OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14286, 1 May 1917, Page 9

OUR ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

TRADE ENDEAVORS 'TO WORK WITH GOVERNMENT. BRADFORD, March 8. What many consider the most inipor- < lant step taken hy the trade, since the interesting debate, in Parliament on the wool question which took place a fortnight ago, was made last weekend in Bradford. At the Chamber ol Commerce representatives of all sections of the industry met, and all the different associations " will federate. The federation will take the form of a bod/ representing all the. sections of the trade (wool merchants, topmakcrs, spinners and manufactures and cloth merchants), and this committee will, act as central authority between the Government department and the. trade. It is requested that all Steps which the Government thinks, necessary for the well-being of 111© country, in. wool [ matters should he first submitted to this authority, special committees from which will deal with them and make any improvements that \ seem possible, before being passed on to, the industry. The great point is that the Svhole trade will henceforth speak as one individual. Hitherto .the, war Office has taken advice from one section, and advice on the same subject from another section, and has said that the traders could not agree among themselves as to which was. the proper \ thing to do. I Therefore the War ppice has. chosen its 'own course, and many times. done things that seem rather high-handed. Still, if traders could not agree themselves It had a good argument insets favor. The industry has decided that its different i sections shall not be played off one i against the other any longer, and this central authority is the first step to adjust this. Of course, tjie- chief thing will be .to have the authority recognised by the Government, but with a whole industry behind it its recognition should certainly take place, even if somewhat tardy. , ...'"• WOOL DISTRIBUTION. . There seem toj.be tw.o ideas in.-, the trade to-day, largely arising out of therecognition that the Government scheme is not bad from beginning 1 to end. It has 'a lew gpod ppints, and many of those (who were so disgusted with, the- amount !of time wasted at the just-closed series lof London sales, due to small cata'logues and heavy withdrawals on Government account, think' that wool could be better distributed by sample. This I would obviate any necessity lor going to London, as the samples could be shown in Bradford, Scotland,, and West of England, and users would, be- able to see what the Government had to offer. ...'.' . ■■'■'' This, is the, plan un which the Government intends to /W.ork ,for the supply ol! the army cloth manufacture, but there is a strong feeling in the trade that the London sales ought to be continued, it is only a few buyers who favor the sample system, and it is felt that the best thing the Government can do is to interfere as little as possible with the Loudun sales and employ merchants and brokers, whose businesses are likely to be restricted, as distributors' on a, commission basis under their own' sample scheme. This plan is not yet' fixed, of course, being merely the trade's suggestion, but it is generally considered the most sensible one. ; BRADFORD MARKET. The market here is very, strong, though it cannot be said that a big business if passing. Topnia^ers anil .spinners all as- ( sert that it 'ls impossible to make tops at the Government .prices out of wool bought in London during the last, three weeks. Users may grumble at the way ; wool prices have risen, but there is no- ; thing to stop them. The only way in' which the. trade would be benefited j would be for the Government to s,ell: the wool by sample at low fixed prices,! which means that it would have to take considerably less than the current mar-| ket rate. -It is hardly likely that the Department,, will be anxious to do this, l because naturally it will \~jac desirous of, selling all that it does' not need at as big a profit as possible. ••' Supplies are small, which is chiefly responsible for the rise in prices. People mean to have a little, whatever the price, rathei 4 than see their machinery idle for. lack of raw material a -few. weeks later. In ,l?arliameht this Syeek it '., lias- fteen , stated that : Woq]( for military arid export trade., will be carried from Australia, but if wanted for unessential home needs, foodstuffs will take -preference, Trie, outlook for supplies for the ; ordinary trade, seems difficult, and to-day the prices of .merino tops ate- 2d to 3d ; per l£j above what they were before . London", opened. For a good 64's top ss'lod could be nia,de. , and topmakers are getting much more difficult to deal with,, some, of them, refusing tp^ ...Quote ; at '> all. . . ■■, . .. . In crossbreds; business, has. been likewise quiefc though .Jnero:. is a fair amount of wool atid tops in the hands of the trade. This projiably has nearly 'all been offered to the Government, and very little is being released for ■■ private sale. .Stocks of homergro\vn wool are very light indeed,;' speaking -for the ordinary trade;, and .dealings were-pro-hibited after March Ist. The .Government has an absolute monopoly of. this wool now, and while stocks arc known to be none too large, an announcement is made that exports of certain kinds and certain weights to Canada will be 'allowed, applications to be received before March. 15th. '• i The Government scheme for affiliating topmakers is complete, and those who applied have joined to one or other of the larger firms chosen by the Government. Those concerned will be called together to express their opinion on the arrangement before it is definitely settled. SHORTAGE OF CROSSBRED WOOL. . The way our- Government has been buyixig crossbred, wooj , and' tops offered to it has caused c several /in the trade io \ think that the Army Contracts/Department is "short" of these Qualities, and another niove this . \yeek at the monthly wool export conference confirms this idea. ,It was decided that ex ports of crossbreds; even to Allies^ should not be allow«d for -the time be\ng,. and the quesijpn of; the export of merinbs to 4mer,lca,andi, 'Scandinavia is still under consideration. , We have reason . fqr .saying, that tho trade- in this country ;does not understand liow serious th6 shipping question |s. All' the tonnage evailable is needed |o bring raw material to this coujitry, and there is, a big weight of Australian food product to' be transported as wellj as wool. ' Something ..wafi'^said in Parlia-j ment the other day about the- -frugality ; of the use. of, our m.anrpowe.r, but fru-j gality in the use of oui- shipping tonnage is equally, important in its way. The safest way to ,-, bring .wool -here is under Admiralty . protection, .and although that is the most ...effective, that, tan be done against submarine. 'attack, ft is not guaranteed to be "absolute. I At the conference this week it was ! further- stated that the export of merino j noils for America would continue, - though licenses would be granted less freely for clean sorts, a large proportion of the shipments being burry and seedy. - > i MAZAMET .IN. 1910. The Mazamet trade may liQt.be.of so much interest to overseas' readers as that of Bradford, but it is important in its way. It is interesting to know that tin- Chamber or Commerce at Mazamet fears that, the United States will offer most, sqrious- competition in . years to come. In 1914 America only, -took" 2 ..potcent, of the exports pf sheepskins from the Argentine; but in 1916 it took 40 per cent, Ft is feared that this figure will grow and the nulling establishments ,i:e* ci'iidy put up in America will .become more important still: Others' have been installed ai. -La Plate, and in Australia, all of which mean competition against, Mazamet. in the woolled sheepskin markets. . - , : ■ ■■ '■ ',' in I'JIC. Mazamet was very , busy 'pulling skins, though trade was not carried on exactly '"as usual. The - arrivals of skins were smaller, being orily 22,821,781 kilos. The Conditioning House handled 17,041.---548 kilos of wool, this being partly, stock held over from -lulS. Over one-third of this could not be shipped, and 'had to be taken, back into private firms' warehouses; whence about. 500,000 Miles were ■sent- to .neighboring mills by road. Though .fewer skins were imported in 1910 there' were v fewer, work-people due to' >he" war, -and "everybody was kept busy. This >yas a matter for congratulation because bales of skins were left on the quays at '.Bordeaux and -Mar- - settles for months at a time without projection.- Railway-' waggons were so 8 scarce that export was very difficult, and i, reaucedn for this, re.ason-r Also ;( .coal- and a coke were very. $carcp. Thqse difflculi tiev were expected to be accentuated " i \\\s- y oar, anu- it . was /leaned, VUat if, they a grew any worse, njqst of the mills \yould *" have to .close. ,oawft», TJIJa wauld be most a unfortunate, because Mazamet is the * only' French wool centre outside the wai 7 zone.

Throughout tho year a large amount I of work was done for I lie French (.Jov- . eminent, hoth iiullUig skins and scour- | ing and conditioning, the French Gov- I eminent supplying its own inanufac- : j turers with wool just us our Government is now, beginning to ilor The chief!) coiiiiietitors for ollioi- surfs wore tlio newly installed French combing plants | and Italy.' Only ;i very little wool luis l)een allowed' tlu'dugh )6" 'limtlford by | license. ' ' •