DRAFT ON WOOL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16705, 24 July 1928, Page 9

DRAFT ON WOOL

The Graziers' Federal Council of Australia again raises the question of the abolition of the draft allowance of one pound of wool per cwt. The subject was discussed both in London and in Australia in 1924-25. i Then the British Wool Federation passed a resolution pledging its members not to buv wool in Australia unless the draft allowance was continued. Instructions to that effect were cabled to Australia. The Colonial Wool Buyers' Association in London also decided to pledge itself to resist to the utmost the abolition of the lib per cwt. draft on wool. These resolutions certainly demonstrated to pastoralists that they were likely to find at any time exceedingly strong opposition to the discontinuance of the draft. It has been a long-established practice to make such an allowance, and the contention of the buyer is that tOio grower does not suffer any financial losSi The purchasers assert that he takes into account, when fixing the price he is prepared to pay for wool, all possible favorable and unfavorable factors. Draft allowances, together with freight and expenses, are all calculated in the clean scoured reckoning, and the price is assessed accordingly. The view of the pastoralist is that, as the drafts were originally given to cover mistakes in packing and loss of weight in transport overseas at a time when facilities were not comparable with those of to-day, circumstances have altered, and the allowance should not be continued.