YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3178, 31 August 1917, Page 8

YORKSHIRE LETTER

RESTRICTIONS OF THE TRADE "!T C - (From r Our Special Correspondent.) -'•/ ' Bradford, July 12. •In--past letters we intimated to readers. of this issue that member? oi' the wool textile- trade wpr© passing through a very, critical, period, and but for *thc war there would- be a revolution. •JJoHoily dosired'to see that, ; and we do not think it will .-take place, but there will . Jiivd .to be-some, modification of. tho conditions imposed upon the t industry by the ,\7ar. Office through the. services of tho Priority Committees, otherwise thero will be.a conflagration."' There is no denying that evea tho authorities responsible for applying tho principles of State control are uneasy.; This, is evident to those who ft'ro in close touch with tho officials in Bradford, and is due to more or L-hs mismanagement. and the-applications of principles "which are 'not business-like,' and certainly not. British.. .«?o. those at this end pf^the''trade the position of .tflc colonial-pastoralists. appears to be a. very enviable one/although no doubt the grower •has quite a fuU hand.-ia.dealing with the fly'pest, shortage of labour, uhearinj diflicultios, and by no»means Mmi- • totion to: one oustomer of the sale of Siis &hom fleeces, bringing .with it the Jtnowlcdgei that in an open market ho •would realise pence per lb. nioro for'his wool. We have repeatedly called attention ,to the . fact that we v are passing diffiouH times, and friiii the -wool-grower to'the actual -manufacturer, no one desires to bo unloyal, or . <to-do anything which will'jeopardise th 9 Empire's- interests while, the war lasts. lAfter tho' - air.'raids iii London.jtluring the past week it behoves every Britisher . *o'redouble his efforts .to put down such v .a ruthless foe.Vand as long as Vjie world lasts the name German can-never eomjnana any respect from a decent 'ing- citizen. It would be. a calamity to ". tho entire world if Germany had t-o extend hei' borders in the least, because \her foul deeds cannot be mentioned without feelings of anger and resentment ris'jng in the breast of all. Gci'many we say ,is unworthy of participating again in the ii'aw materials oP the cutiro ivorld. and ,tho sooner such a nation is wiped off the 'tfacc of-the earth, the better it will be for £ho' balance of humanity. It is, therefore, v Viih feelings of considerable pride that 'the whole, wool textilo industry realises ( - that tho raw material requisite for pru•Tiding the outer covering of man is being - jrrown. very largely in the British eoloii- • ics. and that with the *vid ; ' of France, ,-j\mcrioa-. 'Russia, and Italy the <Jay will i(id-.ui "when Germany will be brought to her •ineea. . • . Rationing the Trade. " In a previous letter we tried to explain ;'at tome length tlio cud ai>d purpose of the • Vricrit-v Committee. s The alpha i and "omega of tho work of that body ia doling, out supplies in harmony ..with conditions as revealed by supplies in London. Last • "week an important ccnsti? of stooks was taken, and wo uuderstand that about 25,000 -census, forms were distributed throughout the l*nite'd Kingdom. ' Taking stock is. en- • tirely a new departure in.-the wool textile trade of Great, Britain, and there havo been io less than four such stocktakings during . the past twelve months. It is all dono with i j the purpose of informing the Government ['authorities responsible for working tho wool trade what wool and partly-manu-factured ; stocks there are in the trade, and on the results of that census the . Committee will bp able to work inoro accurately. "Rationing so far. lias . pone down very badly, duo to lhe_ Priority Committee allocating in the majority of "i:ascs not half the quantity of wool, and tops to keep machinery running up to tho end of August. A great number in the trado feel that i.hey have' not been dealt ■wjith in a . frank and candid way. Tho ./Army Council Order issued in May gave spinners tho privilege of consuming all <-rossbrcds they could up to Jmno 11, merinos up to July 2, after which'dates thev could no x longer consume ad. lib., any •stocks they neld. Considerable soreness lias been created during the past week -when spinners on receiving their allocs'.'lions found that the returns cover June .1. .;to August 31, and merino spinners especially feel that they have been "had." "No ~«ound rcagon is forthcoming why these 'priority certificates should go back to \lune 1 when full pri-vyego was granted "spinners to use off their own stocks till "'July 2, but tills astounding fact has come out in many cases where spinners consumed in June all tho teps allocated . ./which are supposed to last them till the .end of August. This, means th-it the priority allocations are little more than 'a- farce, and this fact alone-lias naturally "caused, expressions characteristic of Hades 'to bo"made. Is there any wonder that tho entire trade is upset with such nn--vhusincESlikc treatment. . .'.JTany firms are „£o incensed, that .they have taken the law /into their own hands, and instead of let- . ting' machinery stand and turning, their workpeople on to the' street as they would "have ddnc if they had stopped when they had consumed their .allocation, uiey are 'ynnnihg as usual and nsing oft stock • which they maintain having been paid for is then* property. ' . week has seen the officials at the tfott Office in Bradford literally bombarded with the bitterest complaints, and tho authorities have had to decide whether they, were t-o let machinery stand ana turn workpeople out or allow spinners to - go on working as 'usual. We' have already . stated that the authorities are . more affaid of labour than anything, and they iknow. that if they put mills on to fewer . -working hours; serious trouble wi-11 result.. The present high cost of living means that it takes workpeople all their time to make, ends- meet, now that they are working 45 Jhours instead of 55J, and the Priority Committee knows that they must use commonfonse, and "not kill the goose which hitherto has laid'the golden egg...' • V Ths Question of Supplies. The fundamental principle underlyins all trade to-day is that of• sitEplies.aud readers will know more of this' a-spect of the oa.V possibly than vc do-hero, llio prin- . « inal man in cbarge of the Priority Committee has stated this last fortmuhVovor and'over again .that for the. time being there is an adequate* supply of raw material, but the shipping difficulties are euch as to necessitate the Army .Council, and tho War Office taking a.long view. The • officials hav? repeatedly stated that they feel i-fc incumbent upon them after having ,provided for military needs >to build up a reasonable stock, and they seem determined to put into tho warehouses of the country sufficient raw material to provide for the needs of the armies and the navies of Great Britain and her Allies for at 'least six months. It has also been stated -unofficially that it will be the end of tho year before'-the last Australian clip is actually (tot away from the ports of the Commonwealth. The ,War : Office therefore feels that it, cannot aHord to be. prodigal in allocating supiiliea. This really, is the cajisc of the Priority Committee distribution scheme falling upon evil times, and as we haye already said the question of supplies lies , at the foundation of all the trouble. It j.. W ell known, as shown i.p Dalgety's monthly figures, that the shipments from Australia and New Zealand during the past two months hnvo been decidedly small, and we' arc told that no iinproveanent can lie expected for some time. All 1 •flic same it seems to many in the trade that the Shipping Controller cannot ignore the teeming textile population of the Kortli of England, and so long as the wool is there provision must be made for

bringing it home. The reader will there* fore see some of the difficulties which confrout the .trade to-day, and'until these are solved thero is bound to be considerable difficulty experienced in runuing combing and spinning machinery for some time to come.

Wool Combers on Short Time. Last Monday the wool-combing operatives in tne merino department Began to work short time, botli the day and night turns playing. Thia has not gone down at all tfell ■ with the workers, nut is dope with the idea- of making supplies last longer, and go conserving' stocks. As the Prime Minister stated a good week ago. it behoves everyone in this country to make sacrifices, aiid if a little more thriftiuess was manifest on the part of the operatives in general, the impression prevails that even tile wages earned by working 45 hours per week will help them to tide over tile present days of stress and strain. Of course, no short time is being worked in combing :'crossbreds,. because these are very largely wanted for military purposes, and as fast as crossbred wool is being combed and spun it is worked up into khaki scrgo and hosiery fabrics. Further large orders are on the point of being placed which can be taken as evidence that the Army authorities are not looking forward tu an early termination of the war.