PRICE OF WOOL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 7, 8 July 1931, Page 16

PRICE OF WOOL

aROWBES IN COUNCIL

NO PRICE-FIXING

EMPIRE PRODUCERS

(From "The Post's" Representative.) '' "' " " SYDNEY, 2nd July:

■It is generally recognised that the Empire Wool Conference which concluded at Melbourne last week did nothing very revolutionary. There arc some experts, however, who, hold .that the conference was justified for one .thing .it did—a decision not to attempt to combat the law of supply and demand in the marketing of wool. As a. result-of the meeting a doßtinuance of sound marketing principles seems to be assured.

Reviewing the situation, one expert gays:' Had any effort been made to control prices artificially the" natural economic law would have prevailed. It has shown its inescapable action in the case of many commodities with which price-fixing has been,attempted. The Melbourne decision,, macle by the authorised representatives of three countries which combined grow 40 per cent, of the world's ■wool, should decisively prevent those with venturesome but unsound ideas from experimenting with.schemes the outcome.of which would be .chaos. Apart from all other aspects, the decision arrived at makes the deliberation of the conference valuable to 'the pastoral industry. _ Unless an effective method of .controlling the world's annual production and its consumption of wool year by year can be devised, any effort to control, its sellingprice must, prove: as?futile as Australia's attempt to .keep up the same expenditure when the values of. her primary products are low. as when they, were on boom levels'.' ■■. ■•'■'■■ FUTURE PRODUCTION. At,the conference an estimate was.made of the quantity of wool likely to be produced in the Commonwealth during the coming season and the total number of Vales' that will .probably be available for sale. The;£ollowing.figuies show, how the estimate compares' with'actual totals for previous, seasons :.-t----'■.Commonwealth Receipts fof sale '■■'■'" .'Clip. ' Australian stores • . • ' Bales. ' Bales. 1027-28 .. 2,673,000 . 2,446,780 1928-39 ..2,862,877 2,690,486 192930 ..■ 2,867,000 2,583,000-' 1630-81 .. '2,728,000 2,439,166: 1931-32 .. : 2,942,500 2,675,000 The receipts for 1930-31 are to the end .of May and the figures for' 1931-32 are estimated. The Sydney allocations provide for the offering, of 517,000 bales before Christmas,' compared, with. 464,000.. bales during the same period.this season.- Sales are to start-on 31^t August—two weeks earlier than in 1930.': ' ' CONFERENCE DECISIONS., : • The Em'pirp Woob Conference in Melbourne was1: jcmfcha'ticlon the iimportant ■point of pric&control. , It. would have none of it. The first made clear is that wool growers t6)?ent all forms of: Government interference with their industry, and the second that definite price-fixing in the hope of .'securing better returns would do more harm; than good. At the same time, the need for price stabilisation was - fully recognised, •: and Sir John Higgins, who .was chairman of the British and Australian !JVbol Realisation Committee during! and lifter the War, emphasised thKdistiriction; between1 stabilisation and fixation. The conference was easily the most representative that has met within the Empire tcAdeal withihe :wqol trade. There were delegates from Great Britain,;. South Africa, New Zealand,1' aIL the' Australian States, as well as brokers, bankers, and oil who are interested in the financing of the wool'industry. -The opening sessions were marked bf.■/"■•-. determination •. to thoroughly'^investigate the great, problems that had to be settled, the main desire seeming to; tie to arrive at a common understanding that would pave the way for Empire team work. , All :along the speakers have urged.fKe need of a common" policy, so that one '•portion of the Empire will not b£ engaged in a battle with the 'other, to the detriment of both.; So far the best feeling possible has prevailed among the ' various' factions represented .at the conference, arid -if is-significant that on the first day, at least, all the vital decisions were unanimous. There was no suggestion ,'.o£ antipathy between Australian delegates and tlie South African delegates, for instance,' though it is generally recognised that South' Africa has captured' a great deal'of Australia's trade. NO OVER-PRODUCTION. One of the most important decisions of the conference was reached-wJien the fok ' lowing motion, moved by Mr. W, H. Kicholson (New—Zealand) •■ was ■ carried:"That the present low price of wool was not due to over-production." This question had already been fully discussed by a special sub-committee which had been appointed to consider the agenda. The motion contained a vital message of hope for the wool grower, and it was a declaration- that the rehabilitation of the industry., was possible without a falling off in production. "As Mr. Nicholson'Jointed'out, if would be disastrous to the whole industry if it became .generally thought that there had ': v been""over-production. There would immediately be a slackening off, and that was not wanted. Several speakers spoke of the,' value-of.' advertising, and the Australian--representatives were able to point to'the success of wool.weeks, held in the. Commimyealth,''i^rticiilarly that held at Sydney recently. . . Naturally V-niarketihg" 'arrangements' occupied-a great deal of attention, and the. first decision-in .that direction was-to the effect that-the. ideal method of disposing of wool was by auction. Of course, this has been, the- practice in Australia and New Zealand, but not generally so in South-Africa. The motion affirming , the desirability'■; of: auctions was' carried with only one dissentient,' v South African. ' The other-South Africans said that they had'Ueen'-greatly impressed with the success of, the system; in Australia and New Zealand):' and' they.' hoped that in the future all-South African wool would be sold'under'the hammer.. South Africa, Australia, and' New Zealand combined in condemning all . forms 'of price ; fixation, and one important.recommendation, from .the special, committee, -was that- wool gVowers should'have-nothing to do. with marketing .schemes'that'did not recognise to the fullest'possibl.e .extent the old law oE supply, and .deinan.tl. RUSSIAN WOOL SUPPLIES. . The. conference guve'due recognition to the foreign market, and Mr. Nicholson made a special plea for a reciprocal agreement witli ''-Great Britain that would lie of value'to the^vool industry. He sped-, ally emphasised the dangcuthat the Home market might." become' flooded with Russian wool.. " •...-.■■•■• •■ In open ing. -,1.110 uorifcr.encc the, chairman of t!ic Australian Wool Growers' Council-(Sir Qraliiim Ay.ud.dcll) s.aid J.ie had always 'cndenvoui-pd ■to practise and preach team ''work.1 They hart .succeeded in securing '"throughout Australia, among the growers and-the.selling brokers, a"very generous-measure of the co-operation for the common good, and he was hopeful that the'--, conference would mark the beginningl6f effective^team work among the wool- producing countries of the Empire. 'JThey. .were gathered as an Empire family, sincerely endeavouring to do the best possible for the family) nnd they sfeould give and take on that basis. The supre^"} task to-day was to build up, so he appealed to the delegates to be con.structive,' and,'not destructive, in their discussions'.-, As the' Australian spokesman, he emphasised1 the dislike of the Australian grower to all forms of Government interference" with their industry. After referring to the need for scientific research, particularly on the pastoral side, Sir Graham said: "How fur we can go with co-ordinated offerings of wool, throughout the Empire is a difficult question. Still I am hopeful that we will be able to make'some-advance with it for a beginning.- 'If some definite and joint policy of.realisation its agreed upon, tlien it is absolutely necessary that whatever programme is adopted, such should be Absolutely adhered to by nil the countries concerned. Our task is to produce and iriarket our wool .clip in such ;i way sis to meet, as best we can, the requirements'

of our customers, and at the same time secure the best results for the producers. We want to preserve the goodwill of the buyers and the users. We aim to carry on our great industry witli profit to ourselves, credit to our respective countries, satisfaction to our customers, and success to.our Empire." -\ • .