WOOLGROWING IN EAST

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19131, 28 September 1936, Page 10

WOOLGROWING IN EAST

REPORT TO AUSTRALIA NO SI3RTOUS MENACE CANBERRA, Sept. 17. In a report to the Council for .Scientific and Incliistrial Research, the officer in charge of the MeMaster Animal I Toa.ll 1 j Laboratory at Sydney, Ui'. Chmies Ross, says that, the prospects of continued Japanese purchases of wool in. the Australian market, appeared favouraible. Tlie principal tlireat to Australian exports lay, not m improved wool production in Mongolia, Alanchiikuo. or Korea, but in the production of woollen substitutes iiii Japan, the danger of which was increased, by any market rise in tlie price of raw material. Publicity in .Japan in, tlie uses of wool and its advantages over artificial fabrics should, he considered, receives consideration. There seemed little prospect of an increase in exports of Australia's greasy wool lo China-, the duty on. tops being the same as that on raw wool. Since, however, tlie hulk of tops imported were manufactured froin Australian and N'ew Zealand wool, the expansion of Chinese demands was of direct value to Australia. Prospects for increased 1 wool consumption in Japan. Dr. Ross stated, appeared to he bright, there being no evidence that the home market >vas saturated. The increase, in the Japanese per capita demand to one-third that of Great Britain would necessitate the purchase' of a

further 250,000 .bales annually. An indication of the faith, of Japanese manufacturers in the expansion of woollen markets was the entry during; the past year of the three largest cotton-spin-ning corporations into the field of woollen manufactures. There seemed! every prospect of a rise in woollen consumption in Manchukuo and Korea, which should he reflected, not only in an increase in Japanese exports, but in, Japanese demand for raw wool in AJanchukuo, Korea, and Japan. J)i'. Ross reported that the areas devoted to sheep raising were those that were unsuited to agriculture, hy reason of their low rainfall and severe climatic conditions. %uul there .were grounds for assuming that, under natural grazing conditions the carrying capacity of the pastures was not far from, the limit. While there was little evidence of any major increase in native sheep or improved sheep in Manchukuo or Mongolia, this, in llr. Ross's opinion, did not preclude the possibility of a, limited production of improved wool being achieved, even though if he on an uneconomic basis. .Much the same applied to the Chinese provinces. In Korea Dr. Ross did not see any prospect of the establishmenl. of a major wool-growing industry on an economic basis.