A DOUBTFUL PROPOSAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9086, 11 May 1908, Page 4

A DOUBTFUL PROPOSAL.

A not inconsiderable quantity of the Wairarapa wool clip of 1907-8 was forwarded to London per sailing vessels in preference to steamers. The object in taking this step was that it was anticipated prices would rule higher at the later sales of the season than when the first rush of the nsw clip came upon the market for the January to March series of sales. How far the hopes of those who shipped with the aboye object will be realised is a moot point. In consequence of the extremely and almost unprecedentedly low range of prices ruling for our crossbred' wools, individuals have been casting about to devise means to regulate the supplies going forward to Great Britain, trusting thereby to also regulate and increase prices. Quite recently there have appeared articles in the press dealing with this subject, one suggestion going so far as to urge that "sheep farmers should combine and hold back 50 per cent, of their clips." - Oh the face of it such a proposal seems quite untenable if only from the financial difficulties that surround it. There are very many farmers who could not afford to hold their clips, and who are obliged to realise on them at the earliest possible moments. Wool liens and numerous other factors would have to be taken into account. With the enormous output of wool going into the London market it would be a Herculean task to form any combination that would be of any real benefit, and it might be disastrous to many individuals. The wool brokers who- are on the spot must be the medium through which the quantity prat forward for each series of sales must be regulated. It is'to their interest to procure the highest values for their clients, and they are in the very Best position to know the tone and trend of the markets of the world. Tha wool market is most fickle mxl> uncertain, and any regulating of supplies from this end of the line might bring about unpleasant results to many farmers. It is true that in times of Very low prices some feWjWell-to-do individuals have withheld their clips till the following season, sometimes with good, sometimes with bad results, but it would be quite another matter to deal with on«-half and hold back the other half of the wool clip of the dominion.