THE JUTE POSITION FARMERS' FUTURE SUPPLIES VISITING EXPERT'S VIEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 101, 30 April 1915, Page 2

THE JUTE POSITION FARMERS' FUTURE SUPPLIES VISITING EXPERT'S VIEWS.

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, but the long drought has certainly hit Australian wheat growers severely, and on top of it came an insatiable demand from Europe at large for wheat. A profitable trade with the surplus that Australia usually exports Was lost, and, instead of shipping wheat away, Australia, has had to import to meet domestic requirements, while New Zealand, usually a droughtless country, is in the same predicament. All this is now history, but there are two points that 6eem to be obscured. One is the increased wheat production that Australia hopes to show next harvest (and New Zealand also will have a^ surplus, if the gods are good), and the next point is the containers of the anticipated- harvest, namely, the sacks. These practically all come from India, and their price is dependent with other things upon the jute production of that country. The intricacies of the jute market are past the understanding of men hot ( in the trade, but this much may be explained, that in normal times Australia and New ( Zealand combined import vast quantities of corn sacks and wool pa*ks from India, and' hessian cloth, from scrim to stouter stuff of its kind, by hundreds of millions of yards. There has been trouble in the past between i Australian importers and Calcutta shippers—- at any rate, over the important questions of freight and delivery. Failure to deliver on the part of one led to cancellation of contracts on the part of the other. Something like a, deadlock ensued between the shippers on the one hand and the Australian merchant on the other. The difficulty was overcome by a mutual give-and-take arrangement, crystallising into a new contract, a uniform agreement in the place of individual forms of contract that had hitherto existed. Mr. N. R. Smith, of James Bell and t Co., Sydney, was entrusted with the important mission of endeavouring to obtain from the Calcutta jute shippers a uniform contract, the terms of which would be as acceptable to .the Australian houses he represented as to the Calcutta shippers. The British India Steam Navigation Co. were interested, too— the.y appear to have the exclusive jutei-carrying to Australia— because, while they provided freight space on their boats, it was not always filled up as previously arranged, in consequence of Calcutta speculators over-booking their freight space and to Australian importers cancelling their orders, dne probably to causes beyond their control, and done,.nO doubt, with reluctance. Mr. Smith succeeded much better than- Was anticipated before he set Ont to India, and he secured terms of burlness applicable to Australia that will be to the advantage of importers as well as of shippers. Thci shipping company, too, ere made' secure against empty space on their ships by an arrangement which assured them of their freight, even though there had been a failure te fill the space, which had to be utilised in the ordinary way, or paid for at current rates if it was not so filled. All this relates to Australia. Mr Smith, who is in New Zealand, and who is to ba found atCla-rton, Hodgson, and Co., Ltd., Jervois-quay, is anxious to see an agreement similar to that secured for Australia, operative in this country, in order that the supply of jute goods required by New Zealand may be assured. To a representative of The Post today Mis Smith confessed that he was not at all certain that the eornsack position this sea-son would be free from difficulty. The farmer must have his sacks, and ' Calcutta, isOuld. I ! supply them, , but it was a 'question whether there would be shipping tonnage enough to bring them down. The British India fleet had been encroached upon for war purposes and its ( available tonnage for mercantile requirements' correspondingly reduced. In addition, there was the inducement to all shipowners to go where the best freights rulod. "At the momentj" said Mr. Smith, "huge oivlers are being ex* ecnted by the Calcutta mills for jute goods for the Allied Governments, apparently for military purposes, including bags for sand entrenchments. Large quantities of such goods are being shipped to Russia, via Vladivostok, and they go to Russia at a million nieces at a time. Large quantities are going, too, to Marseilles. Genoa, and other available ports. t It must be borne in mind that Imperial orders take precedence." However, the fact was" that prices for all jate goods wero stiffening, and, in addition, freights had made stupendous advances. When he left India, only recently, freights to Australia ' that had been 25s a ton h?d risen to 50p, and io Vladivostock they rose from 35s to 78s. Mr. Smith predicted serious difficulties, judging from present indications, that would confront the wheat farmer for sacks and tho woolgrower for packs if the opportunity were not taken now to make provision for supplies.