COMMANDEERED WOOL.

Western Star, 23 April 1920, Page 3

COMMANDEERED WOOL.

SHIPPING PROSPECTS GLOOMY. REDUCTION OF MONTHLY CARGOES. WELLINGTON, April 21. A letter dated February 16 and sent by the Director-General of Raw Miaterials, London, to Mr Massey, contains the following passages :“I am sorry to say that very considerable difficulty is expected in carrying out the arrangements to lift the whole •of the Australian and New Zealand wool before the end of the year. Steamers carrying meat and wool are experiencing very great delay in the Thames and elsewhere in British waters, very largely owing to the; difficulty in dealing with meat. The carrying power of steamship lines working with New Zealand and Australia. is thereby reduced by at least 20 per cent,, and they are finding it impossible to deal with cargo offering for shipment in the two dominions. It is true that this department has a contract with the Australian Refrigerated Tonnage Committee which positively binds their steamers to lift the entire balance of the Government purchase of wool before November ,‘lO. Unfortunately the Shipping Controller intervened to press upon these steamers shipments of wheat, which were; not specifically contracted for. We arc protesting against such interior-; euce, but the fact is that as regards 46’s wool our market is very well sup-: plied, and as regards coarser grades, of wool considerable stocks are lying’ dead on onr hands. It is therefore, extremely difficult for ns to maintain that the shipment of 70,000 bales of new wool per month, largely consisting of medium and coarse crossbreds, is indispensable, and we are afraid we shall be compelled for some months to allow shipments from New Zealand to fall to 40,000 bales monthly or even less. The existing market conditions indicate pretty clearly the probability as regards low crossbreds. The full year’s clip, equal to about 200,000 bales, is likely to remain in the Imperial Government’s hancte when your next clip begins to be gathered. The time must surely come when large masses of people in the impoverished parts of Europe cannot afford to pay for luxuries, 'and will provide a demand on a large scale for useful woollen clothing made out of coarse crossbreds, but it must be admitted, that the market shows no signs of such a demand making itself felt. Gn the contrary) we hear that in the Unite States holders of coarse crossbreds from New Zealand and South America are breaking the prices badly in a l desperate effort to find an outlet lor this dead stock, but are not finding that this helps sales much. “ It must be clear to you that sooner or later the question miiust be faced whether too much coarse crossbred wool is not being grown, in view, ot the infinitely better prices which are now being paid for fine crossbreds.