WOOL MARKETING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 308, 31 December 1942, Page 3

WOOL MARKETING

REPLACING AUCTIONS BY CONTROL AUSTRALIAN SUGGESTION London, Dec. 29. Careful consideration will be given to an Australian* suggestion for a conference of woolgrowing interests of England, America, and the Dominions, says the Yorkshire Post. The suggestion represents a radical advance upon earlier Australian plans that Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa prepare a scheme to dispense with wool auctions after the war, replacing them by a system of controlled marketing and prices. It is hard to believe that under the earlier scheme producers would not be guided primarily by what they judged their own reasonable interests. The new scheme will allow due weight to be given to the consumers’ viewpoint. Producers of raw materials should obtain adequate prices, but even more important they should obtain stable prices, which might not be attained under the scheme providing for unilateral fixing of prices by producers. The suggested conference between consumers and producers also deserves a welcome from the wider viewpoint that there is an urgent need for a production programme implemented through the bargaining power of the State in consultation with the industries concerned. If international trade is to be saved from the shocks and stresses which nearly ruined it before the war it must be regulated by international negotiations. It will probably be found that the delimitation of markets between producers, whether of finished goods or of raw materials, will not suffice. Any marketing plans resulting from such negotiations will gain greatly in realism and practicability if there is some assistance. Markets will also be ready to absorb available goods The chairman of the Australian Wool growers’ Council, Mr. J. P. Abbott, said he was of the opinion that woolgrowers’ organisations of the United States. Soutn America, and Britain might with advantage be asked to participate in any conference