PRICES OF WOOL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 234, 24 May 1932, Page 8

PRICES OF WOOL

bale and skein DIFFERENCE IN RATES CAUSES CONCERN TO FARMERS. SUBSTITUTION FOR KAPOK. \ One of tbe matters whicb. has caused New Zealand farmers a good deal of eoncern since the slump has been in 'existence is the price which their wool has been fetching in the bale and the price that they had had to pay j in the shops for wool for knitting and other domestic purposes. The question arose at the meeting of the New Zealand Farmers' Union exeetuive last week, when a remit drawing attention to the high handling costs. as against the amount received by the farmer for the wool was discussed. It was stated that a short time ago a farmer soid 7001b weight of wool, and when all charges were paid he received £1. He then went to purchase a pound of darning wool for his wife, and had to pay 16s 4d for it. Another farmer sold three bales of wool con- j taining about 11801b, and after pay- J ing charges, railage, and commission ! received £1 ls ld. Had he been asked to buy 21b of wool the money from three bales would not have been sufficient to pay for it. It was also men- J tioned that certain skeins of wool were sold for 8s 6d, and that there i was no justification for charging 8s 6d for something which was only worth 3s 6d. ' To-day 8s 6d only represented the value of some bales of inferior wool, and it was evident that the farmers would have to fight to get the charges down. The question was now to set about that, said the chairman, Mr; W. J. Polson. They were told that it was a matter for stock and station agents hnd not one upon which they should go to the Minister of Finance, being purely a business arrangement. They must therefore tackle it from another angle, and when the wool-buyers came to the Dominion again they ' should have a round-table conference with them on the matter. Australian 1 wool-brokers had reduced their charges by 10 per cent. during the coming season, and if a conference could be arranged before next season it might be possible to obtain the support of the wool-buyers. Mr. C. C. Jackson, Wairarapa, moved that a committee of three be set up to interview the wool-brokers with a view to reducing the costs of selling wool. This was agreed to. Uaes of Wool. Mrs. C. C. Jackson, who attended as a representative of the Women's 'Branch of the union, then drew the attention of members to mattresses and a quilt mad'e from lowgrade wools-. The wool used had been manufactured into sheets called laminated wool, which it was stated was already being extensively used by upholsterers in New Zealand for the manufacture of mattresses in place. of kapok. About 401b was required to make a mattress. Attention was drawn to the increased use being made of wool, for one hardly ever saw a lady travelling either by train or tram, or playing at a bridge party, without some knitting with her. The cost of wool for mattresses was ls a lb wholesale, and it was retailed at ls 3d and ls 4d. Mr. Jackson urged that the substitution of wool would eliminabe the "importation of kapok. Mr. E. H. Murney said the attention of the Railway Department brd been drawn to the possibility of using wool for the upholstering of raPway carriages. The secretary, Colonel J. Pow, said experiments had been very satisfactory. He added that experiments with waste wool had proved that it was better for engine cleaning. The chairman referred to the matterresses which used to be made of raw wool by farmers in the old days, and which were very good. They were rather heavy, but the method shown of treating wool made the mattress much lighter.