SLUMP IN WOOL

Southland Times, Issue 21000, 5 February 1930, Page 6

SLUMP IN WOOL

AUSTRALIAN GROWERS CONFER. MAY SEEK AID FROM GOVERNMENT. Melbourne, February 4. A conference of woolgrowers and brokers is being held to-day to devise plans to finance the wool which it is contended must be withheld from the market until the consumers are ready for fresh stocks. The industry is courting disaster, its representatives assert, by continuing to force more wool on to the market than the world’s buyers require, with the result that the surplus must be sacrificed at the speculators’ own prices. The growers have hitherto been self-re-liant, and have eschewed Government aid in their marketing organization, but it is believed an. appeal for financial assistance to tide them over the present difficulty may be decided upon by the conference. They recognize that the Scullin Ministry has shown a desire to help the industry. GRAVE ALLEGATIONS LOT SPLITTING AMONG BUYERS. (Rec. 7.55 p.m.) Sydney, February 4. The allegation is made in a Labour newspaper in Sydney that certain abuses are prevalent at the wool auctions here, the chief of which is lot splitting, under which a group of foreign buyers-meet-before the sales to ascertain the aggregate amount of wool they require, then later parcel it out among themselves. When buying commences, one representative of this group bids about threepence per pound below the price the group is prepared to pay. Vociferous bidding goes on, creating the impression that fierce competition exists, but when the bids reach the level agreed upon, all bidders but one drop out. He secures the lot. It is also alleged that the Japanese Government has forbidden Japanese buyers bidding against one another. Federal Labour Parliamentarians are unofficially investigating the matter in the hope of procuring evidence that the growers are the victims of exploitation. Representatives of the growers have admitted to the Prime Minister that a lot of splitting goes on at the sales, but they are powerless to stop it.