ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9804, 30 October 1917, Page 6

ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

GOVERNPiIENT POWER PREP ENDURANCE CREATINE STR.ONG OPPOSITION. (From Our Special Correspondent.*, BRADFORD, August 23. It would almost appear as ii Govern* mont authorities are defeating their ova professed ends at every turn. The writer has stated over and over again in these letters that one object of State control of wool and all its products is Lo keep down prices. This is quite a • laudable object, and everyone who believes in conducting business on a mu* derate and reasonable basis of prices, agrees with it. It is therefor© exceedingly surprising to U<arn that after October Ist. tho authorities intend to advance rh© prices wiucn they will charge to who purchas© Government owneu tops. At tno tunc of writing no definite official statement Un« been usuoa. bat utv information practically boars the hall-mark of such authority and there jio need to question it. The significant point in connection with this development is that no advai:.o9 has taken piaco in the* price of tno raw material. tho reason tor this being obvious. The Australasian, clip both last year and this has been purchased by the Government at a definite price, and at one *weep alf the wwoi crown in tho colonies hus thus b> ccma their property. They have not b'sem buying a bio at once, paying such a figure as market conditions demanded. then, operating again and paying another advance because -supplies were scarce or because sellers wore making more exorbitant demands. They have got tho whole lot, and with the wool having been purchased at what to tha Government is an all-round price, there seems to he no reason why combed wool should bo sold for n. tdme*for a cor* tain price, and then an announcement bo made a s is now the case that prices have been put up 2d to 3d per lb. Tho news line had a mixed reception among tho trade. Spinners are naturally sceptical about it being true, partly because as already said am official statement has not yet been published, # and partly because they do not want it to ha true. Unless spinners who purchased Government owned tops can have some allowance made for the higher prices they ; have to pay, their own margins will, be still further reduced and the announcement makes necessary a revision extending much, beyond the combed article if it is to be at all practicable.

Any holders of private stocks are m a somewhat different position. There are some who have simply been holding waiting to see which way the tide would turn. Their stocks have not been accepted by tho Government, and while it is quite true that in many oases they have not been actually released, no one need be surprised if such stocks as these are not sold as soon as an opportunity occurs to do so. The advance in Government charges will provide an argument in favour of holders, and it is quite possible that there will be a freer movement of such tops os are free than of those which are Government owned. Of course, there are certain uses to which free tops will not be able to be put, and this will tend to restrict operations, but all the same some say that they might hear worse news than that the Government have raised tEeir standard.

THE LATEST OFFICIAL DOCUMENT. This is the reply to the statement issued by the committee appointed to inquire into the departmental statistics. It is somewhat lengthy, but con'tains nothing of a really new or convincing character. No doubt it will be expected by the authorities to be taken as the one and only guide to the true State of affairs regarding supplies, but any member of the trade who has closely followed the course of recent events will be able to see that quite as much has been left out as has been put into it. It seems to assume no little ignorance on the part of those who read it, and calmly assumes a certain amount of prescience which in reality is ,a modification of attitude after the investigation committee had completed its work. One statement it _ contains reads somewhat strangely. This is that, "In view of tho Priority Committee's recommendations of August Ist and tho urgency of military requirements, which during the previous month had not been met, it was decided by a large* majority to increase working hours to 50 per week as from September Ist, though it was recognised that in some cases, in order to meet current military requirements, the hours would have to be increased at once.” This statement reads fitomewhat strangely _in view of what is common knowledge in the trade. If any official body or any Government Department had decided before Mr Bulmer's figures were published to increase tho number of working hours in mills, they were very slow about letting it bo made known, and if they ou their own initiative had found out the need for withdrawing such a drastic and damaging order, they ought to have been sufficiently alert to let everybody know before the investigation com. mdtitee got to work. With regard to meeting military requirements, it is well enough known that tho allocations of the Priority Committee were altogether inadequate, and many firms took upon themselves the responsibility of using off stocks to keen going quite regardless of w-ha-t the Priority Committee gave them permission to do. MURIMURINGS IN THE TRADE.

Though it is quite tmo that in some respects brighter days seem .to be coming to the wool textile trade, many are far from being in an optimistic mood. The results of State control are already too seriously damaging to bo forgotten all in a minute, and unless an exceedingly strong, united and determined front is presented by the -whole industry little relief will be forthcoming. The most serious complaint which can be brought against the authorities is that the life has been knocked out of all private cn. terprise. They have not realised that the trade has been built up by men of unit and gumption. These men have had to spend years in accumulating a valuable store of practical knowledge and experience. Without this they would have been entirely useless in the spheres which they now occupy, and would certainly never have attained to their present status. The galling thing is that such men as these who have no desire whatever for self-assertion, hut who would have been willing to render the best services possible to the State, have been entirely overlooked. On the other hand official positions have been created which require the same farge practical knowledge as is possessed hy the men ref erred to. The fact is that men altogether unequipped for their task have been allowed to sl'-n in, and the results are only too obvious to-day. In nakiiw these statements the writer does lot wish to aim blows indiscriminately. Rome men of the tripe needed hava cotoe forward very nobly and given their services voluntarily, sad have stood at thoir posts quite as long as they could. The rock bottom fact relating to this matter Is that high -permanent officials have been really the most lacking and in capable parties. The net result to the trade of this is that businesses have been swept sway and bureaucracy has had its full fling. AN IMPORTANT MEETING OF SPINNERS.

Last Tuesday afternoon the spinners of the West Riding of Yorkshire h*dd a large and important m-ectinc, at which

they expressed themselves very decidedly as not being in favour* or the Board of Control proposed by 31 r Forster. That bodv is intended to take the piaee of the Central Wool Advisory Committee, whica itself is the successor ot tne Advisory Panel. The second nanioa vas formed because the last-named "*as not satisfactory, and the Central S'ool Advisory Committee, not having prove<l satisiactcry to me trade, it is now proposed to introduce in its place the hoard oi Control. In bringing forward this n p w substitute tho KigJit Honourable 11. \V. Forster, M.P., was no doubt actuated by the best of motives, but when it was proposed that tho membership should consist of one-third Government representatives, one-third labour representatives. and one-third representatives of the wool textile trade, a serious mis take was made. In effect tho constitution of the board will, by this arrangement, bo no better and no more effective In tho interests of tho trade than its two predecessors. A largo organisation known ns the Wool Textile Association of the United Kingdom, which represents about two thousand firms, had previous to the spinners* meeting mentioned above, expressed strong disapproval of tho constitution of tho new beard. The spinners echoed these sentiments, and at their meeting last Tuesday passed resolutions to the effect that they nad no confidence in the new bcaid, and also demanding that the priority rationing schemes bo abolished, anese demands were eputo justified, but in making them the spinners had created o very difficult situation. Time were acting on their own initiative, and were m no way co-operating with the 'V ooJ Textile .Association; at any rate there was no official cohesion. This fact created feelings of uneasiness, and whilst everybody recognised that the attitude of the spinners and also that of the WT.A. was justified the need was r 0 ed for such unity of action as would tiring round the officials to a right view of thinking and dealing with the present critical situation. It is thcrofore great cause for satisfaction that influences have been at work behind the scenes which are likely to bring forth excellent results. Though the spinners, ns’ represented to the West Hiding Spinners' Federation, havo done excellent work, it has to be said that the W.T.A. has taken tho lead in opposing the Board of Control. It was the first to actually express its disapproval of the constitution of the board, and the spinners simply followed up the lead given, though, of course, they were in full possession of the same facts as led to the action of the W.T.A The writer understands that Mr Sherwell, M.P., who is the member ,of Parliament for Huddersfield., and who is also a member of the Woo! Textile Association, has had the opportunity to place before the Prime Minister (Mr Lloyd George) some of the facts relating to tho present deadlock in the wool trade, and the latter has expressed his willingness to meet a deputation of the trade during the next few, days, providing they present their case through the usual” official channels. Great hones are entertained of good resulting from this deputation. It wi! l provide an opportunity for tho united action for which the writer has always pleaded.