COMMERCIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2768, 24 March 1910, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

DOMINION EXPORTS.

I'Pkh I'nmss Association. | WELLINGTON, March 23. Following are the estimated values of New Zealand’s principal exports for the'fortnight ended March loth: Butter ... £172,808 Cheese " 132,602 ■Frozen beef 43,537 Frozen mutton 105,601 Frozen lamb 162,874 Kauri gum ... 28,680 Hides and skins 43,735 Tallow 45,137 Wool 860,077 Timber ...■ 13,092 Gold 61,940 Hemp 13,117 Including smaller lines, the total for the half-month is £1,699,545, compared with £2,389,652 for the full month of March, 1909.

THE JANUARY WOOL SALES

WELLINGTON. March 23

The Minister of Industries and Commerce has received the following report, dated February 4, by the Produce Commissioner, London, on the first scries of wool sales, which were held from 18th January to 4th February: “Throughout the sales there lias been keen competition for all lots offered. Buyers from America and from the. Continent have b. : ;i against Home manufacturers for .r.’l lots in any way -suitable for their requirements. The latter have good orders on hand, and as the stocks of wool held by them are short, having been drawn upon in the course of manufacture, prices throughout the sale have been firmly maintained. There is no accumulation of stock, nor likely to be. Especially ‘owing to the dry season experienced there, a shortage is expected in the shipment of wool from River Plate this season. The position of wool is distinctly favorable. The classes in which there has been the greatest competition during the present sales are heavy, medium, coarse crossbreds.. especially the latter. This caused Continental buyers requiring these chiefly to enter more keenly into competition with British manufacturers for them than for other classes. American buyers prefer bidding for lighter wools. One noticeable feature of the present sales is the great improvement found in the quality and get-up of wools from South Africa. It is evident that the attention that is now being given there to the improvement of flocks by judicious breeding, with a view to entering into the frozen meat trade, is beginning to tell. Care apparently is also now being given to wool-classing, so that it would seem as if in a few years New Zealand may have to reckon upon new and increased competition from the South African colonies. There has been a considerable number of South African clips offered during the present series of wool sales that have shown this marked improvement in quality and get-uu. Buyers have been commenting favorably upon them.” LONDON WOOL SALES. United Phess Association —Coi*yiucht LONDON. March 22. The wool sales included Ellorslie brand, the top price being loti, with an average of T4id; Hakaterina, 14{,d, average 13£d; (Pare 114 d. average 10-3-6. The April sales will bo limited to 100,000 bales.

The prices for merinos were unchanged. Crossbreds were a little harder.