ENGLISH WOOL MARKET

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15594, 10 August 1921, Page 10

ENGLISH WOOL MARKET

CONTINENTAL USERS THE LARGEST BUYERS OF RAW MATERIAL. (From Our Special Correspondent.) BRADFORD, June 8. —Looking at the wool industry from the maiiuiacturiiig point of view, two outstanding features call for comment. One is the question of wages, which at the time of writing has not yet been settled. In a previous letter it was stated that employers were wanting a reduction of 22 per cent to he made on the standard rate, and that employees' representatives were resisting it for all they were worth. Several conferences have been held, some of them of a most protracted nature, but practically nothing of the results has yet been "made known, though it is understood that the negotiations are proceeding fairly satisfactorily, and that there is no prospect of a strike. This is something to be thankful for, as the situation would only be made worse it extreme measures were taken. Practically all the Lancashire cotton operatives are involved in a strike on the wage question, which is, of course, another factor operating for ill upon the West Riding, though probably the result ot this, as is the case with the oeal strike, will not be so had is orders had been coming in at the normal rates. In an ordinary way large quantities of cotton yarn are used for warp purposes in "Bradford and oilier districts of the West Riding, and assuming that any quality of this class of yarn were wannted immediately to complete orders, another serious blow would be inflicted upon the trade. It is to he. hoped, however, that this strike problem will be settled in time for work to he resumed in unison with a re-stait in the West Riding itself. Reverting to wages in the West Riding, tiie cause for employers demanding a reduction has been previously given, and the principles at stake are quite unchanged. ' THE COAL STRIKE. This is not yet settled, though at the time of writing the prospect is rather hotter. Nobody expected that the miners would hold out so long, though no doubt tne fine weather which has been experienced during practically the whole of the time has had something to do with a settlement not being arrived at sooner. In the meantime, however, the quantity of standing machinery is being increased, and thougn successful attempts have been made in some cases to use oil instead of coal for steam raising purposes, the facilities in this direction cannot ho improved all in a moment, and some who have given a little time to a consideration of the comparative suitability of oil and coal are of opinion that in the event of mills generally deciding to use it, it will be found impossible to bring forward large enough supplies for every, body. Tins is quite apait from the mere question of cost, though, of course, this has been carefully ’ considered by the firms who have installed oil. Some of them are of opinion that, it is no clearer than coal when all things are taken into consideration, ft is acknowledged to possess a greater calorific power, but this is not everything, and one of the lessons taught by the experiments recently made with oil in the mills is that it is most useful when it is necessary to raise steam quickly. The uso of oil fuel in this country is coituiuly in its infancy so far as the wool textile trade is concerned. THE LONDON SALES. The “X” series of London sales opened on Tuesday, when abbout 12,000 bales of wool were offered on growers’ account, details of the quantities being as follows: 756 hales New South Wales; 1,339 bales Queensland; 160 hales Victorian; 4,180 bales West Australian; 1,137 bales Puntas; 1,054 bales Falklands; and 3,551 bales New Zealand. The forecast made respecting the course of the auctions have proved to he fairly accurate, though it needed no superior faculty to foresee that Yorkshire was not likely to he a large buyer. A very large part of the wool bought by Yorkshire users at the previous acutions still remains in the bales, there being no opportunity to use it in consequence of the strike. When users have stocks of wool in their warehouses which cannot he put through the machines and when the ultimate consumptive demand is anything but good, it is scarcely to be expected that they will be keen to buy further supplies. This is exactly the position to-day, and the major portion of the buying this series will be on Continental account. Buyers from Germany have given a very good account of themselves so far. American buying lias been absent, due, of course, to the coming info force, of tho Emergency Tariff Bill. Prices for average inerinos have shown an advance of about 5 per cent, compared with the previous sales, whilst' inferior merinos, such :<s pieces and bellies, have been 10 per cent, dearer. Only a limited quantity of scon reds has been available, hut these have also been readily taken at about 10 per cent advance. The 3,500 bales of New Zealand wool offered on Tuesday included a good selection of greasy cross-breds, which though showing little change in prices compared with the previous sales, sold very satisfactorily. Thus far good clearances are being made, due largely, of course, to the willingness of the sellers to meet the market. So long as this principle is recognised, there is even today a fairly reasonable prospect of -decent quantities of wool being sold, for it is the present position rather than future prospects for trade which are the source of annoyance. Of the total quantity available this series, which is about 112,000 bales, half belongs to the Bawra, and if the same policy is adopted with regard to this wool as it is understood has ben applied to Australia, namely the fixing of reasonable limits, a long step will be taken towards moving supplies into users hands. There is. of course, a tremendous weight of wool to come forward, and growers should not expect any advance above current rates. It is calculated that the quantity of wool in sight by the end of the year will he about 6.000.000 bales, So that the trade will have plenty to go on with. THE SALE OF MANUFACTURED GOODS. This of course is the end of the market in which it is desirable to see continuous sales being made. At the present time, however, it is impossible to report any great progress in this direction. Some little improvement is certainly being reported on export account, a fair amount of orders having been placed by Far Eastern countries, such as Japan, hut so far as the Homo trade is concerned, the position is anything but inspiring. Much less than the ordinary amount of doth is being cleared through wholesalers and retailers. This is only to he expected, short time being so general in all the manufacturing areas. It has been occasionally stated that the stoppage of machinery production has resulted in some doth being bought out of stock, but it is” fairly clear that unless the general public have money to buy with they cannot purchase clothing materials, and unless they havo employment they cannot have the necessary cash, so that all things considered there is going to be nothing gained by machinery being kept standing any longer. Obviously therefore, everything circles round a settlement of the coal strike, enabling machinery to he got to work again as much as possible. Some rather pessimistic statements are being made about possibilities in this directon, hut it seems to tie fairly near the mark to say that more inquiry lias recently developed on manufacturing account. Tho great need is for production costs to he brought on to such a level as will enable firms in this country to compete in tho world’s market. Those who arc dealing with the settlement of the wages question are carrying a great responsibility. Tf is acknowledged by thoughtful peopio that in years gone by labor did not tako its reasonable share of the profits of industry. The trouble, to-day is that things have got to the other extreme.

Labor leaders apparently need to realise that wages are a. most, important charge upon business enterprise. One. of them recently stated that in the wool textile industry wages only constituted 10 to 15 per cent of production costs. Ho would have been much nearer the mark if he had said they accounted for 50 per cent..