REQUISITIONING OF WOOL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2932, 18 November 1916, Page 12

REQUISITIONING OF WOOL

AMENDED OFFER BY IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT

ON A NEW BASIS The Government has received a cablo message from tho Prime Minister (Mr. Massey) in which he conveys the terms of an amended offer on. behalf of tho Imperial Government for tho purchaso of-Now Zealand wool. The'terms of .this offer are' at present confidential, butthey will no doubt be communicated to the '■ wool-growers in due course.'. , The first offer of tho Imperial Government, an advance of 45 per cent, on 1913-14 values, was rejected-on tho ground that it r was inequitable.' It has not been alleged that it was inadequate ' or-mean, although some growers/at tho conference who voted-to reject it may have had this idea in mind, but that the. basis of values was unfair. Prices of;last season indicate that for war f purposes wools classed as -"inferior" are. of not very much less value than the. finest wools, for the differences in values between high grade and low grade wools havo tended to diminish, flhe offer of a 45 per cent, increase on pre r war prices did not provide for this. Payment on that scale would have preserved or even accentuated 1 pre-war differences in value, and tho growers of .tho less fine wools, if they are right in assuming from tho prices paid that their product is of proportionately more value to the Empire as compared with, finer wools than before the war, have some justification for their decision to reject the Imperial Government's offer. The new offer is on a , different basis, which may prove more ;■• acceptable. It is understood, however, that the proposals mado by tho woolgrowers in conference'have'not been accepted by the.lmperial Government.- ■■; While the. negotiations are going on. ships are on our coast ready to load :woql. These ships must bo used to t their utmost capacity, and persons or firms who have wool to ship are being allowed to ship it subject to an under- / taking that the wool must be subject to ?aiiy requisitioning scheme subsequently agreedupon. Long before the .ships reach their destination the matter will be settled.- In no circumstances can any wool be taken to any destina- ' tioiv except thq United Kingdom.