WOOL MARKET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27291, 18 January 1950, Page 6

WOOL MARKET

PLANS FOR FUTURE CONFERENCE ARRANGED PA WELLINGTON, Jan. 17. The Minister of Marketing, Mr Holyoake, in a statement issued today, announced that a meeting would be held in London this month to review the operations of the Joint Wool Marketing Organisation which expected to have substantially completed its task of the disposal of war-time accumulated stock of wool by the end of the current season. The meeting is to be of representatives of the four partner Governments in the Joint Organisation—the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand —and the New Zealand delegates are Messrs G. Duncan (leader), W. Horrobin, N. R. Jameson, B. S. Trolove, and C. G. Trotter. The delegation would be joined in London by Mr H. E. Davis and would have the assistance of Mr D. F. Anderson and Mr S. N. Mclvor, of the High Commissioner’s Office in London. The meeting, said Mr Holyoake, would be to consider the state reached in the operations of the Joint Organisation and the future of wool marketing in the light of the experience of the past five years and to make recommendations on both these aspects to the four Governments. The disposal of the accumulation of 10,500,000 bales of wool much more rapidly than had been anticipated had necessitated early discussions to decide future policy and the Governments of the three wool-growing dominions and the United Kingdom and the growers’ organisations in the dominions had all agreed on the desirability of a conference. Mr Holyoake added that, in his view, the participation of the United Kingdom in the talks and in any future marketing plan was most important since the United Kingdom was by far the largest user of the dominions’ wool and could be an ideal representative of the consumers. While any future proposals would have to be carefully worked out by the conference, the opinion of woolgrowers’ organisations in all three dominions seemed to favour the selling of wool by the growers at open auctions on the lines of the present plan with reserve or floor prices at which the marketing organisations might become the buyer and interim owner of the wool so purchased. ~ ~ , . . Mr Holyoake said that the decision by the four Governments to hold the conference had been reached just before the elections. The present Government quite agreed on the desirability of the talks on the future of wool marketing and would give the fullest consideration to any recommendations subsequently made.