Wool Pricks in 1899. 



473 



ing that, in these days of keen competition, safety and 

 success lie more than ever in quality, and increasing danger 

 lurks in reliance on the ever augmenting out-turn of mediocre 

 grades of produce with which all the world can supply our 

 market. 



Thirty years ago the annual average values, quoted in the 

 older volumes of the Agricultural Returns, for Australasian, 

 South African, and English wool, left all three descriptions 

 pretty much on a level, not varying widely from is. 3d. per 

 lb. In 1873, when exceptional values prevailed in this 

 country, the only English description quoted was South 

 Down wool, which appeared to have averaged is. 1 id. per lb.,, 

 a figure from which it dropped again to a minimum of is. id. 

 per lb. in 1879, while the Australasian varieties remained 

 for the whole decade, 1869-1879, at a level which ranged only 

 from a minimum yearly average of is. 2-Jd. to is. 4fd. per 

 lb. In 1880 the yearly averages of both South Down and 

 Lincoln wools on the one hand, and of Australasian and 

 African wools on the other, all ranged within the narrow 

 limits of is. 2^d. and is. 3 Jd. per lb. But never since the 

 earliest years of the eighties have either English or colonial 

 wools shown such good average prices as these, whatever 

 exceptional figures may for short periods have been quoted 

 for particular qualities. 



It is thus interesting to note in what sorts of wool the 

 higher values quoted in December last once again show 

 some approach to the prices of the 1880 period. Messrs. 

 Helmuth, Schwartze, and Company's Annual Report quotes 

 the following as the cost per lb., clean, of a few repre- 

 sentative descriptions of imported wool, at the extreme 

 points of rise and fall in this interval : — 



Date. 



Port 

 Philip 



Good. 



Adelaide. 



Buenos 

 Ayres 



Cape 



Australasian Cros 



s-bred. 



Average. 



Average. 



Short 

 Washing. 



Fine 



Medium. 



Coase. 



Ap il, 1880 



d. 



37 



d. 



34 



d. 



d. 



_ 2 5 



d. 



27 



d. 



d. 



22 



February, 1895 - 



16$ 



Hi 



12! 





1-6 





nl 



December 1899 



33^ 



3i 



26i 



24 



25 



l6 



12J 



