FARMERS AND THE WAR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 2 August 1918, Page 4

FARMERS AND THE WAR.

■ —« THE WOOL QUESTION. ncAtfTT thp -rvFarmers> Uni<>n Conference, Mr W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) made striking comment on the transaction between the Imperial Government and the New Zealand farmers in respect of wool. He moved: "That this Dominion conference of the New Zealand i<'armers' Union desires to make an emphatic protest against the manufacturers in .England being allowed to make huge profits out of the Dominion's surplus wool, which is being sold for the civilian requirements to the trade ax Home, at practically cost price, and much below its actual value : and further, this meeting is of opinion that the Imperial Government should only commandeer our wool for the period of the war, but in order to make the wool contract co-ter-minous with, the meat contract, the commandeering should continue for three months 'after the close of the war upon the existing terms. The Imperial War Cabinet have acknowledged that the purchase of the New Zealand wool clip was effected in 1916 at practically 10 per cent, below the market ruling price at the time. This meeting is of the opinion that the wool-growers having satisfied all Imperial requirements for war purposes below actual market values, are, in the trade interests of this Dominion, entitled to resume the ordinary marketing and control of their wool as 6oon as possible, subject to any legislation the Imperial or New Zealand Parliament may impose in order to provide restrictions preventing our wool reaching any enemy or other country, as in the opinion of this meeting this phase can only be effectually provided against by direct legislation; and further, that this meeting desires to draw the attention of the National Government to the excessive retail price that is being charged for the leather and woollen goods, which are greatly out of proportion to the cost of hides and wool, and would ask that the Government take the necessary steps to see that the Cost of I/iving Commission inrestigate the matter and if thtetre is undue profiteering, then to limit the retail price to the consumer." Mr Lysnar added: A good deal was being said against the farmers at the present juncture about the undue profits they were receiving, but the; comments were undeserved. The most of the. money was going to English profiteers outside of New Zealand. The crucial issue now was jvhether the New Zealand people were petting a fair and square deal. He had samples of wool for which one penny per pound was paid, and which, before commandeering, would realise 9d to 13d, and other wool at 6§d. The le^st price the grower got for the latter for Tour years before commandeer- . ing was lO^d, and for the year preced- ! ing the war loci per pound. The basis of the purchases was to bes 55 per cent, on the January prices in New Zealand. It was important, therefore, to know what our wool was selling for at Home. The London Chamber of Commerce Journal for January, 1918, stated that the price for tops was 75d per lb for 46's, and in the case of yarn it was 200 per cent, above the pre-war rates. He did not pretend, to be a wool expert, but two wool experts had stated that if tops were sold at 75d, greasy wool would he worth, after certain deductions, 4s 3d. If they deducted 5d for expenses and the buyer gave Is 8d that still left a profit of 2s 7d per lb. The -growers should get half and the Imperial Government the other half of : that excess .profit. On the basis of the Is 3d which the growers should get they were losing between £2,000,000 and 1 £4,000,000 a year on the New Zealand quota sold by the Imperial authorities for civilian purposes. This was simply going into the pockets of the manufacturers at Home. He. had .told the Minister that the Dominion was losing : between £3,000,000 and £4,000,000 a year, and the Government was losing . from a million to a million and a half ;in taxation. The Government which 1 lost that were doing wrong, and the people who allowed it were also doing wrong. The Imperial Government were i losing. The under-officials were carry- ' ing this matter through in a way that j helped the manufacturers. Before the i war the merchant got 2£ per cent, up ; to £500 for selling th e wool by auction, j and 1^ per cent, when the wool was above that value, whilst for that amount he did everything else in coni nection with it. It was a very reason- ! able position. What did they find now ? : They found that the merchant was getting 9 l-16d per lb for shipping, re- ; ceiying and opening up for valuation, ' and they did not even have the responsibility of selling it. In addition, he was getting 4d a bale per week for storing the wool during the summer months. He actually got Is 4d per bale per month for storage. By a simple sum in arithmetic they could see that the merchant was in clover. i He did not want to quarrel with the ; merchants, but only wanted to see that ! they got a fair and square deal. . . 1 In 1915 the South Africans, whose wool j was much inferior to New Zealand wool ! got 6.86 pence per lb for their wool,' j whilst last year they secured one shilling and 3.83 pence lb.. These ; figures were official and were certified to by the House of Commons. If in 1915 the wool-growers of New Zealand got one shilling per lb for their woo\ it means that it should be worth twice the amount that South African wool was fetching at the present time, and instead of getting one shilling and threepence in 1917 they should have really been getting half-a-crown. That j proved the small price they were at I present getting for their wool as com- , pared with other countries. The South Africans got £4,226,000 more in 1917 : than they did for the whole of the clip in 1915 fo r 28,000,0001b less of wool. The president expressed tho view that the offer of the British Government should be accepted without quibble. It was a generous one and it would be foolish to raise any difficulty ( It would not redound to the credit of i the union. He mentioned thf t the Imi penal offer had been accepted hy the '■ Sheepowners' Federation. | The discussion served to show th?t I members were- not very decided in their i opinions as between the two views, but j eventually Mr Lysnar's proposition was put and carried W 19 votos* to 11