THE WOOL TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13625, 19 December 1907, Page 6

THE WOOL TRADE.

REASON WHY PRICES ARE .

HIGH.

AN IMPORTANT KFVIE'W.

[EKOM OUR OWN CORUIiSrONDKNT.]

London, November 8. In tho Times to-day there appears a very important review of tho history, position, and prospects of the Anglo-colonial wool trade. Passing over the merely historical and ornamental parts of the article, there remaiu some portions which must needs possess special interest to New Zealand. These 1 now quite as follows: —

"In 1895—a recoil .year'—tho production of wool in Australia and New Zealand amounted to 2,000,001) bales, and the. value per colonial bale 'or the. calendar year, including importations from South Africa, was returned at Sill. It is not at this date possible to give cxac corresponding figures tot- 1907, as the sixth London auction's have yet to bo held, but the total clip from tho two colonies for the wool season of Novell' ber, 1906, to October, 1907, amounts to 2,010,000 bales, and tho average value per bale at the London September-October series, marking tho close ot that period, is returned as being some 55 per cent, above tho level of 1905. When the actual figures showing tho average value per bale lor tho calendar year 1907 are available it is expected that they will differ but little from those of 1906, when the colonial halo averaged i)l7. When a staple commodity which is one of the necessities of existence, appreciates in valiio to the above extent in tho space of little more than a decade, and when a maximum of production coincides with a record if price, &om<*»examination of the reasons for tho increased cost of wool and the prospect of its continuance possesses a special interest. ... "Opinions as to whether the values of today can ho maintained at their highest point may differ, Out the experience of 1906 and 1907 may with reason be held to prove that buyers must accept a new basis as to the standard value of the raw material. Increase in population has no doubt, contributed to some extent to tho advance, but the increased consumption per head has been the principal factor, and one that possibly has been overlooked by those who, basing their conclusions on conditions existing 15 or 20 years ago, have, urged that the present level is fictitious. No special knowledge of the trade itself is required to recognise tho increased consumption of wool, for this results from the social and economic progress of civilised nations. Education, industrial development, increase of wealth, have been and arc contributing causes. All over the world wages have become higher, and t the improved purchasing power of the million has l)ecu mainly expended in satisfying the primary wants ot existencefood and clothes. Tho more liberal education of the masses has raised the standard of living, and woollen manufactures of all kinds aro considered essential to the comforts and refinements of modern life, while tho ingenuity of the manufacturer has created a demand for cheap woollen goods at prices well within the limit of the working man's purse. The working classes require more leisure and more change than did the former generation ; cheapness of modern travel has multiplied the number of excursionists, and cheap clothiers, a comparatively recent feature in retail trade, exist to supply holiday clothes to the crowds of Blackpool, Margate, and their Continental equivalents. Soldiers no longer wear the same uniform on active service as on parade,' and orders for khaki become heavier each year. Further, the increasing practice of all kinds of sports and games, as manufacturers know well, has greatly increased tho consumption of woollen goods. Moralists may decry" the luxurious tendency of tho age, but the wool trade can only benefit by tho competition existing between those who cater for the rich. Each year sees the construction ot frantic hotels in Europe, or America, aa far out-classing those considered palatial &> few years ago as a Lusitania, with her complement of over 5000 human beings, outclasses the giants of 10 years back. Newspapers mention live number of rooms in the former, or the ohampagno carried by the latter, but the amount of wool used m the manufacture of blankets, carpets, and in the uniforms of tho personnel are of more interest to Bradford, Koubaix, and Loipic. "These and similar instances cannot, howovec, be said to eoustitirtv. fresh sources of consumption, the significance of the increase Wing one of ilegreo, but of much greater importance is the amount of wool now consumed per head by women and is a feature of quite modern growth. The ■woman, of tho loner middle-ck<M, hitherto dependent on others, and most limited an to means, ot late years, in continually increasing numbers, has become an independent; wageearner without, whether shopgirl, typist, or post officd clerk, becoming to unsexed as to forge* that moimy i 3 neve* -wasted in buying clothes. What is obvious is often regarded as unimportant. and when a wool clip i 3 valued at £55,000,000 th«*e details ot, consumption mav seem at first glance trivial, hut when it urowtlwte.-i that those reiorrod to id broker's circulars as tb* 'ultimate consumers' are the millions forming the population of Europe ami Amov-ica, who apwu an appreciable portion of ilunr wages m am purchase of all aorta c: woolen mauufacfc:roH. it. tn*r ro submitted that even a trivial increase per. head i.i this great population explains why *» additional production of 700.000 bah* c: colonial woo. which has taken place .vlthit; the lut four years has not. o:i!v been oauiy absorbed, nut has been accompanied., by an almost: constant rise an value." '