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THE WOOL MARKET.
NEXT MONTH'S SALES.
Tho reprt'rta of the olof/e of tho April
wios of wool sales in London provide
rather more satisfactory rcadinp tlmn hs
heen (he ease, for some time. Of the 51,000
hales of free wools submitted (Bawra wnols
having all heen withdrawn) some 75 per
cent, was sold. Continental demand being:
responsible for an improvement in values
at the close, to ihc extent of some 5 par
cent, above opening rate?.
German btiycts operated actively, tnking
tlie civat hulk ef the 20.000 balw w-cured
by the Continent. This in itself ie of
courfK? not a matter of great weight, but .s
of significance at this moment. Wrongly
or rightly, the idea is gaining ground that
the time is not far distant when the central
empires will negotiate for a good propor
tion of (he aeciumititiou out ef the Im
perial purvJiAHtt scheme. Tlvc attitude of
(hove in control of the Bawrn given color to
this, and it io difficult to son how -such a
radical policy as that of a fixation of re-
8i>rven couid ho adopted unless mem
bers bad uomctinng up tJjo;r sleevr. Not
thai wool growers shonld anticipate any
inatena.l rise m prices tiwTcfrom, but any-
tUiw; that will get rid of the in Cuban -J
the carryover wool will be a hv.go robot
I he sheep-skin market, which oil reopening
all«er the Basier holidays -touched tho
lowest level known, has witnessed a much
more wideHprved demand, the recline of tho
trade evidently heiiip: tliat bedrock hiu
ijcen reached, and a Kueh provided a fonn-
diuion on which to huiki np. No hunincui:
in pa-sinp locally, an<l woollen millr arc
coiriiiicncins to look round for mipphex, ro
.hat it Lwhovea Uie powers that ho to
ln.-vliof- matter, in order that- thoir -aetivi-
tics may continue.
A mooting of the oxccntive of tno
national council of wooh&clling brokers
IS to be hold thie w«-k, wlicn it is hoped
the allocations and dates of sales for Mar
will be arranged. In the meantime the
.i-tee for southern centres have been pro
visionally fixed an— Melbourne and Gee-
!,a 91 !l to 12lh May. and 16th to
inth May inclusive, with Adelaide on
-'ith, nut no qnaTKities are named
A sidelight is thrown on the qnantitv
of wool hkely to comprise the 1920-21 clip
in the (ipm-rs imblished by a well-known
paatoral journal which show the arrivals
of wool at lhe seaboard at latest dates in
tlie various .States, excluding Tasmania, as
I >1-11-49.) bsles. That there is still a fair
weight of woo! held hack in this State is
evidenced by the decrease of 108, 'I'M hales
ill the arrivals, as agazist HS.-tai in Svd-
ney. Uniortunatcly, any slimtase in the
clip is not likely to be reflected in an«
rise of values, it heing a 'question of de
mand to-day.- not supply.
The tnne taken in realising the current
clip will be evidenced in the fact that no
to 28tli February out of +48,408 bales
offered in Australia only 240,219 bales had
been .old under tlie hainmei. and 111,000
privately, a total of 357,219 bales. As il is
understood there arc between 700.000 and-
809.000 bales in store nwajtinp sale, it is
difficult to sec how the current clip is
going to be realised Ijcfore tho end of the
year, if then.
$