GREASY WOOL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 259, 20 July 1918, Page 8

GREASY WOOL

Sir,—lt is noticeable (hat » series of resolutions which savour of' wire-pull-ing, ure now being passed by various organised societies, pro and con in retfavil to the new greasy wool contracts pending with the Imperial Government, and It is manifest that, even now, the position', is not properly understood. To arrive at a true conception and a correct inte)'pretation of the cablegram eent bj , the Imperial Government; about January* 1917, when they decided to co'imiiivnfer our wool, we must look at the position , , which faced them at that particular time, when greasy halfbved was' selling , tip to 2s. (sd. per 11)., slipe super halfbred over 35., and scoured over 45., with' the prospect of soaring to higher figures,, i\s it. has done. It was evidently intended to givo the woolgrowcr a percentile of Ihc increase between July. 1914, when war wa.i declared, and prices current in London at. the nilps in December, 1916. as no action had, so far, been taken to regulate prices -and prevent the further increase which bus since taken place.

A comparison of the prices current int , London at the dates named above revr-ate Ihis , position:— Greasy ndfbred flesce.—Price per lb. s July, ISI4, Is. Dil. to Is. 7d'.; December, 1016, 2s. Id. to 2s. Gd.

Greasy halfbral bellies and pieces.— Price nor lb.: July, 1914, lfld. to lid.; December,' WIG, Is.' 4d. to Is. Cd. The increase in this description of -.vonl is greater than - 45 per cent., but jt isi possible, and I think probable, that this was found to bs the mean increase for the various kinds of wool between these dates, wliich influenced the Home Government in making the offer of 45 cent, "immediately preceding the war for all descriptions. If this interpretation of the cablegram h correct, and the fact that the Homo Government has already admitted it, - lit regard to slipe woo!, then the net oner for halfbrei! greasy fleeces and pieces was ■slightly over 2s. per lb. and Is. 2kt. respectively, after deducting the then current charge of one penny farthing per lb. for freight and London charges. You are of course aware that an additional 10 per cent, was asked tor by. our Government, making 53 per cent, upon -what they conceived.to be the index price, but no'business man accti'Siomea to receive and interpret such cable messages can fathom how that has wen arrived at. Suffice it to sa'y that iintwi")sbmling the increase of 10 per cent. it works out about sixpence per lb. less than the Home Government ofter of la per cent, on London pre-war prices, aa shown above, and my contention is that the Dominion cannot afford to make sttcH c6ricessions in view of the rapid .increase in the value of our imports and tfte diminishing quantity of our exports, as we have only the primary exppris vo rely upon to keep the ship of btate upon an eveit= keel. . , .. Although 1 believe and contend time we have forfeited sixpence per lb. oil the last two clips of greasy wool, I would allow all these millions to 'go by tie board ,, as a further contribution by our wool'-rowers towards the war, but would ot hesitate to ask the Home Government now lo implement their original offer of 45 per cent, on pre-war London pHces for 'the coming and succeedn.S clips No honourable man would objeU to correct a mistake, and the London meS has no time to be other him honourable and just in all his actions. Aβ I have said before, he has a ready onceded the point, and granted a n . h ureator advance upon slipe jvool. \\ ny not, therefore, prefer a eimilar request in resarJ to greasy woolM^m^