Page 21 Advertisements Column 7

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18413, 20 June 1925, Page 21

AUCTIONS. H. MATSON AND CO. MATSON AND CO., with a desire L -»-« to make all wool-growers in Canterbury conversant with the opinions of those who should know, so that they wilt be able to form a sound judgment in the event of any attempt to put through hasty refutations that may be inimical to the welfare of the email grower, reproduce the following:— "THE WOOL POSITION. SCHKMKS AND SCHEMERS. REPRESENTATIVE VIEWS." Beyond an odd (.ale of scoured skin wool and a parcel or two of local I " permit, no business is passing, and all the talk of Government interference and political control is more or less demoralising. It has been definitely arranged that the executive committee o." ihe National Council of Wool Selling Brokers, and the Australian Woolgrowers' Council, will meet in Melbourne, the week after next, to consider the prosnimme for dealing with the carry-over wools, and the tentative suggestions show a firm grip of the position. The policy will depend largely upon the latest trade news at the time of meeting. ST. JOHN OP BAWRA. The> mesmeric charm of the little mam with the hig personality, who has been chairman of the woolgrowing gold mine, commonly known as Uawra, has won many devoted admirers, who are apparently prepared to swallow any scheme he may put forward, and are enthusiastically in favour of Woolgrowers' Utopia, Ltd.. even beforo the prospectus of this new Klondyke ha 6 been issued. On the other hand a large and everincreasing number of the more representative growers are making it more and more plain that St. John of Bawra may be an admirable chairman of a realisation company, but is certainly not qualified by experience to take control out of the hands of those who have built up the Australian wool markets and controlled the destinies of wool selling with marked ability. They recognise and say clearly that neither brokers nor buyers are in any way .responsible for the present condition of the wool market, and the claim of Sir John Higgins that it would never have happened had he been in control, stamps him as an out-and-out theorist, whoso meddling with the working of the laws of supply and demand is much more likely to cause disaster than do good. If the Chairman of Bawra has receirod • §ood many backhanded compliments in the iscussions he has 1 laid himself open to receive them by his criticism of the present controlling bodies, and it is evideut to-day if his threatened scheme is persisted iu, it wilt disrupt the industry and do incalculable harm. The trado is now more or less paralysed by the fact that Bawra has extended its propaganda to England, and has created a scare there that artificial stabilisation experiments are pending. The trouble is that all this plays right into the hands of the artificial silk manufacturers, who are looking forward to a record year, should a fight be fomented between woolgrowers and wool users. Tho moTe level-headed growers everywhere recognise this danger, and have spoken out strongly in opposition to any meddling with' the position by inexperienced theorists and against any Government or political control. In the end they will undoubtedly turn down any wild-cat scheme even more emphatically than they did Sir John's last effort to Becure pomp and power, but in the raeailtimo recovery of confidence must be delayed, and _ the position generally held-up by the ambitious aspirations of St. John of Bawra. ORDINARY MARKET CHANNELS. "The Sydney Morning Herald" usually I takes n sound view on financial proposals. | Discussing the question of whether there should be * wool pool, in a leading article on Monday, the writer says that, if some growers desire to form a' voluntary pool it is within their right to do so, but to compel all growers to enter the' pool, even if a majority Bhould decide for it, would be wrong, and an infringement of their freedofn. Every grower should have the right Jo dispose of his wool as he thinks fit. It is pointed out that compulsion means Government control—first of the selling of wool and next to the growing of wool I With free market conditions the price will be fixed at n rate at which a profitable use for the finished material can be found. If, by combination, graziers ask a higher price than that, users of wool will turn aside and favour some other material than wool. It is added that Australian growers may have a monopoly of merino wool, but they have not a monopoly of the raw material for clothing the world. The final advice is sound: "For the maintenance of the wool industry in a sound and healthy condition, the only Bafe way of disposing of -wool is through the ordinary market channels." CREATING AN OVER-SUPPLY. Mr W. R. Holcomhe, of Weetawaa, takes a very practical view of the position: "I •would suggest," ho writes, "meeting the market and getting back to normal conditions as soon as possible." He points out that growers have no need to fear an over-supply of Australian wool, unless we deliberately hold it back and force the public to learn to do without it. That sentence crystallises the danger of allowing Sir John Higgins to meddle with supplies. That gentleman'B high-flown generalities all boil down to holding wool off the market until users pay a fixed price. Resistance to this policy would lead to piling wool up until thero must inevitably be an oversupply, and-an ultimate collapse would then be certain. Mr Holcombe endorses this action of selling brokers in suspending sales as they did, and says that this should help buyers to cut their losses more or less is only fair to them. A* to the method of offering wool, he endorses the proposal ,of "first come first offered," applied fairly to old and new clips. Tt is, indeed, the only fair method that could be adopted. SOUTH AUSTRALIA SAYS NO, THANK YOUI South Australia, apparently, will vote a fairly solid "no" to any proposal for legislative or political control of wool. The Stockowners' Association is absolutely opposed to any interfering scheme, and is pre- . pared to actively'combat any wild-cat scheme of fixing wool prices. 1 H. Bakewell, a prominent wool-grower, and one of the members of the South Australian Wool State Committee, under the appraisement scheme, who has an extended experience of the Australian woolgrowing industry, warns growers, in a letter to the Press, that it is easier to destroy than to create, and urges them to keep to the excellent arrangements they have available, leaving alone tne mistaken idea of "cornering" the wool market and dictating prices. Re points out that in the Appraisement Scheme the work of the Central and State Wool Committees of the technical Advisory Boards, etc., was allV purely honorary, and about 60 men—growers, brokers, buyers, and local manufacturers, gave their best services free in a spirit of loyalty. Bawra has been highly paid, and Mr Bakewell points out that no one will work for nothing in any now hcheme, and there Is no guarantee that available people for handling a wool combine are capable of such a task. Even it capable men are available the cost will be enormous. Furthermore, he pointr out that nobody formed to control could advance on wool to any greater extent than is now done by selling brokers. —• THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF CONTROL. It appears the fashion just now among a small but noisy section of woolgrowers to blame selling brokors and buyers for the present wool position, and to cry out for Government control, says Mr P. P. Gell, in the Melbourne "Argus." Selling brokers are reproached for the market having gone too far, and buyers, after losing their millions are dubbed thieves'and conspirators, becanse they are financially embarassed for a time, and are unable to continue to pay extreme prices. Mr Gell continues: "The wool business is conducted on scientific lines, as near to perfection as is humanly possible, and it was the brokers' organisation availabla. and placed at. the service of the Central' Wool Committee, that made its operations possible. And now this section would take the conduct of the trade from those who have brought It to its present advanced stage, and hand it over to an inexperienced and irresponsible bureaucracy." This is a faet not recognised as generally as it should be, for it was undoubtedly the enthusiastic and patriotic service of brokers and buyers which made the wool scheme the success it was. and without that support no scheme coold possibly succeed. Mr Gell continues: "'When one reads such letters as those which have appeared (whining for Government aid), one rubs his eyes and marvels bow surprisedly reasoning man can entertain the idea that the wool market can be rigged just to salt the Australian sheepfarmer. If their daydreams could be realised, all the problems of the universe would be solved, and everyone would be happy, but we mast all wake up some time and face facts, and it is best to do so before Immeasurable harm is done.'' Mr Gell refers to an after-dinner speech by the late J. S. Horsfall once, when that gentleman referred to a prize-winning family as "men among sheep, but sheep among men," and hints that those behind the Bawra propaganda seeking to use the pressent position as a means to secure control of the industry evidently regard woolgrowers as the late Mr Horsfall did his friends on the occasion quoted. WILL BAWRA DISGORGE T Mr Ben Chaffey strongly advocates a further distribution of Bawra funds. He questions Sir John Higgins's statement, that no distribution be made till the skin wool case is settled finally. He asks for an assurance that counsel bas given such the opinion that the course suggested by Mr Chaffey cannot be followed, and adds: "It seems to me that there ca'nnot be any legal objection, if sufficient money is put aside • to cover all litigation, for a substantial dividend to be distributed from the balance." The suggestion will find strong support from woolgrowers generally, who wonld welcome a distribution at the present time, and would find the money very useful. I THE BUYERS' POSITION. Mr C. W. Pye, a well-known woolgrower and wool-buyer, strikes a new and important note: "That sane working arrangement has always been necessary, and is now more necessary than ever is freely conceded," he says, "bat success cannot attend any arrangement from which the principal factor is excluded." He suggests that selling brokers should be in constant touch with buyers representing manufacturers, and cnly by that means can a satisfactory determination as to offerings he arrived at. He adds, with some force: "This atmosphere of suspicion with which one side is encouraged to view the other is fatal to the re-establish-ment of. & sound position which alone can