CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15768, 8 December 1916, Page 10

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

QUARTERLY MEETING. i ' j THE WOOL CLIP AND WIIIOAT ] YILLD. I Tho quarterly meeting of members of j the Canterbury Chamber of Cornmcroc j was hcH yesterday afternoon, the prcj i-'ident (Mr H. S. Bourn) presiding. Tho chairman, after detailing the matters that bad engaged the attention of the Council &ince the last general meeting, vent on 10 refer to the. taking over of the wool Hip of the Dominion. together with the woo!. Seeing that this industry represented praeticallv £14,000,000 of the Dominion's prodnetion, u could easily ho understood. Mr Bourn said. what amount of detail work was involved ill arranging display for valuation purposes and shipping. Satisfactory arramrcmontt, with the Government, acting on behalf of the Imperial Government, had been made, both as regarded price to the producer and remuneration to the woolbrokers for displaying and storing and shipping, and tho services of the representatives of Homo buyers had been requisitioned to place equitable values upon the various clips. Tho price must bo considered to bo « liberal one. and it was to be hoped that, too much advantage would not be taken of tho privilege of appeal ill bickering over tbo values, but that tho business of so large an undertaking would bo allowed to run smoothly as, after aL), it was a war measure, important in tbo issue of tho "war. It was estimated that the greasy clip would realise from £12.01)0,000 to £12.500,000, whilo.tbc slipr, from the skins, and sheep and la-nibs slaughtered would give upwards of £2,000,000. An additional £d per pound had been ■agreed upon for tbo output of mutton and lanib, and an equivalent in beef, over and above the rates paid for last year's clip, commencing from slaughtering done after November Ist. This additional figure would amount to £1.000,000, calculated upon last year's output of mutton and lamb, with beef in addition, the season's output was therefore estimated to yield £5,000.000. These prices were cntirelv satisfactory in themselves, hut producers would have preferred to have seen the door shut against undue individual profits being made by speculators of the surplus not required for Imperial Army purposes, of which theco could bo no aoubt was the case with last season's exportation to-someone's munificcnt advantage. Arrangements in connexion with the Dominion's butter had also been made; the recently-appointed Board of Trade took evidence throughout the Dominion in regard to the cost of production in its relation to the world's markets, the Government fixing the price at Is 1 i>d wholesale and Is 7d retail for local J consumption, allowing free exportation, enacting a, payment, of id per Jb for all butter-fat to compensate tho .factory providing local requirements. The chccsc output was now under consideration by tho Imperial Government, and it was cxpcctcd they would take the whole. Statistics collected by the Government Statistician showed a falling-off in the area of wheat and oats sown, the figures being estimated at 213,877 acres ol wheat' and 548.52G acres of oats, as compared with 335,423 acres of wheat and 640,227 tveres ol' oats actually reaped in 1915-1016, showing a decrease of 116,546 acres of wheat and 91,701 acres of oats. Taking 25 bushels as an estimate, tho yield of wheat would produce 5,471,925 bushels, and given 6,500,000 as the Dominion's requirements, it left a deficiency of 1,028,075 bushels. This was a direct resultant of the Government's action in limiting the prico when outside markets commanded a much higher figure. With wheat at 5s 7}d, plus l'reighr and duty from Australia, it pointed to a dear loaf. This was unfortunate for Canterbury, and he had pointed put in a previous address how important it was to Canterbury to cncourage the growing of wheat in tho interest of Canterbury itself, the Dominion, and the consumer in particular. In conclusion, Sir Bourn pointed out the importance of organisation generally, economy in everything—a conserving of energies and labour towards doing something towards assisting the war, no matter how small. To have in one's mind in one's every act "its cffcct upon the war."' Ho referred to a pamphlet issued as an appeal to all Britons overseas, illustrating ways of which one could help to the successful conclusion of the war, for which they all prayed.