OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1809, 23 July 1913, Page 4

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

DEMAND FOR MORE WOOL.

(From Our Special Correspondents.) Bradford, Juno 13. There exists ill- Lancashire -a powerful body known as the British Cotton Growers' Association, tho chief object of which is to raise capital to promote cottongrowing ill countrfes other than tiro United States. We need hardly tell readers that tho Southern States of America form the chief source of cotton for the big Lancashire spinning industry, and in. years gono l<y the trade has been, sorely handled by tho erratic -nature of the market, due largely to manipulation. In Liverpool, New York, and one or two mdri centres, Cotton Exchanges exist, where "futures" are very largely dealt in, big transactions being done daily by "professional" cotton buyers, Liverpool and Now York are the two principal centres where, every year, a big volume of paper transactions are affected, markets being "rigged",and "hammered" often Without tho least--real legitimate cause. For the foregoing-.reason this powerful body has arisen of merchants and spinners whose chief object is the promotion of cottongrowing in the British colonies, as well as. other parts of the world, in order to defeat the professional crowd, who caro not whether prices are rushed up or 'sltimped, if by so doing they can make immenso profits. The object of the association is undoubtedly a worthy one, and it is to be hoped that they will succeed. For some years experiments have been tried in the cultivation of cotton in various parts of'the world, and it looks as if it will take a lifetime in order to produco sufficient to set beyond the influence of such manipulators suppliers needed by Lancashire spinners. ■ ,

More Wool Wanted. Some large houses in Bradford seem to somewhat perturbed by the present high altitude to which wool has risen, and knowing that reasonable prices are the foundation of a good oyerseas trade in yarns and piece goods, they have asked if it was ' not possible to inaugurate a similar body, to be known as the British Wool Growers' Association, or by some such name. They are not at all troubled about the name given to the association, but their chief concern is the production of a larger 'quantity of raw material. So far tho matter lias only been casually mentioned, and wo-do not think it will as yet take definite shape unless wool continues to rise still further, when, no doubt the "big-whigs" of the trade will discuss the advisability of. finding pastures new, sheep can bo bred. This raises the question as to the production of larger quantities of raw material. The question is well worth asking, Is it feasible? Some of the older and more experienced members of the trade, thinking of the time when wool was costing less than half what it is to-day, and seeing no prospect of any such low values obtaining again, are naturally concerned by the larger quantity of capital which is required to conduct the trade, and the more danger there is attached to market values when prices are as high as they nre today. Everyone can see that when crossbred wool was 6d. per lb., the amount of capital needed to do a big trade was nothing like so large as when the same class of wool stands at lid. to 12d., and tho same applies to merinos. It has been frequently said lately that with good merino wool worth anywhere from 13d. to lid. per lb., invoices come to something compared with the time when similar wool could be bought at 7d. to Bd., and tho same'principle runs through the entire textile industry. Many contend that the present high values are largely due to the increased needs of the world and a steadily diminishing supply of raw material. No doubt important factors are operating, and if wool gets less it is bound to appreciate in value. Wherever ono turns the verdict is the same,' namely, that sheep stocks are" decreasing,- and that new land is not-available where increased numbers • of,'sheep can bo kept.- Perhaps somoll figures SSjiyiiig ,th# latest sheep stocks' ''of the world would not bo out ot place, and the following are ,the details: Europe, 182,545,920; Australasia, U'.011.651; South America, 109,084,079; America, 63,406,952; Africa.- 50,293,014; Asia,' 92,848,787; total, 615,850,406.

1 Supremacy of British Colonies. No one-can consider this subject with-, out- realising the important part which Australia plays in the sheep and wool worl'd, and the thanks of the manufacturers of Europe and America are due to i the pastoralists "down under for supplying them with largo and important quantities of raw material. One has only' to think of what •Australia. NewZealand, and South Africa are growing to realise that the major portion of the wool needed to clothe the world is coming from the three sources named, while if ' we put alongside, to swell the aggregate, the Home-grown clip, we seo that Great Britain and lier colonies are ■'a'long- way ahead of every other country in turning out -the golden fleece. The oft-recurring droughts in the Commonwealth play sad havoc among sheep stocks ns was witnessed during the seven vears of successive drought which lasted from 189G to 1902. The Commonwealth will always be subject to this terrible calamity. Consequently there is need for riioro sheep to be depastured in other parts of the world. If good annual rains conld be relied upon in Australia another fifteen to' twenty million sheep could be depastured' without runs being 'overstocked; but with the general, increase of agriculture,- it looks as if Australia will not depasture many more sheep, that are found to-day. Steadily, but surely, tho animal is being pushed further into the interior, and as fortunes liavo' been lost in the past in the dry, sandy -plains of Northern South Australia and,'tho great desert of West Australia, no. important increase in. sheep production" in the Commonwealth is to be anticipated. New.Zealand, no doubt, can depasture a few million more sheen, but it is doubtful if the increase will ever "amount to much. In South Africa occasional droughts .afflict tho land, the result being that wool 'growers there do not look too optimistically upon increased sheep stocks. A larger animal than has been grown in the past will bo looked' to as the chief source of increased wool supplies, but from what we hear, the bulk of the sheep country at nresont available is fairly well stocked, and until methods of intensive farming are adopted it is not likely that the number of sheep will increase greatly. If wo turn to South America we find that agriculture there if developing and that many sheep runs hove been given over to tho growing of wheat, maize, and linseed. Tho question, therefore, arises From what quarter can we look for an increase in the number of sheep, or what, countries are capable of depasturing more sheep flocks? We can only think of Patagonia, Chile,-Russia, and Siberia, it being a well-known' fact that there are still fairly big tracts of -land in tho countries named that can rear a few more million sheep. It seems to us that Asia offers t.he greatest possibilities for sheep culture, but the absence of a Teutonic racc is against developments. Tt looks to tho writer as if the countries at present engaged in this industry will have to contribute to the world's needs, and we hope that droughts have disappeared for ever.