WOOL INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22327, 30 July 1934, Page 8

WOOL INDUSTRY

QUALITY AND MARKETING RESEARCH COUNCIL PROPOSED LEVY OF FOURPENCE A BALE (Fbov' Ode Paeliamektam Repobtei.) WELLINGTON, July 28. A levy of fourpence on every bale of wool produced in Ihc Dominion for the establishment of a Wool Research Council is proposed in a Government Bill which is to be introduced in the House of Representatives next week. It is understood that the council will consist of seven members, repi esenting the sheep owners, the Depai tment of Agriculture and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The whole of the proceeds of the levy, estimated at £IO,OOO, will be placed at the disposal of the council, which will enjoy very wide powers mid a liberal measure of autonomy. Research by the council will be very nipe in scope", relating to all important problems in sheep-raising and woolgrowing, and it is believed that, after providing for an investigation of common national problems, it will- split naturally into two sections, one concerned mainly with the South Island and one with the North Island. The southern sub-committee may desire to explore the subject of sheep diseases in i elation to wool production and the northern sub-committee may concern itself mainly with improvements m the tvpes of sheep. The problem of crossbred wool and its quality is a burning one in the North Island, while the Canterbury and Otago farmers are probably more concerned with hogget mortality and distinctive diseases of stock. The wool research organisation will be on a similar basis to the existing research committees which deal with wheat, dairy produce and fruit, but it will be more independent of Government control. It will, however, work in full liaison with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the agricultural colleges in both islands. The Prime Minister (Mr G. W. Forbes) said in an interview to-day that the Bill to be introduced next week would be based on the lines of his report to Parliament last year, except that the proposed council would be on a national basis and that it would not be confined in operation to the North Island. It was hoped to appropriate approximately £IO,OOO a year for the conduct of researches. AN EMPIRE-WIDE LIAISON The council, it is understood, is to be modelled almost exactly on the great industrial research associations in Great Britain. The Government has recently considered' requests from the Wool Federation to link up in an Empirewide wool research campaign and in publicity to increase the demand for wool. . .. The proposal to establish a council such as that in. sight has long ported by the sheepfarmers in the North Island, but interested sections in the South Island have raised serious objections. This opposition has of late been on the decline and the body of opinion in favour of the Government’s plan has been growing rapidly. In Canterbury, for instance, the farmers have been more concerned with the problem of sheep diseases than with actual wool problems, but the fact that the proposed council will probably split into two will allow the South Island section to concentrate on that which concerns it most. . . The New Zealand organisation which the forthcoming Bill will establish will preserve the closest contact with various organisations in the United Kingdom which are engaged in work to increase the demand for wool. HISTORY OF THE PROJECT The proposals to go before the House are the result of long and persistent investigation and persuasion on the part of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the principal officers of which have been engaged on the problem for the last five years. The Prime Minister himself has been an enthusiastic advocate of such a scheme. The necessity for research and the dissemination of reliable information to producers was emphasised by the Prime Minister in a statement to the House of Representatives last year. Mr Forbes spoke of the efforts of the Imperial Wool Research Conference to direct the attention of the Imperial Conference of 1030 to the paramount of intensifying scientific investigation into the problems of wool production in the principal producing countries of the Empire and of co-operation between the Wool Industries Research Association and the corresponding authorities throughout the Empire. The Imperial Conference had reviewed these recommendations and its Economic Committ-e had heartily endorsed the proposals made that an economic survey of marketing and the utilisation of Empire wools should be undertaken. The report of this committee had been referred by the conference for the consideration of the Governments of the Empire, Mr Forbes said that the Imperial authorities bad carried out their part of the suggestions and that the work had received a certain amount of support from South Africa, Australia, and Canada, but so far no organisation had been established in New Zealand whica could speak for the wool industry and thus take part in this liaison. In the meantime the Empire Marketing Board had been discontinued and funds were not available from this source. One important consideration made it desirable that organised work towards the improvement of New Zealand wool should be carried out in liaison with the wool manufacturers in Great Britain, in that such work would tend to increase the interest of these manufacturers in onr wools. There were many possible avenues of improvement which might result m higher net returns to the producer, particularly of crossbred wools such as worn produced almost exclusively in the North Island and to a largo extent in the South Island. ORIGIN IN NORTH ISLAND In May, 1933, meetings were held at Palmerston North convened by a committee of wool growers in co-operation with Massey College to discuss questions of wool improvement. It was unanimously resolved by a meeting of 350 sheep owners; “ That the time had come when a concerted effort should be made to raise the standard of sheep and wool of the North Island; that the Government be asked to pass legislation enabling the imposition of a levy of not more than threepence a bale on all wool grown in the North Island or in the Dominion if the South Island wished to come into the scheme, and that the total sum and any subsidies accruing be administered by a committee elected by the sheep farmers whose duty it would be to organise and carry out definite plan to bring about all possible improvements in the industry.” „ Further meetings were held m Wellington and various parts of the North Island, and the proposals were on the whole favourably received. Thus the Government was asked to make provision for the establishment of a wool improvement council along these lines. Ml Forbes told the House that the

question was one of national importance and that it appeared essential that some action should be taken to improve iln present outlook of the wool industry through the adoption of a long-ianim-policy tending towards greater stability in the future.