WOOL SALES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 302, 23 May 1889, Page 2

WOOL SALES.

ADVANCE IN PRICES.

A BOOMER, FOR THE COLONIES.

London, May 20.

Seventeen hundred bales of Australian wool have been sold at Jd advance on price) obtained at last series.

GOLDSBROUGH AND CO'S. R-EPORT. Our Melbourne correspondent writes • — Messrs Goldsbrough, Mort, and Co. Limited, called their shareholders together on the 24th, to hear the directors' report for the year ended March 31, and to approve the balance-sheet. Mr. J. S. Horsfall presided, and the task he had to perform mutt have been a very pleasant one. Out of the 1,025,005 bales of wool grown In Australia, Goldsbrough, Mort, and Co. had the disposal of over one-sixth, and their tote! sales of wool, with those of produce and of property added, had amounted during the past year to more than £3,000,000 sterling. At the result of the year's transactions there was the sum of £43,245 19s. available for distribution. The directors recommended the payment of a dividend of 10 per cent, per annum, £17,500 ; a transfer of £lO,OOO to the reserve fund, which brings it up to £210,000; and to carry £15,745 9s. to next half year. The late severe drought has been broken up throughout Australia, ami the outlook is now favorable. The Chairman alluded to one important particular that is too frequently lost sight of, namely, the increasing quantity of wool that is purchased iu these colonies for direct shipment to the mills of English, French, German, and American manufacturers. And there is no doubt that before many years have passed the bulk of Australian wool will be so sold. Last year the wool bought in the warehouses of Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, and Adelaide, for direct shipment to the consumers, amounted to 56,961 bales. This was only 53,041 bales short of one-half the year's olip, and there is every probability that the quantity will go * on increasing until the whole is shipped direct. Buyers will thus obtain their raw material more expeditiously, and sellers will save London dock, transport, and warehouse charges. The position which Messrs Goldsbrough, Mort, and Co. will occupy on that important trade, may be gathered from the position they hold to-day. The quantity of wool sold in, or shipped to London from Melbourne in the 1888 season was 70,389 bales. The wool sold at, or shipped to London from Sydney during the same period was 34,485 baler. For the year under notice the quanti'ies were 74,238, and 104,216. or a total of 178,454 bales, or over one-tixth of the total of Australian wool clip. Of course, the increase in the Sydney transactions is of a very considerable extent attributable to the amalgamation of the firms (of Messrs Goldbrough, and Messrs. Mort. The consolidated bouses, however, have a vast future before them ; and it will be interesting to watch the future progress of a firm of which Australia is proud, and with good reason.