WOOL COMMANDEER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18412, 19 May 1920, Page 6

WOOL COMMANDEER.

THE QUESTION OF PRICE.

GROWERS ASK FOR INCREASE. V . The sub-committee appointed by thtf Canterbury Sheepowners' Union to m> quire,into the question of the eurpiafl profits on New Zealand wool under the commandeer agreement have, after exhaustive inquiries and careful consideration, come to the following conclusions : '" That the terms of the Imperial Com-. missioner's offer were misinterpreted by the Minister in Charge at the time (tho Hon W. D. S. MacDonald), the Imperial offer being an increase of 65 pet 1 cent on the gross proceeds of the sala d of the whole of the 1913-14 clip, less {■ freight and shipping charges, estimated at lid per pound- The Imperial Goi vernment's cable specifically stated thai! ' values were to be assessed o n sales of the whole of the clip for that-period, whereas the New Zealand Government! based their calculations on the loc.il sales only, thereby eliminating the more valuable half of this clip which was sold on the London market, and realised an average advance of'So* per pound over New Zealand auction prices. A perusal of London account sales fo* the 1913-14 clip by any shipper will o°£™ Ce km that the basic price of y-°sd was erroneously arrived at, aa the New Zealand sales, consisting of only about half the annual clip, averaged this price, and this was token aa the basis on which the table of values wa s made. This" basic price was manifestly unfair, as the remainder of the clip, which included a much greater proportion of the more valuable grades, found its way to London for sale on account of growers, etc., where it realised from 13d to 14d pec pound. J'\ therefore netted from 4d to 5d pe? pound more than the New Zealand basic price, and this with the 55 per cenii added accounts for the great shortage. A rough comparison is shown in this connection by stating that a fleece which realised 9 S under London sales conditions only realised 6s locallv. This difference with the 55 per cent" added amounts to 6£d per pound, which, under the agreement made, shows a loss to New Zealand woolgrowers of about seven million pounds sterling per annum, or from twenty-eight millions to thirty millions sterling on the four clips commandeered.

m As proof that the Imperial Commissioner based his offer on London .and not New Zealand average prices, and intended to pay out accordingly, we have first that he accepted the average London price of slipe wool for 1914 as a basio price for the 'various descriptions of that class of wool. Second, the Imperial Commissioner in reporting to his Government in June, 191 b, remarked "that the New Zealand woof had been obtained at much under its then value," and the cables show that the authorities here quoted figures of their own, making as acceptable to them for tho various descriptions of wool which he accepted. 'This purely shoivs that r.e obtained the wool at less than he intended to pay for it. Tho period used by the New Zealand Government to determine the average prices for the 1913-14 clip, viz., August 1, 1913, to July 31, 1914, was'not equitable, as jthe flocK shearing in New Zealand does not start until about October, and bulk of clip would not be on the markets before the latter end of 1914, so that the period October 1 to September 80, 1913-14, would more correctly express the olip year. It! is suggested that as ..the Imperial Government was eviderftly prepared to £ gjve us more than was inadvertently asked, owing to the misconception as regards Home and colonial basic prices, and as the Imperial Government appear to be experiencing great difficulty in determining what are the half profits due, this should pave the way for a compromise on the following lines:— That the Sheepowner'n Union representatives at "the coming conference . suggest to Mr Massey that the Imperial Government; be asked to purchase outright at 55 per cent over average London auction prices for 1913-14; viz., Ud per pound, the whole of, the four clips which have been taken over and paid for on the basis of 9.65 d per pound, woolgrowers to forgo any claim to . half profits made- A prompt settlement coilld then be effected, based an I brokers' appraisements for the period mentioned.

They also suggest that our Govern* ment be asked at the conference shortlj to be hold whether the woollen companies of the Dominion have been allowed to take their wool since war conditions ceased on the some terms as previously, and also to furnish woolgrowers with the amount of manufactured, or semi-manufactured wool exported from New Zealand by these companies during the commandeer period, as it is understood that the arrangements oy which the companies here got their wool were made with the objects of keeping price* of clothing,, etc., within reasonable befunds, in the interests of New Zealand consumers, but presumably owing to unrestricted profiteering on the part of the companies mentioned, prices have been allowed, to soar to a point out of all proportion to the oost of manufacture, thereby nullifying the concessions mady to the mills by woolgrowers. The local mills during the comman : deer have been permitted to select their requirements from any classes of wool at |d per pound above commandeer price, and it is only during the last season that they have been restricted to what should be their average turnover. Wo therefore suggest that should it transpire that large quanties of manufactured wool have been exported, it would only be equitable for our Government to collect on behalf of growers the difference between the prices paid by the woollen mills and'those realised for tho same qualities of wool in the open market, as consumers have received no benefit from concessions made to woollen companies here, and woolgrowers have merely made a present to shareholders in these companies, and cann.>t get a yard of the manufactured cloth at less than 400 to 500 per cent Above its manufactured cost to tho mills.