WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 15 April 1930, Page 6

WELLINGTON NEWS

J MPItOV.KMENT IN WOOL.

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, April 12

One swallow does not make a summer, so says the proverb, but this can 'be countered by an equally good proverb that straws show which way the wind blows, and this latter appears must applicable to the wool market. The second of the series of Lonumi wool sates closed last week and the reports were very cheering, for instead of showing a. drop in values there was a recovery. It is admitted that the future is still uncertain, for there is the possibility if not tlie probability of a strike of operatives in the wool textile trade in Yorkshire, and that is not a helpful factor, 'hut apart from this it is obvious that the market has taken a turn for the better.

At the sale in Wellington last week there was an advance of a full penny pn the March prices and at Wanganui, Tima.ru and Dunedin sales there were better prices bbtaim ’. These movements are no doubt a 1' due to the same cause and that is th.nl; there is a. slightly better demand. Tim monetary factor is not important,, lor with the hank rate i f f per cc-it.

money may lie said to he cheap., cheaper than it was a yuar .ago, add this cheapness has been a lieb lul fairtor in restoring i oufidewc. The lack of confidence has fom the greatest hurdle not alone with respect to the wool market but with all commodity markets and the fact is puzzling many commercial authorities. However the wool market has shown an improvement and while it is hardly to be expected that the improvement would be continuous the probability is that setbacks will lib less pronounced and forward movements more pronounced.. It is at this important juncture that the Graziers’ Conference in New South Wales proposes a wild-cat scheme for the control of wool. The Australians have gone crazy on pools, bounties, subsidies, high protection and Paterson plan, notwithstanding the experiences of other countries. Australia is to have compulsory wheat in spite of the experience of Canada. But the proposal to establish a wheat pool there did not receive much support and now that values are on the up grade we are not likely to bear anv more on the subject.

A special correspondent of the “Financial Times” (London) favours that paper with an interesting article on wool, and points out that in a ime of depressed prices and disappearing profits it is easier for the producer of most vegetable products ■ii aibpc his output to the market than it is for his colleagues in ani-

mal products or manufactured goods

The same depression in cotton or wheat prices always tends to have a speedier effect on the acreage. The very low prices of 1922-23 tor

greasy crossbred wool resulted in many Australian farms which produce crossbreds, or partly crossbreds and

merinos, turning entirely towards the

finer article. The advantage that the finer qualities have shown in price liav (? also resulted in a steady move towards these in such predominating

crossbred countries as New Zealand

and South America. Whereas before the war quite an appreciable amount

of deep Lincoln low wools wag pro-

duced in New Zea.la.nd, to-day a. true well-bred 36’s fleece is as rare ns merino frpm the Dominion, if not rarer, and whereas before the war

several firms in Bradford made Punta 4(i’s tops, to-day the lowest quality

that can lie bought with any regularity is ;~o’s and He bulk of Ho Punta clip now falls between ufi’s and GO’s.

Such a change in the character of flocks can only be made over a period

of years, and any variation in fashion which makes one quality of wool relatively more valuable than another cannot easily lie followed by

the growers. The one oh an go whiHi.

does have an effect is a slump. During the last 60 years the situation through which Australia’s industry is now passing has happened time am' again.

A. slump in values lias tended to reduce flocks, hut the reduced prices have stimulated demand for wool fabrics after a year or two, and this

; coming on top of reduced production, has forced prices up again. This in j turn has tended to increase flocks, i and so the cycle has recurred. I The position over the l ist few years j has 'been that there is too much wool j machinery in the world and that it ' cannot all he i_ ept going. A'et it has i cost so much, instal that no man who

! lias put his fortune into building and. 1 plant is willing to lose tlm lot with- ! out a struggle. Fortunate buying | and .sidling in Hie booms and slumps 1 of prices have enabled a certain mnniher to keep their feet, but a large : proportion of those firms wliieb never owned plant but merely rented it, have gone out of existence.

Dninc Nature must the needful gift impart

j To make the matchless masterpiece to be—

In every sphere of literature and art, The sad obtrusion of incuts we see. When “Imckblock bards” their do -- gera.l rhymes indite, The crude results are painful to endure;

Genius alone to ease our colds should

write Of Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure