THE WOOL TRADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19498, 5 June 1925, Page 9

THE WOOL TRADE

UNSATISFACTORY CONDITIONS. THE CAUSES EXAMINED. AUSTRALIAN COMMISSION UR’S REPORT. Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. NEW YORK, Jtme 3. (Received Juno 4, at 5.5 p.nt.) Mr J. A. M. Elder (Australian Trade Commissioner) "who lias concluded an .n----vestigation of the tvool trade, declares that undue emphasis is still being given to the recent high prices of Australian wool in an attempt to justify the unsatisfactory condition of the manufacturing business in the United States. Mr Elder is still more convinced that this lias little or nothing to do with the situation, the causes of which are almost iutirely local. He finds that wool passes through a great many hands from the raw conditions to a suit of clothes, and each middleman requires a profit, wuich materially increases the cost, particularly as “pyramiding” is now excessive and out of proportion to the original profits made. It is a rare thing, he says, ro discover a retailer engaged in all the operations, but a beginning has now been made in that direction. Moreover, in the average suit of clothes Australian merino forms ' only a part, the balance of the doth being made up of other Australian or foreign wools, American domestic wool, rags, etc. Very few worsteds are made mainly of Australian merino. Those are at present out of fashion because they' do not lend themselves to manipulation of this character in Hie same way as the so-called woollens. When worsteds are re-established in public tvaour there will be a heavier demand for wool. The proportion of wool in some suits now is relatively small, is the substitution of re-worked wools from rags, etc., is done lo a considerable extent, and is growing, such growth being stimulated by the higher wool prices. The practice of < using tailor's dippings in cloth tends to limit wool consumption, and it ki anticipated that the present heavy demand for re-worked wool will continue. Another factor in the situation, says Mr 'Elder, is that for many years the retail trade has purchased its potential requirements a long time ahead, but the practice has been entirely different since the bad slump of 1922. The retailer is not now prepared to anticipate the public demand to anything like the same extent, and prefers to cater for that demand when it arrives. These altered conditions seriously affect the manufacturer, who no longer has an ever-ready market, and therefore is unwilling to accumulate stocks. Mr Elder anticipates changes in the methods of the clothing trade in the immediate future. He expects there will be more direct dealing between the retailer and the manufacturer. He auso expects that the manufacturer will assume larger risks, financial and otherwise, and believes that the mills will eventually co-operate and adopt a collective method of carrying this new burden. Slimming up the situation Mr Elder says that he feels that though unsatisfactory it is only a phase through which business is passing. The country is prosperous. and wages arc more likely to increase than decrease, bringing added prosperity. Following this, the concentration in one hand of the various manufacturing processes and more direct dealing will greatly reduce the costs, and have a beneficial effect upon the Australian wool situation.—A. and N.Z. Cable.