URGED ON BRITAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 65, 19 March 1943, Page 4

URGED ON BRITAIN

EXTENDED WOOL DEAt' CO-OPERATIOrTFOR U.S.A. (P.A.) Wellington, March 18. “I have always regarded such a step as inevitable,” declared Mr. H. M. Christie, chairman of the New Zealand Wool Council, when asked to comment on the reported request by Australia to Great Britain for an extension of the wool purchasing agreement for a period of up to seven years after the war. “Linder the present agreement New Zealand, after providing for her own requirements, sells Its surplus wool production to Britain, and that procedure holds good only as far as the end of the war and the next clip thereafter.” Mr. Christie said New Zealand had made no similar request for any extension, but it was generally regarded that some extension would be necessary. Touching on the effect of an exten- 4sion of the selling agreement on producers, Mr. Christie said that such a long-term purchase plan would result in stabilisation during the very difficult period of post-war reconstruction. There would, of course, have to be safeguards to ensure that New Zealand for instance was in a fair oosition compared with other producing countries if and when such a method of bulk purchasing was terminated.

Mr. Christie pointed out that after the war many difficulties would be encountered in making supplies available to the countries devastated by the war, such as France, and some form of bulk purchasing would have to be continued for some period after the war. One aspect vitallv concerning New Zealand was distribution. He felt, if an extended agreement were made with Britain, (hat an Empire committee or council of some kind would have to be set up, with possibly United States representation as well, to supervise the position. If the United States were asked to bear a share ot the cost of bulk purchasing for distribution, such representation would be * necessary to protect the interests of Dominions or the producing countries concerned.

. Other questions requiring consideration were how the wool was to be distributed and the long-term effect it would have on industry. An agreement would have to be so drawn that when it terminated the producing countries would not be at any dis®”val?Jaße' It must be borne in mind that the devastated countries must be rehabilitated and must be in a position to buy raw materials. Financing this under some scheme must be done mainly by Britain and the United States. Consequently, as financing countries, they could not be expected to enter into open competition in the ordinary auction system of selling, though it might be possible to release a given quantity of the vyool production for open selling’ by the producing countries.