THIRD EDITION WOOL WEALTH

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17231, 10 April 1930, Page 15

THIRD EDITION WOOL WEALTH

GROWN AT LOSS RENOVATING GOLDEN FLEECE Wool is Australia’s greatest industry. There is more money invested in it, and the value of its annual production is greater than any other industry in the Commonwealth. Australia’s wool cheque for the year has been as high as approximately £7G,COO,CCO, writes Mr. F. H. Tout, president of the Graziers’ Association of New South Wales, in a Sydney daily. Australia’s sheep population is about 100 millions, and most of these are iherino. Climate, scope of suitable country, and the skill and enterprise of our sheepbreeders have enabled Australia to lead the world in sheep and wool. In the last nine months wool prices have fallen disastrously. In the 1928-23 selling season, the average price paid for our wool was approximately 18d per lb. To-day it. is round about lOd. Although it has not been officially estimated for the Commonwealth, we can assume the present average cost of production of wool in Australia is about Is per lb. Present prices therefore mean that our wool is being sold at a loss to the growers. Tliis largely explains why Australia to-day is experiencing such difficult times. Oar wool cheque will be about £2S.COO,CCQ less than last Season, which means that in Australia there is so much less money in circulation. 1 would drive home this fact: Fewer people are employed in office, or shop, or factory, when times are bud with our industry. Governments feel the pinch through reduced general revenue, and this is reflected in the public service. Australia's Golden Fleece Exhibition will be held from Apirl 7 to 17. I am hoping the general public in tens of thousands will visit it. Make this exhibition a success by your personal support, and it will be followed by similar exhibitions m other Australian * centres, and probably bv a "Use More Wool" campaign in the big wool-consuming countries overseas. in such a campaign Australia should gne the lead, because "wool is Australia.