REVIEW OF WOOL SEASON

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3057, 19 April 1917, Page 8

REVIEW OF WOOL SEASON

In its annual review the Wellington Chamber of Commerce 6ays of the recent wool season: —"The new season opened in September-Ootober with , a private buying campaign on a range of- prices quite equal to the previous year, notwithstanding that .freights had advanced 1 l-Bd. per lb. during the year. A considerable quantity ofwool had ohanged\ hands, evidently ou American account, when in November tlio Government announced that pm vate selling should ceaso, a-s the Imperial Government proposed; to commandeer the whole" New Zealand clip, and sales would be voidable. Whether the buying by America was the incentive to the action it is' not possible to say, but it must be evident to.all that the Imperial Government acted wisely in preserving the wool clip for Britaiu and her Allies, and in preventing it falling into the hands of neutrals.

"The only grievance that can be lodged against the. scheme is that it should have been evolved three months earlier. Then' the complications which have arisen over private sales would have been avoided, as would the congestion and disorganisation caused through the loss of six weeks in November and December before the first valuations could be effected.

i "The prices paid by, the Government to farmers are generally consideredl satisfactory. The whole scheme is now working smoothlv, and the wool is being shipped fairly freely, preference being given to it by the Government over other cargo. Preference 'in shipping space for wool may ho satisfactory so far as this interest is concerned, but naturally shippers of tallow, pelts, hemp, and other cargo take another view. . The general impression is that the commandeer may last for another year, even if peace is brought about in 1917. The wool clip will be wanted for our nation even after the war.'-'