OUTLOOK UNCERTAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1934, Page 14

OUTLOOK UNCERTAIN

FINANCE AND POLITICS. AN AUSTRALIAN VIEWPOINT. “The financial and political outlook is so uncertain that no one intimately connected with the wool trade can give any reliable guide to the range of values likely to be obtained during the season, said Mr. Harold Bell, chairman of . directors of Winchcombe, Carson Limited, Sydney, at the annual meeting recently. Statistically, the position of wool was sound, Mr. Bell said. The world was growing about 800,000 bales less than it ■ did a few years ago, and if the law of supply and demand were normally functioning prices would be higher than they were to-day. Unfortunately, in , Europe, Governments had imposed restrictions 'regulating imports, and, in some cases, funds were not made available for the purchase of the raw material. These conditions were most unusual, rendering it almost impossible to forecast with any degree of confidence the volume of orders which would, come to hand from overseas. Until these trading restraints were removed, or at least modified, the future must remain, somewhat uncertain. The solution had some bright aspects as far as Australia was concerned, Mr. Bell said. Apart from the price of wool, the export value of sheep and lambs was nearly twice as high as it was in 1932. The low price of stock was one of the worst phases of the depression years, and a repetition of it looked improbable. The additional income from stock, higher prices for wheat, industrials metals, and the much-expanded return from , goldmining which Australia was enjoying would all help to compe.isate for the. decreased revenue which might be received from the wool clip. There was consequently no reason to be despondent about the position. M. Bell said that the world appeared to be approaching the climax in its phase of tariffs and other trading hindrances. In the finish Australia, like most other countries, would probably find it 'necessary to take down a number of the protective barriers to which its customers for primary products so strongly objected.