£2,547,219 SURPLUS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 107, 7 May 1924, Page 8

£2,547,219 SURPLUS.

BAWRA'S FIGURES. OPERATIONS ENDING. TAX \ ["!■ i.V (,'i T>Tl"\~. (Tr.Tn rii-.r Owl rorre'pnndcnU >\ DNKV, May 2. The thin] niir.mil m ■■■n <v" the dire.--I.ir- ~f the }'.ri'i-li An-tralian Wool Realisation A.—•mriuiinn. to In , presented i.j shareholder- in .Mi Iboiirnu this month, ronvpya the information that should tin , programme <>f the pr •-> in .-ensoii'- sales be carried mil, the l.i-t bale nf wool purchased under the Imperial (JowriimiMii's wool contract will h> , mlil within Mn , month. Subsequently ih<3 TJawra. as it is kuown, will gt> into liquidation. At tin , present time, h.v.vver. tin , »-social ion'■= legal advisers consider it impolitic to enter on hurried lii|iiidutinn proceedinguntil the question •■!' taxation i- M-uleii. or before matter- arising out of the kin and wool a<-tion and the que.-tifii ot tlie payment of -w.nil >■•!! brokers' nunmission have been <:i-j>.■-■ -i ut l.y tin . Central Wool Committee. Thac the association lias amply justifie>l i>. s formation is disclosed by the fact thai, for I: , --! Uawra showed a not surplus of £l,:ljii..j:!l. after making proVision of £:">OU.iM)O for contingencies, including taxation, it any. The -ales for the year aggregated 7i>:;.(in] hales, of which 310.Tiil hales, were New Zealand wool. During the three >..ir< of itoxistenee the s-sociution has -liown an aggregate surplu.- of x_.."47 211>. Since commencing operations it has disposed of SSfi.TOti talcs for ±1 5.1(',7.u5:,. or an average of i-l 14 o per lml>-. Douht continues to exi.-t us to the lialiility of the association to taxation on surplus money?, which will p.xceed the subscribed capital by several million-:. ]t is maintaLnod that as the Herniation habeen conducted as a realisation company, and not as a trading concern, it is not assessable for taxation. That question will have to be decided before the association is wound up. Several appendices in the report give statistics relating to the stocks and disposals of wool, and estimate's of the world's sheep, indicating a general reduction in flocks. In a special report on the raw wool position, by Sir A. 11. Goldfinch, chairman of the British Board, he states that the surplus that the trade has been eating up during the past five years has now disappeared, the demand being , at least equal to the pre-war demand, while the annual growth of wool is 10 per cent less. He forecasts a substantial rise in prices during this year, particularly in medium and coarse eross.breds. "The world is crying out for more wool,"' he says, •'and there is no business to which the producer can more confidently look for handsomely paying priee3 for a long series of years than to sheep farming." He says there is a clear call to the people of Australia to remove any obstacles which may now exist to the increase of sheep flocks, and to go ahead confidently and energetically to produce as much more as can be grown on their vast territories.