OUR YOKSHIRE LETTER

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 222, 29 September 1916, Page 6

OUR YOKSHIRE LETTER

.EXPANSION OF THE EMPIRE'S I WOOL TRADE. I

[5B OM OUK CORKKBPONDENT. ]

'' BR ADPQ>M>, Aug. 10, 1916. The commandeering of the British tnew clip is a mottei*.-yvhich in some respects is oirteide tlie pale of tho Colonial wool-eslling interests, hut, its effects .lire so far-reaching that tho subject is well worth referring to tn the light of its bearing; upon wool interests generally, particularly as it .helps to emphasise- the importance of the part which this class of raw material is. playing in supplying •manufacturing requirements. It anay be said hero that very great ■changes ;ue buing wrought by th<»" steps .which have- been taken, and new. conditions will undoubtedly be brought into existence which will remain more or less even after the immediate- need for .thorn has ceased: Old land marks'will bo torn up, and businesses -which have hitherto held sjx important place in the trad©, and of good reputation seem likely to lose so ire ol: tlie independent standing which they have .'litherto enjoyed. All this beeauso the- interests of .the British llfmpire are at stake, and bemuse ilio Government is, determined to wevent wool prices advancing; beyond a level which can bo shown u> be of general interest to the trade, and to conserve the wool--supplies grown within the British Empire itsell. There is no doubt that something can be. kud in favor of the argument that unless tho British Government Lakes defm-ite stops with regard to the wool which in peculiarly its own, no sound objection could.bo raised against the .-Colonies seining their wool to outside countries. Even if tins consideration, is left out of th» question, a.careful, study'of tho wool situation at tho present timo reveals that whatever form wool control ..ttnrv take there is a genuine need for it. It is apparent that thero is no more wool being grown in the world tlrm as likely to be used, and an entirely B.ew aspect has boon put . upon tlumanufacturing end of the trade, by the .tremendous- military requirements which have, had to bo mot. ■The cjiiestion of supplies', is even'more .important than that of price, for it cannot be ' too-■'strongly emphasised that whatever tho, price basis may "be. "the need for wool will always remain as a persistent factol*. It should therefore be worth while to note some ■of the outstanding; .facU; evident to the ■wool producing world to-day.

VITAL . CAUSES AT WORK

Tn' the preceding paragraph, the ■writer lias hinted at one of the fundamental reasons- why such determined efforts h-avo been mad© to control wool priccis at Home, and this reason is one which should appeal very strongly to the Colonial ena-'of the" trade," for whatever complaints may be made about the unfairness" :>f cutting off legitimate competition or preventing the growing and soiling end of the trade from -making the hesi prices which would naturally re suit from competition being allowed to run its free, course, it is quite- evident 'thfiT: there i?- no immediate danger of any actual falling off in '.the general demand for wool. There lias been an unprecedented and increasing demand for tins article, this l)eing so in spite of the fact tl-.at a very .'argo percentage of the Continental demand has been out off. In normal times thiV Continental demand has represented 60 por cent, of the Colonial supplies, but tho demands mads? by the armies of Great and her Allies have been po •groat that tho. share of th*> world's wool ta.ken. by' Germany a.nd other •tDcntineiilal countries has been quite xeadily used \\p, and besides this, stocks of wool held before the war lave been grwitly reduced. One of i;he. most significant facts in this connection is that during the year 1915 the output of the wool textile machinery of: Great Britain was twice as much <a.s it w-sis "before the oommencement of tho war. Tho enormous military requirements are very, largely responsible for this, and when one--considers the, heavy wear*of clothing Ijy our soldiers, it ;s quite easy to 7)elieve that such ah increase in production should . have taken \ place. ■Great Britain ii«fs, sp ,tq; I>een jjiade respfmsible'Tor 'ftiie safe '.keeping-; •of much of the > ivorjd's ttoo! : textile industry.. The ; coiisumpbipn .-of the 3raw material may havo been groacly Ted Weed on the Continent, biit an outlet has been found for it in the manufacturing machinery of this •country.

THE CALL UPON COLONIAL SUPPLIES.

Australasia being one of the chief wool producing areas of idie world, il is only natural that special interest should bo directed towards it in relation to tho quantity of wool whjf.li is produced in normal times and the number o!: sheep kept. From time t,o time drought, han been a very ■ serious factor iv reducing the number of bheep, and consequently in making the total quantity of wool grown during and after a year of drought much less than it. might have been. It is ■calculated that during tho year 1915 between twelve and fiftoan million .sheep died in Australia through ■drought. Besides this supplies oi •wool to Europe wero greatly reduced in consequence of inadequate- shipping accommodation. To this loss must bo added a certain quantity of raw material w'hioh had been sjmk in transit. Again, enemy countries have naturally endeavored as far as possible noc only to conserve thsir wool supplies but" also to augment them from any outside source possible. Yet another "cause operating very strongly in the wool market has been tho-forgo jrarchases made by America, in conse•queTice of the increased- manufacturing requirements of that country. Though dieie lias been a great boom .at Home. Ihe American manufacturing trads has also participated,. ",reeultinp: in a proportionately greater demand tor wool. One of tho chief fic-iiiT.vs nf supply for that', country having been cut off, has resulted in America luiying a greater quantity of

wool direct from Australia and South.Africa . the purcliases from tho former bei7i.|T ton times grteter in 191b•Jinn they wore befor-o ' the wai*, iv-hilst impfDi-ts from South Africa increased '-from 2000 to J. 50,000 bales. THE POSITION OF THE CENTRAL POWERS. Haviii?: given readers some idea of the demand for -an-d consumption of .the-raw;-material among tho countries either .-neutral or interested in the Allies' causa, it will .perhaps throw furl her light upon the subject if soßip figures" be given showing the sheep stocks of the Central Powers." Before th& proseiit- '.vai- commenced tho number of sheep in -Germany was 5,400,000 the total in Austria-Hun-gary being 12,330,000. These numbers wore obviously quite inadequate to supply tho clothing needs of the two countries concerned. Bulgaria, 'Servia, and Montenegro had about 12,850,000 sheep, Turkey, about 21,----000,000, and it may be quite reason-ably-prosfumed that-the. two leading enemy powers, Germany and Austria, have drawn very largely upon the sheep and wool .supplies of the three former countries. The wool will have been taken, for mianufacttiring purposes, while any sheep available for slaughtering will have had to contribute to the necessary food supplies Tlie greater proportion of the sheep in thc> three small countries named as well as in Tun-key are of » coarse woollcd type, but this cannot bo expected to have had any great effect in preventing ib l>eing used in the mills of Germany for manufacturing purposes. The devastation in 'Belgium-and Poland must also be taken into account, while Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway have also contributed something to the supply of wool and mutton to the* Central Powers. There has been o. marked decrease in the number^ of cheep in Denmark, statistics showing Uiai there are row in that country about 255.000, which is only about olie-half i>he< v normal figure. The -slaughtering of sheex> is bound to have :"ts effect upon wool production .later, for it means not only the loss of so many individual fleeces, but tends to retard that increase of flocks upon which the wool using world depends for keeping pace with manufacturing requirements. THE BRADFORD MARKET, i

There is little new to report respecting the .Bradford • market, though the. attendance on 'Change has been larger than might have be&n oxpffcted. Very little actual business is passing, a.nd values aro practically unchanged from the'"basis-cur-rent last week.. Such demand ' for tops as may -be forthcoming••is1 still: largely running on -the. h' nes seen, ■dwr^ ing the few weoks, fe*sm© 'firmiK reporting. having had a- fair inquiry for menn^s and fine or.o.«isbreda..::Tli«prices asked, for these to-day vary aiccording to the position of the mdividiial maker, but there is no doubl; that greater uniformity is noticeable. The most extreme figures have now disappeared from the market, though it- is still possible to sell beyond the actual measure of output. There _>s al=o some little disposition to realise stocks, which shows that there is still tome little scope for variation in market prices, and to-day a 64's average may bo put at 4s 5d to 4s 7d pev lb. Fine crossbreds are quite* steady, but the lower qualities are v-:H'v slow, anything below 50's not findinjr.- a ready sale. Littlo can be said about English wool, old stocks are still firmly held, but the price* fixed.. for new wool are being looked upon ■with some dissatisfaction.