WANGANUI WOOL SALE POSTPONED

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 January 1947, Page 4

WANGANUI WOOL SALE POSTPONED

RESULT OF WATERFRONT DISPUTE SHIPPING CONGESTION

The third Wanganui wool sale, set down for next Tuesday, January 14, has been postponed indefinitely be. cause of the waterfront dispute. Other sales postponed arc that at Auckland, which was to ha ;e been held on Friday, and the Napier sale, scheduled for January 20. If the shipping s.tuation is normal sales will be resumed at Christchurch on January 27. In the meanwhile all arrangements made lor buyers and their staffs have been cancelled. These arrangements were made on Sunday night m a statement by the Wool Brokers Association and the Wool Disposal Commission, which an nounced that an extension of the selling season would !)» necessary and a review ot the roster ot sales accordingly. "The whole thing now hangs on the waterside workers,” commented Mr. R. V. Brown, president of the Wanganui Wool Brokers' Association. “Until the buyers can get some guarantee of shipment they will not agree to the sales being held on the dates already arranged. In a number of cases the buyers have not yet got their November sales purchases away. As to the date of the next wool sale in Wanganui, we may not hear anything further until there has been some settlement of the other difficulties.”

“Providing the shipping situation is satisfactory it is our intention to resume auctions at the Christchurch sale set down for . January 27 and thereafter to continue with the roster as scheduled, with the exception of substituting Auckland for Wellington on January 12,” states a letter sent from the New Zealand Woolbuyers’ Association to the New Zealand Woolbrokers’ Association, after meetings over the week-end, according to a P.A. message from Wellington yesterday. The Wellington sale was held on the understanding that acceptable arrangements can be made for an extended prompt date, which is normally 18 days after the auction.

The letter then stated: “You must surely h» aware of the serious situation which has arisen as a result of delayed wool shipments, causing rapid congestion of wool in shipping stores. We are assured by the brokers that this will shortly reach a stage where the stores would no longer have the necessary space to display the normal offering ot wool. “Quite apart from the necessity of relieving the buying side of the trade from the effects of delayed shipments, this temporary postpc nement ot sales would enable selling brokers to clear their stores of woo’ awaiting shipment and make it possible for the remainder of the sales programme to be adhered to.

“Already this season there have been approximately 160,000 bales sold at auction anl yet it is only in the last few days that any of this wool has left New Zealand. The bulk of these overseas purchases are still awaiting shipment. The loading dates of most of the vessels which have served the recent sales have been postponed anything from two to four weeks k.'om the advertised dates. In the case of American and Canadian purchases such delays have extended up to three months.

“My committee has been informed that even if conditions on $J)e waterfront return to normal Immediately, it will take from six to eight weeks before present congestion in North Island ports can be relieved. In the case of Auckland, for example, the earliest loading date of wool shipments is about t'x middle ot March, while for Wanganui and Napier no assurance could be given of reasonably early shipment. “During recent weeks serious complaints have been received by members ot my association concerning these delayed shipmen's. The position has now reached such a stage that many overseas consumers will retuse to pass buying orders unless they can be assured of reasonably prompt shipment after purchase. If my association had failed to relieve this situation the effect on the market. of the withdrawal of important orders may well have been : I ious.” The letter is signed by the president, Mr. Herbert Hill.