COMMERCIAL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2068, 8 October 1885, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

Waiknto Tunes Office, Wednesday. [reuter's telkgb.vms.] LONDON iUKKETS. London, October s.— Cousols .ire firm at ')',)}. >iew Zealand securities :No quotable alteration. The bank r.ito is 2 per cent., and the in irket rate I{. Colonial bread»tutfs and tallow are unaltered. LONDON' WOOL M VUKETS. Lovdon, October , r i.— The wool sales closed to day. The total quantity sold during the series his been 300,000 bales, and T3.OX) bales are held o\er for the next sales, which commence on the 21th January,

[spkciu. ro nti->s association*.] Lon'DOV, October ."> — Tliu wool sales oWd to diy with firices fl.it. 20^,000 b ilos wero cdtiilo^ucd, 70,000 bales l)fuui£ been reserved, nnd 10"i,000 b.\les taken for import, includinj,' S"),000 b.»le« for America.

IIKI.IiUtU.VK MARKKTS. Mbiboiuinb, October (».— The local manager «»t tho Nation »1 Moitgacjo and Vgoncy Co., New Zealand (Limited), re ports on the Melbourno ginin maikot ns follows :— Shipping wheat nhows an improvoincnt of Id per bushel, and is fiira at Is 2d to 4s 3d ; malting barley is neglected ,it 3s lid to 4s 3d. New Zealand oats are dull ; feed sort*, 2s lOd to 3s per bushel ; milling descriptions, 3s Id to 3s 2d ; and undei bond is quoted at 2s 2d to 2s 3d.

WOOL PROSPMJTS FOIt Al>r«\Ll\. We take tlie following from Mes-rs CJoldsbrough and ,Co's circular, dated Melbourne, September 21. The transactions in this market during the month, have been unimportant, the sales being confined to sni.ill miscellaneous parcels of greasy and a few lots of up-coun-try Scoured disposed of privately. Tho new season 'h clip is coining in freely, and we have already a large quantity in warehouse. As far as we can judge from the samples to hand, the Riverine and Victorian clip promises to be an improvement I on that of last year, the .season having been more favourable. Although in slightly heasier condition, the staple on the whole is fairly well-grown There should be a fair proportion of lambs' wool. We learn by telegram that the tourth seiies of London sale* opened on the lit inst. with a moderate attendance of home and foieign buyers. The total quantity available for sale, including the 70,000 bales held over from the last sales, and allowing for 27,000 bales forvvaided direct to manufacturers, amounting to 340,000 bales. Competition wai languid, and prices as compared w ith the close of last sales showed a decline of from \d to Id on greasy, and from Id to l}d on washed and scouied. As the sales progressed the depiesaion became more marked, and the fall in value is now stated to be a full Id per lb on greasy merino and fine ciossbred, and 2d on scoured and washed, thus making the reduction established since the commencement of tho current year about 3d on greasy and 4tl on washed. So serious a decline as this is bound to cause considerable anxiety in a community such as ours, v. here sheep husbandry has become the chief mdustiy. The loss sustained becomes a national one, and a« it falls upon us at a time when, besides other e\ils, the squatting interest is siiffeiing from the effects of one of the soverest droughts ever experienced, it is all the harder to bear. Our last telegram reports a firniet tone and arger attendance, and it is to be hoped that the improvement will continue. Kext to this fall m prices, the most important matter agitating the minds of sheep fanners and all interested m pastoral affairs in the rapid increase m the Noith American production, and tho piobability of that increase being maintained in the same ratio. In Rome quaiters very extreme \iews arc held, and the-e are being spread by alarmists to an extent that h likely to do considerable lnjuiy to our sample industry. For many years past we have periodically drawn attention to the com Detition Austrilian wools would meet with sooner or later from tho produce of the La Plata Republics it being well known that the growers there, under tho influence of a stable Government, were throwing aside that supineness that had chaiacterisud them so long, and we are giving pioper care and attention to their flocks, which annually showed considerable improvement. We always luiiutained, however, that as long as our flockmasters continued t<> exert themselves to tho uttermost to inipro\e their flocks up to the highest standard of excellence it ib possible to attain our wools would continue to hold the premier position in the woild's markets. Despite tho present depression m wool, our faith in the futuie remains unshaken, and we confidently believe that but fora combination of circumstance;,, that are not likely to occur again for many years, the chief caute of tho uneasy feeling now abroad — namely, the South American production — would have elicited little more than a passing notice. Unfortunately, our last year's clip — the most infciior as regards condition -ihipped for many years — reached home at a time when all Europe was suffering from the effects of a prolonged period of b »d trade, to meet a clip from the River Plato generally acknowledged to ha\e been the best m quality, growth, and condition ever grown there. \Ve allow that the increase in production, which has been on an enormous scale during the last few years, was bound to depreciate values to a certain extent, especially for all inferior and faulty sorts ; but the most confirmed pessimist must allow that had trade in Euiope been good, and our 1884 5 clip up to its normal condition, the fall in pi ices would have been much less sonous than it is. As for the present depression being of a peimanent nature, we do not think any one thoroughly conversant with the wool market will have a second opinion. Depreciations in value as heavy and a" sudden as that which has occurred within the last few months have happened over and over again, only to be followed by a bound in the opposite direction. In 18.">2 good average greasy merino foil from 11 \d to Dd., in 18()8 from 13d to !>Jd., and in 1878 from 14d to IOJd ; and although the present fall is more serious, inasmuch as it is a decline on what may be considered not a high value, who can possibly declare that the usual rebound will not take place? Now, let us see what wo really have to fear from South Ameiican competition. Our great rivals in tho wool industry there are the Argentine Confederation and Uruguay. Both states are subject to tho same natural disadvantages us Australia ; and although blessed with u larger average rainfall, long periods of dry weather during thn sumir.ei months frequently occur. At such times, owing to tho excessive heat, the country undergoes a complete change in a fovv weeks. Tho more fertile plains, which were previously covered with luxuriant crops of grass and native clover, become parched, the water-courses dry up, and stock suffer accordingly. Droughts, w hen they do occur, are very severe. In the Argentine Republic in 1850 a million cattle and a largo number of sheep are reported to have perished. According to official returns (Appleton's Annual Cyclopiedia) tho number of live stock depasturing in Argentina and Uruguay at the beginning of 1883 was as follows : — Argentine Confederation : Squaie miles, I,lfiB,*>B2 ; sheep : 03,000,000; cattle, 1(5,000,000; horses, 5,000,000. Uruguay : Square miles, Gf»,835 ; sheep, 15,000,000 ; cattle, 8,000,000 ; horse?, 1,000,000. In Uruguay, which is eminently adapted for wool raising, a largo area is available for wool growing, but in the Argentine Republic the industry is centred in Buenos Vyres and the Riverine provinces of En.tro Rios and Santa Vo, tho laigest interest being held in the first-named Stite, which is credited with about two thirds of the whole. From thn fact of the sheep industry being restricted to a considerable extent to the three State* abovenamed, it must be assumed that tho immoiiso tract of country lying to the north, west, and south, comprising long-settled States as well as territories acquired many years ago, is unfit for sheep cultivation. The western Pampas are described as being moro or less sterile, the soil consisting of gravel and coarse detritus ffom tho CordiMeraH, while the northern district* are foiost lands in the occupation of tho Indians. The districts in which wool can bo grown to advantage thus become considerably contracted, and although tho provinces we have named are not likely to have reached their depasturing limits, further increase will doubtless depend on improvements in the shape of fencing and water consoi vntions. The character of the wool vanes considerably, according to tho soil and climate where grown,? and the amount of care devoted to its cultivation. In tho following table we givo the prices realised in the European markets for La Plntn, wools as compared with Australian for tho last decado :— Australia, 1870, 12"id;1877, lid ; 187«, 10& d ; 1870, 10d ; 1886, 11 VI ; 1881 12d; 18X2, 12d ; 1883, 12d ; 188 J, lid ; Septembor, 188."), 9d. La Plata, 1876 7\d ; 1877, 6\d ; 1878, ftfd ; 187!), 7d • 1880, 7jd ; 1881, 7d ; 1882, Jtyl ; JBB3, G^d ; 1884, G£d ; Soptember, 1885, SW. i>om the above figuies it appears to us

that th« country that h*i to fear the most from over production is South America, or although the South America bheep can run on an average more sheep to the acre than wo can, an acre in Australia will give better returns, a* our sheep grow not only more valuable wool, but much larger necce'. This fact is borne out by the subjoined comparative table ; but in forming an estimate of the weight of wool clipped per head, it mv.st be remembered that while nearly the whole of the River Plato clip is shipped in tho grease, the clip of Australasia contained last year 35 per cent, of washed wool. These figures establish at once the superiority of Australasia as a wool-growing conntry.' With thirty-four millions less nheep she produces mure than double tho quau tity of wool of a much higher value per lb. <)iir .sheep fanners, therefore, need ha\c m> fear of being .stamped out by the growers on the Iliver Plate a? long as they strive to in iintam the hitrh reputation so many of our flocks have gamed, m wools of equal character cannot be produced to the same perfection in any other country, our climate and pastures being superior t« all others for the f .iv oifrable development of the merino breed of Khecp.