Wool Board Member Replies To Criticism By Farmers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31658, 19 April 1968, Page 17

Wool Board Member Replies To Criticism By Farmers

The decision by the Wool Commission that it would sell part of i t s stockpile next season at whatever price could be realised had been made after very careful consideration, said Mr L. P. Chapman, of Mount Somers, who is a member of both the Wool Board and the Wool Commission Mr Chapman was answering criticisms of the commission's announcement from members of the Meat and

Wool Section Of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, at the section’* monthly meeting. He said there were several reasons why the announcement had been made earlier this month and not next season. “We wanted to avoid the situation which existed at the end of last season where only those buyers who had to buy wool were trading, and others were holding off and wanting to know what the price would be for the next season. By telling the trade when we did, we hope to have avoided this for this season,” Mr Chapman said. "The policy of the com-

mission is to release decision* such a* this so as they come in good time and do not come as a surprise. It would have been quite pointless to the trade If we announced that we were going to put wool on the market next season without making any mention of a reserve price. “The buying-in policy of the commission did not necessarily include that we resell the wool at a profit: well end good if we can do so,” Mr Chapman said. He said the drop in wool price at the Tlmaru sale, which was held after the announcement, could not be blamed entirely on the com-

mission; prices had fallen In Australia and South Africa. There had been no government influence in the decision and the board had not been coerced from any quarter into making the decision on the announcement, Mr Chapman said. He Mid the commission did not need to sell the wool to boost its fund nor to finance a supplementary payment* scheme next year. “We have the offer of finance from the Government at the very generous rate of 1 per cent “One point which I would like to make is: who would have bought the passed-in wool last season if the commission had not? It would have gone to the merchants who would have kept the wool to sell it again at the most profit for themselves. The commission has the interests of the farmer at heart and not commercial interests.” Several member* of the section criticised the announcement by the commission. It was felt that it was not good business practice to let the trade know that about 100,000 bales of wool were going to be unloaded on to the market for whatever price could be obtained. The decision to sell at any price was also attacked. A resolution that the section agreed in general with the work of the commission over the past year, but that some doubts were held on its present policy, was passed unanimously. “I am disgusted that Federated Farmers have come out in the open with a strong criticism against what is really their own organisation," Mr Chapman said.