YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 195, 13 May 1919, Page 8

YORKSHIRE LETTER

BREAK-UP OF CONTROL RS.OPENING OF COLOIiIAL SALES (From Our Own Correspondent.) Bradford, March 20. It is about tliTeo years sinco tho Government first took control of tho English clip, to bo followed a lew months later bv the control of the colonial. It might bo interesting to readers ft few thousand miles away to know under what machin. ery they have been working during this. timo. At lirst the control of English wool was entirely worked from London, from Imperial House and Caxton House, Westminster: It soon became necessary, however, to opon an office in Bradford, both for the purchase of pieec goods for tho Army,and Navy and for the purchase of raw material actually • in the country. Ono Government order followed another in quick succession, prohibiting dealings in ono class of wool or tops or another, until. finally everything belonged to tho Department. A part of tho warehouse or what is probably tho biggest export pieco goods firm in the world was taken over by the Department, but soon found inadequate. The second largest hotel in the city was then taken over, and soon evory room in it was occupied by War Office Wool Department stuff. Even then there was considerable overcrowding, and it is a. miracle that tho millions of. papers on different subjects have.been registered ana kept so straight as they have been. Lator tho Wool Transport Section,and tho section dealing with.the purchase of the home, clip had to bo housed in another hotel, which was likewise commandeered. Tho original warehouse accommodation was also retained, and two other of tho largest warehouses in tho town waro appropriated for- tho display to users o? wool, top, and noil samples. Demobilisation. We have now arrived at that time when these large premises and the staffs filling them are no longer needed, and are being gradually discarded. It is probable at the present time there will bo just about the'same number of employees of tho Department ns there were at the beginning of control in 191 G. The section that started first;, viz., control of English wool, and later purchase, of colonial, will probably continue longest, and the total staff at tho present time will not to more than -20; per cent, of what it was at Christmas, 1918. There has been much l discussion-in the trade and much sarcasm as to wages being paid to inofHciont both male and female, but most of these have now come to the testingpoint as to whether they are worth nny : tiling or not. Those who can earn _ a wage will have little difficulty In finding employment by private firms. Those who are iiicapablo will soon find themselves where most of them began—back at home. By the time this letter is in readers' hands the large hotel will have ceased to bo a Government Department and will bijce more throw open its doors to those who are weary and hungry: The Department hns decided not to purchase cny niore English wool,, and the smaller hotel which has been dealing with this and with transport will also be closed as a - branch of the War Office and handed over to private management again. The only sections that will be retained aio those dealing with tho disposal of tho Government's holdings to users. One warehouse in which tops and noils arc distributed and offered to_ the trade will be carried on ns usual," and the other warehouse referred to, whoro wool only is on view, will be employed as hitherto for at least tho next two months in order that mills may have the choice of filling their requirements either at the London sales or in Bradford. > ' The Grower's Position. This long lookod-for breakup of Government supervision is not to be the lot of the colonial grower at present, tho Imperial Government - having arranged to purchase his wool until the middle of 1920. A good deal depends on tho point of view as to whether this is regarded as a misfortune or a lucky event. Quito recently our Government has reduced its prices of issue to the trade of wool and tops by 7J per ct-nt.', intimating that the new level of values will remain in force until tho end of November this year. Some members of the trade have quite reasonably doubted whether it is practicable to fix values now for that length of time... Our French friends,across the Channel do not regard it with any great favour. Their argument is held by a good many more in this country, and is to the effect that in the next eight. months prices, if left to themselves, would fall very considerably more than'any mero 7i per cent. Franco lias to import most of her wool. She can-, not oven get it from her own Colonies. It has to be bought from other nations which puts France, already a debtor country, still more into foreign: haiids. No wonder they were looking ' for a larger reduction in values.

, It may so happen that by arranging to take over the colonial clip for tho next full year, the Government lia« made a. bad bargain unless it can fis the market for all that time' and some months later at a level that will allow it to dispose of the material .without loss. South Africa and South America aro still free, and it.may possibly come to pass that those markets will fall below the British, Government's is3iio prices. If that happens, the buying power Of Japan and the United States. and European countries outside Groat Britain; and that of. a number of British mills also will be diverted to those markets, and to make sales at all, the British Government will have to reduce its values also. When shipping was very scarce, our ! Government; could' control the wool market because nil other supplies could be kept out of the country. To-day that is impossible oven with the help of the Defence of the Realm Act. Even the British Government is aware thift it, is not the king of the wool market, and thai; wool is a commodity produced in such weights by so many various countries that it cannot bo 'cornered by a group of Government peoplo with fortylive million taxpayers to fall back upon if they make a mistake.

• The Reopening of Colonial Sales. It is proposed to ship big weights of colonial wool to this country; in fact, to ship'all the wool the Department has bought in Australia and Aaw Zealand, with tlie exception of that which has been sold direct to the United States and Canada. It is also proposed to han-dle-arrivals in this country through London and the Wool distribution warehouse at Manor Row, in Bradford, and allow Allies to purchase at-the public sales, with a limit on the. total quantity which they may be. allowed to. take. Individual topmakers, spinners, merchants, and manufacturers have objected to this arrangement that it runs the trade into the risk, of finding.-the distribution 'centres to bo "bottle-necks." Everyone.. knows what difficulty was experienced in tho trade in obtaining supplies of khaki, when first the worsted spinning, then tho dyeing, sections of the industry were found inadequate to cope with the weight of material required. It would be unfair to compol all supplies to .be handled through London and the Government's Bradford office if it were found or even there were n danger of finding that these departments could not deal with it quickly enough. It has been argued that the colonial sales in primary markets should be resumed. Even if the Director of Raw Materials is correct in his estimate that considerably more than 2{ million bales should be received in this country during Ihe present, year, this weight is fur more than London has ever handled. In its best year it did not touch more than H million bales, so that even if our imports only.rcaoh 2,000,000 bales, about three-quarters of a million remain to .bo dealt-.with through tho Department's Bradford office. If colonial sales wore reopened there need not bo any loss in business to the London brokers, mid it would enable every member of tho wool trade in tho colonies to form some idea of what wool was worth and rehabilitate himself with the industry.