NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 205, 27 May 1944, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS

In a prolonged struggle the advantage inevitably swings to the side that can command the greatest resources. Just what this means was shown by a recent cable message from Washington. It said that a tremendous increase in the heavy .artillery programme had been authorized and that Hie ammunition requirements had been increased by 500 to 1000 per cent. The resources are there to put the great production programme into effect. That is a claim which neither of the Axis Powers could make. They do not possess the resources, and the same thing applies to many other aspects. Germany, in order ,to build up her fighter strength in the air, had to reduce her building programme for bombers. Japan, in order to maintain her transport communications with the countries overrun to the far south, has had to use small sailing and other craft on the coastal routes. The Allies can draw upon almost unlimited supplies for the provision and the maintenance of everything required. The building of the huge merchant fleets illustrated their producing capacity. And it is this marked superiority in the matter of resources that spells ultimate disaster for the Axis and any satellites that choose to remain with them.

Recently the International Wool Secretariat published a survey of the methods adopted after the war of 1914-18 to dispose of the surpluses of wool which had accumulated in ttiose years. It lias, with these facts and figures as a basis, also examined the prospects of the coming post-war years and has expressed confidence in the outlook for wool. The accumulation of raw material is expected to It much greater than was the case in 1918, the principal contributing factors being the now much larger Empire clip, the drastic limitations on the use of wool for civilian purposes, and the fact-that the British Government has already bought five annual clips and may have to buy one or two more. The secretariat points out that in this war it has been necessary to deny wool supplies to that large part of Europe which, in normal times, was one of the largest wool-consuming areas in the world, and predicts that there will be an unprecedented demand for wool products to correct the shortages caused by war conditions. Producers will be interested in- the view expressed by this authority, and said by a leading journal to be shared by the wool trade in Britain, that “the final products of wool will always command their market in any reasonably healthy world economy.” The survey deals with the methods of disposal of wool, the avoidance of marked price fluctuations, and other important aspects of the industry and holds that postwar problems call for close co-operation between wool producers ami Ibe consuming trades. The survey should prove of great interest ami value to Dominion wool producers.