WOOL PROSPECTS GOOD

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 8

WOOL PROSPECTS GOOD

Visitor from England Takes Optimistic View PRICES MAY STILL RISE Dominion Special Service. Auckland, December 1. An optimistic view concerning the future of the wool industry in New Zealand is taken by Mr. B. J. P. Parkinson, head of one of tlie largest Bradford firms of wool merchants and top makers, who arrived at Auckland by the Mariposa. Mr. Parkinson was president of the British Wool Federation for two years and his firm has been actively interested in the New Zealand market for a considerable period. This is his first visit to the Dominion. “I do not see why prices should not continue to rise,” Mr. Parkinson said. “England has definitely turned the corner and, in sympathy with the demand for woollen goods, Bradford now wants raw material. There is still some uncertainty on the Continent and conditions in the United States are perhaps not as settled as they might be. However, in spite of that, every message I have received since my departure from England has revealed rising prices and. with a prospective improvement in the United States and on tlie Continent, the outlook should be decidedly hopeful.” Deterioration in Quality. New Zealand wool, and. indeed, wool from some other parts of the world, had been deteriorating to some extent during recent years, Mr. Parkinson continued. That was possibly only a natural result of the low prices that had been obtaining since the start of the depression. However, there were indications that growers were now making a definite effort to improve the quality of their wool and this was coinciding with much improved demand for good fleeces. .In the past there had been a little too much crossing in New Zealand, with the result that some of the crossbred wools were suitable for manufacture but for hardly anything else. Some of the high quality Lincoln wool of the past years had almost disappeared. When Mr. Parkinson was informed of the tendency to produce more halfbred wool be said it was a most encouraging sign. There was a ready market for halfbred wool and an increased clip of this quality from New Zealand would certainly meet with higher prices. Prices Take Own Course. One of the best features concerning the wool trade during the course of the depression was that prices had been allowed very largely to take their own course, Mr. Parkinson said. With the sudden disastrous slump in wool prices there had been some outcry, particularly in Australia, for Government intervention in wool buying in order to secure higher prices. If Governments had bought wool the process of recovery would have been greatly retarded. It was purely a question of tin trade finding its own price levels.

Mr. Parkinson intends spending about seven weeks in New Zealand before continuing his world tour, on which lie is accompanied by his daughter, Miss Elsie Parkinson. He will leave for Wellington early next week to attend the -wool sale there and, during his stay in New Zealand, hopes to visit some of the larger sheep stations. He has also been invited to address meetings on various aspects of the wool trade of interest to New Zealand pastoralists. Mr. Parkinson is also interested in other branches of farming apart from sheep farming. In England he is a well-known breeder of Friesian cattle and has won many awards at important shows. He is also a keen sportsman and huntsman.