WOOL PRICES

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 77, 31 March 1920, Page 10

WOOL PRICES

WHERE IS THE BALANCE? (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 28th January. Mr. J. A. Wilcock, of Heaton, Bradford, in a letter to the Yorkshire Observer, says he has at intervals dra.wn attention to,- "the injustice that lia6 been shown !by the British Government towards the Australian and New Zealand producers o£ wheat, meat of all _ kinds, gutter, and other foodstuffs." 'Now he draws attention to a matter relative to some September, 1919, shorn wool from West Australia^—a fair, typical sample similar to that produced by hundreds of farmers. "This particular sample has been inspected and valued byat least a dozen gentlemen representative, of the wool trade in Bradford, every one of the very highest standing in the, trade. It was pronounced as being suitable for producing at least 55 per cent, of clean scoured v/ool—tops of super 70's quality. One well-known expert told me it would produco an 80's top, which was worth 13s 6d per lb. Not one gentleman out of the dozen valued it at less than 6s 6d per lb laid down in Bradford, and in one or two instances it was valued at 7s 6d per lb just as it has come off the sheep's back in the grease. Two or three j out of the number refused to believe j that West Austi-alia ever did, or could, produce a sample of wool of such excellent quality as the sample shown. Now for the tragedy. This wool, and thousands of bales of similar quality, has been appraised, by 'experts' appointedby the British Government at a price less than Is 6d per lb!" Mr. Wilcock continues : "Reference is made to this subject by Mr. Parker (chairman of Dalget/s, London). He asks what would 1 have taken place if the British Government had not assumed control. I will tell him. The British and Allied Armies and the British public- would have been in rags and tattera long ago, and if it had not been for the Australian and New Zealand farmers sending their wheat, and meat, and dairy produce to England—and if the Australian and New Zealand 1 farmers had not sent their sons to fight the Germans — and thereby saved the skins of English and .Irish farmers here, and the skins of the objectors and pacifists without a conscience, the probabilities are that we should have lost the war, and England would have been starved into submission. Will Mr. Parker inform your readers who has got the balance between the Is- 6d allowed, and; the real value of this wool' in Bradford? If he will not tell us, perhaps the Central Profiteering Tribunal will investigate the matter, and if nobody will reveal the facts,'it is high time that the Australian and New Zealand farmers took steps to protect their own i interests, and secure a. fair share of the j prices which the world is willing to pa-y j for their wool. These steps should ba taken in advance of 30th June next."