieeable. Certainly the rise in slipca

and good merinos was not as pronounced as. had been expected, but oil (he whole the course of values had been well foreseen. The fall in faulty, wasty wools, has had no effect on this market, for the reason that very little > f such raw material is being used now, or is used at any time, in the iJritish wool trade. Seme have said that a short 64's top, made from these .boil:, mushy vvco'.a, could be offered cut of London-bought wool at 2s 6id. Most probably it could, but there are few buyers for such an article. The . tamiard Bradford 84's, from good combing wool, sells to-day at 2s 7d, or l(\ more, bur slocks are not heavy. On this account more forward business is being put through than fcr spot delivery, at prices about 3d below tc day's rates. The consumption - f merinos at the present time is certainly not norma!, though it has appreciably improved during the past three .>r rcrir weeks. Officers' khaki Iras been consuming it*; share since the war began, and recently the Government have taken seme good weights of gabardine cloths, which are mcstl yinade of fine worsted yarns. More botany manufacturers are running on such cloths as have previously been ordered from the Continent, and if is significant that Paris is buying from Yorkshire. This seems to point to the fact that wholesale houses in the French capital do net think there is much chance of getting goods from Roubaix, Tourcoing, and other manufacturing towns which the German troops now occupy. VV'e can get very little news from that district, and do not know whether mills are standing or not. Up to October 20th or so they were all right, but if the Germans are forced out they may do their worst with them. We

understand they are paying fairly well for what wool they take. They may iiev/.Q a fair weight from Roubaix if they think they can transport it, easily to Germany, for the last letter we had from the French town said therewere some big stocks there in the combing establishments, about half merinos and half crossbreds. CROSSBREDS. Crossbred wools are firmly settled in the top branches of the tree. Whether they will climb higher or not depends entirely on how arrivals come to hand, which Question we discuss elsewhere, but it can be taken for granted that they will not fall very far before Christmas. No large weights cf Buenos Ayres crossbreds will be here before then, and they will be the first to arrive. Forward selling of tops continues, but both in crossbreds and merinos it is mostly confined to Pebruaiy, March and April, sellers being booked up for December and .laauary. Many of the contracts are being covered in New Zealand, and are "subject to the arrival cf lite wool." The market all round is quieter, and there has been distinctly less buying during the past two weeks or so. The pace of September and the first week or fcwo of October could not b? ex•eeted to continue. Mamu'acturers all over the country who are on Government work are runni.ig plants overtime, or all day and night, and every effort is being made to cope with War Office needs.