The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY. JANUARY G. 1908.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2081, 6 January 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY. JANUARY G. 1908.

THE CONSUMPTION OF WOOL. On several occasions wo havo taken .some trouble to show in connection with the recent drop in the price of wool that the statistical position of this product was certainly opposed to a permanent lowering of prices. We pointed out amongst other things the greatly-increased use of wool in late years. In a recent article Lite London Times also deals with this phase of the position, drawing attention to the various ways in which the consumption of wool Ins increased. To some extent, it is admitted, this is due to the growth of population, but the chief factor is the increased consumption per head which has resulted from the social and economic progress of civilised nations, to which education, industrial development, and increase of wealth are the contributing causes. The more liberal education of the masses has raised the standard of living, and woollen manuf-inures of all kinds are consider! d essential to the comforts and refinements of modern life, while tile ingenuity of the manufacturer has created a demand for cheap woollen goods at prices well within the limits of the working man's purse. Greater leisure and the cheapness of modern travel has multiplied the number of excursionists and created i demand for holiday clothes. Soldiers no longer wear the same uniforms on service and on parade, and orders for khaki become heavier each year. Tho growing popularity of all kinds of sports and games has greatly increased tho consumption of wool, and the construction of gigantic hotels in Europe and America means the manufacture of a. large amount of wool into blankets ana carpets. These and similar instances, it is pointed out, cannot be said to constitute fresh sources of consumption, the significance of the increase being one of degree. Hut of much greater importance is tho imnimt-vf- Wool „ow ii.scd by women, which is a new feature of quite modern growth. The women of the lower middle class, hitherto mostly dependent upon others, have in continually increasing numbers become independent wageearners. Therefore, when it is considered that the ultimate consumers of wool are the millions forming the population of Europe and America, not to mention those of other countries, which in several instances nre becoming great users of woollen goods, it may be submitted that even a trivial increase per head in this great population explains why the additional production of 700,0,,U hales of colonial wool, which has taken place within the last four years, lias not only been- absorbed, but has been accompanied by an almost constant rise in value. When the wool market recovers from the rash “bearing” operation of about sixteen months ago, which recoiled upon the “hears” to their great loss, and when the money market assumes a normal tone, wool may bo expected to realise its true value. Crossbred wools havo becomo too dear, but tliero is no reason why, on the other hand, they should remain abnormally cheap in comparison with the liner descriptions. One thing mud not be overlooked. There cannot be any further large increase in the supply of wool in the immediate fiuure. Australia is becoming stocked up again, the Argentine does not make any rapid increase in its 'flocks, and North America makes very little • advance; South Africa, will, no doubt, show some improvement, and New Zealand but little, while older countries are either practically stationary or in seine cases growing less wool. Those facts must inevitably m ike their influence felt on the wool trade before the present year is far advanced.