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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 55, 25 July 1914, Page 4

THE WOOL CLIP. We have received Annual Wool Rev which contains an of evorythinjr relnt ■w for Australasia, ■xhaiistive summary lie to the past season's clip and the marketing of same. The publication is in its sixteenth year of issue, and deals comprehensively not only with the past clip, but also with many branches of the industry connected with wool. The number of sheep estimated to have been shorn was 10!),tii)'2,2(U head, ' including lambs, which produced 7.8711n5. per head (including lamhs) as against "lbs. for the previous season. A splendid jiverage monetary return o£ 6s 4d per head was realised, the total wealth produced by the ttoeUs

in wool alone being £34,950,-103. The oversea exports of wool plus quantity retained-in the Commonwealth and NewZealand for manufacturing purposes, give a total of 2,039,280 balea, which makes the clip slightly bigger than the record one of last season, 1911-12. Sheepmasters of Australasia are congratulated upon the wonderful result achieved of providingi of 2,039,280 bales of wool for export and local consumption from 109,(102,204 sheep and lambs, which give a return of 711). 14oz per head, including lambs, an infinitely better result than has ever before been secured either in this or any other country. Although the average value of the. U)oß,2So'bales of wool which were disposed of in Australasia was 8s 2d per bale less tlian the previous season, calculated on a. clean, scoured basis, wool values were really higher during the past year than they were in 1012-13, the difference being due to the much heavier condition of the wool grown during last season. As the average per bale, winch works out at £l3 4s lid, is nearly 30s per bale greater than was obtained for the record clip of 1911-12, the past clip has been a record one as regards the all-impor-tant point of monetary returns. The total value of all the wool sold in Australia and New Zealand during the statistical vear just closed „, viz... V,flflft : s7S bales, amount's to £28,079,530, an excellent result as compared with ten vears ago. when 837,497 hales were sold ''for £10,046,650. The second 'highest amount of money received for the wool clip sold in Australasia was £25,712,774, which was obtained in the 1909-10 season. The increase in the value of the wool sold in Australasia in ten years amounts to no less than 160 per cent. The past clip was composed of 09 per cent, merino and 31 per cent crossbred. That of 1911-12 was represented by 72 per cent, merino and 28 per cent crossbred. As was forecasted in last year's Annual Review, the clip proved to be an exceptionally well-grown, bulky, and generally useful one, but owing principally to the abundance of feed wbich was available to the flocks, during the time the woo] was growing, the fibre of the wool was much broader in quality, and more liberally nourished with yolk than the starved clip of the previous year. It was only natural that there-would be a substantial increase in wool production but few can have thought the export would have been as large as it has proved, duo ./'ntirely to the exceptionally bulky fleeces which the sheep j grew. With regard to the prospects, Dalgcty and Co. say: "Given a fair average of seasons, the outlook for the pastoral industry in New Zealand and Australia was never so good as it is at the present time. The world's demands for the primary products of these countries has unquestionably overtaken supplies, with the result that prices now stand at a very remunerative, all-round level of values, from which over a period of ', years there is not likely to be any recession."