YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 155, 26 March 1919, Page 10

YORKSHIRE LETTER

GOVERNMENT WOOL BUYING ISSUE PRICES CONTRASTED (From Our Special Correspondent.) . Bradford, January !)._ The question of working .hours -still occupies the. mind of many members of the wool textile industry. Those representing the workers gave notice some weeks ago for u reduction in working .hours to -15 per week. This reduction is too great to be accepted without very wriotis consideration. Everything seems to indicate that the Industrial Council Will have to d&al with the question. Tho 'West Hiding Spinners" Eederation hold a meeting last luonday, when the question of .working hours was consiuered. An executive was appointed to formulate a programme, and,to watcii the interests of spinners,' and it was recognised that some modification in the working week would be advantageous both to masters and men. lliis marked an important step forward. The present scale of remuneration ior-all'operatives is very different train what it was before tjio war, and whether Hie industry can stand the present standard of wages only time'. can show. in any case wages will never go back to where they were i'n'TJU, ami .masters Have no,desire that', they.should. Thero «re indication!) that, the standard of.life is moving, to a- higher • plane, and the wool textile trade will participate in the benefits which will accrue. 'A-Forty-nine Hours.Week Likely. It has come to light during the past WeeK inat firms in ue of Jiiuguiml and iialifax have adopted a -111 or oU.nour working week'l'or tne past twelve months, and have found that while the production is hardly maintained, better wont is,..iurned out than previously. We are glad that this is so, for tne testimony ol tause who have 'tried the scheme cannot but> have an important 'beunnj; upon the decision of the .liuluaUuU tuuiiipil,, ■ivno -.Wilis:, have to deal with tins important 'question of hxing working hours ■■ill -tae.neur lu.ture. The- plan at-present in vogue seems to favour working irom S: a.in;, till 12.30, asume firms .aaowiug a full hour for flinncr, and others threequarters, but the former is little enou/gii. .beginning at 1.30, another it- hours is worked, which means a 'J hours' working day. 'this obtains from Monday to Jt'riday, and- then 1 hours are worked on sui'iiraay. This makes a working week <if 411 hours. "Uhere the question lias .been discussed-by millowners in Liraiilofd'lhcy scenr to favour'starting mills at as in the past, and granting Saturday, a. "mill'holiday. By working'a rn 1L ten hours per day as hitherto it .means a continuance lor livo days per week of the fatigue, which is now:generally compinincu auout, and a continuation of very early rising, which is now tne chief suurce of dissatisfaction.

Government Profits on Wool. A-very, startling statement emanates from Leicester 'regarding the big profits which the Government are malting on wool. It-is staled that the Government is 'charging consumers 200 per cent, above what tney paid fanners, and Lincoln, wool is- taken as an example.' As■ every practical woolman knows, Lincoln- sheep produce the heaviest fleeces, often up tu 11 and 151b.-per head, and the Government, so the statement goes, is invoicing these at 3s. Bd. per lb., over 2s. per lb. -going to the Government. "Thus the Government obtained.for merely transferring the clip far more (hau the producers, the .cost of handling in each quality being substantially in excess of the growing, washing, shearing, packing, and delivering at the.appoiuted places. The average weight per-fleece shorn (including tho very light weights of the lambs) was -1.55 lb., so that the'average addition, claimed by the Government was about 9s. 6d. per fleece. The average price of the purchase, if it be'taken-at Is. Bd. per lb., : work's out at .£5,702,025 for the clip yield of 70',827,0001b., and it was : resold, at ■£13,441,725, or a profit of .£7,082,700. In addition to this there was a heavy percentage of profit added at every stage of .ma'nufaeture. In this way a very large proportion of the price of Bs. (id. to 10s. fid.: per lb. jpaicl. for yarns wont to the Government; in:addition to the ordinary 50.per cent, for excess profits." -.;,■:• '.The writer would not like to be the author of such a-statement, .for it will iiot.stand the test of actual fact. It has been known for a long time to those who understand Government ways that big: profits are being made out of both British and colonial wools, but nothing like tho returns stated above. In fact, so far as domestic produce is concerned, it is absolutely wrong to 'say that 2s. per II). profit has been made on deep Lincoln woo'.. Good Lincoln fleeces are mostly 3(Ts quality, the briteh being 32's. Now the issue price of a.'3U's Lincoln hog lop is 3s. Id., 7d. per lb. less than, the alleged price of uncombed Lincoln wool. Tho writer is in a position-to say that the actual distribution price of deep lustre wool like Lincolns and-Loicesters is 25.-4Jd., and not 3s. 5(1. as the Leicester statement alleges. . There is no understanding the ways of tho Department, but they have not yet so entirely lost, their sense of proportion as to mak.o the charge for wool named above.

Some Significant Examples, Information- of a- rnore reliable kind which shows the prices paid to woolgrowers and the issue prices charged to manufacturers,.has' come from another source. Mr. Harry Hope. M.P., hon president of the National Farmers' Union of Scotland, by question in the House of. Commons, tried to get at the profit made on the 1917 Scotch clip,'but without success. The Department had no information to.give away. More than one nas interested himself, in" the 'question, and statements have been published wlueli hitherto have riot been denied. A Scotch wool-grower' had' to sell his elm to the Department at fixed prices, and being interested in a woollen plant had allocated to him the very class of wool in which he was interested as n ..grower. He was greatly surprised with'the difference between' what. he,' as. a grower, received from the Department for his clip and what he had to pay to the Department as a user. Wc give below a very interesting table showing-thii Government prices for some Scotch wools :— .;'. NpBTH'CHEVIOTS. ■'.....-. Charged .. • .■:. ~. ••.. Maximum to • ; . payable manufac- ..:'.' to farmers...hirers. "'- . per lb. ■• per lb. d. ■ . A. Washed hoggs' 23? .34. Washed owes 20 • 32jUnwashed hoggs ... 191 29 Unwashed ewes ... 17J 28 BOEDER CHEVIOTS. Washed hoggs 213 32 Washed ewes , 193 , 30J Unwashed hoggs ..... 175 27 Unwashed owes KM 27 BLACK FACE. Washed '.;.'..' .•••' H 7 Umnshed 131 1' to 19 Further, lib. per cwt.. (Scotch terms) coninucs to be deducted from the grower, but is ho longer allowed to the user. The above figures show a gross profit equal to the market price of Scotch wools in July, 1915, which the Government made the basis on which to calculate the advanco subsequently givijn. In pre-con-frolled times consignors had all market expenses paid, and. the export advice of 1 the brokers into the bargain at a total cost of about-id. per lb. From the district whore, the above wools ai.e grown, they could be sold carriage paid to manufacturers in Bradford and district at a profit of id. per 11)., and the merchant has a little for himself. The Government trading profit of lOd. to lid. per lb. on a 'lib. Cheviot (lcece. may be taken to equal half the rent of the farm on which it was grown, and at the same time we have the Financial Secretary to the War Office telling *i deputation of sheep breeders in' 191(i that farmers were charged no "excess profits tax."