THE WOOL CRISIS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18498, 20 February 1930, Page 2

THE WOOL CRISIS

DEADLOCK CONTINUES. STATEMENT BY BUYERS. By Telegraph—Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH. February 19. As the Wellington brokers are unable to offer more than 15,000 bales at the sale to-morrow, the buyers, in carrying out their declared intention, will not be present. Mr W. A. Brydon, secretary of the New Zealand Woolbrokers’ Association said to-day that buyers and brokers had continued negotiations, but he regretted that finality had not been reached. Another meeting of brokers is to be held in Christchurch on Friday,

Mr H. T. Milnes. president of the New Zealand Woolbuycrs’ Association, to-day made a statement, in the course of which he said the position is that that last year 590,217 bales were offered for sale in New Zealand. This year, up to date, roughly 272,000 bales had been sold, leaving approximately 318,000 bales to be dealt with. Assuming that 25 per cent of this total, for various reasons, will not be dealt with locally, it leaves 239,000 bales still to offer. There are thirteen sales still on the roster, which makes the average per sale about 19,000 bales, and as several of these centres will not approximate that quantity, the average available at larger centres should be still greater. As the season closes on April 16th (by which date many of the buyers will have left or be leaving the Dominion), it has been decided that all centres having more than one sale still to hold, must offer at least 20,000 bales, otherwise they must wait until their next fixed sale date. Only four centres are concerned in this, namely—Wellington, Napier, Wanganui, and Dunedin. Dunedin brokers state that they can quite easily offer the 20,000 bales necessary. All other centres, namely Auckland, Christchurch, Timaru and Invercargill, being clearing up sales, may offer any quantity and buyers will attend. It has been indicated that no catalogues will be offered in any centre until the small catalogues submitted by Wellington are sold. Buyers do not see why other centres should be penalised because of the inability of Wellington to offer this quantity, and insist that all centres be treated equally, and that if any centre cannot offer its quota the next centre on the roster should have preference. This has not been agreed to, and the result is that at the moment there is a deadlock. “We maintain the right of every grower to dispose of his wool as he wishes, and deprecate the action of the brokers in holding up the whole sales of the Dominion. We also insist upon the right of every buyer to attend sales only if it suits him to do so. If Wellington cannot, or will not, offer its quota, it should not prevent other centres from doing so.”

PARTIES PARLEY. By Telegraph—Press Association. AUCKLAND, February 19. Negotiatiqns are proceeding between the brokers and the buyers for the postponement of Wellington wool sale for ‘ten days,,..,and other sales throughout the Dominion will be correspondingly later. Auckland's final sale, however, on March 28, will not be affected.

WELLINGTON SALE LIKELY TO BE POSTPONED. By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, February 19. Mr J. B. Modie, chairman of the Wellington Woolbrokers’ Association announces as follows: —“As none of the overseas buyers attended Wellington for the purpose of valuing the wool staked for the February sale, it is almost a certainty that the sale will be postponed.”

BUYERS REMAIN IN CHRISTCHURCH. (Special to the “Herald.”) CHRISTCHURCH. February 19. Although no official statement was issued this morning, there is every indication that the New Zealand Woolbuyers’ Association intends to remain firm in its determination not to attend the Wellington wool sale which is scheduled to be held to-mororw. The buyers have declared that they will not attend the sale on account of the offering being less than 20,000 bales. Originally the offering for the Wellington sale was 22,000 bales, but as a result of withdrawals by growers the total has been reduced to 14,500 bales. A meeting of the executive of the Woolbuyers’ Association was held this morning to discuss the position, but no statement was made for publication.

The president (Mr Herbert Hill), when asked if there was any liklihood of the buyers proceeding to Wellington, said that it was tactically certain that the buyers would be in Christchurch to-morrow. No communication hau reached them to that effect. “If the sale is held I don’t know who will be there to buv the wool.” Mr Hill added. No statement could be obtained from the Woolbrokers’ Association, but it is understood that negotiations are in progress with a view to postponing the sales.

Prior to the first sale of the season, at Wellington, on November 14, the New Zealand Wool Committee, comprising representatives c{t producers, wool-brokers, and wool-buyers, fixed the maximum aggregate quantities of wool to be offered at the sales as follow: — , November sales at Wellington, Napier, Wanganui, Auckland and Christchurch, no limit. December 6, Wellington, 27,000; December 11, Napier, 25,000; December 16, Timaru, no limit; December 20, Dunedin, no limit. January 6, Christchurch, 24,000; January 11, Wellington, 25,000; January 21, Auckland, 20,000; January 24, Wanganui, 20,000; January 30, Invercargill, 22,000. February 7, Timaru, 18,000; February 11, Christchurch, 24,000; February 19, Wellington, 27,000; February 25, Napier, 25,000. March 1, Wanganui, 20,00; March 7, Christchurch, no limit; March 12, Dunedin, 23,000; March 14, Invercargill, no limit; March 21, Napier, no limit; March 28, Auckland, no limit. April 3, Dunedin, no limit. It was officially stated at the time: “The Committee has given very careful consideration to the position of the wool market, and in the allocation decided upon it has endeavoured to regulate offerings in the direction of a slight extension of the selling season. The committee anticipates that further sales will be arranged at some centres before the close of the season.” On December 18, the Wool Committee announced: —“As further sales have now been definitely arranged for the month of April, at Wanganui (April 9), Wellington (April 14), and Timaru (April 16), the Wool Committee, after very careful consideration of the whole position, felt that this slight extension might meet the position in the meantime, but it is intended that the Committee shall meet again in

January, if necessary, to further review the position.” At the same time, a cable message from London stated that the British Wool Federation would oppose any extension of the roster of New Zealand wool sales. 'The president of the Federation said its opposition was not decided upon without giving full consideration to the growers’ interests, and it was of the opinion that the value of New Zealand wool “would not be enhanced by an extension of the selling period.” Later it was stated that the Federation “were not prepared, without the support of other branches of the industry, to relieve growers of the burden of carrying clips for the use of consumers till the arrival of the following clip."