WHO HOLD THE HIDES

Evening Star, Issue 17284, 24 February 1920, Page 7

WHO HOLD THE HIDES

TAIDfERY STOCKS BARE. NIGHTMARE BOOT PRICES PREDICTED WHEN HIDE EMBARGO LIFTED. Representatives of all the tannery works of Dunedin were seen this morning, and with varying degrees of vehemence they all made the same statement, and the same prediction as to tho proposed raising of tiw embargo on hides, and the effect it will have on leathor values; which statement may be summarised in the following terms: — • New Zealand leather is the cheapest in the world at present owing to the export embargo, If the embargo is removed, as i? now likely to be the case, hides will advance considerably in price, and leather and boots must naturally follow suit. "Boots will attain a price hitherto undreamt of" was the statement of one tanner. He explained that it was understood the Cabinet had decided to allow free competition for hides, the tanners having the right to claim for their Uso any lots required—these to be taken at the last bid; and it was quite possible, "with the present frantic prices in Australia, the hides now realising Is 2d per lb would sell for double that figure. According to facts and figures furnished, farmers' unions throughout the Dominion appear to have been ridiculously astray in their resolutions designating the embargo on the export of hides as iniquitous ir that it has penalised the producers, favored a few tanners, and did not benefit the consumer. " The latest resolution to the ibove effect," commented a, leading tanner, '' came from Masterton, and opportunely Enough there appeared in the same issue of )he ' Star' an ironical comment upon the' resolution in the guiso of a cable from Melbourne, announcing that, ' consequent ppon the high price of hides in Australia, Ihe Government had been forced to cancel the restriction on the price of boots.' " The tanners assert that they have not been favored by the embargo, but that consumers have certainly benefited from it. This contention is at least partially confirmed by a recent Melbourne cable showing a price of 2s lOd per lb in Australia for faotory sole leather in sides, as against 2s 2d per lb in Otago. But the most important factor in the position is the attitude of vendors of hides —freezing works, by-producte concerns, and stock and station agents. The tanners claim that these vendors have been holding on to enormous quantities of hides during the incidence of the embargo, waiting to sell at the world's parity rather than sell here at prices fixed by regulation. There does not seem to be room for doubt that the vendors are doing just what the tanners accuse them of doing—.Jilting on their hides. Fnv the inquiries made disclose that the Dunedin tanners one and all have no stocks. Two firms have not a single raw hide in their sheds, a third firm hare less than three days' supply, and the fourth have only nine days' stock standing between them and absolute stoppage of their input. It will be seen, therefore, that the position" from the tanners' point of view, and from a labor aspect, too, is rapidly approaching a crisis. As a matter of fact the extreme urgency of the position was telegraphed to the Prime Minister on the 17th inst., and he has notified that the matter will be settled shortly. In the meantime it is certain that an enormous stock of hides is held in the Dominion, and that when the embargo is lifted the fancy prices will result in a resounding backhand blow at the unfortunate person who has a family to provide boots for. It was lately stated that one Canterbury firm were holding such enormous stocks that they expected to make no less than £75,000 when the embargo ■was lifted, while Mr C. J. Ward, in his statement in Wellington, said: "It has been admitted by one of the largest holders of hides in Nev/ Zealand that he has not placed a single hide in the market since the embargo wan imposed." These facts, while they disclose a serious menace to the public that apparently should have been foreseen and met by the Government in compuh ry sale regulations accompanying the embargo regulations, at the same time seem to absolve the tanners from the large share of blame that has been cast upon them. They could, had they so chosen, have followed the lead of the hide vendors, and sat on their manufactures till the hide control regulations were lifted. As it is, down here, at any rate, the tanners claim that they hold stocks of neither hides nor leather; and they offer that statement for substantiation by investigation. While going to press we hear that a 'Gazette' notice, dated the 20th inst., has just come into the hands of the tanners, announcing the lifting of the embargo, but securing supplies "to them at "market price," whatever that may mean. The result of this arrangement will be awaited with anxiety by the heads of families.