COMMANDEERING OF WOOL.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15752, 20 November 1916, Page 8

COMMANDEERING OF WOOL.

TO THE EDITOR OK "THE PRESS,", Sir, —Can you explain why the woo) producer of this Dominion alono should be selected to hand over his year's pro. ( j duce at a figure below its marketable 'equivalency? Many woolgrowcrs are j asking themselves this question, hut I are unaware how to set about to check I the movement, and perhaps arc afraid of being termed unpatriotic. New Zetland has bad her meat taken, I Zealand has fully and ungrudgingly | given the flower of her manhood. New Zealand has contributed to the Variom ! funds with a whole-hearted and lavish hand. And now, after loading our !)<*■ I minion with.a stagger-rug national debt, including the last ton million war loan, and which national debt is likely to be considerably increased in the near future, wo arc specially selected to.be deprived of about two million pounds of tho marketablo value of our wod equal to a loss of three or four poundi to tlie bale, while other colonies are; exempt. Wake up, farmers, and others How do you expect to IttfJjV this country going? Our imports har«;l increased about three millions Y duo, entirely, to increased costs of- II goods and freight, and this can oafyV be paid for by enhanced values of OUfexports. Loaded with our cnornion* : and growing national debt, and with' 60,000 to 70,000, the flower of our manpower, already withdrawn, can this country stand ',t? To my mind it i< purely a business question. In the days of the late Richard Seddon thepeople growled about our debt (a fleabite;, and financiers stated that the! country could never recover ana wa» : ' going to tho dogs. Now, then, the; position must bo still more precarious How are you going to keep going, with; your young men away and moro to go, ' and only old men, women and children and men not fit for military service, to produce tho wherewithal to meet the| Dominion's financial engagements? * If all colonies are treated alike, if all wool is dealt with alike, then do your duty. If Great Britain wants_ the j wool of New Zealand, she has a right:; to liavo it. every pound of it, but it cortainlv should be, paid for at the market "price. The present procedure of acquisition requires the most careful and judicious scrutiny by tho producer. ' In conclusion, I can only say many of - tho woolgrowcrs will bo looking for-!' ward for their wool chcques to meet their engagements, and if the tion is carried' out on tho lines or tha • Government proposal, it mar mean. - hardship to mnnv. —Yours, etc.. LEICESTER MATSON.