THE WOOL CLIP.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16945, 21 September 1920, Page 7

THE WOOL CLIP.

FURTHER STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER. ADVICE TO GROWERS. (PF.ES3 ASSOCIATION TELEGEAiI.) WELLINGTON, September 20. In the House of Representatives tonight the Prime Minister made the 'following further statement regarding the position of New Zealand ->vool in Great Britain.

With reference io the appointment ■ oi two New Zealand representatives to act with the English authorities controlling the handling of wool in Great J jiritnin, a cablegram has just been received from the High Commissioner, stating that Mr W. D. Hunt has _ac- : ceptcd nomination as one of the "New Zealand -representatives, and that, after discussion with othor New Zealanders ia London, the High Commissioner has nominated Mr Hamish Wilson as New Zealand's second representative, and : this gentleman has the position. A preliminary meeting to go into the whole question was arranged tc be held on the 14th inst. _ The High Commissioner states, in addition to the two gentlemen named, he will also be represented at all the meetings, and he hopes to cable fully regarding the ' whole position next week- J The Hicrh Commissioner further advises that In connexion with the urgent representations made by the New Zealand Government regarding the shipment of wool belongine: to the Imperial Government from Now Zealand, the Ministry of Munitions is-, extremely anxious to resume shipments of this wool as soon as possible, but that in order to do this, it will be necessary to proceed much more rapidlv than has been the case lately with the snips of accumulated stocks, which are alrendy nearly hovond the full storage capacity of the Old Country. He states that ■ if the sale of this wool were forced by heavily red nemo: prices, this would j have a direct influence on the Fnleabl© value of the new # clip, and it ; was with regard to this difficult position that he had asked ®for New Zealand to have representation on the advisory bodv dealing with the disposal of Government wool. The New Zen'nnd Government had also asked the J-Tjch Commissioner to make iepresentnt'ons on the po'.nt, or whether sales of Government wool could not be made to Continental countries on suitable terms as records payment. He | did this, and was informed *tbnt the matter was one which the Ministry or Munitions was not competent to deal with, but which had to be ; by the Treasury and Foreicn Office, lhe i Director of Eaw Materials, however, ' was of the opinion that nothing was I likely to be done in this direction un- ! less the seller, which in this case would bo the Imperial Government, were willin" to give credit, under conditions which would moke ultimate repayment a hisrhly speculative risk. Some months since the question of the draft on wool was taken up with the High Commissioner, and ho was asked to endeavour to obtain the co-operation of the representatives of Australia and South Africa, and. if possible ■ of tho Argentine, in retting this abo ' • 1 am advised that two meetings have been held with the representatives of the Australian States and of t1le J Inl0! i of South Africa, and that several ot lliose attending these mectmgsconctir; red in the New Zealand attitude. Re plies from other representatives are awaited before further steps w ill P e Considered in view of the great desir/ihlpnes« of concerted action. The High Commissioner, response to a request from me, is also going the matter of how brat to ' mation at frequent intervals lading -the wool position generally, thm in formation to be supplementary to the usual cablegrams sent regarding the >V this subject of wool, I specially desire to strongly impress upon wool growers the necessity of extra special caro in the getting up of the new season's wool. Under the valuation on behalf of the Imperial Government, appraisement was made on a fixed scoured basis for the various qualities of wools, and though care.ess skirting and classing undoubtedly depreciated the return, yet there was no question as to the wool being taken at its actual value under the circumstances* With the opening of further auction sales, while heavily accumulated stocks of lower grade wool are on hand, buyers are not at all likely to bo keen to purchase clips which are not well got up, and which will not enable the whole or the wool to be utilised with a minimum of waste. Quite apart from the necessity for careful and thorough, skirting, extra care must .also be taken in the' matter of classing, seeing that there is likely to be a very marked difference in the value between the finer and coarser types of crossbred wool, and u a clip of mixed crossbreds .is* carelessly classed, its value is fax more likely to be assessed on the basis of the coarse grade than on the finer. The same general principles apply to seedy wool. On properties where a proportion or seedy wool is unavoidable, the utmost care should bo taken to prevent, as far as possible, this being distributed through many bales, and to confine the seedy wool into one set of bales by itself," thus leaving to the balance the opportunity of securing as roaspnable a price as wool of its class will realise under whatever may be current market values at the time sale is made. Whdn a further cablegram from tho Hipfii Commissioner comes to hand, it is anticipated that tho opinions of our two representatives in London will be available. and if the information received is of such nature as to render it desirable to do so, the special Producers Committee dealing with wool matters will be called together to further Consider the whole question.