THE PRICE OF WOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 211, 7 September 1925, Page 4

THE PRICE OF WOOL.

AND MARKET CONTROL. Mr. Charles Hamilton, the Governor of the Australian Agricultural Company, ' at the annual meeting on August 21, j ; strongly condemned the proposals that ' have been put forward for raising the ' price of wool by restricting exports. He said to the shareholders: "The most ' Tecent sales of wool show > an upward I tendency. You have no doubt seen in the papers that proposals have been put t forward in Australia that the sales of J Australian wool should be controlled by I some form of Bawra, and that the amount exportable should be limited by [ the Government. Personally I am entirely opposed to any such control or I limitation. 1 do not believe in its efficacy, and I am sure it would bo injurious to the wool-growing interests in the long run. Statistics may show that there is a shortage of wool, but consumption of wool is not governed by statistics. It depends, inter alia, on price, on fashion, and on the severity or 1 mildness of the season. Now, if by s limiting supplies we force the price of ! ; wool up, consumption will fall off, as it i has already done. The masses, and it { 1 is the masses that count (not you and 1 ■ mc), cannot pay high prices for woollen | i goods. If prices are too high for their I : pockets, they will wear their old woollen 1 > goods longer, the women will wear their j i dresses shorter, as they are doing, and j so economise in wool. Substitutes will j ■ take the place of wool; already wool is being mixed, and shall I say adulterated, with artificial silks and 'cotton. "We know that in Germany during , tbe war the poorer classe had to wear 1 paper clothes, because the price of wool was prohibitive, and I do not want to see paper clothes worn here. I can! remember attempts being made at different times to maintain a high price for coffee, for wheat, for copper, for cotton, and other commodities by limiting the amount to be put on the market, but in the long run these attempts have failed. You may be able to maintain the prices by limiting production, as has been done in the rubber trade, but no one suggests that Australia is tQ limit the number of sheep to be shorn or the avool to be grown on each sheep."