LONDON WOOL MARKET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3141, 19 March 1909, Page 3

LONDON WOOL MARKET.

In writing of the London wool market last month the special correspondent of the Sydney "Daily Telegraph" stated: "Ihis week an. occasion of briskners became apparent, which has since become more emphatic. The change was inaugurated by the Continent whose representatives manifested increased eagerness to get holrl of merino qualities. By some the change is attributed to politics the apae'ct of the near Eastern question in which Austria Bulgaria "and Turkey are involved having recently undergone a change for the better rendering more promising the prospects of peace preserved throughout Europe. But be that as it may the market for wool has certainly improved within the last few days and in spite of the heavy quantities brought to the hammer daily the sales look like finishing up with most descriptions of wool at their best. German spinners not withstanding the extensive purchases they have made since a few clays after the series began continue to! be the most active section in the saleroom so far as the merino qualities are concerned. To judge from their actions they have either immense requirements to provide lor or they are undur the impression that fine wool ,is going to get daarer in the course of the year, and that therefore it is good policy to lay in a stock while the supplies to select from are abundant. The finer the quality of the wool the keener is the anxiety to secure it, and greater the stiffening in the price. The turn which affairs have taken has come as a surpriEe and disappointment to the Home trade. After the first few days of the, series, during which they operated freely, the Yorkshiremen have been inclined to some extent to hold back, hoping in this, the final week of the series, to come in upon a lower level. The Continental action, however, has forced their hand, and they have been obliged this week to buy freely at somewhat higher rates than they could have done about the middle of the series. Not for many years have crossbreds been seen in so light a condition as many of those growing in New_ Zealand,' which are now being brought to the hammer. Since the outset, when they ruled so stiff, rices of ordinary conditioned coarse and medium greasy crossbreds have steadily weakened, until not only is the original advuice wiped out, but even a little more so, so that the wools are really cheaper than at the end of the previous series. Scoureds and slipes of the corresponding qualities have likewise lost ground, and now occupy just about the same position as they did when the final auctions of 19C8 came to a close."