HIGH COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 12 October 1922, Page 3

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE

+ COMPLAINTS REPLIED TO.

CHEESE AND WOOL ADVICES. The Prime Minister has received from the Higfr Commissioner (.Sir Jaiaes Alien) a communication - relating to some complaints^from a New Zealand paper which, had' been sent him m rererence to the alleged failure of tne office to keep the New Zealand fanners apprised of movements in the cheese market at Home, and especially regarding the recent Canadian shortage; also suggesting that the reviews, sent periodically, of the wool markets at Home should deal with the various grades in-stead-of "tops." Sir James Allen, in replying to. this criticism, explains that the officers of the Department, not being directly concerned in handling butter or any other produce, are dependent" for their information on the trade. They had not, ixi most instances, equal facilities with the trade for obtaining statistics or estimates of the kiiid indicated. If. unverified information we;re acted upon and the results proved disastrous to the factories the latter would have legitimate cause to. complain that they were ■ misled. . It was not lair to expect Departmental officers to take the place of th© factories' own representatives. Sir James Allen stated that the general position in regard to cheese had been unsatisfactory for some time, and in the v absence of any signs of improvement several of the importers, had cabled their New Zealand suppliers to give preference to the manufacture of butter for the London market. As things had turned out, it appeared to be practically certain that jihis advice w"ould prove to have been absolutely sound. lii, regard to wool, the criticism also was rather uninformed. It was quite true that the High Commissioner's cablegram periodically quoted the prices i of wool in the form of "tops," but it ■* was not true that to the average farmer this system of quotation was only so much ' 'double Dutch." As a matter of fact, prior to the war the Department had been, in the habit of quoting for wool in the principal classes, such as.i superior merino, medium merino, and inferior, fine, medium and coarse crossbred; but on the special, request of Wellington this system was altered after the war, and quotations were now given, by the count, 36's, 40's, 465,, 50's, and so on, the reason probably being that a great deal more was now known about the trade than was "the case previously^ A good many of, the farmers' sons, while serving with the fotces, were abLe to obtain expert instruction in woolclassing on .Bradford lines, and there was no general* indication that the quotations as now sent were unsatisfactory, i The writer of the newspaper article was asking, for afi impossibility. He had stated' that the small pastoralist. wanted to know the weekly prices of' the. grades of wool as he sent his raw material Home, adding that he did not export them as tops; and he had proceeded: "The farmer wants to know how' wool is selling in Bradford as crossbreds, and all the rest of it.'' But,'" in the first, place, there was no such thing as a weekly price of the various grades of wool; and, secondly, -Bradford was not a selling centre. Wool, was sold in England, as in New Zea- ' land, at1 periodical sales—principally in London, and occasionally also at Liverpool and Hull. These sales took place at stated intervals, opening and closing on definite dates, and at such times the

Uaigh Commissioner's office always sent full information as to the price, at which ' 'fate Yaw' material?, was selling. After j any particular sales closed no more, wool was sold until the next series, so ! that to give weekly quotations as' suggested was impossible—there were none to give. This was where the "Bradford quotation" came in. Kecognising that between sales the pastoralist would be glad of any information which might serve as a guide to the course of events, the Department quot r ed the price of "tops" according to the, count of the raw wool from which they were manufactured. As,the cost of conversion did not fluctuate violently, the quotation was, when read in conjunction with the market information given', at the same time, a reliable guide to j the price of the raw niaterial. By, carefully watching Bradford quotations, it was possible to obtain a good indication as,to the estimate of the market formed I>v. the "topmakers," and this-; information icould not fail to be of use | to the pastoralist who had wool for sale ] during any particular series. ,