WOOL CHARGES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23111, 9 August 1938, Page 5

WOOL CHARGES

AUSTRALIAN INCREASE ACTION TAKEN BY BROKERS NOT CONTEMPLATED LOCALLY Warehousing and handling charges on wool have been increased by 15 per cent by the Sydney Wool Selling Brokers' Association, bringing the rates to the level at which they stood before the depression. Brokers claim that this action was forced upon them by the increase in their costs/ ■ The opinion that similar action was not being contemplated irv New Zealand was expressed last night by Mr. B. J. Marquet, chairman of the Auckland Woolbrokers' Association. Any such step would have to be taken by the New Zealand Woolbrokers' Association, and to his knowledge 110 remits of this nature would come'befora the annual meeting later this ; month. Strong exception to the increased charges in Australia was taken by the Graziers' Association of New South Wales. Commenting,, on the position, the association said that it viewed this action very seriously. Both the experience of the immediate past and tho prospect of the future cast upon the growers the duty to keep their costs down to the minimum. The costs involved in the production of wool up to the point of sale were to-day, about Is a lb. The average price of greasy wool over the past 12 months had been 12Ad, and the period bad Keen one of acute drought. "The situation assumes a national importance," the association added in a statement, "in the light, of the 28, per cent decline in the Australian wool cheque during the past season, the uncertainty of the international economic and political situation, the development of substitutes, and the necessity for retaining a healthy trade balance in London. "It is true that in vieiv of the low prices for wool, the tendency is for the net profits of the broking companies to show some decline, but in most cases those profits are substantial* and there is no justification for the; brokers' action in seeking to restore their profits out of the pockets of the producers, who have to withstand not only low wool prices, but also abnormal drought losses. "Wool growers seek no special 'concessions from brokers, but maintain that the burden of costs must b3 shared as widely as possible, and not, as in the days' immediately before tho depression, be automatically transferred to the export producer."