ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14593, 1 May 1918, Page 9

ENGLISH WOOL LETTER.

HIGHER PRICES FOR CIVILIAN

TOP RATION.

WHY HAS THI-: ISSUE PRICE OF WOOL NOT BEEN ADVANCED?

(From Our Bpucial Correspondent.) BRADFORD, March ?. The announcement which has been expected for soinu time has now been made, and spinners engaged ou civilian work now know definitely' that they will have to pay mor.3 for- their- tops. Tim wool section of the War . OnUcc has issued a statement which gives the trade to understand that' from the Ist of April the price of tops will be 3d. per lb more than was charged m the schedule 'Which is current at the Unto of wiling. The now scale will remaiii m force for eight months, thai is 10. the end of November. Tiu> Natural inclination of^Yorkshii-femSh wheiri such an advance 'as this W made kriowi\ is lo begin to grumble", . Soin'e arb iio'w pointing to Iho wiu'e dinVvenee there is between the »Vttte's,. jfcfc whiqlt they have sold tops to the Department, and the figure at winch similar tops ,^vill be sold by the Department to spinners. A shilling a pound certainly looks a lot, and tends to strengthen the impression that the Department are not controlling Ihli industry for the -Fun. o£ the lliing any move, than private firms are . engaged m business for the sake of beiftg able to say that they , are .So occupied. The financial Question is evidently uppermost, and this may be expected to continue as long as State control lasts, and as long as there are any wool merchants, topmakers, spinners, and manufacturers to have anything m the nature of wool or its pi*oducts to buy and sell or put through the manufacturing processes. SPINNERS' MARGINS. It is somewhat significant that whilst top prices hnve been advanced, thosa for the raw material will remain the same. No definite reason is giv.sil why this is so, but it is. well" enough known that the margins which spinners are able to make for civilian trade are riot at a-U to be despised, . attd that even if iney are compelled to pay 3d. per lb more for the tops they. use they will not be placed m an entirely unfavorable position. It is. of course, recognised . that m the civilian' "trad-s prices are fixed largely according to supply and demand, i and that all spinners are not making exactly the same prices for corresponds ing descriptions of yarn. Soniß very startling demands have been encountered by those who have gonb iiito the market lately io buy' ,' yarns, the prices named to them being such as to rouse the utmost indignation, charges of robbery and everything that was vile being made against the audacious merchant or whoever he might be who had the effrontery even to mention such abominably • high : quotations. These high prices have, however, been brought about from the spinners' point of view by the sheer necessity for self protection, and m order to keep pace with the increasing charges they have had to meet. Very often it has been a case of putting on 6d. to get Id. So much for this aspect of the- question. As already said spinners' margins have not been arbitrarily fixed. It is quite possible that some will b-e compelled by the higher charges for tops to make a further advance m their yarn quotations,' and' there seems to be very little probability of the anticipations of some that yarn values would fall being realised. The crux of the whole matter m relation to spinners' margins seems to be that they are such that another advance m top prices will not materially injure their position. HAS WOOL BEMN LISFT ALONE FOR A PURPOSE? One statement m the olllcial announcement accompanying the new scale of top prices is to the effect that the recent developments m the shipping position making it necessary, if employment m the combing and worsted industvjgs is to be maintained, on or near the present scale, to produce tops to some extent, from wool of less desirable descriptions than heretofore.. Oh the face of it this statement is out of harmony with an advance m top prices, for if inferior wools are to be used, that is if wools not oqual m manufacturing properties to thoss which have been largely used up' to the present time are to bo put through the machines, the inference would appear to bo that top prices ought to remain where they are, instead of being put on a higher basis. The increase m other charges such as wages, and other expenses connected with the manipulation of wool must be very great if the use of inferior descriptions is to bo accompanied by higher prices. Tt seems as though the department are protecting themselves all round, and that the expenses connected witl^ State control .are sucU as to make it impossible to carry on unless higher charges are introduced somewhere. It is significant that the grades mentioned m the list do not apply to spinners' tops. This" mean?; that m. the event of a spinner wanting a better quality of top than tho quality number given m the list, he will be required to pay a higher price for it. The whole affair can only be described as a distressing jumblo at the very best. The use of inferior wool is to be increased, standard prices are to bo advanced, and yet the department are reserving the right to charge even more than, the schedule price for any particular top which a spinner may wish to buy. Complaints have been made recently that the tops sent . out by the department are not as good as they might be. They have not been equai to the ideas of quality .entertained "by practical men. It is not likely that it would have contributed to the . smooth working of State control of the wool trade if prices for the raw material had .been advanced. This would undoubtedly Have tended to intensify, any feelings of dissatisfaction which exist *m growing circles, and to; create the impression- that if users of wool ■cpukl pay more for it the Government could have no excuse for not hand- j ing over a certain part of the increased j payment to the wool-growers' themselves. As a means for introducing absolute uniformity of wool prices, State control has proved W ibe a failure. The patriotism of those iwho have handed over their clips to the Imperial Government is". to be commended, but it is being proved more and more that there is nothing like an absolutely free market for _ preventing all suspicion and dissatisfaction. If a grower can put his wool before the buying end of the trade, and he knows that tho force of competition is working upon it, he lias the satisfaction of thinking that his commodity has realised as much as it could possibly make. As matters stand at present, the world's wool, market is largely controlled, but partly 4 free, and if the Government here were to

advance the selling price of the wool stocks they, hold, they would' only bo creating difficulties for themselves at no distant date. BOARD OF pONTROL MI«3EO.TN'G. Another meeting of the above was held m 'Bradford last Tuesday. A very llciigthy account has been pHesonttxl U> ■tlio public, and on the whole.it, reveals ii. satisfactory »laic of affairs." Tlui

• ( shi'ppinjr qii&stitm yvatt referred to. So I Sifa-r as'Avool is coi ! i<Miruedo,l,lic [wsition. may 'be -regarded uk fnirly * gpbd. It may W added by nay of comment m connootioni with thin matter that though tho shir>X ping aubhoritics 'have announced their .intention not to'fcsing limy -wool to theso | »hores for the iie!|t .six or eight weoku, ! it is very doubtful 'indeed whether it will ibo pi'actioablo to: follow out this pro- .' gramme. Food is admittedly quite as '^important if not more so than wool; but jjjt'he . cqiT^tructon ', of vessels Jias to ' be '[considered*; tliat is what they ai-e fitted

up to carry, and il will probably be necessary to use Wool as ballast, m which ca.se, if tho Department has learnt anything by experience, they will see to "it that nothing but combing tvool comes home.

Returning to what wan, snid by the chairman sit tho above mooting, ' il j s cyjdeilt that the future is still, being considered, for he stated that it was nocessiiry for tile Board to look well ahenrt and to bo prepa-ml for a difficult, timo. I'.verythfng now hangs upon the. comparative positions of the woollen and worsted trades.. The first has plenty of wool, and tho second -has not cnoiigh. The chairman also emphasised that the. scarcity- of wool i s not artificial. Th<> fiict of the matter is that, looking thii)«rs .squarely m the face, the shorlu:<* '1* articitil, but that .point can be waived undfir present cireitmataivccs. Th<e outlook lor tllri civilian I Hide, .seems to be fairly good. The ;i:t!oci.tion will, be about o.ne million, pounds less pvr month for the next four months, which, takien on tho whole, ought not to vouso much adverse, criticism. •'