NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 91, 11 January 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

The wool problem is reviewed at length in “The Times”- in its issue of November 20. It i= recalled that in 1913 Germany and Austria imported direct 33 per cent, of the merino and 12 per cent, of the crossbred clip of the British Empire, and 30 per cent, of the entire South American clip, in addition to supplies received through France and Belgium. To-day they are far from taking even their proportions of the current clips, and much less making inroads on the groat accumulations in stock. Unless the Central European purchasing power is to ho restored “The Times” docs not see how the surplus wool in store can be worked off. The comparatively email credits for Austria and Poland have hardly affected the situation, and in wool circles there is a strong feeling that it is not by providing credits that the problem can be solved. A bettor plan is thought to be to restore free market conditions so as to allow prices to find their true economic level. It is argued l that this might bring down the values of merino wool, but as crossbred is already lower than before the war a further decline in it is doubtful. This may be so. but it is also doubtful at what figure countries with heavily depreciated exchanges would reenter the market. “The Times” concludes its review with an appeal for the ending of further uncertainty as to the policy of the Imperial Government in disposing of its large holdings. Our contemporary’s review of the difficulties of the situation is lucid, but it suggests no particularly hopeful way of escape from them.

The bestowal of a small subsidy on civil aviation by the Imperial Government is a reminder that our own aviation policy still awaits definition. It is many month's since the Air Board was set up to investigate and advise, but nothing is yet forthcoming as to its recommendations and whether any action is proposed on them. In Hie meantime the gift aeroplanes have been arriving from England, and it would be interesting to know what their fate is to be, as machinery of thin sort can hardly be improved by long periods in storage. The British proposal apparently is to give each company conducting services on approved routes, a subsidy which may range up to 25 per cent, of its revenue. As the total amount allotted is .£60,000 for the first year, the burden on the Imperial Exchequer will not be very heavy. On a 25 per cent, basis this sum would make the total revenue of all the aviation companies under .8250,000 per annum. The services advertised in the London daily papers are slightly less numerous than they were some time ago, and this presumably indicates a decline in-traffic as the. novelty has worn off, or, possibly, an increased preference for less expensive means of travel with the subsiding. of boom conditions. At least one service to Paris is definitely closed down, and commercial, flying as a whole is very much in its teething stages.

Before the war the chemical industry was a field which the Germans had made peculiarly their own, but; from the information we publish this morning it would appear that there is a good prospect of British drug manufacturers holding their own in it in the future. One of the secrets of German success in this direction was the number of skilled chemists her educational institutions produced and the keenness of manufacturers to avail themselves of highly-trained and expert knowledge. The story of tlhe development of the aniline dye industry is a special instance of the wonderful success achieved in this way. The quality of the drugs now Ming manufactured in Britain is described as generally high, and it would appear that now John Bull has waked up he is tackling matters with some thoroughness. The appearance of Canada as a drug niauufactluring country is another instance of the industrial development that is building +he big Dominion of the north into a highly organised self-contained nation. There have been prophecies that within fifty years Canada, in point of view of population, will become the centre of the Empire. The rapid expansion of her secondary industries of late is at least certain to pave the way for a still greater rate of growth.

An interesting possibility raised in these days of dear coal and high maintenance and working costs of steamers is that of a great revival of the use of sailing ships in ocean trade. Before the war it seemed that the day of the wind-driven ship was drawing rapidly to an end, but conditions have since uu-. dergone a very complete change, and news from different countries suggests that the sailing vessel may again play an important part in the carriage of seaborne trade. Both German and Norwegian shipyards are turning out numbers of sailing craft, and the Norwegian paper "Hansa” speaks of the new value Hint must now be placed on Norway’s fleet of sailing ships. It is recorded that on a recent voyage a 6000-ton steamer, with a cargo of coal, took 72 days to make> the voyage from New South Wales to England, and that she had to replenish her bunkers three times on the way. A sailing vessel would have taken only twenty to forty days longer, and the great saving of expense would have more than compensated for the delay. Even before the war a well-man-aged sailing ship with a keen, experienced captain returned its owners good profits, and under present conditions, according to the “Hansa,” Norway looks for a new era when old-fashioned sailor men and stout sailing ships shall be again in demand. The difficulty of inducing men to face the tedium and hardship of long voyages may prove to be the chief obstacle to the widespread revival of .the sailing ship.