THE WOOL PRICE

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 259, 15 November 1939, Page 4

THE WOOL PRICE

RETURN TO GROWERS PREPARING OF CLIPS PROPER. SKIRTING . ESSENTIAL Published by Arrangement. ; Various announcements which have been made relating to the arrangements for the purchase by tlio Government of the Dominion wool clip d.o not appear to have-made the whole position clear to all judging from tho nature of inquiries which are still reaching the wool broking firms*. The recent statement by the Minister of Marketing, the ITon. AY. Nash, that the basic, price of 12Jd per lb. is net to tho grower at the wool store and that brokers’ commissions, handling charges in store and, costs of appraisement will he met by tho British Government, have been misinterpreted by numbers of growers who have overlooked the very definite instructions given by the Minister at an earlier .stage of tho negotiations that all clips should ho skirted in the wool shed prior to despatch to brokers’ stores. Careful Attention Rewarded The position is that in those instances in which a grower sends a pro-perly-skirted and elassedi clip to a broker’s store for appraisement he will receive a rate .based on the Deminion average of 12{d per lb. in ae-

'bprdaned.-with tho grading schedules .jKt.prepared under the direction %tk.ithe Minister of Marketing. ( Until these schedules. are completed ItJ is impossible to estifirat^wflteanyrdc-j greo of return | for any particular, grade ofywpol,. but 3 it seems likely that in general' Hlidre* will he a fairly constant ratio between the figures realised last season and this season’s expected return. On. the other hand, the grower who has shorn early and has not skirted his wool, or tho grower who, although .shearing later, fails to heed the in- ■ structions of the Minister of MancetJing with regard to skirting and for- | wards an unskirtod and perhaps care- ! lessly got up clip to the broker’s store for appraisement, will find himself in a far Jess favourable position than a more careful neighbour, as the appraisers are empowered to refuse to value a clip not properly skirted and prepared for sale. In such a case the., clip would have to bo opened and skivt-f. ed in the broker’s store at the grow-, er’s expense. j influence Upon Returns | I As all growers will realise the only logical place to skirt a fleece is in the j wool shed! before it is rolled and baled j There skirting becomes a small part,of ‘the system of shearing and handling | the clip, but if it is done in the brokj er’s store it becomes a. much more I lengthy operation,. The bale lias to liV. opened, the fleece .taken out'and carefully unrolled, then skirted, re-rolled j and re-baled, a slow aihs tedious task,

which would prove very much more expensive to a grower than the completion of the task in the correct place the grower’s own shed. AYNo 'doitht~detajledl ihstructiq^_wi 11 "Im issued to* growers -by '"the.jMinister through the woolbrokers, hut in the* meantime the AiKkland Wool brokers’ Association urges that growers should, in their own interests, follow carefully any announcements made through the press from time tpi time. They should in particular remember that carp in the skirting and general get-up c>i their clips will have as great, or possibly greater, influence on their returns under a- system of appraisement as under auction conditions. Growers are again -reminded! by the association that their, own brands should; appear on the cap and one sale only of the hale. The other end and three sides must he reserved for Government marks.