Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOV. 4, 1930. THE WOOL INDUSTRY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17407, 4 November 1930, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOV. 4, 1930. THE WOOL INDUSTRY

Tin 1 present posit ion of 1 ho wool industry is i>«• intv regarded very scriouslv in Australia, ami an important di“('ision was reached at a conterenc.c of. the Australian Wool tlrowcrs’Council and tin* National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia, held in Melbourne a few days ago. Delegates were present fyom all parts of the Commonwealth and the opinion was very generally expressed that prices recently realised for wool were below the actual cost of production. A section of graziers and brokers from Nc*c Booth Wales took such a serious view of the situation that they suggested that reduced offerings be made by growers at the forthcoming sales and that the period of the sales be extended. Queensland growers were equally insistent that something of this nature should be done, lor their wool at tin 1 recent Brisbane sales had realised an average of S.tiSd per lb. for greasv wool, whilst the cost of production, as shown in a report of. the Lund Administration Board, ranges from Od. to Is, according to varying circumstances, this being exclusive ol interest and taxation. The Board’s report added “The wool industry, therefore, cannot long carry on unless the present position be altered.” As further showing the depressed state ot the industry in the northern Stale it was asserted by a well-known pastora list that there are u,000,000 wethers for sale in the West, available l’or export, but railway freights are so high that it will not pay to bring them in. After full consideration the conference decided to limit the offerings at Sydney to H1,.">00 bales a day till Christmas, the season to terminate about the middle of .May. As reliable estimates anticipate a falling off’ in the total offerings, as compared with tin* previous year, of 1100,000 bales, it whs calculated the whole clip would be disposed of without the necessity for extending the sales beyond .May. There was a strong feeling that anything in the nature of a wool pool was objectionable and likely to lead to further and more acute trouble later on. One of the remedies proposed was the withholding of large quantities of staple from tlie market; that if lid per cent, were retained and fed to the market a> the trade demand warranted all would lie well. The example of Bawra was cited in support of this proposal, but unfortunately there is no Bawra to-day, supported by.Governiiipi|t.. funds, to make advances to growers, and it is not possible to get. any body or corporation to finance the wool held over. Bart of the present slump in prices, not only of wool but of other primary produce, it is pointed out by the Sydney Morning Herald, is due to supplies which have been held oif the market by manufacturers ami speculators and upon which advances have been made, being forced on to the market by the, calling up of advances. That calling up lias been forced • on the banks of the world primarily because stocks had got too heavy and too much credit was in danger of being long frozen. The demand to-day is for liquidation. A similar position exists in regard to cotton, the demand for which fails to reach anything like the normal production . The Governor <d' Texas, Mr. Dan Moody, recently [impounded a scheme, under which the public were asked to “Buy a Bale of (dotton,” and thus relieve the market. Governor Moody held that if people who had money to invest, instead of speculating in shares, were to buy cotton and store it they would ultimately reap a surer Hitvaalage than by merely “playing 110 1 yliare market,” arid they would at Ho' saw. 1 time lie greatly assisting the farmers. A “Imy-a bale” campaign at the market price, if popularised sufficiently, would lake off’ the market for a time enough cotton to stabilise and slightly raise the ([notations for immediate delivery. That, in the end would aid the fanners more than an appeal to charity from the State. “It should be recognised, however,” said an American contemporary, “that any such movement is only a temporary expedient, and a halfway measure. It does not reduce the visible supply o.f cotton. Only dual consumption of manufactured cotton goods can lake any quantity of cotton permahentlyoff’ the market. The huv-n-linle movement may bring in more hands to hold the present stores of cot|oii, but the cotton so bought by non-users is still in existence and still affects tho price,

though to a lesser degree, by the possibility of its being dumped back into the market at any time. In. the longrun the most effective movement, is that: which finds now uses and new consumers for cotton.” That, we believe, is equally .true as regards wool, and the only hope for the future of this commodity is that the existing low prices will stimulate greater consumption, encouraging manufacturers to develop new uses for wool, and giving them greater opportunity to compete against the synthetic materials which have come so largely into popular favor.