THE WOOL MARKET

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 193, 10 May 1924, Page 8

THE WOOL MARKET

“GREEDY CONSUMPTION” GOING ON PRODUCTION COSTS SAID TO BE TOO HIGH CONSIDERABLE SHORTAGE EXPECTED There is bound to ba a considerable shortage of wool. Japan, which before the war only imported 30,000 bates of wool from Australia, has this season imported 350,000 bales, about twelve times as much. If we do not spin to finer counts the cheaper process—that of the woollen trade—will got the business and will ; supply tho world with goods. Such is tho conviction of Mr. F. A. Akroyd, head of F. A. Akroyd and Co., Ltd., ono of the largest top-making concerns in Bradford. Mr. Akroyd, who is also a breeder of Wensleydale sheep, and chairman of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, is the man who startled wool circles recently by making a sever© criticism upon tho allegedly bad influence of the Romney upon the quality of New Zealand wool, as published in’yesterday morning’s issue. Wool User's Standpoint. ' “It is time,” he said, speaking to a “Wool Record” interviewer, “that some ono spoke up from the woolusers’ standpoint. No ono has spoken up for the last ten or fifteen years. But now they find themselves up against such a serious problem that they are compelled to speak. Professor Alfred Barker, of the University of Leeds, quite agrees with my view about the result of breeding from the Romney sheep; and Air. Massey, although he himself is a dairy farmer, and not a sheep-rearer, when I showed him the sample fleeces, said at once that he could see what was wrong, and it must be altered. And then, again, after the conference at the Town Hall, Mr. Bruce, the Australian Prime Minister, came up to me and told me he had been interested in all I had said, because he himself had helped to fight against the introduction of the Vermount ram into Australia, which was doing the same harm with thq merino sheep that the Romney was doing with the crossbred.” High Cost of Wool. Mr. Akroyd was. asked to elaborate his views on the high cost of wool. Speaking on this subject at the annual meeting of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, he said they had been faced by a high cost of production, and in order to meet it had been consuming wool in greedy fashion in thick counts. When the trade was compelled to come down to normal counts and wool was used in a more economical manner, it would be up against a cost of production such as it had never before known. “J think,” said Mr. Akroyd, “that the thicker counts have come about to meet the increased cost of production. All users of wool have 'been faced with a reduction in working hours and an increase of wages. To counteract this, wool has been turned out in thicker counts in order to maintain the output. This could be stood so long as we had several years’ accumulations of wool behind us; but now, when the end of these accumulations is in sight, one cannot help but feel that a serious position awaits us if by means of these thick counts the consumption of wool keeps on its present 'oasis. One must realise also that as soon as the counts have been reduced in order to make wool go further and prevent prices rising so much as to be entirely out of hand, we shall be much more seriously up against the cost of production, particularly in respect of wages.” < Was fashion responsible Mr. Akroyd was asked whether he though it possible that the abundance of wool had indirectly been responsible lor the trend of fashion—whether users, with plenty of wool to draw upon, had themselves been partly responsible for the setting going of thoso fashions that required a “greedy consumption of wool.” His reply was that he thought there was something in tho suggestion. But apart from that, there were several new machines invented at Leicester which enabled the hosiery manufacturer to put on the market an article that would sell at a price to fit the public purse. Alteration in Counts Necessary. Asked what measures he proposed for conserving wool, he said the only measure was an alteration in the counts. He did not think that that would necessarily be going in the face of fashion. It was just a matter of striking a balance between the present greedy consumption of wool and the high cost of production. He never attached any importance to statistics in matters of this sort, because they were immediately thrown to tho winds when spinners began spinning to finer counts. If finer counts were started straight away, it would steady the market.