YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 110, 3 February 1919, Page 8

YORKSHIRE LETTER

. ■ " __——j TRADE WANTING A FBEE MARKET FOR WOOL From Our Special Correspondent.) •" Bradford, November 21, 1918. The wool. textile industry is this week entering upon a now phase, the question now beioro the industry being .the'.'-transference of ..trade from military to civil production. This period .iyas bound to come sooner or later, and it .has fallen upon the trade more, \ quickly than was expected. One has i only to think that a fortnight ago— in fact, up. to this very hour—tliero ihas been no slackening v.i military production, contractors having been * injformed last week to ocvtimie work n> [usual. But this c'BJiuot l&st for many ;days; in fact, already jtotivo steps have teen taken with a vieV tu putting, off D/homanufacturo of miiUaiy fabrics and returning to standard "and civil ' goods. An important meeting was held j on Tuesday alteruoon in. St. (Jeorge's ' •Hall, Bradford, when Bir Charles fcykes, Director of. NVool Textile Brodnotiou, addressed a very iarge gathering of "manufacturers, spinners, and representatives <,\ other interested branches of the trade," comprising | niost of those firms who have done | Government work at any time, and laid ; i before the industry a Bciieme of devolu- | tion! which on tho whole met with ! ge;ner.al;:acoeptance, ..though ; a number j of modifications were voiced privately. | IThe scheme harmonises witli the views | .which have already been outlined here, j and tho unwinding procoss from Stato control and the return to the produc- I tion on civil account is to be a gradual one. Anyone can see that any "cieancut" would be a very unwise move, because of tho many complications .which would immediately arise. Tho safest policy at present in transferring frbm military to civil work is to go by degrees, particularly in yimv of Hie i fact that, the Imperial'authorities have i million's of hales of British fciid osloninJ | sold to leave a reasonable profit be- ; hind. '..■;.• ! Dealing with Covernmcnt Wools. It would bo interesting to kuow what is the exact quantity of Governmentownecl wool ou hand to-day, and what is. tho best method'of dealing with it. Control has been a good in many ways, and recognised aihc'ng users ,as such, especially if colonial growers I have been satisfied with the prices paid j py.the Iniperial.Goveniment. Of course a good deal more could liaro been real- | ised in an open marltoc; but the best j thing happened when colonial pastoral- | ists: accepted the otter of tho British ' authorities and sold the last two clips. It is stated ou_ what appears to bo excellent authority that some of the officials rather regret having purchased the Australian clip until June SO, 1920, and it is no'uso disguising the fact that New Zealand and South African pastoralists are standing out is a source of; some satisfaction to the .majority of traders ._ Now that hostilities have ceased it is recognised that the purchase of 'the colonial clip till June 30, 1919, woujd have been enough, becauso fry; that time, there is'hound to bo on •hand at least a million bales of unsold .wool in Australia and New Zealand ■ alone. That-of-itself is a big enough quantity to have to deal with. No criticism whatever is offered for the 'mere sake of criticising, and nothing buti the best of faith is here expressed, all aliko hoping to seo all wools that have.been purchased disposed of satisfactorily. Tho temper of the trade to-day'shows willingness to help the : Imperial Government all .in its power ' to lift at a paying price to the Department the wools which will become avail•ahle^.v...Takin>g..^a; ~.long.r view of therfiituation, it Would be a good thing for:both Australian growers, as well as the.lmperial Government, if they made a clean cut of their obligations next June 30, bringing home first and foremost all Imperial-owned wool up to that date, and then granting permission for a free market both in Great Britain and her colonies. The world is so hungry for supplies thnt the Im : perial purchases are certain to bo got rid of without fraction, loss ■;■. in fact, the writer holds the . opinion'that a free marketi. after June 30 would also lead to'the sale of the Australian new clip at a better price than the all-round 15d. per lb. which is the present purchase price oHho Imperial Government. . Details Wanted. There has sprung up in the trade a very! healthy sign, and on all sides it' is now demanded that full statistics should he published regarding stocks of all kinds of both wool, tops, noils, and wastes, but more particularly the stocks of raw wool both' in this country, on the wator and awaiting shipment in our colonies. Now that hostilities have ceased, the publication of these figures will bo of no use to the enemy, and will be of direct good to the entire industry, both in this country and our Allies. Tho writer is absolutely opposed' to any possibility of conditions being created that will'favour speculation, and nothing will check that so much as knowing tho present and prospective stocks of raw material The _soopcr wo get back to tho woekly publication of figures, tho better for everybody. There has always been a wealth of information to be obtained from the figures nublislied iii the trade, and .although to-day any wool offered in a free market would command extraordinary figures, that is undesirable no matter from what standpoint the position is viewed. The fact. is. wool and allied products are high enough for their prices to bo regarded with safety. and it is witli a view of clicckiivr anv wild-speculation that it. Is incumbent on tho pnH of the officials to publish facts and (Hires Hiicli would he found to he useful to all. Exporters' Strong Protests. Sir Oharlc" Sykes made a statement at a political meeting in HuddershVld last Week that thero were 20 million yards of fully manufactured cloth held in this countrv belonging to neutrals, and that if the occp.siv- !"« these would ho commandeered. This lias given rise to very heated diTnssinn. and ha« been strongly resented !)'• the entire industry. A large and influential meeting of piece goods exnnrtpr<. from London, Leeds. Huddersfiold. and Bradford was convened last wcek-erd

by the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, and the following resolution was strongly supported ruu earned unanimously, with enthusiasm:— "Meeting of exporters from London Leeds, H uUdcrslield, and Bradford, convened by tho Bradford Chamber of Commerce, strongly protests against the commandeering of goods sold to and held on account of neutrals. The honour and good name of British trade would bo imperilled by such action, and the lucr.ro of tho export trade to those souiitvie-s would be Bsriouslv tlireatenwl. The meeting trusts the Foreign Office and tho Board of Trade will take tho matter up at owe, as the speech of Sir Charles Svifc is taken very sariouU? by clients ftii'«;;i. Tho meeting is o>' opinion thai uii demands can be MppUod by j U:,\ Irade in the usual way, and also hopM that the trade will have an oppo'vtuviif.y of ])utti;!g its views before ;ho (Jc-v<;rc;nent before any decisive action i;i u-fcan." Tlwra h no need for the writer to elucidsu •;''.•;• above point. Tho resolution shows how such a statement has been aceejvifid by the trade. If Sir Charles Sykei's suggestion had been carried out ciw wonders what conception neutral countries would have had of the henesty and integrity of British tradespeople, when we are passin-;. through one (if iiie most critical periods in our business history. It is satisfactory to wiinii that the Director of Wool 'iVxtile Production stands by himself, except perhaps for a small backing :>{ a few unimportant officials, and tin; i:!.-:riciit can be regarded as closed. Theii! lias never been any shortage ! whair.-er in this coiiiiltv of either men's I or ".o!;i«i's wear fabrics, and tliero | never will be. j Tho Change. I It has now been decided to issue instructions to Government manufacturers to transfer with ail possible speed a large portion of raw materials from military to the production of Government standard civii goods, thus obviatk-$ any derangement of running machinery. As outlined a week ago, this is ii very easy thing for all Government spinners and manufacturers to do. Of course what blends have been made \ for tho production of khaki can be al- j low«l to go Kirougii the machine,,and j instead of being solid khaki shades the pieces can be dyed indigo. If made .into j suits for the demobilised men all will j he able to leave the Army most re-j spectably dressed, though no doubt a \ low will refuse them for something j different. There is bound to he next j year a tremendous demand for standard j suits, and with the big additional de- j I matid from France and Belgium there , is nothing whatever to prevent mills '• in litis country proceeding with the | production of both women's : wear standard fabrics, made from Gov- .' enmient-contrbllcd raw materials. By ! so doing the trade v-ili gradually gee [ back to its own civil industry, and if • half fcliu. machinery continues to he em- • plcyod on standard fabrics and half on j civil work the passage from military j to civil production will be sufficiently .e/aJaal to prevent any demoralisation I •of.tins- industry. • j