WOOL PROFITS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 104, 27 January 1920, Page 7

WOOL PROFITS

IMPOSSIBLE TO ASCERTAIN TOTAL GAIN

OF GOVERNMENT

REPORT OF INVESTIGATING

COMMITTEE

(By Telegrjvph-Press Association-Copyright (Rec. January 26, 5.5 p.m.) London, January 25. The report of tho committee which investigated the profits from wool tops and yarns states that all tho Australian wool auctioned since wool was decontrolled in April belonged to the British Government, which obtained a considerable profit owing to the high prices at the auctions, especially for finer qualities. It was impossible to ascertain definitely tho Government's total profit, of which half was returned to the Australian Government for distribution to wool growers. The Board of Trade rejected tho Wool Council's standard clothing scheme for supplying clothing to the British public at reasonable prices. The Board of Trade mistakenly believed that the Profiteering Act would check high prices.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

CAUSES OF THE HIGH PRICES. (Rec. January 27, 0.55 a.m.)

London, January 26. The wool report states that among the causes contributing to the present prices of raw material, are the excess of demand oviir supply, transport delay, tho cessation of sales in Australia, and the concentration of buying in England. The high prices at subsequent stages wero largely due to the impossibility of fulfilling orders. The makers we're able to ask almost any price, especially for the finest qualities. The report does not attempt to estimate the profits on raw wool at auctions; it simply says they were colossal. _ The only estimate hitherto was Mr. Mackenzie's, of sixty millions sterling, shared by the British Government and the (Australian and New Zealand growers. /The subject is attracting great attention; in the newspapers. Later reports dealing with makers' profits are awaited with interest. There is a demand in somo quarters for a Royal Commission, similar to tho Coal Mines Commission, empowered to examine the books- of manufacturers, spinners, and others.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ("It was disclosed before tho Central Profiteering Committee that tho profit made on West Riding wool above the fair margin fixed by tho War Office 'varied from -WO to 3200 per cent. It ivns alleged that the Government also was making colossal profits.]