THE WOOL MARKET

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 307, 21 September 1920, Page 6

THE WOOL MARKET

GROWERS' REPRESENTATIVES APPOINTED IN LONDON THIS SEASON'S SALES, POOR MARKET IN EUROPE r The Prime Minister (Air. Massey) mado ■ a further statement in tho House of Representatives last night regarding the prospects of the wool market. "With [ reference to the appointment of two New , Zealand representatives to act with the . English authorities controlling the hand- | ling of wool in Great Britain," ho 6aid, ! "a cablegram has just been received from - the High Commissioner stating that Mr. ' AV. D. Hunt has accepted nomination as [ ono of the New Zealand representatives, ) and that after discussion with other Now , Zealanders in London the High Commis- . sioner nominated Jtr. Haniish AA'ilson as i New Zealand's second representative, and this gentleman accepted tho position. A , preliminary meeting to go into the wholo f question was arranged to ba held on Sepj tember 14. 'The High Commissioner slates that r in addition to the two gentlemen named, he will also be. represented at all the 1 meetings, and that ho hopes to -cable fully regarding the whole position next , week. He further advises that in con- , nection with tho urgent representations j made by the New Zealand Government , regarding the shipment of wool belonging to the Imperial Government from New Zealand, the Ministry of Munitions is extremely apxious to resume_ shipments of i this wool as soon as possible, but that in order to do this it will bo necessary to proceed much more rapidly than has been the case lately in tho sales of accumulated stocks, which aro already nearly beyond tho full storage capacity of . the Old Country. He states that if the sale of this wodl were forced by heavily reducing prices this would have a direct 1 influence on tho saleable value of tho ! new clip, and it was with regard to this ' difficult position that he had asked for ' Now Zealand to have representation on ! the advisory body dealing with tho dis- ' posal of Government wool. 1 "The Now Zealand Government had ; also asked tho High Commissioner to make representations on the point of whether sales of Government wool could 1 not be made to Continental countries on suitable terms as regards payment. He did this, and was informed that tho mat--1 for was one which tho Ministry of Munitions was not competent to deal with, but which had to be considered by the Treasury and Foreign Office. The Director of. Raw Materials, however, was of tho opinion that nothing was likely to be done in this direction unless the seller, "which in this case would bo tho Imperial Government, were willing to give credit under conditions which would make ultimate repayment a highly speculative, risk. ' "Somo months since tho question of draft on wool was taken up with the High Commissioner, and ho was asked to endeavour to obtain the co-operation of representatives of Australia and South Africa, and if- possible of tho Argentine in getting this abolished. I am advised that two meetings have been held with representatives of the Australian States and of the Union of South Africn, and that several of those attending these meetings concurred in the New Zealand attitude. Replies from others are awaited before (further steps will be considered, in view of the great desirableness of absolute concerted action. The j High Commissioner, in response to a request from me, is also going into the matter how best to supply information at frequent intervals regarding the wool position generally, this information to be supplementary to the usual cablegrams sent regarding wool sales. "While on this subject of wool, I specially desire to strongly impress upon wool growers tho necessity of extra special care in the getting! up of tho new season's wool. Under valuation on beJ half of the Imperial Government appraisement was made on fixed scoured basis for the various qualities of wools, and though careless skirting and classing undoubtedly depreciated the return, yet there was no question as to tho wool being taken at its actual value under tho circumstances. With the opening of further auction sales, whilo heavily accumulated stocks of lower grade wool are on hand, buyers are not at all likely to be keen, to purchase clips which are not well got up and which will not enablo the wholo of the wool to bo utilised with a minimum of waste. , "Quite apart from the necessity for careful and thorough skirting, extra care must also bo taken in the matter of classing, seeing that there is likely to be a very marked difference in value between the finer and coarser types, of crossbred wool, and if a clip of mixed crossbreds be carelessly classed, its value is far more likely to be assessed on Ihc basis of the coarser grade than on tho fineT. Tho same general principles apply to seedy wool. On properties where a 'proportion of seedy wool is unavoidable, the utmost care.6hould bo taken to prevent as far as possible this being distributed tliroush too many bales and to confine the seedy wool into one sot of IStiies by itself, thus leaving to the balance the opportunity of securing as reasonable a price as /00l of its class will realise under whatever may bo the current market values at the time the. sale is made. . ~ , "AVhen tho further cablegram from the High Commissioner comes to hand it is anticipated that the opinions of our two representatives in London, vill to available, and if tho information received is of such a nature as to render it desirable ,to do so, the special Producors Committee dealing with wool matters will be called together to further consider the whole question."