WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1931, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

ELECTION , PSYCHOLOGY. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Dec. 28. The ; Commonwealth of. Australia has put itself on the si.de with Britain and New; Zealand, and has declared against being governed by Socialists who are in the main incompetent. The Anti-Labour Party in the'new Federal Parliament has a sweeping majority relativey the .same as in New Zeaand, and to some extent not unlike Britain. What are the implications of this remarkable change of attitude on the part of the electors of the country named,, and what will be the effect of the new ? It would be easy to exaggerate the effects. The mew Governments have received unequivocal mandates to deal'promptly and effectively with the prevailing adverse ' economic conditions. It is true that the changes have revived confidence. The Com- • monwealth elections held on Saturday, andlm Monday morning New Zealand share brokers received numerous orders to purchase industrial shaes at • full market values. That in itself is an indication of returning; confidence. It must be remembered .that investors, and particularly those who deal, in Stock Exchange securities take Cognisance of the immediate prospects and buy or sell according as the prospects appear good or bad. ' . \ . . Australians are justified in uhdulging in a -measure of confidence, for by the change of administration a full stop has been placed on tinkering with banking and finance,, and - this is all to the good. But for the inter-, vention of the Christinas ■ holidays there may have been sensational developments as the result of the Commonwealth elections, still the holidays will afford time for calm delib-v eration and careful examination into the existing ties. . Neither: the Federal Government nor the New Zealand ' Government can work wonders, Indeed economics do , not lend y'them/ selves fori treatment by wonder-work-: ers. The Governments must proceed very carefully-, and ./in an orderly manner studying the effects or: pqss-,. ibie effects erf every -oho of their projected • measures. /,.•/; :/•/, We must realise at the outset that neither our Government nor;.the -Federl Government can ‘.by any political magic; bring about an improvement • in the prices' of our export products in overseas markets/.,That is beyond the control of any government, but ’ : the Administration must realise that . low prices for produce have come to . stay-, . at'-lea-it for some' time, and therefore they must., insist.upon' readjustments,-. reconstructions and re- /( organisations in all directions) be- ■„ ginning with Parliament itself and * WoAfn% w rl^t M wM"‘»pulous justice and fair play. A' case in point to show how unjust Parliament can be with its enactments has just come to light. Owing to the. slackness in trade In the boot factories, .'in- - IL stead of closing do svn for the usual. |s ten ’’ days at . Christmas, decided to close down for 7 weeks, and the oper;i:: ators were served with notices of Si! dismissal: Ike Arbitration Court was asked' whether those . dismissed were /"entitled to be paid wages for the time .' the factories ■ were closed, and the Court has decreed that the operatives were entitled- to such .wages: ; The. quesitiori- that the" layman/would like' to. have .answered is who 'fun's- the boot ./factories, this 'employers or the ■ Arbitration Court? sit—is an- impossible position; and ' the - secondary industries of the :• Dominion can L never thrive ? under - such 1 ' : conflicting dual control and glaring injustice. .. While .it is possible’ in both New -Zea- / land: and ' Australia - there will be a ~ -■ great revival of., confidence// 'the root ' > cause of our .ecpnomr.c' troubles.! will, ■: remain, and .the, first/ quarter.; of the . New Year 15 likely to witness many sensational happenings of. international importance. The basic, factors of the world depression are war,-debts, reparations and tariffs, and one looks in vain for any ease in these burdens, on the contrary none of the principal creditor nations is 'prepared to let go .a single strand of the ropes that bind the debtor nations. ' Congress has; ratified President Hoover’s, one-year moratorium in respect to war debts, and the Bill contains the. reservation declaring -flat opposition to cancellation or revision of . 12,000,000,000 dollars (£2,400,000,000) of ./European ; war debts. The French Prime -Minister;. M. Laval has .-made .it clear that France would • refuse to agree that reparations should be sacrificed or allow the /Young Plan to be tom up. What hope is there of the depression clearing away while the nations adopt such upcompromising attitudes. The next two, j>r three months will decide matters. / SOME WOOL /FACTS. PECULIARITIES AND MISCON--5 ; CEPTIONS. WELLINGTON, December 28. In can be justly said that many .wool i growers display great/ignorance -with respect, to the market end of wool. They may be able t° tell coarse crossbreds from merinos and,.fine crossbreds from low crossbreds, but the vagaries and, peculiarities ■ of the wool marker are more or less a closed book to.them. On the question of held-over wool much misconception exists and at many meetings of farmers, especially In the North ] Island, the. statement has been made that the overseas buyers have been ' boycotting the held-over wool. This is -

pure moonshine, for they are doing nothing of the kind, they are buying the class of wool they have been deputed to purchase. The President of the New Zealand Woolbrokers’ Association has made the position clear in a recent interview. He points out that at the Wellington sale on December 8, one clip of 250 bales part one year old, and part two years old sold at 7sd, 6£d, 6sd, and s|d and and these prices the clip would have realised had it been the current season’s wool. As a matter of fact, several lots of this identical clip, but of this season’s shearing sold at approximately the same prices as the old. Another lot of 140 bales of ordinary top-making wool oi the last two seasons’ shearing made old, and sd—prices fully up to the values ’of similar wool of this season’s growth. Similar instances could be multiplied if necessary. It all depends upon the wool itself. If it had been shorn dry and in good condition, the wool keeps and sells without discrimination as to price or buyer. On the other hand, heavyconditioned wool containing seed or sand, or that , has been badly skirted and shows signs of dampness when shorn, becomes discoloured and it is questionable whether it will sebur white. This kind of wool, even as new. brought low figures last year, and will continue to do so this year, whether offered for sale ih London or in the Dominion. There is iio shortage of Wool to meet the Current demand aiid buyers naturally pick afad choose, just as buyers of sheep ahd cattle choose the best lines offering. On the other hand, if the supply is not equal to the demand the buyer must take a lower grade than he otherwise would,

There is also much misconception with regard to the classification of wool. In New Zealand the term “crossbreds” is applied to the qualities ranging from 36’s to 48 ! s, the Lincoln,Leicester and Romney types. Fine wool, that is 48’s up to 60’s are classed halfbreds, and over 60’s counts are the merinos. In London every grade under merino is called crossbred. At 'the present time the demand, both in New Zealand and London is strongest. comparatively for halfbreds, that is 48’s up to 60’s. Therefore some ofthe quotations cabled from London as for crossbreds at'Bd and over are really for. halfbreds wool, and should not be confused with the quotations for crossbreds, which are actually ranging from sd'to 6fd. -Crossbreds are admit-tedly-selling'at low figures in the Dominion, ’but they are doing no better in /London. This is due to fashion running on the. finer wools. . ! Another fact is 'the large supply, of crosdbreds from South America—a larger clip than the Dominion output by over 50 per cent. The benefit to the South American woolgrower from the exchange on London is 34 per cent In the Dominion it is £9 12s 6d pel cent, so that apparently the grower in South America is getting 7|d for wool for which the New Zealand grower obtains 6d, and is therefore so much better off. '\Vqpl, v gghn;eJC& herb should hear these facts' ih mind wheii they complain about low prices and blame buyers and brokers for the low prices. The overseas buyers who are of various nationalities receive their orders from divers principals and widely different centres, and must buy in accordance with their instructions.